Pumpkin Painting Party...

at the Park!

Since Pre-K started up in September, some of the other moms and I have been wanting to get together for a playdate. I thought it would be nice to get everyone together for some pumpkin painting! Everyone was required to B.Y.O.P (bring your own pumpkin) and a little something to decorate with if they chose to do more than paint. There was quite the turn out and although it was a windy day, it was sunny and the kids had a blast painting and playing and eating.
I made some little ghost cookies, pumpkin whoopie pies, and some mummy hotdogs to snack on. We had kids painting pumpkins to look like witches (Beckett),we and cats, strawberries (Rylee did that--for strawberry shortcake of course) and some that just wanted to stick stickers and dump glitter on top. They all turned out really cute and it was such a fun morning!

Oh and on a completely different topic --we have to take the kittens in to the vet to get declawed this morning. Let's all pray this is a smooth drop off. Rylee was already in tears about it last night. She suddenly realized they weren't going to be able to come home until Thursday. If you could see her little hands, all scratched up from not letting the kittens get down when they want down, you would think she would be okay with them getting declawed. However, she is having a hard time with the fact that she wont be able to snuggle with them for a couple of days!

Our Kittens

The kids finally convinced us that it was time to get a pet kitten. Aunt Roxannes cats had each had a litter so we took the kids over to her farm last night to pick out one kitten. Big sister wanted a girl cat and little brother wanted a boy cat. We decided we would just let them pick one and we wouldnt tell them if it was a boy or a girl...see we were thinking! As soon as we walked in -- "Princess" as Aunt Roxanne had called her, ran over to us. She is 7 weeks old and was abandoned by her mommy when she was very little. Aunt Roxanne worked with her and this little fighter survived and started to nurse off of another mommy cat who had just had kitties too. Rylee immediately took to this fiesty little sweetheart! Beckett on the other hand ran right to a tuxedo kitten with a really cute white mark around its leg. There were 2 other kittens that were also black and white but Beckett loved this ONE and he kept telling me when I would put it down "no, mommy dont put that down that kitten is coming home with me" ... Then Rylee said "No mommy I want this one...she's a girl!" well after about 30 minutes Josh finally said "just put em both in the truck" :) And so that is how our kids suckered us in to getting 2 kittens. A girl and a boy. We named the boy Bogey and the girl Mae Mobley. Bogey is a golf referance and Mae Mobley is a character in the book "The Help" who has a lot of the same traits and personality as our fighter of a kitten.
Bogey is very snuggly. He prefers to be on our chest or shoulder and he purrs all the time. He also likes his belly rubbed and is very patient with Mae Mobley when she's tackling him and chasing his tail. Mae Mobley loves to follow toes and is always looking for something to chase or tackle. She is fiesty but very sweet. She likes when we pet her and she enjoys being the center of attention. Because she was abandoned she always acts like her next meal is her last one so she will growl at Bogey ( yes growl!! ) if he tries to intervene. We will be getting him his own bowl today :) she's territorial for sure! and he is such a gentleman :)

Both kittens are litter trained thank goodness! They took to their litter box here like pros! The only meowed for us once and that was when Josh's alarm clock went off this morning. They were ready to play! The kids are doing really well with them. They know when the kitties are done being held and played with so they back off which is great for us and them ! We will keep you updated! I will try to post pics of the kids with them once I can get the four of them to sit still!

Last Night Out

On the last day, they had closing sessions. The speaker was Michael Durant. He was the guy that the movie Blackhawk Down was based on. His story was encouraging and motivational and he is just a really neat guy! That night, Josh and I grabbed dinner at the restaurant inside the hotel and then headed to the NECA's closing ceremony. They had a Beatles band there called "The Fab Four". It was really fun and we knew a lot more songs than we thought. They even had "Ed Sullivan" there as the host of the evening. It was a great way to end an amazing week!

