A Great Big 4 Year Birthday!

Yesterday was the big #4 for Nathan! He woke up excited and went to bed excited and we all had lots of fun in between.  Here are some Nathan-isms from the day:

• "Beautiful decorations Mommy" first thing when he walked out of his room in the morning, about the balloons and crepe paper decorating his door.
• "Daddy! Balloons!" when Daddy came home post-call with helium balloons for the kids.
• "Some cash! Some cash for me!  Now I have more cash!  Some one dollars!" when he opened a card from my friend Jennie with four dollar bills in it.  Then he quickly ran to his room to get his wallet and add it to the single dollar bill Nana gave him a few weeks ago.  And my mommy heart almost burst with happiness when he told me later, "Mommy, at church, you don't need to give me any coins or a folded paper (our contribution check), I'm going to give my own money back to God.  Tell Daddy too so he doesn't give me any coins."
• In the afternoon we told him that he could pick to go anywhere to any restaurant to eat for his birthday dinner.  He spent quite a while contemplating (out loud) the various T lines he might want to go on (I had to veto his first request of the purple line/commuter rail).  But then he realized that he would have to change out of his shorts and short sleeve shirt into long pants and a long sleeve shirt to do our outing, and he decided he would rather stay home.  Seriously!  He didn't even want one of us to go pick up pizza or anything else for dinner.  So I offered to make him pancakes or waffles and he enthusiastically picked waffles for his birthday dinner!
• Since he had eight presents and two cards to open, I let him open one or two at a time spaced throughout the day.  The first present he picked was from Nana and Grand Dad, which he had spied out at Nana's house while we were in Knoxville.  He had been carrying it around for the better part of a week and was so excited to find out what was inside, which was a new Pete the Cat book (which thrilled Sarah as well)!
• I feel like I have a history of picking "meh" presents for him for his birthday, but this year at the last minute I remembered a gift idea I had thought of months ago that I KNEW he would love - a watch.  So I picked one out on Amazon and we had it overnighted to our apartment. When our door buzzer rang during dinner, both kids exclaimed "Package!" and the whole family hopped up from the table to collect our spoils.  Nathan started grinning ear to ear when I told him that one of the packages was a special present just for him (lots of the presents he got were share-able with Sarah, some because of the nature of the present, and some intentionally so Sarah wouldn't be too sad that she wasn't getting presents).  And when he opened it, he was super excited that he had a watch of his own.
• "What time is my happy birthday Mommy?" I finally figured out that Nathan seemed to think he didn't officially turn four until we sang to him and he blew out his candles.  

And now for a few pictures and videos from yesterday.

 Playing with glowstick wands in their dark bedroom.  Wouldn't you know that it took Nathan all of 3 minutes to find out that the glow stick could be pulled out of the outer foam layer!  So, of course, Sarah had to have me help get hers out too!

He was so excited about his #4 cake, but unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of it.  His cake of choice was chocolate cake with chocolate icing, which I then topped with some sprinkles to his delight.

I read about a tradition to take pictures of mom and dad with the birthday kid every year on their birthdays, so I'm starting that this year.

And, of course, Sarah wanted a picture as well.  This is the third time in a week that we've inadvertently coordinated our outfits.  Twice on vacation I put her in a black and white zebra stripe shirt on the same day that I wore my navy & white stripe shirt, then yesterday was the day of the plaids!  The crazy thing is, I didn't even realize it until I was reviewing this picture on the camera after I took it!

And now for the videos.  At lunch we decided to practice "Happy Birthday" by putting candles in the kids' cookies.  After singing four rounds of "Happy Birthday" (once for Nathan, then Sarah, then Nathan again, then Sarah again), I decided to capture it on video tape.  This time Nathan decided we would do a joint "Happy Birthday" song so they could go ahead and eat their cookies.



Then here is the real "Happy Birthday" from that evening. Brian mentioned afterward that my flash photography may have ruined the video, but I figure we were just capturing real life at our house! Also I'm not sure where Nathan got the idea to blow out his candle through his fork and I'm actually pretty surprised that it worked!

