Hanging Around

Soon Greenwood the Elf will leave us until next year. The kids love to find him and he's been very creative. Marin loves to yell "HERE!" when she finds him. Then she does a little shake-your-booty dance because she is so excited.

My Elf with a Tail

I haven't been posting much and I can blame it on two things: work and Christmas. Chad missed Thanksgiving thanks to a stomach bug. Katie and Marin had it too. Once we survived that week, we moved into full on Christmas mode. Our life doesn't have to much free time but right now it's being take up by Christmas. Things aren't chaotic but I'm taking a "vacation day" today in an effort to try and stay ahead of things and avoid our typical stressed-out, sprint-to-the-finish Christmas season. I am determined not to get stressed out so I'm trying to take all things in stride... but my assistant keeps sitting in the middle of my wrapping station!

Dr. Teeth

I wish I were this happy in the dentist's chair! Chad took her this week to get her teeth cleaned and checked. Katie reported back that she wore sunglasses and they had a blower to get rid of all the sugar bugs.  They also had a "Mr. Rumble" to clean your teeth and a "Mr. Shower" to rinse. A successful trip!

Duck. Duck. GOOSE!

Looks like Chad is a sure thing for being Goose. The girls kept running around and hitting him on the head.

Goofball

Here is our resident goofball putting a promotional tent on her head while we were out to dinner. She's always going for the cheap laugh! After that, she moved on to show off her refined side by properly using her knife and fork. Very proper!

Lettuce Lover

I'm always amazed that Abby comes running whenever she hears me start to make a salad. I've seen her wake up from a dead sleep just to chomp on those leaves!

Happy Halloween 2011 (Observed)

Happy Halloween from the observed date of November 6th.  The town postponed trick or treating thanks for a freak snow storm last week. It was pretty warm out on Sunday even after dark and the foot of snow was that feel a few days earlier was almost completely gone.

Batman and Jaws worked the street yelling "Happy Trick or Treating!" Marin even went the distance by hitting every house Katie went to clinging to her pumpkin bucket and giving out a soft "Tank You" each time someone gave her candy. Katie was very outgoing behind that mask yelling "I'm Batman!" when people would open their doors. She was not as outgoing to the older kids who walked by wearing scary masks. I got to hear Chad give his yearly commentary on how ridiculously old some of these kids are that are trick or treating. Later in the night, I had to laugh when I opened the door and some girl was standing in front of me who was inches taller than me (eye roll).

I probably should have turn off the Patriots game before trying to attempt an official photo.

Hello Snow!

I have one happy kid who is planning a season full of snowmen, snow forts, jumping in the snow and making angel's wings. I didn't have the heart to tell her it probably won't last.

Halloween 2011 Sneak Preview

Behind this butterfly raincoat, is a superhero from Gotham City sent to save daycare from kids who won't eat their vegetables or take naps! Can you guess who it is?

You are safe from Marin "Jaws" Perusse for another day. She had to put on her costume at daycare thanks to its bulky nature and a restrictive car seat. Fortunately, she has no clue that she is missing out.

Before their departure, they had some chow. Marin has discover that there is a picture of Elmo at the bottom of bowl. She started to drink the milk from the bowl and shovel the Cheerios out with her hand while yelling "Elmo hi-llo, Elmo hi-llo".

This scene I hope to see again in 10 years. Katie reading while eating breakfast. Looks like we'll be getting a few more learning-to-read books this weekend. She reminds me of my sister Helen. She loved (loves?) to read and you would find tented books lying around where ever Helen went.



Hey Ladies!

My sister came over the other day to visit and I thought this was the cutest picture. I think I like the different layers. Marin up front, Katie and Mary in the middle and Ella peeking out from around the corner.

Vroom!

Here are the girls racing around the Mall on Monday. My mom and Sheila took them for a ride on the carousel but this turned out to be the biggest hit. One day, I asked Katie how old she thought you had to be to drive a car. She said 5.  Yesterday, she said 15. She's getting closer....

A Hometown Sunset

I caught a beautiful sunset tonight on my way home. The color was so beautiful that I stopped to take a shot. I didn't do it justice but i wanted to share. I hope your weekend was as good as mine! Goodnight!

Rainbow Pumpkin

Katie and Nana went to a Fall festival today. They rode a hayride and painted a pumpkin. Here is the proud artist and her masterpiece...rainbow pumpkin.

Cape Cod in the Fall

We are down the Cape this weekend to visit Nana and Papa. It's a beautiful Fall weekend. It's great in the summer but equally nice in the off-season. This is me and Marin on our second walk of the day. Marin's not sure if she wants in or out or to just play with the buckle on her stroller. Luckily, there are no cars as we play in the street. Two months earlier and we would have been mowed down two times over.

UMass?

