summer is just about over...

labor day weekend usually marks the end of summer... but now that we are on a school schedule, and carter starts back on tuesday the 31st.

we have had a great summer, but i am ready to get back to a schedule. as much as i love my children dearly, let's just say i would not do well home schooling.

craig worked a ton in august to help his company move locations. in return he has been taking a couple of days off/working from home to spend time with the family before school starts. on thurs. mason had a play date at his preschool. then i took him to panera for lunch. craig went out with hadley and carter, and took them to friendly's. while hadley was napping, craig took the boys bowling. it was a great day!!!

on friday we did some errands during the day, and then carter went to a birthday party. i hosted a lia sophia party friday night, and had so much fun!!! it was great just getting together with the girls, hanging out, and trying on jewelry. i bought a bunch of things with the hostess discount that i wouldn't normally buy/wear, but it was fun. i can't wait for my next date night, to get dressed up!

on saturday we spent the day in south dartmouth w/ craig's aunt and uncle. they invited us down so the kids could go swimming. it was perfect! the weather was amazing, and the kids had so much fun!!! i turned down the temp. in the hot tub so it was like bath water... i think i could have spent the whole weekend in there. it was just what my body needed.

today we thought about heading down to the beach, but decided against it. it turns out i had a horrible night sleep, with very uncomfortable pains. i slept in and we had a lazy morning at home. we then headed outside to enjoy the sun. we set up the slide for the kids to play with, and craig did chores outside. the boys were so excited to have a water fight with craig...

after hadley's nap, we headed to chili's for dinner, and then crescent ridge for ice cream. so yummy!!! hadley loves ice cream, and enjoyed it very much.

craig will be home for part of the day tomorrow, and then needs to go in for some meetings... and then tuesday is carter's first day!!!

yup, i'm pregnant...

people ask me all the time how i'm feeling... and the answer has always been great! this pregnancy has been going by with ease...

it is now 1 am and i am wide awake, i have heartburn, and the baby is kicking the crap out of my belly.... yup, the cute little movements and flutters are now hard kicks and baby karate.

in just a couple of days i will be in the 3rd trimester... the final stage of pregnancy. this is it. my final trimester, in my last pregnancy.

did i mention the heartburn is killing me? i just took a zantac and i am waiting for it to kick in.

ok, off to watch some tv and hope that i fall asleep...

hadley - 20 months

i LOVE this age... everyday she is learning something new, talking more, and just a pleasure to be around. she is so funny, and just cracks me up.

she tries to sing "happy birthday"... this is how it goes.
happy to you
happy to you
happy to you

it's so cute!



we have a fly in the house, which is driving us crazy. so now hadley says shoe fly, bye fly, hello fly, and go fly... i think she has adopted the house fly as her pet.

every morning when we go into her bedroom to get her, she is so happy and says, oh, hello mama, hi mae, hi car-cer, hello daddy. if i go in after my shower, she says "all wet... mama all wet" and tries to touch my hair. then of course the first thing we need to do is put on her "pretty" which she is obsessed with, and then she requests a bow. so, i think i can 100% call her a girly girl.

she is a wild women.. climbs on everything and anything. just likes to go, go, go.... she will run to get her shoes on, and after we help her get them on, she then says "let's go!"



i just can't believe how fast she is growing up... she is so close to being 2 years old, and a big sister! how is that possible... she is still my baby!!!

what a difference a year makes... here are a couple from last august. oh, how i can't wait to have a baby again!!! i wish we could pause some ages, and fast forward through others....





once the boys go back to school, i am looking forward to enjoying some quality time with hadley before the baby comes...

25 weeks

i am now 25 weeks pregnant... wow, it is really flying by now. i had my appointment today and all went well. i only gained 1 lb. in the last 4 weeks, so that was good.... total gain 10 lbs. everything is perfect! i got my glucose drink to do next time, and i am praying that i don't have GD again. i also told my doctor if i didn't get induced at 38 weeks for blood pressure issues, that we needed to make sure i had this baby before thanksgiving. there is no way i am risking giving birth on my mil's birthday. i know elective inductions can be an issue for debate, but i am all for them, and have never had an issue.



i think i am starting to make progress on baby names... i keep going back to the same couple of names, so hopefully i can make a decision soon. craig is fine with all the finalist, so i guess it is really up to me.

