Last Pictures of Fall

I realize these pictures are a little behind the times, but I thought I would post them as the last memories of fall fade and we start moving on to the Christmas season. A few Halloween pictures and some playing in the leaves. November was a good month for us. Oliver is loving preschool and making lots of friends and Ruby is toddling around like crazy now. She is also learning how to fight back with Oliver which is both good and bad! Happy November, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!

Sick Torture!

Does it seem like we are always sick to anyone else? Sigh. I feel like since Ruby was born we have been in a perpetual state of sickness. It's like dominos, one of us gets sick and the rest follow one by one. Sometimes we all get sick quickly and are suffering together, sometimes it's all drawn out where one person is sick one week and then the next the next week and it becomes a month long thing. Needless to say, we are all sick right now. For some reason this time has been really hard. It's just a cold, but Ruby has been waking up at 3:30am every day for the past while. She was doing it before she got sick, I assume because she is a) getting her molars and b) she is learning to walk and c) she is learning to talk. So she had been waking up and wanting to play and talk and giggle and fuss at 3 or 4 am. This as you can imagine is not going over well with us. We tried rocking her and ignoring her and just getting up with her. None of which were great solutions. But then she got sick and it was even worse.

To give you an idea of the torture, let me run down our night:

3:30am- Wake up to hear Ruby talking away in her crib.

I go in an try to rock her.

4:30am- Still in there talking laughing fussing jumping on bed.......

I try to rock her again. No use.

5:30am- She is finally winding down. Praying she will go back to sleep.

5:45am- Hear Oliver crying because he has wet the bed. Go in change him and bed. He starts coughing.

6:00am- Stop hearing Ruby, she has gone back to sleep. Oliver is now coughing continuously.

6:20am- Zack finally gets up with Oliver and lets me finally go to sleep.

Now keep in mind that Zack and I are both sick too. So of course we feel like junk and want to sleep but can't. Good thing Zack is so nice and let me sleep in, I don't think I would have made it through the day if he hadn't. I seriously at one point just about got up and opened the window and threw both of our children out of it! FEND FOR YOUR SELVES, I"M DONE!! But then I pictured their sweet faces and had to stop myself. This is why I put some pictures of their adorable faces at the top of this post. To remind me!

*Last night Ruby finally slept all night! Felt SO good to sleep!

Peace Pagoda

We went with some friends of ours to a Buddist Peace Pagoda here in MA. It was such a nice day and it was fun to get out and do something different. We have lived close to this place for the past 3 years and never even knew it was there! It was really pretty. It is also all taken care of by volunteers, so if anyone is working for a service project..... :)

Yes, Oliver's hair is seriously sticking up in the back, not sure what happened there? OH well it's character right?

Ruby trying to escape. She's so naughty. So much more adventurous than Oliver ever was! Just just looks sneaky in this picture!
Oliver had fun running around the gardens and checking out the water with his stick.

After we visited there, our friends knew of a fun bookstore/restaurant in the area. It was a tasty end to a fun trip. Plus it's always fun to look around an old used bookstore! All in all a fun day! Thanks Koppners!

Walking and Preschool!

So Ruby has FINALLY started to walk a little. I say finally because by 1, Oliver was almost running. But Ruby has been more resistant to walking, she's really into the crawl I guess. So we've been in intensive training for the past little bit and she has finally started to take a few steps on her own. Mostly if you hold out some food for her to get, she will give it a go! So Ruby. That girl loves to eat!! I can't wait until she can walk! It's so hard to take her anywhere because she always wants to get down, but can't walk which means she gets filthy crawling on the dirty ground or floor. However, I'm sure I'm forgetting the new set of troubles walking brings, but for now: GO BABY GO!!

