tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73888295369917663892024-03-13T13:23:28.895-04:00DnAThe Life and Times of Dashiell & AureliaSuzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.comBlogger341125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-32029043132638627792015-05-12T15:34:00.000-04:002015-05-12T15:34:02.488-04:00People, we have a 7-year-old!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So this little, sweet baby just turned seven last month. SEVEN. No longer is he this tiny little thing (who was never actually a <i>tiny </i>baby at all, as he was born at a whopping 9 lbs!), he is this tall, thoughtful, sweet, silly, smart seven year old, capable of holding interesting conversations, telling funny jokes, giving awesome hugs, thinking through complex problems and so much more!<br />
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Since his birthday fell on Easter this year, we got to celebrate it 3
times! Once the day before with just the immediate family, once on
Easter with the extended family, and once the following week with his
friends. Lucky kid! And lucky us, getting to celebrate with him! <br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Celebrating the day before his birthday with a birthday donut!</span></div>
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The day before his big day, Rick, Aurelia and I gathered around the birthday donuts, sang "Happy Birthday" to Dashiell, and gave him our gift - a new aquarium for his room! He and Rick set it up, then we all headed over to the pet store to pick out his new fish friends! We went with Tetra since they are small "community" fish and we could comfortably fit 4 fish in D's tank without fear of overcrowding. Dashiell picked out four different colors of tetra and immediately gave them names. The red fish is Fred (it rhymes), green is Bib (your guess is as good as mine!), yellow is Goldie (natch), and the purple is She-sha (because it sounds girly and the purple fish is very pretty and feminine).<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The family hams it up with the fish</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell, CLEARLY excited about his new fish friends!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Aurelia needs to get in on the action, too</span> </div>
To say that Dashiell is thrilled with his fish is an understatement! All weekend long he kept telling me it was the "best gift ever" and giving me the biggest hugs! He reads books to his fish, tells them stories, films them whenever he gets the chance...It's pretty awesome. And it tells me that we need more pets, but that probably won't happen for a while so we'll settle for fish!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Easter eggs the kids colored with Grandpa </span></div>
The next day - Dashiell's actual birthday - was Easter! So the kids got us up early, hunted for Easter eggs, and ate tons of candy. Or at least Aurelia ate tons of candy. She's like me, and has no control over sugary foods. Dashiell, on the other hand, asks permission for each piece of candy. Such a rules follower! We ate a good breakfast, then made Dashiell's birthday cake. He requested a "number" cake like Aurelia had for her birthday. I think his turned out even better!<br />
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Of course the kids helped with the sprinkles, which means I'm still cleaning up sprinkles over a month later. Of course.<br />
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That afternoon we headed over the the grandparents' house for an Easter/Dashiell's Birthday celebration. I'm totally a fan of the combined celebration, especially when it's not at my house! <br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Waiting to blow out the candles!</span></div>
So all in all it was a fabulous weekend! But wait, the celebration was not over yet!<br />
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The next weekend we had a small party at our house for Dashiell and his friends. He wanted to have an "art" party, which was pretty fun to plan! We had a painting station for any kids who wanted to create their own artwork (about half of them did, the rest were too busy running around the yard - yes it was nice enough to have most of the party outside!). We also had a bean bag toss and a paper airplane making/throwing contest. Inside we had various snacks and a decorate-your-own-cupcake station. <br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Everyone getting into the paper airplane contest!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Paint chip banner</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Happy Birthday banner!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Snacks, including rainbow fruit kabobs and pretzel "paintbrushes"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Decorate-your-own-Cupcake station</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Everyone had fun with all the sprinkles!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">We attempted to do a "photo booth", but I think Aurelia was the only one who tried it out!</span></div>
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We think everyone had a pretty good time! We were blessed with lovely weather, and counted ourselves lucky that most everyone who was invited was able to come over! And most importantly, Dashiell loved it all! <br />
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Happy 7th Birthday to my sweet little boy! I hope the next year is even better than the last!<br />
Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-48841970855867003842015-03-20T16:25:00.000-04:002015-03-20T16:25:54.952-04:00Lookin' sharp!So...last month there was a vision screening at Dashiell's school, and - not surprisingly - Dashiell did <b>not</b> pass it. Given that Rick has had glasses since he was 9, and I also wear glasses (though I didn't get mine until I was about 30), we kind of knew this day was coming. So after a quick visit to the pediatrician's office for another screening, which he also did not pass, we made an appointment for the ophthalmologist! <br />
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Prior to the appointment, I asked Dashiell how many kids in his class already had glasses. He didn't know, so we checked out the class photo. At the beginning of the year, there were already 4 bespectacled kids in his class! He did tell me that one of his friends was writing a book on glasses (the 1st graders are all writing non-fiction books this year*) and said his favorite part about what his friend wrote was about the nose pads. Of course it is.<br />
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At the appointment, Dashiell did great! He really loved looking through the refractor (fancy name for that machine you look through when they're trying to determine your prescription), and answered all the questions clearly and definitively. They didn't even need to dilate his eyes.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Checking out the Refractor</span></div>
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The verdict was that yes, he does need glasses, but only to see long distances. His Rx is about as strong as mine (which is to say, not very strong). When he's at school he needs them to see the white board, and at home he needs them to watch TV, but he doesn't need them to read or do homework. <br />
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Right after the appointment we went to pick out glasses! He narrowed it down to the two pairs available that had red on the sides and had nose guards (natch).<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pair #1 - black wire frames</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pair #2 - pewter wire frames</span></div>
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He chose the first pair - black wire frames with nose guards and red temples. Very good choice!<br />
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So then we waited for a WHOLE WEEK before they came in. In the meantime, this happened:<br />
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That front tooth that looked like it was going to come out since before Christmas FINALLY came out! Yes!<br />
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And now, as of Wednesday, Dashiell Hanson is the proud (and handsome!) owner of some awesome glasses!<br />
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He was so excited to get them! And sure, I might be a bit biased but I have to say that glasses make him look even cuter than he already was! I mean, look at him! Glasses and a missing tooth?! Get out!<br /><br />
Of course, now that all of her family members have glasses, Miss Aurelia is chomping at the bit to get a pair, too. She saw a purple pair at the optical shop that she thinks she should own. Not sure about that, but maybe if we can find a cheap pair of fake glasses, we'll humor her.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>*If you were wondering what non-fiction book Dashiell is writing for school, it's a non-fiction book about writing a non-fiction book: <u>Writing for Money</u>. Follow his rules, don't make mistakes, and people will buy your book and you can make money. Truth!</i></span><br />
Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-51313252138822313312015-03-13T12:08:00.002-04:002015-03-13T12:08:38.996-04:00"You take a picture of my scome?"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Comic by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FowlLanguageComics" target="_blank">Fowl Language Comics</a></span></div>
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Okay, I saw this comic the other day and it just made me crack up. I can totally hear Aurelia's voice when I read this, because she is always mispronouncing things, and I cannot bring myself to correct her because it's SO DARN CUTE!! Of course Dashiell, being the smart big brother that he is, has no problem correcting her! So at least someone in the family is doing their job. Otherwise she'll end up like <a href="http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/boops-bonus-panel/" target="_blank">this</a>.<br />
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A couple of weeks ago she and I were at Starbucks, enjoying a couple petite vanilla bean scones, and like all smartphone carrying moms I decided it was a perfect time for a few pictures. I got a cute one of her smiling, then she held up her treat and said, "You take a picture of my scome?"<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Aurelia and her "scome"</span></div>
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Back in October when my mom and aunt Diane were visiting, for the life of her Aurelia could not say "Auntie Diane". So from that point forward, Diane has been known as "Dauntie I-ane" (pronounced "eye-an"). Aunt D now signs all of her correspondence to us as Dauntie Iane.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell, Aurelia and Dauntie Iane</span></div>
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Aurelia also likes to play with the "magans" (magnets) on the refrigerator. I often thinks she's saying she wants to play with our friend Meghan, but no, it's magnets.<br />
<br />
A couple other phrases:<br />
"I can't want to do that" (she can't do it, or doesn't want to do it, depending on the situation)<br />
"I hope I miss you!" (said as we part, really meaning "I'll miss you", but it's cuter the way she says it!)<br />
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<b>Drawing! </b><br />
<br />
On a completely different subject, Aurelia had a total drawing breakthrough on Wednesday! Up until now, her drawings have been mostly just scribbles, with a few (probably accidental) circles and amorphous blobs thrown in for good measure:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QKfM4-herU0/VQMH-2sg_hI/AAAAAAAADYw/dRIZWZWkrRs/s1600/20150312_201217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QKfM4-herU0/VQMH-2sg_hI/AAAAAAAADYw/dRIZWZWkrRs/s1600/20150312_201217.jpg" height="320" width="229" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Drawing completed earlier in the day on Wednesday</span></div>
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But then, that afternoon, she started drawing "things". Things that look like things. It started with this collection of things, which included but was not limited to 2 yellow whales, a banana and a black and brown egg (hey, her drawing, her color choices!):<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-93MOaUHgtFI/VQMIAm5mriI/AAAAAAAADZA/P0CehsW0JwM/s1600/20150312_201153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-93MOaUHgtFI/VQMIAm5mriI/AAAAAAAADZA/P0CehsW0JwM/s1600/20150312_201153.jpg" height="222" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Her things look like actual things, right?</span></div>
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<i>Side note: Dashiell decided to "grade" her pictures, and put gold check marks on all of the drawings except one, which he marked "okay". Helpful!</i><br />
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Then she decided to draw a picture of Rick (well, first she said it was a picture of a doctor "for daddy", but then decided it <i>was</i> daddy):<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SqmoWKczwqA/VQMH_jyDUOI/AAAAAAAADY4/7s7wYlNS1KA/s1600/20150311_124311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SqmoWKczwqA/VQMH_jyDUOI/AAAAAAAADY4/7s7wYlNS1KA/s1600/20150311_124311.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Daddy! With a plane flying into his mouth!</span></div>
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Since then she's been drawing all sorts of things! It's really exciting to see her figure all this out!Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-41776851936802740842015-03-06T15:12:00.003-05:002015-03-06T15:12:30.008-05:00DumpGuys. GUYS. It's been such a long time! I don't even know where to begin. In the time since I last posted, so much has happened! <br />
