Five years

I'm sure you all are anxiously awaiting the exciting conclusion of the St. Martin trip, but I must take a commercial break to discuss two big milestones that occurred yesterday.

Five years ago, July 7, 2007, I was lucky enough to marry the love of my life. It has been a crazy five years with plenty of ups and downs (two kids and a dog will definitely do that to you), but I still think I am the luckiest.

"The Luckiest" by Ben Folds - Our first dance

Even though we didn't get to go on a date, we were fortunate enough to actually get to spend the whole day together for once. We tried to have a dinner date after the kids went to bed but had several interruptions from both kids. Oh well. Ce la vie. It was still a nice change and a delicious meal if I do say so myself.

And of course we can't forget about Rudy. After we got married we started looking for a dog. We found Rudy (he was actually named Prince by the breeder). And then we found out he was born on our wedding day. So we knew it was meant to be. And he's been the perfect dog for us. Our first baby:

Look how tiny he was!

The day we brought him home.

His love affair with golf balls begins.

5 years old.

A wedding in paradise, mushy mango whoa and other adventures on the friendly island, part 1

Are you ready for this? I know you've been waiting for it but I'm not sure you're ready. You better grab a drink and maybe a snack before you start reading.

I'll get the whining and complaining out of the way first. I know there are other moms out there who will identify with this. Taking a vacation with a 15 month old is not a vacation. At least not a relaxing one. Brennan did not sleep well the entire time we were there. Naps were hit or miss or taken laying in my arms on the bed or lounge chair at the beach (but somehow I was never able to sleep much while he was). And getting him to bed was pretty much a nightmare. Although Matt, and then Pop, seemed to have better luck than me. I was hopeful that after a few days he would acclimate and settle into a routine while we were there, but I guess I was overly optimistic. I mean we are talking about Brennan here. The child who, even before we left for St. Martin, was not consistently sleeping through the night. So, since he wasn't sleeping he pretty much wanted to be held most of the time. By me. And no one else. Except when Matt was there. But, we were in paradise and from my point of view everything else about the trip was practically perfect (except that Matt couldn't stay the whole time) so I really don't have much room to complain.

Besides, this is where we stayed.

 
Villa Ambiance.  Aaahhhhhh.... Doesn't get much better.

After a very early flight Monday morning, we arrived in St. Martin in the afternoon. Luckily, both kids napped on the second flight. The first couple days we hung around the villa.

The kids played in the furniture. Literally. We walked around the grounds. I took lots of pictures. The kids colored. Brennan mostly on himself. We helped with wedding preparations. And we swam in the pool.

On Wednesday, we met Matt at the airport.

 Kaelyn was a little nervous going in the pool at first and freaked out when we would try to let go of her. But she eventually realized she wasn't going to sink with her floaties on and was swimming around on her own.

Even though it was harder for her to move she liked being in her arm floaties and the dino floatie. We named her Deena.

Kaelyn informed us this was not an alligator but a crocodile because it had a straight nose and lived in saltwater.

On Thursday we finally took the kids to the beach. We went to Karakter (aka "The Bus" because the bar is actually an old bus refitted to be a beach bar), which is conveniently close to the airport since we had to pick Buppa up that afternoon. And they have delicious food. But then again, everything tastes better in St. Martin. Oh, and watch out for the Amstel Brights while you're there. You may need to take a taxi home.

Bren got to put his feet in the ocean for the first time. However, he was not a big fan of the waves. He did try several times but after being pummeled by a huge wave just wanted to be held while he watched. Kaelyn on the other hand got very brave and even went in with Matt and Pop.  She did have to wipe her face off whenever she got splashed but there were very few tears. Compare this to last time we were at this beach (November 2010) when she wouldn't go two feet from the lounge chair and we had to shield her from the wind with Matt's shirt.

Of course Friday was busy with getting ready for the wedding and the rehearsal in the evening.  The kids did great at rehearsal. Bren even made it half way down the aisle one time. Kaelyn was super excited about the gifts she got at the dinner. And I was very thankful to have so many adults willing to help keep an eye on the kids and wrangle them (the whole trip actually).  And thankful for an outdoor showing of Toy Story right next to the rehearsal dinner tent. The highlight was when Auntie LaLa made a little boy cry after he pushed Bren out of his seat watching the movie. Ha!

Don't they look like angels reading their hymnal?

Checking out some of the goodies they got from Auntie Care Care and Jay.

 The big day! Saturday. The wedding! Woot!

First up for the day was the civil ceremony on the beach. It was gorgeous. Of course.

