Easter 2011

We had a very exciting Easter weekend! Saturday was spent at the egg hunt Auntie Kristin hosts in Duxbury and then visiting Mimi & Buppy in Hingham. Here the kids are decked out in their rain gear and ready to hunt (it's an outdoor hunt and it was a rainy day):




Being silly in the car on the way there:

Our handsome boy hunting:

Dress or no dress, Maddie decided to plop right down on the wet grass to check out her hunting booty:

Maddie and cousin Meg:

The annual post hunt "wall" photo (M&A with their cousins Niklas & Colin):

Easter day brought us our own hunt in the house:

The weather turned out to be gorgeous despite the predicted rain. Here the kids are all dressed up to go to Grandma & Peepa's for Easter dinner:

Unfortunately none of the photos I took of M&A with their Maas cousins turned out very well. The one great family photo is on Grandma & Peepa's camera. But it was a lovely afternoon. Aunt Janet was up for a visit and Aidan was absolutely in love with her little french poodle Pierre. Poor Pierre couldn't get a moment's rest without Aidan asking "Where did the doggie go?". I think we all ate a bit too much, but that always seems to happen at family holidays :)

Roller Derby in our future?

This morning's activities included...

Practice makes perfect...

Thanks for the roller skates Mimi & Buppy. This is the first outdoor sport that has held Aidan's attention for more than 5 minutes. They kept at it for a good half hour!

Splendor in the Grass, Matey!

Well, all our hard work has paid off and we've got a fabulous new backyard. We fenced it in to keep our little adventurers from having unsupervised escapades in the brook that runs through our property. And we purchased a fancy new wooden swingset to provide years of outdoor entertainment! We've got quite a bit more landscaping to do, but we are already fully enjoying the fruits of our (and the workers') labor. Here's the gang prepping the swingset site a few weeks ago. We installed it on the sandpit where our above ground pool used to be. The sand has turned out to be quite messy, so we'll be having playground mulch delivered next weekend... TADA - the kids christened her 'BUCKY' after the pirate ship on "Jake and the Neverland Pirates"... Any good pirate ship needs a flag (a 5 ft. flag no less)... Aidan immediately impressed us with his desire to slide (his sensory/balance issues typically cause him to avoid slides)... Yo Ho Ho (Maddie's favorite new quote) - I found hats & treasure maps at iparty that are perfect for our theme...

They call themselves Jake & Izzy (tv show reference)...

No backyard would be complete w/out a snack station...

And we also managed to enjoy lunch on our new deck table...

Can you tell we've really been looking forward to spring/summer!!

As a side note, 3 1/2 seems to be the age where the kids have decided to cooperate with my photography efforts. They've always made it next to impossible for me to get good shots; and now all of a sudden they are saying "CHEESE" and smiling/holding hands on command. Happy times :-)

Cape Cod 2011 Overnight

It has been a long winter, so we decided to do an overnight trip down the Cape to get out & about and get the kids in the pool. Upon arrival, we hit the Chatham fish pier. A chillier day than we had hoped for, but the kids had a blast. We weren't lucky enough to see any boats unloading, but it was a nice view. And the kids were thrilled enough with all of the seagulls ("Hello Mr. Seagull" they kept yelling).

A HUGE improvement from last year's overnight where Maddie fell out of the bed multiple times and Kurt had to drive her up and down Route 28 to get her asleep again. This time the kids shared a bed and we remembered to bring bed rails :-)

Mr. Chatty on the phone (kind of):

Chillin' by the indoor poool after an exhausting, but fun, swim!

Now we are very anxious for the warm weather and lots of trips down the Cape to visit the b-e-a-c-h! Of course we are expecting a potential Nor'easter on April Fools Day. UGH.

Puddle Stomping

There's a glimmer of spring outside and we're desperate to be out there; so this is what we do:

CHEESEEEE (so proud of her missing tooth):

He looks innocent....

But seconds later he was in trouble for running off!

Don't forget to turn the clocks back; spring is coming!!!!!

Beauty School

Maddie love, love, loves the Disney Princess beauty tote that Morgan & Vivie gave her for Christmas (which is somewhat surprising since she isn't much of a girly girl and has little interest in princesses). She does like to watch me do my hair though and now she can do her own!

And wasn't Aidan such a good sport to play Beauty shop with her?? (Actually he was having a grand old time):

These days they are doing so many cute things, it's hard to remember them all!

Buried, but not forgotten!

It's been quite a while since I've posted here, but we've got some legitimate excuses. We've been buried under snowstorm after snowstorm here in New England. So we've spent an inordinate amount of time shoveling and an equally inordinate amount of time in the bathroom (potty training two stubborn 3 year olds)!


Yes, that IS our house just peeking out from the top of that snowbank:




Luckily this was the year we decided to purchase a snowblower (with hand warmers no less):




You may be wondering how we occupy said 'two stubborn 3 year olds' in such crappy weather. We let them watch way more tv than the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends:

We do lots of coloring and other art projects:

We drag almost every toy, blanket, book and other available item out of our bedrooms and into the hallway to build a "nest": (Yes, you guessed it; Mommy gets to do the cleanup)

And when all is said and done, we become OFFICIALLY POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!!

And yes, we bribed them with lollipops to get us there!

Just the other day as we were driving home from school, Maddie said, "Mommy, I don't like winter anymore".

We've had lots of wistful conversations lately about all of the fabulous things we can do once spring & summer arrive. So while we are in hibernation mode right now, I'm sure there will be lots and lots of posts once we have anything to report other than "played in the snow".

Happy Winter (may it please be over soon)...