A Decade of Love

Today Ahren and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary.  It's impossible for me to adequately express how blessed I feel to have this man by my side every day.  We have gone through quite a bit over the last ten years, and through everything we've gone through - good or bad - I have always been happy to look over and see Ahren sitting next to me.  He is my best friend.  He makes me laugh, even when (especially when) I don't want to.  He makes me feel safe and warm, loved, liked, and appreciated.  He works hard every day so that his family can have everything we need or want, and then still finds time to spend with each of us.  I feel like the luckiest person on the planet to have somehow found this amazing man to spend my life with.  Happy anniversary, honey!  I'm looking forward to the next several decades with you!

End of Summer

As August comes to a close, we suddenly get this desire to rush off to do all those "summer things" that we either didn't get to do at all, or enough over the last ten weeks.  This has been a busy, but really fun summer, but we certainly felt as though we had missed out on a few fun summer activities this year.  So, as the summer came to a close, we did our best to enjoy every last second out of every last day we had.  And we had a blast!!

Last Friday we hit Hampton Beach with Maddie, Austin, and their mom Nicole.  We tried to fly a kite, explored the rocks, got our feet wet the in cold ocean, and then hung out on "the strip" for awhile.  We hadn't been to Hampton in a long time, so it was a very fun day!

Off to Hampton Beach with the Allen's!

Little posers

You can't go to Hampton without getting some Blink's Fry Dough!!

Zachy opted for ice cream

Zach and Austin ride the motorcycles

Having fun on the snow mobile game

Happy kids ready to head home.

The next day we went out with Daddy to play miniature golf and have some ice cream!  This is a favorite summer activity in our family...though we're not that great at golf.  We certainly have a good time laughing!

Waiting their turn

Waiting while Zach hits the ball around.

Wingaersheek is one of our favorite beaches and we hadn't been there all summer, so on Monday we had to take a trip out with Gigi!  The day started off cool and rainy - perfect for exploring the tide pools during low tide.  By afternoon the sun came out and it warmed up.  It turned out to be a great day, only made better by a trip to Woodman's for a fried clam plate lunch!

Ready to explore!

We found lots of snails!

Happy kids enjoying the final days of summer!

This sting ray was no longer alive, but still pretty cool to see!

We found a very colorful crab!

Two little explorers

This water is warm enough to swim in!

This beach makes me so happy I feel like I could fly!

We love climbing rocks!

Lexi and Zach love Gigi!

Happy kids, happy Mama.

We give the beach two thumbs up!

And because we had so much fun at Wingaersheek on Monday, we decided to go again on Friday!  Three beach days in two weeks - you can't beat it!

We found lots of sea anemones

Hermit crabs were a dime a dozen.  We walked out to the sand bar and filled our bucket on the way back!

This guy was no longer living when we found him.  Someone thought it would be funny to put him on my chair.  That was a surprise!!

We can never get enough of the beach, but we certainly tried over the past two weeks!  We are sad to see summer go, but we know we have lots of fun things to look forward to as September comes marching in!  We can't wait!

Congratulations, Daddy!

This week Daddy was given a looooong overdue raise at work.  It was a great relief, especially since living in this house costs us a lot more than living in the old house did.  We were excited, and lobsters seemed like the best way to celebrate.  Unfortunately, Lexi, our lobster lover, couldn't stand looking at the poor things' faces, so she at alone inside.  But it was a yummy and fun dinner with a great reason to be happy!

Lobster night is always a good bath night.  The kids tried out a new hairstyle this evening.  :)

Lexi's 8th Birthday

Dear Lexi,

Today you turned 8 years old at exactly 8:54am.  Here is a picture of you eight years after the very moment you were born.

Eight years old, and LOVES her brother.

I'm sure I say it in every birthday blog post, but you are an amazing girl.  You are so gentle and sweet and I have often said that you have an old soul.  Since the day you were born, you seem to have an awareness that I've never seen in another child.  It's simply beautiful.  You are such a special girl, and I hope that Daddy and I have the ability to guide you towards your fullest potential.  You're like a sponge when it comes to learning new skills and arts, and I'm never sure quite how to give you enough to fulfill your desire to learn.  I often think about what you'll be when you grow up, and I truly feel as though the opportunities are endless!  

This year you have really begun to excel in your sports.  You have been asked to join a special "invitation only" dance class at Nancy Chippendale's in the fall.  Since there was once a time that I worried you may never walk, watching you dance so beautifully really makes my heart skip a beat.  You have to work very hard to get some of those tough steps, but you are relentless and always put on a perfect show at your recitals.  Your swimming has come a long was as well!  I can tell you love being in the water, and you are always working hard to get better and better at all the different strokes you are learning.  You made some great strides in skiing over the winter, and I really look forward to continuing with that next winter.  Just a little bit of confidence is all you need to soar you to new heights in any sport.  You even enjoyed a one week soccer camp this summer where your coaches told you that you are a natural soccer player.  They were very impressed with you, and even came over to tell me all about it.  Despite that, you tell me that you have no interest in playing soccer in the fall which is perfectly fine with me.

Everyone who meets you has to come tell me how special you are (like I don't already know).  Your teachers in school are always so impressed with your serious work ethic and desire to take on a challenge.  Throughout the year, anything you have expressed concern about being able to do, I have watched you hunker down and figure it out.  You are your own greatest motivator - a fantastic quality to have!

You have made some wonderful friends at Thomson School this year.  I know you're sad to have to move on, but you are going to have tons of new friends at Franklin very soon!  And the best part is that we have not moved far, and you will never really have to say goodbye to any of your friends.

And Lexi, you are such a great sister.  You and Zachary fight like cats and dogs, but I also get to see the amazing moments where I can see how much you love your brother, and how much he adores you in return.  You want to share all of your experiences with him, and it's not unusual for me to find the two of you snuggled up on the couch while you read to him. 

On Saturday, we had a birthday party for you here at home.  We invited lots of friends and family (thanks to our new big yard!) and also some baby farm animals to explore.  You always ask me to make "Nature" the theme of your birthday parties, and this was your pick this year.  It was a hit!  Everyone had a blast, and I loved watching you enjoy your special day.

Everyone waits patiently for the animals to come out!

Here piggy piggy!

The animals were swaddled for easy snuggling.

Zachary is always happy to have a chance to walk a dog.  NO, we're not getting one!!

Happy girls!

Sweet Anna snuggles a chick.

Maddie loved this bunny!

Kaya got a chick!

Brigid was happy with this cute bunny!

Mike thought this pig was pretty awesome.

Zach finally found a kitten that would sit with him.

Elizabeth was happy with her bunny.

Happy birthday, Lexi!

Cousins!

The little kids find an activity.

Happy kids.

Even Gigi got a turn.

Zach was a main attraction for these baby goats!

Lexi found another animal to hold in the woods!

Happy birthday to my sweet girl!

Best eight year old, ever!

Ice cream cake makes everyone happy!

I got to hold cousin Logan.  Great day!

Lexi, it's so easy to celebrate you.  You are just such a wonderful kid, and I feel very lucky that you are mine.  I look forward to every other moment of every other year of your life.  You are going to continue on to do amazing things, and I can't wait to see you do them all. 

Happy 8th birthday, sweet angel!  You are my sunshine!

Love,
Mama