monday: one day, tuesday: two's day

monday
memorial day





cookout at matt and krissy's
hot and sunny
a great day to pass around the babies



just noticing now but i think i took pictures only of adults with babies who are not in their own family! just goes to show it really doesn't matter if we're related or not. we all love each other a whole lot.





marilyn and riley



riley and her grandmother
it was sunny and hot... riley didn't seem to be loving that, but she did ok :)

Riley with Auntie Krissy
a little snuggle
a lot of smiles

{Funny to see Krissy with a baby that small! I think Riley is still smaller than Will was when he was born!}





Will playing with Grammy
time to read a book!

I think Will had more fun than anyone on Memorial Day! He was totally in his element, showing off for the crowd. Singing, making noises, dancing, clapping... you name it, he was doing it, and was darn proud of it too :)

Tuesday

Will and I had another exciting Tuesday afternoon. After being passed around from person to person all day on Monday he was ready for good, snugly 1 on 1 time Tuesday. Play for a few, hug for a few. Not a bad mix of activities :)




Climbing on my lap as I lay on the floor...










seriously, is that not an award-winning smile?! :) he's such a ham for the camera... as soon as i pull it out he gets all excited. he even smiles most of the time when i say "Smile" now!












walking from chair to ottoman to couch... and then he made his way back to the other side, where i left the lens cap {one of this favorite "toys"-- this week we were working on the let's-not-eat-the-lens-cap lesson. it worked amazingly well... keeping it to play with was good enough for awhile... guess its really all about the control!}






tongue is always sticking out
the first time he gets too excited
and bites it
its going to be a blood bath
hope matt's home when that happens
not kris!

otherwise, its darn cute!







took this shot by accident. obviously i meant to capture the funny faces he was making, but look at those chubby little toes!!! irresistible!
and of course i had to show you one last "reach for the camera"
he can't resist.
need
to
get
the
camera
pleeeeeease!

sorry buddy
not til your older ;)

until now just keep smiling for me! we're in a good little groove playing around.

a sneak preview

for all of you official or unofficial members of the willy fan club

a little shout out from the man himself

lots more photos coming tomorrow

ciao

christine visit, memorial day & house updates

lots of fun stuff to report on this morning, a misty tuesday morning after memorial day
and what a great weekend it was

Friday
christine arrived friday around 1:00
we went to the border cafe for lunch
then walked around fanueil hall/quincy market and the north end

we came home to relax for a bit and decide on plans for the night
there wasn't much else going on, so we decided on dinner at the charlie horse and then we'd stick around to watch Dick n Jane
so we got all dolled up, cute tank tops and whatnot...
only to get there and find out they wouldn't let christine in
because she's from out of state
and didn't have another form of ID with her birthday on it
well who the heck would?!?!
we were a bit pissed
and of course the bouncer was your typical power tripping muscle head
which made it worse

so we left...

went to christos for dinner
where christine almost ate the bread off another table because she was sooo hungry

but it ended up being fine
we both finally got back to an even keel
and headed home to change into pjs and relax


dan was home when we got there, so christine got to meet him
and all his sarcastic charm

we chilled with him that night
watched The Soup
played Friends and Family Guy Scene-it (on demand)
then started watching cheesey on demand dating ads
hysterical!!


Saturday

We were all up around 8 because Dan got up to head to the house
Christine and I relaxed a bit longer but then met him there shortly after
because, let's face it, after months (18 months to be exact) of build-up
Christine was dying to get over there!
I think its safe to say she loved it! She stood in the shower, mouth wide open
for at least 10 minutes :)
And she got a sneak peak at some of the new stuff Dan's working on









The diningroom table:

