11 months old

You made it through today in one piece Maeve. It was a close call. You, my dear, are an accident waiting to happen. You get into everything and anything dangerous. Example. Today you grabbed Charlotte's beloved Disney Princess Snow Globe while mom in the other room and broke it. Shattering the glass into thousands of pieces. Your hands cut to shreds. The blood made it look worse than it was. In the end they were just little cuts...but lots of them.

Then, shortly after dinner, you decided to play with the open dishwasher as mom was clearing plates and picking things up. Luckily dad walked into the kitchen just in time. There you were, a super sharp pairing knife in your mouth. You survived, unscathed, but it was a close call.

Oh dear, it gets better. Dad noticed quite the black and blue mark under your eye this evening. When questioning your mother he found out you took a swing to the eye today at the playground. Surely it will be a full shiner by morning. Ugh. Good grief.

So with that we put you to bed tonight, safe and sound. Battered. Bruised. Some knicks and knacks and cuts and scrapes but intact. Only a month to go and you will be one!

You Might Be A Redneck.....

if you have a tractor instead of a tricycle



Spring has arrived, granted slowly. Very slowly. We were finally able to get the girls outside for some fun in the super warm 50 degree weather. They had a ball chaulking in the driveway. Of course our little friend wasn't sure if she should eat the chaulk or draw with it. Luckily her sister helped her figure it out.







As you can tell spring is in the air and it makes everyone a little wacky. Especially Charlotte. She recently decided she was going to roll a little different than all the other kids. She is a trendsetter after all even though she is only three. She took a page out of the books of Nelly and Dwayne Wade from the Miami Heat.

Nelly


Dwayne Wade


C "Rocker"


This is how I roll pops.



Maeve, please do not follow your sisters lead.

Womens Weekend

Charlotte and Maeve got to enjoy some additional quality time with mom over the weekend. Dad was away at Barstool Mountain celebrating at Monkey Boys Bachelor Party. It was tough. Drinking all that beer. Eating hotdogs and hamburgers. Sitting by a campfire for two nights. Again, drinking all that beer. In reality it was a lot of work. There was a solid three feet of snow on the ground. In order to even get the campfire going, we had to dig out the firepit, and of course a path to the fire pit. It was a lot of work but very rewarding. Meanwhile back at the homestead mom....

changed diapers
went to the butterfly place
hosted a party on Friday night
colored easter eggs
bathed the girls
brought the girls to McDonalds (or as Charlotte says, Old Macdonalds)
played on the floor
fought with Maeve and Charlotte to sleep
got very little sleep herself


So needless to say mom never got her weekend break. However, the girls had some additional time to bond with thier mother. As if that was really needed.

Yeah, butterflies are a little scary







and Easter eggs a little early

Happy St. Patricks Day

Someone LOVES corned beef and cabbage! What did you say Corned Beef? Where?


Ok Im waiting. Where is it?



Yummm!


As happy as can be




Red nose. Red cheeks. She sort of looks like Ted Kennedy in this shot.


What no Charlotte pictures you ask? Well she isn't such a huge fan of corned beef, or cabbage, or potatoes. However she did love the story dad told her about Maewyn Succat aka St. Patrick. Of course he jazzed it up a little for her.

Expedition Monkey Boy

Maeve and Charlotte were treated to a cookout this weekend our friend Chris Roger's house. Since the thermometer hit a screaming 50 degrees, it seemed only par for the course to grab some meat and head out to the seacoast to visit with friends. Not to mention it is so nice to get out of the house. The girls had a ball exploring the house, and of course, playing with his dogs and searching for the cats. Charlotte really wanted to "camp out" there and was upset to leave. Overall it was a big success despite staying out way past the bedtimes. Charlotte did have a horrible time sleeping in the car on the ride home, but eventually conked out. She was sleeping so soundly in fact that once we arrived home dad was able to take her out of the car and carry her to bed without her even waking up. That NEVER happens.

Maeve on the other hand was up and had a hard time sleeping. She has caught a little cold and was super stuffy all night. Waking up multiple times. At about 4 am dad finally picked her up and carried her into bed with him, laying her on his chest to sleep unsucessfully. He then tried the horribly ugly lazyboy chair (that he refuses to let his wife throw away). After a few moments of rocking back and forth, the poor thing was out. He kicked up the foot rest and did he best to sleep with a stuffy, drooling, snoring little baby on his chest. She slept soundly on while he did his best to also sleep.

