Reptile Group Home Open House
No joke, this was the event title when I was looking at a local online connections page of the upper valley for family activities. I imagine it's a place where old lizards, frogs and snakes go when they are getting old and need care but have some rooms open so they are hosting a mixer for others to come check it out.
Granted it's a veterinarian clinic hosting a bake sale with animals to view but I think my initial thought would be more fun!
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
The BBQ That Wasn't
Tom rolls over to me this morning and whispers in my ear "Honey, I'm gonna get up and give the hog some juice injections".
The weather this weekend was beautiful, the smoker was assembled and ready to go and then it happens...all best laid plans go down the toilet.
All this little guy wanted to do was cuddle in my bed and watch Curious George. Nothing like a fever to keep people at bay. Not to mention half of the people that we had invited had stomach bugs and had to bail too. So hear we are with a 7lb pork shoulder, Switchback on tap, my fabulous spinach-guacamole dip made and Tom, Colby and I left to eat it.
Tom's 1st attempt using the smoker was a success, the pork was great! Good thing because we will be having it all week in as many different ways that I can think to serve it.
Well, it's early in the season. We will have plenty of time to make up for it as long as we can all stay healthy.
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| May I introduce Tom's smoker! |
The weather this weekend was beautiful, the smoker was assembled and ready to go and then it happens...all best laid plans go down the toilet.
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| I appreciated Isis Kitty hanging out with Lincoln so I could enjoy the outside a little! |
All this little guy wanted to do was cuddle in my bed and watch Curious George. Nothing like a fever to keep people at bay. Not to mention half of the people that we had invited had stomach bugs and had to bail too. So hear we are with a 7lb pork shoulder, Switchback on tap, my fabulous spinach-guacamole dip made and Tom, Colby and I left to eat it.
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| One of my favorite summer dips! |
Well, it's early in the season. We will have plenty of time to make up for it as long as we can all stay healthy.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Golf Cart vs Gator Tractor
On vacation some people tool around in a golf cart. Not in this family. There's nothing like taking a spin around the lake in a Gator Tractor.
2 years ago Colby wouldn't go near the thing; this time he kept asking for more.
Lincoln was a bit unsure but overall he enjoyed himself!
Not to worry, I got in on the action too! It's not one of the flashy activities we did on vacation but one of the funnest!
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| Colby ready to go with his PopPop |
2 years ago Colby wouldn't go near the thing; this time he kept asking for more.
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| Lincoln's turn |
Lincoln was a bit unsure but overall he enjoyed himself!
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| Tom and Colby taking a spin together |
Not to worry, I got in on the action too! It's not one of the flashy activities we did on vacation but one of the funnest!
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Say Cheese!
So we just got back from visiting family in South Carolina. We had a great visit, did alot of things and I remembered at the zoo to have my Mother take a picture of the 4 of us. The boys were not cooperating but I figure let's grab one but I'm sure we will take many more today or later in the week........nope. That one shot is the only one of the 4 of us on vacation.
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| Smile |
Damn, I need to be better about remembering to take photos or this will be our Christmas card picture. Nice, right?......Arggggggh!!!
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Dinner with Adults vs. Dinner with Kids
Katie R.
Our dinner out with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law:
We arrived at a very crowded restaurant on a Saturday night. Many people were there to watch the NCAA basketball tournament games, ourselves included, so the people were spending their time eating a drinking. We were told there would be an approximate 2 hour wait. Our reply "no problem we'll be at the bar". Luckily the bar was huge and had 160 beers on tap so an appetizer, some beers, some basketball and we were happy. Sometime later we were seated at our table and the food was great too, it was my birthday so I ate whatever I wanted. We then decided to stay for a drink after dinner to finish the game. We probably spent 4 hours there total and it was a great night.
Our dinner out with our kids (a few days before our trip to Ohio):
We walk into Moe's and they didn't immediate welcome us so Andrew yells "Welcome to Moe's." I am not eating so I take the boys to get a seat while Joe ordered for the kids. Wes, who hates to be separated from Daddy, then starts saying "Daddy" over and over and louder and louder until I give him everything in my bag to keep him quiet. Joe finally comes back to the table and we get the burritos unwrapped. Wes takes a bite of the his and the other end somehow opens and 1/2 of his burrito falls on the floor. Joe forgot the green salsa which Andrew gets every time we go there so I go get that and drinks. Joe didn't get Wes a drink so now he's throwing a fit because he doesn't have a drink. Luckily Andrew shares his with Wes but then Wes won't give it back. We pry the drink from his hands and I put it out of sight with a promise to Andrew that we'll get him a full cup before we leave. Andrew eats his food and reaches for his cookie which comes with the meal. Wes sees the cookie and immediately shoves his plate out of the way causing me to grab salsa and 2 drinks before I am covered in salsa and diet coke. We give Wes his cookie, simply because we don't care anymore, and Joe finishes eating. We probably spent a total of 20 minutes there and I couldn't get out fast enough.
