Summer...summarized...sort of.

I still haven't really decided how to move forward with my blog without spending 40 hours (that I will never find) blogging in detail about so many important things that have happened since last spring. I think the plan is to summarize our summer in this post and then post date some of the more important things as I get caught up. I have promised myself that for at least a few weeks while Lily is at school and Ben in napping that I will spend time right here, doing what I love, documenting our little lives.

June:

Upon returning from Kate's graduation at the end of May we decided that the time was right to re-list our house. Maine is always the goal. Most, if not all, of the major decisions we have made in the last couple of years have all been rooted in getting back home and settling down permanently.

Kate moved in with us the first week of June and I took full advantage of her babysitting services. My days started at 7am and often didn't end until 9pm or later. I prepped, primed, painted, and repainted almost every wooden surface in our home. It was a tremendous amount of work and I will not be signing up to do it again any time soon. The results however are amazing and I was very proud to have the listing agent take our pictures and formalize our listing.

Also in June we had the kids baptized at "our" church in Maine. It was the hottest.day.ever.

We made several other trips to Maine to celebrate Doe's 60th birthday as well as attend a large family reunion for my dad's family. The weather was a little on the cool side for June but if nothing else it was amazing for running...which I did a lot of.

July:

Kate and I signed up for a sunrise SUP (stand up paddle board) class that ran for four weeks. The first two weeks we paddled in rough seas, drizzle, and ridiculous fog. Not exactly what we had in mind! The weather really cooperated for the remainder of the classes and I had a great time. I consider myself "lake people" and would much rather sit on the dock and listen to the loons than sit on the beach any day. That being said I really enjoyed the ocean for the first time since I was a kid. Totally worth getting up at 5:30 :)

July was beautifully hot and the kids and I used the pool almost every day. We spent our days playing outside, picnicking, soaking up the sun. The kids have the farmer's tans to prove it! I crossed at least 20 things off my 101 things list, but don't hold your breath for the blog posts any time soon!! The fourth of July was a blast this year. The weather was perfect and the kids LOVED the fireworks. My heart was just bursting all evening as I cuddled my two greatest blessings on a blanket in the park.

Mid July we made last minute plans to see a Red Sox game and made arrangements for the kids to spend the weekend with Mimi and Doe. In the midst of making plans and getting the house ready for yet another open house (remember this whole time the house was on the market and we were doing showings and open houses every weekend, yuck) we got a huge shock...two pink lines! We kept our news a secret and sadly 10 days later I lost the pregnancy.

For a few days I was in shock, and then for a few more days I was really angry. I had already had my "statistically likely" miscarriage in 2011, a second one really felt like a slap in the face. There is definitely a longer blog post here because I have more that I would like to say about loss and moving forward. For now, know that I am doing great, both mentally and physically. I am ready and excited to get pregnant again and as soon as it happens I will be shouting it from the rooftops.

August:

The first weekend in August I drove myself to NY to spend some much needed quality time with one of my very best friends. I am not sure if she really wanted me to crash her weekend as she was getting ready to go on vacation and her apartment was about to undergo a huge renovation, but wanted or not I showed up at her door and she took me in. The weekend was amazing, we went for a run, ate our way through all of NYC, shopped, drank beers, got our nails done, and went to bed at a reasonable hour...I could not have asked for a more perfect weekend. In case I didn't say it enough, thank you and I love you.

Running, running, and more running.

Cleaning the house, doing showings, cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning. Keeping the house "show ready" is an exhausting full time job.

Dingle and I were treated to box seats at yet another Sox game. It was a-m-a-z-i-n-g! A much needed date night for sure!

As is our annual tradition the kids and I headed to Maine for an extended weekend the second week of August. We spent lots of time with family and friends we love like family. Did I mention that I love Maine, sigh. We went to the beach, swam in my aunt's pool, ate popcorn, hit up the playground, had lobsters, visited a petting zoo, and smiled until our cheeks hurt.

On Friday we ran our third Summerfest 5k. I ran a post-babies personal best with a time of 29:00, three whole minutes faster than last year. Proud, you bet I am. Next to Christmas this remains my favorite week of the year.

As summer blends into fall here in New England we are all looking forward to the change of seasons. Cool nights and warm days, apple picking, pumpkin flavored everything, and the return of our favorite TV shows! The house is now officially off the market until spring so we can all relax and enjoy what will most likely be our last fall season in this house!

