Summer Cut

Andrew's hair, like Brenna's, grows very quickly. It is more noticeable on him though. It does not take too long after a haircut for it to start growing over his ears. Now Todd used to take Andrew with him to the Barber. But since he has been shaving his head, Andrew has been stuck going with Brenna to the local kids' haircut place ("Snipits"). The kids like it because they get a small toy when they are done. It is sad to say but the last 2 times Andrew has gotten his hair cut there, they have messed it it. His bangs are always crooked! And we have returned each time to have them fixed.

Well it was time for another cut and Andrew decided that he wanted to go back to the Barber. He really wanted Todd to take him, but he had to work.  So, after school today, we headed to downtown Plymouth for my first ever Barber experience. Andrew walked right in and said "hi" to the Barber and his customer, and then sat down on the chairs to wait. I followed his lead. When it was our turn, he hopped right up in the chair and told the man that he wanted a "summer cut". Here's what he looks like now! Cute, eh?



I have a feeling that we will no longer be going back to Snipits!

Another fun day...

As predicted, it was a beautiful day in Plymouth today, and we made the most of it. The kids slept in but we actually made it to 9:00 AM Mass. After which, we headed over to Dunkin Donuts for Brenna's celebratory breakfast. She was thrilled to pick out all of her donuts and, as expected, picked a pink strawberry one too!

We then headed down to the beach to enjoy the nice weather. We brought the dogs with us, and the kids got a big kick out of throwing the ball into the water and watching them swim. Despite the sunscreen, all of us got a bit of sun today.

Our next big event occurred during dinner. As you may recall, Brenna is not very fond of losing teeth. Well, she likes it when she loses one, but she is not a fan of the process. Each of the two previous teeth that she lost were hanging by a thread for awhile before they fell out. She just could not pull them out!

Well her third tooth was no different. We had resorted to calling her "snaggle-tooth" about a week ago. Her upper front tooth has been hanging on for quite awhile. All of her friends at school, dance, soccer, etc offered suggestions as to how to pull it. She just didn't want to do it. As you can see, it really was barely hanging on earlier tonight.



During dinner, Todd looked up and noticed that her tooth was gone. Brenna was in mid bite and she had not even noticed when it came out! We had her spit out her food to try and find it, but it was not there. So, in addition to the excitement of losing her tooth, she had the anxiety of thinking that she swallowed it too. It was quite upsetting to Brenna.  Despite our assurances that the Tooth Fairy would still come, she was not happy. After much discussion, we had her convinced (I think) that she would not get sick. She was even excited to tell all of her friends about it when she returned to school tomorrow.

As we were cleaning up after dinner, Todd found her tooth on her chair. Seems that somehow it had popped out, and landed there during all of the commotions. She was so excited to have it back!

So, here is what our little princess looks like now! Too cute, don't you think?

What a Great Day!

We had a fantastic day today! It was sunny and warm (around 80, I think) and we spent the whole day outside at the local fields for sporting events. 

It was Opening Day for Baseball today. Andrew is playing his first season of T-ball. I was amazed at the production that they put on. They began with parade that was led by Wally (sp?), the Red Sox mascot. All of the teams followed him into the field, and each player's name was read over the loudspeaker.



There had to be hundreds of kids there today, as this included all the T-ball, softball and baseball teams. After a few short speeches, and the National Anthem, Wally threw out the first pitch and the season officially started.

After having their team pictures taken, the kids were treated to lunch and there were a number of activities to do (sack races, moon bounces, etc.) And, of course, there were exhibition games being played by the older players.

After we finished up there, we headed over to a neighboring field for Brenna's soccer game. We started to notice a change in Brenna's soccer skills at the end of last season and have been excited to see her play this season. At breakfast this morning, she commented on how she really wanted to score a goal this season. (She had not scored one is seasons past.) We told her that she just really needed to focus on trying to do so. Todd even threw in some extra incentive and told her that we would take them out for donuts if she got a goal!








Well, can you tell by the look on her face what she did today? Not only did she get her FIRST goal ever, but she got her SECOND goal too! We were so very proud of her! And her Coach (who has been her Coach for the last 2 seasons) was very proud too. So proud, that he decided to give her a shower right there in the middle of the field! She could not believe it!

So, we will be headed off tomorrow AM to Dunkin Donuts (after all, this is the land of Dunkin Donuts) to pick up some celebratory donuts for Brenna!  I am pretty sure that she is going to pick out the ones with strawberry icing and sprinkles for all of us!

The weather is supposed to be great again, so we are hoping to take our first trip to the beach for the 2009 season.  And of course, I will bring my camera to try and get some nice shots. After all, I have to find some way to tempt all of my southern friends and family to visit us up here!

A lazy vacation week for us...

I can not believe that I have not posted in so long.  After all, this blog was intended to keep me up to speed on my journaling.  So forgive the long post as I get caught up...

The kids were thrilled to return to school after being in Maryland.  It was a short week for them as they missed Monday.  And then 4 days later, they were on Spring Break.  Not too bad.