Our dinner out with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law:
We arrived at a very crowded restaurant on a Saturday night. Many people were there to watch the NCAA basketball tournament games, ourselves included, so the people were spending their time eating a drinking. We were told there would be an approximate 2 hour wait. Our reply "no problem we'll be at the bar". Luckily the bar was huge and had 160 beers on tap so an appetizer, some beers, some basketball and we were happy. Sometime later we were seated at our table and the food was great too, it was my birthday so I ate whatever I wanted. We then decided to stay for a drink after dinner to finish the game. We probably spent 4 hours there total and it was a great night.
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| Look how happy we look (ignore Joe's hair he has since received a haircut) |
Our dinner out with our kids (a few days before our trip to Ohio):
We walk into Moe's and they didn't immediate welcome us so Andrew yells "Welcome to Moe's." I am not eating so I take the boys to get a seat while Joe ordered for the kids. Wes, who hates to be separated from Daddy, then starts saying "Daddy" over and over and louder and louder until I give him everything in my bag to keep him quiet. Joe finally comes back to the table and we get the burritos unwrapped. Wes takes a bite of the his and the other end somehow opens and 1/2 of his burrito falls on the floor. Joe forgot the green salsa which Andrew gets every time we go there so I go get that and drinks. Joe didn't get Wes a drink so now he's throwing a fit because he doesn't have a drink. Luckily Andrew shares his with Wes but then Wes won't give it back. We pry the drink from his hands and I put it out of sight with a promise to Andrew that we'll get him a full cup before we leave. Andrew eats his food and reaches for his cookie which comes with the meal. Wes sees the cookie and immediately shoves his plate out of the way causing me to grab salsa and 2 drinks before I am covered in salsa and diet coke. We give Wes his cookie, simply because we don't care anymore, and Joe finishes eating. We probably spent a total of 20 minutes there and I couldn't get out fast enough.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Road Trip
We did it! A two day 17 hour road trip with a 2 and a 4 year old. The biggest adventure was trying to leave during an April snow/ice storm. We actually were loaded up got on the road to only get off the 1st exist and turn around and went home for 2 hours to let the storm pass and allow the plow trucks to get out. Once we finally got moving the trip was smooth sailing! My purchase of headphones for the boys was a HUGE success!
I am also eternally grateful to the $5 I spent at K-Mart on a Busytown Mysteries DVD that was 4 and 1/2 hours long. Colby loved every second of it and watched it twice!
More to come on the adventures while in South Carolina but I wanted to celebrate our uneventful roadtrip as I can only imagine these types of road trips are few and far between.
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| The track suit and headphones make Colby look like an athlete on a team bus! |
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| Lincoln loved the headphones and endless munchies! |
I am also eternally grateful to the $5 I spent at K-Mart on a Busytown Mysteries DVD that was 4 and 1/2 hours long. Colby loved every second of it and watched it twice!
More to come on the adventures while in South Carolina but I wanted to celebrate our uneventful roadtrip as I can only imagine these types of road trips are few and far between.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Who Knew?
Katie R.
Who knew that sand from the sandbox could cause diaper rash? Just another thing we learned this week after spending as much time as possible outside.
I had to tell Wes about 30 times every hour to quit eating sand and he each time he would look at me, put sand in his mouth and say "mmmm."
I will spare you the details on how we discovered that it was sand that was the reason for rash, just trust me when I say we are 100% sure it is what caused it.
I made the photo below large so you can see his face. Although he did have an Oreo with lunch, the majority of the mess on his face was the sand he was eating. Mmmmmm.....
Who knew that sand from the sandbox could cause diaper rash? Just another thing we learned this week after spending as much time as possible outside.
I had to tell Wes about 30 times every hour to quit eating sand and he each time he would look at me, put sand in his mouth and say "mmmm."
I will spare you the details on how we discovered that it was sand that was the reason for rash, just trust me when I say we are 100% sure it is what caused it.
I made the photo below large so you can see his face. Although he did have an Oreo with lunch, the majority of the mess on his face was the sand he was eating. Mmmmmm.....
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Spring Trip to Ohio and Indiana
Katie R.
We just got back from Ohio on Sunday and to be honest there isn't a whole lot to tell about this trip. The kids played outside at the beginning of the week, Wes still refuses to let mother-in-law hold him and I was able to see my cousin who lives across the country.