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We've had the <b>Topsfield Fair:</b><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-94cPq2eb_3w/VPn3wd9lI7I/AAAAAAAADNU/ImC4L6D76lQ/s1600/20141011_142446.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-94cPq2eb_3w/VPn3wd9lI7I/AAAAAAAADNU/ImC4L6D76lQ/s1600/20141011_142446.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell shows Aurelia how to feed the chickens!</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pkKg_bu97P0/VPn7fO2MsWI/AAAAAAAADQk/YrAUyF4VjXQ/s1600/20141011_141646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pkKg_bu97P0/VPn7fO2MsWI/AAAAAAAADQk/YrAUyF4VjXQ/s1600/20141011_141646.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell gets to hold a baby chick! Cute!</span></div>
<b>A visit from my mom and aunt:</b><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qBDzWwK95N0/VPn4K2hC8vI/AAAAAAAADNc/dWnBIlTQA_w/s1600/20141018_111822.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qBDzWwK95N0/VPn4K2hC8vI/AAAAAAAADNc/dWnBIlTQA_w/s1600/20141018_111822.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Train" ride with Auntie Diane (or as Aurelia calls her "Dantie I-ane")</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TLp-U_PPCAI/VPn4MsHcmnI/AAAAAAAADNk/ZtA4VeUM5bU/s1600/20141020_115918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TLp-U_PPCAI/VPn4MsHcmnI/AAAAAAAADNk/ZtA4VeUM5bU/s1600/20141020_115918.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Mom and Diane enjoying a tasty lunch!</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WibPN-4_U0A/VPn4N9hXNzI/AAAAAAAADNs/-D36BrOg_NA/s1600/20141020_144537.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WibPN-4_U0A/VPn4N9hXNzI/AAAAAAAADNs/-D36BrOg_NA/s1600/20141020_144537.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Mom (grandma) reads to Ms. A</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bA65PmZfxf0/VPn4O-Y3qLI/AAAAAAAADN0/sQSvpIo0oFA/s1600/20141020_184325.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bA65PmZfxf0/VPn4O-Y3qLI/AAAAAAAADN0/sQSvpIo0oFA/s1600/20141020_184325.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Cheese"</span></div>
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<b>Halloween:</b><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q7mipmhVwNA/VPn6TPVPsPI/AAAAAAAADP8/Gm6jvvmMbOI/s1600/20141025_131142.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q7mipmhVwNA/VPn6TPVPsPI/AAAAAAAADP8/Gm6jvvmMbOI/s1600/20141025_131142.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">My little purple pumpkin!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AWm6XRo7vD0/VPn5X4KX5LI/AAAAAAAADO0/1fhZZ6s1h0g/s1600/20141025_131854.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AWm6XRo7vD0/VPn5X4KX5LI/AAAAAAAADO0/1fhZZ6s1h0g/s1600/20141025_131854.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ready to trick or treat!</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nJhhhnU9_1o/VPn5WIK3GNI/AAAAAAAADOs/GpSpSeaqSpM/s1600/20141025_132059.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nJhhhnU9_1o/VPn5WIK3GNI/AAAAAAAADOs/GpSpSeaqSpM/s1600/20141025_132059.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Vampire boy!</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b_Fm73cXi90/VPn5aQI65lI/AAAAAAAADO8/kz0CBJEzp1Q/s1600/20141026_161524.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b_Fm73cXi90/VPn5aQI65lI/AAAAAAAADO8/kz0CBJEzp1Q/s1600/20141026_161524.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Carving the smallest pumpkin ever!</span></div>
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<b>Thanksgiving:</b><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v0_Zjt5Hl0M/VPn6V1wvXTI/AAAAAAAADQM/Zr0VYhsxnaQ/s1600/20141112_104836.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v0_Zjt5Hl0M/VPn6V1wvXTI/AAAAAAAADQM/Zr0VYhsxnaQ/s1600/20141112_104836.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">My turkey</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7cxZnps6svE/VPn6XQe5KWI/AAAAAAAADQU/FEJo76PAAL4/s1600/20141105_081757.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7cxZnps6svE/VPn6XQe5KWI/AAAAAAAADQU/FEJo76PAAL4/s1600/20141105_081757.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell's Thanksgiving decorations</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YCz3MGurRgU/VPn6U0G7UiI/AAAAAAAADQE/luIGW9iCiG8/s1600/20141105_083502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YCz3MGurRgU/VPn6U0G7UiI/AAAAAAAADQE/luIGW9iCiG8/s1600/20141105_083502.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Aurelia's Thanksgiving decorations</span></div>
<b>Christmas:</b><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rHzQ-LuyXKQ/VPn9muG3_xI/AAAAAAAADQ4/3sWJedMmOKo/s1600/20141126_172744.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rHzQ-LuyXKQ/VPn9muG3_xI/AAAAAAAADQ4/3sWJedMmOKo/s1600/20141126_172744.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">First snowman of the year!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KudhKpnnpTE/VPn9n5D16HI/AAAAAAAADRA/t5fq8k5amGk/s1600/20141129_125856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KudhKpnnpTE/VPn9n5D16HI/AAAAAAAADRA/t5fq8k5amGk/s1600/20141129_125856.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">A ride on the Holly Jolly Trolley in downtown Lowell</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1NZAmU8NM0E/VPn9luzXwII/AAAAAAAADQw/qeQIDdS9pm4/s1600/20141202_173445.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1NZAmU8NM0E/VPn9luzXwII/AAAAAAAADQw/qeQIDdS9pm4/s1600/20141202_173445.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Official visit to Santa</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tc00i0DK0n0/VPn9pJohcnI/AAAAAAAADRI/urNt1DePRW4/s1600/20141204_182240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tc00i0DK0n0/VPn9pJohcnI/AAAAAAAADRI/urNt1DePRW4/s1600/20141204_182240.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Bonus visit to Santa (he showed up at the Spaghetti dinner at Dashiell's school)!</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_SaByk1L63E/VPn9q3ejerI/AAAAAAAADRQ/a600Ass1F0M/s1600/20141210_154339.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_SaByk1L63E/VPn9q3ejerI/AAAAAAAADRQ/a600Ass1F0M/s1600/20141210_154339.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell's letter to Santa</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BJv8HHypPlg/VPn9rDb21bI/AAAAAAAADRU/2vZ95OA16UQ/s1600/20141213_185131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BJv8HHypPlg/VPn9rDb21bI/AAAAAAAADRU/2vZ95OA16UQ/s1600/20141213_185131.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-klIR_OQ8_oE/VPn9sXBZdxI/AAAAAAAADRg/5RY4POdltO8/s1600/20141213_185403.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-klIR_OQ8_oE/VPn9sXBZdxI/AAAAAAAADRg/5RY4POdltO8/s1600/20141213_185403.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rudolph - the Musical!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s8mZmUVW43Q/VPn-_auCPJI/AAAAAAAADR0/1OiBOZYLPDI/s1600/20141224_143447.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s8mZmUVW43Q/VPn-_auCPJI/AAAAAAAADR0/1OiBOZYLPDI/s1600/20141224_143447.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Aurelia's Christmas "princess" dress</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HJ8MRvaO3WE/VPn--Frbd9I/AAAAAAAADRs/Ayf2THUBOFM/s1600/20141224_171821.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HJ8MRvaO3WE/VPn--Frbd9I/AAAAAAAADRs/Ayf2THUBOFM/s1600/20141224_171821.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell looking all dapper!</span></div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><b>Aurelia's 3rd birthday:</b><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-epwsBjMWWkA/VPoAKRHsbxI/AAAAAAAADSI/bkbxaacp1lY/s1600/20150106_185916.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-epwsBjMWWkA/VPoAKRHsbxI/AAAAAAAADSI/bkbxaacp1lY/s1600/20150106_185916.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZB49tlvF7eo/VPoAKsREoUI/AAAAAAAADSM/Q9TcCxuqaYk/s1600/20150106_190159.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZB49tlvF7eo/VPoAKsREoUI/AAAAAAAADSM/Q9TcCxuqaYk/s1600/20150106_190159.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Celebrating with a "family" birthday cake the day before her birthday</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m0sI1Pp74yo/VPoAMV3lAbI/AAAAAAAADSY/mzYAJZu8eLA/s1600/20150111_174413.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m0sI1Pp74yo/VPoAMV3lAbI/AAAAAAAADSY/mzYAJZu8eLA/s1600/20150111_174413.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The official birthday party cake!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oBEpVbnf8LE/VPoAPcGyLHI/AAAAAAAADSg/X40gjNvN6i0/s1600/20150111_174548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oBEpVbnf8LE/VPoAPcGyLHI/AAAAAAAADSg/X40gjNvN6i0/s1600/20150111_174548.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Blow out the candles!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sXvNB2aP0T8/VPoAQGulK-I/AAAAAAAADSo/HiFT6s2TnZY/s1600/20150111_174620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sXvNB2aP0T8/VPoAQGulK-I/AAAAAAAADSo/HiFT6s2TnZY/s1600/20150111_174620.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7xLGo42ugpM/VPoARSiiBhI/AAAAAAAADSw/nS6F-K-e18Y/s1600/20150111_174631.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7xLGo42ugpM/VPoARSiiBhI/AAAAAAAADSw/nS6F-K-e18Y/s1600/20150111_174631.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">My silly 3 year old!</span></div>
<b>Many, many snow days</b> (D missed 8 days of school due to the weather, and at last check Lowell had received about 115" of snow in just over a month):<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Baking cupcakes on snow day #1</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">So much snow - and this was just from the first snow storm!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">More snow day fun - building rocket ships and space helmets!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Making Valentine's cookies</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">I can't even remember which snow day this was...after a while they all blurred together!</span></div>
<b>Valentine's day:</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell made me two awesome valentines this year! A 3D flower made of hearts, and a "pop-up" picture of the two of us. Love!</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Our Valentine's day cake! It was pretty yummy...</span></div>
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<b>A visit from Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Danny:</b><br />
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<b>And a lot of other memorable, often silly, moments:</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ta-da!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Punk rock girl, sporting some blue "eyeshadow" (chalk)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Everyone pile on Daddy!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">My dollhouse arrived from Minnesota! Joy!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Practicing escaping from a smoke-filled building</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell loved the butter curl on his pancake plate</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Mommy-Dashiell "date" night. I wanted to go to a real restaurant, he wanted to go to McDonalds. Guess who won?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell reading his response at church during the special mass for 1st graders. He did great and read strong and clear!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Not strange at all to read while sitting in a basket of clean clothes. Not strange at all...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">"I'm a princess!" (???)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dr. Cool is in the house!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Skating lessons!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">They both improved so much in the few classes they had!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Watching movies on the inflatable bed that barely fits in the living room</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Sick day tea party!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Wonder Woman!</span></div>
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Soon it will be <i>Dashiell's 7th birthday,</i> and I'll have even more to catch up on! Woo-hoo!Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-60223239518846902432014-09-02T16:16:00.002-04:002014-09-02T16:16:32.464-04:00Random Summer Fun!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We had such a busy summer!! It's no wonder I didn't have time to attend to this blog! Not only did we have our Epic Road Trip and the super-fun Lego Superhero camp, but we had trips to the beach, swim lessons, museum visits, and just all-around fun! So, where to start?!?<br />
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<b>Swim Lessons!</b><br />
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This year both kiddos had swim lessons, not just Dashiell as had been the case in years past. Dashiell was finally in a "real" swim class, where the focus was less on getting used to the water and more on moving yourself through it. He did so great, and he LOVES to go swimming now.<b> </b>Aurelia was in the "mommy and me" class, which means I got to go swimming too! She also did pretty good, but about 15 minutes in to each class she would decide that she was DONE, and wouldn't want to do any of the lessons. She was fine still hanging out in the water, but wanted to do her own thing. That's my headstrong little girl!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell swimming on a noodle</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Hanging out on the playground equipment between classes</span></div>
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For fun, check out this picture of Aurelia hanging on this same bar last summer:</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Grow much?</span></div>
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I unfortunately don't have any pictures of Aurelia in the pool since I was always in the pool with her. Next year!</div>
