Golden Egg Hunt

April 3, 2012 By 2 Comments

Last month’s Cocktails & Crafts was such a great, seasonal activity that you could apply to your St. Patty’s Day fun or use it in anticipation of Easter!  The kids decorated a festive paper bag and then we headed downstairs for a golden egg hunt, searching for eggs left behind by those naughty leprechauns!

My friend Katie and her sons Colby and Lincoln graciously hosted–

–and the kids had a fabulous time decorating their bags.  They’re becoming serious little artists in their old age!

I brought a yummy and adorable treat to share–Oreo frogs!  Easy enough that Jax and Em helped me assemble them (hence only a dozen or so made it to the party), and super cute!  Check out the recipe here.

Once the kids had finished decorating and had a snack or two, we sent them down into the playroom, which was beautifully decorated, to search for those elusive golden eggs!

They were filled with leprechaun gold (chocolate) coins, so the fun was many-fold!

For the adults as well as the kids!

Thank you, Katie, for hosting, and for providing not just a fun craft, but a great activity to go along with it!  Such a fun way to spend an evening indoors.  We’ve been playing with those eggs outside for weeks and they are no worse for the wear, thanks to that gold spray paint!  Kids are always delighted to go hunting for eggs, whether they have an excuse or not–I think that sometimes the only excuse needed is to have fun!

If you’re not familiar with Cocktails & Crafts, and would like to learn more about how to start your own monthly get-together with friends, or to see past C & C events, click here or on the Cocktails & Crafts link above!  I’d be happy to feature your group once you get it up and running!

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Snowman Party!

March 25, 2012 By 3 Comments

The heat wave is over and things are springing back to normal March weather in New England, but I think it’s safe to say we’ve said goodbye to snow for this year.  Yes, I just jinxed myself, and you’ll all be laughing at me when we get an April Fool’s blizzard.  Hopefully not!  But if indeed that does happen, to me OR you, then I have a great idea for a way to spend an evening with a roomful of kids with spring fever!

A snowman party!

My brilliant friend Katie, whose blog you can check out and enjoy here, orchestrated a fabulous way to celebrate the winter weather in her home about a month ago.  She invited Jax and his older buddies for a snowman party that celebrated in word, food, decoration, and fun!

When we arrived, Katie had the downstairs blocked off and the kids were herded upstairs for some snowman-friendly fare!

There were snowman pb & j sandwiches with cheese stick snow, snowman powdered donuts, and cinnamon sugar-covered fried dough.  Delicious, and the kids gobbled it up!

Then after dinner, we headed downstairs to the winter wonderland that awaited: snowflakes, white balloons, bricks of cardboard ice to make igloos, and literally thousands of cottonball snowflakes!  We gave the kids free reign to have a snowball fight and they had at it.

As for the fun, I’ll just say that the chaos was barely contained, and the adults enjoyed themselves as much as the kids!

And then, when the clock was close to striking the bedtime hour and the kids were getting close to being overstimulated, Katie in her infinite wisdom had one more trick up her sleeve–the movie Frosty the Snowman with a nice cool drink and popcorn to calm the kids down before we put them in pajamas and headed home.

I’m not at all sad to see winter go, but I did appreciate the time bundled inside with good friends!  What a lucky group this crew is with friends and memories like these!

Filed Under: friends' kids Tagged With: ,

Hodge Podge

December 16, 2011 By 12 Comments

The difference between having one kid and two?  Between having a baby and a preschooler or two big kids?  The difference is I can barely get my camera out of the bag, let alone actually take pictures.  We go somewhere, I bring my camera, and just when I’m about to begin capturing the cuteness, Em happens.  She either wants to be held or she starts destroying things.  Either way, in a situation where I would be clicking away, I end up with a handful of photos to commemorate hours of fun.  It’s kind of depressing for a clickin’ mom like me.

So here are weeks’ worth of photos, whittled down to a simple few.

Hanging out at the playground while I do my photoshoots.  Able to take literally thousands of photos of other peoples’ kids.  I get only a few of my own.

