just a few videos...

More Anna Grace...

...because frankly, you can't have too much of her!

Anna Grace

She weighed in last night at 7:26pm, 8 lbs., 21 inches...

Don't give up on me yet!!

Okay, I know it's been an incredibly long time since the last post... I have no excuse except to say that the holiday season is here. I love the holidays and I hate the holidays. Well, I shouldn't say hate, it's really too strong a word, I strongly dislike the stress that accompanies the holiday season. That being said, I can't promise that I'll write every day or even very often over the next few weeks, but I will try very hard to avoid letting it go this long again. Okay? Happy? Here are a few pictures to catch you up on some of what you missed these past few weeks.

Owen and Caroline showing off their crafts made at the Children's Museum.


Katie making a fashion statement while eating lunch. I often find her this way during naps as well.


Katie enjoying a special seat for TV time.


Katie, having graduated from the high chair to the booster seat.


Owen and Caroline showing off their Thanksgiving crafts. Thank you Family Fun magazine!

I think she could do this all night

I should mention that about 30 minutes after this video she fell off the slide and cracked her head and we had to rush off to Uncle Kevin's emergency room. No worries, she was apparently made to crash.

A Tribute to our incredibly patient cat, Delilah

Katie obviously loves her a lot... we're working on gentle touches. In case you're wondering, she's yelling "Delilah!"

Happy Halloween! (part 1)

Dan, Katie, and I headed up to Owen's school yesterday to see his Halloween parade. Here he is strutting his stuff as Mr.Incredible.


Then we walked home... we're so lucky we get to walk this every day.

how to stop my child from climbing on the table

I actually googled this today. Frankly it's driving me crazy. It doesn't matter if I'm in the room or out of the room, Katie just climbs anything and everything. From what I found by googling it, I guess I'm just supposed to embrace her adventurous nature, not squash it. Seriously? That's all the help these magical online people can give me?

The Headstrong child

Katie learned something new today. I tried over and over again to stop her from doing it but she is too quick and too smart for me... oh, and she's incredibly stubborn. Sound like anyone you know?



Dan walked in the door from work just as she jumped up on the table and she yelled out "Daddy!" at the top of her lungs. It was a moment for the memory books.

The Phone Call

For those of you who haven't spoken with Owen on the phone, here's a treat. If you don't find yourself banging your head against the computer by the end of this video, give Owen a call, he's always looking for new people to talk to!

Good Cop, Bad Cop

So Dan walked in the door tonight with a big bag of reese's pb cups and left them on the table. Then, when Owen saw them and asked for one I said, "only two" because it was almost time for bed... then Dan gave him three and they had a nice giggle over that, and this conversation.

Dad: Hi Owen. I love you. I win you over with candy.

Owen: He does win me over with candy, because he always gives me more than you say.

Do I ever get to be the good cop? I'm thinking no.

tell me it gets better

I'm having one of those days where I feel like the worst mother in the world. Why is it so difficult for me to parent a child exactly like me? How on earth can I explain to Owen the importance of not letting little things get to him? He takes everything so personally and if something doesn't go his way he gets so disappointed. I'm exactly the same way. I try really hard not to take things personally and I try not to get too excited for things just in case they don't happen... but it doesn't always work. How can I help my child grow up to be unlike me? I guess I always thought things got easier as they got older, but it doesn't. There are just new things to worry about. Anyway, I sent Owen off to school a little while ago and he was still feeling pretty sad. I think maybe I'll just put Kate in for a nap and go feel sorry for myself. Because of course, when he has a cranky morning I take it personally, how could I not?

Buster

On Sept.5th Buster passed away. I haven't posted much because I didn't feel right not paying respect to a really great dog. Anyway, here are some pics I found of him with the kids. There are so many great pictures out there and so many great memories of him but these are the only ones I have. He was an incredible dog and was loved very much by all of us. We will miss him but I know he's up there right now hanging out with all of his friends that went before him and getting to know Ginger, and yes, even Domino.

Cutie Katie

we're trying out a new hairstyle... Dan thinks she looks like the Olsen twins. here's what she and daddy did yesterday while owen and i tried to find cleats.

Day 0 and not too happy about it

For some reason I feel a little sick to my stomach tonight. I'm incredibly nervous about school tomorrow. We went and had a little orientation thing today so the kids could learn what to expect in the morning and other things, but tomorrow is the first full day. I can't believe Owen is in Kindergarten! I feel like it was just last week that Dan and I were arriving home at 8pm to our tiny little apartment in Foxboro with a brand new baby. We put him on our bed and looked at each other thinking, "now what?" Well, here we are 5 years later. I can't believe the child he's become. It scares me to think of what he'll go through during the next 15 years of school. I know I have to take it one day at a time but every once in a while it will hit me how quickly time is passing and I get overwhelmed. Anyway, before I start crying I'll share some pictures from today with you.
Here's Owen's idea of getting dressed for school.



Owen and Caroline posing on the front steps. It wasn't until this picture that I realized how badly we need to paint the front steps.


Here he is cutting through the "woods" in front of the school.


The kids practicing how to line-up to go inside in the morning.


Owen checking out the kindergarten classroom.