there are only a couple of things we need for this baby, and the most important is a new infant car seat. once the boys go back to school i need to get going on all things baby.

everything is starting to feel more real now... the baby is moving like crazy! craig can now feel s/he move now, which is awesome. my heartburn is keeping me up, and is so annoying. i guess it is my fault since i love ruby red grapefruit juice and i know that is the cause of my pain. not to mention my 5 trips to the bathroom every night, which is also probably a side effect of drinking the grapefruit juice.

i am also starting to anxious to find out if this baby is a boy or girl... my guess is girl, and craig thinks boy. i can't wait to find out in november!!!

family bbq

today we went down to so. dartmouth and enjoyed a day with craig's family. it was the annual family bbq w/ his aunts, uncles and cousins.



the kids had a great time. they played in the yard, and got to swim.



there are now so many kids, and so much fun! i remember back when there was only carter... and now there are 7 kids and everyone has a friend.



we even managed to get a family picture... which doesn't always happen, but i love it when we do.



the weather was a bit chilly... still a beautiful day. it was really windy, but that didn't seem to stop anyone from going in the pool... well, i didn't go, but the kids had a great time!



hadley loved when craig threw her in the air... she kept saying "more, more!"



the kids lips were blue and they still didn't want to get out... i think they could have stayed in there all day!

terrific tuesday

today was a good day. we were up and out early. first we went to target and purchased mason's school supplies. his preschool is a co-op and the parents need to supply paper towels, hand soap, tissues, etc.

so after spending $50 on supplies we headed over to the local beach in town. this was the first time we have been there this year. i actually thought it was closed when we got there... there was no other cars there except the life guard. to my surprise, it was open and we were the first ones there.

we put down all our stuff in a good location under a tree, and the kids ran into the lake. i must admit, i am not a lake girl. i like the ocean, but lakes and ponds don't really do it for me.

our friends met us there and the kids all had a fun time. hadley loves to play in the sand, and be very independent going in and out of the water.


we packed our lunch and played until it was time for hadley's nap. we were all so sandy, that as soon as we got home i put all 3 kids in the tub to get the sand off them. hadley went down for her nap, and the boys and i had some popcorn and lemonade on the deck. then i put on a movie for the boys. and i was able to put my feet up for a bit and relax... i think i deserved it!

so i would say that today was a good day...

lazy days of august...

july was such a busy month with camps, summer baseball, play dates... now that august is here, we are hanging out, being lazy, sleeping in, and just enjoying the end of the summer.

i have also decided that august is closet cleaning month. not sure if it is early nesting or what, but i started yesterday with my laundry closet, and our closet off the garage. it feels so good to throw things away, and get organized.

carter goes back to school on aug. 31st. last year was the first year that we went back before labor day, and it worked out really well. we need to get few basics like new sneakers, and a new backpack, but i'm thinking that actual back to school clothes shopping can wait until the weather starts to get cooler in september.

last week i brought the kids to gillette stadium to do the "patriots experience"... they had lots of fun with their friends running, jumping and playing. after we went to the cbs scene for lunch. it was a fun day! this year was the first year that i went, usually craig brings them. i'm sure craig will still bring them to see training camp

time to say goodbye...

on saturday it was time to pack up and head home... we had a great week, but i was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again. carter on the hand, asked if he could stay 2 more weeks.

we headed to the airport, grabbed some lunch, and waited for our plane. our flight was scheduled for 3:50, and then it was delayed until 4:03... ok, not a big deal. when the plane finally came in, they told us there was mechanical problems. after and hour of waiting, we were told that the mechanical issues were that the tv's were not working. at that point we all got on the plane and had to suck it up w/ no entertainment. really, we just wanted to get home...

at 10:10 pm, we pulled into our driveway. carter said he wants to go to cape cod next summer...lol! i think the traveling got to him.

the next time we hit disney, hadley will be 5 or 6 and into all things princess... and i think i'm with carter, next summer we will drive to our vacation getaway.

today it was back to reality... back to life with no pool, no parks, and no restaurants.

day 6 - Magic Kingdom again

friday, july 30th - we all got a good night sleep and woke up and headed downstairs to the cape may cafe for breakfast. it was a big breakfast buffet w/ minnie, donald duck and goofy.

