Happy 8th Birthday and First Communion, Crunchy!

Yep.  I call Avery Crunchy.  No idea why, but I do. 

As with every other month of May, the first half is dedicated to planning for and throwing Avery parties.  This year?  We added First Communion to the mix!

Her birthday weekend started off with Opa and Grandma coming into town!  I picked them up at Logan and we had some time to kill before Avery would be done with dance, so Josh and Alex met us at the Boathouse for a drink on the water.  It was a great way to start the weekend...

Avery's birthday was on Sunday this year, which also happened to be Mother's Day.  We typically would have had her "kid party" on Saturday, but instead, we celebrated her First Communion!  She did a great job and looked beautiful.  After the ceremony, they had a reception at the school and then we all went to lunch at the Mooring in Newport.  The service was terrible, but the company and the food were good.  I think that Avery had a good day and enjoyed everyone being there to celebrate.

The next day was her actual birthday and Mother's Day!  To celebrate both, we were having the whole family to our house later that afternoon, so I had to spend most of the day prepping for that.  Which was fine, because that gave me and Grandma some time to hang out and prep, just the two of us while Josh and Opa took both kids mini-golfing and out to lunch. 

The party was great.  BBQ Chicken and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake were on the menu, per Avery's request....all of which turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Grandma and Opa stayed for a few more days after Avery's bday, which gave us time to head to Rockport, MA for the day!  Unfortunately, the weather wasn't all that great - a bit cold and rainy, but luckily the rain held off while we walked around and went to the beach to look (and find!) seaglass.  As always, it was a fun trip going to see the spot where Opa grew up going to visit his grandparents.

We had Avery's friend party the following weekend at the place where she does Gymnastics.  Nearly all of the girls in 2nd grade were there and I think that everyone had a good time.  It took a bit for Avery to come down off of the high and to believe us when we said that not every month of the year would be devoted to her.  I'm pretty certain she still doesn't 100% agree with that theory, but we're working on it...

 

Overall, I'd say that between Opa and Grandma's visit, First Communion, Rockport and 2 birthday parties, this girl had a rather successful and social week....

Florida

This last trip to Florida was possibly better than the rest  - primarily because work wasn't busy (more on that later), so I was able to stay the entire time, which was great.

We got in on Tuesday night.  Unfortunately, the flight was delayed, so we didn't get in until around dinner time, but we promised the kids that we would go to the pool on the first day, so we did.  It actually turned out well.  We were able to order dinner at the poolside café place and the kids (and Josh) could go swimming while mama sat on the side and watched (and had a glass of wine).

 

A-Man couldn't deal with the flash, so we turned it off for Avery...

As is the case whenever we go on a trip, I started looking at the weather as soon as I could and it said rain every day that we were going to be there.  And, as is the case whenever I look at the weather that early, Josh (who as we all know is NOT the optimistic one out of the two of us) says to me, Whitney - it is 10 days away.  It will be fine.

Well, it was...for the most part.  Wednesday, we started off in the pool, but then decided to call it quits when it started to drizzle and it didn't look like it was going to let up any time soon.  So, figuring we would have plenty of pool/sun time, we decided to go out to lunch and then to hit the zoo.  Of course, ask me when the sun came out...yep.  Right when we sat down for lunch.  And, when did it disappear again?  Yep...right when we got back to the hotel to go into the pool.  Whatever.  We had a good time at the zoo....

Grammy and Grampy joined us late that night and the next 3 days were spent between the beach and the pool and of course, eating and drinking at great restaurants.  This year, Grampy really wanted to take the kids to the Breakers, which if you haven't heard of it, is an unbelievably nice hotel in Palm Beach.  Like, celebrity-level.  Unlike anything I've ever seen.   Obviously, this was not a place that we were going to stay at as a family, but they did have a very nice steak restaurant there (pretty certain my meal cost the equivalent of one-night's stay at a normal hotel), so we went there and then walked around to show the kids how the fancy people live.  :) 

One small-world thing that happened...one day at the pool, there were two moms and their daughters who invited Avery and Alex to play Marco Polo with them. Of course, you know the Holland children...it took a bit of coaxing, but we finally got them to join in the fun.  So, eventually, I start to talk to one of the moms and as it turns out, they only live about 25 mins from us and are the neighbors of some good friends of ours.  Too funny.  The kids had a great time with theirs and of course, we did the whole "we should totally get together when we get back" and haven't.  But, maybe some day! 

Overall, it was yet another great trip. Definitely one that we look forward to every year!

Beach Life

It's funny - I hear people all the time talk about how they have only made it to the beach one time this entire summer and it makes me realize how lucky we are to live so close to one of the most beautiful beaches in the state.  As you all know - we typically go every weekend during the summer.  However, we've also started going on really warm nights and either eat dinner down there or after dinner for a swim....which, is exactly what we did the other night.

