Joe's birthday

After going out last night with friends to celebrate Joe's birthday, we celebrated as a family today with presents first thing in the morning (a Patriots jersey and homemade card) and cake and ice cream after dinner.

Hannah and I made Joe's favorite cake (lemon poppyseed) and while it tasted good, it was the sorriest cake I have ever seen. It needed to cook a bit longer and then I proceeded to take it out of the pan too early and the top half stuck to the pan. Anyway, just felt I needed to explain the "cake" in the pictures.

Singing 'happy birthday'

Joe and Hannah blowing out the candle.

Daddy and his girls. Even though Emme is still chewing on the placemat, this is one of the better pictures of Joe and the girls. Usually, Han is making silly faces!

Curious George

This past Saturday, Curious George came to the Boston Public library for a visit. Hannah loves Curious George so we went to meet him. Along with Curious George, there was a storytime/music, arts and crafts, and the Man with the yellow hat (which all of the kids were skeptical).

We started out with a craft.

And then Cai, Caroline and Emory came too.

After waiting in line, Hannah wasn't about to go up by herself so Mommy got in on the action!

Oh, but now she's an old pro, so when it's Caroline's turn to meet him, Hannah jumps in too.

Emory wasn't quite so enamored with him.

And neither was Cai.

At least all the parents are smiling!

Hannah's 1st day of preschool

Last Thursday was Hannah's 1st day of preschool. Our baby is growing up!

She started at a local cooperative preschool (meaning I will be volunteering in the class every few weeks) 4 mornings a week.

With her new outift from Nana and Papa and new backpack from Auntie Cheri and Uncle Frank, she was ready to go.

She was so excited right up until it was the actual day, then she was a bit apprehensive. I knew once we got there though that she'd be fine

And seriously, once we were there she was great. As we got to the front door of the school (of the school, not even her classroom) she said "ok, bye mom". I think at that point I was having a harder time than she was. Needless to say, I walked her into her classroom and stayed with her for a few minutes. She went straight to a table and started cutting away. Oblivious to everything around her.

The afternoons of the first 2 days of school were rough as she was exhausted and just a mess. She is back to napping for about an hour just to recharge for the rest of the day which seems to be working much better.

Emme's first food...

Rice cereal. As she nears her 6 month birthday and shows lots of interest in us eating, we decided it was time to give Emme her first taste of solids.
Her first meal went remarkably well. And her subsequent meals haven't gone too bad either. Baby steps.

Huh?
Hannah trying to get in on the action....as always with the silly faces.

Hmm....that wasn't so bad! Just a little messy.

Hannah's 4th Birthday!

We celebrated Hannah's birthday at camp again this year. It was a 2 day celebration as her actual birthday fell on a Friday and her party was on Saturday. She didn't mind one bit and quickly realized it was her special day and took full advantage of it!

We sang her "happy birthday" in the morning with a candle in her mickey mouse pancakes.

yes, it's Hannah's birthday, but I couldn't resist this picture of Emme. Addie was making her laugh so hard by jumping on the couch. She thought it was the funniest thing ever and Addie just loved making her laugh.
Opening her presents from Mommy and Daddy on her actual birthday with her birthday princess hat.

A watch!

Yummy s'mores!

On Saturday when Hannah went out for a boat ride, we decorated camp for her party!

We had yummy fajitas for lunch and then pink cupcakes, pink sugar cookies, and pink fruit with pink dip. It was pinkalicious!

Blowing out her candles.

Opening presents. She loved her new Snow White costume! Thank you Aunt Connie and Uncle Paul!

In the evening, we had a fireworks show put on by Daddy.

Thank you Daddy!

A great 4th birthday! And the end of our vacation! 2 weeks of fun!

Old Orchard Beach, Maine

Another of our annual trips....Old Orchard Beach, a day trip from camp. The day was beautiful, a bit chilly when the sun went behind the clouds, but it did so rarely.

As seems to be the usual case, Joe kept Hannah entertained while I dealt with Emme. The day started out a bit stressful when Emme just did not seem to be happy after about 20 minutes at the beach and continued to cry. But nicely enough, after nursing (apparently she was just hungry), she took an hour and a half nap in her tent. Such an angel! And so relaxing for me. I wish I would have brought my book to the beach after all.

Joe and Hannah were very busy. After getting us all lunch, they were all about playing in the sand. First, burying Hannah.

She was completely covered in fine sand, but wouldn't go in the water initially (yuck!), but that didn't stop her from continuing to play....next...building a sand castle with a moat.

And then the giant monsters came and destroyed the castle.

Joe and Hannah did eventually make it into the water. She really liked to jump over the waves! Unfortunately, the tide had gone out and I didn't feel comfortable leaving Emme in her tent while I went to take pictures. Maybe next year.

As we were leaving, Hannah was allowed to pick 1 ride at the amusement park. She chose the ferris wheel with Mommy. The view from the top was great...the beach, the rest of the amusement park, the town....You could see forever. I was a bit nervous as Hannah could not really see when she was sitting and so kept trying to stand up, walk around, etc.