Snowy Days

Life with a toddler and a baby during the winter can be a little well, boring. Turns out Lily is not a huge fan of being cold and really puts up a stink about wearing her winter coat. It could be that her snow clothes are from last year and are a little too snug. In any case she would rather play inside than out these days. Ben doesn't mind his snowsuit but is just a little too mobile to be held and not mobile enough to get around on the ground. The days were starting to blend together. What we really needed was a good snow storm!

Up until this past weekend we have only had a few inches of snow here and there. That all changed when Nemo (when did we start naming winter storms??) dropped a staggering amount of snow on us all at once Friday night. There was a lot of drifting so it is hard to say just how much we got, but I would guess it was around 24 inches. In some places the snow was at least 3-4 ft. deep!

While Matt and I dug out Lily and Colby had a great time playing. Lily thought it was hilarious that the snow was over her head. She ran up and down the sidewalk channel we had dug squealing about being in a tunnel. She is more than a little interested in eating the snow and we had to have that all important talk about "yellow snow"! 

She was not at all unhappy to learn that for being such a happy camper outside there was hot chocolate waiting for her when she came in :) 

On Sunday morning the sun was shinning and the wind had finally died down. We took full advantage of the snow covered street in front of the house. Matt and I took turns pulling the sled while Lily screamed with delight. After several trips down and back I was exhausted! It is not easy to run in boots and snow pants. 

Side note: At some point my expensive LLBean snow boots were stolen off the front porch. I hope that whoever took them did so because they needed them and not because they were too lazy to work for them like I had. *sigh* (UPDATE: For the sole purpose of making a liar out of me the boots have appeared in the hall closet. I checked there no less than ten times but in any case I have a renewed gratitude for them. So glad I didn't publicly announce that they had been stolen, that would be awkward...) 

We did not lose power which made this storm all fun and no stress. I like to shovel, and everything just looks more beautiful all covered in fresh snow. Winter just isn't winter without a few big storms. Bring it on Mother Nature we are ready for more! 

Living Simply

As I mentioned in my Christmas wrap up, this holiday season had me doing a lot of thinking. The bottom line, I need to write more so that when I do sit down to start a post I don't feel so blocked. With so many thoughts bouncing around in my tired brain it is almost impossible to grab just one and start writing without sounding like I need to be committed. Let's face it, there is a good chance that I do need to be committed, but I can still strive to sound coherent while I babble to myself, no??

So here is today's rambling...

On the one hand, I want my kids to have it all. More toys than they could ever play with, adorable outfits for every day of the week, and an endless buffet of sweets and goodies. On the other hand, it is all just so much. It is all wonderful but more than once this Christmas I felt a little sick about the over abundance.

I imagine I am not the only mom out there feeling conflicted.

I want my kids to have an appreciation of their things, AND I want them to be just as excited about the experience. I know...I know, talk about projecting. Right now they are obviously way too little to understand any of these feelings. But how on Earth do I raise kids that are not greedy in a world that places so much emphasis on having stuff? Let it be said, that around here, materialistic is not necessarily a "four letter word". Dingle loves his possessions and has worked hard to earn each and every one of them. Personally, I don't care as much about owning stuff and, as if the post hadn't already alluded to this, too many possessions make me a little uncomfortable. It is really interesting to me that growing up in households where money was sometimes tight shaped Matt and I very differently. I like knowing we have money in the bank and he likes knowing he can buy just about anything he wants! I will say that over the past five years we have both shifted towards a middle ground. He almost never makes an impulsive big purchase anymore, and I no longer break out in a cold sweat if we put something extra in the shopping cart. None of this changes the fact that our kids will have more than either of us did growing up, and some days I am convinced we are going to ruin them! Add to this the fact that we live in a community where I regularly see toddlers in UGGs and moms accidentally pick up the wrong Coach diaper bag at the playground. I don't care if other people think my Graco stroller is ghetto, but some day Lily will. It is overwhelming.

SO, in addition to all of the wonderful traditions I mentioned in my previous post I have two new ones to add. Both are post-Christmas traditions that I hope will restore some balance to the kids' lives in the wake of the new toy tornado. First I would like the kids to make/write thank you notes. I know that this will be super time consuming for me, but leading by example when it comes to expressing gratitude will hopefully make all of the getting easier on me too. Second I want them to "help" sort through the old toys and choose some to donate or sell (we will donate the money) to make room for the new toys. I know it will be more than a few years before either of the kids understand any of this but getting an early start can't hurt.

