man about town

this little boy

wears underwear now.

cool ones.

cause that's important.

the secrets to potty training:

1. boys are unbelievably messy. stock each bathroom with one of these bad boys, or else your bathroom will smell like a pee factory.

2. go to costco and buy the biggest bag of m&ms you can find. give the child an m&m every time the kids goes in the potty. no matter what time it is. basically freak out & have a party every time he/she goes.

3. hire 4 little girls to take the child potty all the time and be equally, if not more, excited that the child is going in the potty.

happiness is.....

back to school dinner club.....

happiness is not: getting called home from the poor babysitters who were overwhelmed at the nonstop crying by several of the little cherubs. we decided to borrow & ride bikes home from the dinner and pdubs popped a tire and had to walk it home ;o

happiness is: finding & buying 8 pairs of salt water sandals at last chance for $4.99

 happiness is not: only one of the eight pairs actually fit one of my children. how could i pass it up tho... right?






happiness is: enjoying a delicious send off meal before starting an 11 day cleanse.

the cleanse was pretty good, terrible in the beginning, but afterwards really made me want to improve our eating habits regularly.

happiness is also stocking my fridge with tons of organic veggies & fruits and feeling fulfilled when my family ate them all up.

eating delicious salads everyday...

 happiness is not: craving alcohol and coffee every second of every day on the cleanse. we decided we missed coffee more than alcohol tho, so that was good. it is also not fun to sit next to my smoking hot friend in a bikini while on the cleanse. it made me feel like it was pointless 'cause i wasn't going to look like her at the end anyway. (A, luv u!!!)




happiness is: enjoying breakfast with my mom and sis and finally being able to have coffee again

 happiness is: having the girls turn all of R's toys in to girl toys... no matter what.

happiness is: this girl being old enough to do this....

happiness is:  being able to spend so much one on one time with this little face every day

happiness is: being greeted first thing this morning by my cute little carpool buddy with this sign. it made me cry :)

outside my comfort zone

this morning i tried a tai chi class for the first time.

i rode my bike to the studio and had an open mind for a new experience.

my friend was supposed to meet me.

she was not there.

i decided i would have to have this experience by myself.

i walked into a room and everyone was punching their own abdomens.

o.k.....

so i started punching mine too.

then the master asked me to follow him into another room.

i laid down and he asked me to breathe.

feel my chest rise & fall.

in through my nose and exhale through my mouth.

so i did that.

then i started to laugh.

he was not laughing.

so i closed my eyes and tried again. 

after about 10 awkward minutes,

he asked me to join the group again.

we started the class and it wasn't too bad.

my friend walked in.

thank the good lord.

we smiled at each other and i knew i had better not get the giggles again.

it would have been bad.

we rocked, bounced, counted, twisted, stretched & bowed.

then we relaxed on the floor for 15 minutes.

eyes closed.

i felt something massaging my feet.

it felt good.

they are kind of touchy in those classes i guess.

then, apparently, i was not breathing correctly.

master said i was only breathing  at 50%.

so he proceeded to rub and shake my abdomen stomach area.

for about 10 minutes.

it was so awkward.

i was trying to focus, but kept smiling.

he said to focus on pushing my energy to my fingertips.

all i could focus on was not having a bm with all the pushing on my tummy.

finally he stopped.

my friend was laughing at all the special attention i was getting.

we then stood up.

pounded and punched ourselves in various places.

held our abdomens and stared at each other, laughing.

like a fake laugh. we were supposed to laugh.

that quickly turned into real laughter.

we bowed and we finished.

i rode home, confused.

my friend texted me throughout the day, still laughing at me getting

in her words "all chi and squishy tummy"

when i got home i tried to convince baby R to snuggle up with me in bed.

not so much.

i don't think i'll try any more tai chi.

boston trip

 there are so many photos in this post but i just could not decide which ones to cut. it was all so fun and memorable so.... here we go.

our flight in to boston was great and uneventful. once we got there, we had some minor issues with the rental car situation & a dead phone. once we got that straightened out, S and i had our xm radio turned up and we hit the road. driving thru those tunnels for the first time was a little scary, especially when we realized we were under water. but we made the quick 30 min trip to reading, where my friend lives.

the next morning we got up and started the day. that was S's actual birthday. so we started with a donut the size of her head and drove to essex, ma. we went to woodman's and had delicious seafood. we checked out some antique stores, one in which S's skirt got caught on an old tile but luckily it didn't break, the tiles were $400 each! ouch!, got delicious ice cream and then got back in the car and drove to salem and checked out the beach.

that night we headed into town and had a crazy night in the north end eating delicious italian food and eating cannolis at modern bakery. yummmmmmm.

the next morning we got up and went to the public garden. i LOVED seeing the swans soooo much. the grounds were so beautiful and we loved seeing the giant trees, the green grass and the swan boats. so beautiful.

we met up with some friends at the sowa market where i finally got some sunglasses and my friends got some awesome hats. we looked around at all the local crafters, farmers & artists. we got to eat from the delicious food trucks. it was so hot so we thoroughly enjoyed our blueberry lemonade from roxy's.

after lunch, we started walking around town. we made a few stops at starbucks & a cupcake place, but were equally enthralled seeing the site of the boston massacre and all of the historic buildings.

the next day we drove out to plymouth, as in THE plymouth. you know, plymouth rock?
we saw that. it's actually not the real one, so we were told, but cool to see anyway. this is where we got a whole lobster, saw the mayflower, sailed along the cape, ate delicious ice cream (of course) and best of all... went whale watching. it was such a blast. we thought it was going to be a 1.5 hour cruise but it ended up being a 4 hour tour. good thing we had nothing but time! they had a pretty hefty snack bar luckily so we were able to have snacks, we thought we would be back for lunch ;)

 we were so worried that we were not going to see any whales, it was kind of expensive & they guaranteed sightings or another trip. we didn't have time for another trip, so we had our fingers crossed. luckily we saw several!!

S was getting pretty comfortable on the boat. i may have literally flipped out, crying and everything, when i found her on the very tip, titanic style, on the ride home. we were going so fast and she easily could have lost her balance and... well yada yada yada... i flipped out. anywho....

at the first sighting, the whole boat was really excited. i was on the top level and S was on the bottom level right below me. everyone oohed and ahhhed when we saw the first whale. after it quieted down, S realized i was right above her and exclaimed "mom! did you see that!!??" it was so sweet and everyone chuckled a little and smiled. it is just so amazing to see those huge creatures out there.

mother and baby diving at the same time. awwww.......

 these are seasonal homes on the very end of the cape. you have to bring in everything, including water & power if you choose to stay there. looks like the setting of a romantic nicholas sparks movie....

the mayflower!!

on the beach beneath the little column structure, is plymouth rock.

on our last day there, we braved the traffic and the looong drive down the cape. we made it to hyannis port. i loved to see the differences in the beaches. these beaches had white soft sand and small pine trees.

my beautiful girl taking in the sights.

 we had to then throw our clothes back on and drive straight to the airport. unfortunately we missed that flight and my poor friends had to host us another night. we missed the next flight as well, but finally headed home on the third attempt.

what an action packed, nonstop trip. so memorable and so awesome. and i'm so glad i could share it with my little adolescent.