Beach House on Buzzard's Bay

Once upon a time (like, two weeks ago), we drove and drove until we got to a road that looked like this:

and turned the corner to a house that looked liked this:

It was a house whose dining room has views like this:

and whose backyard includes playing like this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

And the best part: we got to stay there with friends like this:

And hence began our visit with Shug and Paul!  If you don't know this already, Shug is one of my best friends in the world - starting with our days as freshman roommates almost 12 years ago.  She is one of the best people I know.  And she happens to have a friend in Alaska whose grandparents own this beach cottage and allow friends of their grandchildren to use it.  And share it with their friends and their friends' kids.  It was a dreamy little place to be!

Mother's Day Photos

There is nothing I love more than being a mom to these three boys!  I adore them so much and feel so thankful to have them.  I can't think of anything I would rather be doing with my life right now than raising and loving these sweet boys.  Aren't they the cutest?

Uncle Dan Comes to Town

We got lucky, and Uncle Dan-o had another work training scheduled in the Boston area!  He stopped by just long enough for a dinner in the North End, a night on our couch, a chance to help Ben in his Nursery calling, and a quick Mother's Day lunch before heading on his way.  It's so fun to have Dan pop in for a visit every once in a while.  It almost makes us forget that he lives 2600 miles away from us!  

Maybe someday we should try living closer together so we can see the rest of your family every once in a while, hey Dan?  Still, we'll take you whenever we can get you.

Words

* Ellis was really proud of himself for being able to spell this word, all by himself!  "Boston," of course -- but it's spelled exactly how Ellis pronounces it!  He has recently caught on to the excitement of putting sounds together to make words.  Maybe it's the English teacher in me, but I think the two most thrilling parts of parenting (so far) are watching your kids learn to 1) talk and 2) read.  Ellis can hardly contain his excitement when he reads a string of words - it's like he has figured out a secret code!  And Sam seems to feel the same way about speaking words!  How exciting when he can say "cheese" or "drink" and we understand him and give him what he wants!  Another secret code!  I can't think of anything more fascinating than watching these little people figure these things out and be SO EXCITED about them.

[*Wow, I just got a close look at that fridge picture.  It almost looks like I intentionally set up our fridge magnets to create an artistic representation of my life in its current state.  Nope, nothing is intentional about it.  This is my reality, complete with chaos, madness, worn out letters, and drips of who-knows-what running down my refrigerator.]

Conference Apprentice

Let Sam's Conference adventures begin!

Green

I confess: I really REALLY love the cloudy, misty, rainy Boston days that drag into weeks.  I think they're romantic and European and dreamy and poetic.  I can't think of any better jogging weather than the cool air and gray skies, with maybe a few tiny raindrops glittering around me.  And look how GREEN the leaves look in this light!  

Can you believe these forest trails are directly behind my house?  If you know what the rest of my town looks like, you'll understand how miraculous this is.

As you can see, the passengers of my rainy-sky journeys are equally enthusiastic.

Fairy Tales

Fairy Tales

It seems wherever I go,

people come into my life or out of it

touching me where I can feel

then leaving me only a memory,

like the gossamer fairy tales of children-

easily forgotten,

and I wasn't through knowing them.

How do I know who I am seeing for the last time?

How do I halt your life to gather and keep all those around you that you've known?

And how do I keep fairy tales from losing their magic?

Yet come,

brush against the walls of my life

and stay long enough for us to know each other.

Even though we'll have to part sometime

and we both know the longer you stay,

the more I will want you back when you are gone.

But come anyway,

for fairy tales are the happiest stories we ever read

and great books are made of little chapters.

                          -Chester Swor

I really had a hard time with the unexpected news that our good friends, the Pughs, were moving to Utah.  Why can I not just keep all of the people I like (you know who you are!) within a 5-mile radius for forever?  Can we not all just get together and commit to buy houses in the same cul-de-sac and be an active part of each other's lives for the rest of our lives?  Do you think that's maybe what Heaven is like?

Well, thanks Pugh family for the little chapters and happy stories!  We'll be friends forever, even if we can't be neighbors!  

And on a lighter note, I had to chuckle at Henry's heart-felt going away card to the Pughs.  He is such a boy - no understanding of sentimentality at all:

 

Funny Face Contest

Vote on the funniest!

Overheard

E: Henry, Dads don't shop!  Only moms shop.
H: Yes they do. Remember when we went shopping with Dad for Mom's birthday?  On Amazon?

H: (dreamily) White rice tastes like air on a day that feels JUST PERFECT.

H: (dreamily, again) Mom, remember that time at Victory Field when we saw all those ants, and I was watching them and feeding them part of my pumpkin muffin? That was one of the best days of my LIFE!