Hanging out at Nana and Papa’s.  My little man doing what he loves most: reading, reading, reading.

Hanging out at home, being silly.  Wishing it was still warm enough for puddle jumping.  Jax is wearing my boots, Em is wearing his.

Hanging out, ready to go on The Polar Express with Nana and Papa!  Big grins and pajamas required!

This is the big shocker: only 4 photos from the Winter Fair at school this year?  Last year I was floored by the beauty surrounding me as we explored what was to become Jax’s school.    It was a life-altering experience; it helped shape how we parent and brought me to the educational experience we are now enjoying so dearly today.  But between showing both sets of grandparents the splendors of the school, perusing the gorgeous wares for sale, or guiding my kids through the sea of people, I was a bit overwhelmed and claustrophobic by the end; I did not get to capture the glory of the day.  But it was still wonderful, and I am so looking forward to Em joining us in Morning Garden in January!

On our way to music on Fridays, we tried to stop and be sure to donate to the local food drive every week.  At first, Jax was very reluctant to share his food with those who lost their homes/livelihoods/possessions in Hurricane Irene.  Our area was hit incredibly hard by the storm, and even though evidence of that is all around us, Jax didn’t understand why we had to share.  The first problem was that he thought we had to give ALL our food, but once he learned otherwise, he was more inclined to help.  He is still impressed by the damage (and the ensuing construction that will be rebuilding for years to come) and after a few weeks of discussion, he now will happily head to our pantry and choose something worthy of donation.  Last week he even gave his Cars mac n’ cheese!  That is a real sacrifice in the eyes of a three-year-old!

Now whenever he has to share his food at any time, he asks whether the person he is sharing with needs help from “The Damage.”  The Damage is a big concept to him, but whenever he looks at the aftermath of that momentous day, he is always impressed.  That’s not always a good thing, but like all of us, the sight always leaves an impression that is hard to ignore.

Lastly, I misplaced my camera during our friends’ Christmas party last week (found it later in my diaper bag), so I ended up with only a few shots.  I was so impressed with my friend Katie’s idea of having a kids’ tree in her playroom and ornaments for the kids to decorate during the party.  The moms took a timeout from food and husbands to help decorate the letter of the kids’ name, and then we wrapped pipe cleaners around them as hooks.  It was such a fun way to include the kids in the celebration, and to make it feel like a real family event.  It was a wonderful night for all!

So that’s what we’ve been up to, in a hodge podge of photos.  I need to work out some kind of method to ensure that Em does not prevent me from capturing the moments that make our days so special.  Otherwise we’ll all have to make do with a little bit here and there to commemorate this wonderful season!  Whether I have photos or not, know that we are loving life up here in Vermont and grateful for all that we have.

Linking up these photos here:


 

Filed Under: Vermont Tagged With: , , ,

Apples To Apples

October 9, 2011 By 12 Comments

For you new mommies out there, I am going to say something that a dear friend said to me when I was pregnant with Jax, and I appreciated it every day because I knew I wasn’t the only one to have had these feelings.  You will love your baby, cherish your baby, walk through fire for your baby, but there will come a time when you will look at your spouse and say, What the hell did we do? At times you will miss your old life and will be exhausted and lonely and unsure of how to fix it.  I know a way to help you fix it, and it’s rather simple.  Make other mommy friends.  It will save your sanity.

We moved to Vermont when I was six months pregnant with Jax, knowing no one but my in-laws.  I resisted joining the local mommy’s group, only acquiescing and bringing Jax to Mommy and Me yoga.  I slowly got up the courage to become friendly with some of the other moms, who strongly encouraged me to go to the mommy group.  I thank my lucky stars every day that I did.

Not only did I meet amazing other women who helped me get through the most difficult transition of my life (working woman to SAHM, very educated to not using my degrees, isolated and alone to busy and happy).  And now that most of us have been blessed with baby #2, with Em being the oldest of the younger siblings, our little group has grown from a core to a crowd.  It’s a good thing.