Beacon Hill

Josh and I got lost in the Beacon Hill area one day. It was my fault...I bet you all knew that already though. I had this great idea of taking him on our own little tour together through some places I had researched in the Beacon Hill area. This is a wealthier area and historical as well. The tour was supposed to begin at The Massachusetts State House and end at the Cheers bar...well it dropped us off and then we had to find the State house and then the right street to begin our tour...we had fun getting lost though and the streets were beautiful. The picture of the door with the "10" on it is where Louisa May Alcott lived. She wrote the novel "Little Women" The other pictures are just randoms and then of course the state house and the bar :)

My date with Jack

Got up early on Sunday, grabbed some Starbucks and took the "silver line" to the "red line" and then a bus to get to ...the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. It was a great morning and a great date :)


also, the 1st picture is the letter JFK wrote: Here is what it starts off saying " As long as there is one child in an overcrowded or unsafe school, as long as there is one farmer who is forced to leave his farm"

Trolley Tour

Pictures of the Trolley Tour and the Navy Shipyard

North End and other touristy things

Pictures of the North End and the wonderful pastry's and buildings

Jillian's Grand Slam Night Out

That's Fenway's Green Monster behind us. My camera was hit or miss that first night but I think you can make it out :) The other's are of us in Jillian's and Josh with the New England Patriot's Cheerleaders! He got them to sign a poster "for Beckett" yeah right... ;) teehee

Bahston

There were so many great things about this trip. The pictures just highlight a few of the amazing things we got to do. It was a great oppertunity and the Weber's were so great to invite us and let us see what Boston and NECA are all about. Besides walking around the convention's trade show, we did the touristy thing and went on Trolley Tours which was a lot of fun. From the financial district and it's sky scrapers to the historical buildings like the Paul Revere house and the USS Constitution ship were all wonderful! The first night we were there NECA rented the 450 people in our group buses to Jillian's for a "Grand Slam Night Out." This restaurant bar is 4 stories and is right next to Fenway. The Red Sox were hosting the Yankees that night and the energy of the city when such a rivalry is taking place is amazing! Each floor of Jillians had food, drinks, and entertainment. We went bowling and explored the floors-- there were fortune tellars, a cigar bar, artists and New England Patriots Cheerleaders just for starters. The food was made by celebrity chef Bill Starubuck who caters celeb weddings like Jen and Brad's ;) The next day while Josh had seminars with John, I had a date with Jack-- I took myself to see the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. It was really neat to see documents from the White House and etters from JFK and Jacqueline, not to mention her jewelry and dresses from the campaign and the White House. It was a great museum and right on the Harbor so it was really pretty and something I will never forget!
My favorite part of Boston was the North End. This is the "Little Italy" part of the city where there are over 100 Italian restaurants and lots of little cafe's and pastry shops. My favorite being Mike's Pastry which is where we all got their famous cannoli's. The line was down the street for these pastries but the people were locals and tourists alike so we knew we were in the presence of something great. The line went pretty quickly and we were somehow able to wait until we were back in our rooms to eat them all up...yum-o! I cannot say enough good things about the little party in my mouth from the cannoli's :) We also got to take in all the older buildings that are so well maintained and taken care of. Davide's is in the North End and is an Italian Ristorante owned by two brothers and their father. The wife also works there and we were told she hand rolled the noodles the night before for our party the next evening. It was amazing food--5 courses and all the wine in the world. I have never been so full in my life but we all had a great time!
There were also Italian waiters who placed the napkins on the laps of the women and called us Senora's and spoke to us in Italian. I could have sat and listened to them speak for hours! Such a neat experience!
Of course all the other parts of the city were pretty awesome too. Beacon Hill is where the wealthier people live. Includuing some authors and John Kerry. We saw the secret passageway of Acorn St. which is a cobblestone alley and the most photographed street in America. Oh and we couldn't have gone to Boston without eating Chowda (amazing) and Lobstah ( 2.25 1bs lobsters to be exact. um..not us, Josh's boss....) And seeing Fenway and the Cheers bar! My favorite parts were just getting lost around the city with Josh and listening to that authentic Boston accent.

Everything was so amazing and I can't wait to go back...this time I'm taking the kids ;)

Thanks to everyone who took care of our little ones while we were away. It was nice to know that they were in such good hands! We are so blessed to have such a great group of family and friends. I hope you enjoy the pictures!