Paperbag Painting

We read The Paperbag Princess before naptime (are you familiar?  It's totally awesome.  The Princess is going to marry a Prince, but then a dragon comes and kidnaps him and burns down the castle.  Doh!  So the Princess throws on a singed paperbag and goes to rescue her Prince.  Which, of course, she does, because Princesses rock.  Well, the Prince takes one look at her and tells her she needs a bath and some proper clothes, so she tells him to go to hell and they don't get married.  I also think she may let the dragon eat him, but that part isn't really in the book.)

Anywho, after nap we painted our own paperbag dresses...

Memorial Day Weekend

Did we survive?  I think we did?!  Is it at all rational for one family to cram so much fun into one weekend?  Definitely not.  But hotdamn it was a good time.

Saturday was 45 degrees and rainy.  Hello summer!  What a perfect day for a barbecue.  We had about 30 adults and 15 kids, and wow.  It was crazy fun and exhausting and all those things a huge blowout party should be.  We're celebrating our one year anniversary of moving and it was really exciting to see how many local people we were able to invite over.  I spent a lot of the day wrangling kids in the basement, and all the evening drinking beer by the fire outside, so there are very few photos.  But such is life.

 Some of our old friends who came up to celebrate.

And a little montage put together by my friend, Cindy.  

Sunday morning we didn't have any plans, and in that beautiful way that can never be predicted, it turned out awesomely.  Rob had stayed over, and Todd and Bess came up with Betty.  After a fortifying bloody mary we headed out to Rockefeller Preserve so Bess and I could run and the boys could walk the babes around Swan Lake.  That was followed by grilled clams and lobsters at our new friends.  Plus some more backyard fireplace action.  I was in heaven.

On Monday we took the kids to the playground and ran into a whole slew of our local friends (what a difference from a year ago!)  Naturally we ended up drinking mimoas all afternoon in C and K's backyard.  

And now we rest.

And dance, because there's always energy enough for dancing.

Small Victories

Just taking a moment to acknowledge the current state of our backdoor mudroom...because it's never looked like this before, and let's face it, it's never going to look like this again.

The shoe cubbies and umbrella stand are new, so until this morning the pile of shoes meandered gracefully all the way through the kitchen, and you routinely tripped on an umbrella on your way to the bathroom.  There were also about 15 more coats on the hooks, all our winter scarves, hats, and mismatched mittens, plus the random bags of caulk, sandpaper, and painters tape that never seem to have a proper home.

This will only last about 15 minutes, but it will be a glorious 15 minutes.

Survivors

Well, hot damn...look what I managed to not kill last year.

The return of our front yard flowers has much more to do with the hardiness of mature perennials than any green-thumb on my part.  I'm just crossing my fingers and praying I don't manage to do them in this year.

Curly Tops at Breakfast

The last couple of days we've done breakfast at the kitchen island, and I'm kind of digging it.  We're all together instead of me feeling like the scullery maid rushing to get their yogurt before whines turn into screams...but it does have a bit of a diner-feel.  One of these days they're going to ask for cereal and I'll tell them to "kiss my grits."

New Car

Nope, not for us (thankfully, the Beast is still going strong, otherwise I would break out into hives and start throwing things)...for Gabe!

Ellie has a tricycle, and try as Gabe will, he just can't reach the pedals.  So, Brian found him a Crazy Coupe, which, according to Uncle Jeremy, is the top selling car in America.  Take that, Henry Ford.

The best part is that Ellie and I put the car together while Gabe was napping.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I didn't want Ellie taking it for granted that assembling things is a "daddy job," but, whoa, when I saw all the pieces I really thought we were in trouble.  But thanks to the handy-dandy VIDEO INSTRUCTIONS (did you hear that, Ikea?) we made short work of it.  And we only had these pieces left over!

By 6pm both kids were wheeling down the street in front of our house.  Bliss all around.

Showtime!

Yesterday we were treated to 45 minutes of this, during which I was yelled at if I dared look at my phone or spoke to Grandma or in any other way failed to pay COMPLETE AND TOTAL ATTENTION at all times.  She's quite the little auteur dictator.

Sipping Cider Through a Straw

...okay, it's actually water, but it's still darned cute.

A Little Under the Weather

Someone was up all last night with a sick stomach so we're having a lazy bones day here.  Luckily, Grandma's in town, and she says chocolate covered raisins help an upset tummy, so Ellie's sure to be on the mend quickly.

A Very Brief and Very Tense Truce

Dear Children,

Someday, in the not too distant future, you're going to beg your father and I for a dog.  And I'll remember this last week and laugh, and laugh, and get you a goldfish.

