Ten years!!

Okay, so this is a post about Rick and I, but without US the two stars of this blog would not exist!
Today is our TEN YEAR anniversary!  Ten years!  It's shocking to me how much time has passed, yet it seems like just yesterday when we said "I do"!  It was a lovely, end of August day - clear skies, low humidity, mid-70s. The previous week was hellishly hot, and the Thursday before the wedding was cold and drizzly.  The gods of weather were smiling upon us for sure!
The last ten years have been filled with joys and struggles, laughter and just a few tears.  I feel blessed to have such an amazing partner in my life, with whom I created this awesome little family.  In celebration of our ten years together (fourteen if you count dating!), I created a photo album to document just a few of the joys we've shared!

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Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

(Hope that link works!  It's not loading completely in my preview...)

Happy ten-year anniversary to the best husband ever!  XOXO

Another month free of posts...

I still cannot believe July is over, and we're already well into August!  We had a fun month, mostly filled with standard summer stuff (with a wedding thrown in for good measure).

It's been hot, and to combat the heat we've been spending a lot of time in the sprinkler and kiddie pool.  The benefit of this heat is, of course, the photo ops!

Aurelia appreciating a good popsicle on a hot day!

 No need for a bathing suit - the water is fine as it is!

Dashiell figured out that you could easily drink from the sprinkler...

...which of course leads to this.

We've also gone on a couple of good local field trips, including blueberry picking at Parlee Farm:

 

She ate more blueberries than we picked!

Dashiell had to make sure every blueberry he picked was perfect

Feeding the chickens

Aurelia thought the chickens were hilarious

 Trips to the Stone Zoo:

My little flamingos

Trapped in the spider's web!

And the mother of all awesome field trips, flying kites on Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor!

View of Boston from the island

There was a beach on the island, too, so the kids had fun digging and building things in the sand!

As Boston Harbor and Spectacle Island used to be essentially a garbage dump - way back in the day - it is a great place to find sea glass and other cool things.  Dashiell found 8 awesome pieces of sea glass and a couple pieces of old china!  However, as we were about to board our ferry back to Boston, we were informed (via loudspeaker announcement to everyone) that we were not allowed to remove any natural or artificial "artifacts" from the island, including sea glass, as they were considered "cultural artifacts".  Of course Dashiell heard this and I swear he must have thought he'd be sent to jail if he kept any of his finds.  So he gets all upset and has to empty his pockets.  But when we got on the boat he realized he still had one piece of sea glass in his pocket!  Horror!  I tried to convince him that it was an honest mistake and it would be okay if he kept it, but no, he had to get rid of it.  So my poor guilt-ridden kid walks back to the boat crew, sea glass hidden behind his back, and tells them that he has one more thing to give back to the sea.  It was kind of heartbreaking, really.  And since that day he keeps bringing it up the sea glass and how he really would have liked to have one piece of it.  Poor guy!  Too honest for his own good!

The other fun thing we did last month was go to a wedding!  It was on a farm in the middle of nowhere New Hampshire for a couple of Rick's friends/co-workers.  We just took Dashiell since staying in a hotel with Aurelia would be hell (Worst.Sleeper.Ever.  Besides me, according to my mom).  'Reelsie had a great time with the grandparents, and we had a fun time at the wedding.  The bride has a daughter who is Dashiell's age (who was the flower girl), and she and D were having a blast!

 Playing in the sand at the pond with the flower girl!

Diggin' the rope swing!

 

Cute little farmhouse where the groom was born

 

The other big activity for the summer has been replacing our fence!  Good fences make for good neighbors, but bad fences make for crappy neighbors.  Ours was a bad fence, installed improperly by the previous owners, and it was about to fall down.

Rick's dad hacking down all the plants so the contractor could get to the fence.

 The front of the fence, with its over-grown rhododendron.  You can't see the broken gate, but it looks just as crappy as the rest of the fence!

I've been feeling guilty about the awful fence for years, but very few fencing companies will fix a fence that's not their own and the price of replacing it with a similar fence is astronomical.  So we didn't!  Our contractor gave us a deal on a completely different kind of fence, and we couldn't be happier with it!

We have neighbors again!  Since taking these pictures I've been working on getting the plantings to look better, but it might be a wash until next summer. We also took down the fence lining the back yard too (you can kind of see it in the first picture of this post) and it's completely opened up our teeny back yard!

Yay!  Next project: Knock down the too-small stand-alone porch that always needs painting.  Oh yeah.

