We kicked off last Saturday with a birthday party for two of our bestest friends- Teddy and Gingy! Ted turned 4 back in early May, and Gingy turned 2 on Saturday. They welcomed their new brother, Reggie, on June 5 and so their parents wisely decided to have a joint party for the big sibs once the initial baby dust had settled. Kelly's brother, sister-in-law, and nephew live not too far away and have a beautiful backyard with a fabulous pool. Our girls were in heaven... Maia was in and out of the water the entire afternoon (those Kindergarten swimming lessons seriously increased her confidence in the water. Woo woo!) and had an awesome time playing with the other kids and the silly adults. Cec spent a long time swimming with Daddy- and quite happily jumped off the edge without holding anyone's hands or being caught. She laughed hysterically each time she surfaced. Somehow, though, I only managed to get photos of Maia...
We left the party very full, very tired, and very happy. Thanks Ted and Gingy for the wonderful time!
On the way home, we made a slight detour and picked up Uncle Adam, yea! Adam moved up to Maine last August to begin his first year of medical school. We completely understand how busy he's been, but we've all missed seeing him and the girls were beyond excited. We all hung out for a while and then Daddy and I left for a grown-up party... where we had a fabulous time and got home way too late. Luckily, Adam had done a great job with bedtime and the girls were snuggled up and sleeping sweetly when we peeked in to check on them.
Sunday morning was... a little rough. We let Daddy sleep in, it was Father's Day after all!, and then had a lovely breakfast together. Cecily and I left to take Uncle Adam to the airport and Maia and Daddy went fishing! By all accounts, they had a wonderful time.
Cecily also needed a few more shots of her new haircut...
Monday morning brought home a reality Mommy had been doing her best to ignore: Maia recently had a growth spurt and didn't have very many summer clothes that actually fit her. We braved Old Navy and H&M to restock her wardrobe, and then met up with friends for lunch. It was a great way to end a dreaded shopping trip! We took the rest of the afternoon easy as we needed to rest up before yet another birthday party. That night we celebrated Noah turning 7 in his backyard. It was great to see so many friends, eat some yummy food, and get some more energy out. We left just as they were starting a movie on an inflatable movie screen set up in the yard. It would have been fun to stay, but it was late... and we were all very, very tired. So it's not hard to imagine how incredibly shocked I was when it took Maia nearly 2 1/2 hours to fall asleep. Mommy didn't handle it particularly well, after all I wanted to go sleep in my bed. Thank goodness Daddy was hope to take over with our little insomniac!
Tuesday was gorgeous! And we spent it at one of our favorite places- the beach! We picked up a friend and drove about 25 minutes to an amazing beach. It's incredibly shallow (one can walk several hundred yards before the water is even waist-deep) and thus incredibly warm. There are also a bunch of really cool tidal pools always filled with sea creatures to explore and not poke with a stick. Maia and her five-year-old friend were in heaven. They ran, splashed, "swam" (really, the water was too shallow for actual swimming but that didn't stop them), built sand castles, explored the tidal pools... Cecily spent the first half hour we were there leaping and shrieking, (a la Ladybug Girl), "I LOVE the beach! Woo hoo! I love the beach." And then she overheard Maia telling her friend that I had been bitten on the toe by a hermit crab in Florida two years ago. Maia completed the story by declaring, "and just look at all the hermit crabs around here! There are MILLIONS of them! I wonder who is going to get bitten first." Cecily immediately burst into tears, demanded to be picked up (which I resisted), and spent the next hour and forty-five minutes whining that she didn't like the beach, she wanted to go home, and she didn't ever ever ever want to come back. Sigh... Thankfully, we didn't give up. We kept reassuring her that she wouldn't be bitten, that the crabs were more scared of her, and kept doing our best to make sure she had as much fun as possible. By the time we left, she was once again very happy and very ready to return the beach anytime we wanted. Of course, though, I have no photos to share of our fun adventures.
We spent Wednesday morning cleaning the house, hiding from rain, and getting ready for a visit from Abby and Lizzy! My girls started asking around 8 am what time our friends would arrive. They continued asking every 5 - 10 minutes right up until they got here just before 2. As repetitive as it was, it made me so happy that they were so eager to see each other! We had a wonderful visit! The girls played, made some art, put on their own plays for us, and generally enjoyed every minute. And the mommies got to chat and catch up and plan our upcoming Mommy-only trip to NYC in just a couple weeks! We made some yummy pizzas, had some of our favorite new salt brownies, and then had all the girls change into jammies. For a great photo of the four of them, check our their blog. Sadly, the day ended on a frustrating note when Maia once again had a really hard time falling asleep. We had a long talk on Thursday morning, and decided that maybe having sugar after dinner was making it harder for her to fall asleep. Much to my delight, Maia decided on her own that she wouldn't have any sweet treats after 3pm for a while and see if that made a difference.
Thursday was another low key day hiding from the rain. The highlight was Kelly letting us watch baby Reggie for an hour while she took her big kids on an adventure. We were in heaven getting to take care of him. And we were just as happy to return him to his Mommy when it was nice for him to eat and take a nap.
Friday's highlight was a trip up to Portsmouth to pick up some presents for various people we'll be celebrating over the next couple months. We found some fun things, and then stopped into a sweet little bakery for a treat. (For probably the first time EVER, we did not stop for lunch at my all-time favorite lunch place- The Friendly Toast. We were a little short on time, so we'll have to make another trek up soon!)
We had an unsettling encounter with a crazy driver as we were leaving downtown, and decided to just head home rather than venturing further. We took refuge with Teddy, Gingy, and Reggie and then all headed out to one of our favorite dinner places for yummy food, live Irish music, and LOTS of dancing. We all had a wonderful time (once again, no photos...) and got home tired and ready for bed.
I was up early Saturday morning for a new haircut and new bangs. I've had side bangs for a while, so I didn't think this would be such a change. (I just wanted something a little different for dinner.) Apparently, though, it is. I'm happy with it, though, so all's well.
After admiring my new do, we loaded the girls into the car and drove them out to meet Grammy and Grampy. Last October, we decided the girls were old enough and ready to start having monthly sleep overs with their grandparents. It's been fabulous for everyone! Mommy and Daddy get a break (and a full night's sleep!), the girls get some quality time to be spoiled by G&G, and everyone is happy. As this week is our 9-year wedding, we decided it was a great weekend to plan the sleepover. We dropped them off, picked up a few necessities, and then headed out for lunch. We stopped at our very favorite pizza place and topped off a fabulous meal with strawberry shortcake. After that... we were off to test drive cars.
Daddy's current car is a lease, and will be up next March. I've been urging him to look into getting a convertible for his next car- he spends so much time working, maybe having a convertible would actually give him a chance to get some vitamin D! Our first stop was the Mini dealership. I agree that the cars are completely adorable and fun, but... I just feel like we would look really silly given how tall we are! We spent a while looking at them, sitting in them, and then...
We headed home to try one of our latest kitchen experiments: blueberry-infused gin. We made Gin & Tonics, and they were fabulous!
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