Year: 2017

It’s 7/17/17! That has to be something, right?

Anyway, this is going to be an all-encompassing photo dump of a post, basically. I slacked in documenting our July 4th week and since all we’ve been doing is going to the beach or to the pool, you’re about to see a lot of pictures of boys in bathing suits. Don’t worry, I’ll distinguish as we go along.

Ahem. So we went down to visit Grandma and Grandpa for July 4th aka Jason’s 40th birthday trip. We had an awesome dinner at Cowfish on Monday night to celebrate 🙂

(Left to right: Deirdre and Jeff Greenwald, Jason’s bff that lives in Sag Harbor, Grandpa, Grandma, me, Jason, Karen and Berg who came down for a couple days too, Liz and Chris).

They didn’t catch anything

Wheeeeee! We have a grown up bedroom! Moody paint and all!

There was not too much “construction” that happened in here (Jason did build out the closet and put the drawers in the cabinet in this post) – it was mainly decor. The annoying thing about moving in to a house that is way bigger than your last one is all the stuff you need to buy to turn it into “home”. We are coming up on 2 years and I still have some empty wall space waiting for the perfect print, a spot for a grandfather clock, etc etc. But either you can’t find what you want or it costs too much or both. So things happen a little at a time, amiright?

And FINALLY, our window treatments have been swapped out and our curtain panels were hung for the finishing touches in our bedroom. EEEEE, ready for the pics??

It’s kind of hard to get the full picture because the light from the windows was tough on the camera. But one final before (the listing photo):

And after:

I totally love it! The paint color is called Willow Creek by Benjamin Moore which is a brownish gray. We just had new window treatments installed last week, you can’t really tell but the old ones were the cheap pull down ones. We picked a Hunter Douglas gray color and the one over the bed is one giant retractable shade. In person the new ones really make a huge difference.

The curtains are from Target! I waited for these curtains for almost 2 years. Like, every Home Goods trip, every Target trip, every fabric store trip…I was waiting for panels that would work and not cost a million dollars each. So I bought these and rigged them up to work! Here’s what I did. I do not sew but I’m a whiz with a hot glue gun. With the help of my trusty mini, I tacked some pleaters tape to the backs of the curtains to stiffen them up. Then I added curtain hooks at even intervals so when they hung, I could pleat them out a little. They sell actual pleaters hooks that create the perfect look, but the tops of these curtains were SO thick because they were rod pockets and I knew the pleaters hooks wouldn’t work.

I had these gorgeous Pottery Barn rods and finials already from like a year ago and they sat in the closet and sat and sat. I can’t tell you how happy I was to finally put them up! So those were the finishing touch and it’s amazing how much warmer they made the room feel.

Now let me tell you about my bed. This, my friends, is why I actually LOATHE Pottery Barn. Even though I give them my money sometimes, I hate doing it. Here is the bed that I wanted to buy.

We knew we wanted a California King (education alert: California Kings are narrower than a regular King, but longer. That’s the difference. Most people get a king thinking it’s the biggest at 78″ by 80″ and in a way it is. But Jason had never had a bed where his feet didn’t hang off, so the California King just gives that extra length at 72″ by 84″. A Queen and a King are the same length. Should the words for bed sizes really be Capitalized? I’m unsure.) Anyway, we needed one that didn’t have a headboard that was too high considering the windows above. My choices were actually limited too because I was looking for the tufted, upholstered style that also had a footboard.

So after all was said and done I picked this one from PB. Or so I thought. Jason did give me his blessing but when I got to my check out, I just couldn’t do it. The fees were too much to bear.

Then I checked Wayfair. Ahhhhh! This bed:

Less than half the tax and the magical words that you can’t believe all retailers don’t offer in this day and age: FREE SHIPPING. Nanny nanny boo boo, Pottery Barn.

So the best shot, one more time:

Proud to say that’s a completely undoctored photo, you can tell because the boys’ red and green Lego bins are in the lower left hand corner. Usually the carpet is strewn with thousands of pieces and I quickly raked them up to get this glamorous photo. Just like the rest of the house, there is no hiding that kids live here. It already does not look like this anymore! I’ll have to save this post to remind me 😉

Well both boys are officially out for the summer as of last Friday!

