Happy Birthday Mikey!!

It's a few weeks late but oh well! Everyone had a great time at the party! So much so that I'm even thinking about booking it for Honor's party too. The good thing about Tiny Toes is that it's one big room so you don't lose track of anyone and all the toys are geared towards 5 and under. It was great that they had the bouncy house out too because the girls had so much fun jumping in there, even Mikey got a chance at it! :)
The cake was a big hit and it tasted good too! It was so easy to decorate, maybe I'll make all their birthday cakes (or maybe not....) There was plenty of cake for everyone and even extra for some drop-ins. Some guy came in with his daughter thinking the place was open for regular play and I told him it was a private party. I let him stay anyway since his daughter was going to get really upset since I turned them away and I even offered them some cake....the more the merrier right?? I'll post pictures once I figure out what the heck Darren did with them....

Can you believe it?

I'm the worse person to remember to update!!! So much for the updating on Fridays huh? Well, let me see if I can remember what we've done between Halloween and now.....

Halloween was alot of fun! Honor was Dora and Mikey was Boots. We went trick or treating in the center of town which is what most people do here in Grafton. The street everyone goes down is called South St. and it's full of old historic colonial houses. The people who live there decorate the houses very festively and there's always something for the parents (like warm cider or wine) at one of the houses.

So I guess the next thing that happened was Iggy's emergency surgery. I had noticed he was trying to pee one night and nothing came out. I knew this was an emergency but was in denial probably so I waited until the next morning to go to the local animal hospital and when they couldn't get a catheter through I had to bring Iggy to Tufts. there they got the catheter in but found that he had a tear in his urethra that needed to be fixed. Long story short I ended taking him back to the local animal hospital where he had surgery to repair the tear and essentially was made into a female cat since they rerouted the urethra to go through the pelvis and that makes it shorter and less likely to collect the crystals that caused the problem in the first place. So we can say now that Iggy's had a sex change! :)

Thanksgiving was nice, we went to Aunt Jackie and Uncle Skip's condo in Norton. There was lots and lots of good food as usual and Honor and Mikey loved playing with their cousin Matt. The day before Thanksgiving was pretty eventful though....Chris proposed to his girlfriend Megan! We knew this was coming but it's exciting that now Honor and Mikey can call her Aunt Megan. :) Honor and I are also excited about being in the wedding and hopefully this time Honor will actually drop the flower petals instead of running up the isle and them dumping them out later!

Last weekend we went to Sutton Chain of Lights and Grafton Celebrates the Holidays. Both events consist of businesses in the area opening their doors and having some sort of family friendly thing going on such as pony rides, face painting, visits with Santa, cookie decorating, etc. So in Sutton we went to Whittier Farms (this is where our milk comes from) and we went on a hay ride around the farm and saw all the nice cows that give us their milk. :) Then in Grafton, Honor went to see Santa (who she wasn't afraid of this time!!) and got her face painted. We all went for a hay ride around the Community Barn and then went to the center of town for the tree lighting.

Now we're gearing up for Mikey's birthday....I still can't believe it's been a year already!! When we were doing the "Frosty Stops" during Grafton Celebrates the Holidays I was thinking how I was sooo very pregnant with Mikey last year when we did this. It's going to be great to see all the kids having fun playing at Tiny Toes. I'm also excited to make Mikey's cake, it's going to be so cute! I'll post a picture when it's done.

Pumpkins anyone?

Today we went to Honey Pot Hill Orchard in Stow, Ma. to get some pumpkins and apples and cider. The kids had a lot of fun playing with the pumpkins and sampling the apples. They have a new pony named Lucky and not as many goats as before but it's always fun to go visit. Here's picture overload from our day with the pumpkins. :)

Last trip to Davis Farmland for 2007

Sunday October 28th was the last day of the season at Davis. It was a good way to test out the costumes (even though Honor was Sleeping Beauty, not Dora) and bid farewell to our animals friends until April.