Racing to get home to see Caroline.


Snuggling up to Katie during our celebration lunch at Harry's.

Some cute stuff for Daddy

I just don't have time right now to sit here and blog. Daddy misses the kiddos though so I will give you some videos and pictures to make him happy. I'd like to point out that Owen gets his dancing moves from his dad.

The countdown is on....

19 days until Owen is in Kindergarten. I don't feel guilty keeping a countdown because I know I'll be a wreck that first week. I figure with the full days at school he'll be exhausted and cranky at first so that should help me get through the missing him stage.

I'm not sure where this summer has gone. I know we've done stuff but I feel like it's been a big waste! I think I have to stop having such high expectations and just enjoy the days we have left. Remember the inappropriate boogie board? Here's Owen trying to master it...



Caroline slept over last night. Thanks to Dan for taking over so Meredith and I could go see "Julie and Julia." It was really good! Anyway, a sleepover inevitably means a late night, an early morning, and a few cranky kids. Here's what they did before the crankiness set in...



Here are just some cute pictures from the last few days.

Katie staking her claim to the boxes of Cabot cheese.

And trying to pilfer some cow magnets.

This is how we found Owen the other night after we had put him to bed. The next morning he said he was watching the rain.

Finally, this is what happens when you let your child feed herself yogurt and then ask your husband to clean her up.

The following is for Adult eyes only...

I try to keep my posts pretty tame. I don't generally swear or say anything too bad. However, I can't avoid it in this post. The following is a picture of the boogie board Grampy bought yesterday for Owen. Grammy wanted to make sure everyone knew that it was Grampy that bought this, not her.

If you can't see the picture on the board clearly enough, click on the picture and it should enlarge. Of course, Owen doesn't even notice, and we're not calling attention to it, but I can only imagine what other beachgoers think when they see a 5-year old toting this board around the beach.

Overdue pictures and a special treat...

Heather and I did the Danskin Women's Triathlon a few weekends ago. Here's our afterpicture celebrating with the moms.

Here are Owen and his friend Ava enjoying Dad's On Stage performance.

Katie trying to keep cool.

Katie and Owen playing at the Ecotarium playground.


Dan and I went to Vermont last weekend to visit Kelly and Brian and the future Ella. We had such fun. It was the first time we had been away without the kids since Kris and Pat's wedding in Vegas 4 years ago. Anyway, Kelly and Brian introduced us to Wii. So much fun! Now I really want to buy one, of course with our financial situation we can't afford luxuries like that so I just keep checking CraigsList in the hopes of finding a good deal. Anyway, here's a video of Dan playing the hula hoop game. Kelly and Brian were all impressed when I played and beat the record of their 10-year old nephew. Dan blew me away. He's a natural hula hooper. So enjoy this video before he makes me take it off.

Pictures from my Dad

My dad is our own personal paparazzi. The problem is we never get to see all of the pictures he takes. Here are a few I found this morning when I invaded his computer.

I guess we'll keep her

I know the most challenging is yet to come... but here's part of why Katie is just so darn adorable!

A Few Tidbits

I know, I know, once again I've been lax in my blogging. As it is I'm trying to get a quick post in right now even though I can hear Owen and Katie wreaking havoc on the porch. Katie has started to master going down stairs lately so the porch is no longer off limits to her. She only goes down one step at most and only if she has something to hang on to, but it's still yet another thing to worry about.

If you ask me what's been keeping me so busy lately I won't really have an answer for you, but somehow I still can't find the time to update this blog. Truthfully, if I have free time, I'd rather read my book... even if it is the Harry Potter series and I'm reading it for the millionth time. So here are a few tidbits to bring you up to date with the kids and us for now.

We went blueberry picking last week with Cris and Tommy. It was really fun. I think I prefer blueberry picking to strawberry picking. Owen helped a little more too. Of course, eventually the boys got bored so they started playing in the dirt. They found a worm and I was able to add one more phrase to my list of things I never imagined I would say. "Get the worm off your sister's head!" Yeah, he put the worm right on Katie's head and it wiggled there while I yelled at him to get it off because I was too afraid to touch it myself. Bugs I'll touch, worms I won't without gloves on. Even if it's on my daughter's head.

He's not all trouble though. Owen took it upon himself to "clean up the whole outside of the house" the other day. It was pretty cute and he actually helped out a lot. He raked the leaves out from under the huge rhododendrun bushes/trees behind our porch.


Katie of course has been her usual adorable self. Every once in a while I'm reminded that I have no idea how to take care of a girl, although mostly I just have to dress her up in adorable clothes. Here she is watching Sesame Street in Owen's chair.


We've been spending a lot of time at the Splash Pad in our town lately. I finally remembered to bring my camera yesterday when we went. Of course the battery died quickly but I promise I'll post more pics of it soon. Here are some cute ones to hold you over until then.



We also had the kids pictures taken at a local park on Sunday. It was a candid kind of thing. I'm not sure what kind of pictures will come out of it, Owen spent most of the time running full speed back and forth or jumping across the stream, while Katie fell repeatedly on the hill and tried to walk into the stream as well. We'll see. Hopefully I'll have those pictures to post soon too.