New Hampshire

Geez-----we have been in the car too long!

The boys were troopers and did such a good job. We have been on the road a lot lately. New Hampshire isn't that far from us about four and a half hours is what it took for us to drive. I am amazed at the beauty, none of the pictures do it justice but this is a place I would like to go and spend 4 or 5 days. We were only there two days and I didn't get to do all I would have liked.

Look at the beauty!

Grayson doesn't want to pose for pictures he just wants in the water!

Flying Fish ride! Hayden loves ride and speed-the faster the better. This child screamed with joy the whole time we were there.

This ride is a barn that goes up in the air and spins around-thought they would freak out a little but didn't!

This is a joyful look on Grayson's face!

New Hampshire

My two good friends Carolyn and Sue have made a seroius effort to make sure we experience as much as possible while we are here. I had been hearing about this place called "Storyland" both of them have been but we decided that our three families needed to go together. I am so glad we did. We stayed at a wonderful inn that had a heated swimming pool. It poured on Thursday and they even had two tornados near us in New Hampshire (tornadoes are unheard of in this part) but we managed to have a lot of fun even though it was raining. There is a positive side to rain at an amusement park, NO LINES!!! They let us just keep riding whatever we wanted to ride over and over again-for Hayden this was riding the roller coaster five times in a row.

Storyland is a place for young children and famlies to experience fairy tales. All of the rides were appropriate and parents could tag along with their children. We spent a day and a half here and I am ready to go back!

Hayden and Mommy in the swan boat!Larger swan boat.

Grayson in the pumpkin coach!

This treehouse was amazing. Once you climed up inside of the tree trunk and into the house there were different interactive toys. It was magical.

Hayden sitting at the Little Miss Muffet display.

Steve and Hayden driving an antique car.

We stopped for a break during the rain.

If anyone wants to come to New Hampshire next year for their family vacation let me know-I will be more than happy to meet up with you!

Grayson's New Preschool

On Monday this week we hosted a playdate for Grayson's new preschool class. Most of us had never met before and the kids had not met so this was an opportunity to get together. I must say that I think we are really going to enjoy this year because all of the moms and dad(!) seemed to be VERY nice and easy to get along with. We are looking forward to starting a new preschool.

Mini Me

The last several times Steve has mowed the lawn, Hayden has wanted to "mow" with him. Hayden is right along side him every step of the way. Steve only wishes the little mower really worked because it is taking him forever to push mow all of this yard!

Wacky Wednesday

Hayden had a baseball camp that lasted all week and on Wednesday they did "Wacky Wednesday". Hayden had a ton of fun dressing up for this and now wants everyday to be wacky Wednesday! He wore a blue wig, a 4th of July lei, and wore his shirt backwards.

Another reason why the State lets me teach parenting classes!

On Saturday morning I was off sorting laundry and Steve was doing something else. When I went to check on the boys this is what I found. . .



They were able to put their shoes on, granted Hayden is wearing his daddy's Crocs but Grayson got his own tennis shoes on and even put them on the right feet. I looked outside and to my surprise found them on the back porch hunting for bugs. I love the days when I feel like parent of the year. Now the back door stays locked at all times.

Strawberry Picking

I remember going to pick strawberries with my cousin Holly and my grandparents. It was a small garden we picked out of but it is still a happy memory from my childhood. I was able to take the boys to Lyman Orchards and pick strawberries this year. Both boys seriously ate more strawberries than ended up in the basket. They had a ton of fun and enjoyed themselves. I really am trying to make sure they experience many of the aspects of living in New England.

I know we won't be here forever so I want to enjoy all that we can while we are here.

Grayson showing off his strawberry-right before he demolished it.

Hayden enjoying the fruits of his labor!

This was the basket of strawberries we ended up with at the end of the day. I am sad to say that I probably owe Lyman Orchards a lot more $ because the boys ate so much along the way. I no longer mind paying for strawberries at the grocery store because this was back breaking work. We ate most of the strawberries in two days but I managed to freeze some for when our family comes at the end of August.

Playing Catch Up!!!

I have not been good about posting our pictures lately, maybe that is because we are constantly on the go. We have spent time at the lake, the park, and the new ice cream shop in downtown East Hampton. The boys are loving this weather-we are able to spend more time outside then we would this time of year in Texas.

Ice Cream+Hayden as the ring leader='s 5 HYPER children!!!

I can't explain the type of town we live in becasue there is nothing close to it in
the DFW metroplex that I am aware of. Our town only has 13,000 people so it
is quite quaint. A new ice cream shop opened in downtown East Hampton and
the kids and I have enjoyed sitting out on main street eating ice cream and
watching all of the people and cars go by. One of my friends has explained that
in the summer East Hampton is a vacation spot for a lot of people so downtown
starts getting busy on Fridays and stays busy through the weekend.

We have been spending time at the lake/beach in our town.
Both boys have been very accepting of the lake than I thought they would.

Look at how close these ducks are to Grayson. The ducks just come up to people.
Kind of freaks me out. The boys love it though.

