little surfer boy...

here is the much awaited debut of Carter's "surf shack"...

the inspiration (everything I create has some) was the surfer swim suit hanging over his window and the poster over his bed that i found on ebay months ago....


the boogie board is one of Kevin's and mines and I love the picture on it and the glow of the night light behind it is really cool...

the vintage light in the corner is well, a find in a relatives house and has been repaired twice now, we'll see how it holds up...

I still can't part with Carter's baby signs so until he yells at me for still having them up they will be...

the dresser is a hand-me down from Aunt Em and Uncle Sean... with a little paint, walnut stain and polyurethane it looks perfect for a surf shack!...

still have some organizing and sign hanging and one more addition that is a Christmas present... that has to wait...
my hope was that this room will grow with him and he could be there forever... well maybe not with all his lovies on the bed!....

sorry for the hiatus....

over the next couple days I will fill you in about all that has been happening around here...

yesterday was spent putting this collection of fabric together and a vintage chenille bed spread...


since I woke up at 6am with no ability to sleep any longer (the pregnancy induced insomnia is kicking in)... I crept downstairs to cut out squares of fabric and watch the sun rise... I usually never see that...

this fabric will eventually be two (not just one) crib quilts for my little girls... not matching but very similar...
with the addition of a my parents beach blanket (a pink chenille bed spread) as the back of the blankets I have everything I need... they are a bit crazier than I intended but every time I create something I believe it reflects my life in some way.... this time colors crashing together in a beautiful arrangement not necessarily planned to be that way is a great metaphor for my life right now.... not a crazy quilt (those take effort to make them so crazy looking) but a simple quilt gone a little crazy...

and the "girlie-ness" factor? wow I am shocked by how girlie this is and how much I love it...

so today I have to sew together the second front with my "no-napping" helper at hand... and then it is off to the store for batting and yarn to tie it... I am addicted to creating many things at once so tomorrow you will see the much awaited finished creation of Carter's "surf shack" room...

still treasured...

while checking e-mail this morning I overheard....

"Get in the car, we have to go to the hospital!"- as Carter jumps in the car and Daisy piles in too

As I hear this I think maybe he is talking about me going to work or having the babyso I ask- "The hospital? What's going on Carter?"

he replies- "The bug is not working and needs to be fixed at the hospital."

After a complete conversation describing the situation over the "cell phone" they are off to fix the bug....

the box is still a big hit but every time I nearly trip over it I want to rip it a part and then I am reminded that this "toy" has brought so much joy to their lives.... Carter's imagination has grown so much since we invited this box into our home and it still has many miles to go!

Trick or Treat!

we had lovely weather and lots of fun dressing up and showing off our little cow and farmer....

~our front porch decor~

~hill-billy teeth~

~Daisy says "Moooooo!" and "Boooooo!"- they sound the same~

~Daisy doesn't like to be pulled by a rope-no surprise here"~

~a visit to Nanny and Grandpa "B"~
~the porch at night~
~Daisy pulling her own rope to ring her cow bell~
~knocking on Mimi and Papa's door~

~Daisy stole the farmer's rotten teeth.... yuck!~~Papa's pumpkins (well every one's really)~

this mama gets a new look...

I really needed some spicy in my life... I settle for a new hair style... just that thing I needed to put that pep in my step... with 12 weeks to go before this baby makes it's grand entrance I have a lot to do.... Carter's room is under construction (new taping and mudding done but needs sanding, primer and paint... oh and new carpeting)... then onto the girl's room (definitely more excited for that one!)... haven't decorated a girls room since I was in high school... previews of all the gathering I have done coming soon.... until then I am trying to reorganize a couple things (habits) in my life that just don't work anymore... I'll share later...

Hallo"queen" is coming....

Carter likes to say "Halloween" like it is a holiday for the royals or something.... we have been making progress on costumes... decorating the front porch and trying to not eat too much candy that we have already accumulated.... today we visited Daddy at work in fopra dry run on the costumes and then headed to Ikea... over the past weekend we carved pumpkins at Papa's house.... the kids love this!.... here are some pictures from our afternoon...





meanwhile I am trying to catch up on sleep... I work four out of five nights this past weekend... looking forward to a full night rest tonight (last night was very restless)... I am also healing from a wicked charlie horse in my left calf from sleeping yesterday (I know this is common when you are dehydrated but who wants to drink all night long when the have baby feet kicking their bladder when they are trying to sleep the next day)... with Carter no longer napping I get so excited when he is tuckered out around 4pm and wants to watch PBS... I want to read or catch some ZZZs myself....

