4th in Phrases

HOT!

Flag hanging on Lafayette House

One pot seafood feast...Delicious! (Thanks Matt)

Amazing Fireworks

Finally got that Mojito

Swedish Fish Drinks

Outdoor Shower

Attack of the Jellyfish

Catching baby sharks

Collecting shells

Australian Labradoodles

Wagon rides

Bike Trailer Rides

"Nice Cold Lemonade"

Pig Cookies

Mid-day Ice Cream Jaunts

Sunset at Cape May point beach

Washington Inn

6 trips to the loo during dinner at TWI

Baby C meeting the ocean

Barefoot Dad's numerous proposals to Uncle Matt

Kayaking the inland waterways

Crabs, Gulls + Sea Turtles

Watching the Sunfish at the CM Yacht Club

The Blue Pig

Fun with Family + Friends

Sweet Dreams...

A few favorites...I think I need a good night sleep. I am really dragging today :)

Mojitos

I have been craving a good mojito lately. I think it is the huge patch of mint in our garden that keeps begging to be mixed up into a drink, and not iced tea :) So I am in search of a good mojito recipe...if you have one please share. If I find one + perfect it, I will share with you!

Art Around the House

This is a ginormous wall size map from IKEA. As you can see it takes up one whole wall in our bedroom. We fell in love with it + the price about a year ago. It's pretty cool + educational for the girls at the same time. Luckily when we brought it home + assembled it, we realized the blue canvas is exactly the same color we chose for our bedroom walls, so it blends right in. Sort of like we meant it to be like that from the very beginning.

Hangin' Out

5 Months

Happy 5 Months Baby C...we love you!

Retro R O C K E R

Love this retro rocker from The Land of Nod. IF we were having another baby, which is definitely not going to happen, I would get one of these. Actually I am trying to justify that we still need one since Baby C is only 5 months old. That's how much I love it!

Art Around the House

An oil pet portrait of Flaps, our old Basset Hound. He has been gone a little over a year. BP + BB still talk about him. This painting is also done by my aunt, MaryAnn Wentworth. It was our wedding present. She painted it from a picture and totally captured "the essence of Flaps."

Art Around the House

Inspired by ModGirls' Blog I thought I would do a series on some the art in our home. Hope you enjoy...

An oil of some childhood pets...by a very talented artist, my aunt MaryAnn Wentworth. We are lucky enough to have a few of her originals hanging in our home.

Sugar + Spice

They are like Night + Day, Sugar + Spice, Curly + Moe...it makes life interesting, very interesting.

Lat Day of School

Next year we will have a Kindergartner + a Preschooler...yikes!

Just 1 More...

Two more special Daddys...Papa + Pop-Pop. Thanks for spending the afternoon with us!

H A P P Y Father's D A Y

Happy Father's Day to one amazing guy! He's a hero to all of us and we appreciate him everyday, not just today.

Not just a great father, but also husband, and best friend! Thank you for all that you are and all that you do from your four girls.

Pictures from this past weekend. Barefoot Dad decided on Friday he would like to go camping with all of us, yes all four girls! It was fun and in such a short time (we only went overnight) we created so many memories. I have to say the girls were troopers, more so than me.

Yellow... The NEW Pink!

I love this little girl in yellow!

Just have to add that at Baby C's dr's appt. yesterday she weighed a whopping 19 lbs 1 oz! Yes, she does like to eat. I actually went to our local grocery store tonight and realized as I bought the last can of Enfamil Premium that we probably bought the entire stock this week + she consumed them!

Treehouses + Tractors

The tree house is from BP's open house at school. It was their class project this year, and they got the idea from Mary Pope Osborne's "Tree House" book series, which I am told all the kids love. (We just started reading our set here at home) In each book the magic tree house takes Jack and Annie, who are bother and sister, on an adventure to a faraway land. The books are fun and educational. They decorated the tree house with life size Jack and life size Annie. They also chose a couple books and depicted the adventures. For example the kids worked together to make a 20 ft. giraffe that was in one of the stories.

BP was ecstatic to show us the tree house that we had heard so much about. We raced across the field to the edge of the woods at mach speed to see it as soon as we arrived. The pride she carried that day I will never forget. It is why she wakes up every morning and asks if it is a school day. It is why she is so excited, yet patient on the 35-40 minute trip there M-W-F. It is why she smiles + skips down the hill each afternoon. It is why I enjoy her stories of what she did each day on the way home. (Today she told me she milked a goat). Her teacher told me last month as they left her building for a hike BP was at the end of the line shouting, "Awesome, this is Awesome" and making everyone laugh. It is why on some mornings after dropping BP off, BB and Baby C and I linger to say hi to the chickens and walk through Mrs. C's garden. This place is like a big hug. It is the best non material gift we could give to BP and next year BB. It is where we hope they will learn to love learning. This parenting thing is all an experiment, everyday is, but this part seems to be working thus far :)

As for the tractor part of my post...we attended a tractor parade in a nearby town. 333 tractors chugging down a little Main Street for over an hour. This event brings all kinds of people...Locals, farmers, weekenders, transplants, grandparents, + babies. If you get bored with the tractors, the people watching is always interesting. We took all 3 girls and Papa and then met friends there. The girls love it, so does their Daddy!

