Basement Project

Well some of you know we have been working on getting our basement finished for the past 7 weeks and we feel as though we are in the final days of construction now. We just had the carpet put down today and let me tell I can finally see the light at the end of the road. I hate living in construction. Selim and I have come to the fast conclusion that we can never get a fixer-upper of a house ever! We are the type of people that when we think of a project we want it done that day, not down the road. And not to mention the mess, dust and just over all inconvenience of getting these things done.
All we have to have done now is the doors to the closets put on and touch up paint then we should be able to claim that space back to be ours by Monday night! We are all so excited here in the Tobey home. Alex is really excited to be able to put back together her playroom and we just want to have things back in order. Let me say that all of this started back in the fall when Bubi came over to play with Alex and said that it was to cold to play in her play room since the small space heater just was not working on warming up the room efficiently. So in Feb we decided to do some thing about that and we are almost done. We have heat, carpet, doors, walls, paint every thing. We hope that Bubi well come back to play in Alex's playroom again.

Get a way weekend

Charleston and Savannah Weekend

Mid March Alex and I met up with Selim on one of his work trips South. We meet him in Charleston, SC. We just love it there, the town is so full of history and so beautiful. Not to mention that every thing was starting to get into full bloom for Spring, just breath taking. One of the first things we have to do when we arrive in Charleston is visit the horses. As we did.

Hello big fella
Then we found the most interactive toy store yet, it was perfect for every one that is young at heart. Lots of dress up cloths and free play toys to keep you playing for hours. It was a bit of a challenge for me to get Selim and Alex out of the store but I managed with bribes for both of them.

Any one looking for the Princess of Alie land?

After a great day of walking and shopping in Charleston we headed down south to Savannah. We took some time to rest and relax when we arrived in GA. The weather was just perfect sunny and warm. We stayed in the Westin across the river from they historic district of Savannah, which was fun to take the boat across each time we left the hotel.

Daddy and Alie Chillin

We took a nice long horse drawn carriage ride through the old town to learn about all of the history. And we also got to eat a Paula Dean's, Lady and Sons. Now I know what the t shirt that I saw meant, "Southern cookin keeps you good lookin". In other words it keeps you round and happy. That food was so rich and yummy, comfort food.

This is Bat Man and Robin giving us the grand tour.

We had such a great time all together, exploring the town. Savannah really enjoys celebrating Irish holidays they do it up all of the way in the town. They make all of the water fountains green too. We came across an Irish Fest with folk dancing, food, music, and face painting. It was so much fun. Alex had her first face painting done. See my little sun shine.

She was so good. Any ways we highly recomend the trip to Savannah and you must stop at the local candy shops for warm pralins(again with the southern goodies).

So much Change

We have moved to Concord!

Every one is doing great still traveling lots and enjoying life to the fullest!

We will work on making more posts and updating what is going on with the Tobey Family.

One Little note Alex got to meet her most loved tv star Curious George in January at Universal Studios. That was such a treat!

Other than that we have been doing mini trips just got back from Charlston and Savannah what beautiful cities.

Feb 2006

I think Alex thinks she is already for School

(Mommy and Daddy still think she too little)
Where has the month of Feb gone? I feel like time is just going by so fast that I am unable to keep up with it. Between Selim's travel schedule and every thing else that falls between the weeks go by like hours.

We had a great day with the Johnson kids and Cheri and Isabella at the children's museum back on Feb 17. It was so much fun to see the kids run around and test and try every thing out. It was just like organized chaos. Here are a few photos to remember the day by...

Alex and Bella shopping at the CM in Boston

Grady, Conor, Alex and Bella checking out the rainy day in Boston

Selim was gone for much of the end of the month to Las Vegas for his Bi Annual Trade show. Leaving Alex and I to find all sorts of trouble to get into. And as usual he worked him self to the bone and brought home a cold with his return. So we are still mending him back to health.

Jan 2006

Well this is the big Month for me. I will be turning the big 30. But believe it or not I am not really all that bothered by the age. I have always felt that age does not really matter as long as you feel youthful and strong.