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<b>Ecotarium!</b></div>
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So, a long time ago when Dashiell was in preschool, his school held a silent auction fundraiser. I bid on a couple of things, and of course "won" both. Didn't expect that! But one of the things I won was a pass for the <a href="http://www.ecotarium.org/" target="_blank">Ecotarium</a> in Worcester. We then promptly forgot that we had this pass, and over a year went by before I found it while digging through some papers on the desk. So finally we made it there! And it was a really good take! There is a ton of stuff to do and explore, and the kids had a blast!</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Bubble popping fun!</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Indoor rock climbing!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Wall of mist!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Glass floors!</span></div>
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In addition to the activities shown, there were animal shows, a hurricane simulator, big kinetic sculptures both inside and out, and a few things we didn't even get to try out, like the tree canopy walkway (complete with zip lines), the explorer express train (currently not in operation), and the planetarium. My only suggestion to anyone planning to visit the Ecotarium is to bring your own lunch or snacks - the only food the cafeteria has is of the vending machine variety. </div>
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<b>The Great Race!</b></div>
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Earlier this summer, our fair city of Lowell was part of an endurance car race called <a href="http://www.greatrace.com/" target="_blank">The Great Race</a>! So of course we had to go downtown and check it out! I'm still unclear about how this race works - as far as I can tell each car has their own goal times to make it from city to city down the East Coast, and the car that does the best with those goals wins. Or something like that. Anyway, Lowell was a stop on this race, so there were a TON of old cars about, plus a kids' play area and a parade of the cars involved in this race. It was really neat! </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Batmobile!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Cool old car</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Aurelia meeting "Lowla" - Lowell's mascot bear</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell running away from Lowla</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Hula-hooping in the kids' area</span></div>
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<b>Totally random summer fun!</b></div>
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There are so many other things that we did, too! And we have pictures to prove it!</div>
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We celebrated Nana's birthday! <br />
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We made 4th of July cupcakes!<br />
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We ran through the sprinklers and bubble maker!<br />
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We did a lot of swinging on swings!<br />
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We played at the lake! <br />
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We visited the petting zoo!<br />
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We went on a nature hike!<br />
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We went to the beach after our nature hike!</div>
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We stayed up late to see the Super Moon!</div>
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And we did many, many other activities! All in all, it was a fantastic summer, one that every summer after this will have to try hard to live up to!</div>
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Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-10728072420427166322014-09-02T14:45:00.000-04:002014-09-02T14:45:06.551-04:00Lego Camp!!Lego Superhero Camp, to be exact.<br />
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In researching camp options for Dashiell, I was thrilled to come across a listing for this awesome camp, and even more thrilled that it was located about 1.5 miles from our house! And that it started the day after we got back from Minnesota, so Dashiell could have something to look forward to after our big trip.<br />
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So when I signed him up for this camp, I was mostly focused on the fact that he got to play with Legos for a week, and have that play revolve around superheros. I had no idea how much he would be learning! The kids learned about a variety of tools, such as pulleys, magnets, levers and incline planes, and about a bunch of physics concepts, like kinetic versus potential energy and centrifugal force. Plus they got to work with engines to make their Lego creations move. And most importantly, they learned about teamwork! They worked in small groups and had to come up with solutions to problems together. The cutest thing was that they each got a superhero minifigure, and their superhero earned camp badges (Super Dashiell earned three of them!). It was a pretty darned cool camp, and I will totally sign him up for it again next year (assuming he wants to go to it, of course).<br />
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Here are a few pictures of his awesome creations:<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">A working magnetic crane!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">A robotic car!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Zip Lines!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(I love that he was showing Aurelia how to work the zip line, and her exclamation "I did it!" in the background...)</span></div>
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And the final project - a Superhero Lair!<br />
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Super Dashiell approves of his new Lair!<br />Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-45054260364042985102014-08-29T16:52:00.002-04:002014-08-29T16:52:37.534-04:00Our Minnesota Adventure!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This year on our annual trek to Minnesota we did the unthinkable: We drove, the whole way. Just over 1,600 miles in 3 days each way! It was long, and not particularly easy, but it was definitely an adventure! The kids did surprisingly well with the long trip - I think staying in hotels with pools really did the trick, since they had something to look forward to at the end of each day. We also got to see/meet a lot of friends, which was good for my well-being too!<br />
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While in Minnesota we had a wonderful time, visiting family and friends, and best yet, celebrating my sister Lisa's wedding! It was a lovely reason to make what was probably our most memorable trip out there to date!<br />
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Happy wedding, Lisa and Ami! We love you both and wish you a lifetime of happiness together!<br />
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I made a photo book documenting our journey that I think turned out pretty well! I hope the link works:<br />
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<a href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Bat2jdy2YsmF7&eid=118" rel="nofollow">Click here to view this photo book larger</a><div style="margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 425px;">
Shutterfly <a href="http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books" style="color: #6666cc;">photo books</a> are the new way to preserve your memories. Create your own today.</div>
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<br />Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-56307927174812418202014-08-29T15:55:00.001-04:002014-08-29T15:55:35.285-04:00Exit Kindergartener, Enter First Grader!So I just realized that I never blogged about Dashiell's last day of kindergarten, and yet just this week he started first grade! Two (short) months of an activity-filled summer happened in between those events, but for now I'm just going to focus on the school stuff!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Last day of kindergarten!</span></div>
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The end of kindergarten was bittersweet. Dashiell had a great year, and his teacher was amazing and really seemed to <i>get</i> him. I was sad to say goodbye to her, and so was Dashiell. But at the same time - summer! And the excitement of being a First Grader! That's the big leagues, baby! But...D knows that first grade means more homework and less social centers (play time), so he was a little sad and anxious about that as well.<br />
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The fact that he was given summer reading and math assignments did <i>not</i> help to make him feel less sad about leaving kindergarten. It was a big ol' reminder that school was just going to be harder and more taxing from here on out. And getting him to do the work was like pulling teeth! None of it was difficult, and in fact some of the math "assignments" were fun - playing card games, for instance, or visiting museums. But being dictated to do any work over the summer seems cruel and annoying, and not just for him! Who is the one who has to be the bad guy and make him do the work? Me. So it put a damper on my summer as well! Not that anyone is asking my opinion, but I am <i>so</i> anti-summer homework. Let kids be kids and have their freedom for a couple of months! Let them explore the world and make their own discoveries without the "help" of the school system. Summer is short enough as it is! <br />
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Rant over (until next summer, I'm sure).<br />
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School has been in session for a few days now, and Dashiell seems to be adjusting well. He has definitely been a little anxious (we're currently going through a bit of a sleep crisis), and there have been a couple of sad days at drop-off, but his teacher has told me that he's been great during the day.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Morning of the first day of school! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Aurelia of course had to get into the picture, too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Laughing because I told them to say "Toilet!" instead of cheese.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Whatever it takes to get a real smile, amiright? </span></div>
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As for his new teacher (Mrs. S.), she is <i>completely</i> different than his kindergarten teacher. Much higher energy, and as Dashiell told me "she's a little weird". I like weird, so I'm good with that! She seems like a very fun teacher, and will hopefully help Dashiell let loose a little bit! Not that I want him to clown around all day, but occasionally he could afford to be less serious at school, less lost-in-his-own-head. Mrs. S. seems like the type of teacher that helps bring you back to the present by not only teaching but entertaining. Let's hope my assessment is right and Dashiell has a <i>great, amazing, incredibly fun </i>year!Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-45082326014328522392014-06-13T15:06:00.002-04:002014-06-13T15:06:55.557-04:00Funny bunny (Aurelia-isms)<br />
Oh, Aurelia! My funny little girl! Always making us laugh, always up for a good tickle, always a bit dramatic (for good or ill!). <br />
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I wanted to share a few of the funny and cute things she does and says, mostly so I have these written down somewhere and can look back fondly on them when she's older, but also because she's just so darned awesome!<br />
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When I got home from work yesterday, I was greeted by Aurelia in Underwear. Dashiell's underwear, to be precise. On the outside of her clothes. I hear Dashiell had been doing the same thing, but the fact that she kept it up? Priceless.<br />
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She loves a good mustache, even if it's a "banana string" mustache. I guess Rick's <a href="http://babypending.blogspot.com/2013_12_01_archive.html" target="_blank">Movember</a> look really stuck with her!<br />
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She also loves making funny faces:<br />
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And jamming to songs the mommy and daddy way (she was copying our head-bob, duck-face car dance):<br />
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(bonus - can you name that artist and song?* It played on a now-defunct alternative radio station in Boston for about a minute probably 6 or 7 years ago. Rick dug up the CD a couple of weeks ago, and somehow we knew every.single.song, word for word)<br />
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And trying to be a daredevil on her trike:<br />
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I unfortunately don't have any video of this (yet!), but she does this funny dance all.the.time, where she sticks out her little tushy at us, wiggles it around, and sings "shake a bum bum! shake a bum bum!" Hi-larious! <br />
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The things I'm going to miss when she stops saying them:<br />
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Aurelia: "I a monkey - ooh-ee-ah-ah!"<br />
Me: "You're a monkey?!"<br />
Aurelia: "No, I 'Rea!"<br />
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"la you soon!" (combo of "love you" and "see you soon")<br />
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"'ere go Dacho!" ("here you go Dashiell", as she hands him things)<br />
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The way she says "ma-muh" in the middle of sentences - "I ma-muh take a nap!" (replacing "am going to", usually. Also this sentence is usually followed by her lying down on the steps, blocking our way up the stairs)<br />
