Granny delaBastide sent us this pic (thanks papa ric) and i thought i'd share it with you. She just had a birthday in July and is going strong. She is a real character and makes us laugh every time we speak to her. For example. most recently on our trip a few months ago, she grabbed a handful of my midsection and told me i was looking chubby. uh... i just had a baby like a few weeks ago granny-cut a girl some slack!! LOL
Much love to our florida family- soon to be growing now that GrandmaRose and Grandaddy Bill are headed south for the fall!
another oldie but goodie sesame street clip. i just love being able to pull up a 1 min video for madeline. youtube rocks for this as a little reward or treat without the committment of a whole episode of anything. And it just so happens that there are some really nice values asserted in the older episodes especially.
ok. so mom was a little flighty hippie but its a nice explanation and since m has so often been found nursing her dolls these days it was appropros.
We took a family fun day to the Aquarium in riverhead bc it was always my favorite place to go with kids when i was living on LI. Shawn remembers when i dragged him and Chris there a thousand years ago and Ryan was glad to go in Chris' place (hockey of course kept him from the fun!).
The best part by far, is always the feeding of the stingrays- madeline was thrilled but i actually think don enjoyed it the most. they swim right up to you and suck the little sardines out of your hand and you can pet them and see them up close.
Here they are at one of the touch tanks and Ryan is getting a lesson in horshoe crab ettiquite- never pick one up bu its tail bc it serves as the creatures eye and leg and its just not fair to injure it.
Thanks guys for bearing with us as we schlepped through all of that traffic. It was great to get out on this field trip with you. I know it made madeline's trip that much more fun!
it is so hard to capture a picture of a baby's first tooth. so small so white so hard to get up close to and so sharp! ouch- its like a fang!
It appeared on 8/18 and the next day we could already feel the one next to it coming up. Tonight i think he is working on cutting that second tooth because he is having a hard time sleeping and is going through crying spells. poor little man. we are all hoping they come quickly and easily from here on out.
Harley pic courtesy of the Smiths of hither and yon... so glad we got to spend some time laughing and catching up together- sorry i neglected to take any pics but at least the bike made it to the blog!
This little boy has been rolling belly to back regularly now and has done a few back to belly rolls too
Last week, while on vacation he cut his first tooth - bottom left, and last night we noticed the one next to it is close too. He had one night of going down difficultly for sleep but other than that he barely complained. He is such a mild tempered, happy baby.
I wasnt going to post these bc it was a very personal day but i think our audience would love to see these... esp that one ^
We loved seeing our family during our vacation this past week. It worked out perfectly that we got to see everyone in one big whirlwind road trip!
Here are a couple of family pics since you got to see our adventures in amherst with friends already.
These are all from the sunday before we took the ferry to conn/mass when we got to attend the bench dedication ceremony that my mom put together for Dennis. it was a beautiful way to celebrate his life and we were all awed and proud when mom got up and said a few words to mark the occassion, to the crowd.
more pics from club fidotta with mike and olga smith but i've yet to upload and this week looks busy so hold on anonymous ;)
posing in their matching t's. Thanks Sara and Gareth- we loved them and Olivia if you didnt'notice by the fact that we read it every day :) Eamon and Sara at the museum Don and Bennett getting some QT in on dad's week off from work!! Seriously, Madeline loves Claire- look she shared Elmo with her ...
Hide and seek before bedtime- we will miss these little girls squealing for joy. Claire has been such a fantastic friend this week, to Madeline and Bennett- has shown compassion and sensitivity to our children and, it comes as no surprise that she has an incredible generosity when sharing her home, her things, her mom and dad and her world with us. We hope that so much has rubbed off on Madeline :)
We had such a wonderful time here in Amherst and have loved reconnecting with you guys. It will be so hard to go tomorrow knowing that it will likely be a long stretch again between visits but bittersweet because it has served to remind us how lucky we are to have your family as our friends and that friendship does not fade with distance. You have been generous hosts so far beyond our expectations and hopes and have made this such a week to remember. Thank you so much Sara, Gareth, Claire and Eamon. We love you guys. xoox
We had a wonderful adventure today with our friends Eamon and Claire. Sara took us to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and we got to see some of our favorite books, spend time in their reading library, art studio where we watercolored Carle-esque illustrations, crawl around in the very hungry caterpillar tunnel and generally have a kidtastic time. The girls continue to impress us with the way they share and cooperate and seem to just love spending time together. The time apart has not changed a thing :)
Rockville has a host of fun things to do in its busy town square. In the summer we have monday night -cheap date night (restaurants do 1/2 price, Tuesday is kids night and they fill the square with families watching a children's performer (jugglers, singers, puppeteers, comedians etc), Wed is movie night and everyone comes out with their chairs and blankets, Fri is happy hour and they do an adult only event on the rooftop terrace and Thurs is music in the square... our favorite. We have tried to make it to each summer music night they held (but we surely did not attend all 11). This week was the last of the concert series and was a brass quartet playing musicals and jazz and just about everything. And on Tues we saw a great show by Zak Morgan and Madeline loved seeing her friends for the last time in the square.
Bennett getting strong and curious Definately teething- evidenced by soggy shirts, and mommy's gnawed on knuckles, elbows, shoulders, hair, fingers, wrist- anthing he can grab, as well as his fascination with putting anything cloth or plastic into his mouth to explore. Looks like bottom teeth are coming first but what do i know?
Thanks Anonymous, for reminding me to get posting. We here at Club Mann have had fewer than 4 hrs sleep (accumulated) each night for the past 13 or so. Last night was a welcome relief at not only 6 hrs sleep but 4 1/2 consecutive!
Im uploading some pics now and working on a post for today.
xoxo
ps: Hey Anonymous- Come for a visit!- then you wont even need a blog to keep you up to date ;) pps: I did update the blog- This week I changed layouts so that comments could be seen on the right side -> and i added a new feature to 'call us' from your computer.
ppps: Viewership is down, according to my google anayltics. only 70 visitors this week and like 10% come from Moira's blog (thanks for the link MB). Nobody in russia or japan or alaska viewed this month and my friends viewing on safari and chrome are not pulling their weight. a little incentive people...!
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