A Beautiful Wedding

We had a wonderful vacation this past week in Knoxville, culminating in David's (Brian's brother) wedding to Bridget.  Due to a series of unfortunate circumstance, their photographer had to cancel on them and they asked if I would fill in.  Though slightly nervous about the pressure of taking someone's wedding photos (especially family!), I was happy to help!  Thankfully, though I had set out my smaller camera to bring, Brian advised me to go ahead and bring my big camera and external flash.  And I actually said to him "You're right, if I don't need it that's fine, but I would hate to regret not having it!"  Yes, we narrowly escaped MAJOR regret!  So after a quick Amazon order for extra camera batteries, an additional memory card and a hood for my camera lens, I had the necessary equipment for the job.  Then I spent a while online looking at wedding photography tips and pictures to get ideas for poses and shots to take during the ceremony.  Thankfully, the wedding venue was outside and absolutely beautiful, the weather cooperated, and I had a radiantly happy couple to work with.  So here is a sampling of pictures from my first (and probably only) wedding photography "job".

New Photo Banner - What!?!?

Well after a year I finally bowed to (my internal) pressure and decided to spend some time making a new banner for the blog.  Almost three hours later I'm finally done.  I hadn't realized until I started (except probably subconsciously) that the Picasa program I previously used to create my collages was canned by Google in the past year.  So I was searching online for a new free program to use this morning when Brian said "What are you doing!?!  You have Photoshop - use that!"  Yep, he bought me Photoshop Elements for Christmas last year (or maybe my birthday) but there is a seriously steep learning curve that that bad boy, which is why it ended up taking me all afternoon to create a collage that was almost up to my standards.  But I did take notes, so the process should go much faster in a few months (next year??) when I finally get around to updating the banner again!  And maybe this year for Christmas I'll ask him to pay for some online classes or something so I can actually learn to use Photoshop!

Leaf Peeping with Grand Dad and Nana

The first Sunday Nana and Grand Dad were in Boston we decided to skip church to drive north and go leaf peeping.  It was the only day that Brian was going to be able to come with us since he was on call the next weekend, so even though the weather forecast was iffy and we were a little early to catch peak color we decided to go for it. After some debate between going to Maine and New Hampshire, we decided on Maine (possibly influenced by desire to eat some lobster).  Unfortunately with the dreary weather and the few number of trees that had started to turn we didn't see much spectacular color, but we had a fun and memorable day nonetheless.

The first stop on our drive north was Mt. Agamenticus, where we drove to the top of the mountain and saw some beautiful views and even all the way to the ocean.  But boy was it windy and cool plus it was starting to spit rain so we walked around for a few minutes, snapped a few pictures, and hurried back to the car. 

They don't look like they're freezing at all!

During the car ride Brian would randomly call out "who's leaf peeping?" and Sarah would answer "Not me!".  It would crack me up every time! 

We did see some nice color along stretches of the interstate.

We stopped in Portland Maine for lunch.  Based on Yelp restaurant reviews, we didn't go downtown near the port (which probably turned out to be a good thing as - surprise! - the Portland marathon was being held that day), but headed to the hole-in-the-wall Fisherman's Grill.  We got there right before it opened at noon, which was a good thing since our party of 6 only left room for one other couple to sit down and eat inside the restaurant!  But our delicious lobstah roll, haddock and chips, and lobstah stew confirmed that we had made an excellent choice of restaurant.  (Yes, "lobstah" is how they pronounce it and also how its spelled on the menu!)  Then the owner won our kids hearts when he offered them each an Oreo cookie from his freezer (stashed there for making fried oreos, which we did not sample).  They were delighted!

Afterward we walked across the road to a nature area.  We thought there may be some nice trees to tempt us to take a walk through the woods, but no such luck.

Sarah really enjoyed finding leaves to put in her pail though!  In fact we basically had to drag her away from the field asking "Mon more leaf?"  ("One more leaf" - hint: she never means "one more" of anything, she means another and another and another and another...)

As we drove to our final destination, Bradbury Mountain State Park, Nana started playing the "spot the pumpkin" game.  Both Nathan and Sarah were getting really into the game, especially Sarah who would usually call out for pumpkins that weren't really there.

