May 20th - at home...packing

 BIKER CHICKS!!!  Brooklyn and her buddy Ainsley got out their balance bikes for some street riding.  Meanwhile, Tuck and Camden raced up and down the road on their 2 wheeler pedal bikes too....what fun they had.  They probably had more fun watching us chase them all over the place too!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day to spend outside and we did just that...well in between all the massive packing.  The kids did well entertaining themselves in the sandbox while Daddy and I packed up the garage and mudroom. Moving day is coming quickly and luckily the kids are good sports about the whole thing.

Since it was so nice out, we did go down to Danny's for some beach time and both kids jumped in the lake.  Of course it helped that Daddy and Derek did too.  We are so lucky that Danny lets us come down as much as he does, the kids love it!

May 19th - Fishing in the morning

"Up and at 'em early in the morning..."  Yesterday afternoon we heard about a little kids fishing derby at Chaffin Pond in Windham for Saturday morning.  The weather was beautiful so we planned on getting up and going.  I had to cattle prod our crew to get them motivated because they didn't want to go but as soon as we got there, about half a mile away, they loved it!  There were a few other families fishing, couple kids Tucky's age and they had a ball talking.  We fished for over an hour and didn't catch a single thing...patient little fella's!

Mommy had to work a sea kayak trip so the kids got a super fun Daddy day at home.  They mowed the lawn, went fishing at Danny's and played in the yard.  By the time I got home around 5pm, they were beat but still had enough energy to play ball too.  Mommy's friend Lisa came over to play baseball and have a BBQ too.  The kids eat up the attention and have started to take a liking to baseball... Tuck can hit the ball really well and Brooklyn gets the throwing.

May 18th - Friday fishin'

3 fishing spots and not a single bite....luckily the kids are super patient and just like to fish and explore!  Fun Friday evening, a bit of family time in the woods!

May 16th - happy kids

"Knock, Knock, who's there?"  (Brooklyn started saying this in the car on the way home, I was cracking up!  Then Tuck added, "Orange.  Brooke, say orange who."  She did and then he came up with some really silly response.  It was hilarious!  She also grabbed his hand and said, "Hold hand Tucky, hold hand."

I asked Brooklyn something in the car tonight on the way home and she said, "Wait, in two minutes."  She is just picking up so much!  She is putting some really complex sentences together and her vocabulary is growing daily!  It's so much fun!  Tonight she was also counting again after we put her to bed.  Jay and I had to print out some papers for the house on the computer upstairs about 30 min after we put her down and we heard, "94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, one hundred (in a louder voice)."  What a sponge!

Tuck is really into this one story and it makes me so happy!  He loves the book, "On Meadowview Street."  It is about a family that moves to a new house (where everyone mows their lawns the same) and the girl loves flowers and asks her Daddy not to mow this one spot so the lone flower can grow.  Soon more and more flowers grow, they add trees and birdhouses, a pond and then all the neighbors start to notice.  Eventually there is a "meadow" on Meadowview Street and all sorts of animals have new homes.   I asked Tucky why this was his favorite book and he said, "because there are flowers and birds in it.  I want to have lots of flowers and birds and a pond at our new house too.  Then all kinds of creatures can live there and have a place to drink."  Wow, I was pretty blown away and thrilled that he is into birds, flowers and nature so much!  Big Annie would be so proud!!!

May 15th - random games

Rainy day and not much we can do outside once we get home. Instead of the crazy running around the house that normally follows our arrival, I gave the kids a bunch of colored pegs and egg cartons to play with. They loved it and sorted them into lots of piles. They played so well together and I was actually able to get dinner made fairly easily.



After we ate, Daddy worked on dishes and I started to create a little game with Brooklyn. We set up goals and tried to flick pegs in between the goals. It was actually really fun and Tuck ended up wanting to play too. Then, Daddy joined us and we had a full table game going. I love random games, especially when the kids can use their imaginations and make up their own rules!

