Charlotte's Web

Searching for Gems!

2011-05-15T18:05:00.005-05:00

What else do you in NH on a dreary, rainy, chilly spring Sunday? Grab your pick axe and head to the mountains for a little mining. This week Charlotte told us how she wanted to become a gemologist (since they study diamonds and rubys). So dad decided to take the girls on a little family trip to Ruggles Mine in Grafton NH. What else is in Grafton NH? Nothing.

Luckily we were also able to have Charlotte bring along her friend Amelia (who is also very fond of gems). We piled in the van and headed into what seemed like the middle of now where, up a long mountain road to Ruggles Mine which is at the top. We really weren't prepared. Most people bring buckets, flashlights, their own tools to break up the rocks. Instead we used one of moms purses to fill up and dad rented a hammer.

Not really knowing what to look for, we ended up with 10 pounds of rocks. Not sure what kind, but some look pretty cool. My guess is the crazy color rocks were Uranium (yes they used the mine to mine for uranium). You can see it in the picture below really well.

Ruggles Mine, we will be back. Next time with headlamps and a field guide. Hopefully we can score some semiprecious stones!

One of the caves in the mine.

Maeve with Amelia

Dad with the little dwarfs!

Charlotte and Amelia on a hunt for diamonds!

One of the caves!

Another cave

Amelia trying to bust open a rock with the hammer.

Happy Birthday Maeve!

2011-05-02T18:03:00.000-05:00

Today Maeve turns 3. Hard to imagine it's been 3 years since she came into our lives. Full head of hair, determined, strong willed Maeve. So much has changed over the last 3 years and so much has remained the same. Her use of language growth amazing. Her attitude and determination unwaivering and the same as always. Our Maevy Gravy has grown into a little girl who makes us laugh daily and at the same time makes us shocked at how tough a little kid can be. We love the dynamic she adds to our family and are thankful for every day, every second we have had with her.

Its been a long few days for Maeve up to her birthday. On Wednesday the 27th, we checked into Childrens Hospital Boston to get her tonsils and adnoids out. Hoping this would help with her snoring, sleeping, and eating. A tough surgery and an even tougher recovery. Mix that with a kid with more determination then I have ever seen and the mix becomes crazy. When the PA came into look into her through, a firm no from Maeve set the stage. 10 minutes later 4 nurses took everything they had to hold down this 2 year old to get her to open her mouth. That is the level of strength she has. Getting her to eat her pain medication and antibiotics has been a challenge to say the least. Begging and pleading didnt work. Bribery didn't work. Trickery of hiding it in icecream, gatorade, smoothies didnt work. Finally we had to use scare tacticts. Not what we wanted to do but it worked. She is smart and tough, but such a loving and caring kid. Always playing with her babies. Always excited to give hugs and cuddles. Which makes her Maeve and we are thankful for that.

So with a few hours left before your birthday Maeve, we want to tell you how much we love you. How much we appreciate your attitude and personality. If we were ever going to get in a gang fight, we would want you on our side. If we were ever going to box Mike Tyson, we would want you in our corner. If we ever had to care for 50 babies at a time, you would be hired in a second. We cant wait to see where your determination brings you and dont worry, we promise to get out of your way!

New Years 2011 in Vermont

2011-02-03T20:49:00.001-05:00

Maeve Snoring

2011-01-22T16:13:00.003-05:00

Christmas 2010 at home in NH

2010-12-25T20:34:00.000-05:00

Chestmut Performance, and Cookie making at home

2010-12-09T20:42:00.000-05:00

Making Gingerbread cookies at home

Charlotte our Little Angel

Walking in to the chapel

Maeve having breakfast with Santa that morning, She was not a fan of sitting on his lap.

2010-12-05T20:49:00.008-05:00

Today we celebrated Charlotte turning 5 years old (on Tuesday) at the American Girl Doll Store in Natick with her friends. On a normal day the store would surely be chaos. Add to that chaos a little "3 weeks till Christmas" shopping choas and together it equals Dad overload. Dolls everywhere, outfits everywhere, kids everywhere, mom with giant shopping bags, on two floors and my brain melted down. The good news is despite my anxiety overwhelmed too many people in one store with no direction issue, Charlotte had a ball. Turning 5 is a big deal, and its even a bigger deal to spend the day with your girlfriends doing what girls do best, shopping and playing dolls. Charlotte got a new doll, Maeve got a new doll, and dad got to witness the inner workings of what actually happens in an American Girl Doll store. (oh and what really happens is they make a FORTUNE)

To say Charlotte had fun would be an understatement, and her little sister didnt feel like a little sister but one of the girls all day. Maeve picked her doll with relative ease (Livvy, although we think she was influenced by someone to call her Elizabeth, which she cant say well so it was shortened to Lizzy, which she happens to say with a slight lisp as Livvy). LIvvy was born. Pretty simple.

Charlotte on the other hand picked a doll at first, from the make your own doll section (which is not really make your own, but more like pick a different doll that has almost everything you want it to have). After picking the doll, she found another one, and then on her way back upstairs to tell us she found another doll, found yet another she liked. In the end all three dolls were lined up like a police line up and Charlotte had to pick the one she wanted. In the end it was the first doll she picked. Always works that way. Go with your gut kid and you wont go wrong.

We all sat, had lunch, and the girls even got to eat with their dolls. Dad, not being one to be left out, was able to borrow a "guy doll" from the store to eat with. Everyone had their dolls, everyone had fun, even carrying three giant shopping bags, bumping into people, trying to keep an eye on your kids, wondering just how much mom was really spending, type of fun.

These girls love to dance

2010-10-24T07:39:00.003-05:00

backstory. We were in Sears for mom to return some stuff. In the men's section there are these televisions hanging from the ceiling. Music videos playing. My kids think it is their own personal dance party so they started dancing and didnt stop!

End of Summer Camping and Apples

2010-09-06T18:50:00.007-05:00

Summer has come to an end. Yes, many vacations, many many hot days, sunny weather, and very little rain has been replaced with cool nights, and crisp warm days. We decided to take advantage of a long Labor Day weekend with a little camping trip to West Ossipee NH. Mom was not excited about two nights away in a tent, not for any other reason than she knows Charlotte and Maeve would not sleep well. She was right.

Despite the lack of sleep the girls had a blast playing with the other kids (Pam, Kurt & Sammy/ Paul Jena & Marin & Declan/ Jess Scott & Ava & Harrison).

Highlights of the trip, the heated swimming pool that was enjoyed by the kids, the 35 seat movie theatre with a showing of G-Force, and of course just the fun of sitting by a campfire on a chilly night. Oh an the visit from alien spacecraft at the campsite.

Lowlights of the camping trip, mom catching a molten marshmallow on her chest and the two leaches that dad found on his feet from the river. All in all a successful trip.

(watch out charlotte with that hot marshmallow on the end of the stick)

(mom takes a hot marshmallow in the chest)

(careful, there could be leaches in that water)

Since we only camped Friday to Sunday we had all day Monday to enjoy. With clear blue skies and weather in the low 70's it only made sense to enjoy the day apple picking.

Maeve, Maeve, Maeve

2010-07-23T20:49:00.002-05:00

Miss Maeve is just a piece of work. She is potty trained...well, for the most part. She speaks in full sentences....lots and lots of full sentences. She sings her alphabet, and counts past 10. She knows all the words to the Vacation Bible School music and has her very own favorite songs. Her favorites include, Step By Step, Our God and This Little Light of Mine.

She can be a bit shy when talking to people she knows as well as strangers. She does not like men (which is a great thing;)) She gets very embarrassed if we catch her singing or dancing to music. Gosh, this kid loves music.

She has a temper....a quick and aggressive temper. She is rough with her older sister. Almost daily she will cause a fight...it isn't pretty. She HATES time-out...I mean HATES it.

She loves us all very much. Is always so excited to see us and always wants to know where her big sister is. She wants to go to school like her big sister, farm camp like her big sister, chew gum like her big sister and on and on.

She gives the best hugs, is super funny, and beautiful beyond words.

First Trip to the Beach this summer

2010-06-29T20:41:00.000-05:00

We got from Puerto Rico and the next day we decided that we would take the girls to the beach. They had a blast but it was overload for mom and dad who had been away from kids for a week. Mom wanted to take the next flight back to Puerto Rico.

Ballet Recital

2010-06-23T20:30:00.001-05:00

Charlotte had her second ballet recital of her career. It was a hot mess. But she loved it and and we loved watching her. Maeve was so proud of her sister and she loved sitting on Grampy's lap or dancing and clapping for her sister.

The day after the recital we left for Peurto Rico. Nanny and Grampy watched the girls for 5 days. The girls loved it so did nanny and grampy. Dad was ready to come back, mom loved relaxing and having alone time. She could have stayed a few more days. it was a great trip but very hot and humid.

Charlotte Graduates from Preschool (the second time)

2010-06-11T19:47:00.007-05:00

Time Flies

2010-05-27T20:43:00.006-05:00

Time, is not on our side. It is spiraling out of control and seems to be speeding up! This week Maeve became a kid. She has learned to use the potty and has been going every day over the past two days. Crazy! She is the proudest little pooper we have ever seen. Then again, any kid would be proud if you give them a healthy dose of chocolate after a bowel movement. We are proud of her and we are so looking forward to being done with diapers. Diapers and summer do not go well together. Diapers in water BAD. Diapers in sand BAD. Diapers in heat BAD. The light is at the end of the tunnel and we are getting closer to that land of diaper free kids!

Sorry we have to post these. We know one day they will resurface. Hopefully around the time she starts dating. Dad will pull these out and do his best to scare off any potential dates!

And to not leave our crazy little one Charlotte out we have included some of the latest pics of her. Yes, riding her bike around the street with a tutu and her rubber rainboots. Crazy kid. We love you!

Happy Birthday Maeve!

2010-05-03T18:47:00.004-05:00

Yes you are now officially two years old! I say "officially" since you have acted like a two year old for months now. You love to talk. You love to sing. You love to tell us "I can't want..." to do things. You drive us crazy with your terrible temper and horrible stubborness. But your cuteness wins out in the end, no matter how mad you make us. You are so damn cute we just can not stay mad at you. You don't love to share. If Charlotte has something you want it. If we have something you want it. If we try to take that same thing back from you...watch out. Meltdown coming. However you are so sweet and caring that it is infectious. You love your big sister and do everything you can to be around her. You ask for her first thing in the morning and miss her so much when she is at school. You want her to play with you all the time and love to get her attention.

You love your babies and love to play with them. You love putting them to bed, holding them, feeding them, and squeezing them. You love hugs. Big giant super squeeze hugs. It is the best part of getting you out of your crib in the morning, your little arms wrapped around our necks, squeezing us with joy. We will never get tired of those hugs and only hope you offer them to us the rest of our lives.