As for Oliver, he started Preschool last month and has been LOVING it! He can't get enough! In fact he is seriously angered when he finds out it's Saturday and there is no school! Ha, ha. I hope that enthusiasm lasts for years to come. His teacher is Miss Sandy and she is really creative and fun. He has informed us that "Preschool is for fun and playing, Kindergarden is for learning!" So heaven forbid that you ask him what he learned about at school. Lesson Learned. Now I ask what he got to "play" at school that day. Anyway, he is loving it and it's so adorable to watch all the kids line up in the morning with their little back packs on following their teacher and waving goodbye to their parents. So cute. And it's cute as the kids have gotten to know each other a little, after school they are all waving goodbye to each other as we all walk out to the parking lot. So fun.

One funny story about preschool that Miss Sandy told me:

Eden (a girl in Oliver's class) to Miss Sandy: Miss Sandy, can I tell you a secret?

Miss Sandy: Of course.

Eden: I think Oliver is Handsome!

Miss Sandy: I think he is too!

How funny! Of course we think he is extremely handsome, so we found this story super cute! But what can I say? We are his parents!

Utah part 2

So below are some pics from August. We were still in Utah during the first 1/2 of August having fun with the family. Oliver had his b-day which was super fun to go up Provo Canyon and play at the park and go fishing. He had a lot of fun. I can't believe he is 4 now! Time has flown by. He is such a smartie pants, he is constantly amazing me. He also has an incredible memory, which as a parent can seem good or bad depending on the situation! ha, ha. In August he took some swimming lessons at the P.G. pool with his friend Kate, they had a lot of fun and on the last day he even got to go down the big slide with his teacher, which I think he thought was horrifying and slightly fun. But it was good because he got in the water which was a big step for him and he enjoyed it, so all in all it was a good experience. (Ruby also had her b-day in August, but that was talked about before.) Also on our trip, Ruby learned to drink through a straw and she has been in heaven ever since. She loves it, she doesn't care what is in there, she just wants to use a straw! We're just hoping this doesn't turn into a drinking problem given all the guzzling she is doing!

Pics from August!

Our trip to Utah- Part 1

Ok, yes we have been back from Utah for like 3 weeks now, but I'm just getting to the posting of stuff. We had such a good time in Utah just hanging out with family and being together. So here are some pictures from July. Oliver had fun running around in his underwear for some reason and loved my parents garage. I don't know what it was about the garage that was so alluring, but he was always wanting to go out there! And Ruby was overwhelmed at first by the largeness of my parents house compared to our house in Craziville, so it took her a bit, but once she mastered the art of going down the stairs backwards, she was a wild woman! She roamed till her little heart was content.

Zack actually went to Japan during a part of July for what I'm choosing to call a "research VACATION." (notice my emphasis on the vacation part!) But while he was gone I saw a lot of my old friends for high school and college, so that was great. So fun to catch up with people. And the kids were in the Children's 24th of July parade that Zack's parents ward has every year. They enjoyed that a lot. They also had fun over at Bubbie and Grandpa's house playing with Striker and Gage and all the neighborhood kids running around that place! Oliver was in little boy heaven! So enjoy some of July's pictures and look forward to some from August in a few days! (I know, the suspense will be killing you, with those adorable faces, who can blame you? ha, ha)

July In Utah!!

Ruby Turns 1

For Ruby's Birthday we went to Newport, RI for the day to have a little fun in the sun! We walked around town and ate lunch, then we headed to Goosebury Beach. It was fun to play at the beach, the kids had a blast, and it was a perfect day to be out in the sun! Then we had some birthday cake at home! I can't believe our little girl is 1! It's crazy! Seems like the past year has just flown by! We love you Ruby!

