Our Typical Father's Day

Mark has been a father for four years now and for those four years I think we have celebrated Fathers Day the same way every year:  on Cape Cod.  We don't go "just 'cause".   It's always been his request, which makes me happy.  This year was no different.  We get family time, he gets alone time, I get my Daddy time and he gets his kiddo's time.  Win, win, right? 

So, we had crazy torrential rain on Friday, so we decided to go down on Saturday instead.  When we got down, we changed right into our beach clothes and went to the water for a swim.  It was pretty cold water, like the kind where if you walk in you'll scream at each step cause the water hurts, so instead you just run straight in and dive under to warm up.  Well, Cam must be some crazy, tough kid cause he just walked in slowly, stopping to pick up jelly fish and crabs, until he was up to his armpits with  out loosing the smile once.  I can't do that!  I'm a cold water wimp.  Like Avery!  She ha a blast, too, just in more shallow water :) 

To the beach in the Jeep with Papa

After the beach we had a cookout and got ice cream. Then went to a playground on a beach nearby for the kids to play while we watched the sunset.  Out of any time we can spend on the beach, I think my favorite time is after dinner, getting close to bedtime, when the air is cool enough to pair long sleeves with your shorts. Its so peaceful, even with kids running around you.  

Holy bite, right?

Swinging with my Daddy

 She loved the sunset

 Flying!!

Sunday, on Fathers Day, Mark and my dad brought Cameron out fishing on the boat.  Men time!  They caught some fish, that Cam told me were "ginormous" but weren't actually keepers.  The kids took some naps in the car while Mark and I drove around and picked out the beach house that we will someday own.  For sure. Tina and Ryan came down and we spent the rest of the day on the beach!  Low key.  It felt great, just hanging out. We packed up on the earlier side so we could out to dinner with my parents and then we were on our way. Before 7! 

Ready for the fun!

 Ginormous, right?

 Or maybe he meant this one..:)

Fishing off the dock

Family pic! 

Papa and three of the grand kids, for now!

And with two of his kids

My main man and our babies!

 Out take :)

Happy Fathers Day! 

Mothers Day 2013

Happy day to all of those who celebrate: the moms, moms-to-be, grandmothers, and god mothers all around us. But in addition, I believe any woman with the huge amount of motherly love and influence on a child should be celebrating today. Because its not only the mothers who birth these little bundles that raise them into the adults that they become. Aunts, sisters, cousins, teachers, friends; they can all have such an impact on a child's life that they need to be honored on Mothers Day, too! So, because of that, I'd like to make a little shout out of thanks to some special women who have had a huge influence of love on either my own, my husbands or my kids lives. Mimi, Googa, Grammy Matz, Grammy King, Joanie, Gramma Lightbody, Auntie Kathy, Auntie Dorrie, Tina, Michelle, and Steph. We love you more then you will ever know and will always thank you from the bottom of our hearts. 

Happy Mothers Day, 

Stacey, Mark, Cam and Avery

                                   

Mommy's Day Brunch, presented by 4 year olds!

Today, Cameron's preschool hosted a Mothers Day brunch for, well, the moms. And oh my goodness, it was adorable! The kids came in and put on a little mommy themed concert for us, which I would have cried my eyes out through if I wasn't taking pictures! Instead, I just smiled a huge, proud mommy smile while I watched Cam belt out some, "Bringing Home Baby Bumble Bee" and "I love my mommy. Mommy loves me. Lucky me. Lucky me." Those kids are rock stars, I'm tellin' ya.

After the concert, our adorable little preschoolers took our hands, and sat us at our tables. Then, get this: they brought our plates to the buffet table, loaded the plates up with garden salad, fruit salad and cold cuts and brought them back to us! With not a single spill! It was the cutest thing! I swear, I've never seen Cameron look so proud! He even brought my empty plate to the trash! What the what? When and how does this ever happen? Miss Maureen and Miss Pamela must have magic ways with these children, cause tonight after his Popsicle, guess where the stick went? Stuck to the bean bag! 

But that's beside the point! For 45 minutes today, I had twice the perfect boy I'm used to! After our lunch and dessert, we opened our gifts, which were days worth of beautiful little crafts made from our beautiful little children that will live forever in my "Box O'Cameron".  I mean, what mom doesn't love pins with photos of there kids making adorably awkward faces?! Or those yearly questioners the teachers ask them about us? 