As is the tradition, we stopped at the ice cream shop on our drive home. It was a bit warm out and Hannah literally could not eat her ice cream fast enough. She eventually just went with it and allowed herself to get messy. Thankfully she was still in her bathing suit!

The funniest thing was that there was a fly just sitting on Hannah's leg having a field day with strawberry ice cream! When she was done, we hosed her down (literally) before she got back in the car.

Emme wanting in on the ice cream festivities!

Log ride at Storyland

Here's a video of the first time Hannah rode the log ride with me. It was early in the day and she literally rode it 5 times or so. After this one, Joe went with her and then since there was no line, they just kept riding it again and again. At one point, Hannah told Joe it was her 'lucky day'.

Storyland

Our second annual trip to Storyland. Storyland is a smallish amusement park in the white mountains of New Hampshire that is perfect for the 5 (or so) and under crowd. Even Emme could go on about 1/3 of the rides. We had found out that if you go after 3p on one day, you get another full day ticket to come back so we took full advantage. And considering a lot of schools were back in session, the park was relatively empty with short lines. It was great!



Hannah and Humpty Dumpty.




Our first stop per Hannah, the roller coaster. I got to ride with Hannah first since I was pregnant with Emme last year and didn't go any of the "fun" rides. Hannah screamed at the top of her lungs the entire time. I had to keep looking at her between laughing to make sure she was still having fun. And she was...

Second stop, the circus. Same exact show as last year, but Hannah was much more into it this year. Asked her favorite part...the popcorn. Figures. And well, Emme was getting hungry and no one was listening apparently. Poor thing. Once the circus started though, she was mesmerized by all of the sights and sounds.

Taking a drink from the lion drinking fountain.

After a visit to Cinderella's castle and a chat with Cinderella, Hannah and I rode her coach down the hill.

Emme's first carousel ride.

On the pirate ship. Hannah was so adorable. The guide told us we had to row away from Black Beard who was trying to get our ship since we were trying to steal his treasure. Hannah took her job very seriously.

On the ferris wheel.

Hannah and Cinderella. This was the second day we were here when Joe and I saw Cinderella walking through the park. Joe hurried over first while I distracted Hannah to make sure it was the same Cinderella we had seen before. Already, Hannah had a lot of doubts about this Cinderella...from why she wore different shoes (flats vs. glass slippers), why her hair wasn't yellow, etc.

We had a great time at Storyland and were very tired! Emme was a champ and was mostly hanging out on Daddy in the baby bjorn. The park even had mama houses (changing tables, chairs for nursing/feeding) that made our trip even better, especially since Emme is easily distracted these days during feeding. Too much to see.

Now to camp for a week.

North Conway, NH

This year, we decided to stay a few days in North Conway while we went to Storyland (last year was a day trip from camp). We stayed at the Grand Hotel which completely catered to children, it was great! And even better, it had outlets next door (you can literally see them in the first picture). Once Joe booked the hotel, I looked online and saw the outlets....big mistake for Joe! He'll learn.

Anyway, the hotel was great and we left lots of time for playing and swimming there. At the kiddie pool.

Swimming in the big pool. Joe taught her how to doggie paddle too so that she can stop and take a breath while swimming. She's so improved this Summer and almost swam the width of the pool by herself. There was also an indoor pool which was great when it rained all day on Saturday.

At the playground (at the hotel). Emme's first time on the swings. She loved it!

Hannah on the big kid playground. It was supposed to be for kids over 5, but good luck from keeping our climber from this "rock wall".

Ice cream social at the hotel. The hotel also had movie night every night along with the ice cream social, but it never seemed to mesh with our mealtime/bedtime so we would just stop in at the ice cream social when we got home each night. Hannah loved building her own sundae.

Since we were up in the mountains, the hotel had a moose theme. This was in the lobby, but there was also a "moose" (someone dressed up in costume) that came around at breakfast to say hello. The cutest thing, Hannnah telling a little girl that she saw a "real" moose at breakfast, not like this fake one she was standing next to apparently.

We had so much fun! And the main reason for our visit...Storyland....pictures to come.

Start of our 2 week vacation

Get ready for a bunch of posts! (well as I have time within the next few days).

We just recently took a 2 week vacation. The first part of our trip was spent around town....going to the p0ol, into Boston, etc.

Here's Emme at the pool while I was changing her. Happy baby?? Even complaining, she is adorable.


A trip to Castle Island in Boston. Hot dogs, playground, beach, and a walk around. The coolest thing is to be on the beach with the airplanes right over head as they are landing at Logan nearby.

Before the pigeons were chased by Hannah.

On the swan boats in the Public Garden. We went on the swan boats when we came to Boston after Hannah's adoption trip.

Make way for duckling statues. (It's a book about ducks in and around Boston)

Frollicking in Frog Pond in the Commons. (This is where we go ice skating in the winter)

And Hannah's mandatory picture with the frogs.

We also made a stop in Chinatown and had dim sum for dinner. Yummy. And then to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Storyland for part 2.