Twice a Month Blogger

Apparently I can only get to updating this every couple of weeks.  Here are several pictures to catch you up on all we have done.  Enjoy!

Cole’s first day of kindergarten.  More about school to follow…

Checking out the new backpacks.

This is Alli checking out her new preschool for the first time.

Picking Cole up from his first day.

We spent Labor Day weekend visiting some friends.  The girls (minus Avery) went to the American Girl Museum in New York City and the boys (plus Avery) went to the Natural History Museum.  I had the camera with me so the pictures are just of Alli.

Alli didn’t have a bit of fun being in baby doll paradise.

We had brunch at the cafe where there are chairs to put your dolls at the table.  Everything is pink and they bring cups and saucers out for your babies as well.  Even the pink bathrooms have seats for the dolls. 

Alli ordered “Flower Power Pancakes” which were of course shaped like flowers.  The best part was the cup of syrup.  Alli thought the waiter had brought her coffee at first and was thrilled to discover she got to pour her very own syrup.

We had a neighborhood Labor Day party when we got back to Boston.

Here is all of the kids rolling down the hill.  I guess that was the super fun thing to do that day.

Alli’s first day of preschool

So this is the other morning when Alli decided she wanted to marker herself with spots and call herself a cheetah.  When Jim woke up, I told him to look out because there was a cheetah in the house.  He came downstairs and Alli jumped out roaring at him.  The best part was when we put her in the bath and realized that one of the markers in our marker bin must have been permanent.  She had faint green spots on her tummy for a few days.  At least she kept the washable ones on her face.

Jim turned the kids into mummies the other day.  Cole thought this was great.

Here is some finger painting fun from this week. 

This is the start of Avery learning how to undress herself.  She can now strip herself completely naked and likes to do this all day long. 

Avery is up from her nap now and we are heading out to go apple picking.  We will have to update more later.  Happy Saturday!!

A Poem for Cole

In  lieu of Cole starting kindergarten tomorrow, I thought I would post one of my favorite poems.  This was posted on my refrigerator when I lived in Germany to remind me during those sleepless nights that this too shall pass and to cherish all of those precious baby moments.  It’s hard to believe that he is big enough to go to school.  I have cherished every moment of these past five years together and I cannot wait to see what kind of man he will become.  Oh the places he will go…

My Baby Boy and Me

It's three AM, they're all asleep,
and no one's here to see.
As we rock slowly back and forth,
My baby boy and me.

His little hand is feather light
Tucked up against my chin.
I hold his tiny hand in mine,
and stroke his baby skin.

The house about us creaks and groans,
The clock hands creep around.
He snuggles closer to me still,
And makes his baby sounds.

I love these quiet hours so much,
And cherish every one.
Store memories up inside my heart
For lonely nights to come.

All too soon he'll be grown up,
His need for mama gone.
But until then I still have time
For kisses and for song.

Time for quiet hours like this
With him cuddled in my arms,
Where I wish he'd always stay
Protected, safe and warm.

And yet I know the day will come
When his tiny little hand,
will be bigger than my own.
He'll grow to be a man.

But until then he's mine to love
With no one here to see.
As we rock slowly back and forth,
My baby boy and me.

Karate Kid

Cole had his first karate lesson this past week.  They do two private lessons first to basically show them how to enter the school, what to say, and some basic stances.  After they have memorized their creed, they can get their white belt and join the regular classes.  Cole will be getting his white belt tonight.  Cole has been asking to do karate for quite some time now and we figured the start of the school year was a good time to begin.  I was a little worried that he would be shy and wouldn’t like it but he did GREAT!  Better than great!  He liked his teacher and answered questions.  They talked about the importance of being healthy, being respectful, and having a disciplined life.  Before you enter the room, you must bow and say, “Do my best.”  He is also required to look him in the eye while speaking, no whining-ever, and to learn something new every week.  The instructor told him that he didn’t care what he learned as long as it was something and even said a new way of picking your nose was great.  Cole thought that was very very funny.  He was a little quiet at first when he was doing the punches and saying, “Kia!” but he eventually got louder as he got more comfortable.  I asked him if he liked it when he left and he said. “ I LOVE karate.  I want to do Karate forever.  If I do karate forever, I can be a karate teacher!”  I think we’ll stick with this for a while.

Go Dad Go!!!

We were finally able to take both Cole and Alli to one of Jim’s hockey games.  He plays very late at night during the regular season but gets to play at 8:30 during the summer.  We put Avery to bed, hired a sitter and went to watch Daddy play goalie.  Cole had been before with PeePaw but Alli had no idea what to expect.  She was actually scared of Jim when he first came out with all of his pads on.  They had a great time cheering.  Alli stood up and started doing her ballet moves on the sidelines.  They got really excited whenever Jim waved to them.

Enjoying Boston

I have to interrupt my trip journaling to write about all of the exciting things we have been doing in Boston (otherwise I’ll forget.)  The past few weeks here have been so fun!  We decided when we got back to take a few day trips to explore and enjoy this great weather.  We have gone to the Children’s Museum (of course) to see the space exhibit, the aquarium which is probably one of the best I have ever been to, and toured Fenway Park.

These pictures are from the construction room.  The kids could build, race cars, and sit in trucks.

They have added a new section called “Peep’s World.”  There are shadow rooms, climbing trees, and water play.  Water is Avery’s absolute favorite.

Catching and throwing the balls. Avery was so confused.

Cole teaching Alli how to us the tools.

After the museum, we walked around in Quincy Market and got some ice cream.  Two female street vendors got into a very heated argument and the kids learned all kinds of new words!

Alli likes to let her ice cream melt and then eat it slowly one spoonful at a time.  This can seriously take an hour,  Jim showed her how to drink her ice cream which she thought was very silly.

We did the Fenway Park tour the following week.  Actually I should say some of us did the tour.  Right as we started waking through the gates (all tickets already purchased) Avery just started crying.  And crying and crying and crying.  It was clear that the other patrons were already sick of our crew before we even started so Avery and I opted to leave and wait for the rest of them outside.  I didn’t see the tour but they tell me it was great.  As soon as we got outside she stopped crying.  Maybe she’s a Yankees fan?  We walked around Boston to kill time for an hour and stumbled upon a Starbucks.  What better time than now to get baby’s first Starbucks?  I got her a smoothie, me a high calorie iced drink, and we sat on the steps at Fenway having the time of our lives with our frozen treats.

Cole took his spider on the tour.

From there we headed to the aquarium.  We all enjoyed this for a while but once we were about halfway done, both girls fell asleep.  Cole played only child and got ALL the attention.  He had a great time  and especially liked learning about the frogs.

Avery watching the sea turtles.

They had a children’s learning section where a woman from the museum did a frog puppet show and taught the kids all about frogs.