James' Pre-K Graduation

James' Pre-K graduation has kicked off a chaotic week for us, with lots of fun packed into a short time.  This big guy has really grown this year and learned so much from his fantastic teacher and friends.  We enjoyed some songs, a great slideshow and some treats as we celebrated their graduation into kindergarten next year!  The bottom picture here is of Noah and his friend Piper with their wonderful first grade teacher!

Roller Skating and Baseball

On Saturday the boys were invited to a roller skating birthday party.  This was the first time any of the kids had been roller skating and they had a ball:)  Thankfully, some of our friends were there to help the boys skate and they just loved dancing and skating around the rink.

The bottom picture here is of Noah at bat.  This is his first year playing baseball and he seemed to enjoy himself.  We are not sure that he loves actually playing baseball as he has a long way to go of practicing and learning the game, but he liked being part of a team of other friends his age.  We'll see if he decides to play again next year:)

Spirit Week- Spring 2014

We are easing into summer this week.  The weather has been great, the pool is finally getting warm enough to swim (although 62 degrees is not super warm) and the boys are finishing up the last few weeks of school.  This week was spirit week.  They had a change drive, crazy hair day, sports team day, school pride day, wacky Wednesday and the highlight, was dress like your favorite book character day.  James chose to be President Taft from "President Taft Gets Stuck in the Bath" and Noah was Randy Riley from "Randy Riley's Big Hit". The bottom picture was just a random afternoon of dress up for dinnertime at our house:)

Tiling & Lily's 1st Birthday!

Last weekend was very full, fun and fruitful!  Grampy, Grammy and Aunt Andrea came to tile the mudroom floor and play with the kids so we could get the garden it on Saturday. On Sunday Gabe started grouting, did some yard work and got out to golf.  The kids and I headed north to Lily's first birthday party, then to Millinocket for our niece and nephew's high school graduation parties.  We arrived home exhausted on Sunday, but very grateful for having gotten to spend lots of time with friends and family!

Boston Visit 2014

The Carlile Family, once again, was gracious enough to host us for our annual trip to Beantown.  What we didn't do may take less time to write than what we did do.  We all had an absolute blast visiting, relaxing and playing with friends:)

On Saturday, Gabe and I took the kids to Ikea in the morning because, we honestly can't visit within 50 minutes of one without going... they have free childcare and we got free lunch so I am not sure what could have been better;)  The kids were troopers, as always, and we didn't have to call AAA this time which is a new first for us!  Saturday night we played, rode scooters & bikes, bounced on the trampoline, zoomed on the zip line, had pizza and the kids stayed up WAY past bedtime for their sleepover with Rain and Suvi.

Sunday morning, after a wonderful breakfast, we headed to the Franklin Park Zoo.  The kids all got to feed the birds, experience the rhino ride/video, find some walking sticks and see the giraffes and zebras among many other animals.  That evening Heli and Narath provided a delicious Memorial Day BBQ, followed by more trampolining/zip lining/bike/scooter riding.

Monday, after we packed up we headed to Harvard Square for lunch on the patio of Legal Seafood.  The weather was perfect for outdoor dining and the kids all did so well at the restaurant!  After lunch we went to the most anticipated activity of the weekend... Opening weekend of the Legoland Discovery Center in Sommerville.  After waiting in line for nearly 2 hours (Thank you JP licks for having your ice cream shop open!!) we got in.  The kids loved playing there, but the grownups were more than a little disappointed.  Having been to Legoland in Florida this was a big letdown.  We decided that for the amount of money we paid, going to the Museum of Science or the Aquarium or the Children's Museum or back to the zoo would have been better.  There was really nothing inside that made the place extra special and the climbing structure was comparable to the ones found at a McDonald's play place.  Lesson learned, we will stick to what we know next time.

Thank you so much Carlile Family we all had so much fun can't wait until next year!!!!

May Play!

We opened the pool... it is a balmy 48 degrees... so far James has been the only one brave enough to jump in.  I didn't get any pictures, but I do have the video and will post it if I get a chance:)

We have also filled the sandbox and I am quite sure that Audrey could play in there all day.  She and the boys think that it is super funny to pour sand over her head... although we do not "allow" them to do this, she is required to wear a hat while she is in the sandbox... just in case.

The boys are pretty excited to get the kayak out in the water and have really enjoyed pretending in our garage.  The bottom picture is from today when it finally stopped raining for a few hours and the sun cam out.  I was able to convince James and Ben that it was a fun game to clean out all of our garbage cans.... how many years will I be able to get away with that?:)

Bar Harbor Visit 2014- Part 2

 

 

 

Day 2 of Bar Harbor had pretty disappointing weather, but no less fun for the kids!  Both Nannie and Grammy came down to watch the kids while Gabe and I attended the conference and kept the kids busy all day.  Their first stop was at the YMCAs activity day.  The kids competed in races (Not surprisingly Ben won for his age group and got a pretty neat prize), saw some animal pelts, visited with the game wardens and even got the try out the canoe in the pool!

After a picnic lunch at the hotel they went into Ellsworth to the movies followed by a trip to the Bangor Children's Museum AND dinner at the Ground Round.  I think that it was probably an equally fun and exhausting day for everyone. Thank you Grammy and Nannie, we appreciate it!!