Ultimately I am glad I waited a few weeks to write this post. Now that the craziness of Christmas has died down I can appreciate it for what it is. A once a year indulgence, even if it does go on for weeks! All of the things we did to make the holiday memorable made me so happy. And it makes other people happy to buy kids stuff. Were they totally spoiled this year? Yes. Will it ruin them forever? No.

Moral of the story: Two weeks before Christmas is not the time to stress out about living more simply.

Hopefully this post will serve as a reminder for next year, or maybe it will just highlight how neurotic I have become. Either way I now have one less free radical bouncing around in my brain, so that is good.

Christmas Wrap Up!

I know that you all have endured two weeks of Christmas blog posts on your google readers, but my Halloween post was 2 weeks late and my Thanksgiving post is nonexistent...so no one should be surprised that I am just now getting this done!

Lily sort of understood the whole idea of Santa this year, and she certainly knows what a present is. I have done a lot of thinking about this past holiday season, and I will organize my thoughts a little better in a post coming up. This year was so wonderful, and it really got me thinking about what traditions I remember and which ones (new and old) that I want to pass on to my kids.

We started out the season the weekend after Thanksgiving, a tradition we will keep, so up went the tree. Ben was pretty tickled about the whole thing, and Lily wanted to put out every decoration we own. Matt inherited more than a few Dept 56 houses from his grandparents (which he has such fond memories of setting up = tradition we will definitely keep), but this year we decided it was too many delicate pieces for too many little fingers. Our tree was not as short and fat as I like, but it smelled amazing. It did stop drinking water as soon as we got it in the stand, and by mid-December it was so droopy and dry you couldn't walk by it without a bucket of needles falling off. The kids couldn't have cared less, as long as it was plugged in from 7am-7pm.

Matt strung the outside lights, but the ones on the second floor weren't working. He never did make it back up there to fix them. Eh, maybe next year. I hung the beautiful wreath my dad made (another tradition I would like to have passed down). Overall I think Colby was pretty impressed. 

On the weekend of the 9th we went to breakfast with Santa. I already posted the picture of the kids with the world's youngest Santa Claus, so here are a few from breakfast and crafts. I don't think we will keep up this tradition...at least not this particular breakfast. Tickets were expensive, and too many Santa sightings this year made Lily feel like seeing the big guy wasn't a big deal. 

The following weekend we went to Vivi (Silva) and J's to decorate cookies. This is a must keep tradition. So much more fun with friends than alone in our kitchen. Also, J makes the best Bloody Marys ever.  

A few days after cookies we packed up and made the hour drive to Edaville. On our drive down the sky was looking ominous despite there being no rain in the forecast  Matt and I joked that the world might actually be coming to an end the following day and that we had better hurry up and ride the flying elephants. It was sprinkling by the time we got to Carver so we decided to stop at McDonalds for a little dinner before trying the park. I sat in the car and nursed Ben, Matt ordered Lily her first ever happy meal...which she wouldn't eat...go figure. By the time we were done with dinner, the rain had stopped and we were raring to go. The is another must keep tradition! 

The following day we packed up our sled with all the foof for the Who girls and boys and headed to Maine. It was a looooong drive. The weather was terrible, and local traffic getting to the highway was nuts, but we made it and that is all that matters. The few days leading up to Christmas were filled with family and quick trips out to the mall to get "one last thing". (Sidenote: I am well aware that Lily is wearing her winter hat both indoors and out in almost every picture. I honestly don't even notice it anymore. She insists on wearing it 18 hours a day.)

And then came the big day! Christmas morning at my parents' house followed by Christmas afternoon and evening at Matt's parents' house. My mom and dad have started hosting the entire family so that Matt and I don't have to drag the kids all over town. It is big, and loud, and there are people everywhere. In short, it is total chaos. I love it all. 

Matt's mom and dad's Christmas is smaller (Mimi, Doe, Aunt Becky, and the four of us), much more quiet, and relaxed. Each present is beautifully wrapped, we listen to Christmas music, and drink our coffee. It is equally wonderful, in a completely different way. This year Santa even ordered up a little snow! 

Thank you again to everyone who helped us make so many wonderful memories for not only my kids, but for Matt and me as well.