(from my phone)

All those little things make my heart hurt with love. Cherish it all. Today, as quick as it was, will be cherished always as a great day with my great little boy.  I love you, Cam Bam. 

Snow!

Finally! I am such a snow person, I've been praying for this day since the last snow in MA, which was pretty much on Halloween in 2011!  Well, maybe an inch here and there, but not what a life long New Englander expects.  So, after hearing that I was going to be able to stay in my jammies all day, snuggled in with my Littles while it snowed, then bundle up the next day and roll around in the snow made me really, really happy!  

And that's what we did!  Mark wasn't around (working, blah!) so I went to my parents. They have a hill, which you kind of need to sled, and snowmobiles, so it was a no brainer.  It didn't hurt having some extra hands around to tag team the playing, since not everyone (Avery) loves being out in the cold weather for long and having one mommy at the top to push the sledder and one mommy at the bottom to catch the same sledder isn't really possible!  

The kids had a ton of fun!  Cam was out forever, it seemed.  He definitely appreciated the cocoa and shortbread cookies Mimi had waiting for him when he came in!  We most definitely have a little boy who will love all the New England winter fun that most of us grow up with: sledding, snow men, skating, just over all being cold!  Avery needs a little time, but she'll come around.  She just still likes to be warm :) 

Shoveling with Papa

Breaking Cameron in to snowmobiling.  He's hooked :)

See?

Avery watched from the window :)

Sledding. It is a hill, I swear!

Isn't she adorable? 

They liked it! They really, really liked it!!

Guys, it was the first time that my kids actually enjoyed, like full out "this is so fun"enjoyed, the Christmas parade we go to every year with the Kenneys!  All the years we have gone in the past, (well the three years we have gone) neither kid has really loved being there.  They were either to small to have any sort of opinion, may not have even been awake, or were frightened of the loud noises and fire trucks that go by.  

But not this year!  I didn't have to hold anyone screaming!  Cam ran around, picking up all the candy that was thrown to him, Avery waved at everyone passing and no one even got hypothermia from the freezing cold temperature!!  It was a success. Like, a really fun and enjoyable success! 

Bryce and Avery, BFF's!

Ashlyn and Cameron, friends since birth!

 The Kenney's 

Pre-school Happenings

Cam had some fun stuff going on at school this past week.  He had the Fall Festival that families were invited to.  It was super cute and Cameron was super excited to be able to show Mimi, Avery and I all the fun stuff that was planned.  

We frosted pumpkin shaped cookies..

 And ate them :)

We made these cute little magnets.

 We put faces on pumpkins with stickers.

And posed for pictures :)

We did other things to, like got our faces painted, played some games and did an indoor hay ride.  It was a lot of fun, if you couldn't tell!  

A few days later, my little Native American came home like this:

Cute, right??  They decorated the front and made up names for themselves.  Cameron was "Fast Locomotive" (?) and Ryan was "Big Horse".  I can't get to many details out of Cam when he gets home about school, so I have no idea what he actually learned about Thanksgiving, but regardless, I think he likes the holiday!!

Now, on to eating some Turkey! Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!! 

It has finally happened

My beloved MacBook Pro went to Apple heaven. It had been acting weird lately, so I thought it would be a good idea to make sure everything, and i mean EVERYTHING, was backed up on my external hard drive before something bad happened. So with all my pictures, it literally took four full days to back up! (Is that weird?) After it was done, I double checked it and turned it off to let it rest. And poor Mac never woke up again :( I went into the Genius Bar at the Apple Store to have it checked out and the man told me it was probably due to the fact that good old hubs bought a third party battery, and that's not a good thing. I will roll over and DIE if my pictures are missing! You think I'm joking...

So, there you have it. I have written about ten blogs out on my Blogger app, but haven't posted them because my pictures can't be processed. So once I'm up and running again, I'm going to be back in October. Ugh. But don't fret (cause I'm sure you totally are!) I know what I'm getting and should be picking it up on Friday, that is Black Friday. Yikes! And yes, it's another Mac. I'm in love.. :)