First Haircut

Today is the day......Cooper's curls go away......It was time to cut Cooper's hair when I noticed it was longer than Caroline's hair. We have all grown attached to his beautiful baby curls.
All set....Cooper was ready! (Mommy wasn't)No tears! Just smiles and a lot of wiggling around...."tickle me" he was very ticklish through the whole haircut.

Reward for 1st haircut.......a pop!Sister gets in on reward.

What a moment...I will have etched in my mind...when my baby became a little boy. A time for letting go....a time for change. With Caroline I have a closet of her baby dresses that I can't let go of....with Cooper it was his curls. I have a hard time with change....with how fast life is passing us by.....I keep wanting to freeze every moment I have with these two little people....but the days, months and years fly by. Change is good......right?

Before and After

Before After.....

A few of my new favorite blogs....

I need to update my favorite blogs.....so many creative, funny and interesting bloggers out there!!

Sunday Baker I am missing my kitchen every day! Especially when I read Tanya's blog....she posts amazing recipes.....and step by step directions with pictures!! I'm hooked and hungry!!!

it's the little things.... check out the beautiful jewelry on this blog! This is a wonderful mother of two boys who makes the most inspirational necklaces.

Whatever this blog cracks me up! This mom has the best perspective on raising kids...and she has a whole bunch of them! Check out her home! I even entered a "blog giveaway" and won!!! Check out all the games she was giving away...... Caroline wants Cooper to go to school all day so that we can have a game marathon day! (without a 2 year old bothering her) Thanks again Meg!

Flipflops and applesauce If you have little ones...this blog is great! This mom shares recipes, crafts, and so much more!!!

Cooking for Monkeys I just love the name of this blog.....and check out the meals made for kids....wow! Great ideas! Check out the Bento Lunch Boxes...way cool.

so...thats all for now.....happy blogging!!

Weekend at Gramma and Shener's Part 2

After a very busy day on Saturday the kids crashed and we had a pretty quiet night....caroline woke up at midnight to go to the bathroom, 3am she woke me up because her covers were not right, 4am cooper yells out in his sleep when he hears the train, 5am Caroline hops in bed with me, 6am I let her bug Tyler.....like I said...a pretty good night actually. We headed to a nearby school's playground....Kid's Castle.

Take a look at Caroline's outfit....I had two outfits she could pick from...she took a little from both and came out with this number.....animal print fleece and pink flower dress...yikes!
This place was great.....the zip line was Caroline's favorite.



Thanks Gramma and Shener.......we love you!

Construction Update

We have come a long way in the last couple of weeks.....we have turned a new corner I believe....the picture below shows the amount of "destruction" that needed to happen...out with the old kitchen, floor, foundation, walls, electric, plumbing, stairs,and chimney. In with the new!!! This is the radiant heat that will be under our feet! The radiant heat was finished today...now we wait for the inspector....and then the concrete is poured.

Weekend at Gramma and Shener's Part1

So...in order for Rob to get any work done on the house I finally had to pack up the kids and head to Vermont to visit Gramma and Shener...and we picked up Cousin Tyler to add to the fun!!!

The kids cannot get enough of Tyler....or be any closer! Caroline woke up at 5am to wake him up.....I held her off until 6am. Sorry Ty.
The weather was great! And the kids had fun hanging out on the sunny porch.
Lots of fun things to do....battleship....by caroline's rules of course.
and cooking.....always a favorite activity...Gramma has patience to cook with 2 little ones....and make an amazing meal....simply amazing. Cooper finally big enough to get in on the action....making homemade french fries.
and playing dress-up...only a Gramma would have a hat like that!
to be continued........Part 2 tomorrow

Last Thursday night I took the kids up to Pittsfield for a downtown festival....we met up with Nonna and Grampa, ate yummy food, people watched and listened to music all night. This picture cracks me up....we sat for 2 hours watching dancers....and the only picture I get is the two kids looking at something else other than the performance...oh well! We had a great night....just missing Daddy who was working late. (yes....cooper's hair is now longer than Caroline's....yikes!) Grampa driving the stroller and making the kids giggle the whole way...priceless.

The Josh

Sunday we headed down to Tanglewood to cheer on our family and friends who were racing in The Josh.....Caroline and Cooper are giving last minute hugs to the runners, Lea and Aunt Jen.
It was a crazy morning of rain showers....so we prepared with raincoats and splash boots.....but as soon as the rain stopped the sun came out and it was in the 80s and humid! Can you tell who is the daddy in the picture below....he had two screaming kids cheering him on...."Go Daddy!!!"


This is our view from the shore.....thats Coop with the long blond hair......


Smiles after the race!
Waiting for Aunt Jen and Lea to finish the last leg of the race........


After the race......team pictures...WWJ (we're with jeff) and JBJ (just beat Jeff)WWJ (we're with Jeff) Team picture: Aunt Jen, Uncle Brian, Uncle Jeff and Rob

Randomness

Some random pictures from this week......flowers from Rob.....so sweet and thoughtful. With all of the madness going on around here he comes home from a 14 hour day with flowers for me.

A window with a view...not really the kind of view that i was hoping for...but these days a cement truck makes me happy......I can't even believe I said that, but when I saw it back up into the yard (who am i kidding...we don't have a yard left) I said "yeah the concrete guys are here....its foundation day!!!" This is how it looks from the sidewalk....really close to my hosta guys! They really could care less......so far they have run into Caroline's tree in the front yard and broke a branch off, backed over the kids garden bench, smashed Cooper's slide....but who's keeping track. And, this weeks amusement.......a box. One big box that is perfect size for two kids..... They colored like crazy...told me where they wanted windows and hours of fun!

construction update

Sunday.....it rained all day on Saturday and the concrete is coming Monday....so they are digging everything out today.....the photo below shows the old kitchen...the floor has been ripped out, as well as the back stairs and an old chimney. There will be two sets of french doors...the first set will be where the opening is on the left and the second is where the blue tarp is....there is old foundation there and that is being dug out as i type....and tomorrow (hopefully) they can pour the new foundation in......plumber is coming too.....so hopefully in a couple weeks they can pour the floor and set up the radiant heat. This photo is a close up of what was underneath the old kitchen...just a crawl space...and the basement is in the upper right hand corner, field stone basement wall and dirt floors...this is where the old will meet the new....yippee!Sunday....for Rob and Uncle Mark it is a day for working on this house....for the kids and I, we went to church, the cousins' football game, and a family dinner at Aunt Jen's house.

oh happy day

Caroline's 1st day of preschool.....pictures by her tree.....both growing so fast. We had a very quiet morning...a bit nervous. As i packed her blanket for nap time she kept throwing in more snuggle toys...and as we walked to school she said she would go in by herself...of course i went in to say hi to the teachers and get her settled. She joined right in....with a quick hug for Coop...and we tip toed out. Tomorrow might be another story. Cooper wanted a picture by his tree.....they were both filled with giggles and hugs all morning.

garlic festival

Yes, we go to some weird festivals.....a couple weeks ago we went to the zucchini festival in West Stockbridge...and on Sunday we went to the Garlic Festival in Bennington Vermont. It was a glorious day...sunny and blue sky. We go for the great food....the kids got their faces painted first. Caroline a purple unicorn...
Cooper got a gecko on his arm. The kids spent hours playing with the hay...who knew hay would be so fun! They put the hay bails right near the food vendors, music, and in the shade! So while we ate...the kids played....everyone wins.

We met up with Grampa and Nonna, Uncle Jamie, Aunt Jen and Tyler, and Gramma and Shener. Cooper is enjoying a garlic pickle.....yummy!