4? not possible...is it?

We celebrated the twins turning four with our usual big family and friends gathering. The only difference this year, beyond the new house, was that we just did cake and ice cream instead of a big BBQ. But it worked out fine and everyone enjoyed themselves!

on their actual birthday wearing their "Birthday Kid" ribbons

signs made to go with our Pirates and Princesses theme

opening some gifts...

Making their cakes was a very time intensive project but thoroughly enjoyable. They were as good to eat as they looked!

Dad carrying Jake's pirate ship cake

Elizabeth's castle cake

Alexa and her Thomaston BFF Anna sporting the crowns they made.

Girls weekend

In June Alexa and I got to enjoy a weekend for just ourselves. For her 7th birthday I had purchased 2 Taylor Swift tickets. I think we all love Taylor...even Chris!

Transporting ourselves down to Foxborough was much discussed. I knew I wasn't going to be up for driving all that way by myself. So we discussed Chris driving down with us. That later become taking the train. Or did we want to fly? Flying became an option after Chris received 4 free one way tickets from Cape Air after helping someone out at the hotel. In the end is was the Downeaster down, Cape Air back up.

We would have flown down if I'd gotten around to booking an early enough flight. Then there was deciding a hotel! I had booked a few at an associate rate but Chris managed to cancel them. We ended up going with a great little inn right in Foxborough called the Ancient Marinere. It was a lovely place with a wonderful host and hostess running it.

So...going back to the beginning of our weekend. It started early the morning

of the 25th with Chris and the twins driving us down to Portland to get the train.

showing off the train tickets

We got a bit delayed just before Boston for some reason. Which meant it was going to be a dash to catch the proper public transportation out to Foxborough. We got the subway to the commuter rail no problem, just a little behind. Someone was definitely watching over us that day because the commuter rail left a little late. Of course once I got on I worried "uh, oh, we are on the right one...right?". I called the hotel when we were about 5 minutes out and they came to pick us up. We got a lovely little tour of Foxborough. Not so different from home...other than it being much bigger and lots more traffic. We got checked in, had a little lunch in the restaurant and then I tried to take a little nap in our spacious room (we had to leave Thomaston at 6am...I was beat!). It came with 2 double sized beds, private bathroom and a full kitchen area. Not bad for $130 and when we got to Taylor's next concert I know I will be booking here.

Eventually I gave up on the nap and we got dressed and headed downstairs to wait.

the funky chair in the hotel lobby

Alexa holding her breathe to get rid of hiccups...how could I resist? :)

They drove us within a mile or so of the concert. There was no getting any closer. It was a bit of a walk with Alexa complaining the ENTIRE way. Granted it was hot and far. But we made it.

almost there...see Gillette Stadium way in the distance?

The concert itself didn't start till 7pm. But arriving there early let us soak up the atmosphere of THOUSANDS of happy girls (and some boys), of all ages.

resting outside the stadium

before all the people!

pictures with Taylor...if only it was the real one!

We made it through the wait, and 3 opening acts by having dinner and taking pictures.

And finally around 9pm it was showtime! I have never been to a real concert before. Sure I saw the Wallflowers when they came to UMaine, and Rustic Overtones when they still played on the porches of fraternity houses at UMaine. But never a concert with this many people. It was absolutely amazing! I already told the family that next time around I am splurging for seats that are much closer.

opening...Sparks Fly!

It did start to rain halfway through. But rain didn't stop anyone - fans, nor Taylor. If anything it made it an even more memorable experience. It did make me glad that I spent a few bucks to buy ponchos - they were very handy. Alexa did doze off a few times and I had to keep nudging her awake. Then sadly it was over and time to make the very long walk back to our pick up location.

after the show...a little wet but happy!

I must say I have never experienced a pedestrian jam before. But that is what happens when thousands of people leave a stadium at the same time. Some people had to try and push to get ahead. But the majority was enjoying the euphoric high of the concert and just going with the flow.

The next morning we had to catch the commuter rail back to Boston and then the plane. We had some breakfast before coming back to pack. True to form we were late getting to the commuter rail, but that was the driver's mistake. He thought we had said 12 when we had said 11! We got there just as everyone was loading. There was some panic when I realized I couldn't buy tickets because I had no cash. Thankfully the conductor gave us a form to fill out and eventually I will be billed for my ticket (the entire $1.40?).

front steps of the Ancient Marinere

sporting the cowboy hat our hostess gave her - she loved Alexa!

We had time to spare at the airport which was my goal. I couldn't risk missing our flight! We had some lunch and wandered around. Then onto the plane. I have flown 2 other times, to Florida and back when I was 13. Things have changed a little since then. I wasn't really sure how the security procedure went and was quite thankful I didn't get hauled off into any rooms.

waiting at the airport...

enjoying a BK burger - took 3 times to get it her way!

view from the back of the plane

view outside of the plane, over Boston

Alexa was a little nervous as we got going...

but it didn't last long! This was how she spent the hour home.

landing back in Thomaston - no more sun

what the plane looked like from the outside!

We arrived home safe and sound to a very dreary looking day. Too bad we didn't bring the sunny Boston weather back with us! The only downside to the flight was that my ears plugged up pretty bad. I thought my ear drums were going to blow. It took several hours to have my hearing restored. Chris and the twins were happy to have us home again. So happy the kids started bickering right away. :)

Rumor has it Taylor comes out with a new album sometime in 2012. Which will mean a concert hopefully in late 2012 or 2013. And this time around it'll be me and both girls, Jake if he wants to come. When I mentioned the idea he said that he'd rather have Daddy time at the office!