So we have all sorts of things going on this month. Selim traveling like a crazy and Alex and I trying to tag along for some family time.

On Jan 12 Alex and I joined Selim in Boston for the day. It was great the sun was shinning and it was nice and warm. While Selim was in Filene's for his final apt to say goodbye to the buyers (Macys bought Filene's and they will be closing the Boston buying offices). It gave me a chance to roam through down town crossings (my old work stomping grounds). It was nice to see familiar faces but I did not miss the head aches. It was funny to see how nothing really changes with people. Every one that I once worked with still had the same issues going on and the same old grind of work. Every one asked about my thoughts of staying home with Alex and I said each time with out hesitation "Loving every second of it". And that I truly do. I think that it is so important for me to be home with Alex. Her life is changing so much each and every day and I want to be a part of it and experience each and every new thing with her. It is just amazing to see how her vocabulary grows each day and how she sees the world thru her little eyes. It is so much fun.

Then Jan 18 Alex and I joined Selim in Texas for a few days. It was so nice to get out of the cold and warm up a bit. Wed we flew to San Antonio. While Selim was working Alex and I spent some time at the Alamo. It was so much fun to play with Alex in the gardens. We walked and ran and gathered acorns for the squerlls. Well I should say that Alex gathered the acorns, and then threw them at the squerlls. She thought that was fun. Then I showed her the biggest fish or "juice"(that is what Alex calls Fish) in her life. They had a pond of coy fish. It was fun to follow Alex following the fish up and down the walk ways. Later that night we flew to Dallas where we spend the next two nights. Selim knows his girls well, he made sure to pick a hotel attached to a mall and what fun it was for us. While Selim was working us girls shopped till we dropped. But the best part of the mall was the huge in-door skating rink, Alex just loved it. She loved to watch all of the little kids taking lessons and flying by, or should I say "wee". Every time we came close to the rink she was just mesmerized.

Thankfully Alex still loved to fly on the airplanes. Every thing is so much fun for her. She loves to make new friends and have great new experiences.

Then on Jan 25 I flew down to Florida to join Selim and start my 30 Birthday weekend celebration. We drove from Orlando where Selim had been working to South Beach on my Birthday Jan 26. What a weekend, more details to come. I need to get to bed.

Selim and Tab at the National Hotel in South Beach Miami

Christmas 2005

Well I know that you all have been waiting for an update from the Tobey Family. I am so sorry for the extreme delay. All I can say is where has the time gone.

Let me do a few updates and try to link a few photos for the stories. Well since I have updated last we have celebrated Christmas and what a Christmas it was with Alex.

Christmas 2005

This was Alex's second Christmas and it was just so much fun for all of us. I think that Selim and I had as much fun this Christmas as Alex did. We truly did feel like parents this year. It was the first year that we stayed up late wrapping gifts and putting together toys. Just really made Selim and I think back to the excitement and gittyness our parents must of had for us when we were little.

On Christmas morning Selim woke up first, he wanted to make sure that Alex's first impression on Christmas morning would be perfect. He had a nice warm fire with christmas music, and made sure that Santa did not forget any details (batteries, crayons, camera, and tripod for video taping). The mood was set and so were all of the toys. But little Alex decided that Christmas morning would be the perfect time to catch up on some of her missed sleep from all of the holiday parties and shopping she had been doing. It took all I could do to keep Selim from waking the baby up. I just kept on trying to remind him that it was going to be a long and very exciting day for Alex and all the sleep that she could get would only be in our best interest.

Finally at 8:00 AM Alex woke to see all of the exciting new toys that Santa (or should I say "tanta") left for our good girl. Santa made sure to leave every thing all set up and ready for instant use. A new art table with crayons and rolls of paper (huge hit), Tricycle (great for ridding around and putting babies in the back basket) to name a few. We were having so much fun watching Alex with her new toys that we let her work on opening every thing at her own pace. This way Christmas lasted for days.

Alex with her new Tricycle

Alex's new Art table from Santa

After Christmas at home we headed over to the Tobey's to celebrate Christmas.