I have to get my kids some UNH gear!

Happy 4th Birthday Katie

Happy 4th birthday to Katielady! She was so anxious to turn 4 that we were excited for her. Four finally! We decided to expand Katie's brithday over a few days. It was the "Weekend of Katie".

Katie's love of Batman began over the summer so she requested Batman cupcakes for her birthday. After doing some research on the Internet, I found some cupcakes with bats made out of black fondant icing. Have you ever worked with fondant? Me neither and I'm not sure if I will again. I was going to make the cupcakes for Katie to take to daycare on Friday since her actual birthday was Monday when daycare is closed. Due to my schedule, I was getting this project started at about 9pm on Thursday night. Fortunately Chad made the cupcakes while he was home earlier in the day and thank God for that. The fondant was not as easy as they made it out to be. Chad eventualy swooped in like Batman and saved the day by helping me out by cutting the bats out with teh stencil I made. It was definitely a team effort. When Katie saw them, I think she thought we were super heros. She was very appreciative and happy. She reported back that all of her friends LOVED the Batman cupcakes.

As a special brithday treat, cousin Ella was also going to stay at our house for her first sleepover at 72 Cedar and we took them to Davis Farmland for the day. It was great to see the three girls hanging out together. Even Marin got into feeding the animals but she was a little bit of a tease hording all of the feed. Oh and a bunch of giant goats hip-checked poor Ella to the ground but all-in-all there were no official injuries. It was a great day!

We came home and had Katie's birthday dinner. Grammie got her a Batman costume which she immediately put on and wore all night. This is probably a sneak preview of Halloween. She loved it. My Aunt Sheila came over and said to me "Where did Batman come from?"  And what she meant was where did Katie's new obseesion with Batman come from. Katie was quick to pipe in and let her know that Batman comes from Gotham City!

We saved one last Batman cupcake for the birthday girl!

Katie also recieved some new Toy Story dolls. She took a sharpie and wrote her name on the bottom of their feet...just like Andy in the movie.

She is heading to the doctor's next week so there will be more four-year-old stats on Katie next week.

I Finally Made It!

I finally made it! I finally made it to Chad's season ticket seats. He's had them for 9 years and this was my first time seeing a game from the seats. Full disclosure: I wasn't all that interested since the seats were in the last row but Chad and Steve (Chad's friend who he shared the tickets with) received an upgrade this year and I was all over that.

In the early years, Chad and Steve would go together. As years progress, children arrived. Work schedules started to creep in. Other obligations would pop up. And I've been to a couple of game since he became a season ticket holder. I just had never been to my husband's seats.

Off we went to Bob's house. If you are a Foxboro resident you can charge people to park on your lawn. It can't be more than the stadium and there is a 15 car limit. I think we were car 13 or 14. We met some nice people and thanks to the wooded lot, it felt very rustic. Very little traffic coming it which always puts you in a good mood.






Heading into the stadium for the home opener against the San Diego Chargers....




Checking out the new seats which are about 30 rows back around the end zone. It felt very close. I think Chad was impressed by the view and that there were no concession lines. It was fun and the Pats won!


 

The game ended a little before 7:30. We headed back to the car, jumped in, took Bob's super secret way back to the highway and we were home by 8:30. Bob's a saint!

Pickle Barrel

Marin enjoying a .25 cent pickle from the pickle barrel at Wild Willy's Burger.


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Homework 2

Not to be out done by her big sister, someone else decided to do her homework too.



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Homework

I know everyone is anxious to hear about Katie celebrating her 4th birthday but I have to free up some space on Carl the Ol' Computer before I can do that. He's getting up there in age at almost 5 years old! In the meantime, I'll carry on. I'm also having trouble posting from my phone which kind of negates the convenience of owning (and paying monthly) for a smartphone. Enough with my technical challenges....

Katie has been diligently doing her homework each night. I want to tell her that she will have plenty of time for that but I don't want to discourage her from wanting to learn. She has a few activities books that she does over and over again, regardless of having done them many times before. The numbers and letters are traced on top of each other over and over again. Her current fascination is with numbers. Maybe she'll be an Economics major like Chad.

Oh Marin!

When I went to pick up the kids yesterday after work, our daycare provider said that Marin is really “coming into her own.” After more prodding, I learned she had been in time out a few times that day for not listening. On Monday, my mom laughed and said “Oh, that Marin!” It doesn’t take a genius to realize that these phrases all mean the same thing and Katie summed it up the best --- “That Marin is a handful!” A few other favorites are:


Her personality is really showing through.
She knows what she wants.
Marin being Marin.

