Newest House Guest

We have a bumble bee colony under our front porch. I killed five centipedes within the first 40 minutes of my day. Mike killed two in the middle of the night last night when we awoke to our daughter screaming. Four more weeks and I'm out of here!

New Tricks

Not really a new trick, but look at what a determined boy he is. He's so much fun. Took the kiddos to the beach today with ladies from church. Such a great group of moms.

Ava learned her new trick in Grandma Duck's pool, and Mark has been crawling now for a few weeks. He can even pull to stand, and once or twice has stood on his own on accident. Growing up!

Father's Day

This Father's Day was especially meaningful to me because I'd been without my other half for a couple of weeks. Once again, my parent's saved the day and flew him out for the weekend. Thanks! Having him around only made us miss him more when he left. He's such a cheerful guy. A great leader in our family. Gentle. Kind. The perfect kind of firm with the kids. He takes such good care of me and he reminds the kids (well, one in particular I'm sure you can guess who) not to hit me. It's nice having someone stick up for you. :o)

Ava was super excited about Father's Day this year. She was thinking and thinking about what to get dad. She came up with two really good ideas: a game, and an ipod. She decided to go with both. If you look closely she's made Dad an ipod with her favorite car game on the screen. She was pretty excited. She also thought she would give him the heart box she decorated with paint and stick on jewels you can see in the bottom left hand corner. I convinced her otherwise, but it's proof to what a selfless sweetie she is. She had so much fun decorating it and is still loving it here in NJ.

Las Vegas

For those of you who are confused as to our whereabouts let me do some explaining. Yes, for the time being (the next six months perhaps) Boston is our home central. However, Mike is doing his summer internship in the Princeton, New Jersey area, so we are here. We were only able to find family housing for six of the twelve-or-so weeks of Mike's internship. Because my parents truly love to spoil me, they flew me out west to spend June with family instead of being a single mom. THANK YOU! We spend about 2 1/2 weeks in Vegas and 1 1/2 weeks in Utah. We loved seeing friends and family, and only wish I'd had more momentum the second stretch of the trip (the Utah portion) to see more of you. Miss you all!

Grandpa and Grandma have an awesome yard, whether you're running through sprinklers, picking apricots, swinging, or driving cars.

Ava had the idea to go to Grandpa Duck's grave. She wanted to pick out flowers and then deliver them and tell stories about Grandpa. Sweet girl. Ezra's not the most cooperative for photos. That's why you're not seeing much of him.

We did lots and lots of reading. We love a good story.

Mark loved getting to meet some new family members.

Disneyland

Grandma Paula was nice enough to take me to Disneyland while we were in Vegas last month. Bekah was nice enough to drive down to let us in and go with us, and Jess was nice enough to help us out with all the kiddos. It takes the whole team to take five babies and four strollers around. We had so much fun.

Ava had to pose with each letter before we left. Who taught her that? She hasn't even been in dance this year.

Meeting the Princesses was a must, of course.

Grandma with all the grandbabies that made it to Disneyland.

We could have left after Ava got her face painted and it would have been a perfectly fabulous day for her. She watched everyone else with painted faces so longingly. Once she had her "mermaid crown" she skipped around the park and was nothing but smiles. It's amazing what a little make up can do, eh?

Mark had a great day too.

Thanks for the treat and wonderful day Grandma!

New Jersey Bites

Literally. We've been here a week now, and have had multiple house guests. See if you recognize any of these guys...

our friend the centipede

the classic daddy long legs spider

I have never seen so much leg in my life. Take me back to my safe second floor house in Boston!!!

a deer tick

We found this guest embedded in Ezra's upper leg. We ran him to urgent care where they gave him a shot, took a razor blade to his leg and then plucked the little guy out. Now he's sipping amoxicillin twice a day to keep him safe from Lyme's.