Wow has it been so hot this summer, I am not complaining though, since it seemed like it rained all last summer...wait...it did!  Perfect beach and pool weather.  Our little blondies are now little light greenies! Lot's of pool time has turned their hair green!  Nightimes of late night swims in the pool, roasting marshmellows, making smoars, catching fireflies, and way too many ice-cream shoppe runs (not to mention that all 4 kids can hear the sound of ice cream truck coming from miles away and then wait patiently for an hour on the front lawn on look-out!). Keeley, Kaelin and Aidan are enjoying their 1/2 day summer camps and Ainsley is LOVING being spoiled by Jeff in the mornings.  You will see in the photos their Daddy/Ainsley blueberry picking day. Ainsley can eat a whole bucket of blueberries in one sitting, ever since she started eating she was a blueberry girl!  After blueberry picking, they made a blueberry pie (with Kaelin and Keeley's help).  Ainsley got into the pie making with full on chef gear as you can see...She didn't like the pie though (it was "too jelly" for her), so yes, Jeff ate the whole pie himself and I think will be happy to never, ever, see another blueberry pie again.  We reaped the benefits of Nana's famous Blueberry Buckle Cake from Ainsley's good picking's though!  YUM!!  Ah, memories of childhood, blueberry picking, and freezing blueberries for warm blueberry buckle cake all winter long...

We spent the beautiful 4th of July weekend with lots of family and friends, cook-outs each day and fireworks each night!  We scored a great spot again this year for the fireworks over the lake down the road from us.  Pictures tell more of that fun...

My work continues to be crazy - 18 hour days the past couple of weeks with no end in sight (just when you think you can not possible put in another minute another urgent crisis hits)....Way too many trips to LA, nearly every week.  Even the massive amount of FF miles and "perks" I get for being "executive platinum" can't help with the pain of summer travel.  Although it does help having a place to call "home" in LA after late nights in the office.  Unfortunatley, we have no time for a true summer vacation, but the kids don't mind staycationing in the back yard and day trips to the beach.  We WILL be planning one this fall though, for sure!!

Happy Summer 2010!  As you can tell from our photo albums it was a very busy Spring (do I always say that??).  Kaelin celebrated her 6th birthday with a horse party at the house. We rented a couple horses and she and 16 friends had a blast riding them, playing pin the tail on the pony, smashing a pinata, playing find the tiny horses in a haystack and decorating cowgirl hats.  We lucked out with a beautiful May day.  Soon after her party the flood gates opened with end of school activities. We've got about 200 pictures of those!  From Field Days and Field Trips for Kaelin and Keeley, to "Dad's Day" for Aidan and Ainsley at their school, from piano and voice recitals for Keeley and Kaelin (incredible musicians!) to end of school year parties for Aidan and Ainsley and trying to get required volunteer hours in before the end of the year.  Lot's of soccer for Aidan, Kaelin and Keeley with Ainsley as cheerleader at the games.  Also, Keeley's art work made it into the annual show, so that was VERY cool too.  In just one Saturday between the hours of 8am and 4pm we had 3 soccer games, soccer awards ceremony, soccer pictures which had been postponed from an early rained out day, piano and voice recital for K&K and three birthday parties to go to (and trying to fit showers, baths and eating in there too!!). And, yes, we know...this is JUST the beginning with the kids still so young.  The kids all got excellent report cards too, we couldn't have been more proud of all of them.

We opened the pool somewhere during the month of May, pretty early as I recall, the kids couldn't wait to jump in the frigid water.  Keeley learned how to ride a bike without training wheels and Kaelin is on her way as well, but she's been more busy finding baby chipmunks to take care of, butterflies to catch, birds to rescue and in between begging for a dog :-).   Aidan was busy riding his motorcycle (with us on back and Papa and Uncle Tony too...) and Ainsley was busy keeping busy and up with the rest of the gang.  She's a water bug and will spend hours and hours at a time in the pool.  She's an amazing and hysterical little girl with a BIG personality.

Jeff's been busy building a deck out the pool area. Looks amazing so far.  I've been in CA most every week the last month, can barely keep my head straight or on one time zone.  Work is nuts as ever and 12-15 hour days have unfortunatley been the norm.  Talk about stress... 

We celebrated Aidan's 5th birthday two weeks ago, just a family party. Bit party for him next year for him for sure, just no time this year (can you imagine that??).  He got some great gifts and loved his new, bigger bike too.