Let’s do Alex first – he’s been done for a few weeks actually. Before and After:

Alex changed a lot this year, oh man. Miss Tammy’s was positively the most perfect place for him. He “grew up” so much, in terms of his speech and his overall sense of self. That happens anyway at this age, between 2 and 3, but still. He owned it! I admit I felt pretty disconnected from his life at Miss Tammy’s because Jason always did drop-off and Jen always did pick-up, but I got nothing but glowing reports on his sociability and lovable personality. A+ for Alex! The day after the official “last day” Miss Tammy had a little petting zoo and a party, Jen took him and these are just cute photos from that 🙂

Next stop: Community Nursery School in Wayland in the fall!

Now – Ashton! Ashton has been at Belmont Nursery School for THREE years. We kept him there even after we moved and he commuted with me 3 days a week for almost two full school years. There were two main factors: first, the cost. It was like half the price of the schools in Natick/surrounding area for the same days/times. And second, this year, he had Mrs. Cooney! She is a phenomenal teacher and when we made the decision to hold him back, I knew her class would be perfect. Junior Kindergartens or transitional Kindergartens are very hard to find. In Mrs. Cooney’s class, every student was 5 years old by December 31 so Ashton really was in a group of true peers. Before and After:

Notice my hack sign done frantically at the last minute on Friday hahaha. And Alex didn’t even have a sign. Parents are always so much more prepared at the beginning of the year lol. Anyway after the picture we all piled in the car and drove to Belmont for the final time for his graduation. First all the children gave a musical performance (behold the sound of music) and then here is Ashton getting his certificate:

 Proud parents! Alex was crying in the corner and in an inexplicably bad mood so, oh well.

And that’s it! Next stop is KINDERGARTEN at Lilja Elementary in Natick. But we have lots planned before September comes – Summer 2017, let’s do this!

What I like to do with these posts that happen every year is to look back at what I wrote the year before. So I just went to look at my “Father’s Day 2016” post and realized, uh, there isn’t one. I thought hmmm that’s odd. But THEN I scrolled back in my camera roll and saw that I had had my ear surgeries a few days before Father’s Day last year and was in an anesthesia fog for a week+ afterwards. So that explains it. 2017 was better than 2016 for me based on that fact alone.

But Father’s Day isn’t about me. It used to be about my dad but has become increasingly more about Jason (sorry Poppy ). But now it’s really about the boys and THEIR presents for Daddy that THEY open because the presents are from THEM. Every single day, for a week leading up to it, they would ask “is it Father’s Day yet?” Their gift-radar was beeping, big time. (The radar isn’t perfect, it can’t distinguish the intended recipient, so the boys just open pretty much everything themselves regardless of who the gift is for. Ask Jayden. Or Owen. Or Kayleigh. Or Jason, in this case.)

Here’s the video of Ashton giving Jason “his” gift. Don’t you know, Jason is putting that on his keys whether he likes it or not 😉

The rest of the day we pretty much just putzed around. We had decided not to go to the beach because it was cloudy and kind of clammy out, so the end result was me cleaning/doing laundry while Jason mowed the lawn and then after lunch we went to the pool for a couple hours. Then, they watched the golf on TV. Jason had mentioned the US Open many times that day and said that all he wanted to do was sit down and watch it.

At one point Alex had had enough and wanted to watch Inspector Gadget and Ashton, fiercely protective, said “Nope! That’s IT! We HAVE to watch this Alex, it’s the LAST DAY of the contest! We are ONLY WATCHING GOLF from now on!” Alex cried while Ashton crossed his arms unrelentingly and Jason poured himself another beer. It was so un-relaxing 😉

We love you Jason! You are everything the boys want to be and the hero in their lives every day. Thank you for being you. xoxoxox 🙂

About 3 hours after I wrote that last post about Ashton having a loose tooth, things took a turn. It doesn’t seem accurate to say it fell out or he lost it. No, I had to yank it. I got home and it was pretty much hanging by a thread. Tooth 24 in the Universal Numbering System, your time had come. So I rolled up my sleeves, grabbed a tissue for some grip and went in. Ashton was surprisingly brave. As a matter of fact, so was I! We’re talking serious heebie jeebie territory and neither one of us knew what to expect. It took me a few tries and Ashton and I were both pretty tense, but when it finally popped out we cheered at the same time! We really did 🙂 He was so excited and proud! It was a great moment that I really hope he always remembers because I absolutely will.