See? I knew I'd forget to post on Friday

Geez! This week flew right by and I haven't even finished Mikey's costume yet! I don't even know where October went, it's a total blur to me but anyways....
Last Saturday we went to Salem, MA to partake in the Halloween festivities....no, we didn't go to any museums and no, we didn't take any tours. We did want to take a tour but by the time we were ready to they had stopped for the day (figures right?) So we watched the street performers, and also watched the interesting people who visit Salem at this time of year and the kids played on the Common in the center of Salem. I think it would've been more fun if the kids were older so maybe we'll try again in a few years.
Sunday we went to our favorite place......you guessed it, Davis Farmland! Their last day is the 28th so we decided to get some more time in there before the end of the season. Honor didn't even want to go see any of the animals, she played in the playgrounds, went for a pony ride and painted a pumpkin. She did a great job on the pumpkin by the way. It was her first time painting one by herself and with a paint brush instead of her fingers. Maybe next weekend we can get another day of fun in there, there's going to be a costume parade led by MooMoo Saturday and Sunday so hopefully we can get in on that.
On Monday Honor, Mikey and I met our friends Amy and Kaitlyn at the West Boylston Rail Trail which was so beautiful this time of year with the leaves changing. It's so cute to see Honor and Kaitlyn having fun playing together and I think it's even cuter that Kaitlyn calls Honor "Nonie"!
So I finally had an interview at Tufts! Things went well and I'm scheduled for another one next Tuesday. I'm excited to finally get back into the Veterinary world and the working world! It's great though because I'll be working nights Friday, Saturday and Sunday so the kids won't miss me much and they can get some Daddy time on the weekends.
Yesterday we checked out a different park in Millbury, it was really cool because there was one of those Merry-Go-Rounds that you don't see anymore because they're deemed unsafe by most people. We played on it for almost 1/2 hour having so much fun pushing each other around until we were dizzy!

Recap of the last 2 weeks

So I'm going to try and recap things and happenings of the past week every Friday. Don't hold me to it because I'm sure I'll miss here and there.
Let's see....we'll begin with last Monday being Mikey's first trip to the Emergency Room. I took the kids up to Mimi's house (that's what the kids call my mom) in Albany to pick up the rest of the stuff I'd left there and was planning on taking a one day round trip. Anyway, Mikey being the climbing maniac, part monkey, part mountain lion (he likes to growl) that he is he decided to tackle the stairs. Needless to say he climbed up a few but came down much faster than he intended and got a little banged up and to be sure he was ok we ended up taking him to the ER. The doctor saw him and sent him home with a clean bill of health besides a few bumps.
Also other things Mikey's been up to is learning how to walk! I know...a 10 month old walking? Yup, he's been trying the past few weeks with a step here and a step there but he finally took more and more steps yesterday and today. It's really adorable to see Honor holding his hand to help him walk, she's such a good big sister!
Honor's done a lot of growing up it seems lately. She named a stuffed animal all on her own last week, she got a pony from "Build-A-Bear" and decided to name her Tillie. I don't know why I'm so excited about this but it just seems like she's more aware of individuals and their names not just what they are but who they are. She's also discovered how much fun it is to jump on Mommy and Daddy's bed and to hid in our closet. One day last week it was awful quiet for a while and I called Honor to see where she was and heard a muffled voice yelling "In here, I'm in here Mommy knock on the door." So thinking she's in her room I go in there and no Honor. Then I hear some noise coming from the closet and there she is peeking out waiting for me to find her and she got so excited when I found her. She also now knows how to spell her name, I think it's because when people ask what her name is they also ask how to spell it. She knows the -N-O-R part but last night she told me it's spelled Rachel N-O-R. I thought about it and figured H-O does sound a lot like Rachel!
I'm finally looking at going back to work. Tufts Veterinary School is right around the corner from us and I figure it'll be a good place for me to finish my Vet Tech certification. I'm pretty excited about getting back into the veterinary field and it'll be nice to get away from the kids for a few days a week. We went to their open-house a few weeks ago where they open their doors and let people from the community see all there is to see there. I was amazed at their facilities and started talking to a few people who said they're always looking for experienced help and I thought it would be so incredible to work there. So I'm finally going in for an interview next week and I'll keep you posted when things start moving along!

Videos of the kids

Darren's set up a website so all of you can view videos we've taken of the kids. Enjoy!!

http://sarama.homelinux.org/cgi-bin/videx.cgi?DIR=/vids/web

Trip to Martha's Vineyard

For Grandma Slocum's birthday we went to Martha's Vineyard on Sept. 22nd. It was fun for all of us since we'd never been before and it's nice to at least say we've been there. I think Honor thought the best part was the ferry ride, she still talks about it. Once we got over there Darren went to pick up the car we rented (much easier to see the island in a car with 2 kids than a bike!) so while he was doing that Honor, Mikey Grandma Slocum and I went to the Flying Horses Carousel that was built in 1876. Honor and I had so much fun on the ride and she even caught a brass ring and got a free ride!! We drove around the island and stopped at a few interesting places such as the Black Dog Tavern and the Island Alpaca Company. We just can't resist seeing some Alpacas or Llamas, probably not until we have our own....nah, we'd probably still stop to see other ones even then. We spent a good deal of time in Aquinnah even though we couldn't see much past the fog. We did have the unfortunate opportunity to view a sun bather who thought he was in a secluded cove, or maybe he didn't, who knows, but it made for an interesting trip to Aquinnah. We finally stopped for some dinner in Vineyard Haven before we had to catch the ferry back. We stopped at a restaurant that seemed like a nice, normal place but come to find out it was a very formal, very expensive place and dinner ended up costing more than the car was to rent but oh well! it was very good and a nice end to the day in Martha's Vineyard. We were hoping Honor would start to fall asleep on the ferry ride back but I think she was just way too excited to be on the big boat again, at least Mikey fell asleep and made it all the way home with out making a peep. :)

Time to catch up....

