Another Week in NH and a Crazy Project

Last weekend after Bob finished work on Friday we left for a weekend together at my parents in NH.  We had to squeeze in at least one more trip to enjoy the heated pool before the summer came to an end.  It is always relaxing to be at my parents because MiniM.E. is excited to be someplace new and gets at least twice as much attention as usual so Bob and I got a nice break.

squirting everyone

kiddie pool

first towel toga

seal floaty AND flower tube!

ready to jump in

go!

trampoline hair

action shot

So we spent the weekend swimming, trampolining, eating good food and relaxing.  

Probably the most hilarious thing that happened this time we visited my parents was MiniM.E.'s intense desire to pick up my parents 12lb cat.  Honey Bunches is not a cat that likes to be picked up, but for some reason (thank God!) he tolerates MiniM.E. and let her carry him all over the house.  From her room to the kitchen, from my parents' room to outside, from the bathroom to the dining room.  She probably picked him up 20 times a day and each time it was equally as funny.  Maybe she's just training to hold the baby??

Bob had to go back to work Monday but MiniM.E. and I stayed in NH to swim and enjoy the break.  We went to Story Land (see next post) which was a great day trip.  For the rest of our week, I painted "Rapunzel pictures" for MiniM.E.'s room and nursed a sinus infection while MiniM.E. happily played with Gram.

Like every project I take on, the paintings for MiniM.E.'s room took me hours and hours longer than I anticipated.  BUT, I'm using the jungle artwork from her room for the baby's nursery and I didn't feel like I could take MiniM.E.'s artwork away without replacing it with something else homemade.  So if you've ever watched Tangled, here are the two paintings I made inspired by the artwork Rapunzel painted on her walls:

The good news is, unlike other projects I've taken on for MiniM.E., she seems genuinely happy with the paintings and can't wait for me to hang them in her room.  So I guess it was worth it!

Happy Birthday Baby E!

... and a lazy week of summer...

Last weekend was "Baby" E.'s 2nd birthday.  So I suppose she isn't a baby anymore, and we stopped calling her Baby E. a long time ago...

If you remember this post from last year, I was a much more involved mom-friend and not only made the birthday cake but helped with the decorations for Baby E.'s party.  But this year, being seven months pregnant and having just moved (E.'s family just moved too!) and having company a few weeks ago, I was not in any shape to be making a cake...

Fortunately, E.'s mom and dad did just fine throwing the party together themselves only a week and a half after moving into their new house.

MiniM.E. had a blast at the party.

This past week I was still recovering from MiniM.E.'s cold from the week before, and MiniM.E. was extra cranky (maybe she knows summer's coming to an end? or maybe it was the full moon??).  Also, the weather wasn't as nice as it has been so we just had a low key week with a lot of playing at home, a trip downtown and brunch out with friends.

Squeezing in More Summer

It's hard to believe it's August already.  I feel like we need to squeeze in as much summer in the next few weeks as we can, especially with MiniM.E. starting preschool in the fall and Baby#2 arriving shortly after.  

But despite my need to cram in tons of summer activities, after all the company we had MiniM.E. was SO worn out and caught a pretty nasty cold.  So Tuesday this was how she spent the day:

Of course, even though she seemed incredibly sick Tuesday, kids bounce back fast, and by Wednesday she was back in action, ready to go.

taking Flowery Dolly on a stroll down Broadway

riding the horse

snack at Starbucks

a carousel ride

with friends

just sitting around at the park

at our "old playground"

 We were out all day running around and playing until almost 4pm.  At which time, of course, she took a much needed nap... and then stayed up way too late!

Yesterday after a very involved play kitchen session, we headed to the beach, but it was one of those days where MiniM.E. needed me most of the time and I took zero beach photos...

When we got home I made up for it by taking a picture of her watching a crazy thunderstorm that popped up.

And today, Happy Friday!  Sadly, MiniM.E.'s cold is mine to deal with now, but we made the most of the gorgeous weather and went blueberry picking (should have been called blueberry eating, for the toddlers).  MiniM.E. was enjoying herself until she realized she wanted a snack other than handfuls of blueberries.  "I wish we could have gone Cheerio picking!"

After the short-lived picking we went a few minutes down the road to Hudson's Crossing Play Garden where there were slides built into the hills, tunnels to explore, stones to jump on, stumps to balance across and lots more to discover in a mostly natural play area.

Meamaw and Grandpa Visit

Last weekend Meamaw and Grandpa visited from North Carolina.

They came late Friday night, after Bob got out of work, and were going to head straight for the ballet at SPAC so MiniM.E. and I decided to check out Family Night before the ballet.  We'd gone last year for a family night not attached to a performance and had a great time.  Unfortunately, we were expecting the same thing this year and allotted two hours to play before the ballet.  With only free ice cream, balloon animals and some instruments to see, we were done with Family Night by 6:30.  MiniM.E. was a good sport and we walked around a lot with her new giraffe buddy and waited patiently for Meamaw and Grandpa to arrive with Daddy.

Meamaw and Grandpa arrived shortly before the ballet and we joined them for a tasty snack and stayed for the first 45 minutes.  MiniM.E. was really into the ballerinas (though she insisted she wanted to see REAL ballerinas... like in tutus and wondered when it was her turn to go up and dance on stage with them).

Even though she had to dance from our lawn seats, she did a great job mimicking what was going on on stage.

Saturday we went to Big Trucks Day.  It was just as it sounds.  A lot of BIG trucks.  We realized almost immediately we should have brought ear muffs for the honking horns, but other than having to work with a tricky pair we were given that were a wee bit to big for little ears, it was a good time.

After big trucks we took a stroll downtown to visit the ducks at the park, go on the carousel and have lunch.

Sunday we spent a quiet morning around the house.  MiniM.E. and I went out in the afternoon while Meamaw and Grandpa and Daddy went to the racetrack and then we met up for dinner at the Circus Cafe.  The best part of the evening was the giant plate of cotton candy!

After dinner we took another stroll downtown and Meamaw and Grandpa watched another carousel ride and said goodbye to the ducks before they had to leave Monday.

See you next time Meamaw and Grandpa!

Just the End of July

I absolutely cannot believe it is August.  I really don't know where the summer went.  Here's our last week of July...