The newly painted bathroom door (inside of the bathroom, pocket door leading to the laundry room)

the hutch

--top--

--Dan's dad built this in high school

absolutely beautiful

although it was

a little tough to see before

with the school issued shellac

{and covered in dust}

right now its just stripped

but you can already tell

its going to be gorgeous

when Dan's through with it

---bottom---

and Dan painted the old singer sewing machines

which will become end tables

after that we hit the crop shop
spent some time browsing and then shopping
followed by lunch at panera

then home to scrap for awhile before heading to a cookout at mom's

christine got to meet the whole gang. mom, dad, gram, aunt milly, krissy, matt, will, terri, doug, even marie and derek mariani. we talked and laughed all evening. dan finally suggested playing cards, but by then it was 10p and since hand & foot takes 2 hours, everyone declined. gram offered him a game of double-solitaire as a consolation, but I guess she thought Dan was just kidding because he stuck around to play and she went home! we all had a good laugh about that one! he finally got home about an hour later (after hanging out with mom and dad), joined christine and i in some more chatter and then we all went to bed.

Sunday

sunday we had a lazy beginning of the day

which was really nice... watched clueless, drank iced coffee, watched funny things on you tube

and then sunday evening was spent at chris wilson's house. christine got to meet the whole gang. the boys played frisbee golf horseshoes and beer pong. shawn was on his usual winning streak and christine as his partner made the game far more interesting. they won for at least 3 hours in a row!!!!

and of course steve befriended christine as soon as she arrived

skipping to the keg -->

we did manage to take a nice picture of the two of us (only one, which is pathetic for us scrapbookers), but its better than nothing :)

we TRIED to get a nice one with dan, but he was already very far into the silly zone, so cross-eyed was as good as it was getting

yep, christine fit right in.

this was sitting by the fire towards the end of the night during the 1 game christine and shawn actually had to sit out because they'd lost.

boo hoo!

and in a last ditch attempt to get some pictures of us {to scrap} we got silly when we pulled into the apartment around 1:15am!

yep, clearly we had a blast!!

i can't believe the weekend went by soo fast

monday morning i dropped christine off at the train

did laundry and got my walk in before going to matt & krissy's memorial day cookout

it was in the 70s until it cooled off in the afternoon

and we basically spent the day passing babies around

first will, obviously... he's just about walking!!

and then riley was there for awhile

then jen and matt brought the boys over, so we passed benjamin around.

all so cute and cuddly.

pictures soon

finally friday

feels like a long week
but its sunny and warm already
i am leaving as soon as christine's train gets in
and she maneuvers her way {alone} through south station
and the red line

bring on the 3 day weekend

plans: nothing's quite set in stone, but lots of fun options

today
walk around boston and explore a little
hang out at home for a bit
maybe do dinner or go to shawns
maybe go see Dick n Jane at the Charlie Horse

tomorrow
show christine the progress on the house
maybe hit the LSS to drop off stuff and browse
scrapbook
cookout at mom's in the evening

sunday
cookout at wilson's
cookout at keith's

that's a fun weekend don't you think?!
and really, christine and i could sit in the apartment all weekend with no official forms of entertainment and laugh ourselves silly over something for days, so i'm not worried about what we do... but since i've gotten a few different glimpes into christine's life, i figure its time to give her the tour of things up here... work, family, apartment, house, friends, local hangouts! she's in for it! :) and who knows, maybe coming in 70 degree weather will make her forget that it gets "much colder" up here than in PA and she'll finally agree to move. feel free to help me with that angle if you meet christine this weekend. she's great- she'd totally fit in around here! :) well, i guess we'll find that out won't we ? :)

is it the weekend yet? please!

long week here. busy week. good week. fun week. hectic week. productive week.
that about sums it up.
which works out well since i started writing this post this morning and haven't had a single second until now (8:30p) to continue... so let's keep it short.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!!!
Hope the newly created spaces in your mouth aren't getting you down today and maybe you got to enjoy a bite or two of your lobster roll :)

And thanks Matt for allowing Dan and I to share your birthday with our anniversary. 4 years ago today Matt and Jeff caught Dan and I kissing up against a chain link fence at a car race. Classy huh?! Isn't that how all of the great romances start? Well, probably not, but we thought we're were both 'in for it' when we got caught.... and that turned out ok... so here's hoping ;)

