Nana to the rescue!

We were so excited to have an entire week with Nana! Now, a bit of history, it seems that often when we get a visit from Nana, Nathan will be incredibly busy at work. This has happened more times than not. (As I'm writing this, I realize how the sentence above may sound! But, truly, his busyness at the office is completely out of his control - something that we are sad about and Nana understands.) Anyhow, last week, Nathan called home on St Patrick's Day around 5. I said, "Can you make it home by 6? We'll wait to have our Irish feast if you can." He said, "Yes." (Amazing dialogue, isn't it?). Twenty minutes later he calls back and says, "You won't believe this but I have to go to London tomorrow and may not be back until this weekend." This was sad on three levels: 1. Our Irish feast would be Nathanless. 2. Our 10 year anniversary would be Nathanless. 3. The start of Nana's visit would be Nathanless. Little did we know that Nana would not see Nathan at all, not one bit. He was gone for 10 days, worked 66 hours straight at one point (I'm not kidding), consumed 8 cups of coffee in one eight hour time period, slept 16 hours in eight days, and finally came home to a happy family.

After we got over the despair of not having Nathan at home, we had a blast with Nana. She was such a help to me, providing an extra pair of hands and a friend to chat with. It was great fun! She got to experience a slice of our life by taking Theo to his music and art class, walking Maddie to school, reading stories, a bit of snow, park time, playing games and helping with the bedtime routine. We also did some other fun activities: bowling at the Windsor Club, shopping expedition to Talbots Outlet, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, coffee at Taste, ice cream at Cabors, dinner at Zocalo, lunch at Barry's Deli and Baker's Best, and some fun movies and shows after the kids were asleep.



Happy girls!

Maddie picked some flowers from the yard and requested a crown. Nana quickly put together a beauty!

Theo is obsessed with snowglobes. He was thrilled to open up his birthday present from Nana and find a Snoopy baseball one!

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love

10 years! And how wonderful it's been. We've crossed the country three times, traveled to 13 countries and about 38 states, had nine jobs (seven of which were Erin's), and not to mention, added three amazing little ones to our family. We've grown together as a couple and individually. And before I get too sappy, are more in love today than ever!

Swinging

Our friends the Roths came over for brunch. It was such a beautiful day we headed to the park afterward (Nathan had to go to the office). No coats, the sun was shining - heaven! Gabriel had his first swing and loved it. He got to sit back to back with Alexandria. Joy!

Fun together

For the most part, Maddie and Theo are lovely together. We've been dealing with a bit of sass from Miss M which translates into a bit of unkindness to her brother (not Gabriel, yet). I do love these moments when they are just having fun together.


It's most fun to dance with Theo when you can wildly spin him around.



Look how intently Theo is looking at the book.

He's delicious

Rock climbing in Rockport

We were going stir crazy. Five months with the heat on, snow still on the ground - a short day trip was in order. So we headed out after lunch to the cute town of Rockport, MA, an artist village. It's about an hour away just north of Gloucester. We enjoyed a coffee and some treats in a sweet cafe overlooking the bay. Nathan, Maddie and Theo then had to traverse the rock outcropping. Maddie skipped lightly over the rocks going back and forth, back and forth. And Theo muscled over each rock making it to the end. Nathan said he talked the whole way. Gabriel and I strolled the streets poking into some stores. It was so nice to get fresh air and a change of scenery.


Here's Maddie running back to the guys!

The happy climbers.

Little Lady

It seems that Maddie has jumped from little girl to all girl in the past few months. She just looks older and acts older. I'm already nostalgic for the early years! She's reading, loves math, likes jokes, being with her friends, art, chapter books, contests, and a bit of sass.

Water boy

Gabriel loves the bath. He likes to watch the tub fill up. He's finally comfortable getting into the bath, the temperature change used to startle him. He'll sit up and splash like crazy with a huge grin on his face. I can now just sit him in the bath and he scoots around. He'll hop in with his siblings and have a great time!



Doesn't he look so old here?

Scary things, spiders, making gates and babies

Our dear Theo talks all day long. While driving in the car today, he started in on his list of things he likes:

• Scary things
• Spiders
• Making gates (so people can't pass through)
• Babies
• Cars
• Wheels

He likes being funny and will say something nonsensical. Thankfully, at the end, he'll say, "That was a joke."

When you ask him a question, he'll say, "Oh, sure, I can." in a very enthusiastic voice.

He loves when the whole family is together. He'll look around and say, "the whole family!" He also likes labeling our family. He'll see a picture of people, animals, what have you and tell me who is Mommy, Daddy, etc. This also works with noodles or peas, where he'll place five on his fork or fingers and "eat the family." Maybe that isn't so cute.

Both he and Maddie bound out of bed in the morning to get dressed. He has taken to laying out his clothes the night before. I especially liked this outfit. Note, the train sweater with matching trains socks, and the phone in his jean's pocket.


And he likes to pretend. His recent favorite is pretending to be a baby. This means he talks babytalk, has to be carried, likes to crawl and will only respond to being called baby. He also does this as a doctor and an eyeball (I can't figure that one out!).

Snow Day!

We were teased with "springish" weather last week, like in the 40s. I don't know why we thought that maybe winter was over. Sigh. Sunday night brought another eight inches or so and a Monday snow day! I was pleased with myself to have thrown a little plan together for the day to keep the natives happy - snow play, peanut scavenger hunts, crafts, cooking, stories, whew. While Gabriel napped, we headed out to play in the snow.

Theo tried his darndest to make a snow angel. He still struggles to get up out of the snow once down. But, he's doing much better embracing the cold. Layers, layers and more layers definitely help!

He really enjoyed measuring the snow.

Maddie enjoyed eating the clean snow. We talked a lot about survival and how you shouldn't eat snow if you are lost in the woods. She then wanted me to tell a little scary story about someone who got lost in the woods and ate snow. We ended our snow play with maple syrup snow bowls inside. Yum!