We made it to Cape Cod last weekend. What a blast. We went to an terrific family beach - Corporation Beach in Dennis. Lot's of shallow water, nice showers, bathrooms and good close parking and concession stand. Lot's of ocean creatures kept the kids busy.  On the way home we hit Sundae School ice-cream parlor and two (yes two) candy shops (and we still had time to go out to eat for Daddy's Day Dinner).  On the way home, the kids were very excited to see, literally right next to us, a car explode on the highway from an apparent engine fire (see the pictures...scary how close we were).  If we were minutes later, we surely would have been stuck in traffic for hours.

Keeley and Kaelin finished up school this week, projects done, teachers gifts purchased, now the sorting, packing, storing and saving of pile and piles and piles of art and school work begins... Next stop 2nd grade for Keeley, 1st for Kaelin, K for Aidan and pre-school again for Ainsley.  Wow, the year sure went by quickly.  A couple 1/2 day camps on tap for the summer, gymnastics, attempting to keep up on piano with home lessons this summer and Keeley wanted to join up for pop-warner cheerleading -- Practice every night in August, seems somewhat excessive at 7 years old, so we'll see how that goes.  The kids will have lots of free play and pool time and Mommy and Daddy are hoping for some at some point too!

4th of July BBQs on tap for next weekend!  Wishing everyone a great summer!

 

Back from 10 Days in California with the kiddos. The weather was not so great the week we were there, a couple days of rain and in the mid-60's. Despite that, we had a couple really fun beach days. We spent one day at Disneyland, mainly for Ainsley who loved it. But, we also hit just about every scary ride - after Space Mountain Ainsley exclaimed she never wanted to go on another ride again - then the "Small World" boat ride got her to change her mind!  We spent a day at Legoland as well - of course for Aidan (and Jeff...).  Lots of cool rides there too, more legos to buy and tons to touch (gave them some building ideas...).  On our way home from Legoland we came upon a strawberry field in Carlsbad, perfect timing (dinner). We all got filled up eating strawberries and then ate them for breakfast the next few days too!  Jeff took the kids on a hike in Malibu and to the La Brea Tar Pits while I got a couple days of work in at the hospital.  The hike was cut short when Keeley saw the sign "Beware of Rattlesnakes!", that was just a second before Aidan fell and scrapped up his knee.  The kids got to visit my office and were treated to a suprise b-day treat for me with cake and balloons for each kids (and a decorated office).  Kaelin and I had a chance to go horseback riding in the mountains - in the absolute pouring rain, but she could have cared less. Neither one of us could walk straight until the next day.  I can not believe we did NOT get sick. Check out the pics of her riding by herself on a huge horse!  Keeley loved going to Hollywood and shopping in Beverly Hills (we are in trouble when she gets older...). We tood some pictures on the Stars just like we did a few years ago when she was a baby.  We also went to the California Science Museum on one of those rainy days and the Rose Garden (where again we took some pictures for historical look-backs!).  We chowed down at our favorite Mexican Restaurant - Don Antonio's in Santa Monica, best chips and salsa anywhere! Jeff got a dive trip in with his buddy Tim (cool pics). We spent some time kicking around the old stomping grounds in Santa Monica and Malibu. We had a lot of fun on the the rides at the Pier (but the kids could care less when we were driving around time pointing out where they were born, where we use to live, the farmer's market, where we walked down to the beach every night when we got home from work, explaining why it was so appealing for homeless people to live in CA...etc. etc. - that tour was really more of a walk down memory lane for Jeff and I!.  Jeff and I never did get our date night in LA, but will manage to grab one this weekend for sure.  The last night we were in LA, we where driving down Sunset Boulevard on our way home from the beach - we hear a scream, look back and Keeley has blood practicly spraying out of her mouth...the tooth she had been wiggling all week (because it would be cool for the tooth fairy to visit her in LA) popped out!  Yes, we took pics of course!  And, she was psyched when the tooth fairy visited her, left her a special prize, some money and a note in her special fairy handwriting (all 7 hours before we had to pack up for the airport. 

The gang was great on the 6.5 hours on the plane, but I think next trip we'll be heading East and not West. They never really did get use to the time zone change the whole time we were there. Of course, I'm more than use to it!  Our apartment next to the hospital fits all of us, but was definitely "cozy."  The kids loved the pool and especially hot tub (now they want one). They seem to also have the impression that I actually have time to go in that pool and hot tub when I am working in LA...

Overall a good trip, but this was definitely a vacation where we need a vacation to recover..But, alas, now we are in planning mode for Kaelin's horse birthday party in a couple weeks, end of school year activities, recitals, shows, etc. etc. etc.