You say "bless you" when we sneeze and you hate boogies. You are the only kid we know that could be 100% happy eating nothing but potatos. Baked potatos, french fries, mashed potatos....it doesn't matter. They are your favorite and you love them all equally. You ask every night for them if we dont feed them to you, which we are rarely doing since you will not eat anything else on your plate. You love chocolate and candy and your dad's smoothies. You love ice and make us break it up into little pieces for you to chomp on. And popsicles. Another Maeve favorite.

You hate having your hair brushed by mom, but love when dad does it. Dad doesn't do a very good job getting the knots out of your hair, which is why you probably enjoy his brushing more. Those knots are crazy and we are always trying to prevent them from turning in a giant dreadlock.

You dear Maeve, refer to yourself as Maevey Gravy which makes us laugh. That is what you think your name is, and we never correct you. We hope it sticks forever. You Maevey Gravy complete our family and we appreciate every second of every day we have with you. You have shown us how lucky we are and we love you so much. Thank you for an amazing 2 years of loving, laughing, crying, and most importantly smiling.

Love Mom and Dad (and Charlotte)

One week left

2010-04-25T18:28:00.006-05:00

"I can't want to go to bed!" yells Maeve vertually every night. She is not shy in telling us what she does and doesn't want, even if she doesn't use proper grammar. In just over a week she will be 2 years old. Which makes us laugh when saying it, because in our minds, she is way older than two. She communicates more like a 3 or 4 year old and seems to have the old sole of an elderly woman. Intelligent yet caring and compassionate, she seems to blow us away ever week with something.

Her temper is ferocious. Luckily she is so cute we just cant stay made at her. It must be inherent that way as mad as you get, you just can't help but loving this little creature sreaming, crying, and spitting.

Today dad was able to enjoy the girls at Charmingfare Farm while mom was working. The weather called for rain, but the sun stayed out and the weather was warm. The Robinsons joined us (minus Rachael who was also working). First stop, a bag of feed for the animals and a stop at the llama pen. Charlotte wouldn't even THINK about feeding "shiny" (she named the llama shiny). Maeve on the other hand, no fear. Loved having the crazy lipped animal suck the pellets out of her hands. She laughed and only wanted to feed them more and more. This was the same for virtually every animal we ran across (with the exception of the giant turkey whose GOBBLE GOBBLE scared the kids). Hysterical to watch. Maeve who just wants to get dirty, and charlotte who likes to enjoy animals from a far.

We had a great day although mom was missed. Its exhausting with these two girls. Dad certiainly understands that the "stay at home" gig is a full time job, a full time thankless job (with dad being the one who doesnt say thank you enough).

We are somehow hoping that when Maeve turns two she will magically start sleeping through the night. Yes we are still dealing with one wake up per night. Dad begrudingly crawls out of bed, rubs her back and she goes back to sleep. Some nights by the time he makes it back into bed and starts to doze off, she wakes again. Luckily those are few and far between. However he is looking forward to a full 8 hours of sleep one of these days.

And then there will be bunk beds. Princess bunkbeds, with Charlotte on the top bunk because she is a princess. No not a princess. She doesnt want to be a princess. She now wants to be a fairy. Typical girls.

Winners again!

2010-03-28T20:06:00.005-05:00

Saturday was the annual Easter Bonnet Contest in town. Over the past 4 years the competition has really stepped up. What started out as an innocuous little contest has turned into a full fledged competition. There were funny bonnets, big bonnets, creative bonnets, and of course our bonnets, which this year donned fresh flowers. Charlotte's bonnet included a hand made paper mache watering can sprinkling water on fresh gerber daisy's.

Maeve's had intertwined pussy willow complete with pink carnations and birds (and a fuzzy bunny on top).

Unfortunately Maeve did not win, however Charlotte did pull off a win for the 4th year. This despite breaking down in tears in front of the judges. Ahhh the trials and tribulations of being a returning champ. Yes Charlotte there is a lot of pressure to win. However, its what we do. We push through it and win some more (I really dont tell her that although I want to).

Maeve SHOULD have won. We think the judges picked the girl next to her by mistake when they meant to pick Maeve. Its ok. Next year dear.

Singing seems to be the new past time in the Ronan household. Maeve loves to sing Mary Had a Little Lamb, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and of course the ABC's. She is a singing fool and her and Charlotte love to belt out the tunes especially while riding in the car.

These girls are amazing. They really do love each other. Maeve of course wants anything Charlotte has. Anything Charlotte eats. Anything she plays with.

well Shiver My Hips!

2010-03-11T19:20:00.004-05:00

It is safe to say Charlotte and Maeve are crazy. Insane. Just plain nuts. As they get older, they seem to get crazier. At this pace mom and dad will have them committed by the time they turn 9. They play together. They fight. And to make matters worse, they just seem to play off each other. Charlotte makes a crazy face. Maeve makes a crazier one. Maeve starts screaming, Charlotte screams too. Together they are non-stop. It very cute seeing them grow into their sister roles, but at the same time exhausting!

Spring is coming. It has warmed up enough to begin to play outside. The snow is melting (although not all of it yet). The other day, while the girls went for a walk around the block, dad pulled out of the shed Maeves tricycle. Just a day earlier mom and Charlotte tried to get it out but it was wedged behind a big heavy table. So while the girls were not around, dad managed to get it out and had it ready for Maeve when she came home. Charlotte spotted it first. Her reaction? "Well...SHIVER MY HIPS!!" We could not help but to just start laughing!

Maeve as crazy as she is, continues to survive by being cute. As we have discussed before, her temper is red hot. Then 5 minutes later can become the sweetest girl right before your eyes. She plays mom and dad like a fiddle. And to some extent we let her. She sings. She talks. She even had a knock down drag out fight with Charlotte over an orange slice. Yes, you heard it right. The funny thing is I think Maeve could kick all of our asses if she got mad enough.

A little more excitement in the Ronan household this month. Dad turned 20. He was lucky enough to celebrate his birthday on one of the most beautiful days so far and to top it off spent it skiing at Pats Peak with friends and family. It was the perfect spring skiing day and dad is so thankful for his beautiful, loving family that spent the day with him.

And not to be upstaged, but Mom and Dad became an Aunt and Uncle again. The Ritcey clan welcomed Weston into their family. Yes, here comes those Ritcey boys! We can't wait to meet him and Charlotte and Maeve are so excited to play with the newest little one!

Happy Valentines Day

2010-02-14T18:58:00.011-05:00

Or as our kids say, Happy Valem Times Day. Dad got fancy this year and had some fresh flowers delivered to mom. Mom got fancy this year and picked up a platter of goodies. Together they just made pure happiness, especially the red velvet cupcakes.

The girls continue to amaze us with how fast they are growing up. Its like someone flipped a time warp switch. Maeve is talking in full sentences. She loves to sing. She loves to do whatever her bigger sister Charlotte is doing. They are sisters. It is evident. Each wants what the other has. When it doesnt go their way the fight ensues. Usually with Maeve winning by pulling her sisters hair. Or pinching her. Or smacking her in the head. Ohhh the terrible two's are coming.

Charlotte for the most part takes it in stride. Her maturity in dealing with her pesty little sister is couragous. She has given up her night time water bottle to the bottle fairy, and is no longer a toddler. She is a girl.

Mom's Matilda Jane business is now open for sales. Of course nothing sells funky fashion forward clothes better than dressing your kids in it. It is crazy, even taking Maeve to Target brings in potential customers who stop and ask, "Where did you get that outfit!". The outfits are just too cute and well worth it.

Here is Charlotte sporting her new fancy outfit. The clothes certianly fit the personality of the girls.

The girls enjoying some sun at Nanny and Grampys house.

Sisters. They fight like sisters and love like sisters. It has only just begun!

Maeve doing her best impression of the crazy shopping cart lady.

Good thing that Crocodile is stuffed.

This outfit is very suiting for soon to be 2 year old. Crabby. Very crabby.

The frong princess.

Ribbit.

Mom, Dad, & the Girls at the aquarium.

The loved the fish tank. The GIANT fish tank. Bathtime fun!
Bubble gnome

Reach for the sky!

Enjoying some quality time on the boat with gramps.

Cheese! This picture will so come in handy when you come home with boys you want to date. Dad will keep this in his wallet just for those occcasions.

Skiing

2010-01-17T18:49:00.006-05:00

January in New England can be miserable. Cold. Dark. Windy. Dreary. Just plain dreadful. However, there are little glimpses of hope. Little windows of opportunity where the sun shines brightly, where the winds calm, and where the air warms enough to make everyone smile. Saturday January 16th was one of those days.

Dad and Charlotte had already planned on skiing that day. As the weekend neared the weather forecast got better we all became excited with anticipation for a great day. We hit the slopes at Pats Peak, only 20 minutes door to door. Since Charlotte has her own skis, we simply grab a free leaners pass and hit the magic carpets. Simple as that.

The sun was out and the temperature seemed to soar to a balmy 40. Charlotte had a blast practicing on the hills and kept asking to go on the chair lift. Unfortunately as good as she is dad was not willing to risk it on a packed Saturday. The Reeves were also on the mountain with the kids and Charlotte was so excited to see them. We skied and Charlotte seemed to get better with every run. As we were skiing the Reeves grabbed a table upstairs on the deck, a perfect place to relax and watch the skiing while enjoying a beer and a burger. Mom and Maeve joined us for lunch and we all had a wonderful time outside soaking up the sun.

We hit the slopes for a few more runs, Charlotte wanting to show off for Maeve and for mom. Maeve laying in the snow and eating it like all kids do, waiting impatiently for her big sister to make it down. She wants to ski too. Hopefully next year she will also learn.

Charlotte flying down the mountain as fast as she could. No fear at all (even though she has fallen many times). She loved it and kept asking for that ride on the chairlift. Next time Charlotte. I promise.

Someone loves skiing!

In line with Kelly and Brodie .
Heading up the magic carpet.
Loving the sun on the deck.
Maeve enjoying a little snack of fresh snow.

Its a New Year

2010-01-10T19:00:00.011-05:00

The kids are growing so fast it's nearly impossible to keep up with what is going on. Its been three weeks since the last post. Since then, just few minor things have happened...like CHRISTMAS and NEW YEARS.
So let's take a step back and update you on some of the Christmas 2009 highlights:
*No sick children this year.
*Very little infighting between cousins (boys vs. girls).
*Charlotte & Liam sleeping in the same "bunk room".
*Oodles of toys.
*Snowman making with all the kids.

In all in was a very successfuly Christmas. The kids had a blast and unlike last year we had no trips to the Emergency Room for a kid battling 104 fevers for days due to pneumonia.