Wow, time flies!! It's been a while since I've posted anything on here. It's hard to believe that Mikey's almost 9 months old and Honor's a whopping 2 1/2!! Mikey's trying to assert some independence but the "Mikey Police" aka Big Sister Honor is always on the prowl making sure he doesn't have too much fun or make too much noise unless it's crying. She's really trying to be a good big sister but it's so hard for a 2 year old to share toys (or Mom) with a little brother who slobbers on everything worse than the dogs. It's so funny how Honor will go get a wipe and clean off anything that Mikey has drooled on before she'll play with it.
Mikey's getting so big and so determined to walk. He knows how to crawl and can do it pretty fast but he'd much rather cruise along anything he can stand up and support himself on and now he's already trying to climb on anything that looks worth the effort. He's feeding himself more and more, I think he's going to turn in to a Cheerio if he keeps eating them as much as he does!
Darren and I are doing great, we really love Grafton and have decided to stay in the apartment in hopes that within a year we'll be able to find a house here. I've made some friends here who also have little girls around Honor's age and we go out a few days a week and walk on the high school track while the girls play.
Darren's working at EMC in Westborough so he's much closer now and gets to spend more time with the kids and if you read the previous entry he's really enjoying my cooking adventures.
Both of the Grandma's are now in the area, Darren's mom is in Millbury and my mom is living in an apartment in South Grafton until her house is done. It's great having them so close to help out and the kids love seeing them so often. It's was great that Darren's dad got to come down about a month ago and see the kids since he hadn't seen them except from pictures we sent him.
Mikey's trying to grab the laptop from me so I'll stop here. Bye for now!!

My wife is the best cook in the world!

Caryn created some to die for apple-butter today by altering this recipe by a 12 apples to 1.5 cups of sugar. mmmMMmmmm

Some cute kids

I had to post this pic because it's just so darn cute.

Gotta love Davis Farmland!

We had our second trip of the season to good ol' Davis Farmland. This time the splash park was open and Honor actually enjoyed it! She usually doesn't like water in her face but since her friends were having fun she figured it was ok to get a little wet. :)
And this time Mikey made a new friend. A cute little Jersey Brown calf thought he smelled really good and almost looked like he wanted to take a nibble!! He did take a little taste of the stroller and found out it wasn't edible.
We always love going to see the llamas (one day we'll have our own) and these babies were just too cute! The spotted one almost ate everything out of our feed cup!! Can you tell we love this place??

Home sweet Home

Well, we made it back sanely and safely from our road trip. Even though it was only 5 days it felt like we were in the car forever! Honor did a great job as the flower girl and as soon as I have pictures I will post them. She didn't actually make it down the aisle dropping flowers but she was her usual cute self sitting down in the aisle dumping out her flowers then counting them. People kept telling me that they had more pictures of Honor and her flower petals than they had of the wedding ceremony. :o)

It was nice to be back in FL for a bit, it felt strange being where we lived for years and almost forgetting that we had to drive back up Massachusetts. But like I tell every one who thinks it would be nice to move to FL that it's a great place to visit but not a great place to live in my opinion.

We had a nice little detour to Hilton Head on our way back. Darren said it was my Mother's Day gift and that was fine with me! It was nice to take a few hours and just sit on the beach and relax except I ended up with a sunburn on my back because I missed a spot when putting sunscreen on!!

One question I have is, are we the only ones that would stop at IKEA for the bathroom and food, not for the furniture?

I had to post the pic I took of Darren trying to take a nap. ;o)

Off to FL.

We're heading out soon for our whirlwind trip to Florida. Honor still doesn't quite understand what a Flower girl is but she definitely loves her dress!! We'll post pictures when we get back and let you know how she did.

Davis Farmland!

Davis Farmland opened up and here are some pictures of the first trip this year to see Moo Moo...



Mikey decided to go incognito on his first trip...


Honor taking her second pony ride is starting to look like a pro!

Two cute little kids...


And Honor enjoying a ride on Mimi who's enjoying a hayride...

Iggy's been getting frisky...

...enough to drop some lovin' onto Simon. He had been acting weird all night, chasing ghosts and even attacked my foot for no reason at all. While the sun was out Iggy decided to squeegee Simon's ears in a fit of spring cleaning frivolity.

Mikey's first cereal!

Mikey likes it, he really likes it! Yes that is his "like it" face.

And here is just an adorable picture of Michael showing how much he loves playing with his big sister...who loves to spin him around in the toy donut. He hasn't gotten dizzy yet...

Happy B-Day pippen!

In celebration of pippen's birthday, its time we post a picture of her and her boyfriend, foster, from quite a while ago; its just a great picture.