A sweet moment between Matt and Kaelyn while we waited in the shade for the ceremony to start. I wonder what they were talking about...

Just before he fell asleep. Yep, he slept through the ceremony. Probably for the best.

Uncle Jay looked a little hot waiting for his bride. Or maybe it was just the nerves making him sweat. ;)

The beautiful bride walking down the "aisle."

They ceremony was short and sweet and they sure did look happy.

And then it was a frenzy of activity getting ready for the real deal. When we got back to the villa the caterer was busy setting up, hair and make up people arrived and then the flowers started rolling in. Thankfully both of the kids napped during most of the chaos. I'll admit I was more than a little worried they wouldn't and would be a nightmare at the church. The kids woke up just in time to put their wedding clothes on - they sure looked adorable - and then we all piled on the bus and were off to the church.

To be continued...

Something special

Ok, wow! So... giant blogging fail in June. I was totally hoping to get a post up this past week so I could at least have one post every month. But, well, it's July today and you can see that nothing got written in June. So, I've decided to start July off on a better note.  I still want to go back and record our trip to St. Martin (from which we've been back a month now!) but for today I'm going to go with something quick and easy. (I have at least 700 pictures from the trip so even choosing pictures to include on the blog is going to take some serious time.) Oh, and everything else that happened in June probably will never make it on the blog. Oh well, it was a motivationless (so not even a word) month for me.

So, all summer so far Kaelyn has constantly been asking to "do something special." Which usually means she wants to watch t.v. or play games on the iPad. Someone please tell me why we didn't send her to summer camp. Oh yeah, because I was a slacker and never got around to getting the info and signing her up for anything.

So I was inspired by a pin I saw a while back for an "I'm not bored anymore jar." I finally got off my lazy butt and made a version of one about a week ago.  We call it her "Something Special Jar."

Each stick has a different activity on it and whenever she asks to do something special she gets to pick a stick. Now, most of the activities require my participation or help, only a few don't, but I figure it will be good for me too. It will help/force me stay focused on the kids for however long the activity takes. I've been getting distracted from them a lot lately and they deserve more of my attention.

The first one she picked after I made it was "Wash the dog." I ended up doing most of the work on that one but both the kids still thought it was a blast, the dog got clean, the kids will eventually learn how to give Rudy a bath on their own, and it was a half an hour that we didn't have to turn on the t.v.

Today she picked "Hide and Seek." I was totally hoping she'd pick something she could do on her own. But we haven't played hide and seek in awhile and we all had fun.  Kaelyn has improved her hiding skills. A couple months ago she would tell me where she was going to hide every time it was her turn. Now she just purposely makes noise from her hiding spot so I'll find her. Brennan thinks it's hilarious even though I'm not sure he has any idea what's going on. Although he did actually hide in the closet on his own after seeing Kaelyn do it. 

The last place she decided to hide today was in an empty diaper box.

Brennan had to get in on the action but could only find a small wipes box.

And of course, whatever he does Kaelyn has to do too.

Even though she didn't fit in the box at all.

After they spent close to 20 minutes perfectly happy just playing in boxes I'm almost convinced to get rid of most of their toys. It would certainly make keeping the house clean a lot easier.

Oh, and a big happy birthday to Pop today! Your present's in the mail. ;)

Start of Summer

According to the calendar Summer doesn't officially start for another month. But, after all the warm weather we've had the past couple months I'm going to venture to say that we have unofficially started summer in our house. We've been wearing shorts and sundresses, Kaelyn had her last day of school yesterday, I've had to apply sunscreen almost daily and we broke out the sprinkler a few days ago.

Kaelyn was ecstatic when I suggested it. After all, her idea of a good time outside had been to help me pull some very stubborn weeds from the flower beds. I may say I did it for the kids, but in reality I was dripping with sweat after only five minutes outside, so a quick run through the sprinkler sounded pretty good to me.

LOVE this picture!

Bren loves playing in water so much I truly thought he'd be as excited about the sprinkler as Kaelyn. I was wrong. I guess the erratic, unpredictable spraying was more than he could handle.

And it truly felt like summer when Matt came (early even!) with some Bell's Oberon and we sat on the patio watching the kids play until it was time for dinner. I don't know if it was the heat, the fact that I was dying of thirst, the sprinkler running, the relaxed atmosphere with the kids happily playing or a combination of all of these things but that Oberon truly tasted like summer in a bottle. And then I read the label: "Oberon, our summer ale. An American wheat ale with the color and scent of a summer afternoon."