I picked Bradbury Mountain as the final destination on our Maine leaf peeping tour because it was supposed to have a beautiful mountain view after a short hike and *bonus* a playground for the kids to enjoy.  Unfortunately I didn't realize that the "somewhat steep" hike meant DIRECTLY UP A MOUNTAIN!  Yes, both children were carried practically the whole way up (although "self!" Sarah needed some convincing).

But once we made it to the top (huffing and puffing in my case), we were rewarded with a beautiful view.  It looks like there was a little more color here, though it could just be that the weather was more clear then earlier in the day).

That hike seemed MUCH longer then the .2 miles this sign states!

The kids were both able to manage the hike down and after a quick stop at the playground (it had a medium-height fire pole which Nathan LOVED), we headed out on the 2 hour drive home.  We were all exhausted, especially poor Brian who was already running on low sleep all month due to his CT surgery schedule.  But we had a great time exploring together and I'm glad we went!

The Days of our Lives (Oct 13-19)

Sunday - Church in the morning with Grand Dad and Nana and then home for a leftover lunch.  I went out and ran errands AGAIN during naptime (mostly returns this time plus a few strategic purchases).  We all just hung out at the house in the afternoon (more sewing on the kids' costumes for me) and then over to the Village Pizza House for dinner (manicotti, an Italian sub and pizza).

Monday - Said a sad good-bye to Nana and Grand Dad in the morning then babysat baby A (who is almost exactly one year younger then Sarah) for the morning.  In the afternoon I noticed a blister-looking spot on Sarah's tongue - we think we may have hand-foot-mouth in the house.  Meatball subs for dinner.

Tuesday - Since Sarah is somewhat sick we scrapped our plans to go to the Children's Museum, much to Nathan displeaseure.  Spent the morning at home with all of us working on "projects" - I was working hard on the kids' Halloween costumes while Nathan and Sarah were doing various art projects (stamps, dot markers, regular markers, glue, paint, etc).  We did more of the same in the afternoon and got Sarah's costume ready to try on... and then she didn't want to take it off!  Nathan took a nap (an increasing rairity these days) and woke up fussy.  Daddy got home early after a really great day at a satellite hospital.  He watched music videos with the kids for a while (a fun Daddy treat), then Nathan got really fussy again and just wanted to cuddle.  I realized he was burning up and now he may be coming down with H-F-M too.  Nathan fell asleep on the couch and slept through dinner.  After we put the kids to bed I spent the evening putting some finishing touches on the costumes and got them about 95% finished - hooray!  Leftover pasta for dinner.

Wednesday - Nathan woke up with no fever (my mom diagnosis - I didn't take his temperature), so we went ahead with our plans that morning for flu shots for the kids.  On Tuesday afternoon he had gotten upset about the prospect of getting a shot, but this morning he kept talking about how he would be brave and show Sarah how to be brave for her shot too.  We took the bus to our new pediatrician's office where Nathan asked about the flu mist (I told him that maybe it was an option but I wasn't sure how the new doctor would do it), but then he decided he wanted to go ahead with the shot.  He was definitely nervous, but did great with the shot - sat there and let me hold his hands (I envisioned the possibility of holding him bodily down) while the nurse gave him the shot.  He whimpered but didn't cry at all!  Then Sarah was super eager and excited for her turn (which was humorous to me since I knew how quickly her attitude would change), and she did cry as expected.  Then we stopped by a CVS for me to get my shot, but unfortunately our new insurance will only pay for the shot at a physician's office, so we put that off for another day.  Then it was time for the treat I had promised the kids - Dunkin Doughnuts!  They split an orange frosted and sprinkled colvered doughnut.  I don't remember if I mentioned, but there are Dunkin Doughnuts shop about every three blocks in this town - they are the one chain that is EVERYWHERE!  Brian got home right after the kids' naps for the second day in a row.  I mentioned to him that Sarah's callous (from her thumb sucking) looked funny that morning and sure enough its infected.  So Brian drained it and bandaged it up, but we're heading back to the pediatricians on Thursday for them to take a look and (probably) prescribe an antibiotic for Sarah.  For a usually healthy family, we are struggling this week!  We did have a nice dinner at the smokehouse restaurant across the street, the highlight being Brian's Texas sausage and the delicious cornbread.

