Apples and Wine

Every year we love taking the kids apple picking...and one of our new favorite spots is Hilltop Orchards and Furnace Brook Winery in Richmond...apples for the kids and wine for the adults. This year we attended the spring blossom open house and had a wonderful day! Check out the website and see if you can spot us!! The Johnny Mash hard cider is great and the Riesling is my favorite!

Life

Life once again takes us for a ride....on Thursday afternoon, as I finished packing for our weekend trip, I picked Caroline up from her last day of preschool....as soon as I turned the corner I knew something was wrong.....for more than 8 years our neighbor has been fighting cancer...and for the last few weeks his family and friends have been by his side....as I turned the corner I saw them all stepping outside for air......catching their breath...as he took his last. I am in complete shock...filled with sadness and anger...and simply missing him. So...with red eyes and heavy hearts we drove to the beach and said our silent prayers for a friend and his family.

Caroline was 18 months when we made this card and picture for Tom, to cheer him up after chemo treatments.

Packing

While Caroline is enjoying her last day at preschool this year ...I have been busy packing....

beach umbrella

5 kites (yes, Rob says we need all 5)

bathing suits

beach chairs

snacks (great vacation snacks!!)

sun lotion

buckets and shovels

and one minivan packed like we are leaving for the summer....but only for the weekend! And yes, we are off to the beach!!!! Our annual trip to Rockport with Gramma and Shener!!!

The rain has finally stopped!

Cooper really enjoyed strawberry picking this morning....
Every time I turned around he was busy eating.......
So...after an hour......
We didn't even fill this......
We have been waiting for a half decent day to go strawberry picking....but I think we were a bit early...we found lots of itty bitty strawberries.....I think we'll try another farm next week....the kids had so much fun!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

When it rains...it pours....right into our basement. It fills up with water and mud, we pump it out, and wait for the next storm to roll in...this is becoming normal....I still hyperventilate when I see the waterfall and I pace around the house until the water level goes down and I can see the 3 inches of mud that is left behind. The backyard is a swimming pool.....not the kind we want. A bit disappointed that nothing has happened in weeks on the addition...I should be thankful that they haven't ripped out the kitchen yet....I am betting that they will do this the day before I have 50 people coming for Caroline and Rob's Birthday party. (It will probably rain, too) OK...enough of my pity party.....I've been invited to a tea party in the playroom...gotta go!

One proud mama

All lined up......and the curtain opened.....Caroline is the second on the left, front row. We all held our breath for the first minute as she stood there looking for us in an auditorium that was filled.....and then she danced beautifully!!
Tutus up!!
And flowers for our ballerina.

Because I am her mama I can say that she was amazing!!! She is truly a natural at dancing and I am in complete awe that at age 3 she was completely confident in front of hundreds of people! I only wish that I can nurture this amazing talent and support her in whatever will make her heart warm and her soul happy. She is the kind of kid who does everything with such an amazing spirit...she is up for trying anything and usually does very well....a true natural.(I, on the other hand, had to always work twice as hard as everyone and I was always good...not great.) I am a very proud mama.

Biting my nails.....

A peek at Caroline's costume for her ballet recital. I must admit that I am a bit anxious....my 3 year old will be in front of a couple hundred people for her first show on Sunday....and the teacher has put her in the front row of her class!! She is a bit unpredictable (aren't all 3 year olds) and the show is no longer than 10 minutes...... will she pick her nose? will she forget to dance and wave at everyone? will her "attitude" make an appearance? My husband and I have both been brought up participating in sports....so this is way out of our element.....my only advice to Caroline is smile and dance and please listen to Ms. Judy.
To Be Continued...............

The sewing machine is humming

A peek at what I've been sewing.....baby gifts!!! The easiest sewing project ever is to sew ribbon on to cloth diapers...and poof....very pretty burp clothes. My neighbor made a set for me when I had Cooper and I love them! And my new project is making bibs....I also received a few great homemade bibs when I delivered Caroline and to this day they are the kids' favorite bibs to wear.

Yummy!

Ok...I love a great recipe...the kind that everyone raves about, comes out right every time, and easy easy....so easy, the kids love to help me with this one. The first time we made it the kids had soooo much fun.....Caroline wanted to re-name it to "Brother-Sister Bread"....and it already had a funny name....Monkey Bread. I got it off of a great Blog...Sunday Baker....just click on the links for the recipe and blog site. I would have taken a picture of the bread that I made this morning...but I brought it to playgroup and it was gobbled up by all!!!!! (and word of warning to all gourmet cooks....this recipe is for kids and grown-up kids.)

Construction Update: Nothing happening .......but a small flood in the basement from last night's storms.....Rob was cool as a cucumber....me, not so much.

