twinkle toes

Sydney started dance class a couple weeks ago. One half hour ballet + One half hour of tap = One LONG hour of chasing Trystan away from the Dance Studio trophies, bars and mirrors.

limbo

Apparently Trystan sees any and all babyproofing as a personal challenge.

back to (pre)school

Today (to my surprise) Sydney was very excited to return to school and walked right in without even so much as a kiss or a wave for me.

Trystan on the other hand, cried from the moment Syd walked away to the second we hit the driveway, when his eyes fell shut for a nap and I did an old school fist pump in the front seat of my quiet car.

proud little patron

Look who got her very own library card!

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off camping

If you think this is packed, you should see the BED of the truck!

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just to explain

This...

is just one of the many reasons I have become a delinquent blogger:...
my apologies! More posts to follow - I Promise!!

duck, duck, Swan

Last week, I informed Tom he'd be taking us all to the Duckling Day Parade in the city to celebrate Mother's Day. After all, it's my day, so if I want to dress my children in duck costumes and march the streets of Boston to reenact a juvenille storybook, so be it.
Lisa mentioned the parade to me a couple months back and as you can imagine, after hearing the words "costume" "duckling" and "public garden" in the same sentence, my ears immediately perked up. The event celebrates the classic Boston-based children's book Make Way for Ducklings and the parade follows the Mallard family's route from the Charles River to the Public Gardens (or at least as much of it as a four year old could walk without complaining).
And just so you don't think I'm making this up, check out the official Duckling Day Parade website here (paying close attention to photo #19 - ahem, yes we're famous).

Highlights from the day:

A quick stop at Mr. Balloon Wizard before the parade.


Lil' duckiling Mack, Mrs. Mallard, & Officer Michael watch the magician.


Daddy gives Mrs. Mallard's tired feet a rest.


Taking in the sites at the Public Garden.


Giving hugs to the real Mrs. Mallard.

Want more photos? Click here.

the big apple

circus, that is...

haircut

I know, I know - what hair? But truly, Trystan may still be nearly bald, but he's been growing a little baby-fro at the nape of his neck. It's just enough to give him a nice glow of bedhead when he wakes up from napping. So I decided my boy wasn't fit for a baby mullet and gave him a little fuzz cut this evening. It took all of one minute, but I guess it counts as his first official haircut, so Sydney took a photo to commemorate the ocassion. I promise he wasn't nearly as unhappy as he looks... two minutes later he was back to scavenging in the vanity for his sister's lipsmacker to throw in the toilet.

ONE

One year ago today, Sydney and I were spending the afternoon at the mall with my good friend Kyla and her two daughters. Oddly enough, we were convinced by the mall photographer to "stop in for a free picture" - Kyla was in town visiting for her birthday, we rarely get everyone together, all the girls were smiling and giddy - so why not? As it turns out, I never had a chance to view our "free photo" that day - instead, my water broke, and I went straight from our impromptu photo shoot to the hospital, where we welcomed Trystan at 11:59 PM. So here's Trystan on his very "first" birthday...

And here he is today - we went back for another photo,
for old time's sake.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, little guy!

caught

Red-handed, hiding under the table with Sydney's apple juice...

cheerio

Breakfast with GA Rosie... what could be better?

bruiser

Somehow I have survived my entire life, from rough-housing with an older brother, to playing soccer against brutal opponents - even jumping off bridges and out of planes without ever experiencing the public embarrassment of a black eye. Ironically, our dear little Trystan couldn't even make it eleven months...

To say the guilt is overwhelming would be an understatement. But to our defense, it happened so fast that there really wasn't much we could have done - he just ran his little walker smack into Syd's wooden school desk. And then he shrieked... and then got right back up, turned his walker in another direction and kept on trucking.

peek

adorabELLA!

Lisa sent me this and I just can't help but share... oh my ADORABLE niece, I love you!

babysteps

proof!

caught

time to babyproof...

lil sweethearts

Lisa & Ella came over for lunch today and while we had them here for a rare twenty minutes of downtime, I felt compelled to take some long overdue photos of the junior cousins... and not a minute too soon. I don't think these adorable little denim getups I scored on clearance at Old Navy would have fit them if we'd have waited another day. And to be honest, I'm not sure which makes me happier - the photos of the wee ones looking so darn cute together, or the fact that each outfit only cost me about $1.27!

Click here to see a few more of the photos. Notice how Ella is so docile and beautifully posed, while Trystan is a bumbling blur or energy trying his best to flee the scene, or at least cause some mahem along the way.

snow way josé

And yes, it's still snowing.

ice ice & baby

Uncle Matty taught the girls (& Tom) the fine art of ice fishing this morning. When she arrived home, Sydney explained proudly, "We caught a WORM!" and judging by Isabelle's pants, it looked like she enjoyed some ice swimming... but they all had fun, and I got some alone time with lil T which is always a good thing.

got mail

We took a walk down to the mailbox this afternoon. Trystan seems to love being all bundled and just peeks his little head out of his carrier to keep an eye on the snow flurries falling from the trees, while Sydney prefers to make snowball after snowball "to drink" along the way. When we made it to the mailbox I noticed it was barely hanging on by one screw and was nearly falling off the mangled post.
"What happened here?!" I exclaimed to which Tom shrugged with a guilty grin.
"Must've been the plow..." he accused.
"You ARE the plow!" I huffed as I opened the mailbox and watched the mail slide right out into the slush on the street.

yet another snow storm

We are up to our necks in snow here... literally!

history repeats itself

Apparently Trystan enjoys the excitement of food shopping just as much as Sydney used to...

snow

We had quite a storm here today - lots and lots and lots of snow. Schools were closed (actually, everything was closed) so we didn't even leave the house - but to plow, shovel and make the ocassional snow angel. Instead we stayed in our PJs all day and Syd enjoyed endless board games and far too many animated TV shows, all the while demanding "PEANUT BUTTER FLUFF! APPLE JUICE!" Apparently in her world, this delicacy requires no please nor thank you, and appears instantly and miraculously out of thin air - without crusts.

b'gosh

I can't decide which is cuter - Trystan's new trick (he's just SO proud of himself) or his new overalls from Uncle Edwah & Auntie Carol! You be the judge...