Friday, July 31, 2009

A Quieter Month

July has been so sleepy, by our standards, that I actually had to do some digging to remember what we actually did for one of the weekends this month! I scoured our Google calendar, then the credit card statement, and finally my old facebook statuses until I found details of that lost weekend. Here's what we were up to:

- We spent a few hours at Houghton's Pond in Milton, having a picnic lunch, swimming in the pond, and hiking a bit. It was one of the rare good weather days that we've had this summer. (We hadn't planned this in advance on the calendar, nor used credit for any purchases, so it was almost like it didn't happen...)
- The following weekend Fillis and John came for a visit with the kids, but really it was to watch them so Marc and I could go pick out a new mattress. We quickly settled on one despite our mutual dread about the process, and have been enjoying it since.
- Marc and I also attended a book reading by my favorite writer, Jennifer Weiner, promoting her new book. It was a fun and funny hour, and I'm thrilled to have a personalized copy of her latest.
- Last weekend we went on an adventure in Providence, RI. For a decade, Julie and I have discussed attending WaterFire, an event held during the summers there. Marc and the kids and I first went to the Roger Williams Zoo, then walked along a beach and had a great Italian dinner (thank goodness for GPS, Yelp and smartphones) before meeting up with Julie and Mike for the lighting. I was really, truly excited to go to this, but in the end it was a bit of a letdown. It took so long to get stated, and was so crowded and inconvenient to access with a stroller in tow. I guess there was more to see than we saw, but all six of us left feeling like we'd done enough. Plus, the Providence Place mall where we'd parked was needlessly complicated. I've definitely got the Providence bug out of my system, and am not sure we'll be heading back there anytime soon.

So that was July. Tomorrow we'll be having dinner with our friends Allie and Mark, who are expecting a baby boy in a few months. Hannah is prepared to tell them all about little boys, and Max is, well, prepared to be himself and show them all of the wonderful and terrifying things he can do.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Ch-ch-changes Abound in June

Well, I did say in my last post that June would be a busy month, and I guess it was since I didn't get around to posting at all! Shame on me! Now I'll just have to catch you up again (especially since my loyal reader Fillis just posted comments on my last entries!).

So as the title suggests, lots of changes happened in June. Some were pretty minor: Hannah moving on from her Cinderella bed to cool IKEA stripes, Max moving from his high chair to a booster seat at home, starting a new cleaning service and me getting regular massages to help with my back pain. But the more major shift was Hannah graduating from her preschool program and Max starting his.

Hannah had been in full-time daycare from the age of 13 weeks until mid-June, so nearly five and a half years. She spent close to two years in family daycare, then six months at Sunshine Academy, two years at Gan Yeladim and finally one year at the JCC. All told, we spent close to $100k just on daycare costs alone. I feel so very fortunate and grateful that she had such a great experience, always having good friends and being well-cared for by teachers and staff. Given Hannah's personality, she's been offered many teaching jobs at her centers even at these young ages. I'm so proud of her, and of me and Marc for having successfully navigated what can be a very stressful experience.

And now Max has moved from family daycare to his first (maybe only?) center experience. It's been a difficult transition for him, with lots of tears every morning at drop off, but it seems like he's having a great time once he's there. He's had a few dips in the pool (the weather here in Boston did not cooperate for most of June, and July isn't off to the greatest start!). His teachers are great, and at night we "talk" about his new friends and how his day went. Max's vocabulary is just exploding now, with new words like "school" and "happy." He loves to sing, and I never thought I'd find mangled versions of the "Bob the Builder" theme song as adorable as I do.

But our real June highlights were the wonderful visits we got to have with Grandma Susan, Uncle Ryan and Allison! Uncle Ryan had two weekend weddings in Boston in June, so he got to spend an entire week hanging out with us. We had a lot of fun together, and it was great to have an extra set of hands at times! We spent a Sunday in Boston, going to the aquarium, walking all over, getting ice cream and riding a carousel. A few days later, Grandma Susan joined us. Grandma, Ryan, Hannah and I had a fun lunch at the American Girl store and Hannah got fully-stocked on the latest AG doll and accessories. Then Allison came for a couple days of fun. We had a nice Shabbat dinner all together, then toured the Wenham Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts over the weekend. Hannah spent two days at home with Grandma Susan, going to Plaster Funtime and hanging out in the village. It was wonderful to have everyone come visit us, and we promise that we'll provide better weather the next time they're all here!

Since Hannah had a few weeks off before camp began, she also got to spend a few days with Grandma Fillis and Grandpa John, going to the beach and having a very busy social calendar! Hannah especially liked getting to feed cousin Evie (cousin Nate was sleeping). And then the four of us had a fun extended 4th of July weekend, hanging out at home and going to see the fireworks.

Now it looks like we'll have a pretty quiet July. Hannah's at camp for the first time, and I'm so excited to teach her to make lanyards. Max's is sailing along at the JCC, bringing home multiple shirts each day due to messy snack times. Laundry is harder than ever with two kids going swimming each day. Our July weekends should be on the quieter side, but we're looking forward to a full August with beach time and a return trip to Storyland!