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"Hey eya-body! I 'Rea!" ("Hey everybody, I'm Aurelia!" - her introduction of herself, which she's been practicing on us for weeks now)<br />
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In the same vein, "Hey eya-body, nacktime!" ("Hey everybody, snacktime!" when she decides it's time to have a snack.)<br />
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She also likes to announce "Bekfast time!" "Lunch time!" of "Dinner time!"<br />
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"'gen?" ("Again", which she says after every tickle, every wrestle, every bounce, every swing, every upside-down hold...really after anything she finds fun and awesome)<br />
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Her laugh. Oh, it's just the best! So uninhibited, so full of joy - I could listen to it all day! <i>Especially</i> when Dashiell is laughing with her. The way they feed off each other is so much fun! I'm pretty sure this is what everyone means when they say "you'll miss this time when they're grown up". Yup, I definitely will!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>*She wants Revenge, "Tear you Apart" - in hindsight, not the best song to play for a 2-year-old...</i></span>Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-9962952830391166832014-06-06T16:51:00.001-04:002014-06-06T16:51:27.200-04:00Kindergarten Author's Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Original poem by Dashiell W. Hanson </span></div>
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The school year is winding down (finally! What's with school lasting until the end of June in Massachusetts??), and last week Dashiell's school had their Kindergarten Author's Day - a celebration of the school year and a chance for all the kindies to show off all they learned during the year!<br />
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Let me tell you, Dashiell has learned a LOT. I often think about my own kindergarten experience, and how it was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like what Dashiell is experiencing. Mostly I remember having to take a nap on a carpet remnant, having milk and graham crackers as a snack, playing with the kitchen, and fighting with this boy named Johnny over the plastic toy stilts (those upside down cups with ropes attached? They were the BEST!). And getting read to, of course. Dashiell, on the other hand, is writing full sentences, analyzing stories, finding out how non-fiction books are organized, doing addition and subtraction (and starting to try to figure out multiplication), and writing poetry. He does have a rest time each day, and social centers (play time), and specials (music, art, computers, library or gym), and a short recess every day, but it's crazy how much these little 6-year-olds are learning now! But thankfully his big little brain is soaking it all in and figuring it all out.<br />
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Anyway, Author's Day was kind of a big deal. All the kids were so excited to show their families everything they worked so hard on this year! The first order of business was to show off all of their writing skills. Dashiell showed us his "Writing Book" first, which is a journal where they wrote and drew pictures about books that they read in class. <br />
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Here's a example from the beginning of the year, when they read Kitten's First Full Moon: <br />
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A lovely analysis of the beginning, middle and end of the story! (I like Kitten in the tree seeing the moon in the water below!)<br />
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At the end of the year, Dashiell wrote about and drew a picture about <a href="http://www.toddparr.com/" target="_blank">Todd Parr</a>, who I had never even heard of!<br />
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You can see he tried to draw in the style of Todd Parr, with the black outline around everything. Cool, huh?<br />
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Then Dashiell showed us some of the writing assignments he had completed through the year (the ones that did not get sent home to us previously).<br />
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Beginning of the year:<br />
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End of the year:<br />
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His writing has definitely improved!<br /><br />
Then he showed us his Poetry Book! This is not a book of his poetry, but a book where they illustrate poems they have read. <br />
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Beginning of the year:<br />
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End of the year:<br />
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After showing us his work, all of the kids went up to the front of the classroom and performed a number of songs for us! The finale was "Let it Go" from "Frozen". As Ms. Moroney was cuing up the music, she told us that they listen to music every day and one day when they put this song on she was "surprised" to find out that every child knew every word to it! (A little sarcasm, perhaps...)<br />
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The final event was a slideshow from the year. It was so cute to hear all the kids yelling out the names of whoever was on the screen. They were all so excited!<br />
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We were not allowed to take pictures of the event due to a school policy on privacy, but I did get a picture of Dashiell and Aurelia after the event!<br />
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She was almost as excited to be there as he was, sang along to all the songs she knew, and went up and sat with Dashiell on the "rainbow rug" when the slideshow was taking place. I must say it was adorable (at least to us!).<br /><br />
Dashiell's teacher and the paras in his room did a great job with the whole program! We are going to miss them so much when the school year ends - we couldn't have asked for a better kindergarten experience for our special <strike>little</strike> big guy!<br />
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Before I sign off, I wanted to add a couple more drawings and assignments that Dashiell has done this year that I am particularly fond of! The first was from another school journal, where they could write or draw about anything they wanted:<br />
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I love how he showed the progression from seed to flower in six simple drawings!<br />
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Next is the assignment he did for his writing homework right after his birthday party at Jump on In:<br />
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It totally looks like the bounce house slide they have! And it makes <i>me</i> happy to see him write about how happy he was!<br /><br />
And lastly, this is a drawing he did on his own at home, of the whole layout of our house!<br />
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The amount of detail is incredible, even with such simple pictures! And everything is there, in the right place! The car is in the driveway, the trees are in front of the house on either side of the walkway, there's a dining room, a kitchen with the wall of cabinets, the living room with the couch, ottoman, TV, and chairs, everything! I love it!<br />
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It's been a great year full of growth and exploration! I hope next year is just as awesome! Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-91860735501514747652014-06-05T16:26:00.000-04:002014-06-05T16:26:13.958-04:00Fashionista!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The fashion gene is strong in this one. Opinions abound regarding clothing choices. I think it started way back last fall, when she discovered her strawberry skirt and wanted to wear it any time she noticed it in her drawer.<br />
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Then came the accessorizing.<br />
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And the ever-present hats.<br />
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Not to mention her excitement about wearing "Minnie-bows"!<br />
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(and tutus, of course)<br />
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She also has her supermodel/superstar poses down pat.<br />
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(though in that last picture she had declared "I take a nap!" before striking that pose - but seriously, doesn't that look like something you'd see in a fashion mag? You can imagine a photographer saying "now, try to look comfortable, like you're about to take a nap!" and this is what the model came up with. Pure "comfort")<br />
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But in the past couple of weeks, it hit a new high. First, we went shoe shopping for some new sandals about two weeks ago. As I handed her a shoe box with some practical but pretty pink sandals in them, she opened them and literally <i>squealed</i> with delight. Squealed. And couldn't wait to put them on! It should be noted that I am decidedly <b>not</b> shoe-obsessed, and while I do have a few pairs of pretty shoes, they are also inexpensive, comfortable and practical. People who care about such things would look at my feet and think, "there's a mom who just doesn't care anymore". So I have no idea where she gets this love of shoes! <br />
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I should also point out that after trying on two pairs of sandals, Aurelia was convinced that she wanted the less-practical white-with-a-pink-flower sandals over the more practical shoe. I promptly hid those until she forgot they existed, and now she is the proud owner of some very pink yet practical sandals!<br />
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Second, we were invited to a 50th anniversary party for the parents of one of Rick's long-time friends. As I was pulling out Aurelia's fancy dresses (she has waaayyy too many of them, by the way - fancy dresses seem to be a favorite gift to give to little girls), I showed her two dresses that I knew she was going to grow out of soon so we could get some use out of them. Both pink, but one more pink than the other. Without a moment's hesitation, she pointed at the "more pink" dress and yelled "<b>PINK!!!</b>" and insisted on wearing that one. I was thankful it actually <i>did</i> fit her - I shudder to think what would have happened if it was too small! When we got her in the dress, she kept saying, "I a princess!" Once again, a bit out of the blue since we are not a "princess" family. I never liked her wearing clothing that proclaimed her a princess, and she has more doctor and superhero dress-up clothing than anything remotely princess-y. The pink thing I can understand - it's hard to find clothing and toys for girls that <i>aren't</i> pink. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The flip side to her fashion-loving ways is that she is constantly telling me my dress (which is sometimes a shirt or a skirt) looks nice - "I like a dress. Pretty!". And that's pretty darn nice to hear, even if it is from a two-year-old! She even told me <i>I</i> was a princess on the night of the party. Aww...<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Me and my princess</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(apologies for the light behind my head) </span></div>
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Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-37781996151988638272014-05-29T15:52:00.001-04:002014-05-29T15:52:24.366-04:00All the World's a Stage!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Back in March, my little girl decided it was time to climb out of her crib. Oh no! We had hoped she would last in the crib for a little bit longer - say, until she was 4 - but she wasn't down with that. So, off went one side of the crib and she's been blissfully (sort of) sleeping in her toddler bed ever since!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">First night in the toddler bed! Aww...</span></div>
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Aurelia couldn't be happier with this arrangement! Not only does it give her the opportunity to roam her room unhindered by her <strike>cage</strike> crib, but the toddler bed also makes for a fantastic stage! Hence, we've had a lot of this:<br />
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And this:<br />
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And this:<br /><br />
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<i>(side note - blogger won't let me post the video I </i>really<i> want to post, in which Dashiell gets in on the dancing! So frustrating to get a unspecified error message!!)</i><br />
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So not only does Aurelia have a "new" place to sleep, she also has a new place to perform! What more could a girl ask for?Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-31586638573547120232014-05-29T14:38:00.002-04:002014-05-29T14:40:14.369-04:00Field Trip!Back in April (April 29th, to be exact) I was asked to be a parent helper during Dashiell's field trip to Drumlin Farm. Asked, because when your kid has food allergies the school really <i>really <b>really </b></i>wants you to be the one responsible for shooting your kid with an epipen if he ventures somewhere outside of the realm of the school nurse and happens to have an allergy attack. And while I was pretty sure that wouldn't happen, I was happy to oblige them anyway!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Selfie on the bus! Still smiling! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Selfie on the farm, crazy-mom style</span></div>