What follows Christmas? Well New Years of course.
Highlights of New Years Eve 2009:
*Charlotte and Maeve spent time with their family friends (Mason, Brodie, Adrie, Colin & Brendan.
*Lots of great food and lots of great cocktails.
*Wii bowling. 'nuff said
And unfortunately 1 lowlight:
*Having to leave at 10:30 because Charlotte wouldn't sleep.

Ok, so that covers the last three weeks. Now on to the real reason why you read this blog, the girls:
Maeve (aka Maevey Gravy).
Maeve is just hysterical. She is funny but at the same time extremely sweet, and well...at times very needy. "Hold me!" is her favorite phrase. When she says it she means it. Pick her up or she will cry, there is no getting around it.She usually says it at the most inopportune times, like when you are trying to cook dinner and have something dangerously hot on the stove. "Hold me Daddy!" as I am frying chicken and have spattering hot grease inches from your little body. We have said it before but Maeve also loves to dance and sing. Right now her favorite sing along songs are "Wheels On the Bus" and "Mary Had A Little Lamb." She also like the "ABC's". As for dance music, well, she is a Miley Cyrus fan and loves "Party in the USA". She started dance class as the YMCA and loves it. Maeve is smart. She completely understand everything we say. To me, she is a little old lady in a little girls body. Sounds strange, but thats how I feel about her. She is a tiny adult.

Then there is wacky Charlotte. Aka "Flappy Flapperson".
She is really hard to pick out of a crowd. Maybe you can find her in this picture?
Still cant figure it out? How about you try to find her in this picture?

Like a fish swimming upstream this kid stands out. Life of the party, the kid who wants to play play play, unabounded energy and witty and goofy. You can't help but love her. She is always on the go. Swimming lessons, school, ballet, gymnastics, and now with the cold weather, skiing. Even with all the activities she still has energy. She loves princesses and cars. Dinosaurs and kittens. Jack of all trades Charlotte is a chameleon and seems to adapt to any setting we throw her in. Lately she has been making deals with us. When it's time for bed and I am about to leave her room,
"Goodnight Charlotte" I say, heading for the door.
"Wait wait wait Dad!" Charlote responds. "I have an idea...."
Dad looking at her sternly, "What now Charlotte?"
Charlotte answers in one breath "I have an idea. Dad you go downstairs, and I will go with you, we can let the dogs out and then I will whistle for them to come in and we can ALL go upstairs and YOU can lay right with me and sleep in my bed and then I will sleep in your room until you wake up and then we can go downstairs again. Ok?" Yes, Charlotte the deal maker.

the Hugger

2009-12-20T19:38:00.003-05:00

4 more days 'till Frisbee the Elf on the Shelf goes back home (at least for a while).
4 more days 'till the threats of "behaving or Santa will not come" just don't hold as much weight.
4 more days until we realize the space we have in the mini-van is still not enough when you have to pack clothes and presents.
4 more days until our girls are beaming from ear to ear with the excitement of Christmas.

It's hard to tell who is more excited for Christmas. Mom & Dad or Charlotte & Maeve. There is just something wondrous about leaving cookies and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer the night before. Something magical about watching your kids rip through presents buried under the tree on Christmas morning. We are thankful for what we have and if you took all the gifts and boxes away, we would still be blessed with the best gift ever, our family.

Maeve has been practicing her I Love You's lately and it melts our hearts. Today while sitting on the couch next to Charlotte, out of the blue, she looked at her big sister, and said, "I love you Charlotte" and proceeded to give her a giant hug. Charlotte in the meantime kept watching television, like nothing happened. I on the other hand was ready to break down at the love this kid has for her big sister.

Maeve is a love bug. A lot of people say that about their kids, but for Maeve it is true. She loves giving hugs. Loves being held. Loves being carried around the house. She doesn't get glued to a television. She gets glued to your chest, resting her head on your shoulder, squeezing you as tight as her little body can. She is, for lack of a better word, a hugger. My hope for Maeve is that she always stays a hugger. That she will always prefer the warmth of a hug over the bright lights of an exciting television show. So we take the hugs she gives us. We cherish them. Never knowing if she is going to grow out of being a hugger.

2009-12-07T19:20:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th Birthday Charlotte. We cannot believe you are 4. The time flew so fast and you are such a little grown up girl.
You had fun picking out the theme to this birthday. We all went to Target to look at the plates. You saw this beautiful plate with a fancy (as you call it) dress and had to have it. When mom told you it was for a wedding you said "then I am going to have a wedding birthday" and that you did. You also love my little pony so we added a little of that to the party as well.
You and mom picked out your dress at Mom's favorite store Nordstrom. You were so excited to wear it. Nanny made you a veil from some of the decorations. You flapped your arms in such excitement when you saw yourself all ready for your party.
We couldn't be more proud of the little girl you are. You are a sweet daughter always telling us how much you love us. You are very patient with your little sister. You ask every morning if she is sleeping b/c she is who you want to see when you get up. You are caring, silly, enthusiastic, animated, quirky, passionate and intelligent. Happy 4th Birthday Charlotte, we love you so much.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T19:55:00.003-05:00

We made the road trip to Vermont for a great Thanksgiving. Charlotte loves being at Nanny and Grampa's.

This is Uncle Bob's birthday cake. Charlotte could not wait to get her hands on this cake. She must have asked 452 times if it was "time" for cake.

Trying to get a decent picture of mom and Maeve. Did not quite work. Never managed to get one of the girls in their cute dresses, maybe next year.

We were all glad to meet Jackson. Maeve and Charlotte just loved him.

Alex and Maeve cooking a turkey dinner..yum!

Charlotte, Grampa and Dad went Christmas tree hunting. They found the perfect tree.

However, Charlotte was determined to cut this one down. Luckily for us, she didn't manage. It was a pretty sad looking tree.

Grampa and Charlotte having a blast together as usual.

Fall

2009-11-22T18:54:00.005-05:00

You smell that Oliver? That is the smell of Winter coming. Hard to imagine fall is soon to be over. Time just continues to speed past us at record speeds. Winter coats ready. Mittens ready. Leaves raked.

Charlotte keep your eyes peeled for snowflakes. We had a couple of snow showers over the past few weeks, but they came and went pretty quickly. Dont blink or you could miss it.

Yes Charlotte. Winter means Christmas and we know what that means just by the look in your eyes. But lets not get too excited. Take a step back and enjoy where we are. Fall. It still is Fall after all.

Fall means leaves and leaves mean fun. The girls had fun playing in the leaves. This was Maeves first year where she could really play in the leaves on sunny brisk day. Little does she know that we cheerish warm days like this, especially heading into what always seems to be a long cold harsh winter. Ugh. We will take every warm sunny moment we can get. While raking leaves, dad spotted a birds nest just under the tree. Charlotte was a little sad there were no eggs in the basket, but was very excited to find it.

The girls were both very excited for mom who hosted her first Matilda Jane party. All the girls love the clothing and mom seems to have found her calling in life with this one. Lets hope she gets added to the Matilda Jane team!

These kids

2009-11-08T18:55:00.006-05:00

Car rides are an adventure with a 3 year old and an 18 month old. One thing is for certain, neither child sleeps and the adventures keep getting crazier and crazier. It doesn't matter if its a quick trip to the gas station or a day in the car. There is usually some singing, some crying, and lots of yelling. Mom decided to quickly run in the grocery store. The girls were ready to get out of the car. Dad threw in some relaxing music, hoping it would help "calm" them. Nope.

Maeve continues to amaze us with her vocabulary. Asking us "You Like?" when seeing us snacking on anything. You can truly hold a conversation with her at this point, she will answer your questions and tell you exactly what she wants. She sings her ABC's although does have a little trouble with some of the letters. She has "ABC" down and "EFG". The rest is hit or miss although for an 18 month old I am impressed. She can also count 1 through 10. She has been doing this for a while but really knows her stuff now.

We joke that she is way too smart. Combining her mini genius with her temper mom and dad half joke that she will be in reform school in no time. One day I have a feeling we will be looking back over this blog saying, yes, we knew it when she was 18 months old. Lets just hope she doesn't venture to the dark side!

Charlotte has been such a trooper with her bossy little sister. She even has been taking the smacks that Maeve throws at her. She has been really patient and loving to her little sister. Let us not mistake, Maeve LOVES her big sister. From the moment she wakes up Maeve wants to know where Charlotte is and what she is doing. But Maeve gets mad and when she gets mad she hits and throws temper tantrums. It just happens that Charlotte is usually nearby when this happens and she bears the brunt of it. Charlotte you are a good girl and thank you for being such a great big sister!

Lifes Lesson 658 Losing Gracefully

2009-11-01T06:23:00.007-05:00

We love Halloween. The girls love to get dressed up and love going to the school gym for the town Halloween Parade & Contest. Last year Charlotte won. The year before she won. This year neither Charlotte nor Maeve had a winning costume. Charlottes exact words when she found out she didn't win, "I'm dissapointed"! It's ok honey, there is always next year.

Maeve was a lobster, complete with french Chef chasing her around with a pot! Charlotte was a Princess-saurus. She had a big sign that read, PLEASE FEED THE PRINCESSAURUS CANDY! I for one thought they were both adorable.

As for trick or treat, it was crazy yet again. It did rain, and while at times it seemed slower than usual, we still managed to go through almost 800 pieces of candy. The Slosbergs and Reeves came over to help hand out candy and join in the fun. Thank you for the great Chili and mixed cocktails! Halloween is always such a fun night in town.

We Love Fall

2009-10-12T17:41:00.011-05:00

There is something magical about fall. It could be the change of colors. It could be relief from the heat and dog days of summer. Or it could be that falls begins the season of holidays. In reality the reason why we love fall so much is that it gets dark early and stays dark in the morning. "What?" you say "You like the dark?". Well exactly. Seeing darkness at 6:30pm and 6:30am helps our girls go to sleep and more importantly stay asleep. So we love it. For the past two days we have enjoyed children who have slept until 7am. So much better than the 5am mid summer wake-ups!

The weekend was spent in Vermont and we were able to play host to the Robinson family, Dan, Rachael, Amelia, and Issac. They had never been to Vermont. Being from Britain dad thought it would be fun to bring them to the Battle of Bennington Monument where the Green Mountain Boys defeated the British Army thus beginning a turning point of the Revolutionary War. It wasn't as funny as it was when it played out in his head. We had a fun and glad they were able to make the trip. The kids did so great together!
Charlotte continues to be Charlotte. Making us laugh with her goofyness. She melted dads heart on the car ride in Vermont, just blurting out, "Dad, I love you". Yes he is 100% wrapped around her finger.