For the past three years, since Jax was not even a year old, our group of friends, including the dads, have gone apple-picking.  This year was the first time JDubbs was able to make it due to his big October deadline, but he managed his schedule so he could come.  We were glad to have him there to share our day, and it was a lovely time at that.

Em was delighted to have an excuse to wear her fall hat and coat, even if it was a wee bit big.  She looked good, even if she was reminiscent of a linebacker.  One damn cute linebacker!

We met at Poverty Lane Orchard and let the kids run free.  With dads on hand it was easier than usual to keep track of all the little ones so I had the opportunity to take some photos and be more observer than hands-on.  That was the best part for me.

Plus seeing my kids enjoy themselves and the changing seasons…we are so lucky on so many levels.

The kids all had a great time and I’m sure we combined to eat way more apples than we bought.  These kids were unstoppable!

And I still had time for a few shots of each of my kids in an apple tree, enjoying some fruit right off the proverbial vine.

Great friends and great memories.  Love the kids together and love the friendships taking a step out of my comfort zone helped me acquire.  Now there’s only one more question:

Any other cute photos?

Well, yes.  I’m glad you asked.

Loving autumn up here in the Upper Valley.

Filed Under: family Tagged With: , ,

Cocktails & Crafts, August

September 12, 2011 By 4 Comments

Timing is everything.  I am so grateful that we took the opportunity to have Cocktails & Crafts at my good friend Heather’s house before Hurricane Irene came and turned her backyard into a waterpark.  Because there is nothing like starting an afternoon get-together like searching a garden for caterpillar eggs, which hold the promise of not only caterpillars, but also butterflies!

Look at my friend’s gorgeous yard.  And look at my friends making an adventure out of a golden afternoon.  Reflecting back on this day makes me ever-so-grateful that I somehow fell into this unbelievable group of women, each with so much to bring to our relationship and to the life of my children.  It certainly would never occur to me to look for caterpillar eggs!  I am so lucky to be surrounded by people who make me a better parent.

And make me cocktails.  Even better.

Do you see my son’s fingers sneaking over the top of the table?  I promise I only let him have one.

Back to outside and more summer fun.

When everyone had arrived and the kids were getting antsy, it was time to head inside and do one of C & C’s cutest crafts yet.

Adorable clothespin magnets, perfect for hanging art on the refrigerator!

Heather, being a fellow teacher-on-hiatus and smart mama, had all the felt cut up for us when we arrived.  She knew that having 7 toddlers and 2 babies on hand could make cutting a wee bit difficult.  Hallelujah!

Materials:

clothespins

magnets that will fit on the clothespins

googly eyes

appropriate color felt for sheep, turtle, and duck (yellow, orange, brown, black, white, green)

teeny pom poms for decorating

tacky glue

 

Directions:

1.  Wrangle your children

The tarp was purely precautionary, but it was nice to tell them that they couldn’t get up out of the river.  Intrigue increases stillness.

2.  Choose which animal you would like to make and then cut the appropriate felt colors into the appropriate shapes.

Then attach your magnet, and glue the felt on to make your animal!

My kids lost interest before we could make a turtle, but here’s a picture for you to examine closely:

Then comes the fun part.  Lay them out to dry and it’s time to eat!

And then the even more fun part: take your margarita outside and let the kids run around until they’re exhausted enough for bed.

Cheers to great friends, a great craft, great food and drink, and great times!  Here’s to Cocktails & Crafts, one of my favorite days of the month.

I’m waiting for the first C & C spin-off!  Who will be the first to be featured here at Rub Some Dirt On It for starting this wonderful monthly get-together with her friends?  Maybe it’ll be you!  Can’t wait for the C & C love to spread far and wide, but I need your help!

Filed Under: art, crafts Tagged With: , ,

Masquerade

August 6, 2011 By 4 Comments

 Welcome to Cocktails & Crafts, July edition!  Yes, I’m a little late getting this up, but it’ll make you appreciate it more, having to wait for it.  And with adorable kiddos like these, completely fired up for this craft, it was definitely an afternoon to remember!

