Happenings

We had open house last week at the kids' elementary school. I really like all their teachers. So far so good! Julia had this waiting for me on her desk. I always think her ideas and drawings are so cute! (If you click on it, it will get bigger so you can check it out.)

And Nicholas lost tooth #9! I think the tooth fairies forgot to talk to each other because tooth fairy #1 left $3.00 under his pillow and tooth fairy #2 left $2.00! : )

Funny

The other night at bedtime, I was reminding Gianna that she had her tumbling class after school the next day. Gianna said, "Mom! Can you not call it that? It sounds dangerous!!"

I'm lonely...

The toys lay still...all over the house...

I can't even put into words how much I miss the kids being around. Everyone keeps telling me I'll get used to it and eventually love it. But I just don't know if I will. Today is a gorgeous, crisp fall day. All I could think about this morning was heading to Briggs with Gianna to feed the animals and taking her to the playground. She was so upset last night saying she never has enough time anymore to play with her stuffed friends. And you know what? She's right.

Why am I so sad? Will I ever be able to accept these changes? It's been two weeks and I still don't feel better about it. What's wrong with me? Why do all the other mothers seem to be fine?

But hey, I'm not totally alone. I have KoKo to keep me company....


I remember when Julia went off to first grade I felt exactly like this but at least I had Gianna home still. So Gianna and I made a picnic lunch that first day of school two years ago, and I put our lunch on handprint plates that Nicholas and Julia had made at preschool. I know...sappy. For a moment, I started to cry, yet again, just thinking about them at school all day. Gianna looked at me and said, "MOM! They're coming back!!!" She snapped me right out of it. So yes, they are coming back at 3:30...everyday...and they are still young. I have many more years with them "home" with me. I'll be just fine.

We went apple picking last weekend. We found this new place last year and it is fantastic. Tons and tons of apples and lots of yummy food...



Like homemade donuts....



and unbelievably good kettle corn made fresh....

4th, 3rd and 1st grades

Today is the first day of school. Let's hope they don't make these faces at their new teachers...



This is my first time in 10 years not having a little one home with me during the day.

I was a little weepy this morning. After they left, I walked into the living room and saw Julia's doll, Gianna's stuffed dogs and Nicholas' red blanket just laying on the couch. The house is so quiet. I know I'll get used to it pretty fast.



But I still miss them...and the noise.

Julia and Irene

Happy Birthday to our Julia who turned 9!! And goodbye to Irene who blew in and out of town but left quite the mess behind. Even Julia's little friends were neater than her!

It was supposed to be a pool party/sleepover but Irene messed that up too! We moved the party into the porch because of the rain but it worked just fine.



Julia asked me to make this pink confetti cake.

Julia invited 5 school friends and 5 dance friends. Ironically, all her dance friends couldn't sleep over because of Irene but all her school friends were able to stay. : )

My personal photographer (Nicholas) did a great job capturing all the fun...





























They played in her room and made the best of it inside. Then we put in a movie and the kids had lots of candy and popcorn. They were in bed by 11:00, pancakes for breakfast in the morning and then the girls were on their way home before the storm got too bad. It was still a good party and Julia was very happy.

By early afternoon, this is what Irene did to one of our trees...

It knocked down some wires but no one in our neighborhood lost power thankfully...

And I spent over an hour cleaning the pool and it's still not clean...





So we spent the rest of Julia's birthday weathering the storm inside and Danny made a delicious meal of homemade eggplant lasagna, homemade pasta & ravioli, and homemade sauce.....yum!!!



One of Julia's favorite presents was her Tangled doll. I love that she still loves dolls. I was thrilled to go into the Disney Store to buy it for her!!

The last of our summer list

We're almost done with our "summer list"...

We picked a beautiful day and went into Boston to the Children's Museum of Science...


Then we headed over to Faneuil Hall for some fun. The girls and I found this awesome store. Forgot to take a picture of the front of the store but it had to be one of the prettiest stores I've ever been in. We found so many girly things....



Then the kiddies had ice cream and watched a street performer...


and a guy banging on a homemade drum set....

Then we relaxed a bit, enjoying more entertainment and the beautiful day...








My boy held my hand the entire day. And I enjoyed every second of it because I know it won't last forever...


Danny and I used to go to the North End all the time before we had the kids. It was one of our favorite things to do. We would just walk the streets browsing the menus and trying new places. We really wanted to share this with the kids.



We showed them this place...just add the Di and this place could be ours....

We showed them the church where we stopped in just over ten years ago to light a candle and say a prayer for a baby. Along came Nicholas shortly after. I believe it helped. This time Nicholas lit a candle for his Papa. The peace garden outside the church is gorgeous...

We passed a cigar shop and it reminded me of Dad. I know he would have loved it.

We picked a restaurant that we thought the kids would enjoy...


No trip to the North End is complete without a visit to Mike's Pastry...

I think the whoopie pie was as big as her face...

Gianna wanted a chocolate chip cookie (I mean really?) but all they had left was M&M. But it still made her happy....



It was a great day...



This is hilarious! The kids could "be on TV" in the museum. Gianna went crazy! And Julia's shirt was invisible I guess because of the color...