Maeve is now speaking in full sentences. "Sit in Mammas Seat". "I want a tookie". "I shut it". On the car ride home Maeve was getting a little fussy being strapped into her carseat.
Dad said, "Maeve can you say we will be home lickety split?"
Maeve "No."
Dad "Can you say doggie?"
Maeve "No."
Dad "Can you say cat?"
Maeve "No."
Dad "Can you say Mom?"
Maeve "No."
Dad "Can you say Yes?"
Maeve "No."
Dad (thinking he will pull one over on her) "Can you say No?"
Maeve "Yes!"

This kid is smart. Way too smart for her age but she is so damn cute. We will be in for it when she is older. No doubt. But she makes us laugh and every single second of every day we are so proud of our girls.

(Maeve and Charlotte riding a scarecrow horse at the pumpkin patch)
(all the kids running and playing)

(this one was NOT scary)

(the pumpkin patch)

(Maeve very excited at the prospect of playing with scarecrows)

(copy cats)

(Charlotte & Amelia)

(Maeve found a scarecrow just her size!)

(Charlotte and Amelia playing in the grass at the monument)(Sisters)

(View down Monument Ave in Bennington)(Shelby Maeve & Rachael)

(Standing in front of the monument)
(The moose and the Ronans)
(Charlotte proving she is a big girl by washing her own hands. She wants to do everything herself)
(Maeve at Orvis making friends with a stuffed dog)

PS. We also had some special guests visit us last week from South Carolina. Aunt Colleen, Aunt Sharon, and Grammy came for a night. The girls were very excited to see them and Charlotte was excited to bunk up one night with Grammy.

The Skinny

2009-10-04T18:09:00.002-05:00

We have realized this blog has been severely neglected over the past two weeks. Our hopes would be to post some news about Maeve on here with what was found. Unfortunately we still don't know a whole lot. We do know this. It was a tumor that was in her head behind her ear. And the tumor is benign. Phew. That was at least a giant sigh of relief.

However, the results from Pathology took forever and with that, we dont even have the "official" result in hand. Just a call from the surgeon to let us know it was a tumor, that is was benign, and that it was a large hard fiberous lesion. Then he went on to tell dad some things about potential correlation with other things such as gastrointestinal issues, etc. To be honest, when dad hear the word benign he sort of stopped listening and thanked God.

As we get more information we will keep everyone updated. But to be honest, dad has spent enough time playing every potential possiblity of scenarios through his head, like a hundreds of movies playing different endings. None of them good. Its no way to live your life and to be honest, I dont even want to think about it any longer. We all love our kids and can't imagine our lives without them. The reality is bad shit happens to good people. We can attest to that. We have been tested and challenged enough and we really just want to enjoy what we have. So with that being said, no more news just back to being a fun blog with funny whitty commentary by yours truly and adorable pictures of the munchins. We thank all of you for giving us your prayers and well wishes and we hope you continue to read as an extended part of our family.

Home

2009-09-18T19:10:00.003-05:00

We got to leave the hospital first thing thursday morning. Everything looked good with the incision, the drain was dry, Maeve was eating and drinking, and returned to normal at 3am. So we are going to do our best to have a "normal" weekend. So glad to have you home with us!

Getting there

2009-09-16T19:43:00.003-05:00

Well our dear Maeve you did exceptionally well today. It was a long day. Three hours of surgery, one tumor removed, three hours in recovery, then up to our room. You slept a lot. We only wished you slept as good as you did today every night. You ate some jello and loved it. It was orange. Oh and you had some popsicles. I believe three or four. But don't tell your sister, then she will think it's ok to have that many. We pulled you around the hospital in a red wagon and you were very happy. You smiled an even laughed like your normal self. That made us feel a huge sense of relief. You have a little drain behind your ear and as of 9pm tonight you have not ripped it out. For that we are very thankful. If all goes well tonight and in the morning they will be sending us home. We have to come back next week to meet with the doctor again for a follow up. Until then we have to take it easy. We have to make sure not to get your stitches wet. You really really need a hair washing so that might be tough. We love you and are so glad you are a trooper.

Love mom and dad

The Wait

2009-09-16T09:55:00.002-05:00

Maeve,
Mom and dad are patiently waiting for you while you are in surgery here at Children's Hospital in Boston. We know you will not remember any of this which is why we decided to take the time to explain how we are feeling.

It all began in January with what we thought was a swollen lymphnode behind you ear. Nothing to be concerned about, is what we were told by your pediatrician. However, it didn't get smaller and your parents being who we are decided to keep pushing. To make a long story short we decided after 4 months of no change to call Children's Hospital and have you seen by a specialist.

A battery of tests including a CT Scan and MRI produced no conclusive results. You have the doctors, all of them baffled. The only thing for sure is that whatever it is should not be there and needs to be removed. It could be this or it could be that. Regardless it must come out.

We got up early this morning to drive you here. You having no idea what was going on, only that you were with mom and dad and you were happy. We listened to music in the car, you lip synced for us, we laughed. A much needed stress relief, especially for dad who is not only concerned about surgery, but also concerned about the traffic and being able to make the appointment in time.

So for now we sit here. Waiting. You are being operated on and we are trusting the doctors are doing everything they can to ensure you are safe. We love you so much Maeve and we pray that everything goes well. We want you to know we were here for you, dad sighing from the 600 lbs of stress on his chest. Mom, cool as a cucumber, reading magazines. It is now 11am. You went in at 9am and hopefully surgery will be wrapping up soon so we can see you and hold you again.

With love

Mom and Dad

Note from Charlottes teacher

2009-09-14T19:43:00.000-05:00

Kalin Krueger Hamilton September 14 at 3:42pm Reply
Today at circle in my class I asked Charlotte if she wanted to move to a spot that had more room. She was like "No, I really like to sit on the dolphin (which she was) or the ring. I really really like both of them, but I have to choose one! I can't sit on both because I only have one butt. I would need two butts to sit on the dolphin and the ring and that would just be crazy!"

It was hysterical. It was like a stream of her thoughts that would normally be kept in her head pouring out.

Only While Mom's Away

2009-09-07T19:00:00.021-05:00

This long Labor Day Weekend mom abandoned dad for chocolate morsels on her pillow and an hour of being kneaded like dough. In all honestly, Shelby joined her friend Rachael for a few days away at the Ritz Carlton for some R&R. While mom was away, dad did his best to keep his two loving daughters busy and active if for no other reason hoping they would sleep like rocks. He kept them busy. However they did not sleep like rocks. Case in point, Sunday morning he awoke in bed with Maeve on the left side of him. Charlotte on the right. Dogs at his feet. Everyone snuggled in tight. As much as he hated having them in bed for bad habits sake, he loved every single second of it.

Only while mom's away was his motto. Charlotte wanted 6 lollipops. Dad gave her three (only while mom's away). Maeve wanted a popsicle before lunch. Dave gave her one. Then another (only while mom's away). You get the picture and due to this now being public content I will not further incriminate myself to be used in a future argument.

Keeping busy was actually very easy. Yes, this could be the following:
A) Meave after finishing in the blueberry pie eating contest
B) Playing cowboys and indians (guess which one Maeve was)
C) Dazed and confused after making home made tie dye shirts
D) Maeve enjoying creation of her first masterpiece

The correct answer is D. The girls had a blast painting in the backyard (see future post for actual artwork).

A) Charlotte pretending she is grumpy from the Seven Dwarfs.
B) Headlamp check. Bat bait check. Getting ready to hit the caves.
C) I am a sad Thomas the Train. Choo Choooo.
D) Headlamps and camping go hand and hand.

Correct answer is D. Charlotte camped out with dad. It was not your average camping. We spent the night in Jon's backyard. Complete with extension cord, space heater, Strawberry Shortcake, computer and dvds. Rough. So rough.

A) Our dogs really need a haircut and to get their teeth fixed.
B) Dads Halloween costume for this year.
C) Camel mixed with sheepdog and homeless crackhead.
D) Alpaca at the Charmingfare Farm.

Correct answer is D. This thing was goofy looking. Charlotte didn't want to feed the "animal with the crazy hair". I can't blame her. We hit the farm with the Robinsons and had a blast.

And finally a photo to leave you wondering. Is Charlotte really throwing up gang signs? Did she spill something? Is she some sort of crazed rockstar? Nope. The correct answer is it is sign language for "I tried to paint my fingernails with a marker and made a complete mess".

MV is FUN

2009-08-31T06:39:00.012-05:00

Yes that time of year again. The annual trek to Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard for a week of fun, sun, and more fun. This year was no exception. A year later means a year older for Charlotte and Maeve. Last year Maeve was just a 4 month old. Sleeping most of the time. This year she really joined in the fun with her cousins Liam and Chase. How big a difference a year makes!

Trip highlights:
*The kids all performed a little show for us. Singing and dancing on their "stage". Way too funny and we are so glad we have the video to back it up!
*Gramps and Nan (aka Nanny) took Chase, Liam, and Charlotte to breakfast every day so we could get ready for the beach.
*The weather. Hot and sunny for most of the trip. Allowed for the kids to really play in the ocean.
*The kids all got along so well and really enjoyed being around each other.
*Sushi with Charlotte Liam Ian Gramps and Dad.
*Key Lime Pie from the beach store. Always a given.

Trip Lowlights:
*Maeve slept horribly and Charlotte did as well.
*The last day rained hard all day. We were soaked.
*The drive home Maeve did not nap and screamed the whole way (later to find out she had a little present in her diaper, no wonder why she cried the whole way).
So instead of rubbing it in on how great our vacation was, how beautiful Edgartown is, and how great the kids did playing together, we have decided to post some of our favorite pictures. These were the top out of the 700 or so pictures taken during the week. They say after all that a picture speaks a 1,000 words.

Charlotte chasing dad in the park in Oak Bluffs...

Mom and Maeve riding the Carousel in OB.

Charlotte watching in amazement as dad catches the rings.

Dad and Maeve in line for the ride.

Liam, Chase, Charlotte, and Maeve.

The kids. Before they decided to put on a show for us!

Maeve kissing at people in line behind her. It is not ok to kiss strangers Maeve. Lets get that one into your cute little head EARLY!

Maeve and Charlotte playing in the park together.

And the show begins. Who knows what they are singing but its so damn cute.

Maeve getting upstaged but still trying to keep up.
Yes Charlotte, we think it was hysterical too!

Bring it home Charlotte!!

The finale!
The Ronans enjoying the park together.
This is a typical picture for us.

Chase jumping (in his mind surfing).

Maeve, this is not surfing. This is called falling.

Maeve saying "CHEESE!!". Ahh this kid.

Mom looking beautiful.

I love this picture.

Charlotte at the beach.

Dad and Maeve in the waves.

Charlotte and Chase playing with Gramps in the surf!

Having so much fun!