Just a couple more pictures from yesterday - we were supposed to go to the pool with some friends, and seconds after I handed D his swimsuit to change into I got a message from the mom saying her son threw up at CVS and they had to cancel.  Bummer!  So we quickly changed our plans and headed to the park for a picnic!

That afternoon we drove to Great Brook Farm to visit the animals and eat super-tasty ice cream.  We almost didn't go because D wanted to stay home and play with his lego windmill, but once I mentioned the ice cream we were good to go!

After dinner last night we took a little walk around the neighborhood, and Aurelia decided it would be much more fun if she lounged in the wagon instead of sitting up in it:

Goof. :)

So yesterday turned out great, despite our cancelled plans! 

And finally, one last Aurelia story:  I often wear a small pendant necklace that's an old typewriter key with the letter "D" on it (for Dashiell), purchase by Rick long before Aurelia was born.  Yesterday when I had it on, Aurelia was checking it out and said, "A!".  I told her, "no, that's a D. Can you say D?"  So she says, "D!", then I swear she said "Whe-ah (where's) A?"  Ha!

This month's coming adventures:  Minnesota, followed quickly by KINDERGARTEN!!  I can't wait to post about them! :)

4th of July weekend!

We had a busy and fun 4th of July weekend this year!  It was hot - oh man was it hot - but we made the best of it!

On the 4th, Dashiell and I made our traditional red, white and blue strawberries (strawberries dipped in white chocolate, then dipped in blue sprinkles) and made some lovely chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting and red and blue sprinkles, all to bring to Uncle David and Aunt Lindsay's 4th of July bbq.  No pictures of either the treats or the party were taken, unfortunately.  But it was a fun (though sweaty) afternoon, filled with family and good food.  Then Rick and I took Aurelia home to get some sleep while Dashiell headed out to the fireworks with nana and grandpa!  Lucky kid!  We considered trying to take Aurelia, but since the fireworks begin 2 hours after her bedtime - and she's only 18 months old and needs her sleep - we decided we could wait another year (or two) before attempting a fireworks viewing.  We were told that Dashiell was very good, and very snuggly (on a hot, hot night...oof...).

The next day we picked D up from the grandparents and headed out for a warm-weather hike!  We went to visit the fire tower in Medford, which is fortunately a very easy, short, shady hike.

Dashiell's favorite clump of mushrooms, found on the way up to the tower.

I'm so glad we did it!  Though Dashiell complained about the "long" walk up to the tower, once we got there he was AMAZED.  First off, it's a really cool little tower - it looks like a very small castle, and we've been studying knights and castles the past couple of weeks so it was very timely.

Once you get inside, the view of Boston is pretty darned neat, even on a hazy day.  And it's nicely breezy inside - perfect during the warm weather!

There's a cool outcropping of rock right outside the tower that's fun to climb on, and it also has the lovely view.

My favorite quote from Dashiell during this excursion?  "I never imagined what was behind all those trees next to the highway!"  Said with such reverent awe that you just knew that seeing Boston from this angle was totally blowing his mind.

The next day Rick and I had "Date Day/Night"!  The grandparents had the kids over for a sleep over, so after dropping them off at around 11 am Rick and I headed to the beach!  We chose Revere Beach for it's close proximity, ease of parking (we found a free spot on street!) and the fact that there's a Kelly's Roast Beef right there, so we had lunch covered!  It was so relaxing - no worrying about putting enough sunscreen on the kiddos, watching them closely to make sure they weren't about to drown or eat handfuls of sands, or trying to limit Dashiell to a small number of shells and rocks to add to his collection (you know he'd want to take home every stinkin' shell and rock he came across!).  We lounged about, READING (what the heck is that?!?), taking our time to get to the bathrooms when we needed them, and it was lovely.  And it made me realize that we could easily bring the kiddos to Revere Beach and it wouldn't be too big of a hassle.  It's a HUGE beach, with amenities.  And since parking is cheap or free, if it turned out to be a disaster we wouldn't feel like we wasted $25 in parking fees if we left early.

Later that night we decided to be true Boston tourists and headed out on a sunset cruise of the harbor!  Though the ship was a little cheesy and the bathrooms nearly made me want to jump out the porthole, it was a fun cruise!  The view was great, they had Sam Adams beer, and I learned a little more about the harbor islands than I knew before. 

 Rick and I on the boat!

 Boston skyline from the harbor

Zakim bridge - one of my favorite bridges!