E: Mom, if you say I can't watch any shows while somebody takes a shower, then that means you already died.

E: Mom, if I don't watch one more show, then I won't have a spirit.

Henry's Cool Money Game

Wanna play Henry's cool money game?

Just use this simple key (each denomination of money has a symbol) . . .

to solve these challenging math problems.  For starters, what is ten dimes, three dollar coins, and two dollar bills multiplied by two quarters?  You get to write your answers on the back of the flashcards.  Now that is my Ben's kind of game!

Spring Break Road Trip

I still haven't quite figured out what got into me a few weeks before Spring Break, but I decided to do something adventurous that I've never done before: take the kids on a road trip - ALL BY MYSELF.  Ben is getting swamped with work toward his dissertation, among many other things, and I knew that if we stayed home for Spring Break, we would only be a temptation to him ("Are you SURE you want to go to the office today?").  So I stocked the freezer with Trader Joe's dinners, packed our bags, and took the boys on a 5 1/2 hour drive to Pennsylvania.  

Why it worked: 

1. Henry is awesome!  He took on the giant responsibility of taking care of EVERYTHING for himself and the other two boys while I focused on the road.  He was stocked with books, toys, DVDs, and snacks for all three of them, carefully placed within his reach so that he could divvy them out without having to unbuckle his seat belt.  He got very stressed a few times when objects fell on the floor out of his reach, but he stayed cool under pressure, and we only had to stop a few times to rearrange things.

2. Caffeine, jelly beans, and the audio version of Angle of Repose. I had a mini party up in the driver's seat doing whatever was necessary to stay awake and safe!

We stopped after about 4 hours to visit our dear friends in New Jersey from the good old days.  The boys, Aden, Evan, and Henry had no problem rekindling their old friendship (they were best buddies at age 2 1/2 when we moved).

(look how little they were!)

The moms (Cindy, Jessica, and me) had a great visit as well!

It was fun to get to know little Karen . . .

and to introduce them to Sam!

Then on to Pennsylvania to visit Christina and kids (and a little bit of Mike)!  We had a great time just letting the kids play, play, play.  This was our outdoor pizza picnic (that was kind of disastrous actually, because it was right by a beautiful river and the little ones could not get enough).

Ava and Henry were bestest friends before these guys moved.  Before we came down, Ava told her mom, "Henry is just one of those friends that I'll have forever!"  I hope he did not disappoint her.  He has become a lot more interested in crazy boy things over the past year.  While he used to love playing "this game called 'House'" with Ava, he now goes crazy over imaginative games where video games come to life and everyone tries to earn points, defeat all the levels, and kill the bad guys by doing all sorts of random things.  I'm not sure if it was all Ava was dreaming of.  Hopefully she still considers him a good friend.  Ezra, on the other hand, was in heaven.  He and Henry especially enjoyed a rousing game of "chop the imaginary turkeys' heads off."

We got to meet Amy and Joshua at the Philadelphia Zoo (she lives 5 minutes away)!  It was a slightly drizzly day, so it wasn't too crowded, and it really was pleasant.  

It was so great to see Amy - I wish we could have visited longer!  She seems to be having such a good time with little Josh living the city life.  She takes him on the bike seat to visit museums and other cool city places all the time.  What a cool mom!

And Christina is Super Mom.  She's expecting #4, and I can't wait to see her master the art.  I like to let her show me the way long before I dare to try things myself :)  Mike was away on business for 2 of the nights while we were there, so we had some serious girls' nights.  And we ate a lot of cake!

I got some fun pictures of the kids in the fun indoor play area at the zoo.  

We managed to fit all of them into one dino egg (but where is Ellis?)

Ava was a sweet helper with Sammy.

I'm in love with Mark and his beautiful curls.

Ezra's great pose.

The closest we could get to a great group photo.  These kids have so much fun together - they might as well be cousins!

Last stop: JoDee's house in Connecticut on the way home.  We stayed for a couple of days and let the kids catch up on their Olivia and Ben time.  We really miss those two and think of them often since the time they stayed at our house last fall.  Brandon was sweet and watched the kids while JoDee and I got to have a girls' night out.  We went shopping with NO KIDS!  

Did you know that JoDee lives within walking distance from the beach of Long Island Sound?  They just go play on the beach, like all the time.  We were happy to join them for a day!

The boys dug in the sand for two hours.  Olivia was very patient!  I think I'm intimidated enough by JoDee's photography skills that I didn't pull out my camera the rest of the time we were there.  But we had a great time, mostly just doing what I like best - sitting around talking while the kids played.

I feel so lucky to have so many good friends that are within a reasonable driving distance!  I don't know that I'm looking to hop in the car and drive for 5+ hours again anytime soon, but I'm glad to know that it's possible!  Aren't you kind of proud of me?