Maeve pointing to some flowers. She loves flowers.

Gramps and Maeve at the airport.
Chase enjoying his first bowl of Cocoa Krispies. Sorry Aunt Tiff and Uncle Ian. He loved them.

Charlotte enjoying the Vineyard sun.

Liam and Ian watching the plane take off!

Maeve trying to figure out what this says.

Sunset in Edgartown.

Another Edgartown shot.

Taking a stroll through town.

Hey look kids, another Black Dog Store.

The kids on the couch. Charlotte with her arm around Chase.

Maeve showing Chase her Horseshoe crab.

The Coast Guard patrolling very closely. President Obama was in town.

This was a baby crab until Maeve crushed it.

Cousin Cadence.

Dad enjoying the warm ocean water.

Ian and Liam.

Maeve enjoying trying to catch fish or crabs or sand.

Woah, look at those kids swim!!

Uncle Ian giving free rides!

Oh boy. Dad is going to be in trouble. 3 1/2 going on 16 already.

Ron showing off his under water crab catching skills.

Michael and niece Tasha (haaa) in the water.

Summer Time Fun

2009-08-16T18:57:00.013-05:00

Below are our favorite things to do in the summer:

1. Wear whatever we want to walk to the store to get popsicles when its 100 degrees out (including shorts that are too small, rubber rain boots, and a pajama shirt).

2. Going to Circus Smirkus to eat popcorn and to see acrobats and clowns**.

**and promptly leaving the Circus before the first act when the announcer promised to have the Big Bad Wolf eat any children that were not quiet. Thanks, that was enough to frighten Charlotte away from the circus forever.

3. Enjoying the A/C indoors while Jammin' out to the latest hits on the headphones.

4. Getting rid of mom for a night by sending her out to Portsmouth with Kelly and Lisa. (note this was the only acceptable picture for a family blog).

5. York Wild Animal Kingdom with Dad and the girls:

6. Playing with Zoe, getting licked.

7. A Ronan family reunion Clambake with brothers, sisters, uncles, nieces, and cousins we have never met (and yes Charlotte Ronan has a cousin Charlotte Ronan).

Charlotte Ronan with Maeve

8. And last but not least. Painting. Lots of Painting.

In addition to all the fun things we like to do in summer, its important to note Maeve's progress. She is now calling Shelby "Shelby" instead of mom. She clearly says Thank You and More Please. She also has proven to be a math whiz. She can count to 10. Yeah, its a little creepy and I didn't believe it at first, but she can zip right through her numbers. I think I am going to try and teach her how to count cards. Vegas here we come!

****Shelby would like to add some stats on Maeve since this is her very short baby book. Maeve now weighs 19 lbs not as heavy as most people think. She is 29 inches long in the 10% for age and 4% in weight for age.

She is talking up a storm she doesn't just say a few words. She communicates with us completely. There is not question about what she says. She will say 1-3 words at a time and if you don't get it, she makes sure you do at some point. This kid can talk. I think we are going to be in trouble when she is 3. She is quite articulate.

Having two kids

2009-07-26T18:40:00.012-05:00

When you have one child and want another, you ask everyone what it's like to have two kids. Is it hard watching two of them? How do you sleep at night? Did you have to get a bigger car? You know the usual stuff. No one ever tells you that having two kids everything changes. Child number one gets extra attention. Child number two gets screwed. Plain and simple.

Child #1: Parents disinfected everything. Paranoid about colds, germs, and dirt.

Child #2: Isn't that cute? She is playing in a dirty mud pit. And then still contemplate a bath before bed.

Child #1: When the child falls and scrapes a knee, the neosporin, antibacterial wipes, and band-aids are pulled out within 30 seconds of the accident. Dad ready to hit 911 on the speed dial.

Child #2:
Dad "Hey, what happened to Maeve's knee?"
Mom " I don't know. Looks like it was scraped. Huh."
Dad. "Huh"
Thats it. One question and two "huh's".
You are lucky to even see the fall. Usually you will notice a little dried blood and a scraped knee hours, if not days, later.

Child #1:
More pictures and video than you knew what to do with. Child #1's life was fully documented, dates memorized at every milestone.

Child #2:
Mom to dad: "Do you know when Maeve walked for the first time?"
Dad to mom: "No. Do you?"
Mom to dad: "Huh. Let me see if I wrote it down somewhere."
(she did write it down. June 26th. However there was no cute story, no pictures, no full documentation of her first steps. Again, child #2 gets screwed.

Child #1:
Afraid of adults including her own grandparents until age three. Even then she is a little hesitant.
Child #2:
Willing to go anywhere with anyone at anytime. No fear.

Child #1:
Watched so closely that nothing strange happened to her.
Child #2:
Is that a train stuck in your hair? Yes, that is.

With that being said, here are some Child #2 photos from Vermont this past weekend. Maeve, we know its not much of a consolation, but its the best we could do on short notice. The pony is in the mail.

Loving the summer.

I think we will use this one for her Senior Portrait.
Liam giving Maeve a little bite.

Watermelon eating contest.

They both ate 34 pieces. Insane. Those seeds come out the way they go in.

Loving the mud. Nanny says its good for your skin. Ok, we will go with that.

Grampy enjoying some time with child #1.

She loved the ride in the convertible. And who would have thought that BMW put car seat latches in the passenger seat. Sounds safe enough for me.

And finally, Maeve wiped out after a fun filled day of slashing playing and swimming.

Red White and Blue

2009-07-11T19:10:00.021-05:00

Nothing says 4th of July better than a beach rental on the coast of Maine. It was everything you would expect. Picturesque views, the sound of the ocean every night, a firepit to sit by at night, and kids running and playing and eating and playing and running and eating icecream and screaming and playing. Everything but sleeping (Colin Snyder being the exception to this rule who likes to roll out of bed around 10am).

We tried this a few years ago at the Sea Cliff Motel in Old Orchard Beach. It was fun with all of Shelbys college girlfriends. This year we opted not to stay in a small motel efficiency and rented a beach cottage and carriage house. It was nearly the same money but afforded us space and a place to play. It was a good move. Not all of her friends could make it. However Lisa (and her fam) and Kelly (and her fam) and a special guest appearance by Amy (and yes her family too).

View from the yard down the beach.

Someone got a new pink bathing suit that looked like a tutu. I wonder who? She loved it and proudly wore her star necklace on the 4th.

A view of the cottage and carriage house (aka garage with living space) before the yard turned into a playground.

An example of the nightly sunsets

Nighlty firepit ritual.

Nothing says relaxing like a fire. And some cocktails. Much needed after the days that seemed to start at the crack of dawn.

We hoped the kids would wear themselves to sleep. Playing just seemed to give them more energy. Right Colin Mason and Charlotte?

Hunter and Hayden joined in the fun on the 5th for the day. Everyone got along so great.

Chris with a motley crew of kids. Notice Charlotte. She is saying, "do you want a knuckle sandwich?". No way missy. Not from you!

We even had a little luau on the final night. They really got into it!

Charlotte trying to show Mason how to do the Hula dance. This picture will come back to haunt BOTH of you!

And we could not forget marvelous Maeve.

The Quinny girls. Or at least some of them. Lisa, Amy, Shelby, and Kelly.

Shelby and Lisa after a long day. Looks like they started early this night.

A trip to Old Orchard Beach would not be complete without a trip to the amusement park at the boardwalk. They were really strict with the rides. Maeve really couldnt ride on any. But she did find a puddle to splash in. Looks like a ride to me?
** footnote. Yes Maeve is fully walking. She loves to walk, non stop. She is also talking up a storm with words. "Ball, dog, cat, dadda, mamma, down, up, more, all done", and "push da buttons" are her favorite. Yes she has even strung 1 - 3 words together. Crazy. All in a span of 2 weeks.

What do you do when you get a day of rain? You hit the indoor playland to climb and play skee ball. And what do you buy with all of your skee ball tickets? Well for Charlotte it was bad teeth. She callled them Lion teeth. Not quite honey, but for now we will let you think that.

The moon rises were just incredible. The pictures do not do them justice.

Ahhh. Fire. Full moon. Clear sky. Just perfect.

Sunset looking up the beach.

Oh and we would be remiss if we didnt include a visit to Lenny the 1700 lb solid chocolate Moose. Again, rain.
A trip to Cabella's scores a new furry hat. Dad put it on Charlotte as a joke. Mom ended up liking the hat and bought it for herself. Cant want to see her in it when it snows. Crazy mom.

A random cat who hung out on the beach named Echo. Maeve and Echo had a special bond.

Echo was the most chill cat ever and LOVED kids.

Even ones that stick sandy feet in its face. Echo still nuzzled up to Maeve.

Maeve loved to be held and snuggled in close toward the end of the trip. She was exhausted from all the excitement.

Coastal Maine = Lobster. End of story.

Lobster races. The loser gets cooked. And the winner.

Ok, the winner gets a drink with a cool straw before it gets cooked. Sorry PETA.

Everyone enjoying a meal outside.

What? The ice cream man is here! Line up kids!

Maeve with her first snowcone.

Dave really loved his icecream.

Charlotte on the rocks. She was upset that she was told no more throwing or climbing on the rocks.

Then dad caved as usual and let her continue to throw the rocks. Typical.

Brendan having some fun in the sun.

Someone snuck away to practice her ballet moves on her pretend stage in her bathing suit (I mean tutu).

Position 2.5.

Maeve just is Maeve.

Enjoying some quiet time together before it ends.

The End

Losing it

2009-06-25T19:43:00.009-05:00

Pictures speak a thousand words. You guess what Charlotte is trying to say:

Whatever she is trying to say it must be contagious. Her little sister Maeve is also trying to tell us something.

I think they are trying to say they are crazy girls and that they are going to drive us crazy. I dont know why I think that but I do. Hummm. Yeah.

One of the perks of summer vacation is well doing fun summer things. The girls all went strawberry picking with their friends. From what mom said, it wasn't that great. Most of the strawberries were half eaten on the plants. I dont know, it sure looks fun to me.

As fun as strawberry picking looks, it certainly doesn't look as fun as a day at Six Flags Great Escape in Lake George. Dad really enjoyed spending some time with the girls.

Grandpa had fun taking Charlotte on the rides:

Maeve even got brave and rode on some of the rides:

Looks familiar

2009-06-17T06:25:00.003-05:00

Monkey see, monkey do. Maeve is a computer whiz at 13 months old. She hacked into our neighbors network and infected his system with a worm. Crazy kid. We love you.

Maeve has also learned to say Charlotte. Granted it sound much more like Sharrrrr-llll but its a start. Charlotte was so proud of her. These girls have been interacting more and more each day. Of course with the playing also comes a little fighting. Luckily they are learning to kiss and make up.