Thursday -Brian was home in the morning pre-call so we all just hung out for most of the morning.  Sarah and I took a gargantuan load of books back to the library but we skipped storytime again this week.  After nap the kids and I took a different bus route to our pediatrician (not any better then the day before) to have Sarah's thumb examined.  The physician drained the abscess and took a swab to see what kind of bacteria grew out (we were worried about MRSA) and prescribed us an antibiotic. The kids and I had to take the swab over to Boston Children's and deliver to the lab (since by then it was after hours).  When we finally got that all situated it was dinner time so we stopped to get something in the Au Bon Pain in the hospital lobby.  As I was eating my broccoli cheddar soup and the kids their mac n'cheese, Nathan yells out "That's my Daddy!".  And sure enough, it was Brian coming down to have dinner.  He had texted me to see if we were still in the hospital but because of the poor service I hadn't gotten the text.  So we had the fun bonus of having dinner with Daddy!  Then a bus ride home, quick bath to "soak" Sarah's thumb and off to bed.  Sarah had a rough time getting to sleep since she was starting to get mad about not being able to suck her thumb.

Friday - Brian came home after only getting an hour of sleep the night before, so he went off to bed while the kids and I got ready to run errands.  First we stopped by my new physician to get my flu shot (Brian had gotten his the day before at the hospital, so now the whole family is set), then drove across town to a new area to go by Marshalls, TJ Maxx (except Google Maps lied and it actually wasn't there), Kohls and Target.  After sitting in quite a bit of traffic on the way home (Boston traffic always puts me in a bad mood), I tried to feed the kids quickly so they (Sarah) could get a good nap.  Well!  Sarah pitched a huge fit, ended up waking up Brian, climbing/falling out of her crib, and after attempts by me (15 min) and Brian (1 hour) to rock her to sleep, we finally gave up on her taking a nap.  Breaking the thumb sucking habit, though great for the long run, was really wrecking havoc with Sarah's typically good sleeping routine.  So Brian ended up taking the kids to the park while I continued packing for our trip the next morning.  Then I remembered that we had to pick up Sarah's antibiotic from the pharmacy and after calling the pharmacy then the pediatrican's office and then the pharmacy again, we finally got the prescription sorted out.  After a dinner of leftovers and cleaning out the fridge, we all walked up to the CVS to pick that up.  Then the kids were off to bed and Brian and I packed in ernest for our trip.

Saturday - We were all up early to get ready and do last minute packing for our trip to Knoxville.  Brian's brother David is getting married next Saturday to Bridget so we decided to make a week vacation out of it.  So the T to the Boston airport, then a flight to DC, then on to Knoxville.  The flights went really well, with the kids spending lots of time coloring in their little spiral notebooks with new markers, but by the puddle jumper to Knoxville (where Nathan sat by himself in the seat across the aisle from me and Brian) Sarah exhausted me with her wiggly, squirmy self.  We were met at the airport by Gran and Pawpaw and Nana and Grand Dad and all caravan-ed back to Grand Dad and Nana's house to catch the end of the Tennessee game where we upset South Carolina.  Dinner with the family then an early bedtime for the kids. 

The Days of Our Lives (Oct 6-12)

Sunday - We decided to skip church to go leaf peeping in Maine. Unfortunately it was a gloomy day and we were way too early in the month to see peak fall colors, but we had a memorable trip.  Dedicated post to come.  That evening Nana began helping me with my "little" project of altering many of Sarah's pants so they wouldn't fall off her waist - a "little" project that she ended up working on for most of the week.

Monday - Brian was back at work and the kids and I spent the morning at home with the grands.  When Nana put the kids down for nap I went out and ran errands to prepare for the upcoming wedding, birthdays and Halloween.  Brian got home before 5:00 and we decided to go out to eat at Bottega di Capri where we tried the manacotti, fettuccine carbonara, bowties with marinara sauce and an Italian sub.  I began my sewing project of matching Halloween costumes for the kids. 

Tuesday - Nathan wanted to take Nana and Grand Dad to one of our museums, so we all took the T to the Aquarium and had a great visit.  Afterwards we ate lunch at our typical spot near the fountains.  Creamy Italian chicken over rice for dinner.  Brian and I also got an amazing opportunity to attend a performance at the Boston Symphony Orchestra with couple from church who had extra tickets and we saw Yo-Yo Ma perform! He graduated from Harvard and lives in Cambridge, so he's a local guy.

