veggie-theft

I survived the entire summer without any animals feasting on my prized vegetable garden... then last week eight white eggplants disappeared, then six bell peppers, a handful of lima beans, a lemon-sized watermelon and an entire pot of radish sprouts (pot, soil and all) - I suspected deer, a fox, maybe even a chipmunk. I started to believe Sydney was stockpiling our harvest somewhere in secret. But today I caught our culprit red-handed:

break it down

Sydney's first rock show!

from westcoast to westford

My dearest friend Sarah and her adorable one-year-old son Oscar flew in to Boston from Oregon for a family wedding and we were lucky enough to steal them for a day. Sydney showed Oscar all her toys (rather forcefully I might add) and I showed Sarah all my sewing machines. Then we went for a quick trip to Parlee Farms to see the animals, the pumpkins, and of course the award winning apple cider donuts.

Back at home we cracked open some steamed lobsters for dinner, and finally cooked up the garden-fresh butternut squash for the little guys. Everyone was happy. I only wish Sarah & Oscar could have stayed longer! To see more photos from our day, Click Here.

chunky monkey

I finally gave Trystan some "real food" tonight - steamed, smashed summer squash straight from the garden - I think it's safe to say he liked it.

full house

Look who came out to Westford today:

Great Great Aunt Rita & THE Grand Bubba! It was amazing to have so many generations together in our home. Better yet, my favorite part of the day was driving Bubba around on the 4-wheeler. I believe her exact response to my invitation for a ride was a calm "Oh Yes" followed quickly by "You all thought I came out here to visit you, but really I came out to ride THAT thing."

Yes, that's my Bubba. I'd like to think I've inherited a bit of her moxie.

first day - first to arrive.

Sydney started Preschool today, and while most of you know I am by NO means a "morning person," we managed to arrive to school an entire 35 MINUTES early! Yes, I messed up the dropoff time. Of course my first thought was, "WHAT?! I could have slept another half hour!" But luckily my morning mistake left us just enough time to stop by and say hi to Cousin Isabelle at the bus stop...

And if that's not worth waking up too early, inhaling only a third of my coffee and then rushing Sydney out the door while trying to wrestle two doberman out of the way with a 40 lb infant carrier, I don't know what is!

today's harvest

Note the toddler-sized chomp out of the zucchini.

oldie

happy birthday big brother!

...nice cowlick.

here we go again

Wednesday he sold the boat. Monday he bought this...

life's a peach.

We went peach picking today - and picked a really HOT day to go at that. I'd estimate we came home with about 6 pounds of peaches. And I'd also bet Sydney alone ate 3 pounds of peaches in the orchard... while Trystan just barely gummed one.

swim

Trystan took a dip in the pool today...

unfortunately for him, Sydney quickly realized he made a perfect dock for her toys.

can't beat it? eat it.

I've been trying to get rid of our giant thorn bushes over by the stonewall, but no matter what I try, they just keep on growing. So today I admitted defeat and we started harvesting the blackberries. Truth be told - Sydney and I had a fun morning out there. And we didn't even put a dent into the supply! Now if I just knew someone who loves eating them... other than Rolo that is.

3 months

Okay so it's a couple weeks late, but I took Syd and Trystan to get some "3 month old" mall photos. It was a bit of a struggle to get Sydney to sit still - I swear the photographer said, "GENTLE!" a few hundred times while Sydney pretended to bite Trystan's head and then "accidentally" rolled over him during his solo-photos (note the random big-sister-toes in the back of some of his portraits). Surprisingly there were still a couple decent shots in the mix.
Click HERE to see them all.

watch out

Daddy got Syd a new toy. She calls it her "four-wheel" and likes to aim it toward Rolo.

sweltering

Its a far cry from pulling the boat up on the sandbar, but somehow Sydney couldn't be happier.

beach stop

Today, Trystan's tiny toes touched the Atlantic.
(Try saying that three times fast!)

Sydarella

Back when I was a little girl, I remember Mom and Dad packing Matty and me into the station wagon and driving forever to get to this great big tented theater. Well, Nana took us back there today and Sydney and Trystan got to see Cinderella come to life.

But things seemed a little different to me this time around. First off the drive wasn't long at all. And once we arrived the whole place seemed a little less "magical" - the stage was a little smaller, the actors a little less polished, the costumes a little less glamourous, and I wondered if maybe things had changed since I was little, but as I was looking around trying to remember more from my many childhood trips, I caught a glimpse of Sydney, in her sparkly little Cinderella dress, watching the performance from the very edge of her seat in complete silence with her mouth wide open in amazement. And I realized nothing has changed about that theater at all. There's still plenty of magic there...

big lil t

I think he's officially graduated from the little sink.

a big little town

I just uploaded the photos from this weekend in Narberth. Here are a few of my favorites from the baby parade:



Check out the rest of the photos HERE. Isabelle won second place in "Most Patriotic" while Sydney came in third for "Curliest Hair" and our four generations of red,white+blue family came in third for "Most Interesting Family Group" - obviously it was rigged. I mean, who could possibly be more interesting than the O'Neill family?

hour 6

almost home...