Dance Dance Revolution

2009-06-14T20:00:00.004-05:00

You couldn't help but giggle at Charlotte's first ballet recital today. 3 year olds performing ballet is really as funny as it sounds. Even funnier is Maeve in the audience trying to dance along. We have the whole thing on video and will be posting best of clips before the end of the day tomorrow. Get ready for a chuckle.

We are proud of Charlotte for her professionalism and for dancing her little heart out. She really did a great job and we loved watching the culmination of six weeks of practice. Ballet practice is over for the year. School is done. Now what are we going to do to keep these kids occupied?

Neglected

2009-06-08T19:44:00.001-05:00

Neglected seems to be the theme of the month. The blog has been neglected. What used to be almost daily posts has since turned into one or two posts per month. If I wasn't the one writing it I wouldn't be reading it. I'd be pretty pissed off that the posts were few and far between. And frankly I probably would have moved on to other things. With that being said, I will tell you that this will be the new and improved adventures of Marvelous Maeve and the Web. I can't promise daily posts, but I will say 2 or 3 a week will be common. Look for more posts. More pictures of the girls and more media hype. Ok, maybe not the media hype but we will be posting much more.

So since the last post and what has changed. Well for starters, Maeve is taking steps. She isn't officially walking yet, but is close. I would call it walking but in reality its only 4 feet at a time. Walking to me is walking. Not walking a little bit then dropping to the floor to crawl. She listens very well. When we tell her to walk she walks. It's way too cute.

Maeve is also quite the singer. She can't really say many words yet but she sure can sing. Her vocabulary is pretty small. Ball, Daddy, Mommy, Baloon, Thank you,what's that, Bunny, abby and ollie, and MINE MINE MINE MINE seems to be her favorite. Yes its very easy to tell she has an older sister.

She cracks us up. She is so different from her sister. Charlotte made us laugh, but Maeve. Well she just does things you wouldn't expect. She loves making a mess. Ok that is expected. She loves playing with water. Ok, also expected. She loves copying everything we do. She wants to drink out of cups. She wants to eat with a fork and knife. She just acts so grown up it makes us sick. She doesn't like being upside down. She isn't a fan of the thrill rides like Charlotte is. Charlotte loves fast. She will be the first one on a roller coaster. Maeve will get sick on a roller coaster but would be the first one in a haunted house taunting her older sister calling her a whimp. Thats just the way it is. We can tell already. Charlotte is emotional. Maeve is even keeled. Either way we are in for it as these girls continue to grow up.

With that being said, dad had a little Daddy Daughter weekend. We packed as much action into two days as we could. A trip to the Friendly Farm (where the animals are a little too friendly). Charlotte will now be traumatized by the goats that jumped up on her to get the bag full of food. Maeve, well she thought it was funny. Then lunch. Then a trip to the grocery store to pick up lobsters for dinner. A trip to get ice creams. And finally a trip to the beach. Exhausting but so rewarding having them all to myself.

Happy 1st Birthday Party Maeve

2009-05-28T18:39:00.009-05:00

THE GUESTS

Uncle Ian, Auntie Tiff, Liam and Chase made the trek for the party. Nanny was here as well, but we have no pictures of her. As well Michaela and Kelly made the drive from Bennington. I have to get better at taking pictures of our guests.

Dave, Adrie and Brodie

Nina and Maeve enjoying the slide and learning about taking turns.

Priceless

Marin and Maeve playing a game together

Kurt giving Sammy and Charlotte rides on the john deere

Lisa and Brendan

Laura, Jon and Tracey

Liam, Mason and Colin playing tag.

Days

2009-05-11T19:42:00.023-05:00

Birthday, Mother's Day, and Vacation days. They all sort of go together. In not particular order: Maeve turned 1, Shelby enjoyed Mothers day number 3, and we went to Myrtle Beach for vacation. That's the update in a nutshell. If you want to save time, skip to the pictures at the bottom.

Obviously you are still reading which means you want some details. I can't blame you. Pictures with no context are just pictures. Let's start with vacation. We have been planning on packing the minivan up with bags of clothes, tons of movies, McDonalds, and screaming kids to head to Myrtle Beach to visit Grammy, Pappa, auntie Julie, and cousin Caitey (and a dog named freckles, a dog named snickers, a bird named rainbow, and a hermit crab). I'm not sure of his name. I'm pretty sure he is nameless. However the 16 hour driving nightmare was averted when we found cheapo tickets on Spirit Airlines online. The trade off for a 2 hour flight instead of a 16 hour drive? Flights from Boston instead of Manchester and a flight to Myrtle Beach at 5am and flight home at 10pm. Ugh.

A bird named rainbow. Maeve loved him. She pulled his tail feathers and he pooped.

We arrived in Myrtle Beach at 7:30am after waking up at 2:15am. The girls did great. Of course Charlotte was wide awake from the second she hit the car to the airport, babbling about everything and nothing. Babble at 3am is really quite hysterical. Needless to say Charlotte and Maeve were very excited to see Grammy and Pappa who met us at the airport. Once we arrive the rest of the trip is really just a blur. In order to save you an hour of reading, I have condensed the trip for you into highlights of each day. If you want more details just ask.

Day 1 - Saturday Arrival. Arrival day was May 2nd. It also happened to be Maeve's 1st Birthday. Dad took her to the beach for her birthday while mom was napping. She loved it. We also went to the Blessing of the Inlet festival with Pappa and saw Caitey perform in a rendition of the musical Annie. We were starving. The hotdog stand sold out of hotdogs. Dad had a pulled bbq pork sandwich that was the best he ever had. Charlotte loved it too. Mom finally got a hotdog. We bought tickets at the festival for Charlotte to play in the bouncy houses. Because of the swine flu, you had to sanitize your hands going in and coming out of the bouncy house things. Crazy. We went back to Grammy and Pappa's house and swam in the pool before dinner and cake. Charlotte loves Caitey. Maeve turned 1 at 6:35pm. She had cake and made a mess. She is now no longer a baby which makes mom very sad. Mom got mad at dad for not taking a picture of Mom & Maeve at exactly 6:35pm. He offered to change the clock back which just agrivated mom even more. We all slept at Grammy and Pappas house. Charlotte on the top bunk. Mom and Dad on the bottom bunk. Maeve in a pack and play.

Charlotte swimming in the pool. Maeve loved it!

Someone loves the water!

Get this kid some swimmies

Guess who is now 1 year old!

No longer an infant.

Nice cake. Of course the girls wanted to add sprinkles. Lots and lots of sprinkles.

Sprinkleicous

Yes this is a shot of the watch that started the fight with mom. Just past 6:35pm on Saturday May 2nd...wait...my watch says May 1st. Damn leap year throws off the calendar!

Day 2. Sunday. We went to the beach and loved it. The weather was warm and sunny. Dad caught a little fish in the tidal pool with his bare hands. He put it in a bucket to show mom and some how it must have fallen out. Charlotte saw a jellyfish. We checked into the resort and were pleased to find out we had a two bedroom suite. We played at the pools at the resort with auntie Julie and cousin Caitey.

Loving the beach

Charlotte also loves the beach.

Maeve playing in the sand.

Someone is not afraid to just run into the waves. Hello? If she realized there really are sharks in that ocean she would not be running towards it.

Charlotte loved making sand castles with Caitey. She still asks us every day when she is going to see her again

Maeve enjoying the view.

Dad and Maeve having fun in the sun.

Lots of little tidal pools to play in.

This was before she shoved her face into the wet sand. This kid is all about sticking her face in the sand.

Maeve enjoying her time alone.

Day 3. Monday. The amusement park was closed. So we went to Krispy Creme and got fresh hot donuts. Charlotte loved them. Maeve napped. Beach again. Grammy came with us. We went to Broadway at the Beach to ride the kids rides with Julie and Caitey. Charlotte bungee jumped. Maeve loved seeing and feeding the baby ducks. Charlotte was glued to Caitey all day and had her first "sleepover" at Caitey's house.

Charlotte with Caitey at Broadway at the Beach.

Dont worry Caitey, your friends will never see you were riding the kiddie rides. Check out Maeves big grin.

Thinking she is really driving. Not quite dear. Not till you are 25.

Getting strapped in for some high bouncing fun.

She is going to join the circus.

She literally maxed out how high she could go.

Caitey doing a backflip. Show off!

The girls found some baby ducks. Mom duck jumped into the water and left the babies crying. We had to wait until all the babies jumped into the water with mom before we could leave. So sensitive these girls are.

Yes Charlotte and Caitey love each other. Such great cousins.

Day 4. Tuesday. Dad picked up Charlotte from Caitey's house. She had the best time ever and came home with a new dress, a nightlight, stick on earrings, strawberry shortcake, and a whole bunch of other girlie things. We went to Alligator Adventure. Grammy met us at Barefoot landing to shop. Julie and Caitey came over to babysit Tuesday night so mom and dad could go to dinner. We ate at the City Bar Restaurant and loved every second of it.

Charlotte reading the map at Alligator Adventure. She thinks she's Dora the Explorer.

It didn't take long to spot these guys. Gators EVERYWHERE!

They look harmless.

A baby eating tortoise. Not really. They are herbivores.

No Charlotte, you can not ride the turtle. And how many times do I have to tell you its a Tortoise not a turtle.

Charlotte saw this bronze statue and loved it. Notice they both have pigtails and overalls.

Sure Charlotte, you can help walk the alligator.

Yes, you do look like her. Only shorter.

Charlotte loved this thing. She talked to the little girl like she was real.

The coolest alligator we have ever seen. His name is Bob. I wonder why.

Here is Bob. Now we know where the name came from. He was born this way and would have died in the wild. Here he is happy and has his own alligator house.

After Alligator Adventure, we found Grammy shopping. She bought her way to Charlotte's heart with a chocolate ice cream.

Thank you for my ice cream Grammy!

The girls on the carosel.

Day 5. Wednesday. Grammy came over to babysit Maeve while mom, dad, and Charlotte went to see Le Cirque Grande. It was beautiful out and while the show was good, dad wished he was at the pool instead. Nanny and Grampa stopped by on their way to a wedding in Atlanta. We all went to dinner together (Nanny, Grampa, Grammy, Pappa, Auntie Julie, Cousin Caitey, Mom, Dad, Charlotte, and Maeve). The girls were so well behaved it was amazing. Dinner was great.

Day 6. Thursday. The last day of vacation in Myrtle Beach. It was rainy. We went to the Aquarium. Then it cleared up. We went to Grammy and Pappas house and hit the beach. Julie pulled Caitey out of school early so she could come with us. Pappa had a cookout for us with lamb, pork, & chicken. Maeve played with rainbow the bird. The girls were exhausted and continued to stay exhausted until our 10pm flight home. Maeve screamed the first hour of the flight as she fought sleeping. Charlotte was out like a light. We arrived home at 2:30am Friday.