Love,

Mom

Climber Girl

Lately, Ellie has been getting so much more confident on the playground, and it's amazing to watch.  The difference between her in the fall, and her this spring is just incredible.  And it makes me so proud, and want to cry, and I feel like she's about to pack her bags for college, and okay...that's enough of that.  We're not going to be able to afford college, so I really don't have to worry about that.  (Just kidding, grandma!  At least one of them is going to college.)

The other day we went to Stonewall Farm in Keene with Ashley, Dylan, and Baby Sophie.  We saw cows and horses, but  mostly the kids just wanted to play on the playground.  Ellie sneaked up this rock wall without me even noticing.  I had to ask her to do it again so I could videotape it and send it to Brian.

Bubbles...You're Doing it Wrong

Today, Ashley and I took the kids to the Montshire Museum of Science up in Norwich.  The amazing thing is that Ellie and Gabe have actually been there before, back when my dad was in Dartmouth-Hitchcock and we were desperate for things to do with the kids near the hospital.  It's just mind blowing to think we were there because my dad was so sick, and now we are there because he's in Ireland.  Rock on, dad.

Here's Ellie totally doing bubbles wrong, but having a great time.

April in VT

Springtime in VT is kind of notorious.  The mountain only closed a couple of weeks ago, there are still patches of snow on the ground, and the mud...oh my god, the mud.  But nonetheless, my father and Kathy have jaunted off to Ireland, and so me and the kids are here for a week watching the dog.  It's hysterical/agonizing because the kids have decided they're afraid of dogs, so they're constantly screaming and locking themselves in the bathroom whenever this poor, sweet, senior citizen of a dog drags her ancient bones off the couch.  It'd be funnier if it weren't so annoying.


But anyhow, being in Vermont means hanging out with some of my very favorite people!  Saturday night we had my cousin Katie and her fiance (they were in town to meet with the minister who's marrying them in July), the Bouchards (with Dylan and Sophie) and the Coburns (with David and Dori.)  So of course we barbecued and lit a fire, and drank too many beers and philosophized late into the night.

Ellie and her God-Sister, sweet Dori.

Pizza for 9

In the short week between Florida and VT (good god...if I took a quick jaunt to Maine I will have done the entire East Coast) we took an afternoon in Brooklyn.  No, I still can't really parallel park (though we did practice in Florida!) but I continue to trust in serendipity, and, well...so far so good.

Our day in Brooklyn meant a reunion with Paul, Caroline, Lucas, and Dylan!  Not shown are the moms:  Sara and Adrienne.  They were probably curled up in the fetal position in the corner with a beer.  No, actually, we chose the most kid friendly restaurant in Park Slope (which is really saying something) and it was a surprisingly stress-free meal.  And yes, there was beer for the grownups.

Vacation!!!

...and yes.  It was totally worth three exclamation points.  It was also over two weeks ago, but...well...details.

We loaded up the car, left a big bowl of food for the cat, and took off to Florida for two wicked awesome weeks of fun in the sun.  And while we were gone Spring came!  There are flowers I don't recognize in our front garden and the lilacs are going to bloom any day.  Lilacs, people!  But, back to Florida.  (They have since bloomed, and yes, I am just as thrilled as I expected.)

We took the AutoTrain down, which meant a quick lunch with Cousin Sienna in Washington, DC was a no-brainer.  And speaking of the AutoTrain...

Oh my gosh, it was just the most amazing way to travel with kids.  From the "wine and cheese" reception upon boarding, to the white tablecloth dinner...from watching a movie in our bunk, to the kids watching the stars fade and the world wake up in the morning...it was a fantastic experience.

And were these kids made for Florida, or what?

There was fun at the beach...

And the pool...Ellie even learned how to put her head underwater and count to five!  She's terrified of swim lessons this summer, but she's going to rock them.

There were visits with family, including the kids' greatgrandmother, Doris, and cousins Chase and Masyn.

There were TWO birthdays (mine and Steve's) so that meant TWO cakes.

There were swings and playgrounds, and absolutely gorgeous weather.

There were tram rides and tortoises...

And two glorious days in Miami without the kids.  Sorry, kids!  We missed you!  (Um, no, we really didn't.)

Then coming home there were stops in Richmond...

And Charleston...

And random, impulsive boat rides in Baltimore. 

It was a whirlwind and it was amazing.  And I still haven't fully unpacked.  Which is crazy because now I'm in VT for a week, and I feel like I've been living out of a suitcase forever.  But someday soon we'll be back home, and Spring will segue into summer.  There will be backyard flowers, bbqs, and fireworks before we know it.