Maeve actually slept until 8am and happily woke up staring at dad wondering where and how she ended up on him.

Today we are continuing the adventure packed weekend by making a trip to BJ's Warehouse to see if it's actually worth signing up for a membership. We had a membership to Costco but never went and didn't like the selection of baby stuff and groceries. We will see how it works out at BJ's.

Maeve is sleeping again and Charlotte is playing in her princess tent.

Marvelous Maeve

Maeve turned 10 months old today. Daily she makes us laugh with the silly little things she does. Smiling. Laughing. Playing with her sister. She loves to sing. She loves to dance. She loves to wave goodbye when she crawls out of a room. She loves when dad builds forts. He will flip chairs over, stack up pillows, and cover it all with blankets. Maeve is the first one in. Just laughing to herself as she goes crawling under and into the deep dark recesses of them. Just playing and having fun. Turn your back for a second and Maeve can be in the playroom, just babbling with the dolls or crawling on the blocks, or she could be in the other room splashing in the water of the dog dish, or even worse, in the bathroom playing with the water in the toilet. She likes to get into things, good and bad. We have a feeling we will need another round of drawer latches and door locks put on.



Dad had the pleasure of enjoying some serious QT (quality time) with his daughters this past weekend. Mom took off to CT on Friday afternoon to have a mini college reunion of sorts. By 5pm on Friday it was on. Daddy daughter weekend was in full force.

Nothing says Friday night better than pizza, so he loaded the girls into the van and picked up a pie. Of course Charlotte wolfed down two huge pieces and well....dad couldn't leave Maeve out so he handed her his crust. He was tempted to give her a full slice, but know it is not on mom's pre-approved food list. So maybe she just had a couple of bites of his. Then again, maybe not dear.




Saturday began early. The girls were both up at 5:30am and the day began. We ate, we got dressed, we tried to brush hair, we tried to brush hair again, then just gave up. Stop number 1 was the dump. Uneventful. Stop number 2 was the Childrens Museum of New Hampshire in Dover. A huge hit for both Maeve and Charlotte. Stop number 3 was Jon and Tracys house in Newmarket. Great for Maeve. Bad for Charlotte. Lets just say it took an Oreo cookie, one lollipop, 4 pieces of gum, the offer to feed the clownfish, a cat named Toby, and both Lori and Tracey to get her out of the car. Oh and they of course noticed the "unbrushed knotty looking hair on both girls". One day I will invent a detangling spray that actually works.

Saturday night was just a blur of kids, diapers, a bath, and pure exhaustion. Sunday, well Sunday was the ohh so exciting trip to get an oil change and a car wash. Fun fun. The weekend went by so fast and despite the hard work, dad would never trade a single second of the special alone time he got to spend with his daughters. Hopefully they feel the same way.

They just keep growing

Every week Maeve just keeps amazing us. Her personality is starting to shine through her little body. Determined, aggressive, fiesty. She has a temper. And if this determined little girl doesn't get what she wants, well you know it pretty quick. She loves her sister and wants to be with her and wants to do big girl things like...walking. She isn't there yet but she will be soon. She stands. Holds on to things. She wants to walk, but just can't quite figure the whole balance thing out yet. My guess is one more month.


Charlotte on the other hand, well she continues to blossom into a little girl who knows how to manipulate dad and who knows how to throw mom over the edge. She is smart. She knows how to push buttons. But she also knows how to melt our hearts and make us laugh.

On Valentine's Evening she enjoyed herself with the delicious chocolate fondue. She enjoyed it so much she started rubbing chocolate all over her face. Then the chocolate kicked in and kicked her into hyper drive. It was actually fun to watch.




We are thankful every day for every moment we have with these two girls. For that we are truly blessed.

Peekaboo Who?

What is there to do in New Hampshire in Feburary, on a Sunday, when it's 50 degrees out? Why skiing of course. Today Charlotte hit the slopes with dad for the first time at Pats Peak. He was a little nervous, worrying she might not like it and then would never want to go again. She is only 3 after all. However, she took to the slopes like a champ and had absolutely no fear of falling or flying down the mountain at break neck speeds. In fact, she kept getting mad that dad was trying to hold her to help control her speed. Crazy. This kid is a natural and I dont say that lightly. Peekaboo Street watch out!