Watching the wave tank - we all were fascinated!

We stopped to watch the seals and sea lions right before we left the aquarium.  Nathan was very grumpy by this point because he had told us multiple times his tummy was hungry and that he was ready to leave!

Our picnic lunch.  It was a cool day made even cooler by the wind off the ocean, but we found a sheltered spot where it was warm in the sun.

The view from our picnic spot of the fountains and Boston skyline.

Brian and I heading out to the symphony. 

Wednesday - Since all of our apple picking apples had been completely consumed, the kids and I took Nana and Grand Dad with us back to Honey Pot Hill for round #2.  We got a bushel of produce to spit between all of us, mostly Courtland apples and some pears (per Nathan's request). More pictures to share later.

Thursday - We skipped library storytime to spend the morning with Nana and Granddad. While they took Nathan and Sarah for a walk and to watch the T's, I stayed in the apartment and made bread.  After they got back, Sarah fell asleep on her mattress on the floor before 11:00 am and she didn't want to get up for lunch at 11:20, so I let her sleep hoping she would take a super long nap (she had been pretty fussy this week, I'm sure partly because all of our activities meant skipped/shortened naps).  No such luck.  But Nathan didn't take a nap either, so as soon as the bread was out of the oven we all headed to the car to investigate a new (and supposedly great) Goodwill.  I found quite a few nice clothing items to buy, Grand Dad got a new plumbers snake, Nana found a few clothes for Nathan and the kids each picked out a little toy for themselves.  We got stuck in terrible Boston traffic on the way home, which reminded me why I usually stick close to home in the afternoon.  Nana and Grand Dad treated the kids to pizza from the Village Pizza House while Brian and I went out on another date night to The Paramont (restaurant) in Beacon Hill where Brian had a huge cheeseburger and I had delicious steak tacos with amazing cilantro-lime crema (which was so good I could have eaten with a spoon!).  We strolled around Boston Common then through the city to look for dessert when we got sidetracked at Marshalls (I bought a dress for the wedding and Brian a new pair of shoes).  Since we didn't get dessert, we headed back home to try the Rhubarb Strawberry Crumble I had also made earlier in the day (good, but would have been better with way more strawberries - unfortunately lots of mine had gone bad and had to be thrown away when I was making the cobbler).

Friday - Brian had a call day today, which meant he wasn't due to the hospital until 3:00pm, so we caught a Boston Duck Tour at the Museum of Science.  It was fun and entertaining but a bit overwhelming trying to listen to the guide and see everything and also pay attention to how everything in downtown Boston is laid out (I know how to get lots of places via the T, but since I never drive downtown I don't have a good idea of how some of it fits together at street level). Italian sausage sauce with homemade focaccia bread for dinner.

While we were waiting to board the Duck Tour, Nana bought Nathan and Sarah two smashed pennies.  Nathan's decided that he is going to collect smashed pennies!

The kids also played in the space capsule. 

Here we are on the Duck Tour - you may be able to see me with the camera in front of my face in the next-to-last row, then behind me are Nathan, Nana and Grand Dad and one row in front is Daddy (Sarah was beside me so you can't see her).

I didn't take many pictures on the Duck Tour since we have gone/plan to go to most of the places we drove by (and I figure I'll get better picture when I'm not in a moving vehicle), but this view of the Esplanade and part of the city skyline most likely won't be repeated!

Nathan got to "drive" the Duck Boat while we were on the Charles River! 

That afternoon the kids and I got a special surprise - Joe, the Edible Arrangements delivery guy that we befriended a few weeks ago, gave us some chocolate covered strawberries to enjoy.  And boy did the kids enjoy them!

Saturday - We had tentative plans to go to a Cranberry Harvest Festival depending on how Brian's shift went, and since he luckily got 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep we decided to go for it!  It was a fun all-day activity for the family.  Separate post with pictures to come.

The Days of Our Lives (Sept 29 - Oct 5)

Post #2 for our September schedule is coming, but I thought I'd go ahead and post last weeks' schedule to try and not fall behind! 