It was so nice to visit with Jim, Nikki, Aylin and Mike, oh, can't forget all of the puppies too, Nutmeg, Spice, Marty, and Dephne too. Izzy had to spread her Holiday cheer to her fellow four legged family too. After we stuffed our faces with great food and opened all of the Christmas gifts we headed for one more Christmas celebration for the day, the Hamilton's.

Aylin, Mike, Selim, Tabatha, and Alex

Alex with her new baby from Big Grandma from Turkey

At the Hamilton's we got to visit with Alex's Grate Grandparents, Al and Gean Hamilton, and Jim and Marlene Gillis, grandparents John and Marsha, auntie KiKi (Nikki), cousins Nicolas, and Noah, Auntie Kim, and family friends. It was lots of fun. Alex got to play in her new kitchen with her cousin Noah. After a second huge meal we loaded our selves up into the car and headed home for a good nights rest.

Just before a long Winter's Night Alex had to write her thanks you letter to Santa

More updates to come....

Holidays in New York City

Holiday Weekend in New York

On Dec 2, 2005 we loaded up in the car and headed down to New York for a holiday weekend. We were going to be celebrating Grand mum's birthday (Marsha's 50th) with the Henriques Family. We thought that since were were going to be so close to New York City we should take the time to see the city all decorated for the holidays. Even thought we went on a snowy day it was truly magical. The lights sparkled so bright and the decorations were amazing. It was a truly fun weekend. Being able to spend time with family, and catching a great holiday Jazz concert too.

While we were in the city Alex took some time to do a bit of holiday shopping for her self. She really fell in love with the Time Square Toys R Us store. So much to see for a little 19 month old little girl. She just did not know where to start and how to see it all. The first thing she saw when she walked thru the door was a huge ferris wheel. It really caught her eye, she just had to check it out. We took the ride around on the Ferris Wheel. It was very exciting for Alex to see all of the toys of her dreams from the air. Then the fun began with the mini trikes, as you can see in this shot she has added this to her Santa list......



Then there was this more than life size puppy dog that caught her eye that she just had to hug and play with.

While we were in the city we visited Santa Land in Macys. What a treat Alex just loved the experience. That is until we came to the grand finally, Santa. She was not all that sure about talking to a stranger and sitting on his lap to ask for any gifts. But on the way to see the big man in red she did get a chance to see Mrs. Santa.

Alex loved her sweet smile but still was not to sure about all the attention she was getting.

Tab, Selim and Alex in Santa Land in Macys NYC.

We even got to meet Santa him self. Alex did not have much to say. Maybe next year.

After so much exciting shopping we had to get in some local eats. What else do you eat when in New York City PIZZA. As you can see Alex and daddy were really getting into their work. I am not all that sure who ate the most of that pizza.

Alex Selim and Tab at Rockefeller Center. We got to see all of the ice skaters and the grand Christmas tree what a beautiful sight.

Apple Picking 2005

Tabatha and Alexandria trying the fresh Apples on the sunny first warm and sunny weekend day in a month.
Alexandria and Selim with a most beautiful view of late Fall in New England.

We really lucked out to have such a bautiful day in November to Apple pick as a family. We had been trying to get out there for so many rainy weekends in October. Finaly we had a glimer of sunshine in November to get our fresh from the tree apples. It was so much fun we all loaded up in the car and off to the apple orchard we went. We made sure to find one that would allow us to bring Izzy with us. She too loves to apple pick but not to may orchards allow dogs. She made the best of the picking this year. Each and every apple that Alex picked for her she tried a bite or two of.

As you can see she worked very hard for the fresh apples.

After all of Alex's hard work the least that Izzy could do is try the sweet apples too.

After apple picking Selim wanted to show Alex how to skip a rock on the pond, it was just to much fun for Alex. As you may know she loves to Di (throw in Alex terms) every thing and this was permission to Di rocks into water and hear the big splash. As the sun was going down and it was starting to get cold Alex still was very insistent on picking up rocks and dirt to Di into the pond.