Pens and Pennies

It is our anniversary tomorrow, 7 years.  We celebrated a week early with an overnight in Boston (complete with lavish dinner that S forgot to use the $100 giftcard we had) and so tomorrow there will be no gifts.  We love to refer to the Wedding Anniversary Chart when picking gifts and when we looked this year, this is what we found:

7th Anniversary

Traditional US:  Wool, Copper    

Modern US:  Desk Sets/pen and pencil Sets

I love giving gifts according to these themes (or at least a small something).  The first year anniversary gift is paper and we gave each other airline tickets to Mexico to go with the free trip they gave us when they bumped us from our honeymoon :)  On our fourth anniversary, "the Linen Anniversary", I gave S kitchen towels and ironically my mom gave us some too. 

Because we said no gifts this year, I had to get creative and I only spent 41cents!  I wish I had real pictures for you to witness these amazing gifts, but my back is still in rough shape and that would just take too much effort.  Instead, please enjoy these internet photos :)

For 39cents I scored two beautiful blue papermate pens  I had a coupon for Target and so I saved a dollar on these pretty things.

S actually will receive two blue pens, sorry for any confusion

In the spirit of copper, I give my sweetie my two cents ;)  Not sure that he wants it or that they still make penny's out of copper but it is the thought that counts.

Happy 7th Anniversary S :)  Thanks for being my best friend and for loving me for who I am.  I am so happy that after 7 years (13 together) that you still give me butterflies!  Thanks for making me the luckiest girl in the world.  Enjoy your pens and pennies :)

Time to Slow Down

It is really funny to me how your body knows when it has had enough.  It is at these times when you usually get sick or injured.  For me it was the latter, my back went out.  This seems to happen once a year and by now you would think that I would be prepared for such times.

It happened in the shower on Monday afternoon after working out.  I had been experiencing back pain for about of week but wasn't really listening to my body.  I still lifted weights, moved air-conditioners, stood on my feet all day in my flip flops, made beds and all of the other things that I probably should have avoided while feeling some pain.

For the last three days I have been laying on the couch with either ice or heat on my back.  I can move around slowly but it is difficult for me to lift things (Lil' C ;() My children have been great and have been very good about playing on their own.  Z has been super helpful and Lil' C, although still very clingy, has realized that her tantrums go nowhere so she might as well just play :)  It has been fun to watch the creative play that they have been forced into due to their boredom.  Z's dinosaurs gave a rock concert, Lightning and Mater rode the dinosaur train and he even had a battle of carnivores vs. herbivores.  We have read lots of books, played board games and snuggled on the couch during an episode of Curious George (they are going to need TV detox after this week). 

It takes a village to raise kids especially when the mama bird is laying on the couch :)  S has been struggling with balancing his busy schedule and a wife who is having a hard time functioning.  He tries to keep the kitchen clean and was able to come home early one night and go in late one day.  He has been super helpful but I can see the guilt on his face that he can't do more.  My friends have all pitched in to help (trips to grocery store, a delivery I had to make and bringing me meds) and my family wishes they could do more but they are all super busy with their own stuff right now.  Timing with these things is never good. 

I am hoping one more day of rest, my medication and a good nights sleep will help me to be up and around tomorrow.  I plan to take it easy this weekend and who knows, maybe I will be working out again by Monday :)  I just can't wait to get things back in order!

Mommy Time

Once again I hired a mother's helper for one morning a week for the summer.  It was my intention to use this time to garden, clean, mow the lawn....get stuff done.  Lil' C had other ideas in mind and would not stop crying for me if I was in or around the house.  For this reason, my plans had to shift.

I have now been driven from my house for the 3 hours and forced to spend some time by myself, doing whatever I want.  I have to admit it is difficult to leave the mountain of housework and gardening behind but so nice to have some ME time :) Over the last few weeks I have spent this time getting a massage with my best friend La, spent lots of time in a coffee shop checking emails, blogging and reading, went to an appointment at Z's new school and have done some shopping :)  It is heaven to have this time to myself and it is all thanks to Lil' C :)

I will have to remember this fabulous gift she has given me when she is a teenager and driving me CRAZY ;)

Our Week In Pictures

The Raising Z and Lil' C house has just been crazy lately.  We took a mini vacation to Maine last weekend, celebrated my birthday last Tuesday and Wednesday, S and I spent a night in the city on Thursday to celebrate our anniversary this upcoming weekend and we held the first fundraising event for my sister in-law's non-profit organization this weekend.  CRAZY!  That combined with the heatwave (it was over 100 last week), there was no time or energy left to blog. 

Today I am trying to clean up from all that so all you are getting is some photos from our trip to Maine :)

It was an amazing mini vacation and great family time that was so needed.  Z had a fever when we left (he caught Lil' C's bug) but was in good spirits so we decided to go :)  He had a ball and I am so glad we did go.  Here are some photos of our two days in paradise :)

Cape Elizabeth

Touching wet sand!!!  Big Deal:)

beach combing

tide pooling

Portland Maine

Watching the Boats

ogunquit

 

 

Our favorite lobster retaurant

Lobstah Roll :)

Z and C how does your garden grow??