Ripleys Aquarium. Everyone else in Myrtle Beach comes here when it rains too. Packed.

Im not sure how a kangaroo fits into an aquarium but it was here. Strange I know.

Enjoying the view all around. Tons of sharks.

Hey look, another shark above our heads!

Maeve liked the glasses at the gift shop. However we didnt buy them for her.

That about sums up our vacation. We had a great time and the girls truly loved seeing their Grammy, Pappa, Auntie Julie, and Cousin Caitey. We can't wait for another trip! Ok, we can wait a little while after dealing with those flights, but not too long.

Dirt

2009-04-25T19:08:00.007-05:00

The girls love getting thier fingernails dirty. They love mud. They love dirt. In one day we have already changed a total of six outfits (3 per kid). Actually including mom and dad that would be a total of ten outfits in one single day. No wonder the laundry is piling up.

It was hot today. Summer hot and it is April. After a long winter we are not complaining about the heat. Just simply stating a fact. It was hot. The thermometers read 90. So we did what all families would do in the middle of the summer. We busted out the pool and let the girls play. It was very amusing. The dogs who were also hot. So they did what all good dogs do. They went to the pool and started drinking. Thinking it was funny Charlotte did the same. Then Maeve thought it was funny and also joined in the fun. Face down to the water, tounge out, lapping up dirty kiddie pool water. Our house is becoming a sitcom. Seriously, the best hollywood writers would have a hard time with the non-stop comedy happening here.

Proof in point. Our neighborhood has the worlds largest and longest slide. Seriously this thing put the sketchy carnival slides that you slide down riding on a burlap bag to shame. Where it came from who knows? but it's behind the school and we just found it this year. Dad rode with Charlotte. Charlotte rode alone. Dad rode with Maeve. Luckily there were no accidents to report. As of yet. But I will bet anything that by summer someone will have a slide injury. Most likely it will be dad.

Then there was the corn incident. Nothing screams comedy like an 11 month old with barely any teeth trying to eat corn. Try as she might, she wasnt able to get much off of the cobb. When she was done she threw it on the floor and Oliver our dog started eating it.

Cousin It

2009-04-23T19:22:00.004-05:00

We found cousin it in the bathtub. We aren't sure where she came from but she is ours now.

When she is not in the bath she is climbing on everything. She isn't walking yet, but she is climbing and sort of talking. She says Mom and Dad and Dog, and Mine. And Book. Although when she says Book she signs Milk. Yeah, its a little confusing but we have her figured out.

Team Strength

2009-04-18T17:55:00.012-05:00

Today friends, family, and loved ones walked with Shelby in support of her fight with Multiple Sclerosis. For the second year we were able to raise over $2900 in our contribution to help find a cure. While Shelby's Team Strength wasn't the top fund raising team (I think we ended up 7th), we all did our part in helping to try to achieve the $110,000 goal for the Nashua walk. So far, fund raising has brought in almost $75,000. Most importantly we showed our support and understanding for a disease with no cure and no real treatment.

The rain held off, the weather was warm enough to wear shorts, and the 3 miles went by quickly. Everyone brought their kids and we all had fun walking together. Unfortunately we had a couple of people me missed taking pictures of. One being Shelby. Then there was Paul, Jena (with fetus) and Marin. And Jess. And Uncle Bill.

Aunt Becky, Hanna, and Uncle Bill drove from NY to support Shelby. Thank you guys so much.

Lisa, Ryan, Colin, Brenden, and Denise drove from MA to support Shelby. Such great friends.

Kelly and Adrie joined in the walk.

Last year Maeve was in mom's belly (and Kelly and Lisa were also pregnant).Now Maeve gets to see where she walked as a fetus.

Charlotte and her friend Ava getting ready to walk (although they ran most of it).

Dad getting some squeezes from Charlotte before the walk.

Scott & Harrison (and Jess not pictured) participated.

Ava looking stunning in bright orange.

Charlotte and Ava frolicking.

The Walk

After the walk we had a little BBQ back at the homestead. It was so nice to see the kids play together. They all got along great. However there were a few incidents. Charlotte fell down the stairs. Oliver (the wheaton) almost attacked Sampson (the black lab) who jumped the fence into our back yard full of kids. Colin got hit with a plastic wheel barrow. Kelly got her shoes wet retrieving a ball that was thrown deliberately over the fence. Marin stuck her hand on Abigails bum which happened to have some poop on it. And Lisa put Brenden's legs in one pant leg.

We feel the same way Marin

One day difference in age.

Maeve

Adrie

Maeve

Adrie

No real need for the last few pictures except they were so cute (and mom took them). Again we would like to thank everyone who donated and those who walked with us. We love you and look forward to next year...and yes we will have t-shirts made for the adults and kids that join us!

Its a sweep

2009-04-05T18:29:00.008-05:00

This weekend was the annual Easter Bonnet contest our town put on. We started going when Charlotte was 14 months old. Dad, Thinking her Easter bonnet was a little bland, decided to decorate it a little with some grass and eggs. Oh and a small stuffed Easter bunny perched on top. Nothing too fancy, but cute. Needless to say we won the Easter Bonnet contest. Thus began our quest to outdo the competition year after year.

Last year dad spent about an hour on her bonnet. Decorating it with eggs and flowers and ribbon. Very cute. And yes we won for the 2nd time. However, the competition had caught on and soon everyone was decorating the hats with Easter goodies.

This year. Well this year dad spent a few hours on the bonnet. Using wire and butterflies and flowers and eggs. Pain stakingly creating his masterpiece, knowing the whole town was out to unseat his reign as champ. He spent an hour finding the perfect dress to match the bonnet. Charlotte practiced her marching and bowing. Then it was show time.

Looking around at the bonnets, dad and Charlotte realized how fierce the competition was. A shark bonnet, a bonnet with a sand castle on it. A gigantic bonnet with more Easter stuff on it then one kid could possibly carry. Then there was Charlotte with her butterflies floating around her head. And of course dear Maeve with her bonnet which she fought to keep off her head with every ounce of energy. With two daughters, he only had increased his chances of winning.

Unfortunately Maeve did not win. Next year will be her year. However Miss Charlotte did win and won big. A blue ribbon and a giant stuffed bunny were her takes. She was exstatic. And of course her father was as well. He is already plotting for next years competition. Wondering how he is going to keep the live baby chicks on the bonnet.
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11 months old

2009-04-02T18:37:00.002-05:00

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.....

2009-03-31T19:29:00.007-05:00

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

2009-03-23T18:41:00.005-05:00

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

2009-03-17T07:13:00.000-05:00

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

2009-03-15T08:19:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-02T20:21:00.005-05:00

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

2009-02-19T21:05:00.005-05:00

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?

2009-02-08T15:19:00.010-05:00

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

2009-02-02T20:59:00.002-05:00

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

2009-01-26T07:50:00.007-05:00

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.

Law of crawling

2009-01-18T19:11:00.008-05:00

Dad had a theory today that has been proven. Maeve is crawling.

It's not pretty. It's not graceful, but it is a crawl. Dad witnessed it first this this morning as Maeve was crawling towards him. It wasn't far, maybe 3 feet, so he wasn't 100% sure if it counted as a crawl. Thus the Maeve Crawling theory (actually it would have been an hypothesis).

However, throughout the day mom and Charlotte have witnessed this feat. Proving it as a scientific fact and creating the Maeve Law of Crawling.

The excitement was very short lived when we found Maeve in the kitchen eating miscellaneous scraps of food that dad dropped while making marinara sauce. Oh the dreaded worry about baby proofing the house has begun. We were lucky with Charlotte that she really didn't care to get into things. Maeve on the other hand seems to have a serious curiosity streak. Ugh.

To top things off we have what feels like snowstorm number 600 today. Why oh why do we live in New Hampshire? In reality we could live just about anywhere but we are here, in the lovely hinterland of the north. I hope and pray the girls will love skiing, otherwise we are going to have to cash it in and head south. Judging by Charlottes recent sledding escapade, she will be just fine in the snow. She can take a wipeout off the sled, face plant into the snow to get a 'wicked' whitewash with the best of them.

Dance

2009-01-07T21:36:00.003-05:00

8 Months

2009-01-06T19:55:00.005-05:00

Hard to believe Marvelous Maeve turned 8 months old over the weekend. We celebrated her 8 month birthday with a trip to the mall. Ohhh sooo exciting. Maeve continues to be extremely content. Happy to just be out and about, soaking it all in. She is growing quickly and that is not suprising judging by how much she eats. It is one of her favorite things to do (second to bathing). She has graduated from baby food to steak and red wine. Not really, but she has moved on to Oatie O's (no they are not generic cheerios, they are healthy cheerios) and whole rice bread. Not to mention whole banana and whatever else she can get her hands on. This morning Charlotte was eating a bowl of rice krispies next to her and Maeve quickly dug her hand in, grabbed a fistfull of wet rice krispies, and shoved them in her mouth. She is quick. You have to watch your food around her or else it will be gone. She has also learned to clap and dance. Its not pretty but its dancing. We are trying to catch it on video, but no luck so far. Other honorable mentions include almost crawling and going from all fours into a sit up position ( you know the move if you are a parent) and her bottom tooth finally popped through! Oh and of course there are the pigtails. This girl has some LONG hair!

dear santa

2008-12-30T16:12:00.012-05:00

Dear Santa,
All I want for Christmas is a plastic bubble to put my children in so they can stay germ free.

Christmas came and went faster than expected this year. While enjoyable, it did not live up to the hype in dad's head. Intentions were good, follow through was difficult. We started with a visit to Church on Christmas Eve. Knowing fair well the kids would never make midnight service, we decided on the family friendly 7pm service. Here is a minute by minute breakdown of the service:
7:00pm Service Starts
7:10pm Maeve had pooped in her diaper, and naturally we forgoot to bring a change for her.
7:15pm the smell perpetuated through the church.
7:20pm Charlotte began squirming in her seat.
7:22pm Charlotte leaves the pew and runs around misbehaving like a typical 3 year old.
7:25pm Charlotte has to leave service due to crying and screaming.
7:30pm Maeve starts crying and screaming.
7:35pm Dad leaves service with stinky Maeve.
7:45pm Mom, Dad, Charlotte, and Maeve are at home.

So that was our experience with church service on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately it didnt get too much better from there. At 2am Charlotte awoke screaming and coughing. Coughing so hard that her stomach got upset and then began to vomit. We checked her temperature and it was 103.5. Great.

Christmas morning Charlotte woke up with a fever, and frankly, a little out of it. Dad expected her to wake up clapping and anxious to run downstairs to see what Santa left her. Unfortunately it took a little poking and prodding. However once she saw all of the gifts Santa left under the tree it took no effort to get her to rip open the remaining presents.

