Happy Birthday Annie Girl!!!

How could this little gal be 4 already?  What a fun birthday week of excitement it was.  She had the countdown chain going and lots of plans for her party, her first ever birthday party.

She decided on a tea party with make up and nail painting.  We went with purse cakes b/c I thought they'd be easier than make up cakes like she originally wanted.  Each girl got their own personal cake--so fun!

We used our fancy china (thank you dear Aunt Ginna) and the girls ate their fancy food. 

Check out this make up mania room--one mom doing fingernails, one mom doing toenails and 2 moms doing make up.  They each got some perfume and lotion too and the girls were set.  You really can't go wrong with a group of 4 and 5 year olds and the word 'make up'.

Oh so pretty!

A great party and great birthday in general.   

The party was Friday and the actual birthday was Saturday.  We went mini-golfing Saturday with a gift card that has been burning a hole in Andrew's pocket all summer.  Then it was out for ice cream cones afterwards--can't beat that for a birthday.

The night before her birthday, I was holding Annie on my lap and telling her that she couldn't get older b/c I love three year olds and would miss not ever getting to have another one.  I told her I love 3 year olds b/c they are so funny.  Annie said, "Don't worry mom, I promise I'll still be funny when I'm 4."

I'm sure she will.

Annie in a nutshell---

happy, funny, easy going, messy (see above picture), make-up lover, bubble gum lover, gets along with everyone, a delightful part of our family.

Happy Birthday Annie.  We love you!!!

September Happenings....

Since the month is almost over and I've made NO blog posts, thought I'd hit some September highlights.

Whit figured out how to ride a two wheeler.  She's done really well.  She has amazing balance and very quickly figured out how to start up on her own without my help.  Go Whit!!!

(Annie keeps wanting her turn with no training wheels.  Everytime she tries, she goes like 5 full pedals all by herself, then stops herself and says, "I'm done trying."  She's scared but is totally doing it--probably in the spring....) 

Whit and Annie have started gymnastics.  They love Thursdays!!  Whit has class for an hour and then Annie has class right after for 45 minutes.  It's fun to watch them learn some new skills.

Here's Whit swinging on the bar.

Annie getting some backbend help.

And soccer has begun as well.  We're noticing big improvements with Andrew this year.  He's having a lot of fun.

September is lacking in Mary pictures.  Piano has resumed and she's also planning on taking a theater class in a couple of months.

Below, Annie is posing with my latest project.  I built a headboard for Andrew.  I saw some ideas online using shutters and then found some shutter doors on the side of the road.  Sweet!!!  So happy with how it turned out.  Looking for more handyman opportunities now...it was so fun.  Just got it up to his room tonight but forgot to take pictures.  Glad he's finally getting a nicer look to his room. :)

1st Day of School!

Our happy summer finally came to a close.  The first day of school was Wed., August 29th.  The kids all had successful meet your teacher days and were excited to start up.

Everyone was up early and ready to go.

Oh Whit--our excited kindergartener.  She's been so ready for so long.  Even insisted on curlers in her hair the night before.  I can't believe how quickly all these kids are growing up.

Annie--my buddy for one more year.  She's keeps telling me about how its JUST her at home.  I think she thinks it is something special. :)

2nd grader!  Don't know yet if he'll be Andrew or Andy this year but I know for sure he'll have a great time.  

4th grader, man oh man time flies.  Has a locker this year, with combination lock and all.  Feeling mighty grown up.

The bus stop gang--we've got Andrew, Andrew ,Andrew, Mary, Whit, Julia and Annie (Sammy was sick).  It's nice to see so many happy faces every morning.

So excited!!!

Whale Watching

Another summer highlight--dang we've had so many of them.  I feel really lucky.

Back in May we were supposed to go whale watching with mom and dad but our trip got cancelled thanks to an off shore storm.  Fast forward to August...we still had the whale watch tickets and Megan and Nate decided to join us.

We headed to Gloucester, MA and got there early enough to have a picnic at a mini-park.

After multiple kid races, Nate and kid races, Dad and kid races, Megan and I finally got our turn.  Don't worry she beat me (after and only after some serious cheating--nice try Meg)

Then it was off to Cape Ann Whale Watch

Here are the kids in front of our boat, the Hurricane II

Our fun company (notice how Megan, Nate and Matt all matched...I didn't get the green/khaki memo)

We went out like 15 miles off shore.  A nice, windy ride.  Then the whale spotting began.  We didn't realize what a treat we were in for.

We saw so many and they kept coming up and diving back down over and over.  The captain kept assuring us that we got a very lucky day.  The whales were close and big and beautiful.  It was amazing how silent the boat got once we started spotting them.  We easily watched whales over an hour.  It was awesome.

Funny Whit.  At some point in the middle she found Matt's sweatshirt and put it on claiming she was cold.  It was defiintely not cold but she wore it the rest of the time. :)

I'm sure she saw some awesome stuff in those binoculars

I tried to get shots of people with the whales but those darn whales are so unpredictable.

This is about as good as I could get.

Posing as fish...

On the 15 mile ride back to shore, the crew came out and interacted with the kids.  So nice!

Our whale watch was from 1:30 to probably 5pm.  We then headed down the road to Good Harbor Beach for an hour of fun.  Oh, if we could have just stayed an extra day...

More Summer Highlights

Summer was amazing.

Now that school has begun, I think I am looking forward to structure and being productive, but man will I miss all the summer fun.  After vacation, things slowed down a lot.  We still had fun but it wasn't as go go go.

Here are few highlights:

My birthday--first one I've ever celebrated in CT because it was the first time our vacation didn't overlap with it.  Always fun getting home just before your birthday--that means a day of grocery shopping and unpacking. :)

I made my own birthday cake b/c I've been wanting to make one of these multi-color cakes for a while.  I did it fast and it was lopsided but I still loved how pretty it turned out.

Swimming:

Notice that Mary is at the DOCK.  The only way you are allowed to go out there is if you can swim alone and unassisted.  She and Andrew can both make it out there successfully and happy this year.  Hurray!

Our annual swim lessons.  Whit and Annie both passed level 1, Andrew passed level 2, and Mary only didn't pass level 3 b/c she needed to work on her dives.  Since lessons have ended she has done super well with her dives.  :)

Other summer fun:

Don't know how they got on this kick, but the kids did lots of card stacking.  Got pretty good too

Lot's of Legos, as usual

Bathroom painting

Check out that dive!

The goggles did the trick--this girl can go under!!

What a summer.  Sad to see it end.