Last Friday I took Andrew in for his 5 year check up.  I was thrilled to hear that he gained 4.5 pounds and grew 2 3/4 inches!  He was in the 11% for his weight (no shocker there) and moved up to the 25% for his height!  Considering the fact that he had only gained 1 pound between ages 3 and 4, we were very excited about his weight gain.  He really wants to get out of his 5 point harness car seat and into a booster seat, but he has to gain another 5 pounds to do so.  Needless to say, we are using this as a motivating point when he does not want to eat any more at dinner!  

Brenna started soccer on Saturday.  She was excited to be back on the same team with her friend Austin and with the same Coach.  We love Coach Banzi!  This season her friend Julianne joined the team too.  Now our mission in life will be to keep Brenna focused during games!

Spring has finally started to arrive up north. (And in it's honor, I have taken down my snowy blog banner and replaced it with a nice new Spring one!) We have had 2 nice days (not exactly shorts weather, unless you Todd, but still nice) and 2 very rainy days.  Andrew and I took a trip down to the waterfront the other day and were surprised to see all of the tourists already.  (It still seems weird to me to live in a "tourist" town.)  The Mayflower II was back in the Harbor, along with a lot of other boats.  Plymouth really is a beautiful town.

There are other signs of Spring around too.  Look what we found in our yard the other afternoon.

Even though this is our second Spring here, I am still not quite used to the "wildlife" in Plymouth yet.  These turkeys love to hang out at our bird-feeders to see if they can get any leftovers.  If they are lucky, a squirrel would have tried earlier in the day, and left some remnants on the ground.

The weather man is calling for an 80 degree weekend up here.  So, I am off to dig out the kids' warm weather clothes to see what still fits (I am crossing my fingers).  I am hoping that it is finally safe to pack away the hats and gloves!

What an Amazing Visit

Well, we are back from Maryland.  We had a fantastic trip full of time with family and friends.  I wish we could have stayed longer, but I think that we made the most of our trip.  

We headed out on Wednesday and drive to Scranton, PA to stay with our dear friends, the Carrolls.  We made record time. We arrived in time for an amazing dinner with Mike and Jean.  It was so nice to finally see their home, after hearing so many stories about it.  We had a drink in the Notre Dame room and the kids got  to sleep in the room where Colleen lived as a kid.  They thought that was so cool!  Thanks Mike and Jean for your wonderful hospitality!

We headed on down to Hampstead on Thursday morning (after a great breakfast at the the Moosic Diner!).  It was super sweet to see the kids' faces when they jumped out of the car.  I think they hugged for about 3 minutes straight before finally releasing to go inside the house.  Once inside the three of them ran off to play, as if they had just been together yesterday.  

Later on in the day, Colleen and I took the kids to Liz's lacrosse practice.  It was great to see her out on the field.  She really is quite an athlete!  

After practice, our neighbors Mike and Sandy hosted a get together with all 5 families from our original Spruce Meadows playgroup.  Brenna and Andrew were so excited to see all of their old friends, and we have a great time catching up with the old gang.

The next day, Jean and Mike arrived.  The kids had a blast dying eggs (with lots of glitter).  I was so happy that Colleen had picked up the stuff to do them as I had not had a chance to dye any with the kids before we left.  It was funny to see the difference in how Andrew dyed his eggs (dumping them in the dye) and how the girls did it (patiently mixing colors and adding lots of glitter too!).

Since it was Good Friday, we had a meatless day.  Since Todd was near a Wegmans for the first time in months, that meant that we did not really make much of a sacrifice.  (I know, that is not really a good thing to admit.)  Todd and Carl handled the menu and we eat very well.  Crabcakes, crab claws, shrimp cocktail, Jean's crab dip (a must have), and more.  They were accompanied by Carl's world famous Pomagranite (sp?) Martinis!  In a word, YUM!

Colleen had picked up this cute Chef's hat for Kevin (who is attending the Culinary Program at North Carroll this year).  She could not resist putting it on Todd.

Emily made a surprise visit back home from Washington College.  We had not seen her since she left for school in August.  It was nice to hear how much she is loving college.

 

We were joined later in the evening by Grandad and the West clan.  Andrew was the lucky recipient of a Bruins' jersey for his birthday and was quite proud to put it on.  (I was surprised that Uncle Chuck "crossed party lines" and did not get him a Penguins jersey instead!)

The kids LOVED playing (OK wrestling) with Uncle Jason and Aunt Brittany.  They were both real troopers to put up with all of the kids.  They are, after all, as close to celebrities that you can get in Brenna and Andrew's minds.  We are looking forward to their visit up north this summer!

Thanks for the amazing hospitality Hordesky Family!  We loved every minute of it!

On Saturday AM, we headed over to Todd and Jenn's house for the second leg of our stay.  The kids were super excited (as was I) to hear that Taylor was coming over that night to babysit. She is such a nice young lady.  So, as the kids were hanging out with her, we were fortunate enough to head out to a nice adult dinner.  Jenn had picked a relatively new place called Dogwoods in Hampden.  The food was great, and the company even better!  