the kids had so much fun watching the characters, and eating breakfast food (which is their favorite).




after we finished eating, we headed over to the magic kingdom for our last day of fun. it was so hot, and poor hadley was just soaked with sweat. we tried so hard to keep her cool.

carter was so afraid to go on splash mountain, but it turns out it was his favorite ride. and hadley loved it's a small world... it was really too hot to take pictures, but i got a couple from the day.



after a quick rest back at our room, we got dinner and ate at the pool. it was so nice... we then played in the pool until it was time for hadley to go to bed.

craig then brought the boys to see the fireworks at epcot again, and walked the boardwalk. it was the perfect end to our vacation.

day 5 - Resort day

on thursday we spent most of the day at the resort just relaxing... it was a great day and i think we all needed the rest.



we then headed back over to epcot for dinner. we had heard so many good things about le cellier. it is a steak house in canada, and it is very hard to get a reservation there. since i booked our reservations at exactly 180 days out, i was able to get most of our first choices.

our friends jeff and leah went the night before and told us how good it was. they were right! everything was so yummy! and i just loved my dessert.



after dinner we walked around, and enjoyed how pretty the gardens were.




it was still pretty early, so we headed over to downtown disney. we didn't go there last time, so this was a new experience too. the boys had heard about the lego store there, and were very anxious to get there.

it was crazy busy there... so i left the lego store, but the boys stayed with craig and were so excited!!!




we had a great day! hadley was so tired, and was looking forward to heading to bed...

day 4 - Animal Kingdom

july 28th - we made our way to the animal kingdom. this was our first time there, we didn't make it there last time.

it was HOT HOT HOT that day. but we did so many great things, that it made it worth it. first we watched the lion king show and it was awesome. the music, the performers, it really was so good.

then we went on a safari ride. there was a warning that expectant mothers should not go on the ride. i thought about it, but figured it was fine. well, it was a bumpy bumpy ride. i tried to get some pictures, but i had to put the camera away and hold on.




after the safari, we had lunch at the tusker house. the food was good! the kids enjoyed the donuts they had for dessert. when i made our lunch reservations, we were able to get priority seating at the finding nemo musical. so after lunch i made the most important purchase of the week. i bought a binky at the child care center. usually hadley doesn't get her binky except for bed/nap time, but we were desperate for her to nap in the stroller. it worked. she got a nap, and i brought the boys to a bug's life 3D experience. it was awful!!! scary, and dark... we were not fans at all!

but how cute is mason with his glasses on waiting for show to start?


the nemo show was really good too!!! it was a great day! we went back to the resort to rest and swim, and then headed over to epcot for fireworks.

day 3 - hollywood studios

july 27th - we hit hollywood studios. the boys had a blast with all the star wars things. i really enjoyed the little mermaid performance. i walked around a lot with hadley while craig and the boys kept busy. all carter wanted was to make his own light saber... he was so happy when he was able to do it. mason also got to make one too...



oh, boy! what was i thinking? i'm sure they will fight with these now that we are home...


look at how happy they are... mason just wants to be like carter and do everything he does. it is annoying for carter, but cute to watch.



i'm usually not one for waiting in line to meet characters, but while we were walking around inside enjoying the a/c there was mickey, and there was a very short line, so i figured we should go for it. mickey was cool and did lots of poses with the boys. we were able to get a family picture with our photo pass...


the only bummer of the day was we got our fast past for the toy story ride, which we heard was awesome. when it was finally our time, the ride was broke. i think craig was disappointed the most. all the fast passes for the day were gone by 10 am, so going back another day really wasn't an option.

later that night, we met up with our friends for dinner. it was a coincidence that we were both there at the same time and stayed at the same resort.


when we were talking about what we had planned, we both booked dinner at ohana's on tuesday night at 5:25. so we met in the lobby and traveled over to the restaurant together.

the food and atmosphere was really good. our server was an ass. we asked for the kids menus a bunch of times, and he pretty much told us we should feed our kids our food and then if they won't eat it, then we can try food for the kids. really, do we need to ask for kids menus multiple times?

we also got so much food fast, and then that was it. our waiter was m.i.a. anyways, the food was so yummy! and it was fun to see the kobs family.

on our way home, we walked through epcot.





after a long day, the kids were ready for bed... so cute!!!