We graduated to the bigger hill by the end of the day and before you know it, she was skiing by herself. Granted she couldn't stop if she wanted to, but she had no desire to slow down and just wanted more and more and more. However, dad, being the out of shape middle aged man he is, had to take a break. We retired to the lodge, had lunch with Kelly & Dave and the boys, sat outside in the sun, had a beer, and enjoyed our rest. A perfect day for what felt like spring skiing.

After lunch we hit the slopes again for a few more runs. Again Charlotte did so great. One of the workers attending the bunny slope asked mom how old she was. She proudly replied 3 and told him it was her first day. He was impressed.

The day ended on a bit of a sour note. After skiing Charlotte decided to climb a huge snow pile that had tubes in the middle of it that act like slides. Of course she went down one of the slides, which propelled her like a bullet out of the other end. She shot out of the tube, hit the ground and abruptly came to a stop. Crying and screaming. Mouth full of blood. She had came to a stop so fast that she bit her toungue. Great. Nothing like ending the pefect day with a bloodly toddler screaming.

She calmed down and we left. Although she really didnt want to leave. We had to tell her the mountain was closed and she finally decided it was time to go home. Dad is ready for a nap. Charlotte is napping. And we are both looking forward to our next skiing adventure!

9 Months Today

Maeve turned 9 months old today. My how time flies. She is turning into a little girl right before our eyes. I don't know if it's the second child syndrome, but it seems like she is growing up so much faster than her big sister ever did. She is pulling herself up into a standing position. She smiles and laughs....and the temper. Ohhh we thought Charlotte had a temper....this one is a whole other story.

This kid cracks us up. She is crawling all over the house. Getting into anything she can get her little hands on. Dad caught her eating an M&M off the floor. She screamed and cried when he took the half eaten morsel out of her mouth. Again with the temper!

If Charlotte has something, Maeve wants it, and well....vice versa. Charlotte is showing signs of being jealous of Maeve. So dad went out and bought Charlotte her own fish tank, a 5 gallon Hex tank. Of course with 5 little fish. Chocolate, Charlotte, Ruby, Dobie, and Numie. Neon Tetras to be exact. However 3 days after the purchase he can only find 4 fish. He spent almost an hour looking for the missing fish. It wasnt floating. It wasnt in the filter. Who knows where it is. One of the great mysteries of life. Perhaps it will decide to return to the tank once it realizes getting past the two dogs, crawling baby, and three year old toddler is only half the battle. Its still a long 100 yards of frozen tundra to make it to the river. If it knows what is good for it, the fish will return to the tank tonight while we are sleeping.

There is a chance that Charlotte grabbed the fish and gave it to her sister. And knowing Maeve, well...she probably ate it. These kids are crazy. And every day is getting a little crazier as they begin to start getting into trouble together.

You figure it out

Contemporary art can sometimes be difficult to understand. But when you are three it makes perfect sense. Random colors, designs, strange videos of ocean shipping channels in China being projected on walls in a dark room, giant sculptures of chrome blobs, carbon scribbles on a giant canvas, hanging terrariums with holes cut in the bottom to stick your head in. Art is about interpretation and there is no better medium to interpret art than a child.

"Whats that Charlotte?" asks dad as they look at what seems to be a random wall painted with colorful shapes.
"Ohh that is a camp." says Charlotte, completely sure of her answer.

There is no better place to have your child experience a museum than the Mass Museum of Contemporary Art aka MOCA. Lots of floors, lots of exhibits, the one thing missing is the stuffy hush hush attitude that so many museums hold. Its a museum folks, not a library. I never really understood why you have to be quiet to enjoy art.

Giant video of a tree that moves in the breeze.

We aren't sure about this one. But Charlotte loved being in it.

Giant room with even bigger sculptures

Sculpture up close.

If you stare at it long enough you can see flowers and people in the fields...or not.

Looks like a pretty boring wall.

Until you get closer.

That is a lot of scribbles!

A whole different world.

Cement and rebar flowing in harmony. Huh?

The girls loved it.

Charlotte and Maeve loved it. Of course mom and dad loved it too. The only thing better was the jaunt to Jacks Hot Dog Shop down the street from the Moca to get a stack of mini hot dogs.