And finally-- SOO EXCITED that my friend Christine is coming to visit tomorrow. She's never been to visit me here in MA. We have so many fun places to see, people to meet, pictures to scrap and other adventures to have! Its going to be great. If only I could wish away the next 16 hours ;)

fresh start

its monday (again)
but it feels like such a fresh, clean start to the week.
lots of good stuff behind me and some more to look forward to.



my apartment is clean
99% of our clothes are washed and hung up/put away
the fridge is full (as full as it gets for us) with food that will keep us full this week
i scrapbooked on both saturday and sunday and made some stuff i really like
i walked around scituate on sunday, breathing in the fresh air, getting some sun and visiting with leslie and then uncle ray and chris. hello new neighbors! :)
i watched enchanted on dvd which had been wrapped up in the plastic for far too long
i got to see my family on sunday afternoon and bought soe beautiful jewelry, splurged on onion dip for the first time in ages (don't think it likes me as much as i like it. oh well)

yep a great weekend


and now another great week ahead

thursday is my 4 anniversary with dan
which is also matt's birthday
{thanks again matt, for having that birthday party down at thompson 4 years ago!!}
friday christine comes in from pa for her first visit to weymouth and a glimpse into my crazy life
memorial day weekend means an extra day off and we have so many options that mean we're bound to have a ridiculously good time.

i can't wait! let the week begin!

suddenly sunny saturday

it was a lousy morning.
i slept for 9+ hours and was still exhausted
but i dragged myself out of bed at 8:30
i ate my cereal and got in the car

i've hit 6000 miles in my ford escape
so with a hybrid that means time to get
and oil change and tire rotation
only no one else thought that should really be
a priority this morning


the 15 minute drive took what felt like forever
i was stopped for a very long time
waiting for some bicycle race to pass
then a funeral procession
seriously
can't make this stuff up


got there around 9:20
they had me sign something at 10 and told me i still had awhile to wait
so i took a walk

caught up with kris
got back around 10:30
and wasn't out of there til about 11:10


for an oil change
and tire rotation!!!!!!

ridiculous!
(though the rep did apologize and admitted the wait was excessive {ya think?})
that's good customer service
as upset as i was
that helped

still tired, i stopped into dunkies
must have waited 15 minutes for coffee
what??!


oh well... as i drove closer to home
the sun started coming out
i pulled out my sunglasses
opened the sun roof
blasted the radio


the frustration started to lift


i came home to clean
did 6 loads of laundry
showered
and now i'm catching up on this week's
Grey's Anatomy

its like i got a second start on the day

caution: major disappointment ahead

i know there are more than a few of you, who stalk this blog every wednesday, waiting with baited breathe for new will pictures. and so i am very sorry to report that i am, in fact, going to disappoint you today.

i did hang with will last night. we went for a walk in the park. he watched the baseball players and sang along with my mp3 player ("la la la" those ARE the words to the songs are they not??), then he fell sound asleep. i took maybe 5 pictures of him snoozing in the stroller (a new record low for pictures taken on a tuesday) and then we headed home, where matt was eating dinner and ready to feed the little guy. i headed out to make sure kris got to eat too, and so we called it a day earlier than usual.

i will post what i have later this week
and hopefully will get some new ones to give you a fix this weekend

have a good day everyone!

be fit assessment

be fit is officially over

i'm so sad

its such a wonderful program

wish it ran longer than 10 weeks.

but the first results from my final assessment tell me that it did its job giving me a jump start

progress:

• i lost 9.2 pounds


• i lost 4 inches of my waist, going from a 31" to 27" waist


• i reduced my body fat by over 4%

not too shabby!