Our Vacation to Maine

If you have never been to Maine before, let me tell you, you need to make it your next vacation destination!! Hopefully the pictures below will convince you of that! We went on a vacation there at the beginning of June. This was Zack's 2nd and my 3rd time in Maine, but the other times we had just gone to the very bottom where it borders MA and only for a day trip. This time we went for a week and rented a cottage on the harbor. In a word, it was AWESOME!! It seriously was so beautiful. We loved all of it, excepting the rain and a bit of cold weather. First of all, our cottage was super nice which is always a plus when you get somewhere and it's nicer than the pictures looked, besides it was on the harbor and it was beautiful amazing views right on the water out our windows. Plus the place had an indoor pool and hot tub we could go to just a little walk down the street which was fun. I think Ruby was ready to jump in the water and cruise around, she loved it. Oliver spent most of his time on the side of the pool shooting us with a water gun and throwing balls to us in the pool.

The vacation started out a little rough since Ruby and I started out with a cold, and it was Ruby's first time sleeping in a pack and play. The coughing and pack and play were not happy combinations for Ruby so the first night we ended up doing a lot of rocking and basically holding her all night. But after that night, they progressively got better. Whew! The first night we ate on the harbor at an outdoor food shack. We had clam chowder and Oliver had a lobster! Ha, ha I'm kidding he had a hamburger, much more the speed for a 3 yr. old! Oh, and we stopped at an outlet mall on the way to our cottage in Edgecomb. Had to get some shopping in sometime on the trip right? Mission accomplished.

The next day it was suppose to rain, so we decided to take a drive to Camden and Rockland. The drive there was beautiful and the towns were fun little places to look at. I also got an awesome bowl of Creamy wild rice chicken chowder for lunch at a fun restaurant. Oh man, it was good. I wanted to get an IV and pump that stuff in! I think what Zack had was good too whatever it was, but all I remember is the soup. Anyway, Camden was fun to walk around and we got to see lots of boats and Oliver found his first seashells, he was very excited.

We did a lot of driving on this trip which we thought was going to be a little scary, but since Ruby was sick, she basically hit the car seat and was asleep most of the rides and Oliver usually took a nap every day as well. Can I say that this was the best part of the trip?? It allowed Zack and I to do what we love best, and that is to wander and see what we can find and view the beautiful scenery. This is one of our favorite pre-kid past times. And there was plenty of breathtaking views to be had in Maine!

We visited Boothbay Harbor and that was fun, but honestly most stuff was closed because it wasn't a warm day and it basically runs on people coming for good weather. That sort of happened a lot on this trip, so we missed the crowds, but at the same time there was less open. We managed to have a great time anyway. We visited a lighthouse, I forget the name, it's in the pictures. It was so pretty there. I wish it would have been a little warmer so that we could have climbed on the rock a little longer. But we had some fun there and enjoyed watching the water crash the rocks.

That night we ate at a restaurant called Sarah's near our cottage. I got the Lobster Quesadilla, ho man, it was good! And there was a ton of lobster in it. I know because Zack kept telling me so as he was trying to steal food off my plate! Once again, I picked the superior menu choice!! Way to go me! And they had some seriously good desserts there. Yum. So good that we went back the next night for dinner there.

We went to Augusta, the capital. It was fun, we went to a museum that had a little bit of everything about Maine's history. Oliver really liked it, Ruby not so much. We went on another drive when the kids fell asleep and saw some beautiful coast and lots of fun houses. Had dinner at Sarah's, and took a walk around town, threw some rocks in the harbor, you know, the fun stuff........ :)

Our last day there we went to Popham beach which was THE MOST BEAUTIFUL beach I have ever been to. Wow, Wow, and more Wow. It was just so fun to have tons of sand, plus rocks and landscape. Anyway, it's hard to describe, hopefully the pictures do it a little justice, but not really. Unfortunately it was really cold when we got there. (Even though the weatherman said it was going to be nice and sunny........errrrrr.) But we decided we would walk around. Oliver jumped right in and started to dig, build, and enjoy the sand, cold weather or not. He had been itching the whole trip to get to the beach and build a sand castle. So he played and then we walked the beach and collected seashells. It was fun. It was cold. Then the mist rolled in and it warmed up a little before we had to leave.