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So the weather for that day called for a high of about 57 degrees, and while I getting ready that morning I checked the temp, and it was already about 56 degrees. "Great!" I thought, "Maybe it will warm up a little more than expected and hit 60!". So I told Dashiell to wear a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, and zip up hoodie sweatshirt. Layer, so if he gets too warm he can always remove a layer. I wore a long sleeve shirt and a light spring jacket. Such optimism! Turns out the temp I saw in the morning was the highest it would get all day, and it would only get COLDER as the day wore on. By mid-day it was 42 degrees, windy, with off-and-on sprinkles, and we were whoafully underdressed. Huge mom fail! Dashiell was miserable, poor kid.<br />
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But despite the cold, it was a nice field trip. Drumlin Farm has a lot to see, and our guide was very knowledgeable and informative. The farmers were planting things, we got to go into the (warm!) greenhouse, the kids pet a chicken and some sheep, a goat escaped from its pen, and the pigs were pretty darned cute.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Goats, prior to escaping</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Let sleeping pigs lie"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Warming up with the chickens (chickens not pictured, obviously)</span></div>
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The kids also got to search for worms and bugs underneath rocks and logs. Dashiell said that was his favorite part. The guide was teaching the kids the difference between wild and domesticated creatures. Drumlin Farm actually "keeps" some wild animals, but only those who have been injured and are being rehabilitated, or those who someone tried to make into a pet but couldn't (because wild animals aren't supposed to be pets!), and now the animal doesn't know how to survive in the wild.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Not a pet!</span></div>
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Dashiell claims that he had a great time, despite the miserable weather. I did too - it was really fun to hang out with Dashiell and all his school friends! I haven't had a lot of time to volunteer at the school this year (so tough to find time when I also have to take care of Aurelia!), so it was nice to get to know a couple of the kids Dashiell is friends with. I look forward to going on many more field trips in the future!Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-51535619004984294582014-05-27T15:52:00.001-04:002014-05-27T15:52:26.963-04:00Happy (belated) 6th Birthday Dashiell!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My little guy turned 6 in April!! What the what?!? I know I say this every year (for both kids) but it's just so hard to believe he's that old already! SIX!! And so far, let me tell ya, six is pretty fun! Yes he's obviously still a little kid but he's also a little <i>person</i>, with increased abilities and comprehensions and means of reasoning - it's amazing! I mean, yesterday he helped me paint our back entryway, and he did a great job! He paid attention to the instructions I gave him (this is HUGE, by the way - he's always been fine at paying attention to the instructions <i>other people</i> give him, but when mom tries to show him how to do something it's usually met with resistance!), and when I corrected something he was doing he was OKAY WITH IT. No tears, no yelling "but you didn't tell me to do it that way!", just an "okay", followed by continued painting. And the best part? He had fun doing it and wants to do more! Score! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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What else is going on with our six-year-old? He's getting accolades at school for his reading ability and comprehension, he's writing poetry, he loves math and is quizzing me on multiplication problems already, he loves drawing, and his printing skills have gotten so much better in the course of the school year. I'm so proud of the student (and person!) he has become!<br />
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And he's tall! He broke the 4 foot mark this year! 4'-1/2"!! All that mac 'n cheese is really working for him! :)<br />
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So how did we celebrate my big guy's big day? Well, here was the proposed schedule for Dashiell's Birthday Weekend: Saturday - present opening in the morning, basketball, then big trip to the New England Aquarium, followed by dinner in Boston; Sunday - "friends" party at Jump on In, followed by "family" party at the house. However, mommy got the flu that weekend! NOOOO!! So plans were amended.<br />
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First, we did have the present opening in the morning. Dashiell was none too happy that he had to WAIT until Rick got home from work before opening his gifts, but I'm happy to report that he survived, and was very happy with his gifts!<br />
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(not pictured is the awesome telescope his Minnesota aunts sent him! It's sooo cool!!)<br /><br />
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Aurelia, however, was none too happy that Dashiell was opening gifts and SHE WASN'T. <br />
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Am I a bad mom that I not only didn't anticipate this and get her a small gift to open, but then I took a picture of her melt down? Maybe, but I can live with it.<br />
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After gift-opening, we made it to basketball, which was his last practice of that session. His little trophy was like a bonus gift that day!<br />
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Later that day, Rick did take the kids to the Aquarium, sans me. Grandpa had to take my place! And they had a great time checking out all the cool fish and fish habitats. Then they got stuck in Boston for longer than expected due to an incident on the tracks (we never figured out what it was, but Rick suspected that a person ended up on the tracks somehow - yikes!). Once they were rescued by Nana, they had pizza at the grandparents' house and headed home.<br />
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The next day, we still had Dashiell's "friends" party at Jump on In, which is a big indoor bounce house gym. It's a well-loved destination! And lots of his friends were able to come to the party - he had so much fun! <i>(I, however, still felt awful but drugged myself up enough to head to the party anyway!)</i><br />
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After Jump on In, we headed home and did NOT have family over. I needed to get well, <i>and</i> I needed to disinfect the house before letting any outsiders into our home! So it was postponed until the following Saturday. <br />
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That morning D had another friend's birthday party to go to at another fun indoor play space, then we rushed home and prepared for the family! I decided to attempt to make a Lego cake! It turned out okay - not perfect, not Pinterest-worthy, but pretty good nonetheless! And Dashiell love it!<br />
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<br />We were happy to have a lovely day that Saturday, so part of his party was held outside. The kids went crazy playing, the adults enjoyed the fresh air!<br />
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We kept it simple with pizza and salad for the menu, and of course enjoyed the Lego cake afterwards!<br />
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There was some silliness involved, natch.<br />
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All in all, I think Dashiell enjoyed his extended birthday! <br /><br />
<br />Happy birthday to my firstborn! Love you more than you'll ever know, Mr. D!Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-21894205173640418652014-05-27T14:13:00.002-04:002014-05-27T14:13:33.704-04:00Pitiful, just pitifulFor the past month or so, things have been happening in our lives that make me think "I should document this on our blog". But the thought of "catching up" with all the <i>other </i>things that had happened prior to all that has made me cringe, shudder, weep silently...and sigh. Because I may <i>never</i> catch up. And I feel bad about it, because stuff really has been happening! But unfortunately, much of the past 3 months have been spent here...<br />
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At the doctor's office. Or looking kind of like this:<br />
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Though occasionally being sick meant getting to do stuff you don't always get to do, like eating breakfast in front of the TV!<br />
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Or in my case, spending hours lying on the couch watching <u>Sixteen Candles</u> and Season 1 of <u>Call the Midwife</u>, with no one bugging me to change the channel to PBS Kids or Disney Jr. So there were <i>some</i> perks. But mostly stuff I would have happily lived without.<br />
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There were numerous fun things that happened over the past 3 months (which I hope to blog about soon), but our family has been hit with illness after illness - colds, the flu, conjunctivitis, strep throat (twice!), and general yuck. For a while it seemed like as soon as one person would get better, someone else would get sick. And the illness did not discriminate between child and parent - all were equal in its eyes. <br />
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I'd say we were on the mend, but this week Aurelia is sick again. However, the frequency of our illnesses has slowed, thank heavens. I think we've had just about enough!<br />
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So wish me luck - I'm going to attempt to blog about at least a few of our many activities (um, Dashiell's birthday, that happened almost 2 months ago, maybe?) in the very near future so on those days when I think "I should post this awesome thing we are doing on our blog!" I won't feel so guilty <i>not</i> posting all the other awesome things we did before it. Onward!Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-19553219787916205782014-02-21T16:20:00.002-05:002014-02-21T16:20:18.628-05:00Snow dazed<i>A little less than two weeks ago I started this blog post, about the fun snow day we had the week before. It was an optimistic view of our winter, which was colder than average but up until that point hadn't been <b>too</b> snowy. Here's how it read (feel free to imagine the soundtrack from "Frozen" in the background): </i><br />
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We in New England have been pretty lucky this year with our snow days. The first two days off were immediately after the holiday break, and I suspect may have only been one day off had it not been for the break! No one wants to come into school on just Friday when they've had the rest of the week off. The third snow day was this past Wednesday (we made it a full month without a a snow/cold day, when the rest of the country seemed to have multiple awful-weather days in that same time period - quick, knock on wood!). I was determined to make sure we wouldn't spend the whole day plopped in front of the TV or computer! So we HAD FUN!!<br />
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First, I set up the shark tent:<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">It was important to get as far into the shark tent as possible!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell looks a little worried...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">...as he should be.</span></div>
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Then the kids started pulling out as many toys as they could.<br />
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Including the toy stethoscope that has never worked.<br />
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Which resulted in Dashiell and I taking the thing apart, getting it to work under very specific circumstances (the battery case had to be open about 1/4"), taking it apart again, asking a million questions, hoping that somehow taking it apart made it better, and being disappointed that it still didn't work, not even in the specific circumstances anymore. Ah well.<br />
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Then, while Aurelia napped, Dashiell and I went outside to do a preliminary clean-up, even though it was still snowing.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">My car's new "high and tight". This was the accumulation from 6 am to 1 pm.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jUKBQczjBv0/UvqNxngN1cI/AAAAAAAAC0g/CBLTT6oKj8A/s1600/20140205_125347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jUKBQczjBv0/UvqNxngN1cI/AAAAAAAAC0g/CBLTT6oKj8A/s1600/20140205_125347.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell helping to clean off my car. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">While it looks like he helped shovel, really the shovel is merely resting next to him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Post-shoveling snow angel in the yard. Snow angels are hard to photograph!</span></div>
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After we went inside and warmed up a little - and after Aurelia woke up from her nap - we made cookies! Well, I made the dough earlier in the day, then refrigerated it for the requisite 4 hours, <i>then</i> we cut out the shapes and baked them, <i>then</i> we let them cool, <i>then</i> we decorated. Cut out cookies are a huge production! Anyway, we made heart-shapes to celebrate Valentine's Day.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rolling out the dough (Aurelia did help with some of it)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Yay! We can make shapes!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell had to help Aurelia decorate...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">...since mostly she wanted to eat the sprinkles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The results of our handiwork! Perfectly imperfect hearts!</span></div>