Mrs. Meyer's

I am a big fan of all the Mrs. Meyer's products. The girls + I particularly love the new Apple + Honeysuckle hand soap. They smell amazing! We have one at each sink in our house. If you see them in your grocery store, grab one, I highly recommend them.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Garden 2010

We planted our garden exactly one week ago. Mom Confession: had a little help from The Dirt Diva. She took these pictures. More on that later. BP + BB were so into it. Fingers crossed we will have beans, sugar snap peas, pumpkins, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, eggplants, onions, a variety of tomatoes, watermelons, raspberries, blueberries, carrots, lettuce, sunflowers, nasturtiums, and all kinds of herbs. We planted transplants + seeds. BP + BB discovered yesterday that some of the seeds they "tucked in" had started to sprout. They screamed with excitement!

Yoga

It has become a big part of my life...again. For at least 15 years I have done yoga on and off. I try other forms of exercise and always go back to yoga. Recently I started again with my goals being: to lose my last 5 baby lbs, tone, relax, unwind, refocus, etc.. I discovered I need yoga now more than ever + everyday I find myself doing it in some shape or form. So of course BP + BB are curious about it. I started doing it with them + they love it. I have learned that children are naturals because they are so naturally flexible. The names of the poses are so kid friendly because many are animal related, so they pick it up so fast + remember the names. They love the yoga pants (pictured above) + the mats that they whip out for other activities also throughout our day. We even let baby C do the "Baby Cobra" pose on the mat for her tummy time. I think I may take them to a class someday as a special treat.

Ice Cold Lemonade

The pics are pretty self explanatory, but I have to add that BP was so into this little business. She woke up at 5:30 to go to the grocery store for the supplies. BP made the lemonade. BB made the cookies. They made the signs with the three girls who live next door because Daddy + I were at a BBQ. They had a few customers then decided our country road was not busy enough, and they would reopen their business in Cape May over the 4th of July. So we are taking the show on the road next month :)

Pledge Orange Oil

I LOVE THIS STUFF! Not for wood, its traditional use, but for our stainless steel appliances. I know... crazy right? A little bird told me that this stuff would clean stainless without streaks and keep the stainless streak free + free of little finger prints. I did not believe it, but it is amazing! If you have stainless steel appliances + the streaks, smudges, dirt, water marks, + finger prints drive you absolutely insane, you have to use this. Just spray directly on surface and wipe with a microfiber cloth. That little bird is a cleaning genius!

BBisms...

Just to remember the crazy things BB has said in the last couple weeks...I am going to share a few here on the blog:

The other day as we entered the mall... "Mommy, Are you going to be a good listener in this store?"

Walking towards me with my car keys..."Here are your keys mommy, so I don't start your car."

After meeting a photographer who was doing a photo shoot for us of a house we manage... "Grandpa Charlie (that's what he told the girls to call him) looks like a leprechaun" (he was small in stature).

Tonight as I put her to bed..."Is Gilly going to scream at her Kindergarten screaming tomorrow?" (BP has Kindergarten screening tomorrow)

It is never-ending with BB. She cracks us up numerous times a day.

4 Months

Baby C is 4 months old already! Yikes!

At the doctor's today she weighed 17 lbs 11 ozs.

26 + 3/4 inches long

97% for height + weight

She is starting to roll over

Likes to eat rice ceral

Loves to watch + laugh at her big sisters

Still sleeping in her bassinet, but just fits

Constantly chewing on her hands + drooling all over everything + everyone

Smiles + talks all the time

Little Reader

We have a little reader in the house! So exciting for her + us too.

Mom confession #1 After teaching for 5 years + spending two years to get my reading specialist cert. I promised myself when BP was born that I would not be one of those "teacher moms." You know the ones I am talking about. So I never pushed the reading or anything else. If she showed interest, I went with it. But the other day...it just clicked and it brought tears to my eyes. I was / am so very proud of her. As for BB + Baby C, I promise to take the same laid back approach.

Mom Confession #2 BB really needs to work on her letters. I just have not had the time that I had with BP. But I have to say that BB could take apart our vacuum if given the chance + then reassemble it. That girl has a mechanical mind. The other day my cell phone froze so I gave it to her to fix, and she did!