"oh-wee -oh... he looks just like Buddy Holly....."

due to an eye infection Kevin was forced to where his glasses instead of contact.... most people don't even know he wears contacts because he literally wears his glasses two minutes out of the day... from the bed to the bathroom and then the bathroom to the bed... the issue once he developed this eye infection thing was that those glasses he has worn for two minutes out of everyday for about six years no longer gave him the correct vision to watch TV let alone drive to work.... he had to go with the kids while I slept on Saturday to pick out new glasses.... having an "accountant's" mindset he got the cheapest glasses and the cheapest lenses.... and he has been wearing them all week... this has made for many laughs and me breaking out in this Weezer song.... his eye is on the mend at this point and I think he will be wearing contact soon enough!...
here he is being a brat... while i try to figure out my camera he takes the glasses off.... took me three shots before I noticed....

from the mouths of babes....

after getting dressed yesterday Carter states....

"I look like Kev or something!"

"Excuse me? Do you mean Daddy?"

"Yeah! him!"



and Daisy is simply amazing us with her language skills everyday from saying apple perfectly clear to me yesterday to trying to repeat words we say like... fuzzy wuzzy spider or purple.... I think she is a perfectionist because she says a word until it is perfect and says it perfect from that way on.... in this way she is much more like Kevin than me!

the pumking patch

again we headed to the farm to pick pumpkins from the patch (mostly so mama could take some pictures in our fall outfits)
we had lots of fun trying to pick the perfect pumpkins and trying to get some nice pictures...
Daisy thought this was a nice smile!

and she was distracted by the hayride and tractor...
we tried to get some shots at the barn but they were done at this point...
then we saw the tractor in the play ground and they could not help but jump on it....after this shot we were were very cold and decided to head in and catch the Red Sox.... hey they didn't go down without a fight and now we watch the Phillies try to tackle these kids...

a harvest of hope....

recently I have been totally ignoring our garden.... with the thought that it was a failure lingering in my mind (most of our big tomatoes and our pumpkin vines rotted with all the rain in August, same with the last of the beloved summer squash and zucchini)... we did enjoy the bounty of others gardens (thanks Papa and Amanda!)... but I feel like I just lost the oomph after that to even walk out to the garden.... until today.... we were loving reminded by Daddy over the weekend that the carrots were still green and maybe ready to be pulled... remembering that I planted the carrots for the kids mainly we headed out in the fall evening air to find...

some tiny....

some longer...

some short and fat resembling a sweet potato...

the kids loved it! and in the end we had a basket full and a feast of carrots....

I am now finding my self dreaming of planting a garden in the spring... I think I may have to check out a good gardening book to get the wheels turning... and figure out how to tear this jungle apart for the winter and prepare for the spring.... any advice? I am more than willing to learn!

Friday night lights....

we took Carter on a date (just Kevin, Carter and I) to see the Wachusett homecoming football game... it was kind of fun to be just with him... and to see Papa at work... here are some fun pictures....
needless to say I had fun watching the under dressed teenagers in there "I am oblivious to everyone except myself" state of mind.... kind of funny to observe and yes I do remember those days.... I also think I live with a three year old who sometimes has the same state of mind... needless to say it was a nice free evening (thanks to Papa) and Carter LOVED it!!! talked about it all day and the next... I think in the futre as our family grows we need to make sure we spend "date time" with each kid... it is nice to focus just on them since they seem to need that from time to time..... don't we all?

clueless...

I have been driving around lately in the "mama bus" catching this tune on the radio that sticks with me for most of the day.... I am usually caught at the dinner table singing "Think about you in the summertime..." (and yes Mom and Dad you can sing at the dinner table at this house)... Kevin has been curious about this song that I serenade our children with daily... he gave me a weird look and said "Who sings that song?"... I having no clue, just shrugged my shoulders only to have him say.... "I think it my be the new New Kids on the Block song"... me being clueless when it comes to most pop music these days gasped and said "If that's the new kids all shoot myself!"... I then got up and ran to the computer to check out Rhapsody and.... sure enough my summertime serenade is the New Kids!!!!! Donnie, Joey, Danny, Jordan and Jon?... a blast from the past but I was never a huge fan until now!... (just kidding!)