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After all of our fun (and what my Facebook posts from that day didn't mention) we did end up plopped in front of the TV watching 2 hours of Disney Junior.<br />
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We were all exhausted by 4 o'clock!<br />
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I was happy that evening, after the kiddos went to bed and I had to finish shoveling the rest of the snow, to see that our awesome neighbors cleared out the end of our driveway for me - which is hands down <i>the worst</i> part of shoveling. Yay for awesome neighbors!<br />
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<br />
<i>So, that was the first snow day this month. In the two weeks since then we've had one more "school is cancelled" snow day, but only because this past week has been school vacation week in Massachusetts. In reality, we have had no fewer than 4 snow storms/snow "events" in just over one week. </i>Ugh. <i>Here's a glimpse of the past 8 days:</i><br />
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We had another school snow day the day before Valentine's day, and even though I was supposed to work that day I stayed home to help Rick out. He had a doctor's appointment in the morning that would have been fine to take one kid to, but not both of them. Too disruptive! So I stuck close to home and even though I wasn't as excited about the snow this day, we tried to make the best of it.<br />
<i> </i><br />
In the morning, I helped Dashiell make a "bone toss" game out of a big cardboard box that we hadn't recycled yet. Dashiell drew a dog head on one side of the box, I cut out a hole for the mouth (smaller than I recommended, but it was Dashiell's game so I went with it), then we made a "bone" out of more cardboard. It was a hit! <br />
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The box itself was a lot of fun too, of course.<br />
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Then, we set up the doorway puppet theater that my mom had made for the kids, and puppet theater madness ensued!<br />
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Dashiell started a 20-minute long puppet show right before lunch and
instead of including Aurelia in the show, he wanted her to sit and watch
it. What 2-year-old is going to be happy with that arrangement? Not
the one living in our house, that's for sure. <br />
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So after I convinced him that it was time to take a lunch break ("But I don't know the ending of my story yet!" Exactly why I had to stop it, D...) Aurelia decided to have her own puppet fun. Note the dog sock puppet on her foot, and her socks on her hands. Ha! <br />
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After lunch and while Aurelia napped, Dashiell and I made a chocolate cake since we were planning on having a day-early Valentine's day celebration. When it was done the kids turned into Superheros ("supa-he-whoas" in Aurelia-speak)<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HWOS7l1jAiQ/Uwe0JPOG7kI/AAAAAAAAC2g/F4La60L-xXY/s1600/20140213_162042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HWOS7l1jAiQ/Uwe0JPOG7kI/AAAAAAAAC2g/F4La60L-xXY/s1600/20140213_162042.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
and posed with the delicious cake!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jDUnRkSv0oQ/Uwe0J3kcHPI/AAAAAAAAC2s/xJMN9WHFR6k/s1600/20140213_163225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jDUnRkSv0oQ/Uwe0J3kcHPI/AAAAAAAAC2s/xJMN9WHFR6k/s1600/20140213_163225.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
We paired it with the white chocolate covered strawberries Dashiell wanted to make the day before and it was a dessert worthy of Valentine's day for sure!<br />
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Mmm...<br />
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<i>So, while our day-before-Valentine's day snow event does look like it was fun (and much of it was), by 1 pm I was already about to lose it. And the worst of the snow hadn't even started yet! But we got through it, and thanks to the power of chocolate we survived without anyone's feelings getting too hurt.</i><br />
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<i>Two days later (Saturday the 15th), it snowed again. We took no pictures. Thankfully there was not a lot of accumulation with that storm, but it was particularly windy and howly. Three days after that (Tues. the 18th), it snowed again. A lot. We got probably 10 inches at our house. It should also be noted that in that 2 weeks since our first snow day the temperature stayed at about 20 degrees or below, so none - NONE - of the snow from any of the previous storms had melted yet.</i> <br />
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The following day the kids and I ventured out to try to play in the yard. Dashiell was having a good time - we tried to build a snow bank hill to sled down, so that kept him busy for a bit.<br />
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Ms. Aurelia was not happy with this arrangement since it was difficult for her to get onto the "hill", even with my help. <br />
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Then she and I headed down the driveway to check out the rest of the snow. Note the height of those snowbanks, and how little room there is on either side of my car to get out! <br />
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I managed to get a smile from her at the end of the driveway next to the much-taller-than-her snowbank: <br />
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<i>Scroll back up to the picture of the end of our driveway that I took to illustrate how awesome our neighbors are. Note how much taller this snowbank is now, a mere 2 weeks after the first snowstorm!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
I was trying to get a good picture of the snow on top of our retaining wall, which is purely from-the-sky snow (not from a snowblower or shoveled snow), and Aurelia decided she had ENOUGH. That was IT for her, and it was time to go back inside. It's hard to have fun in the snow when it is so much taller than you!<br />
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<i> </i><br />
Then, that afternoon as we were about to leave the house to see the Lego movie (awesome, BTW), IT STARTED SNOWING AGAIN!!! All the weather stations and apps predicted rain or a wintery mix. This was neither of those things. This was a full-on <i>blizzard. </i>A very short one, but we got seriously dumped on. Like, 3 inches an hour dumped on, and the storm lasted for about 2 hours. We left the house anyway, and braved the storm. We had to. Winter fatigue had hit us hard, and we needed to get out and do something fun. Thankfully the theater was showing the movie on heavy rotation, since it took us 50 minutes to drive the normally 20 minute trip, making us late for the showing we wanted to go to. But we were there in plenty of time for the next show! I'm glad we got out of the house and had a good time at the movie!<br />
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Yesterday the melt started, thank heavens. It was 45 degrees and sunny! Of course we still had a weird wintery mix at the end of the day ("snain") which resulted in a slushy morning, but I'm sure it has all melted already. We have even more warm days to come this week - bring it on! Winter, we've had our fun, but now it's time for you to leave. <br />
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<i>I hope you've enjoyed my account of the crazy snow, complete with early-snowstorm retrospective! Stay warm out there!</i>Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-16011857294367208492014-02-07T16:40:00.003-05:002014-02-07T16:40:40.090-05:00Hoops!We signed Dashiell up for basketball at the YMCA this winter, and it's been a big hit! He was very, very nervous starting this new venture, but felt much better when we convinced his friend Crispin to sign up too.<br />
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Rick and I <i>knew</i> he'd love it, and we were right! Within minutes of playing in the gym, he was grinning ear-to-ear and having such a great time!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Coach Cam and the boys</span> </div>
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The class is structured with free play for the first few minutes until all the kids get there, followed by warm-up exercises, then they learn a new skill (so far they've covered dribbling, defense, passes and shooting baskets), then the last 20 minutes or so they play a game. The coach is so good with the kids - he really tries to make all of them feel included and always notices when one of them is having a hard time with something or someone. And he's very clear in his instructions, and repeats them multiple times to make sure all the easily-distracted 4 - 6 years olds actually hear him!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">First day, dribbling the ball. It's a work in progress!</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">First game. Also a work in progress.</span></div>
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He's steadily getting better, and what he lacks in skill he makes up for in enthusiasm! And <i>that</i> is what will make him a good teammate!</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Third class, still working on dribbling but now in a special YMCA t-shirt!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">He made the shot!</span></div>
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We've already asked Coach Cam when the next session starts, since Dashiell wants to keep playing<span style="font-size: xx-small;">.</span> Woo-hoo! I'm excited that he's found an activity he loves, and can't wait until Spring so he can practice outside (instead of in the house - in hindsight buying him a new basketball in the winter maybe wasn't the greatest idea!). Go Dash!</div>
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Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-35985826432154006382014-02-07T16:16:00.002-05:002014-02-07T16:16:59.276-05:00Aurelia's Birthday PartyYes yes it's been a month since my girlie turned 2, and almost that long since we threw her a little birthday party! But before I move on to other topics I wanted to share a few photos and comments.<br />
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Honestly, I didn't take great photos. Or very many of them. I keep hoping others who <i>did</i> take pictures will email or text them to me, but so far we've only received 2 additional photos. Ah well.<br />
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We had a small party with just our extended family plus one set of friends (our non-blood-related family), however I swear it felt like a hundred people were crammed into our house (not that you can tell from these pictures, but believe me it was crowded)! I never think of our house as small until we decide to throw a party. But everyone seemed to have a good time, even in such close quarters. Especially our little 2-year-old, who ran around in circles and showed off her shiny red shoes to anyone who would look! <br />
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We went with a Minnie Mouse theme, since Aurelia LOVES Mickey and Minnie. I made Mickey and Minnie Oreo cookie pops:<br />
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Mouse-eared cupcakes:<br />
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and a polka-dot cake:<br />
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I was pleased at how they all turned out, and so was Aurelia!<br />
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She's at the age now where she finally "gets" opening presents, so it was fun to see her tearing into the gifts!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Momentary meltdown when she couldn't get the wrapping paper off...</span></div>
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She loved this striped dress that her Neena (great-grandma) gave her and walked around with it on her chest for a good few minutes!<br />
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It was a great party, and I'm so glad we got to celebrate our girl's big day with so many of the people we love!<br />Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-13006671609146348272014-01-10T12:06:00.000-05:002014-01-10T12:06:08.951-05:00Look who just turned 2!!I can hardly believe it! My sweet little girl is TWO YEARS OLD!! Totally crazy, that's what that is. She hasn't really been a baby for a while now, but this totally seals the deal. She's two. TWO. Weird.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">My little sweet potato!</span></div>
<br />The big (or rather <i>bigger</i> - it's really not big at all compared to last year's party) birthday celebration will be this weekend, with the extended family and some friend who we've known forever, but on Tuesday we did a little celebrating with just us. We had some of Aurelia's favorite foods - homemade mac 'n cheese and chicken wings (plus veggies, which she of course did not touch) - and we had to have cake! <br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Trying to blow out the candles</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell helps, and it goes much better!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Cake-filled duck face</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Eating cake is even more fun when it involves yelling!</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">I mean, what can I even say about this one? </span></div>
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Even with the bib on, we still needed to do a complete tear-down of her outfit. Silly us, thinking we could give the kids baths and put them in their PJs <i>before</i> dinner!<br />
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It was a fun evening, just the 4 of us, and we were happy to help our littlest one celebrate her big day! I can't wait for the "big" party tomorrow - she'll have a great time, I'm sure!<br />