This child has "sensory intergration issues". I would love for the therapists that evaluated Grayson last November to see how much progress he has made in a few short months. I am no longer worried about him and encourage him to get as dirty as he wants!!!

I am so proud of the progress he has made!

Happy 4th of July

We wanted to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July!

Today Steve and I spent the day tiling our backsplash in the kitchen-whoohoo what 4th of July fun! We did manage to cook out tonight and then spent some time with the boys doing fireworks in our driveway. The boys had a great time-I thought they would be scared but they weren't! I am having to get used to the fact fireworks are legal here and they even sell them year round. Our neighbors put on quite a show-this made me a little nervous because the sparks were flying over our trees and our house, but all ended well and we got to see some pretty amazing backyard fireworks. Tomorrow we will head to "Riverfest" to see real fireworks.

Steve and the boys with SPARKLERS!

Steve found three foot long SPARKLERS and the boys loved playing with them!

Grayson could not stop smiling!

I told Steve tonight that at some point he will have to explain the "real" meaning of Independence Day to them and not that it is just about shooting fireworks and grilling! We hope everyone enjoyed their day.

Happy Birthday Hayden

HAPPY 4TH BIRTDAY HAYDEN!!!!

It is hard to believe that Hayden is 4 years old. I know a lot has happened in the last four years but I still feel like time has flown by. He is such a mature little boy and we are having more and more fun everyday. Hayden has been attending My Gym since October and has told me that he wanted to have his party there. So in January we booked his party and the planning began. Hayden gets into planning his party more than some adults-He knew he wanted a Buzz Lightyear party. He was very specific in picking out his theme, birthday cake, and invitiations. Hayden loves parties! I wonder where he gets that from?
Hayden blowing out birthday candles.

Hayden loved the attention he received for his birthday!

Hayden got to have his own parade at the party. The staff at My Gym walked him around in a wagon and he had the parade wave down pat!

Grayson and others being a "table".

There is nothing like Texas Star here in CT, so I was worried that I would never be able to find someone to do Hayden's cake. But it turned out sooooo good. The top was chocolate fudge with a mousse filling and the bottom was white chocolate cake with a white chocolate filling. I was REALLY impressed-oh yeah and the baker delivered it to my home which was excellent since the day of Hayden's birthday we had multiple events!

Hayden's birthday party at school!

Kid City Museum

Grandma and Papa were also able to come spend some time with us before Hayden's birthday. We enjoyed going to Kid City with them. http://www.kidcitymuseum.com/welcome.html
The boys had so much fun playing with both sets of grandparents.


Aquarium area

Grayson playing in dinosaur land!

Papa North and Hayden

Mystic Seaport

My parents came to spend the week before Hayden's birthday with us. We had so much fun and enjoyed them being here. We did an activity everyday with them and really took advantage of having them here with us. One day we went to Mystic Seaport www.mysticseaport.org/
It was a museum tha that has a lot of large old ships. The boys were able to walk on the ships and explore. They were able to go underneath and see where people slept and ate. Ever since we visited the Seaport, Hayden has been saying he wants bunk beds now!
One of the old boats!

Enjoying our time together.

Hayden being the captain.

Circus Fun

We had so much fun going to the circus for Mother's Day. Both boys enjoyed themselves and all of the adults had fun too.


Hayden with clown nose-that lights up!!

These are the days I love staying home with the boys!

Imagine my surprise when I walked into pick Hayden up from school and this is what I found. . .


After my initial shock-I calmed myself down from what I knew was going to be messy-I was excited about the fun Hayden was having. For the last several weeks Hayden has had an imaginary friend-Sulley (from Monster's Inc.). Sulley goes most everywhere with us and we have been using it to our advantage, if Hayden won't do something we tell him that Sulley is doing it and it works well! On this day-he was no longer Hayden-he became Sulley and acted "in character" all day! I had so much fun playing with him and enjoying this moment.

It was a beautiful day outside today. Our friend Luke came over and we got to enjoy a picnic lunch and play outside. The boys have so much fun together. We spent all afternoon outside enjoying the warm weather!

New York City Here we Come!

I got to drive thru New York on Friday. Steve decided he would take the day off and we would go check out a granite place in New Jersey. I decided I would drive and let him handle the boys. Well. . .I didn't know I would be driving in the Bronx and in Manhattan to get there. It was so neat-the Bronx really does look like it does in the movies. We saw all kinds of high rise apartments and each of them had their own park with people outside playing basketball! Traffic was horrible but I still want to go back! It didn't take us that long to get to New York but I still think next time we will take the train in. The granite place in New Jersey was well worth the trip-we are getting new granite for our kitchen and bathroom this week!!

Henry

Henry throwing snowballs!

Hayden and Henry blowing bubbles!

Everyone who knows me knows how special this child is to me. I was so thankful to Chad for bringing Henry over on Easter. The boys got to spend time together and we got to spend time with Chad. Thanks Chad!