On Easter morning,  we awoke to the kids searching for their Easter baskets.  Luckily, Aunt Jenn had e-mailed the Easter Bunny to let him know that  we were going to be at their house this weekend.  (Doesn't she just think of everything!)

After baskets, the kids headed outside for the Easter Egg hunt.  We were surprised when we realized that the girls had the exact same Easter dress.  Can you believe that we did not do that on purpose!  It is true!

It was nice to get a family picture.  We are not very good about that anymore.

Can you tell that Andrew was pretty much "done" having his picture taken by this time?

We had a nice Easter dinner with Todd and Jenn's families, and the kids were spoiled with even more candy!  Jenn put together a really nice dinner, and I even got a new recipe from her!  (who would have thought that 2 years ago I would be getting excited about a non dessert recipe?)

We woke up Monday morning and began the long process of packing our gear up.  (I would late find out that we did not do such a good job.  We left a ton of stuff at Colleen and Carl's, and took a ton of stuff that was not ours from Todd and Jenn's!)  

As always, it is hard to say goodbye.  This was the first time that Andrew was really upset too.  Although as we headed home, he said, "It makes me sad to leave.  I am going to miss my friends.  But I know we will come back and visit.  And it is OK to miss them until then."  Pretty insightful for a 5 year old, wouldn't you say?

Thanks so much to everyone for making this a super special trip.  We love you all!  

Off to Maryland....

Well we are headed off to Maryland in a matter of minutes. We are driving to PA tonight and staying with our friends, the Carrolls, in Scranton. Then we will head to Hampstead in the morning. We will have 2 days to spend with the Hordeskys and then we head over to the Workman homestead to celebrate Easter. We can not wait.

We wish you all a wonderful and blessed Easter.

Love,
Todd, Shannon, Brenna and Andrew

What a Birthday Weekend

Andrew had a great few days celebrating his 5th birthday.  We began on Thursday with cupcakes at school.  I got to go in and read to the class too, which was very nice for me.

On Friday (his actual birthday) he began the day with his birthday breakfast of pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries.  We headed up to Braintree to meet Todd for lunch.  We concluded the night with a family birthday dinner (of pasta, of course) with our friends. the Parmas.  He loved his birthday cake, and enjoyed opening his family gifts even more!

On Saturday, he had his last clinic for baseball in the morning and then returned home to wait (and not so patiently) for his party with his friends.  He had a sports party at the local gym.  The kids played wiffle ball (ok, they tried to play wiffle ball) and kick ball), ran around on the play gym and had lunch.  

(Brenna took this picture of him at his party.)

One of the highlights was seeing his face when he saw his Superhero cake.  We have been searching for a great cake bakery since we moved here.  See, we were totally spoiled in Maryland with our local bakery (as some of you may recall).  Well we think we finally found one....

Andrew had a great time.  It was nice to spend some time chatting with the parents of his new friends at school, and Brenna really enjoyed meeting all of Andrew's friends.  It was a wonderful birthday weekend!

He's almost 5

It is hard to believe it, but my baby turns 5 tomorrow! He does not like to be called my baby, but fortunately, he can not read yet so I can get away with it for awhile longer!

As many of you remember, Andrew had a rough entry into the world. Those first few days seem like a blur to me now. So many doctors, nurses, medications.... My memories become more clear after his surgery when he was 2 days old. Things changed, we knew what we were dealing with now, and we just had to wait to see how he progressed. I remember holding him for the first time when he was 6 days old. Finally, I got to hold our son. It was amazing. The days were measured by quantifiable numbers; how much he could eat, and how much weight he could gain. Every little bit mattered. Eventually, after 6 weeks and 1 day, we brought him home from the NICU. And finally, he was able to meet his big sister. It was such an amazing day!

Quality time with Daddy


Meeting Brenna

All smiles....



Five years later, I am amazed at what he has become. You would never know that he had been so sick when you look at him. He is a typical 5 year old boy; silly, sweet, boisterous, but above all, loving. He has a special twinkle in his eye. He loves to be silly and make people laugh. He is truly our miracle boy.

And before I end my sentimental thoughts, I would be remiss if I did not thank all of you who were there for us, and for him, during that difficult time. So many friends and family dropped everything to be there for us. People helped in so many ways. Some took turns visiting him in the NICU, while others kept us company while we were there with him. Many people helped out with Brenna, who was so little during all of this. It was hard for her to understand why she could not see her little brother. And then there were all the prayers. I was amazed at how quickly word spread about Andrew. Before we knew it, friends of friends, and even those we did not know, were praying for our amazing little boy. It was truly inspiring. And obviously it had an impact. Look at him now!

And so, the birthday celebrations began today.. cupcakes at school. I even got to come in and read to the class.  We were both very happy about that! He loved his official birthday hat that Ms. Meaghan and Ms. Stephanie made for him.  (And yes, that is frosting on his face still!)




Tomorrow, he has requested a special breakfast of pancakes, with strawberries and whipped cream! And for his birthday dinner... pasta! (Now there's a shocker.) Saturday we will celebrate with some of his friends. It is really cute to see how excited he is this year about all of the festivities. It is going to be a great weekend!