He couldn’t sleep. He said “I can’t believe it’s Christmas.” I said it is not Christmas, you lost a small tooth so hopefully the Tooth Fairy will bring you a little bit of money but that’s it. No note, no presents, nothing else. Okay?? “Ok.”

I did not want to set any insane precedent for the Tooth Fairy because we have a lot of teeth left to go. And then I’ll have all of Alex’s. So Ashton got $5, which even seems like a lot. He was up at 6 am which of course is way too early but when the Tooth Fairy has come for the first time, it’s a little exciting 🙂 Big milestone – yay Ashton!

UGH. I mean, for real. The weather over the past 6-8 weeks has been nothing short of abysmal. Cloudy, misty, and completely unwarm. I think they said there were 5 total sunny days in May, whatever. Memorial Day was a washout, literally, and sometimes you wake up to blue skies and by noon HAHAHA just kidding.

Life goes on though, as it does. I guess the major announcement is that Alex is potty trained! Just like with Ashton, it took maybe…5 hours? He nailed it. He proudly tells me when he needs go and hops on the big potty like a boss (as he should at age 3.3!). He still sits to pee and the funniest thing is that when he is done, he balls up some toilet paper and drops it straight through his legs into the water. There is no purpose for this except that it seems to be his interpretation of what I do.

And then there is the art of the nature pee.

I’m not proud of this but it is very convenient to have boys.

So now I’m saving all kinds of money on diapers AND Alex will be seen in the same swim trunks as Ashton. I’m obsessed with them.

I dug them out for him to try on pretty much instantly 😉 You just can’t pull those off with a swim diaper underneath.

Alex also loves worms lately.

 

He told me he wanted to bring them inside and give them a bath. I said, “Uh, no. We are not a worm spa.” “But YEAH Mommy! Da worm needs a TUBBY cause when I dirty dat’s what I haf ta do!”

The boys love bugs in general. They get plastic containers and go outside and get ants, roly polies, etc. and build them little habitats with sticks and leaves. It’s really cute, until their new friends go on the lam. Do you know how many times I find the [open] containers somewhere in the house with ONLY the sticks and leaves still in them? It’s not a good feeling.

I forgive them though, because this.

They just walk around and hold hands sometimes and I think my heart will explode. Or they scooter side by side.

Yes they are still in their pajamas in that one. We start early.

What else…the big thing in Ashton’s world right now is he has two loose “wiggly” bottom teeth, so the Tooth Fairy’s first visit is imminent…and shaping up to be a lesson in disappointment. He mentioned that perhaps he would get a hundred dollars. That should be interesting, you know, when he doesn’t.

I have saved the best for last. It took a month, but my campaign for this monstrosity was finally successful.

This bounce house has, so far, been the single most amazing thing that has ever happened in our backyard. We got it last Friday and bedtimes all weekend long were on average 45 minutes earlier. That’s what they call a win.

And with that, this newsy newsletter post of a blog is concluded. I’ll leave you with a picture that pretty much sums things up lately.

Those are tire tracks on a banana that was innocently resting on the counter. I’m considering doing a blog post entitled “things I have found in the laundry”, because it would really show off how random life with these boys can be. For now, the banana.

This project is pretty self explanatory! We have a heavily used side entrance to our house (where both the mudroom and kitchen exterior doors are) and the deck, well…it was red and also the wood was not in the best shape. The top step board wiggled when you stepped on it and a lot of the other planks were cracked with chipping paint. Not the best look.

So we checked the calendar for a good rebuild date that worked for my dad. If you’ll recall he helped completely replace the deck at our old house, and this project was really peanuts compared to that. “We can do it in a day,” they said.