Bren decided he was safer digging in the garden with me and watching the sprinkler from a distance.

A perfect way to spend a midweek Summer, I mean May, afternoon.

Mother's Day Tea Party

So, I guess I'm a little behind on my blogging again. C'est la vie! (Fancy Nancy and Fancy Kaelyn should be very impressed with my use of French here.) Well, my fancy girl Kaelyn invited me to a very special Mother's Day Tea Party at her school last week. It was really quite precious. And it was Kaelyn's first real tea party.  I'm so glad I got to share that time with her. The kids came in and sang all of us moms and grandmas a special little Mother's Day song.

Then the teacher read a little something that the kids wrote about their mom or grandma.

I'm not really sure why, but she looked like a scared little bunny until she got to come sit by me.

The whole set up was really quite precious.

We decorated some cookies and drank our tea.

After seeing mama drink tea almost every morning for the past 3 1/2 years Kaelyn finally got to try it for herself.  She choose blueberry.  You could tell she really wanted to like because she thought she was supposed to like it (kind of like the carrot cake milkshakes I made for dessert the other day).

After a couple tiny sips she seemed relieved when I told her she didn't have to finish it.

Thank you for a very special day my sweet girl!

First Haircut

You may expect this post to be about our youngest child, and not our over 3 1/2 year old. But you would be mistaken. I gave Kaelyn her first hair cut the other night. Not that she really even needed it. As much as she may wish she was, Rapunzel she is not. But she has this one chunk that grows from the middle of her head and is much longer than the rest and it drives me bonkers. Plus, it stays straight while all the hair underneath curls. Headbands, bows, clips, even hairspray. I've tried it all. But I have yet to find that elusive tool that will stay in her hair and keep that crazy long piece in line with the rest and out of her face. Not to mention that we have this tiny little trip to the beach coming up which involves just a little (a.k.a. big) event. So I decided her long hair needed a little trim.

Green Thumb

Master gardener I am not. But I have fond memories of playing in the dirt in the backyard with my dad when I was younger. Fresh cucumbers. Beans. Carrots. Tomatoes. Straight from our back yard. From our hard work. Ok, my dad's hard work. But I'm sure at the time I thought I was helping. It was fun, but I must not have been paying too much attention. Because the last two years I tried to grow a garden have not turned out so fruitful.

But alas, I have decided to try it again. I've sort of been trying (key word) to embrace the slow food, clean eating movements. I'm actually totally excited that I think we're going to start getting meat delivered from a local, organic farmer this summer. Love, love knowing where our meat is coming from. What could be better than looking the farmer who raised your meat in the eye when he hands it over and being able to ask him questions. In theory I totally admire these philosophies by the way. However, so far I have proven not to be organized enough to completely give up fast food, convenience and processed foods. Which is ok with me. Maybe I will get better the more I do it and we can slowly phase "down" the convenience foods. i say down and not out because I don't think I ever want to totally give them up.

We dug up a lot of worms. And Kaelyn freaked out every time she saw one.

Dada had to come along and rescue her by throwing the "wormies" out of the yard.

The plastic shovel isn't good enough for him. He has to Mama's real shovel. Cause he's a big boy. If he's missing a toe the next time you see him you'll know why.

Anyway, however successful the garden is this year it doesn't really matter. It's still a great activity to do with the kids. A little science lesson on how things grow.  A little responsibility lesson on taking care of things. Teaching them where their food comes from. Even if we only get one cucumber out of the whole garden it will be that much more delicious because we grew it. Not to mention it'll be about as fresh as you can get. Although I have to be honest. I think I will be a little disappointed if my basil doesn't grow. That's the one thing that did amazing for me last year and I loved it! I love cooking with basil. Yum! My mouth is watering just thinking of some fresh bruschetta or caprese sandwiches with basil (and hopefully tomatoes) from our back yard.

So far both of the kids have enjoyed helping to get the garden started. Of course they both love watering. Although Bren's water usually ends up mostly down the front of him. Kaelyn loves helping with everything these days and wants to do everything herself. I thought I would let her have one section of the garden all to herself, but in reality she helped plant the whole the garden. She even got really into pulling some weeds from the flower beds last week after we finished in the vegetable garden. And has asked to do it every day since. I love her enthusiasm. If only she could go out there and do it herself. Sorry, sweetie. Mama's tired. And sore. After only half an hour pulling weeds.

I'm holding out hope that we'll actually be able to enjoy some of the fruits of labor this year. But I think we'll have a good time working on it either way.