The Lake

Busy, Busy Weekend! Grampa's birthday, Nathan's Baptism, Hunter's baseball game, Father's Day, Jayme's Graduation and we still had time to go to Nana and Grampa's house 3 days in a row to swim in the lake! Caroline loves jumping in!!!! She didn't even want to come in when it started to rain on Saturday...she just kept on jumpin!!!
When it started to thunder we headed inside.....and Caroline had fun dressing up.
Cooper took his naps when he could...which was in the car going from one place to another.....this left us with a very cranky boy on Sunday when it all caught up to him.
Construction update: No action today.

Trying to get Cooper to smile

The many faces of Cooper.....one sunny morning I was trying to take their picture....it was a bit challenging, and funny!

Happy Father's Day

HAPPY
FATHER'S
DAY!!!!!!!

Words are not enough to tell you how much we love you!!!! You are the best dad, daddy, daddio in the world......thank you for taking such good care of all of us....always having a smile when you come home......swinging on the swingset......reading lots of books......taking walks......and loving us unconditionally!!!!!

love, caroline and cooper

My Sleepy Boy

Cooper is the poster child of what "not" to put in the crib.....nap time today....notice all of his favorite things: water bottle, hammer, saw, bunny, little baby, baby, blue soothy blanket, and a half a dozen books. When he wakes up he methodically picks them all up in his little hands and wants to bring them everywhere. Don't you just love his little sandals?! No, I am not worried that I have a little boy who carries around a baby doll....Caroline dressed him in one of her tutus yesterday....he also is never seen without his saw and hammer and proceeds to fix everything he sees.....he is very much a boy....he would eat dirt if I let him....and he is very drawn to puddles.

Great Sales

I love living in the Berkshires.......home of Country Curtains....I was able to get 2 pairs of Moire Plaid in Blue at 50% off catalog price....I saved $129.00!!! And, they only had the 2 pairs in the length I needed....these will go on the 2 sets of french doors in the new addition! On the same day I was able to hit the Pine Cone Hill tent sale where I bought a Dash & Albert Rug rug for $80.00, online it sells for $165.00. I am thinking I'll put this in the new kitchen between the kitchen cabinets and the island.

Our "Little Dig"

The forms are off.....

Our yard has looked like this for a week......but they have been moving around dirt all day in the 90 degree heat.....so now our yard looks like this! It has been day two of moving dirt and filling truck load after truck load in order to make the driveway and yard level, just in time for the contractor to bring in his trucks and equipment.

Boston

Ya gotta love the bleacher seats at Fenway.....90 degrees, hot sun, 4 o'clock game......I think this picture would have been perfect if I didn't capture the lady's head right in front of me......but it was too hot to move, eat, and yes drink beer....the beer turned warm within 10 minutes...and there is nothing worse than warm beer at a ballgame. The uncomfortable conditions lasted for about half way through....the sun slowly went down and we watched not only the Sox beat Seattle, but the crazy fans around us. Right in front of us we watched one man pummel another man for touching his wife inappropriately, the man who was pummeled was eventually escorted out because he was very drunk ( we later learned that he was tossed out only to fall and crack his head open), one woman was purposed to and than they couldn't keep their hands off of each other.....and I could go on and on....endless people watching....if only it wasn't so hot!!!!! We had a great night away from the kids.....missing them sooooo much. Below is a mini video clip when everyone sings Sweet Caroline......

Red Sox

Go Sox!!! We are off to Fenway to watch the Red Sox!!!! This is a picture of the kids from last year's World Series excitement....thanks Gramma and Shener for taking care of the kids!!!!

Spring Flowers

I have been envious of other blogs for posting pictures of their flowers for weeks now.....here in the NorthEast we are finally past the threat of a frost at night. Lily of the Valley was one of my grandmother's favorites....and on the day of her memorial they were in full bloom, as well as the purple iris. I was able to get two bunches out of our patch this year...and one vase always goes by the bedside.

Construction update: The foundation was approved by the inspector but there hasn't been any action all week. The next step is to backfill the mounds of dirt and rebuild the foundation on the side of the house where the screened-in porch will be. Meanwhile, Rob and I are busy picking out windows and doors.....so many choices!!!!!

My early bird

Two pictures to share this morning.....Because Caroline wakes up with the sun she keeps busy in her room for as long as she can stand it before she hops in bed with me....she makes her bed, puts her books away, makes a visit to the bathroom and gets dressed...I just love going in her room and seeing all of "her friends" neatly placed in a row.



The second picture is from our trip to Boston on Sunday...it was a great change of scenery for us. Caroline loves going to the city!!! We rode on the duck boats, had $4 hotdogs, played on the playground in the Boston Common, checked out Uncle Brian's new condo, and picked up cannoli's at Mike's in the North End (we shared those with the neighbors when we got home).