Then it was time to pack up, shower and head to Vermont to spend a few days visiting the extended family.

Then the power went out. Mid shower for Shelby with soap in her hair. Luckily it was only a few hours later the power returned and we headed out.

At Nanny and Grampa's house Charlotte progressivly got worse. Now really feeling miserable she didn't want to play or even be around anyone. All she wanted to do was go upstairs and lay in the crib watching television. However, she was able to muster up enough energy to make it downstairs the day after Christmas to see what Santa brought her yet again.

Maeve on the other hand had a blast playing on the floor, watching the boys play, and just taking everything in. She got so close to crawling, but still hasn't been able to figure it out.

After two more days of Charlotte having a 103 -104 fever and just acting miserable, we called her doctor and they suggested we take her to the local emergency room. Which we did. We were seen virtually immediately, a chest xray was done and a strep test. Soon after we were released to go home on the guise Charlotte just had a bad virus. Then came Saturday morning. Charlotte usually wakes up at 6am. It was now 7am and she was still sleeping. Then 8am. then 9am, then 10am, then 11am. She would wake up here and there, but dad was getting frantic with how she was acting. He began packign the car to leave Vermont and head home to see her own doctor. Unfortunately Maeve had her Christening scheduled for Sunday morning. I guess it would just have to wait.

Then he woke Charlotte up at noon. She meandered downstairs and started perking up. As the day went on she seemed better and better. He called off the emergency departure from Vermont and decided to move foward with Maev's Christening.

Sunday morning we hit the church. Mave looked as cute as could be in her white Christening gown that Grammy got for her (Thank You). She did great until Father Rene dumped the water in her eye (and her head). Of course she cried. (I would too). It was now official, she was blessed. And we headed home.

Monday we took the girls to their Doctor. Maeve started getting sick. Coughing and hacking like an old lady, not a 7 month old. Charlotte looked better but we figured we would get them checked out. Diagnoses. Maeve fine. Charlotte ear infections and pnuemonia. Fun Fun.

Needless to say tomorrow is New Years Eve. We will be celebrating at home. The girls are banned from being around all public places until they heal. Santa, please send a plastic bubble.

Maeve and dad opening gifts

Maeve and Oliver.

Maeve with Santa's stash

The girls in their Christmas bests

Charlotte, Liam, and Chase opening round 2 of gifts.

Charlotte posing with her new shirt

Maeve getting close to crawling

Dad and Maeve before the Christening

Dad, mom, and Maeve before the Christening

The countdown is on

2008-12-23T19:37:00.008-05:00

The shopping is winding down. Just last minute gifts here and there. The typical stocking stuffer stuff that everyone waits until the last minute to purchase. The wrapping is completed. The tree has slowed down its water intake. The Christmas cookies are baked. Sure signs that Christmas is right around the corner. It come on so quickly, and every year we say, "wow I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve". And like that it is gone in the blink of an eye. A wake of boxes and torn wrapping paper strewn about. It happens year after year. All we can do is to try and enjoy every minute that we can.

In our house that comes from our nightly singing to Christmas carols. Seems Charlotte is a huge fan of Jingle Bell Rock. So after dinner, we crank up the iPod and all belt out Jingle Bell Rock and a few other classics. Maeve has even begun joining in the fun, sitting in her high chair banging her spoon on her tray in rhythm to the beat. What are we going to do when Christmas is over? Surely we will end up being the eccentric family on the street, singing Christmas carols in mid July, windows wide open. Then again, maybe we can find some other season appropriate songs to sing. For some reason the idea of belting out Yankee Doodle Dandy over and over just doesn't seem as fun. Oh and did we mention the baking of Christmas cookies? As you can see young Charlotte has a knack for baking and using the mixer. Thank you Charlotte for your help. You have been such a big helper. As you can see by the picture you love helping in every way, including feeding your sister. Thank you for your help.

Today was a big day for Charlotte. Opening day of the Chestnut Hill Preschool Christmas Paegant. Seeing her perform was a special treat that words alone can not describe. Luckily we have it on video and will be submitting portions of it to America's Funniest Videos. We are so thankful that Charlotte has such amazing teachers. So nice that they are being taught the true meaning of Christmas at such an early age.

And so the countdown to Christmas is on. T minus 28 hours until it is official here. We are going to do our best to sit back, watch the kids, and enjoy the special moments that our family brings us. We truly are thankful and blessed to have everything that we have and look forward to many more years of Christmas bliss.

Pictures of the ice storm

2008-12-18T20:39:00.002-05:00

These are pictures from THREE days after the storm!

In case you missed it...

2008-12-16T20:18:00.003-05:00

NH is in a state of emergency due to a huge ice storm that hit last Thurday. More than half of the state lost power, us being one of those lucky ones that were without power from Thursday until Tuesday night. Believe it or not, we really are lucky that we got power back. There are some towns that still dont have power and who are not expected to get power back for "several more days" according to our utility company PSNH.

Needless to say, we still do not have internet and phone. We really dont have any idea when that will be back and frankly, we really dont care. We are just happy to have heat, water, and electricity. Our thoughts and prayers go out to our friends who still dont have power. Hopefully it will be back on in the "next few days". We will be uploading some pictures shortly to show how bad it was really and still is. Literally there are roads that are still impassible. Not little side road, but main roads that connect town to town.

Needless to say, Im ready to now live off the grid.

A day that will live in infamy

2008-12-07T07:17:00.011-05:00

Charlotte's Birthday is easy to remember. Thanks to the help of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his famous speech delivered on December 8th 1941 after the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor the day earlier. Thus the birth of Pearl Harbor Day. While it's a sad day in history, we hope that Charlotte's Birthday makes it a little happier.

Charlotte you are now officially 3 years old. You have turned into a little girl and you love everything girlie. Pink, glitter, princesses, cats, flowers, you name it. If you think something is "girlie" you love it. This point was reinforced over the past few months as random ladybugs were found in your room. Most kids would welcome the chance to play with a harmless insect. Not you dear Charlotte. You would scream and yell to come get rid of it. Yes, bugs are not very girlie and no you do not like them. Point made.

You have however completely stolen our hearts with your cuteness. The excitement in your eyes when you see a princess, the way you use the word "beautiful" to decribe virtually everything, the nights in bed when you ask to snuggle and the proceed to whisper to us how much you love us, just washes away all the negative three year old things that you do.

We celebrated your birthday with a little party. Nothing huge, just an intimate gathering of friends and family. Nanny came along with Aunt Pam from New York and Aunt Renee from Vermont. You were so excited to see them along with the Belle cake that Renee made for you. For weeks you have been talking about your Belle party.

On top of that your friends Colin, Brendan, Mason, Brodie, Adrie, Sammy, and Marin joined in the festivities. You had a beautiful time and loved all your gifts. Thank you.

"Colin, Mason, Brodie, Charlotte"

"Watching Pete's Dragon"

"Marin and Sammy"

And so another Birthday passes. Another year. Another great year. You have grown so much this year and have taught us that patience truly is a virtue. You have also taught us how fulfilling life can be and have truly made our lives happier than we ever could have imagined. Today you get to start a new tradition of seeing the Nutcracker with mom. Just you and her, having some quality time together. We hope you enjoy it.

We love you.

Mom and Dad (and baby Maeve)

Growing Up

2008-12-02T20:01:00.004-05:00

Today Maeve turned another month old. We are now on month 7 of having her and every month she continues to amaze us with her little smile and her crazy hairstyles. This kid has style. And her personality is starting to shine through. Laid back but determined. She loves her sister and smiles and laughs every time Charlotte is near. Last week she said her first word! DADDA!!!! Music to dad's ears.
She knows what she wants when she wants it and there is no "if's and's or but's" about it. Her temper...well...we will just say she inherited it from someone in the family. She also has a love of food. We have yet to find something she doesn't like to eat. Unfortunately we found out she also has an allergy to something. Not sure what, but dad thinks it was the turkey dinner baby food we fed her last week.

Like her sister, Maeve also loves her baths. She splashes and laughs, and when its time to come out of the water she cries. We love her and we are so proud she is part of our family.

Fiasco

2008-11-30T19:38:00.009-05:00

Thanksgiving is just a whirlwind. We cant even begin to tell you all of the adventures of Marvelous Maeve and the Web. Here is a brief synopsis of the adventures.

Wednesday (day before Thanksgiving) - Grammy and Pappa leave from their visit. We drive to VT to see Nanny and Grampa.

Thursday (Thanksgiving) - Dad ate too much turkey. Three plates is two plates too many. And the pie and icecream afterwords? Not necessary. Glutten is a sin isnt it?
Friday (day after Thanksgiving) - Liam and Chase arrive in Vermont. Grampa and dad get Christmas tree for the house. Kids play. Turkey dinner number two is cooked. Dad only has 1 plate this time.

Saturday (day after the day after Thanksgiving) - Mom and dad cut down ginormous Christmas tree that they will eventually realize is almost two feet too big for the house. Kids create a cookie Christmas tree. More playing. Charlotte celebrates her birthday
.

Sunday (Sunday needs no explanation) - Pack up from Vermont. Drive home. Unpack. Set up tree and then decorate. Build snowman outside in first snow of the season.

Charlotte's Web

Searching for Gems!

Happy Birthday Maeve!

New Years 2011 in Vermont

Maeve Snoring

Christmas 2010 at home in NH

Chestmut Performance, and Cookie making at home

More videos!

These girls love to dance

End of Summer Camping and Apples

Maeve, Maeve, Maeve

First Trip to the Beach this summer

Ballet Recital

Charlotte Graduates from Preschool (the second time)

Time Flies

Happy Birthday Maeve!

One week left

Winners again!

well Shiver My Hips!

Happy Valentines Day

Skiing

Its a New Year

the Hugger

Thanksgiving

Fall

These kids

Lifes Lesson 658 Losing Gracefully

We Love Fall

The Skinny

Home

Getting there

The Wait

Note from Charlottes teacher

Only While Mom's Away

MV is FUN

Summer Time Fun

Having two kids

Red White and Blue

Losing it

Looks familiar

Dance Dance Revolution

Neglected

Happy 1st Birthday Party Maeve

Days

Dirt

Cousin It

Team Strength

Its a sweep

11 months old

You Might Be A Redneck.....

Womens Weekend

Happy St. Patricks Day

Expedition Monkey Boy

Marvelous Maeve

They just keep growing

Peekaboo Who?

9 Months Today

You figure it out

Law of crawling

Dance

8 Months

dear santa

The countdown is on

Pictures of the ice storm

In case you missed it...

A day that will live in infamy

Growing Up

Fiasco