Then we headed over to Phippsburg, which was about 30 min from the beach where one of Zack's students lives. He had invited us to come over to his parents home there and have a lobster dinner! So there was no way we were going to turn that down! Let me tell you, they had such a great house! In the front across the street was the harbor and in their back yard was a freshwater lake! Wow, it was gorgeous, where do we sign up to live in a place like that? They were having a get together with other friends so we joined in with Greg (the student) and ate lobster, clams, corn, fruit, and all sorts of other delicious food. Oliver was in heaven since Greg had a huge bin full of legos and Ruby was in heaven because Greg's mom just took her and loved on her the whole time. And Zack and I were in heaven because we were eating lobster dinner in a beautiful home with a beautiful view, with no kids to bug us while we ate!! ha, ha. We had fun talking outside in their yard down by the water. Oliver fed bread to the ducks on their dock and even got to fish a little bit. And Ruby tromped around in the grass getting her face licked by their dogs and getting passed around to all the ladies. The people there were super nice and it was so fun we hated to leave and start the drive home. It was definitely a good ending to the trip.

Maine how we love you, we will miss you and hopefully we will visit you again soon!

Sorry Mom and Dad, you may have lost us to Maine! If anyone is wanting to visit Maine, we would be more than happy to come along!

** I know this was a long post, and there are a ton of pictures, but hey, I needed to gush about Maine.

Personal Day

I like being a mom and I like being with my kids. Most of the time I don't miss working one bit, it's awesome to have your own schedule and not be bored sitting at some desk job somewhere where someone tells you when you can eat your lunch and for how long. However.......jobs do have their advantages at times......
Don't you just wish that sometimes as a stay-at-home mom you could just take a Personal Day? I mean when you are working at a job there are usually the sick days, the vacation days, and you get the occasional personal day as well. Once in a while I would like to cash in on ANY of these days honestly, but..... there are times when I would really like to say "Hey, I'm taking a personal day today" and do this:
instead of this:

Unfortunately stay-at-home moms don't usually get that luxury. Sigh.......that should have been written in our contracts. For now I guess a box of BonBons will have to do! ha, ha. Better yet, does anyone want to watch our kids for us while Zack and I both take a vacation like the first picture??? Wouldn't that be dreamy? Not the beach, but no kids for more than a day!!! Any takers? Just asking...... :)

2 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

This is one of Ruby's favorite things to do with Oliver. Sorry about the shaky camera work. Even getting close to a bed with Oliver on it Ruby starts to squeal. This is a favorite pre-bedtime ritual! You know, get them nice and calmed down for bed! ha, ha.

BOSTON!!

Ruby after she went to town on an Oreo cookie!!

A few weeks ago we decided to take a day and go to Boston with some friends of ours the Wulfs. We had a fun day just enjoying the sunshine, walking the freedom trail, eating and riding a taxi boat! It was a fun day although I always forget how windy Boston can be. We were dressed for the heat, good thing we took some jackets with us! It was breezy. It had been awhile since we had been to Boston, so it was fun to get back. Zack and I had some clam chowder and Japanese food. Quite a combo, I know. But it was all tasty. I think the boat ride was the biggest hit! Here are some pictures.

Around the House

Just some fun pics from around the house. Of course I still have to get our vacation pictures on here. But this is the kids just kind of chillin' around the casa! I'll try to get more on tonight.

 

 

 

 

Party in the tub

This was Oliver and Ruby's first bath together! It was so much fun. The first video was kind of calm, and the second is when things really got going! Ruby was in heaven just crawling around in there with Oliver. So funny. Enjoy! (Wait, scratch that, after previewing this I got the videos in the wrong order.)

Happy Birthday Grammy!!

Happy Birthday Grammy and Mom!! We hope you have a wonderful day, we all love you so much! Hope you enjoy some of the pictures from when you were here visiting a few months ago! (And some new ones too.)