USS Constitution and Bunker Hill Monument

We called Dashiell to say goodnight to him from the boat (Aurelia was already asleep), and he longingly said, "I hope that someday I'm invited to go on the boat, too".  Shortly thereafter we received a picture of the drawing Dashiell did of a boat right after he got off the phone with us.

I guess we'll be taking another cruise soon!

Rick and I had a great day and evening, but by the time we picked up the kids the next day we really did miss them!  It's nice to get that bit of a recharge every once in a while, not only for the break and to reconnect as a couple, but to make you realize how much you appreciate having the chaos of the kiddos in your life every day!

Things I need to remember

Aurelia just had her 18 month doctor's appointment yesterday, and it got me thinking about all the awesome things that she does, and how easy it is to forget all of it!  Yes, toddlerhood is full of challenges, but on the whole life with Aurelia is just so much fun.  She is my little fearless monkey, and she is the funniest thing since, well, since Dashiell was 18 months old!  So I need to write down some of my favorite things that she does, because I know I'll forget half of them by this time next year.

• I love when Aurelia sings with me.  We sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" before bed each night, and she'll usually pipe in "gigg-o gigg-o, lee...stah".  If I switch things up and sing a different song, she'll intently watch my mouth and silently move her mouth with me.
• She also sings the songs that Dashiell has learned at school, which usually include hand motions.  So cute to see her waving her hands back and forth to "This Land is Your Land".  (It should be noted that she still doesn't get the verbiage, but the melody and choreography are definitely there!)
• Teeth brushing (and flossing!).  Every morning she, Dashiell and I all brush our teeth together.  I put the toothpaste on everyone's brushes, hand them to the kids, and we brush, brush, brush!  When I'm done I mumble "one, two, three SPIT" and D and I spit into the sink.  Aurelia cranes her neck and says "ptoo" since she a) can't reach the sink and b) can't spit.  Afterwards Dashiell reminds me that we have to floss, so I floss his teeth, then Aurelia comes over and opens her mouth to get flossed, too.  She has all of 10 teeth.* :)
• Whenever anyone blows their nose she grabs a tissue, puts it up to her nose or mouth, and makes a "hhuuuuhhh" sound.
• She talks.  And talks.  And talks.  Yet she probably only has 15 actual words.  But her babble is so expressive and engaging that you know she's telling you something of vital importance.  She knows exactly what she's talking about, it's just up to us to figure it out!
• The squeal of delight whenever there's running involved!  Rick and Dashiell will usually start running around downstairs, and she'll throw herself into the mix and chase after them, always wanting to get in on the fun.
• Her fearlessness.  I am in awe of it (look mom I can swing from this bar!).
  
  
• The race to the computer room!  When I'm single parenting (usually 3 nights a week) I let Dashiell play on the computer while I put Aurelia to bed.  So every night Dashiell races us up the stairs ("I win!" he declares, and Aurelia mimics back "da-DEE!" with the same inflection, throwing her hands in the air).  Then when we all get to the top of the stairs we race to the computer room.  About a month ago Dashiell went into his room instead of going straight to the computer room, but Aurelia ran off to the computer by herself and declared "da-DEE!" once she got there.  She knows the score.
• Her one-handed sippy cup drinking style.  I've been trying to get a picture of it but never catch it in time. I want to post it next to this picture of my grandpa drinking moonshine:
  
  
  
  
• The way she buries herself between my knees when she gives me a hug.
• The way she hugs her brother when she sees that he's sad.
• The admiration and love she has for Dashiell.  When she wakes up in the morning her first utterance if she doesn't see Dashiell is "wheh da-show?" - where's Dashiell.  He is everything to her.  And she means the world to him, too!  He is an amazing big brother.  I know there will come a time when they will be more annoyed with each other than excited to be with one another, but I hope that doesn't happen for a long time.

I know there are so many other things I want to remember, but, well, I can't remember them right now.  See how easy it is to forget even the best things in life?

And for those of you who like stats, at her appointment yesterday Aurelia was 33" tall (85%tile) and weighs 25 lbs 10 oz (84%tile).  Her head continues to be ginormous - 48.9 cm (97%tile) but it's following the curve she's been on for over a year so it's nothing to be concerned about.  It just means it's hard to find hats that fit her huge melon. :)

*Ack!  I realized that I originally wrote that Aurelia had 8 teeth, when at the time she had 10...I obviously need a few counting lessons!  Then of course she goes and gets another tooth the next day!  So as of today, July 11, she has 11 teeth!  Woo-hoo!