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In honor of her 2nd year, I want to list a few of the things she's been doing or saying lately (mostly so I'll remember them in a year or whenever it is I get around to finishing her baby book):<br />
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<li>Waggles her hips when she dances. I mean, seriously, she has got <i>moves</i>. Sassy moves! </li>
<li>Roars like a monster, often</li>
<li>Can climb up on anything! We're a bit worried about the crib, but are putting off the toddler bed transition since she still is not the best sleeper in the world...</li>
<li>Says, "Here go Dashiell" (which sounds more like "ee go dacho" while handing him things</li>
<li>Yells "I did it!" anytime she figures out how to do something by herself. Sometime we don't know what exactly she did, which is worrisome...</li>
<li>LOVES Hungry Hungry Hippos. All day long, we hear "Hungy hippo?", her request for a new game.</li>
<li>Grabs our hands to lead us to whatever it is she wants to show us (lately it's been the Hungry Hungry Hippos game)</li>
<li>Feels the need to carry something, <i>anything, </i>down the stairs every time she goes downstairs, but usually she can't carry all the things she wants so it's up to Rick or I to carry them for her. Often these things are her two loveys (cowie and elefante) plus at least one book.</li>
<li>Is at that stage where she <i>wants</i> to be helpful. Oh how I love this stage! I can ask her to put something away and she<i> </i><b>does it</b>, no questions asked! She may not agree to do everything I want her to do (put her coat on, go to sleep, etc.), but ask her to put the legos in a bin and she's <i>on it. </i></li>
<li>"No thank you". Hardly ever just "no", she almost always says "no thank you" in that sweet little voice that will make you agree to whatever it is that she doesn't want to do (sometimes). </li>
<li>Sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with me every night before bed. Also busts into song for no other reason than it's fun to sing. I love hearing her sing!</li>
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I know there are a million other things she does that I want to remember forever, but at the moment that's the most I can come up with. I'm sure I'll think of more soon!<br />
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Aurelia, I am so very proud to be your mommy. You are so sweet, and funny, and <i>fearless</i>, and inquisitive, and you amaze me with the things you do <i>every single day</i>. I can't wait to see how much you grow this year! You and your brother are our little miracles, though you're not that little anymore! With you our family feels complete. I love you more than you will ever know! XOXO, Mommy.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Coy</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The smile!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Playing dress up with my hat and gloves</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Enjoying a play ice cream come with Dashiell</span></div>
Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-56007652739612850132014-01-03T16:31:00.000-05:002014-01-03T16:31:06.720-05:00Oh yeah, Happy New Year, too!Happy New Year! <br />
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We braved the cold on New Year's Eve and went into Boston for their First Night celebration. It was the first time I had ever gone to it, and since they might not fund it again it may also be my last time going to it. But we had a great time! The kids were troupers - the both loved taking the T into Boston, loved the ice sculptures, and the fireworks (the <i>early</i> fireworks - we definitely did not stay for the midnight show!)? They were amazing! However, Aurelia was not impressed. Cried through most of them, poor pumpkin. After that it was kind of downhill - I think 'Reels was too cold and tired to enjoy the rest of the evening, so we headed home. An hour and a half in 20 degree weather is about as much as I can take, too!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Sitting in one of the many ice sculptures</span></div>
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New Year's Day was spent celebrating Rick's Nana's birthday, which was a lot of fun as well! 5 kids under the age of 6 running rampant through the house (granted, the 4 month old wasn't doing much running...), creating chaos in their wake! Whee!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Three of the kiddos help to blow out the candles</span></div>
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Happy Birthday Nana/Neena! <br />
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I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve, and that 2014 is even better than you could ever hope for!Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-72304406329844332702014-01-03T15:28:00.003-05:002014-01-03T15:28:48.708-05:00A Very Merry Christmas, indeed!This year, Christmas lasted pretty much a full week for the Weber Hansons. Though we were unable to travel to Minnesota this year (the days of going out there every Christmas have sadly passed), we were blessed with a good long visit from Rick's sister Elizabeth and her husband Danny. Danny is possibly Dashiell's favorite person in the whole world, and has been since the moment they met 4 years ago.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell and Danny deep in conversation on Christmas day</span></div>
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Aurelia is now also very fond of him (just this morning she randomly asked, "whe-ah Deenny?", though I do think she might consider "Deenny" to be both Danny and Elizabeth, since it's too hard to say " Danny and Elizabeth"), however she has yet to pick her favorite person in the <i>whole world</i>. She's still young.<br />
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Anyway, the celebrations all started on Saturday the 21st, the first full day that Elizabeth and Danny were in town. The Hansons (aka Rick's parents) had all of their children, children's spouses, grandkids, and one granddog over for dinner. It was so fun to see everyone together! There were a billion pictures taken, but somehow none of them were taken by me. However I did snag this photo of my and my sisters-in-law from Facebook:<br />
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Love them! :)<br />
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The next day, the Hansons invited father-in-law Richard's family over for a big Christmas party! Once again, lots of fun was had, and I met (or re-met) people who I didn't know before, which was highly enjoyable! Once again, I didn't take very many photos (despite my new phone!), but Dashiell took a couple that were pretty good!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Me and the knees</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Papa Jack <i>smiling!!</i> What?!?</span></div>
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Monday we took a break from parties, but did invite Danny and Elizabeth to see the movie "Frozen" at <a href="http://www.chunkys.com/" target="_blank">Chunky's Cinema</a> with us. The kids LOVED it, especially Aurelia. It was so much fun to hear her exclaim "WOW!" anytime something cool happened on screen. Dashiell was nervous at some of the more intense parts of the movie, and sad at some of the sad parts ("Do you Want to Build a Snowman" - seriously, I still get teary thinking about that song!), but really liked the movie anyway. I won't spoil the plot, but I have to admit that I loved the resolution of that movie more than any other Disney movie I've seen (not that I've seen them all, mind you). It had it's questionable "Disney" moments (let's show how truly horrible people can be!), and the beginning had almost too much music, but I do recommend it anyway. After the movie and after the kids went to bed, Rick and I got to hang out with Danny and Elizabeth WITHOUT kids - woo-hoo! We ate tasty Vietnamese food and dished about all the things you can't dish about with kids around. Ha!<br />
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Tuesday - well, Tuesday was Christmas Eve! Yay! That afternoon Dashiell and his aunt Lisa did a video chat and he got to open two of the presents she sent him. Rocks! Dashiell and aunt Lisa have a shared fondness for pretty rocks, and she went all out! Blue dalmatian jasper, amethyst, rose quartz, and about 15 other varieties. He was thrilled!! And wanted to open all the other gifts for him under the tree, but we made him (and Aurelia) wait. Mean parents! Aurelia did a little last-minute cleaning to get on Santa's good side:<br />
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That evening we went over to the great-grandparents' house for their annual Christmas Eve dinner. Neena makes lobster rolls each year - Yum! The kids discovered that Neena and Papa Jack have an upstairs in their house, and enjoyed hanging out at the top of the stairs.<br />
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We all had a pretty good night sleep and waited patiently for Santa's arrival. Dashiell did not take my suggestion of leaving beer and pickles for Santa since I know he'd appreciate the variety, but instead went with the standard milk and cookies. Maybe next year!<br />
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Santa was very good to the kiddos, as were their aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents. The present that <i>we</i> were most excited about was the blanket fort building kit that the kids received from my aunt Diane!<br />
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Rick set it up the night before and probably likes it even more than they do. And they like it a LOT.<br />
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Dashiell was also thrilled that Santa remembered to bring him his Gears toy - he's been playing with it every day since Christmas.<br />
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He also loves his new bean bag chair, which Aurelia loves to climb on too!<br />
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There were a lot of hits this Christmas! The kids did all right, that's for sure.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Aurelia feeding her Baby Stella with her new bowl and spoon</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Minnie Mouse Pet Salon</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Endless games of Hungry Hungry Hippos!</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Uncle David putting together the worlds most frustrating gift - </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">the 3d wind-up dinosaur that comes in a million little cardboard pieces</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">New sleds!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">All in all it was a great Christmas, made even better by all the time we got to spend with family! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">But it wasn't over yet! The day after Christmas we had a lovely dinner over at the Hansons, followed by a viewing of the Zoo Lights at Stone Zoo. There was a lot to see, though Santa had already made his way back home and wasn't available to hang out with that night (he had to go back to the North Pole on the 23rd). But we had a fun (chilly!) night anyway!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Aurelia and Aunty E sporting the same coat!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Oohh!! Pretty!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell and his Nana</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">We went on a few rides while at the Zoo, including the very chilly carousel! Those flying horses are not meant to sit on in the winter - brrr!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The last day of our week-long Christmas celebration was just as jam-packed at the others. First we went out to brunch with all the Hansons at the Loews hotel in Boston - Elizabeth and Danny stayed there the night before.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The kids with Danny and Elizabeth in the hotel lobby</span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Then we headed back home for a visit with our friends Shawn and Michele (and their 3 kids), and Mike, who was in town from Virginia.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Picture by Dashiell...hence the weird upward angle...</span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Finally, the kids stayed overnight at the grandparents' house while Rick and I went to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' Annual Hometown Throwdown!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">We missed last year due to scheduling conflicts, and the year before that Rick went without me because I was 38 weeks pregnant and didn't <i>really</i> feel up to standing around for hours, getting jostled by strangers trying to get a better view of the band. But this year we finally made it back, and it was a great time! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The good news is that Dashiell and Aurelia were so busy that day they barely even noticed that Danny and Elizabeth had left to go back to California that evening. The bad news is that Danny and Elizabeth had to leave to go back to California, thus ending our week of Christmas fun. We'll miss them, but always remember what a great time we had while they were here! And we'll count the days until the visit again!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, filled with all the blessing of the season! Happy Holidays! </span></span></div>
Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-20530722276072003812014-01-03T13:46:00.000-05:002014-01-03T13:46:00.727-05:00OooOOOooo! New phones!!For Christmas this year, Rick and I decided to splurge and buy ourselves fancy new phones, complete with fancy new cameras. So excited that we did! I'm still working out the settings and trying to figure out how to get the best pictures in whatever setting we find ourselves in, but that will come with time. We are excited to be able to do video hang-outs now, which comes in especially handy on the days Rick works overnights and wants to say goodnight to the kiddos. Dashiell will mostly make faces at the camera, ala this:<br />
