New Hampshire Cottage

One of the perks of living in New England is that we are in close proximity to the lake cottage in New Hampshire my Grandpa built 60 years ago.  I celebrated my first birthday there and visited almost every summer of my childhood.  Ted and I were even married in the backyard.  

I feel so fortunate that I am able to share a place I love so dearly with my family.  

The time and weather have not been kind to this summer cottage so my Dad and I put new flooring down on the porch last weekend.  He ripped out old unused cabinets and now it feels like different room!  We couldn't have been so productive if it weren't for Ted.  He was in charge of the girls and spent LOADS of time in the car for nap time.  He even ended up in Maine and acquired some spectacular lobsters for dinner.  

The girls enjoyed meeting Ali (Aunt Janie's dog) and wouldn't leave him alone.  Janie and Ali also got to see our new home in Concord on their way out of town.

Memorial Day with Grandpa

Grandpa Kelly came to visit for an extended Memorial Day.  We went shopping and bought him an early Father's Day present.  He helped us move furniture up to the New Hampshire cabin that we currently don't have room for.  Hooray!  There is now a small space for yoga!  The girls obviously had a great time with him.

Shannon's Birthday

Our friend Shannon came all the way from Seattle to visit last week and meet the girls.  We even got to celebrate her birthday with ice cream and heart warming conversation.  We explored a neat children's book store in Concord's town center and had some difficulty with our photo shoot with the girls.

Waving & Whistling

Brenna's new favorite game is waving.  She truly loves it and finds it hilarious.  She's often says 'babababa' while waving so I'm trying to figure out if she's trying to say 'bye'.

Nora's latest skill is whistling through an elephant whistle.  We are truly amazed and shocked that our nine month old daughter understands that when she blows air into this toy whistle it makes noise.  She did it immediately after we demonstrated and then repeated it again.

I'm feeling much better thanks to good company, yoga, a supportive husband, and a couple new supplements.  

Grandpa Kelly arrived tonight for a long Memorial Day weekend visit.  The girls will be so happy to see him in the morning.  

Ted is looking forward to an extra day off this weekend....yay for summer!

Saturday Family BBQ

My mom's cousins live in the area and they hosted us for a BBQ last weekend.  It was really great to be with family.  I have special childhood memories spending time with them and their parents on Cape Cod when I lived nearby as a child.  They were tickled to meet the girls and Brenna and Nora obviously loved the extra attention.  

Our Angel Desiree

My dear friend from high school Desiree moved closer to where we live and was able to make a quick Angel visit this week.  She is a mom of twins as well as another beautiful boy Ayden (my godson).  She definitely knows how crazy it gets!  With homemade baby food and a rocking elephant toy in tow we had a wonderful day.  She encouraged me to go get a massage which was overdue and delicious.  The girls were magnetically drawn to her which warmed my heart!

Unconventional Mother's Day

Weeks ago we decided it would be fun to get tickets to a Red Sox game with our friends who live in Cambridge.  I go to baseball games to eat peanuts and people watch in the fresh air.  Plus I've heard how special Fenway is.  I didn't even realize the day we picked was Mother's Day.  Ha!  As the day got closer Ted got nervous about taking the girls.  He convinced me what I actually needed for Mother's Day was a break from mothering.  I knew he was right, but I felt awful mostly about the societal pressure to be with family on Mother's Day.  After my guilt subsided I had a wonderful day with my friends.  We took the subway, enjoyed the weather, walked the city streets.  I hadn't even seen the city before then!  Ted enjoyed his time with the girls and took them on a long walk through Cambridge.