Halloween Activities

We had a busy Halloween season.  We had fun getting all the details of the costumes together.  Grace was a poodle skirt dancer.

 

We went to a Halloween tea together and had a blast.  It was so well done and we enjoyed all the treats, sandwiches and cookies.

We took a little swim at the indoor pool in between the tea and the pumpkin carving class.



The hotel had a haunted house that was fun for the kids to walk through.  They had a bowl of eyeballs (grapes) and brains (cauliflower).

The lobby of the hotel had a Great Pumpkin theme from Charlie Brown - darling! 

Great memories were made!

On Halloween day, I took my little girls to Petsmart to see the kitties.

 

Then we had Scary Face pancakes at IHOP.

Halloween was on a Friday night this year so the kids trick or treated until dark.

 

I love the age when my kids figure out what "trick or treat" means.  This was Clara's year.

First Day of School

The first day of school is so exciting for the kids.  You can see in their faces that they are so happy.

Sam 1st Grade Miss Hine

Ellen last year at home before Kindergarten!

Rita 3rd Grade Mrs. Misterik 

Grace 5th Grade Mrs. Lee

The neighborhood gang!

13th anniversary

For our 13th anniversary, Nate planned a really fun date.  He asked our sitter to watch all 6 of the kids (don't think we had ever left Marta) and we went to Georgetown early in the morning.  He arranged to have us take a bike ride to a great restaurant called Founding Farmers.  It is run by a farmers group out of the Midwest.  The food is really delicious.  Then during our breakfast date, 13 roses were delivered to our table! 

 

I cried!  I was so overwhelmed and everyone was looking at us.  The young waitress kept saying, "Girl live it up.  If these were my roses, I would be taking a lot of selfies.  This made my day seeing these roses!"

 

After breakfast we left the roses (because we rode bikes) and then came back to get them once we got to the minivan.  I was really excited by then!  So we pulled up in our minivan and I walked in and said really loudly, "I am hear to pick up my 13 roses!"  By that time the brunch crowd had arrived and everyone was staring.  I loved it!

 

Later that day, we took the kids to our wedding reception site.  We were not able to get into the banquet hall but we tried to sneak in through the back elevators and secret stairs.  We still could not get in so we just looked at the sign and left.  Happy 13th anniversary to us!

 

 

Summer Family Vacation - Cape Cod Part 2

Our second part of the vacation involved the Falmouth Road Race, visiting Hyannis and a rainy day.

 

This is a cute cupcake shop in Hyannis.  They name all of their cupcakes after whales and sea life.

I read on a blog about a "backdoor" way to see the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis.  We were able to drive down some back roads and get a good view of their house.  We were pretty sure that the large flags indicated the location of JFKs home.

 

We took some great shots at the Heights Beach before having our annual tradition of "Root Beer Floats after dinner."

This is Joy, Audrey and Grace - the big girl cousins.

Here are all the runners represented this year.  From L to R is Uncle Brian, Cousin Joy, Uncle Donnie, Nate, Cousin Jeff and Girlfriend Shelby, Adam and his girlfriend Tina and Uncle Mike's wife Marie's daughter and friend.

Our sweet Clara playing with sand on the beach.  

Baby Marta's idea of a good time on the beach.

We have never had a child that would fall asleep in a high chair during dinner.  But, we did have our sweet Clara once fall asleep in a swing outside the library in Cape Cod!

Summer Family Vacation - Cape Cod Part 1

Our annual trip to Cape Cod in the summer was great this year.  The kids love the ride in the car and watching DVD and eating candy.

Once there, the time with the cousins was special.  Rita and Martha brought pompoms and cheerleading outfits to practice their cheers.

Sam loves being with Joe and Ben.  They are looking for hermit crabs at Woodneck Beach.

This is the walk over the hill to the beach.

This year a carousel was brought to the downtown area and the kids had so much fun riding on it.  I think I had more fun than them because I was able to dance on the horses and sing along to "Happy."  We got our photo in the newspaper.

 

My cousin Margaret (former known as Molly) brought her daughter Evie to visit for the day.  We went to the Black Dog store downtown.

One morning, we took the kids to storytime at the children's library.  It was precious to see Grace under the table reading on her own.

Uncle Nate and Uncle Donnie worked on the bottle rocket kit that Sam brought with him.

The grandkids

Talking a morning walk along the harbor.

 

Rita and Clara looking in the Nobska lighthouse.  This lighthouse is one of the most famous ones on the Cape.



 

All the kids by the lighthouse... Grace resembles her daddy SO much here.

Marta 4-5 months old

Sleeping on Daddy

First swing ride... a little unsure

Bath time in the sink!

Good Morning!

6 month portrait session