• Sunday - Nathan was sick with a cold so he stayed in big church while Sarah and I did Jr Worship.  No small groups, so after long naps for kids we went on the T to the Aquarium stop to eat at Legal Seafoods (a recommended local chain).  Nathan wanted to go to the aquarium even though it was almost closing time but since we had a membership we decided to do it.  We got to see a few new things: the penguins were being sprayed with sprinklers and loving it, then we watched the sea lions playing very energetic in their tank.  Unfortunately we found out then that the wait for Legal Seafoods was super long so went to the Granary Tavern for garlic chips and dip, chicken and waffles, fish and chips. 
• Monday -The kids and I went two stops out of town on the Green Line to a new park to meet A and E and some new playgroup friends of theirs.  The other moms seem very nice and I'm definitely going to join!  Saw our first beautiful fall tree so we all stopped and collected leaves.  In the afternoon we went out at 4:30 to walk some pants to the dry cleaners and a package to the post office and met Daddy coming home!  Fire roasted tomato soup and leftover homemade focaccia bread for dinner.

• Tuesday - Errand day.  Our road was being repaved so our car almost got stuck in the parking lot, however the nice construction worker sent us down the wrong way on our street to avoid the huge paver machine (we got to see it from afar though).  Went to Michaels, the mall, and the grocery store.  No nap for Nathan again.  Spent the afternoon working on the kids' closet, pulling down and sorting winter clothes.  Ham and cheese sliders for dinner.
• Wednesday - Spent part of the morning organizing/purging/cleaning the toy room to prepare for Nana and Granddad's arrival.  Then off the Children's Museum, conditional upon Nathan participating in an MIT study for 3 and 4 year olds that he hadn't wanted to do before (yes, I had to blackmail him slightly).  It turned out to be a study to see if he could determining cause and effect in some videos and he got all the answers right.  It was a beautiful day, 79 degrees and no clouds as we sat on the wharf and ate lunch.  In the afternoon we took a quick trip to the park.  This was our "parade" that day - Nathan wanted to ride his scooter and Sarah on her "new" tricycle that she just learned how to pedal.  After half a block Nathan decided he wanted to turn around and trade the scooter for his trike.  Homemade pizza for dinner.

• Thursday - Took videos of the kids "reading" their favorite books before heading to the library for storytime.  I finally convinced Nathan to pick out non-board books by telling him he could check out "as many as he wants" then I had to go back on my word because we had to carry all the books back home.  Another no-nap day for Nathan, then in the afternoon I made curtains for the french doors on the "guest room".  Brian home for a dinner of fried pork with rice and milk gravy.  He felt terrible (most likely a little anxiety about his big lecture scheduled for the next morning), so napped from after dinner until after 8pm, then he was up most of the night working on his lecture.  I purged some more junk out of the toy/guest room. 

• Friday - Crazy, crazy morning.  I had planned to take the kids to a dry harvested cranberry bog in the morning, but unfortunately got locked out of the apartment when Nathan pulled the door closed before I had grabbed my backpack with keys and wallet in it.  After racking my brain trying to figure out how to get back in, and possibly giving the door a little kick out of frustration, we started walking to Brian's work (the stroller was also locked inside the apartment - THANKFULLY I did have my phone in my back pocket!).  The 1.1 mile walk took me and the kids about 40 minutes, almost twice as long as it takes Daddy to walk it.  Then waited in the hospital lobby for a while before Brian could leave the OR and bring his keys and T card to me.  Took the bus home (hooray!) then since it looked like it was going rain (rain = no dry harvesting of cranberries), we ran other errands.  Brian's talk went great and we went out for sushi & chicken teriyaki for dinner.
• Saturday -  A morning of cleaning the apartment before Grand Dad and Nana arrived.  Nathan and Sarah were SO excited to see them (as were Brian and I of course).  Walked to Cutty's for lunch - Roast Beef 1000 sandwiches all around!  After nap we took the T downtown.  Due to a Red Socks game the D line was extremely crowded, so we walked a little farther and caught the E line for the first time.  Walked through Haymarket and bought some produce and then went to Fanuiel Hall for dinner (clam chowder, pizza and souvlaki wrap).