Enjoy the photos - there are plenty of them of course (no time to organize or edit!

I'm sure you have noticed that there has been limited commentary since September. When the kids started up in school again, along with a million activities, and the increasing commutes to Los Angeles, it's been hard to find that precious few minutes to summarize what we've all been up to. I have a zillion sticky notes around my office with funny sayings and things the kids did - like just today when Kaelin came home from kindergarten and I started bombarding her with the normal questions about how her day was while she was attempting to untie a knot in her back and she ever so politely, sweetly and kindly says "Mommy, may you please stop annoying me for a minute?" and Keeley tonight saying "Mommy, can I share a secret with you?" (Nana if you are reading this you know what that secret is....), Ainsley blasting out the French song she learned in Preschool today and then asking me as I lay in bed with her putting her to sleep if I wanted to "suck on (her) stinky with (her)" . If you know Ainsley and her green blankie this is a very big deal!.  And finally Aidan asking me to hold him like I did when he was a baby and "sing our song" while we looked out the window at stars with him falling asleep on my shoulder.

Someday, I will backtrack with all the funnies over the past few months!  I think it will be great for the kids when they get older. Already they love sitting at the computer and flipping through years and years of pictures of themselves, laughing all the way.

I've just posted pictures from February and March.  Our Easter Eve and Day pictures are in a separate folder.  Have fun putting the stories together!  

A few (more than a few...) photos from the month of January and also Keeley's birthday are now posted.  Check them out!

Pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are posted! 

Okay, so we've been really bad about updating our "blog" since August. We have tons of writing to catch up on. The kids have been so very busy this fall and winter and there's so much to tell you about.  In the absence of time to do so...we have posted pictures through December mid-December, and pictures to tell a thousand words...so feel free to fill in the peices on what we've all been up to and will fill in the rest when we get a spare second!

Nope....we can't believe it either...this summer went by way too quickly.  June was a wash-out, July was the biggest blur because of work and travel, and August was packed with so much, we forget what!  More days in the pool (lots of blonde/green hair from the chemicals!), beach and lake time, shopping for school clothes (and the inevitable fashion shows when we get home).

Aidan has spent a big portion of the month playing baseball.  He loves the sport all of a sudden, is begging to go to a Red Sox game (if only we could actually find seats to an upcoming one...). PLEASE let us know if you know of anyone selling good seats!  I know six would be hard to come by, so we'd settle for two so Jeff and Aidan can take in a game, just the boys! 

Kaelin had a blast at her friend Sam's birthday party this month. She is heartbroken that they'll be in different Kindergartens this year, but she's finally excited about heading off to the public school, taking the bus. She's even starting making her new teacher cards. Kaelin has also perfected her swimming technique (thanks to Keeley's teaching) and can now make it across the pool. She's also loving snorkling and has been living under the water these days!

Keeley finished up her theatre program with a bang and did awesome with her little sketches. She was really loud and articulate on stage.  The last day before the show, she was asked to pick up another part from a girl who hadn't yet learned her lines. The teacher was impressed by how quickly she learned and remembered her own lines. We were impressed with her acting debut!  Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures or video during the show, but have a video on order from the production company that taped it.  Lately she's been the queen of cannonballs in the pool "Cannonball Keeley!".  She and Kaelin now venture into the "deep end" by themselves (with a noodle still, but it's a big step for them!).

Ainsley has been all about dressing up this month and play acting herself.  She's such a character and loves to perform herself, singing and dancing as she goes about her daily routines.  Her morning wake-up routing consists of getting out of bed, opening up her door, getting back in bed and singing loudly, it's everyone's wake up call... (this morning "I love the beach, I looooove the BEEEEAAAACH!" at the top of her lungs, over and over and over again).  So many mornings, we wish we had the video camera upstairs to capture her. 

Keeley, Kaelin and I took our first trip to the American Girl Doll Boston store. The girls got dressed up and were very excited. They took their time picking out the perfect dolls dolls and outfits (Kaelin settled on the AMG "Julie" and Keeley chose a "Me" doll that looks like her).  We ended the night with dessert at the AGD cafe.  Everything they do since then involves their dolls, taking them everywhere.  They're also hooked on the AGD website and love playing all the games.  

So, here we are...the end of August...