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But Aurelia will hold full conversations, complete with hand gestures. Most of the time Rick can't understand what she's saying or inflecting, but he smiles and nods and says, "You don't say?", like a good daddy does.<br />
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Aurelia has figured out how to take pictures of herself with our phones too, so right now my image folder is crammed full of stuff like this:<br />
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And this:<br />
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Always hilarious. Or at the very least a good way to distract her when you need a minute to take away whatever thing it is that she shouldn't be playing with (wine glasses, scissors, my phone...oh wait...).<br />
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Rick showed Dashiell how to use the "stamps" feature (I think that's what it's called) that places a small photo inside your bigger photo using both the front and back camera at the same time. He took this picture of my friend Mike and me the other day:<br />
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The only practical application we can think of for it is if you're a
stalker and really want to freak out the person you're pursuing, something like this:<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">"I'm watching you, and I <i>loooove</i> you..."</span> </div>
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(Sorry for cutting off half your face, Rick)<br />
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Anyway, we've been having a lot of fun with our new phones, and hope to have plenty of <i>good</i> pictures to post soon! <br />
Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-19508695116689454632013-12-13T16:39:00.002-05:002013-12-13T16:39:47.650-05:00Seriously? Part Two - November!On to <b>Part Two - The Month of November!</b><br />
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Dashiell lost his first tooth!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">We celebrated with cake, of course!</span></div>
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It was "Movember", and Rick started to grow this crazy mustache!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Aurelia is looking at the above picture of Rick at the breakfast table and is <i>overcome</i> with glee! </span></div>
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We looked super cool, often!<br />
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And just plain cute at other times:<br />
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Dashiell had his Thanksgiving concert at school, and though we weren't allowed to take pictures or videos during the performance, we did take a photo after the show!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">My handsome little turkey!</span></div>
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We went to the Cape for Thanksgiving, and Aurelia refused to sleep in her pack-n-play at the hotel. These were our fun sleeping arrangements instead:<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Staged? Maybe a little...</span></div>
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And then November ended, but we took a few more photos in December so I'll share those too!<br />
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<b>Part Two-point-five: The beginning of December!</b><br />
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A visit to Santa!<br />
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Christmas party belly dancing!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Seriously, this girl is a natural!</span> </div>
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Making a gingerbread house!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OxuwHbdmwxk/UqtzhebcorI/AAAAAAAACmY/wbQTeo8x7no/s1600/IMAG2841.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OxuwHbdmwxk/UqtzhebcorI/AAAAAAAACmY/wbQTeo8x7no/s1600/IMAG2841.jpg" height="320" width="191" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">BTW, this house is already missing it's roof. Tornado? Hurricane? No, hungry 5-year-old...</span></div>
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And decorating the tree!<br />
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Whew! I think that was it! Of course lots of other things have happened, but either we didn't take pictures or the pictures we did take were so bad I can't admit to taking them. Or they are things like Aurelia speaking in sentences, which are hard to catch on film. "Here go Dashiell" is one of her favorite things to say, and it's also one of Dashiell's favorite things to ignore ("Dashiell! Your sister is trying to give you something! At least acknowledge her existence!"). Dashiell has had a great first few months of Kindergarten and is getting rapidly better at spelling and reading, which is so exciting! And Rick shaved off his crazy mustache, thank heavens!<br />
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And now that I'm all caught up, I'm looking forward to posting about Christmas! Yay Christmas!!Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-19195956089661765542013-12-13T16:16:00.002-05:002013-12-13T16:16:49.212-05:00Seriously? It's been over 2 months since my last post? Part One - October!Oof. I just don't even know where to begin, but I feel like I should post <i>something</i>! So much has happened in the past two months - outings to farms, Halloween, Thanksgiving, school stuff, Aurelia's new tumbling class, a lost tooth! I have been meaning to post about it all...but no, it just hasn't happened. Until now! So here's the nitty-gritty of everything that happened since the beginning of October!<br />
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<b>Part One: The month of October!</b> <br />
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We went to Topsfield Fair!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vAuGE7WhR-4/UqtyU2ywRTI/AAAAAAAACiA/gwzabk8J8tk/s1600/IMAG2589.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vAuGE7WhR-4/UqtyU2ywRTI/AAAAAAAACiA/gwzabk8J8tk/s1600/IMAG2589.jpg" height="191" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Aurelia loved watching the baby chicks hatch!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yyt8t2rPds8/UqtyVF7MBJI/AAAAAAAACiI/LKs6oOlyQ84/s1600/IMAG2591.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yyt8t2rPds8/UqtyVF7MBJI/AAAAAAAACiI/LKs6oOlyQ84/s1600/IMAG2591.jpg" height="191" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">That is one BIG pumpkin! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u0kDjChiNpY/UqtyVIT2iSI/AAAAAAAACiU/nrjxvkNXMlI/s1600/IMAG2592.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u0kDjChiNpY/UqtyVIT2iSI/AAAAAAAACiU/nrjxvkNXMlI/s1600/IMAG2592.jpg" height="320" width="191" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell's expression here just kills me! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-haYDZOLTmiA/UqtyV9-Om1I/AAAAAAAACiY/OMgX_uHkFME/s1600/IMAG2593.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-haYDZOLTmiA/UqtyV9-Om1I/AAAAAAAACiY/OMgX_uHkFME/s1600/IMAG2593.jpg" height="320" width="191" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Cute little carrot! </span></div>
We went apple picking!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zm1uOE1aZn8/UqtyWL73FYI/AAAAAAAACic/3ZRPvCRGU_0/s1600/IMAG2601.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zm1uOE1aZn8/UqtyWL73FYI/AAAAAAAACic/3ZRPvCRGU_0/s1600/IMAG2601.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The kiddos and I on the hay ride out to the orchard! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Apples are delicious!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Perfecting his apple-picking technique</span></div>
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We went to a touch-a-truck event!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Working for the DPW! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">I don't know if you can tell how high the cab is on this truck, but believe me, it was HIGH! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">And it was so hard to get her down from there, too!</span></div>
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We did a lot of raking!<br />
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School and other professional photos were taken!<br />
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We went to a bounce house party and Aurelia climbed up this huge ladder without a second thought!<br />
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We had a Halloween party and I made these funny straws:<br />
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And there were costumes worn at various times!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Aurelia at her playgroup Halloween party</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dashiell on Halloween night - the pictures of the kids together were just awful...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">even worse than this one</span></div>
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And then it became November! Stay tuned for part two of the catch up post!Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388829536991766389.post-18123314849658899962013-10-04T14:56:00.001-04:002013-10-04T14:56:57.563-04:00Outings!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Since Dashiell's school has such weird, early hours (7:30 - 1:45), it means that we often have this huge gaping block of time in the afternoon that we need to fill with Stuff To Do. And since the weather has been pretty amazing lately, we've been hitting up a lot of the local farms and parks so we can enjoy this weather - it will be winter before we know it!<br />
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About a week and a half ago we zipped over to <a href="http://www.parleefarms.com/" target="_blank">Parlee Farm</a> in Tyngsboro. On the weekends it's MOBBED with people, especially during apple picking season, so mid-week is the perfect time to head over there, check out their pumpkins, play on/in their hay maze, drive the tractor go-carts, and feed the animals. Oh, and eat cider donuts. Lots and lots of cider donuts...mmm...<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I sent Aurelia and Dashiell on a quest for the smallest pumpkins they could find.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Both of them LOVED the white pumpkins, but we didn't find any <i>really</i> small pumpkins. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Though he looks kind of freaked out in this photo, he was having a great time driving the little tractor!</span></div>
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Then last week we made a trip over to <a href="http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/massparks/region-north/great-brook-farm-state.html" target="_blank">Great Brook Farm</a> for a little ice cream and a visit with the cows, sheep and goats. Dashiell needed to get some blood work done for his allergist (which I had put off for two months, knowing that it would be torture getting him to calm down enough to have a blood draw. I was right - he totally freaked - though afterwards he said, "that wasn't too bad! What was I afraid of?"), and this was his reward. They have amazing ice cream - Dashiell had chocolate (of course - it's his favorite), and Aurelia and I shared a cup of caramel apple. Delish! Once we were done eating Aurelia mooed at the goats while Dashiell and I fed them, then we headed over to the pond to climb on the rocks and throw stones at the lily pads.<br />
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That afternoon was also the first day Dashiell had homework from school! So once we got home he set to work, and Aurelia was right there with him, doing her own "homework".<br />
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As for non-school day outings, the day that we all got haircuts last weekend we decided to go on a little trip to the <a href="http://www.lowell.com/museums/boott-cotton-mills-museum/" target="_blank">Boott Cotton Mills</a> since it is part of the National Park system and a) it was free that day, and b) we were pretty sure the government shut-down was going to happen and it might be awhile before we could visit a National Park location again. Dashiell LOVES the Boott Cotton Mills. It's filled with loud, old machinery and plenty of pulleys and gears - what's not to love?<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Aurelia is maybe not as impressed as Dashiell...</span></div>
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They run a few of the big industrial looms in the weave room so you can see and hear what it would be like to work there. It is <b>LOUD</b>, and that's with only a handful of the machines running. I can't even imagine how loud it must have been for the people who used to work there. At least we have the luxury of wearing earplugs!</div>
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In the gallery above the weave room they have a scale model of the mill which was pretty neat: </div>
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There was also a small hand loom that kids could weave on, and a bunch of other fiber-based activities to give you a more hands-on experience. It's an interesting little museum that does a good job highlighting what life used to be like in our little mill city!<br />
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It's been fun getting out and about with the kids so much lately! What's on the agenda this weekend? Possibly apple picking, or maybe - just maybe - we'll stay home and do nothing. That would be okay too!<br />
Suzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800041564962677794noreply@blogger.com0