Not your average Labor Day picnic!

Today we went to a Labor Day weekend celebration at the home of one of Bob's classmates in Marblehead, MA. The host and his family are very sweet people and invited the entire class! This was not like any Labor Day picnic I've ever been too. Their beautiful home is right on the ocean and the view from the back porch is breathtaking! I was trying to imagine waking up in the morning and sitting there for coffee and breakfast. AMAZING!
They had professional face painters there and the kids were more than happy to keep them busy. There was also a DJ keeping things lively. We were asked to bring an appetizer or dessert but our generous hosts were providing the main meal. First they brought out the clams and clam chowder. Which were fabulous and I wasn't expecting any thing else. But much to my surprise the next thing that was being served was lobster and corn on the cob! It was very delicious. Abigail was our brave, seafood lover and she had a lobster of her own. The boys were just interested in the claws when we had emptied them! :) Oh, and that wasn't even the last surprise...an ice cream truck came and parked in the drive way for quite some time and you just went up and told him what you wanted! The kids were beside themselves because we never buy ice cream from the ice cream man! He even had all the cool character ice cream bars! The kids went back several times to sample different treats! The generosity of the hosts and the beauty of the surroundings left me speachless. WOW is all I can say...WOW! The home of our hosts from the ocean-side.

A backyard with a view!

Chloe on the rocks...she didn't even lose her shoe this time!

Beautiful butterflies!

Joshua opted for a tat instead of the face paint.

Dinner is served


Abigail's first taste of lobster. She liked it which maybe isn't such a good thing.

Josiah was not so sure about this...he was very cautious until he was absolutely sure that our little red friend wasn't going to jump up and snap his finger!

Joshua taking it all in during our after dinner stroll on the beach.

More "First day of School" fun

As previously stated, Wednesday was Abigail, Joshua and Bob's first day of school. Abigail and Joshua had a half day and since we knew Bob was going to have a long day and wouldn't see the kids before they went to bed that night, we decided to meet up for lunch in Harvard Square. Bob grabbed a pizza to go and we enjoyed some time together. The kids were so happy to share their first day experiences with Bob so it was a great time. We finished off our time together with slurpees! :)


Friday was Chloe's first day of kindergarten. Last year the first couple weeks of K4 were pretty rough for her...she was sad. But she's all grown up now and she was so brave for her first day of kindergarten! She had a wonderful time and made a new friend right away. Her teacher is a lovely woman who has been teaching kindergarten for many years. We think she is really going to enjoy this year at school.

Happy First Day of School

This post may be a bit confusing to those of you who knew that we were planning on homeschooling the children this year. Always keeping in mind one of Bob's favorite Air Force sayings, "Flexibility is the key to Air Power" we have changed the plan. We actually started the video program that we had planned on using and we did for a while. However, in the end we did not feel that it was engaging, it was actually rather boring, and we didn't think the kids were going to get everything out of it that they should. We took everything into consideration and decided to put them in school.
So this morning Abigail and Joshua started and Chloe will have her first day of kindergarten on Friday. Everyone was very excited. The school is very close and we can walk. Even daddy was able to join us this morning which was a special treat! It is actually his first day of school too. His fall classes begin today and he too is very excited!
All this means that Josiah and I will be able to spend our days together and I am very much looking forward to that!

Kids aren't the only ones...

Although the kids are the ones who most often make me laugh with the funny things they say they aren't the only ones who can tickle my funny bone. Tonight Bob came home and I asked him if he wanted the left over pulled pork for dinner. He replied that his tummy was feeling a little funny so he wasn't sure if he should eat that. Just a moment later he said, "I think I'll have pizza rolls." That's my man! :)

Birthday Cruise on the Charles River

Thursday was Bob's 31st birthday and we had the wonderful opportunity to go out on a sailboat on the Charles River that afternoon. The kids had never been on a sailboat and so we were all very excited for our adventure. One of Bob's classmates took us out and we had a lovely time. We got to see the island from the book "Make Way for Ducklings" up close and of course we got a little lesson in sailing too. It was an absolutely gorgeous afternoon! Later we came home for cake and ice cream. Josiah was the cake mixer this year and Joshua and Chloe did an excellent job frosting the cake. Abigail went with Bob to get his haircut so she didn't participate in the decorating this time. Later that night Bob and I went to a dinner party with some of his classmates. It was a fascinating evening as we were dining with a woman who is royalty in Fiji, a young lady who works on capital hill, a gentleman who was previously the district attorney for the city of San Diego, a Harvard Law School student, a woman with a Master of Divinity from Harvard who is doing research on the question of the possibility of having religious integrity while working as a lawyer/politician and others! The conversation over dessert was quite lively and engaging. It is truly a picture of our regular interactions here at Harvard. Amazing!

Grammie and Poppi-- the Maine attraction!