Kati, our gracious hostess, whipped up a simple yet completely captivating craft for the 9 toddlers and 2 babies present.  She went to our local JoAnn Fabrics, bought a bunch of light, wooden masks for $1 each, and supplied us with ample decorations to intrigue and delight our kids.

With bowls of regular and glitter glue laid out and decorations galore, the kids were able to choose a mask they liked from several options…

…and decorate to their heart’s content.

It was messy, but really fun.  I found the more we let the kids be the ones in charge rather than imposing our ideas upon them, the fewer tantrums we had.  If you could just go with it and let them be messy, everyone had fun.  And created beautiful masks!  Well, maybe slightly freaky, but beautiful to the kids.

 And then, once the crafts were finished, it was time for everyone to relax, stay cool as the warm summer’s day came to an end, and enjoy delicious food and a refreshing drink of our choice.

 I brought my new favorite summer snack, my watermelon cut-outs.

And since it was unbelievably warm that week, we didn’t do much else after that but keep cool and watch the kids have a great time!  Oh, and have a cocktail, of course.

Some of us enjoyed cool white wine, while others savored a classic summer favorite.  Vodka tonic with a splash of cran.

Recipe:

2 oz. vodka

2-5 oz. of tonic or soda water

a splash of cranberry juice

lime wedge

Mix and pour over ice.  Enjoy!  By the way, you can skip the soda or tonic water and just have a vodka cran; just figure out what proportions you like best.

So, back to the kiddos. 

The kids frolicked in a pool, pouring water down the slide, abusing watering cans and dumping buckets of water over each others’ heads.  Basically, having an unbelievable time.

There won’t be many photos of my Jax, since this was day 3 of potty training, so he opted to be naked the entire time.  But he was there, rocking his birthday suit and slide burn. 

 The kids had fun, in various levels of dress, in various degrees of dryness.  I love the freedom of being with friends and summer.  There is hardly anything better.

The kids agree.

 

Especially Em.  This was only her second C & C appearance and it was definitely an easier venue for her to be comfortable.  I feel like she’s flourishing, on so many levels.

 

And as an additional bonus, it was my friend Sara’s birthday, so there was the extra treat of cake and ice cream cones!  My kids’ first ones they have been allowed to eat on their own. 

The kids were so sweet and happy.  I wonder why I don’t keep ice cream cones in the house to diffuse all difficult and/or grumpy situations?

And one last group shot, showing off their creations, before we left.

Content kids, hours of fun outside keeping cool, good food and drinks and great company.  Why haven’t you started a Cocktails & Crafts group near you yet?  I’m still waiting for the first group to spin off, and I promise to highlight you and your group right here at Rub Some Dirt On It!  Come on, it could be you!

Filed Under: art, crafts, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

A Sense of Place

July 2, 2011 By 10 Comments

 

I alluded to last weekend’s trip to Boston and its significance to our family, but I certainly didn’t do our trip justice with just two pictures.  Have you met me?  Do you think I ever take two pictures of anything?  Case closed.  We have a lot to discuss.

JDubbs is a proud alumni of Northeastern University and one of the benefits of having that claim to fame is that they host a family day at Fenway Park once a year on a non-game day.  Basically, they set up a carnival throughout the park: think music, monkeys, men on stilts, games, cotton candy, photo ops and a chance to explore the park and you’ll have an idea of what a fabulous day it was.  Or so I hear, since Em and I had some girl time while JDubbs and Jax did their guy thing.

We left Vermont and drove straight to the park, where we dropped the boys off and they met up with JDubbs’s brother and our nephew Tommy.  I imagine that taking their boys to Fenway together is something that Tom and JDubbs had been fantasizing about since they started thinking about having kids.  Two boys, less than 10 months apart.  I have written about how lucky we are to be so close to them and have the boys be so close in age, but as they grow and do things together (and don’t worry, Em will be there next year right alongside them!), we just can’t get over how blessed we are.  There’s just nothing like good cousins.