It was perfect.  The temperature was in the mid 70's and the water was the perfect level of "calmness" (i.e., enough waves for the kids to boogie board, but not big enough for mama to have a heart attack every time they did).  Speaking of boogie boarding - both kids have really taken to it this year.  It took Alex (surprisingly) a little while to get comfortable enough with it to the point where he was having fun, but now both of them love doing it.  I'm still not totally comfortable with their swimming abilities, so Josh and I are in the water with them at all times when they are doing it, which can get kind of annoying if I have no desire to be in the water.  But, I guess it's better that I'm annoyed vs. something bad happening to my kids....I seriously can't stand how self-less I can be sometimes... :)  Of course, I didn't get a good video of Avery on the boogie board, but here is one of Alex...

Anyway - the kids played in the water and then did their annual "sit on/jump off of the lifeguard chair" routine.  Notice Alex holding his nose??!!!

 

 

oh..and, of course, Avery insisted on me taking about 20 pictures of her doing various poses...

We.  Are.  In.  Trouble.

...and then climbed on the rocks for a bit and by that time it was ready to go. 

They did ask if they could jump off of the boards, but a)that would REALLY require mama to get wet and let's admit it - I'm not THAT selfless and b) there were about 15 high school kids jumping off of the boards in between drags of what I can't imagine was a cigarette considering we could see the bellows of smoke from the other beach.  Hence, we avoided the boards for that night.  But, still had a great time anyway...

Catching Up

Ok, wow.  It's been a while.  Sorry about that!  I swear, I really am going to get back into this blogging thing.  Because, you know, I realize that you are all losing sleep wondering what is going on with our lives.  :)  No, really, I went back and read a few of my most recent posts and realized that I really do enjoy having this thing as a way to remember what we did and it made me really sad that I had to actually look through my phone to even remember what we've been up to over the last 4-5 months.  So, here we go...

So, last time I wrote was in March.  Bets on how long it will take me to catch you up on what has been going on?  I swear, I'll try my best to keep it short.

The weather was still horrible most of the month of March, so we did lots of indoor activity playdates...

A-Man had his first science fair at school where he was asked to make a structure out of gumdrops and toothpicks in order to determine which type of structure was the most sturdy.  He did a great job, but decided when he got to the fair that he in fact did not like talking to people and completely melted down when kids asked him to explain what he did.  Of course, it didn't help that his structure was made of gumdrops and was pretty large, so it attracted most of the kids in the room.  When I tried reminding him of the fact that he does actually like talking to people, he informed me that "He only likes talking to Waitresses!"  Ok, then.  Regardless - I left and apparently, he did just fine once I was gone. 

The real kicker?  Deacon decided that he liked the science project so much that he was going to eat the entire freaking thing.  Here I am, on the treadmill trying to get a work out in during lunch and I get a picture of just toothpicks and a few pieces of gumdrops on the floor from Josh with the caption "Bad Dog."  Of course, Josh was just annoyed.  I suddenly realized that my dog just ate nearly 100 gumdrops and probably 150 toothpicks!  So, I call my vet and for whatever reason, he decides that this requires the advice of the animal poison control.  Fine. However, every time you call them?  $65!!!!  Just to ask a question!  And, not only that?  They said that the ingredients in the gumdrops were fine and not toxic but that the toothpicks were an issue, so that solution?  Feed him a lot of high fiber food to make him poop them all out.  Thanks.  Whatever.  He was fine, thankfully.

Avery once again attended the American Girl Doll Tea Party at school.  It's a cute event where they set up tables with a spot for you and your doll and then the kids involved in the school musical serve you food and "tea." All $$ benefits the school musical, which this year was Peter Pan. 

The kids celebrated St. Patty's Day at school with their green attire...

At the end of March, Auntie Sara came for a visit.  In sticking with tradition, we basically did the exact same thing that we always do - pedicures, eating out, comedy club and walks.  It was a really nice weekend. 

THEN!  On a rainy day, I took the kids rollerskating!  Wow.  Talk about bringing back memories.  Alex can freaking fly!!!  BUT - only while holding onto the red plastic helper thing.  Avery was actually getting the hang of it by the end and was going around by herself.  Mama?  Rock.  Star.  I am seriously pretty freaking good at rollerskating, if I do say so myself.

Easter fell during late March this year and requires its own post.  To be continued on that one.

Then came our trip to Florida with Grammy and Grampy in April! Let me tell you, after the winter that we had, that trip couldn't come soon enough!  And, also deserves its own post.

Ok - now I've decided that everything else deserves its own post.  But, at least this is a start and hopefully enough to get me out of my non-blogging funk...