May 14th - allergies and cake pops

A little one of Momma's experiments....  Actually it started with a surprise rash that Brooklyn had and deciding to stay home for the day with the kids.  They were exhausted for all the fun they had over the weekend and Brooklyn woke up all red, swollen and covered with a rash again.  The only thing we thought it could be was the sunscreen again.  I did talk to her Pediatrician and spent an hour or so researching safe, all-natural sunscreens.  I found and ordered some, hopefully they'll work for the little girl.  So most likely she has developed some sort of sunscreen allergy...

Both kids took fabulously long naps today, they needed it, so Mommy got creative and tried to make some cake pops.  I wanted them to help me so when they woke up, they helped mix up the cake's ingredients.  We had a preschool visit to make across the street, which we loved, and then Derek joined us as we walked over to the store to buy a few more things.  Then we set up a "cake factory" and the kids helped me dip and decorate the pops.  It was totally not as easy as it looked but they were very tasty!  They had such a ball making them too!

May 13th - Mother's Day

Mother's Day!  After a super full Saturday with Daddy and some friends, the kids were ready to sleep in a little Sunday morning.  We had big plans for Mother's Day though too so I knew they wouldn't sleep in too long.  Mimi and Auntie Amy were meeting the kids at Nahne's house for a fun-filled day of activities while Mommy and Daddy went to a Red Sox game.   

                        The kids brought lots to do and of course Mimi had planned some fun things for them too.  They painted, played outside, ate a ton, did yard work, etc., and had a ball!  They were tuckered little ones and absolutely crashed when we got home.  Luckily, Auntie Amy brought them back to Windham for us!

They had created some lovely Mother's Day gifts and I was so happy to see them and glad they had a fun day.  I can't wait until I can bring them to a game when they're a bit older, I know they had much more fun at Nahne's than they would have fighting Boston traffic!!!!

 

 

May 10th - finally some sun!

Playing outside after all the rain... we are loving the blooming trees and pretty flowers! As soon as we got home this afternoon, Tucky ran over to his favorite bush and yelled, "what happened to my Forscythia tree, it's green now?". Great observation Tucky!

May 9th - reading with Derek

The kids love Derek! When they saw him biking past our house, they both started screaming so he had no choice but to come in. He's so good with them too. He read some books with them and then showed him a video of some competition he was in at school on his phone. The kids are going to miss not living next to him but we're not going far and we'll still be able to see him often.

In the car this morning, Tuck told me that he was an artist. When I asked why, he replied that he helps give books to people that don't have them....I'm not sure where that cane from but it was pretty matter-of-fact for him!

May 6th - time at home, Chaffin Pond dinner outing

Great day at home with the kids!  We spent a lot of time outside in the yard playing.  Daddy was packing up our outdoor equipment and bringing loads to the storage unit while Tucky helped carry stuff over to our neighbor's house with his gator.  He also helped Daddy set up Tuck's new wheelbarrow and was such a helpful little one.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn and I took a load of baby gear over to Nahne's house and got to visit with Mimi and Poppi too.

Daddy and Tucky also biked down towards the Basin to go fishing.  Tuck spent an hour digging worms in the yard and talks about fishing nonstop.  He loves fishing and was so excited that he took his bucket of worms and hooked the handle onto his bike and told Daddy he was ready!

Brooklyn had her first big run in with nature today.  She was walking towards the house to come inside for naptime and bent down to touch a dandelion.  I was screaming in my head as I watched her, from the kitchen, bend down and grab a bee.  Well, it stung her and she naturally started screaming.  I got out the stinger and we made her a little baking soda paste.  She kept saying, "Ouchy Momma!"  I wanted to watch her so she, Tuck and I napped downstairs on the couches....although the only one who fell asleep was Momma...

We ended the evening with a short hike down near Chaffin Pond in Windham.  I had no idea this was here but found some neat trails online and we wanted to check it out.  It's right in downtown Windham too.  We grabbed a pizza, had a picnic down by the pond and had a fun nature walk around the pond.  Apparently we can fish and kayak here too.  We can't wait to come back, Tucky was to come fishing!  He keeps talking about some big bass....