Summer was here...I think

I must say that summer went fast and without a whole lot of excitement for anyone in the family. I guess that is what happens when you work full time and the kids end up daycare! We did at least have the weekends and I tried not to cram them full of just errands.


Of couse we celebrated the twins 4th birthday with a big bash, which will eventually get it's on post. The weather was lovely and everyone was able to be outside. Although it was a little hot in the sun...


The 4th of July was spent with our friends A and A and their kids. They came up just for the day instead of a weekend of camping like last year. Sadly I wasn't up to enjoying the festivities to their fullest thanks to a bout of strep throat. Who knew you could get that in the summer?! I did enjoy some of the parade, and the kids loved it. After a BBQ lunch everyone else headed to the beach while I went to sleep. From what I hear they had a good time. Fireworks ended up getting fogged out and rescheduled for the next day. The twins and I discovered (Chris was working, Alexa was sleeping) that you can see the fireworks from our house. That was cool. Especially since they DID NOT like the noise involved. I can't (well I can but I don't want to) imagine their reaction had they been closer. Next year though we will remember to dress for mosquitos. They were incredibly distracting.

In August we celebrated Chris's 34th birthday and our 10th anniversary. We got to go out to dinner at Natalie's in Camden courtesy of a gift certificate. It was amazing food. And so very grown up. There were a couple of things served to us that I had no idea what they were. Of course I took pictures of the items in question and facebooked about it, while at dinner. :)

Alexa played with field hockey during the summer with the Oceanside Youth League. She loved it and discovered she's very good at it! Thankfully they continued the program into the fall for a few weeks.

I did manage to get a garden in and we got lots of produce. I am hoping that next year will be just as successful, maybe more so. I'd like to maybe be able to put some away for the winter...we'll see what happens.

We definitely didn't do all the things we had planned. I will do a separate post for the birthday party and our Taylor Swift concert weekend. That weekend was too awesome for a long paragraph. Summer just seemed to slip through our fingers.

yikes...it's summer already!?

Wow...once again I've been bad. But I do have a lot of great excuses...

The end of April included a week's vacation filled with doctor appointments for Alexa. Her wrist had really been bothering her and we'd gotten sick of her crying over it. They decided she'd damaged and possibly torn the ligament. So she spent 3 weeks in a cast, followed by 3 weeks in a splint. The longest 6 weeks ever in some ways...

May brought about a new preschool for the twins at the beginning of the month, followed by Alexa in the middle of the month. We moved from Friendship to Thomaston due to the pending sale of our building. And while I miss being so close to my Friendship friends, I do love the proximity to everything else. And I love the fact that all the kids have their own bedrooms and we have no noisy neighbors above us!

May also brought a big promotion for Chris at the hotel as the rooms division manager. It got him more pay, a few more vacation days and holidays, and as it turns out a lot of extra hours! I also started a new job with RSU 13. Some days are quieter than others but all in all I love it. I do feel a little bad about enjoying my time away from the kids so much, but think I am becoming a better parent for it. And they are all settling in nicely at daycare.

So nicely in fact that Jake is finally toilet training and been in big boy undies for 4 days. We've had 1.5 #2 accidents. I consider that a pretty good track record! I actually got interrupted mid-blogging by a potty call. Sadly Jake decided to flush the undies I had soaking rather than holler to me. Which led to a very unpretty sight and me panicking at the thought of everything backing up. But he was successful at flushing his underwear...just like both his sisters before him. A new rite of passage?

Spring also meant softball, umpiring for Chris, and a wrap up (almost) to Girl Scouts for the season. And we've got a busy summer ahead with a Taylor Swift concert, the 4th of July, a Bar Harbor trip, a trip to Boston to meet a group of fabulous women, a family party, 10th wedding anniversary...and how can I forget - the twins 4th birthday! phew...tired already.

what a week!

Tonight wraps up a very busy and interesting week. Well...it was mostly interesting for Alexa.

It all started a week ago with a HUGE snowstorm that left us with 3 day weekend (of course by now it is mostly gone!). Sunday the folks from Children's Stage Adventures arrived, a few hours earlier than expected. Luckily I was ready for them. I just had to rush home, put my groceries away at warp speed, and head down to the house I rented from my aunt for them. I finished getting things set up and waited for their arrival...with all 3 of my kids. The kids fell in LOVE with Ben and Chandra. Getting them to go home was rough!

Chandra, Alexa & Ben

Monday was audition day. We learned that afternoon that Alexa got the part of a sprite. She was very excited. Tuesday meant an after school rehearsal, while Wednesday and Thursday involved rehearsals both before and after school. It was an intense 10 hours of learning and practicing for all the kids involved. Today they had a dress rehearsal plus two performances. It was a wonderful play. Seeing the kids faces as they did what they were supposed to do was priceless. And hearing Jake's little laugh at the funny stuff made everyone around us laugh a little.

our little sprite...and no, not the soda ;)

But it wasn't just a busy day for Alexa. The PTO also ran a bake sale during both performances. Which meant setting up and organizing and selling for myself and the other 3 officers. But it was decent fundraiser for the school and very low cost.

Now the kids are snoozing and I had best follow! Our busy weekend has just begun - up for Sunday is my baby sister's wedding!