My parents were here last week and we had a wonderful time showing them around Boston. They arrived on Tuesday and right away we took them to Harvard Square. We showed them the Kennedy School and my dad said, "Well, I finally made it to Harvard." :) Now that I think about it, he could probably get accepted into the program, maybe next year, dad! Bob and Joshua had to run off to the Tigers/Red Sox game so Abigail, Chloe, Josiah and I took mom and dad to see Harvard Yard. I wanted to know why everyone wants to touch John Harvard's toe so I looked it up. It is supposed to be for good luck but there were many comments made by students saying that actually it is a bad idea...you don't have to think too hard do you? So anyway, we didn't touch his toe...but we don't believe in luck anyway so we don't need to. So we tootled around a bit and then headed home. Bob and Joshua had a great time at the ball game, even though it rained. Joshua got Maglio Ordonez to sign his baseball! AND it there was a brawl on the field! It's sure to be a game Joshua will always remember! Wednesday we checked out the last part of the freedom trail which includes the USS Constitution (we didn't go aboard this time because the wait was too long), the Bunker Hill Monument (this time I climbed to the top while carrying Chloe...not recommended!) and the North End. We ate lunch at a tiny little Italian place called G'Vanni's. The bread was fabulous and the pizza was even better. The kids thought it was cool to drink their water out of blue wine glasses. We finished the afternoon by stopping into Mike's Pastry and grabbing some out of this world Italian pastries!!! Totally, totally fabulous! Mom got a cream puff, I got a lobster tail, dad got a cream puff with strawberry and Bob got a canolli with chocolate filling. Yummy! That night we had some friends to watch the kids and the adults got to sneak away to the Red Sox/Tigers game! It was fun to go to a game with my parents. Somehow I thought I was able to get us seats but turns out we had standing room only tickets. We made the best of it and had fun even though the Tigers lost.
Thursday was our down day at home. We needed to recover a bit from all our walking and standing. But Friday was the grand finale of Grammie and Poppi's visit. We drove up to York, Maine, which is a small beach town just as you cross into Maine. We walked around the quaint town and got lunch. Then we headed to Nubble Light House, which I guess is one of the most photographed lighthouses in the US. There were tons of rocks to climb on and the kids had a blast exploring. Unfortunately, Chloe lost her flip flop in the ocean and I was not quick enough to grab it before it floated away. We decided that we would write a story about all the adventures her flip flop would have at sea and that cheered Chloe up a bit. Our next stop was Brown's ice cream where even the child size was too big for most of the adults...but oh so tasty. To wash off our sticky ice cream hands we headed to the beach for some swimming. There's nothing like splashing in the ocean and the kids had a great time. We weren't able to stay as long as we would have liked because we had to head home. You see Friday was also my 10th wedding anniversary! Bob had big plans for us. :)
He surprised me with dinner at "The Top of the Hub", which is a restaurant on the 52nd floor of the Prudential building in downtown Boston. It's all about the view up there! Georgeous. We had an amazing 7 course meal that took 3 hours to get through. It was so cool because it was all the kinds of things that I see on Food Network but have never had the opportunity to try. The food was excellent and it was a wonderful opportunity for us to enjoy some time alone together celebrating the past 10 years and looking forward to the years that are to come.
All in all it was a wonderful, fantabulous week. I'm so thankful for my husband, my children and my parents! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Welcome to Belmont

I thought you might like to see the place we call home here in Belmont. The street in front of the house (seen here) is rather busy but fortunately we are on a corner and the side street is a cul-de-sac so the kids still have a place to ride scooters and such.


Here's the side entrance of the house which is actually the door we use. It enters into the kitchen.


The tree swings are fabulous! The one on the left was here when we arrived but needed a new board. Since Bob was buying board to replace that one he decided to just add a second swing while he was at it. The kids play on them everyday!



This is where you enter from the side door. Our table is a bit cramped but it works. You'll notice two different tones of counter in the bottom right corner here. The gray is my dishwasher on wheels.


And here's the kitchen.


The living room is pretty cramped and very brown. But notice the lovely hand woven rug on the floor...anyone want to buy it? :)

Here's our small bathroom. The biggest problem with only having one bathroom is that it seems like whenever there's one kid on the can there's one more who's waiting in the wings.

Here's the knotty pine guest suite/office. Don't worry I'll make the bed for you when you visit!

Our Bedroom.

Kids bedroom - there are 4 unseen dressers in this room too!

Here's the schoolroom...we'll be spending lots of time in here this winter!



Here are my babes in toyland, aka the basement. There is also a storage room and a laundry room down there but I'm ever so thankful for this room where the kids can escape to play and watch a video and the mess is always hidden. :) YIPPIE!!!

Well, that's it, the 10 cent tour. I do hope you will come and see it in person!