Of course we had to dress the part!

Look at that form!

He had to get in on the action some how... :)

He's a Decade!

Happy 10th to my older little man- Run DMH (my new name for him). We had an awesome time at Tee-Pee Archery in Acton. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a cool b-day party place, or even a summer camp option.  

School got off without too much trouble, and we are in full swing with Field Hockey, Drama, Fall Ball and music lessons. Never a dull moment here! 

Still plan to blog more of our summer adventures, but thought I better get this bday boy posted before the other turns... omg... FIVE. Holy cow!!

Happy Fall!!

Summer time.... and the livin' is busy!

Our summer started out with our amazing photographer, Melinda, stopping by!

So, the summer fly right by with no blog posts- but not because there was nothing to blog about!!

Our summer included trips to the Lowell Spinners, several trips to Boston, the beach, the pool, the pond, softball, track, t-ball.... oh my!! Lots to share and never enough time to share it.

The highlight of our summer, of course was our trip back to Ohio and Pennsylvania. Lots of cousins and friends to see along with grandparents!! Kennywood and the Columbus Zoo were probably our biggest hits!

We've had several visitors and enjoyed our visits immensely.

People ask if we like it here and I can honestly say we love it. Aside from being sooooo far away from friends and family, which is super hard, we love the area and all that is here.  With that said, there are still adjustments begin made. Lots of "cultural" differences. Just when I think we have things figured out- another wrench. But, I think that can happen anywhere, any time. So, back to school, new teachers, new opportunities, new adjustments, but we can do it!

Much love to all of you. More updates and photos soon!!

xoxo

One Year

Holy Crap- we have lived here for a year! It is so hard to believe and still seems so surreal at times.
I want to start by thanking all of the people in our lives who have made this transition easier for us. From the awesome going away party to family and friends visiting, notes and texts (I LOVE getting random texts) to new friends who have showed us around, showed us the ropes and given us oodles of great advice.

I can't exactly say that we are becoming New Englanders, but we are becoming comfortable.  As much as we've had issues with this house (and believe me, we've had issues galore!) we still love it and it feels like home. For those of you who have seen it, I'm sure you will agree it's very "us".

We really miss our friends and family back in the mid-west- and it is very challenging living so far away- however, we really are enjoying our time here and trying to make the most of it.  We've added some more sight-seeing to our list like taking the train to NYC,  Portsmouth, NH (a true gem) a pizza tour of the North End, a Red Sox game, some local college sports and more.  I've found an exercise class that I love (Go Jazzercise!) and have become involved in PTO and the local mother's club.

The kids are well into their spring/summer sports now. Finn is playing instructional t-ball (which is as adorable as it sounds), Declan is finding his niche and doing track and field (he's a 400 and long jump guy- jumped 8'10 last week) and Amelia is coming off of a very interesting season of rec softball. Luckily for all of us she's starting her new season of summer ball this week (the same league that we started with last year).

We are looking forward to exploring more of New England this summer- on our list for day trips are coastal Maine, Vermont and Providence, RI.  We will also be meeting some friends at Niagara Falls, Canada, and making the trip back "home".

Much love to everyone and keep looking on the blog for exciting adventures!!

Uncle

This is our patio. The green thing in the middle is the umbrella for our table.

View from garage towards patio. 

The woods behind our house. Hard to tell how tall the snow is, but it's about my height from being plowed/blown.

Okay, Okay Mother Nature. I get it. You win. UNCLE.  

Since I last posted we have received at my estimate  over 40" of snow. Oh, it hasn't fallen all at once, but the vast majority is still on the ground (and our roof). I'm done. I'm calling Uncle. You can stop any time now, "Mom" before I start calling you names!

Other than the snow (which we have had a lot of fun with, as well as some grumbling by us adults) things have been moving along here. The big kids are both in Basketball. Amelia has practice once a week and games once a week, and Declan has 1.5 hour combo practice/games once a week.  Finn keeps taking swimming lessons and it's almost always his favorite part of the week.  We've also gotten to go to a local college game as well as a couple of HS games.  

I think all of her game pictures are on my "real" camera. Too lazy to look right now.

In addition to Basketball we've been skiing a few times. Amelia tried snowboarding once and skiing once, and the boys both have skied twice (lessons, I "lodged" it).  In addition Amelia and I went X-Country skiing with some good friends. It was a great workout but I didn't find it as challenging as downhill. Whew!

We did travel to both Jeannette and Newark for the holidays and I was able to catch up with some girlfriends in Westerville. It was a complete whirlwind trip and everyone (and I mean everyone) got the stomach bug so it was rather interesting as well!  We loved seeing all of the cousins, though- as always. It's hard to be away and know that everyone is growing up without you. We were grateful we got to see as many people as we did, albeit briefly.


I received a super surprise birthday gift from two very dear friends- they decided to brave the elements and come visit me.  We had an awesome time exploring Boston. It's actually the first time I've been in the city without the kids with me- so it was fun to take in some of the shops, etc. We could also walk a lot further, faster.  We topped off the night with a trip to Rino's Place, which was featured on Diners Drive ins and Dives. While the food (and company) was excellent, I wouldn't recommend it- as the wait and the seating policy were both terrible. Luckily we hunkered down at the bar across the street and chatted away!

We are currently on Winter Break- so we are all getting a bit stir- crazy, but we are doing the best we can. We were able to get out for a bit today which was great, and we had a hallway basketball tournament on Monday. :)  We'll find a few more things to do and projects to tackle the rest of the week. 

  The following is what our yard/drive looks like as of today 2/19.  We actually got around 3 more inches this afternoon- but you get the idea.

View from back patio towards driveway 

View from back of house

Trees that used to have bottoms

View of fence to see how deep it's getting

Those are my knees not my ankles

Side of driveway. Snowblower for height perspective

From Laundry room door looking towards driveway

As always we love and miss everyone and would love visitors any time!