She can be the sweetest thing most days but we’ve always know that she wants what she wants when she wants it. Now that she is getting older and can talk more, she is “expressing herself” more forcefully. She’s not a fan of the word “no” or being told that she can’t do something. Today she dragged a kid-size chair into the kitchen, hopped up and put the toaster on high as it was toasting up a waffle. Third time we told her to stop, I took her off the chair and the waterworks began. Yesterday, she turned on the TV and when I walked in the living room and said “Marin, did you turn on the tv?”, remote control in hand, she said a soft and sweet “Noooooo”. I guess she is too young to know that holding the remote in hand is probably not a way to convince me of your innocence.

I know someday this determination will be a great quality but, as her parents, I think Chad and I are in for a wild ride.
 

Old Home Day 2011

Check out this picture of Katie and Grammie at Old Home Day courtesy of our local newspaper. Old Home Day is held in the park down the street from our house. It was packed when I came by and it was nice to see such great weather for those attending and for those who planned the event. Katie said to Grammie after this photo was taken "I saw Mickey Mouse and I wasn't even afraid." Katie's track record for people in costumes is panic-stricken fear so this was a big step.  Later in the day she pet an alligator. She said "it had tape around its nose and it was dead." I don't think it was dead.

Country Fair and Ocean Waves

Chad and I went to Maine yesterday to attend the wedding of a coworker. In keeping with the wedding's country-fair theme, I decided to take a few Hipstamatic pics to try and capture it. Sadly, I was a little unhip last night. I still struggle with which lens and film work best together. I did get a couple of ok shots using a combination that made everything look blurry. Ugh. Anyway, the bride and groom did a lovely job and we had a fun time. The wedding was held in a field on the groom's family's property.



From left to right:
- Scotch for the toast - nod to their Scottish heritage
- Okoberfest beer - brewed by the groom himself and it was pretty damn good.
- Paper bags with the menu printed on them and filled with addictive Kettle Corn
- Mason jar centerpiece.



Bride and groom...


Tent under an almost full moon.





We were able to crash at the new Vaudreuil Vacation Villa on Moody Beach that was a short ride from the wedding. I felt like I was staying a 5-star hotel! So gorgeous and it was nice to see all my Aunt and Uncle's hard work pay off. The place is to die for! I sipped my coffee on the beach and was able to read my magazine in peace with the sound the ocean waves. Apparently while I was doing this, my mom was dealing with Katie vomiting at home. So much for feeling good about an adult-only morning. I'll take my coffee with some sugar and a splash of parental guilt. Oh well. Sheila asked me to bring my camera so that I could take a few pictures of the final product. If a few pictures means a few hundred pictures than I'm your gal! Here are some highlights. Thanks for letting us stay over!

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Last Row No More

Chad and his friend Steve share a pair of Patriot's tickets and this year they recieved an upgrade. Steve sent us a sneak preview from the Giant's pre-season game last night. I never visited the previous seats but they were in the last row of the stadium. I'm guessing that these are a step up.

Enough Already

This feels like a long week. It started with the tree sparing our house, and just when we thought we were in the clear, the news from my brother in Vermont was upsetting. His dog Buddy was tragically lost to Irene in an accident following the storm. It was almost as if I wanted the week to end before it began. Let's hope that things get better and people can move forward and pick up the pieces. And I'm sure Spike and Tommy will take care of Buddy in Pet Heaven.

Goodnight Irene

The more I look at the tree lying my yard, the more grateful I am that it hit at the right angle sparing us damage to our house or harming our family. Goodnight Irene.

Come on Irene!

Come on Irene! We are ready! Chad and Katie made banana/chocolate chip bread this morning to sustain us through the storm.



We tried to get some outdoor time in before the rain starts falling. This is code for wearing out the kids and dog before we are housebound. Here is Katie riding her bike at our neighbor's Bob and Elaine's house. They have a much better driveway and said we could use it when they were over at our house on Christmas Eve. We are finally taking them up on the offer. Katie crashed to the ground right after this picture. Bike riding ends.



We went to the park down the street after that. When we were enjoying the park, the rain arrived . It was only a sprinkle. Chad is at home "hatching down the hatch" as Katie would say. She said "we are all ready for The Irene." He's at home picking up all the toys on our deck and moving some stuff into the garage.  We are not alarmists but who wants all your stuff flying into the neighbor's yard.








He's also unexpectedly tackle home improvement projects. As we come up on our 5th anniversary at 72 Cedar  we are collectively unimpressed with our progress on home-related projects. I think the upstairs bathroom renovations traumatized him so we were avoiding the downstairs bathroom and kitchen. We decided to try and tackle some of this stuff now that fall is coming. He peeled some of the wallpaper to see how difficult it would be to come off. Who would have thought that the wallpaper would come off in one sheet with a half-assed effort? Now he's painted the ceiling, painting the trim and about to tackle the primer.  Cheers to the positive things that Irene is bringing. Let's hope she doesn't flood our basement.




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