Basically this is how they spent their trip:
Also, I didn't want to write a whole post about Boston as there is already so much on fb, the web and emails; however, I did want to at least want to say that my sincerest thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved in yesterday's tragedy. Joe and I lived in Boston for a few years and he proposed to me in the Boston Common, so Boston will always hold a special place in our hearts.
We just got back from Ohio on Sunday and to be honest there isn't a whole lot to tell about this trip. The kids played outside at the beginning of the week, Wes still refuses to let mother-in-law hold him and I was able to see my cousin who lives across the country.
Basically this is how they spent their trip:
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| Playing and apparently eating dirt |
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| Andrew flying a kite |
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Watch Whatever You Want!
To say I'm looking forward to a two day, 17 hour road trip wouldn't be hitting the nail on the head. But I made a little purchase this week that I think will help us all.....
I bought headphones for the boys so they can watch all the crap on their DVD players they want and Tom and I won't have to listen to it as well. Let's all hope they work out well, we hit no traffic and we get a decent night sleep sharing a hotel room together.
I bought headphones for the boys so they can watch all the crap on their DVD players they want and Tom and I won't have to listen to it as well. Let's all hope they work out well, we hit no traffic and we get a decent night sleep sharing a hotel room together.
Monday, April 8, 2013
My Parenting Fail of the Weekend
The weather this weekend was chilly but nice enough to get out and get some yard work done. I was so eager to get my hands dirty I let the boys have free range in the backyard while I worked. I had the clippers out and was taking to town some branches so when I saw Colby and Lincoln digging a hole in the dirt patch I didn't blink an eye. They were thrilled to dig, squeal and carry on so on I continued cutting and raking. I then noticed that they they took turns with the shovel dumping dirt on one anothers head. My first fail of the day was not saying anything right then and there and my second was then allowing it for the next 30 minutes so I could finish up what I was working on in the yard. As we walked in the house I had the boys strip down in the doorway because of how filthy they were. Lincoln's diaper was so full of dirt it was heavy. As I sent them to the shower they trailed dust like Pig Pen from the Peanuts Comic Strip! Luckily I have a detachable shower head and I just hosed those boys down forever. Lincoln was not a fan but he had no choice. Their hair was so dirty I had to rinse and repeat several times before the sand and dirt was all out. All was well and good after they got out of the shower but I have to admit that I should have said something at the time.......oh well. Life goes on after parenting fails.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Our Wintertime Easter
Over here in this household we traveled this year for Easter. It wasn't just to my parents house it was to the last place in New England with still a ton of snow on the ground. No springtime flowers coming up, no walk to the neighborhood playground and no egg hunt in the front yard.
We did, however, get to go sledding! Crazy right?
Not your typical Easter activity but we had fun. And the Easter bunny made due with the snow and had the egg hunt on the deck.
The boys enjoyed themselves and got to visit with several relatives that they don't see often enough. The Easter bunny was very good to them (I didn't stick to a strict budget like the other Katie) and the rest of the family spoiled them as usually!
Another year, another holiday; we are blessed to be so fortunate but I would like a little less snow next Easter!
We did, however, get to go sledding! Crazy right?
Not your typical Easter activity but we had fun. And the Easter bunny made due with the snow and had the egg hunt on the deck.
The boys enjoyed themselves and got to visit with several relatives that they don't see often enough. The Easter bunny was very good to them (I didn't stick to a strict budget like the other Katie) and the rest of the family spoiled them as usually!
Another year, another holiday; we are blessed to be so fortunate but I would like a little less snow next Easter!
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Easter 2013: Eggs, Oreos, Mud and Skunks
Even though Joe worked and we didn't have family in town we still had a great Easter. For once we actually had our camera with us so here is what we did this weekend:
Friday
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| Getting ready to dye eggs |
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| Wes dropping his egg in the dye |
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| Andrew gently putting the egg in the dye |
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Having a peep from grandma while we wait on eggs Saturday |
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Guess who fell? Sunday-Easter  
Note from the Easter Bunny
Note waiting for the boys
Easter Bunny couldn't eat it all
Eggs this way
Andrew's Eggs (so that he didn't take all of them we put A's on his).
The Star egg was opened last and told them where their baskets were hidden
Their Baskets $19 for all of it!
Easter Excitement
Monday
So I realize Monday is not technically part of Easter weekend but it was an eventful day. First, Joe taught Wes a very important skill, how to dunk oreos. It was cute and fun but a huge freakin' mess so this will be saved for very special occasions.
 
And then for the skunk excitment. So twice in the past month we have smelled skunk in the morning. As I was cleaning oreos off of everything I looked out the dining room window and look who was hanging out. We couldn't figure out what to do (after phone calls to neighbors and friends) so eventually it just walked into our neighbors yard. So far no more sightings but I'm totally freaked out and won't go in the backyard.
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