And in a day they did! Approximately 9 am until 5 pm yesterday our driveway looked like this:

The boys’ tools are scattered in there too. Obviously.

I was a little nervous about the color Trex we had picked because I didn’t have time to special order anything from Home Depot or Lowe’s – I had to pick what was in stock which was not a lot. Ultimately I am so happy with it though! My before and afters are a tad off, I’m out of practice, but here are the winning shots!

 

Ta-dah!
This morning the deck was already in use.

Pretty often when I go get my hair highlighted, when I look in the mirror afterwards, I’m like WHOA! I had no idea how old and bad-looking I’d become until I saw myself fresh and new! This porch was kind of like that. And of course now I want to replace our entire back deck with the same stuff (which is Trex in the Clamshell color) because it too is suffering.

Anyway, a huge thank you to Jason and to Poppy and Mema for coming to visit so this could happen! I love my new porch and did practically nothing to contribute to how awesome it came out. My favorite kind of project! 😀

Another Mother’s Day has come and gone – my 6th one in fact. Honestly I don’t have much to say about it this year. It rained all day- seriously over 12 hours straight. Jason worked. GG was down for a visit so in the morning we went to Target with the boys and then a fabric store. She left after lunch and then Ashton, Alex and myself did nothing special. I took care of the laundry, made dinner, and said no to “Ninjago” on Netflix approximately 12,000 times. Frankly it really wasn’t a great day at all. We were a little stir crazy, the boys were not at their best and neither was I. I’m just going to leave it at that.

I have one picture but we all look so bad that I’m not going to even post it. We had just woken up and the boys were making faces.

Ashton made me a necklace out of clay beads:

If you remember my last post, it was about two giant cardboard boxes in our living room that became a fort. I named it Naples. I predicted my Friday night would be especially easy with Naples around and she did not disappoint. Disaster nearly struck when I could not find any mini flashlights for the boys to take in there. Usually there are at least 20 of them in the junk drawer, but of course, Friday night, there were none. And our big flashlight takes a D battery, I mean who has D batteries on hand. Not me. So we went foraging into Jason’s work bench and ta-dah! Headlamps!

They went to work right away coloring the inside.

Look at the random creepy face Ashton drew.

Like what is that? He told me it was a cave monster.

Then they covered the roof with “hot lava” (?):

But you know what, as long as they are entertaining themselves, bring on the molten hot rock (imaginary only).

Saturday and Sunday we went to Long Island for a quick overnight to celebrate Owen’s 5th birthday. The boys did this the entire time, much to Grandpa’s dismay 😉

Those are their remote control Raptor trucks on the pool cover. They whizzed around for hours.

Anyway it was my first solo trip, and my first time just staying one night, but we had a great time! And I got one of my most favorite pictures yet of the three cousins:

Ironically the last one I took out of about 500. Happy birthday Owen!! We loved your party and really loved the goodie bags 😉

Stay tuned for Kindergarten orientation this Friday!

I’d like to begin this post with an observation. My blogging has obviously fallen way off, and it’s because the urgent need to document everything is fading fast. In the beginning of the boys’ little lives, it all happened so quickly. Ashton was born and all the big things, like first steps and his first birthday and first words, well they came at a rapid pace and as such, blog posts came pouring out of me. Just as that was slowing down, we moved, and our Watertown house kept us busy until shortly after, when I got pregnant with Alex. There was that whole round of excitement, another set of blink-and-you’ll-miss-them milestones plus lots of fun house projects, and then we moved again. Looking back, I was still a well-oiled blogging machine until about 6 months ago. Lately I just haven’t had any dramatic before-and-afters, we aren’t moving, and there are no more babies coming. We’ve settled in to life, you know? And part of me is sick of doing the same post every year. For example, we just had Ashton’s annual allergy appointment, which I should write up because of all things, it’s great for me to have to refer to, but I can’t muster it somehow. And I do have a post on our guest room I suppose I could document, but the days go by and I don’t take the pictures. I’ve had the blogging blahs.