Ainsley started pre-school last week.  Touch and go first day getting out of the car, having to literally pull her out ("I'm scared Mommy, I'm scared, don't leave me!"). She was welcoming the idea of school, but thought that Aidan, Kaelin and Keeley were going with her. Heartbreaking those first two days (but you know I've been through this 3 times before and I know as much as anyone that 60 seconds after I leave, she'll be fine, but it still hurt!)  By day three she was hopping out of the car by herself, throwing her hair back and saying loudly "Bye Mommy, see you later!"  She's fitting in great and having a blast. Aidan started the week later (same school, but the newbies started first to get acclimated).  He of course did fine and is back into his routine.  Learning some new faces and names and is doing great.  They both go to school during the afternoon session for three hours, so are a bit sleepy late in the day, but it makes for an easy bedtime routine with them both being very ready by 7pm.

Hope you enjoy the nearly 150+ pictures from the month. Sorry, many similar pictures this month. Time is lacking and it is much easier to put them all up than go through the pictures and be more selective or attempt to organize them in different folders. Hope they don't take forever and a day to download for you!

BTW--as a side note...yes, that is Keeley in Halloween gear in the August pictures.  She has been BEGGING us to get the Halloween box down from the attic. Our little holiday girl (surely takes after Nana Banana!)  I've been begging her back to please stop talking halloween until at least school starts, but she's been drawing holiday pictures every day, making ghosting bags for the neighbors (right before halloween the kids in the neighborhood do a ding dong ditch sort of thing but leave scary bags of stuff and goodies at the front door....So, soon enough we'll be the first in the area to put out our pumpkins and halloween stuff!  But, I WILL get through the first week of school for Keeley and Kaelin before then!!

Beautiful summer weather recently!  Low eighties, not humid, perfect.  The kids are having a blast every day in the pool, riding bikes, going for walks, going to the park, sheep pasture, playing in the sandbox, on the swingset, and finding bugs, worms, butterflies, frogs, and attempting to keep them as pets (mostly Kaelin and Aidan in the last category!  Kaelin had a couple of odd looking bumps on her face the other day and I was convinced it was from her kissing the frogs she finds (really...)...luckily the bumps went away and I've advised her to stop kissing frogs, there will undoubtedly be too many of those when she gets older!!). Ainsley is a little water bug, always wanting to be in the pool, but she has no fear at all which is really scary, she wants to jump in on her own all the time, so we have to watch her like a hawk.  Keeley is heading into her last week of the kid's theatre program at the Orpheum Theatre.  She was interested in the program because the play they were going to do is "High School Musical", but the small kids (Keeley's group K-2) are focusing on some short  Aesop's Fables plays and will be "extras" in the bigger play.  We parents were told at the beginning to have the talk with our kids about not everyone getting the parts they want, but despite that Keeley was initially disappointed with her mouse part in one of the plays ("mice are yucky and disgusting" she cried).  She's fine with it now and is really doing an awesome job. Her instructor always comments how well she knows her lines (they have to study them every night), how smart she is and how she takes direction so well.  We're looking forward to the presentation this Friday.  We went to the beach last weekend, our first opportunity this summer so far. The kids loved it, but there was way too much yucky red seaweed/algae. The kids didn't mind but we'll be skipping Newport next weekend and probably head to the Cape.  We were thinking about a quick trip to Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard one of these weekends, but as we quickly approach last August, we don't want to deal with the Obama crowds on the Islands.  Maybe we'll just have to buy a boat like Aidan has been begging us for so we travel around as we please...

School's out, the rain has finally stopped (after nearly a month of every day showers!), and it's been a busy couple of weeks as usual!  I posted the pictures from Keeley and Kaelin's ballet recital (picture folder #78), very cute rehearsal and show, but the months of ballet preparation leading up to give us about two minutes of stage time!  Still exciting and a great experience for the girls. The dance studio they attend puts on a terrific show and it's really cool to watch the groups from the youngest toddlers to eighteen year olds and how they progress from year to year.  Keeley and Kaelin are great on stage, regardless of the number of people in the audience (probably more than 500 for their recital night!). 

With the end of school, came me having to fulfill my promise to Keeley and Kaelin that I'd let them get bangs. I was dreading this, but they (especially Keeley) begged and begged. So, off we went to the salon and the chopping began.  Keeley wanted her bangs long so she could swosh them to the side, which sort of defeats the purpose of the bangs keeping hair off her face.  However, she seems to enjoy peeking through them.  Kaelin got her's a bit shorter, but I was relieved that they were styled and not too blunt. Both girls surfed the net before we went to the salon and choose what kind of bangs they wanted.  Keeley picked a picture of Sharpay (from High School Musical) and Kaelin picked a picture of Reese Witherspoon with bangs. You can see the cutting and the results in our picture folder #77.  