With a whole lot of luck :) 

You see S may have grown up on a farm but when it comes to gardening, he claims he does not know what he is doing.  This is our third attempt year gardening and thus it had to be bigger and better than ever.  I read (well actually skimmed through) All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew and this did help us a great deal.  We didn't follow it as closely as we should have but we did make our two gardens into grids, followed the planting instructions and tried to fertilize the soil like he suggested. 

I am happy to say that thanks to the book, we do have a lot growing right now, however I have a much bigger garden than he suggests in the book and next year I will have to account for the fact that I need room to walk in the middle of my garden :)  This year I had to pull out a bunch of things to make a path....oops!

Z's Small Garden (mini pumpkins, peas, carrots, beans and radish)

So what is growing from seed....zucchini, green beans, mini pumpkins, carrots, lettuce (2 kinds), arugula, radish and Z's morning glories

What is growing form plants I bought.....my herbs and tomatoes in containers

What is sort of growing from seed....peas (we were really late), spinach, corn, swiss chard

What is dying.....sunflowers (Lil' C plucked our seedlings and I bought some plants), tomatoes from seed that we planted over the winter

What did not grow.....eggplant and peppers (swiss chard might be able to go here soon...it is really little)

Our Challenges.....2 novice gardeners, no time to weed, poor soil, not enough sunlight, a nasty chipmunk named "CHIP" living under the garden (anyone know a guy??), 2 novice gardeners (S blames our location on the globe...says we are too far north to grow anything, then I reminded him of our CSA farm and the folks in Canada ;)).

So what's in your garden?? ;)

They Say It's Your Birthday....

They say it's your birthday........but it's my birthday too ya!  

They say it's my mom's birthday.....you're going to have a good time!

They say it's my Pop's birthday.....it's my birthday too ya!

 As many of you know, 34 years ago today I was born on my mother's birthday.  25 years before that she was born on her father's birthday :)  She and I were both birthday gifts that were one of a kind and non-returnable ;)

Happy 95th Birthday Mom (oops, I think I got that backwards)!

I love you very much and there is nobody on this earth I would rather share my birthday with :)

Pops, I am sure you are partying up in Heaven and drinking Moxie. 
I plan to have some today in honor of you :)

You would have been 92 years young this year.  

I love you and think of you often, especially today.

 

Now wipe those tears away mom, it is time to go and celebrate!!!!  

See you at lunch :)

Making Memories.....

Here are some pictures from this week's memory making moments (a few are from last week too....sorry!).

Annual Father/Daughter Trip to the Red Sox (our Christmas Gift from Dad)

view from our seats

She could not get enough of this helmet at our friend K, A and S's house....we ended up borrowing it!

Bowling Excitement!

I finally found out the best way to go bowling with Lil' C :)  The girl must always have a job!

I should really put him in a league....the kid LOVES to bowl and is pretty good :)

Boys Alive Virtual Conference!!

Virtual Conference from July 12-28th!!!

It is not too late to sign up and it is FREE!!!  If you sign up right now you can hear the first speaker from Tuesday, Michael Gurian (it is up until 4pm EST on Wednesday).  Kiva Leatherman is now teamed up with Janet Allison (who was a speaker last conference) from Boys Alive.  I have her book (still haven't touched it though...) and I am excited to learn strategies and tips to help Z (and Lil' C) grow up to be a strong and caring person.

Here is a bit from the website:

Boys Alive! isn't just for boys! The insights and wisdom you'll hear apply to both sons and daughters...and besides, you'll definitely want to know what's happening with the boys and men your girls will ultimately date, work with, and marry!

So check out this FREE conference :)  I love to listen to the podcasts in the evening while doing chores or just relaxing.  The last conference was life changing and I am sure this one will be as well!

Slowing Down

Well Lil' Miss C made sure that everyone took it easy this weekend when she spiked a 103.4 fever on Saturday evening.  We were at my sisters house for a cookout and going at our usually "energizer bunny" pace when the world stopped so we could take care of her.  We went home, snuggled and tried to comfort our hot and feverish little girl.  Instead of Sunday at the beach, we were forced to have a quiet day at home.  This was very disappointing at first but ended up being for the best.  S has not had a day at home since Father's Day and it was nice for us to relax, get some chores done and cook on our new grill. 

Lil' C had a high fever again on Sunday night and a low grade temp Monday morning.  The doctor checked her out and told me that her ears and throat were fine and that she had the virus that was going around.  Monday was a long and weepy day for Lil' C but by night fall she was eating, drinking and playing once again.  Being sick is no fun but I did enjoy the extra snuggles that I was given.  Lil' C is not much of a snuggler but for the last few days I have had the joy of snuggling up with her warm (sometimes firey) little body and have smothered her with love and kisses.  It was really nice. 

Making Memories.....

Here is our week of memories in pictures....

Fireworks on top of the Boston Museum of Science

The Science Activity Tables for the Kids :)

Z's first fireworks!!!

Amazing moment

Our Annual trip to the Planetarium :)

Happy Weekend!