So, back to Boston.  JDubbs obviously isn’t me, and thus he wasn’t going to lug around a camera at the park all day, so he utilized his camera phone as well as he could.  Here are some shots of the day, courtesy of JDubbs and his phone:

 I had to laugh when I saw that the only photo he got of Jax and Tommy was this:

What is it about little kids and drains?  Doesn’t matter that they’re at the world’s coolest ballpark; a drain is far more fascinating.  I was hoping for a more memorable photo of the two boys, but with men in charge, that’s what I get.  You get what you get and you don’t get upset.

Here are the two best photos of my boys from this memorable day:

Sitting on the Green Monster.  What the heck kind of face is that, Jax?

When I asked him about the Green Monster later that day, his reply was “I poop on it!”  Maybe that answers that question.

And a photo op with the glorious 2004 and 2007 World Series trophies.

Apparently when my brother-in-law and nephew were posing for this same photo, Tommy reached out and grabbed one of the trophies!  Security appeared out of nowhere and took care of it immediately, but if you are wondering if you’re allowed to touch the trophies, the answer is apparently no.

 So that’s all I got for boy time at Fenway.  They cut out a little early and took the kids to Jillian’s (so appropriate) for food and to watch bowling.  I haven’t been to Jillian’s since I’ve actually been old enough to get in there, so I can only imagine the fact that they had their babies in a bar.  “You have a baby…in a bar!”

 Em and I, meanwhile, were living it up the way only girls can when they have an afternoon to kill in Boston.  Lunch and shopping on Newbury Street with lifelong girlfriends.  I get all smiley just thinking about it.

‘Sup, Boston.

 Em is already a city girl.  She loved the people-watching, the food, the shops.  She was a rock star in Lucky where I tried on a zillion pairs of jeans and finally bought a pair that actually fit me and don’t look like playground/arts and crafts sweatpants made of denim.  The girl working there even said that Em could destroy the store for all she cared because she was so darn sweet.  I guess playing peekaboo in and out of a dressing room is enough to melt the most urban of hearts.

Then my girlfriend Diana and I strolled the length of Newbury Street and wandered through the Public Garden.

You may be familiar with said garden from Make Way For Ducklings, but if you haven’t been there in the summertime, put it on your bucket list.  It is heaven draped with willow trees and punctuated with stunning flowers.  Speaking of that book, I really can’t believe I didn’t take her over to the duck statues, but it’s just another excuse to go back there this year and take her on the swan  boats.

Thank you, Diana, for coming with us and for taking these photos of me and my baby girl!

For a girl who was woefully late for her afternoon nap, she was quite cheerful and very eager to explore the area around the pond and to see the ducks.  Duck is probably one of her favorite words.

 

It was delightful.  I even had those moments in my head about how much fun taking her shopping in Boston will be when she’s in high school.  But then I took this photo of her:

and I feel like I can see sixteen-year-old Em in that face and stance.  I mean, she’s gorgeous, right?  She’s got her front knee bent and everything, just like she’s striking a pose.  Sigh…we’re in trouble fifteen years from now!

For such a quick visit to the city, I felt like we took advantage of every second.  I get all kinds of antsy when we’re in the car heading south on 93 and can barely wait to see the skyline.  Every time we’re within view of the TD Garden or cross over the Charles River, I get so excited and I always turn to JDubbs and say, “Don’t you just love coming back here?” and he always replies, “You say that every time.”

I guess I’m still part city mouse, living in the country until life brings me back the city’s way.  For me, Boston is a part of me that I don’t realize how much I miss until I’m back, when I can just exhale and remember how life can be.  How my life used to be and sometimes feels like still should be, although that’s not in the cards right now.  Until then I’ll just keep brainwashing my kids and enticing them with enchanting afternoons in the big city, and hope that one day we can go and just jump on the T to get home.

Here’s to hoping!

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