After a very long two weeks of nearly no activities and lots of rain, Kaelin had her first summer activity and went to the horse farm for a "Horse Lover's Day". She had an absolute blast and was so in her element learning all about horses, and riding them too.  Ainsley began her first experience with a structured class when she began at the Montessori Summer Camp with Aidan and Kaelin at the beginning of the month.  It's a perfect outdoors-ey program for all three of them and a great introduction for Ainsley to the school since she'll be beginning there in September.  There were only two mornings were she got a little upset when Jeff dropped her off, but otherwise she's doing terrific and is making lots of friends. The camp is from 8am to noon. Getting three of them out the door by 7:45 is very, very, tough!  Especially for Kaelin who likes to sleep in.  We've attended a couple friend's birthday parties this month so far too and that's been nice for the kids to reconnect with their friends.  Keeley is attend a partial day "camp" at the elementary school as well, it starts at 9am each day.  Each week is a different "class". So far she's had a Rock (not music...) class and has learned all about rocks & gems, minerals, the earth's crust, etc. She had an art class this week and next week is a cooking class.  She and her best friend Pooja both signed up for the same sessions, so she's in heaven.  As soon as the kids get home at noon, it's a quick lunch and then now that it's nice, into their bathing suits and in the pool!

Once again we enjoyed some awesome fireworks over Massapoag Lake this year.  We had a terrific spot on the beach to watch and the kids had a blast (maybe not Ainsley as she spent most of the time during the display peeking through her hands covering her face while I had my hands squeezing her ears tight).  The gang also enjoyed (way too much) fried dough. Of course, they are all famous for licking off the confectionary sugar on top and leaving big portions of soggy fried dough!  After spending way to much money on fireworks accessories (flashing lights, swords, etc.) we settled down on our comfy blanket to a great night. Keeley, being the holiday lover she is (any and every holiday), decided she wanted to gather a parade together at the house.  She wrote up invitations, officially gave invitations to each one of us and invited Nana, Papa and Auntie Kelly.  We had to march around the house and hold little flags.  Keeley had a set of games set up (all that she made up herself).  Nana brought red, white, and blue cupcakes too. It was quite a funny day.  Picture folder #76.

Work has been absolutely nuts as usual, I've been in Los Angeles nearly every week the past month and it's exhausting.  Everytime I say I can't possibly put in another 80 hour week, I do...Unlike working at a University where it always slowed down during the summer months, the medical center never slows down and the culture is 24/7.  (Randi, if you are reading this...I am hoping you are enjoying your retreat in Hawaii, because I don't ever think I will let you take another 4 week vacation again!).  Jeff started working from home again this month and is seeming to put in as many hours too. In addition, he's been working on the house again now that the weather is cooperating. Current project is burying our sump pump pipe and then grading the yard on the same side of the house that the pipe is on.  He was out digging basically from sunrise to sunset last weekend. It was completely exhausting just watching him. Of course the kids all want in on the dirt action and there were no less than 4 changes of clothes each day for all four of them (yes, sixteen outfits...).  Not to mention the caked dirt under 40 little fingers and toes. Why I didn't just wait until the end of each day instead of wanting clean children throughout the day is beyond me (and will NOT be a mistake I make this weekend...the less than 48 hours I am home before heading back out to LA again...).

The kids loved Grandma and Grandpa's visit during the fourth of July weekend (picture folder #75).  They've been looking forward to it since last summer's visit!  It was a true Christmas in July with them arriving with a car full of presents from the holidays and the last 4 birthdays for the little monkeys.  We are sure that we will not have to buy clothes for Aidan for the next year and the kids are all set for toys (until next Christmas anyway....).  The kids were sad that the visit is so short and by the time they really start to open up and be themselves, it's time for Grandma and Grandpa to leave :-(.  We made the best of the three days we had with them and had some perfect times just hanging out at home horsing around, playing in the yard, by the pool, and sandbox.  And, way to much restaurant eating was had that weekend (our bellies all grew!)!  The gang also enjoyed fishing by a damn down the road with Grandma and Grandpa. A couple tiny fish were caught, but none to fry up in a pan.

Hope you get a kick out of our new four folders of pics!  You may wonder, and think why on earth do we put up all of the pictures we take instead of just a select few.  It may take forever for you to download, may bore you, etc. But, believe me!  Out of all the pictures I put up, we have hundreds and hundreds more during the month that are stored away and not posted.  It is so, so, difficult to select the ones to post.  With the four kids we try very hard to get an equal amount of each for historical purposes and to capture all the little bits of their individual personalities (we hope they appreciate this when they are older!).