Little of This, Little of That

This is my favorite time of year. Fall is just around the corner which means, fall clothes, leaves changing, school starting, fires in the fireplace, holiday excitement, my birthday (big 3-0 this year) and so much more. 

I cant believe I am going to be 30. I am not bothered by this at all. In fact I cant wait for my thirties. Some people freak out but truth be told I am relieved to be turning 30. Most of my friends in my adult life have always been older than I am. I dont look at age as a number but more of a state of mind. 

I have always been older than I actually was. I got married young, had my first child young but I didnt look at it as I was too young to do those things. I was mentally ready to have a family at that time. I dont feel I missed out on my 20's. True, I didnt party every weekend, I didnt do girls trips annually but I did get to spend every waking moment with the love of my life, my best friend. Together we raised a beautiful young man. 

That being said, I have enjoyed my 20's tremendously but am looking forward to saying good bye as I anxiously await the next decade of my life. 

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Labor Day weekend has passed. I am sorry to see the summer come to an end. What a great summer it was. My guys fished all summer. They camped, we beached it, tons of play dates, parties, and lots of family time. 

We spend our Labor day with family at my nephews 9th birthday. 

Owen loves his big cousin. They are so much alike and just so comfortable around each other. 

Try getting either of them to smile for a picture...IMPOSSIBLE

I have to do it when they are not looking

Shaney and Vicky are two peas in a pod. Vicky loves her baby cousin. She is amazing with him.

Great Grandma loves her boys!

And so patiently and calmly tries to get Owen to stop eating the frosting

(Joey and Owen are definitely related...no shirt or shoes EVER)

Brian had a blast too...he is a BIG kid

Someone got hurt so he needed daddy to console...he does that well

Grammy took some time to help put Shaney to sleep...she had the grandmother touch because he was out for well over an hour.

At the end of the day my kids were tired and dirty...as they should be. That to me says they had one hell of a time!

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Baby Brother is mobile!!!

He just decided yesterday to take a stroll across the livingroom. 

Big Brother is a second grader!!!! 

He started school and loves it. He loves his teacher. This is going to be a good year!!!

Have a great day!

Do I really live in New England?

Well I can honestly say I have survived my first hurricane. Or should I say Tropical Storm. Either way it was exciting, chaotic, nerve racking and everything in between.

My husband is a survival show junkie...he watches them, reads survival guides, has all the gear and was ready to go when he heard Irene was headed straight for us.

Me on the other hand, I didnt really think it would hit. I mean honestly, we live in New England, we never have hurricanes, not bad ones anyway.

The way the news made this one sound freaked me out.

Then there was the police and fire trucks that came the day before warning us to evacuate. Stay at our own risk. "If you stay we cant help you", they said to us. They even took our next of kin information.



That was enough to put me over the edge. I was ready to pack it up and take off.

Not Brian. Nope, he was staying put to ride it out. He told me to take the kids and go up to his brothers house in the northern part of the state. I almost did. But then reality hit and if I was going to be with anyone during this hurricane it was going to be my husband. So we stayed. I am glad we did. It was not bad at all and kind of an adventure.

Early Sunday, the morning of the storm Brian woke me up (I mean 4am early). We had lost power and he was on the back porch with the grill boiling water for the french press. He woke me with "c'mon, we have no power, I made coffee on the grill, grab the boy and get up, I know you like your coffee hot". I mean he was like a kid on Christmas morning. I couldnt resist. I grabbed Shaney (he was cuddled up next to me) and headed towards the coffee.

The rest of the day the four of us had our heads pressed against the windows and back door. The winds were strong, it rained off and on but nothing like I expected. I kept texting my friends and family with power to see if it hit us yet and when it was supposed to be over. I didnt want it to end.

It was almost uneventful.  We lost power and lost some tree limbs but nothing awful happened and I was thankful.


(getting our road closed down due to down power lines)




(we were waiting for that thing to come down)



As soon as we thought it was safe we were out and about. Touring the neighborhood.





Black Rock was lucky. There was flooding but nothing awful and a few homes were damaged due to down trees but all in all we stayed strong!























The next day was amazing. We had no power which equals no distractions. No tv, no computer, no cooking, not very much cleaning, just good old fashion fun. Being outside all day, fresh air, friends, and fun!







Black rock just felt different when there was no power.





I would say it was almost a glorified camping trip. We went to a few hurricane parties, spent the entire day outside, and just had tons of fun. There were times when I wanted the power to come back  but that meant back to the real world.

So in one week we had an earthquake (I felt nothing) and a hurricane (down graded to a tropical storm). That is why I wonder, Do I really live in New England? Winter is coming, I am sure I will not questions that in January. There will be no question in my mind that I live here!!!

Have a great week.

Party Time

We had another wonderful weekend full of celebration.

There was so much to celebrate. Shane turned one!



We have such amazing family and they were all here to celebrate with us. We are so blessed.

Shaney had his very own cake and went to town (with a little help from dad).

















He loved every second of it. He honestly ate half the cake and could have kept going.







It was a fantastic day.

We spent all day Sunday relaxing. It rained at night but we pretended it was raining all day.

Today we just relax and prepare for school to start. I cant believe its here already!!!





Have a fabulous week!!!!