Boston Marathon and Daddy's 40th Birthday!

April 16th was the day of the Boston Marathon this year, on an unusually warm day (good for spectators, not so good for the runners!).  It just so happens that it was also Todd's 40th birthday!  So we went to Mel's house for the marathon to cheer on some of the fastest marathoners in the world. 

We also got to cheer on several CFNE members as they ran the marathon too!

Of course, after the first 10 minutes, the kids were out of snacks and decided that getting dirty in Mel's freshly mulched lawn would be more fun.

Later that evening, we went out to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Todd's 40th birthday!  (The following week, we would go to Aruba, so please don't mind the lameness of just taking my husband to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate such a momentous occasion!)

 Natalie made this nice birthday card for daddy for his birthday!  Happy birthday Daddy!  We love you!

Easter 2012

Todd and Natalie dyed Easter eggs this year, for the first time.  Grant wasn't really interested, and I was on the phone most of that morning with my brother- my parents were in Europe and my grandmother was going downhill, so I missed a lot of this.  I managed to snap a few cute pictures though.  Please note Todd's awesome bib.

Look at the beautiful eggs they dyed!  Todd pointed out to me that next year, I should buy white eggs, and not brown eggs!  Yeah, I'm THAT idiot!

For Easter, we went over to Helen's house in Wilmington.  Uncle Gordie has a super awesome backhoe loader that Grant is OBSESSED with. 

Natalie looked so cute on Easter this year.  Look at her- doesn't she look so big?   And so beautiful!

 I keep telling everyone that I wouldn't even know G was in the picture below if Seth wasn't there pointing to the camera.  He's sitting in the wheel well of a backhoe loader!

Next up was the Easter egg hunt at Nauni's house.  Grant, Seth and Natalie went around the backyard at Nauni and Uncle Gordie's picking up eggs.  Below, Grant spots one in one of his favorite places- in a TIRE!!!!

Natalie and Seth were on the hunt- below they are running around the yard trying to find as many eggs as they can!

After the Easter egg hunt, Grant wanted to go back to the backhoe loader and "drive" around a bit.  The kids just had a blast in here!  Then we had a big Easter dinner and some yummy dessert- Seth's birthday is in April so we had some birthday cake to celebrate.  Talk about stuffed!

Natalie's March 2012 artwork

It was so hard to just choose a few!

Please notice the backward "j's" above.

I sometimes think her bubble letters are better than her regular letters!  She said she did this, but I'm not really sure she did.

The elf, eyes, and rainbow colored elk crack me up!

"I have long pretty hair with a crown on my head."  (And a pink wand and rainbow dress!)

All of her y's are backward!  She normally does them normal, I can't figure out what went on here.  Love the yams too.

A visit to Plymouth

GoGo just got back from his semester at sea (he goes to Mass Maritime) where they went down to the Panama Canal, and all over the Caribbean and Central America (as well as a bit of South America).  It was also Grammi's birthday!  So of course, that is reason to celebrate.

Grantie loves his GoGo. 

Ice cream, cake, and the birthday girl with her family.  Is there anything better?

Natalie giving Grammi her birthday card.  Only about a week after this, Grammi and Bean went to Florida for their annual 2 month visit.  We miss them already! 

Gymnastics Fun

The kids are still going strong in gymnastics.  Natalie does so well in her independent class, and Grant is in the Tiny Tumblers (mommy and me) class.  He has really come a long way.  Very recently he finally learned how to jump with two feet on the trampoline, and I'm fairly certain he's dead last in his class to do so, even though there are kids much younger than him in his class!  He still doesn't like Mr. Gary, although he will go up to him at the end of class for his hand and foot stamps.  He hasn't done that in the past, so that is progress.  Below you can see him with mommy and Mr. Gary.  He was protesting this, even though you can't really tell from the picture.

Below is Natalie in circle time at the beginning of class.  She looks like a ballarina!

Below, she is doing an assisted back flip over the bar!  Pretty cool, I think she might be ready for crossfit, ha ha!

January artwork fun

In January, we had a little artwork fun.  This picture is so cute of Grant, and the chaos on the table is just perfect.  Trucks, jacks, crayons, clay... so fun!  I literally only took about 5 pictures the entire month of January, so this is all you get!

Supergirl Natalie

It was a tough battle, but Supergirl saved the day against the evil Puff Daddy!

She actually made this costume all by herself.  We helped her with the ideas (or, um... Todd did), but she did all of the coloring and work.  Oh and I cut the red "S" out of construction paper and the eyes out of her mask.  But the rest was all her!  She has a really creative mind for a 4 year old!

Curious Grant getting stuck

I had to snap some pictures of Grant getting stuck under the entertainment center.  It was so darn funny... never mind that he was whining and wanted out when he was under there.

Happy boy.



Wegman's trip

They recently opened up a new Wegman's in Northborough, which is a pretty good drive for just going to a grocery store, but Wegman's is so wonderful that we had to make the trip.  They even sell beer, liquor, unique fruits and vegetables, and grassfed beef!  My favorite that we bought was some rambutan.  I forgot to take a picture, so I stole this one off the internet...

We also bought a cherimoya, which wasn't as tasty as the rambutan.

Natalie wouldn't make a serious face when we were driving them around in the "car" cart.  Looks more like a UPS truck to me, but anyway...  she kept making this face and it was cracking me up!  Please don't ask why my kids are indoors and still wearing coats and hats!  At least Grant is representing with that hat!

Natalie's pre-game Super Bowl interview

In light of a VERY funny set of interviews that the Boston Globe did with kindergarteners regarding the upcoming Patriots-Giants Super Bowl in Indianapolis this Sunday, I decided to conduct an interview of my own with Natalie.  Interestingly, it wasn't nearly as funny as the kindergarteners interview, but only because she actually KNOWS football!  That's my girl....

http://www.boston.com/community/moms/specials/Super_Bowl_through_a_kindergartners_eyes/?p1=Well_Community_bottom_links

There's a video and a slide show... the kid who's thirsty is the best!

Here's how my interview with Natalie went:

Do you know who Tom Brady is?  Yes.
Do you know what he does?  Yes.
Can you tell me what he does?  Um...  He does this:  "GAGA!"
How old is Tom Brady?  100!
Do you know what the Super Bowl is?  It's where you play the Giants!
Do you know where it's being played?  At the Super Bowl!
Who's your favorite Patriots Player?  Tom Brady.
What's his position, do you know? Is he a pitcher, a quarterback, or a point guard?  Quarterback!
Do you know what a touchdown is?  It's when they score!
Do you like the Red Sox better or the Patriots?  The Patriots!
What do football players wear?  Blue and white!

The Amazing Natalie's score prediction:  Tom Brady: 9; Eli Manning 8.  We aren't sure whether that is the score of the game, or just what Tom and Eli will score... stay tuned!