{i am still waiting on the results of the blood work, but i would think given how rapidly i cut fried foods out of my diet, that my cholesterol should be the same as a 5 year old's by now ;) let's hope so}

and i'm not done... summer's coming and i'm not quite bathing suit-ready just yet. kim and i are meeting with steve twice this week and have to figure out what our plan is for the coming weeks. not sure if we're ready to go cold turkey or if we need to wean ourselves off the level of attention and brutality we get from steve and his personal training expertise each week.

the quest for fitness continues!

wish me luck :)

stimulus check hysteria

everyone's talking about it
the government is giving us free money
and they WANT us to spend it
they are begging us
i don't know anyone
who's actually gotten any money yet
but its coming
and everyone has ads out trying to get you
to spend it in their store

and you know what?

its catchy!



----edited to add-----

in case you thought I was kidding
this is what i saw on the ATM screen last night
you can't make this stuff up!





I'm not usually so
excited by the allure of buying new stuff
and yet everyday i come up with something new
that catches my eye



an i-pod would be great
yes. i need an i-pod.
my mp3 player is dying anyways
and i work out now
so i need good upbeat music right?
that's not really a want

its a need.

right? ;)


no no no.
i don't need an i-pod
i need another vera bradley bag
really. i do.
{don't listen to dan}
i haven't gotten a new one in over a year!!
that's like a world record
plus, look how pretty this is!!
pink and flowery
so springy
and i already have an apron to match
in case one might ever need a bag
to match one's apron


ok ok, i'm getting carried away.




i'm thinking green. why do i need all this new stuff??
what i should really use it for is
the composter i've had
my eye on
this thing is cool!
it costs only about 50 cents per month
to run
and it does all the work for you

hello green garden


{believe me, i need all the help i can get}





















and, it should fit nicely under the island sink
right in between the 2 sets of barrels that will house the other trash and recycling






on the other hand... i love these water bottles
and i can't seem to find them anywhere but online
sigg bottles
metal
no icky taste on your water
no chemicals leaching in
all sorts of cool designs
like this one




seriously, why has this consumerism overtaken me?




and the ironic part is...
i probably won't purchase any of these things
at least not right away
and probably not with that 'free government money'
there are bills to pay
and a daytona vacation coming up
which will be oodles of fun and well worth the money.

but hey
a girl can dream
right? :)

Happy Mother's Day

Everyone had a great day at Mom and Dad's today. Mom, Gram and Nana thoroughly enjoyed their first Mother's Day as Grandmothers & Great-Grandmothers.
























Riley slept most of the day, though we did get a few pictures with her eyes open. Everyone passed her around and she didn't care one bit :)

This is Riley with her Aunt Maureen.


















Uncle Bob


Aunt Ree-Ree




















Auntie Karen























Riley & Grammy

























Riley & Auntie Jen





















Riley & Mom on their first Mother's Day :)

The Happy Family

Jeff, Melissa, Riley & Buffy

Some Riley & Buffy bonding time

Melissa, Riley, Nana and Jeff

We also took a little time away from dotting on Riley (I think she got her fair share, so no worries that this cute little bundle of pinkness went neglected), to celebrate Melissa's 30th Birthday! Happy Birthday, Cous! :)

A few artistic sort of shots

This was my Aunt Marie's idea. I am not quite sure I got it right, but its still pretty cool.

Sleeepy time for Riley. She's still at the age where that's all she really wants to do. Sleep, eat a little bit, and get changed, but I'm pretty sure she sleeps through some of that anyways... and yet she looks gorgeous even while getting yet more beauty sleep :)

Sleep tight baby girl.

We all love you very much!

the girls in PA

these beautiful women kept me company all day last saturday

Back Row: ShannonM, Keri/Scrappin4fun (crop hostess), Amy/Daisies&Doves, Christine/TiniKilleeney, Beverly/Apple
Front Row: Amiee/Luv2Scrap, Me/LazyFrogGirl, Jenni/JenniB






Tini and Me

Thanks for a great weekend girls.
After the crop on Saturday, Christine and I spent Sunday literally shopping until we dropped at the Philly outlet mall! So. Much. Fun!!