Start of Summer Fun!

School's out for summer, and we've had lots of fun keeping cool in the water. Whether at the splash park or our backyard, we've been splashing the days away. We are mostly hunkered down for the summer as we wait for #3 to join us (hopefully any day now), and looking forward to celebrating Teddy's 2nd birthday in a couple of days. We are loving some summer fun!

May Days

May came and went in the blink of an eye! It was filled with wrapping up loose ends at work for me, and lots of events to end the school year for Pierce and Teddy. Pierce's class put on a "May Show", where his class performed 3 songs/fingerplays and had a fruit reception for the audience. Pierce was unsure about performing in front of a crowd for a while, and was in tears about 5 minutes before the performance. He recovered nicely, took his place front and center on stage and sang his heart out! We were treated to "open, shut them", the "ABCs" and "Afonga Alafia". After a bow, we got to explore the art show that accompanied the performance! We are so proud.

Mother's Day was a lovely affair with a home made breakfast, cards and gifts made by the boys and a lunch at Myopia. The boys were on their best behavior and treated me so well. Plus, Halsey took care of all of the dishes and laundry for the weekend.

The rest of the month passed without too much fanfare--we are enjoying our family time together before baby #3 arrives in July!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

This past weekend was gorgeous, and was filled, for the most part, with soccer and swimming and gardening around the house. However, Halsey was able to score some tickets to the Red Sox game, so we took the whole family to the afternoon game. We were about 30 rows back on the 1st base line--not too shabby for the boys first game! They were so excited to be in the stadium, and they loved every minute of the game. The stadium food was by far their favorite part. We sampled Fenway Franks, pretzels, popcorn, and lemonade--they basically ate their way through the innings. Doing "the wave" and seeing Wally (the mascot) were other highlights. Pierce didn't want to leave and wanted to watch all of the spectators file out of Fenway. His first question is when we can go back (mostly because he wants some of the ice cream in a helmet)! Here's to a taste of summer...

Enjoying a lemonade the size of his torso

April Happenings

Here is a snapshot of a typical Friday morning in our house. What started out as a solo performance by Teddy quickly turned into a duet....

Later in the month, the dancing gave way to a musical performance with Pierce and Teddy rocking out on some instruments. It's been tricky trying to capture video as Teddy's first instinct is to stop what he's doing, point to the camera and say "picture, picture!". He's singing his ABCs now, so hope to catch those on film before he notices the camera.

It's always fun in our house!

Our Easter Bunnies

We lucked out with sunshine and blue skies on Easter this year! We woke up to find that the Easter bunny had visited and filled the boys' baskets with lots of fun treats, then headed into the living room for an Easter egg hunt. Both boys did a great job finding all of the eggs, and Pierce even shared a couple with Teddy. After a beautiful church service, we headed to Myopia for the delicious Easter brunch where the boys got to meet the Easter bunny. It is such a fun tradition--we had a wonderful day with the Morrises!

(P.S. There are many entries following this one-- I am over writer's block :) and we have finally moved past Hurricanes and Halloween!)

Captivating Captiva

We escaped the cold of Boston for the warmth of Captiva, Florida in mid-March for our spring break. I flew down with the boys myself and met Halsey, Liz, Fred and Darcy at the South Seas Island Resort for some fun in the sun. The resort was gorgeous and set up perfectly for families with small children. There is a trolley which takes you to different buildings/locations in the resort and is a highlight of the resort. We quickly got into a groove for our days. We'd have breakfast in the condo, and as the sun was rising, head to the beach for some morning playtime, digging and running in the sand. Then we'd head back to the condo to put on our bathing suits and head to the pools for some more swimming before lunch and rest time in the afternoon. One evening we took a dolphin watching cruise, and Pierce and Teddy delighted in watching the dolphins splash and play in the boat wake. Pierce even got to captain the boat for a bit. For the rest of the vacation, Teddy would clap his hands and say "Yay, dolphins" whenever he got excited! 

Chris, Liz, Foster and Molly joined us for a couple of days, and the cousins had fun playing, hugging, and exploring together! Molly and Teddy really discovered eachother on this trip, and it was precious to see them seek out one another, hold hands, and laugh together. Pierce and Foster were best buds as always! They are such a great balance for one another, and it is so fun to watch them grow up together. We would love to go back to the same spot next year. It could become an annual tradition.

Art Show and PJM update

As a three and a half year old, Pierce is really coming in to his own. He has started writing his letters, and loves to know how things are spelled.  He loves art and other projects. He is into imaginative play, and will spend up to 2 hours in his room doing "quiet time" entertaining himself with his "boat game", "circus game", school, and reading books. He loves to play with others, but is also perfectly content on his own. He is increasingly independent, and can do his own carseat buckle, put on and zip his coat and unbutton his shirt. He loves teaching Teddy about all of these things, and is still just as loving and affectionate as always. When he grows up he wants to be a bear trainer, a doctor or teacher, and a Daddy! Pierce is looking forward to welcoming another baby into the house, and has a baby of his own growing in his belly. 

Recently, Pierce's class put on an art show for the families at school. He worked hard all month on different art projects, working in different media and using different tools to create artwork. We didn't hear much about what was going on in the classroom. We were then invited for a gallery reception where our proud artist showed off all of his work. We all got a little dressed up for the occasion and Pierce took so much joy in his artwork. The event was adorable, and the hard-working artist and his little brother got to celebrate with some snacks and juice in the classroom at the end of the show!

It is amazing to watch Pierce grow and change, and really turn into a little boy. He continues to amaze us daily with his knowledge, and his questions as he begins to understand the world around him!

Our proud artist greeting us at the door

A treat to have Daddy in the classroom

Pierce with Ms. Annemarie

Snack celebration