Happy Birthday Daddy!

Since Father's Day and Michael's birthday fell on the same day, we didn't have a separate celebration for just Michael.  Instead, we went out with our families to Toyo in Colchester for some yummy hibachi!  Michael even got to use his new light-up chopsticks - he was psyched!

Someone was a bit excited about his new chopsticks!

Minnie Mouse showed up to the party! 

Our little ham

The chefs/workers made the kiddos fun balloons.  AJ got a monkey!

He was super excited about it, but refused to look at the camera - so this is what I got!

Rototilling

Even though it was my birthday and we were celebrating, Michael couldn't resist rototiling the garden on a beautiful day.  I guess a nice garden was part of my present?! haha

Working the rototiller on the Kubota tractor

A beautiful wide angle view of our backyard.  I love living here!  (And look at that dark rich soil!)

Happy Birthday Mommy!

I got to celebrate my 32nd birthday with the people I love; I couldn't be any luckier!

My little girl looking oh-so-pretty in her dress!

Blowing out the candles with help from my little big boy!

Katie wanted to make sure the candles were all the way out... such a good helper!

Complete!

My three part wall hanging is finally complete (with the exception of a cute sign, which I have yet to find!)!

Timber Kisses

Going in for it...

Kisses!

4B Fest

Michael and I, along with Lauren and Matt and Michael's co-worker Josh and his fiance, Kim all met up with another of Michael's co-workers, Scott and his wife, Terri for an evening at the First Annual 4B Fest in New Haven.  What is the 4B Fest, you ask?  Only the coolest festival consisting of beers, bacon, bourbon and barbeque!  We had high expectations of the fest and they weren't exactly meet all the way, but we had great company so it was a fun night all around!  Michael participated in a bacon eating contest - his favorite thing in the world and we came home with a couple dozen cupcakes that were adorned with bacon.  I'd say it was a win-win all around!

 

Four Years

Michael and I celebrated our four year wedding anniversary today.  Some days it feels like it was just yesterday that we got married and then other days, it feels like twenty years have passed.  We've been through the best of times, the not-so-best of times and the in-between.  We have a handsome, spunky and intelligent son, Alexander James that has brought more love into our marriage than he'll ever know.  And in just about a month or so we will welcome our second child, LS2 into the world to complete our little family. Thank you Michael James for all the laughs, hugs, fights, kisses and fatherly love that you've shown over the past four years - I know that the next four years (and then some) will only be better!  Love you more!

Cioci Kimmy and Uncle Jason so graciously watched AJ for us so we could head out to Cafe Mangia in Colchester for an anniversary dinner.  The food was really good, but the timing of the meal left a bit to be desired!  Oh well.... it was a semi quick evening out for the two of us before life gets hectic again with a newborn and a two year-old running around!  We'll take it!

My love and I

Our beautiful little family of three

This is growing by one this year... LS2 we can't wait to meet you!

My boys being silly... one not looking at the camera and the other hamming it up for the camera!

Nighttime Mowing

Daddy tried to get a bit of mowing in tonight before it got too dark out.

Jess and Matt's Mystic Seaport Wedding

Tonight I got to witness my college roomie, Jess get married to her best friend, Matt at Mystic Seaport on a beautiful summer night.  She was absolutely beaming and did I mention she looked gorgeous?!

The beautiful aisle flowers

Walking with her Dad

Jess and Matt - Just Married!

Waiting for dinner to be served

College roomies... reunited and it feels so good!

Jess and I... love this girl!

Fruits of Daddy's Labor

It's been one heck of a challenge with the garden this summer.  Because of the crazy humidity and then days of rain in the very beginning, we weren't sure how our plants were going to fare.  We've had to replace a bunch of cucumber and pepper plants, yet our green beans, eggplant and brussel sprouts seem to be flourishing. I'm hoping our yellow squash pull through, but as of now it looks like we might only have one or two plants at the most even though Michael has planted about 8 or so plants.  We're keeping our fingers crossed and hoping our veggies pull through because nothing beats a fresh-picked vegetable from the garden on a warm summer day!!

Some of the 'fruits' of Michael's hard work.. yummy sweet orange cherry tomatoes, 

green beans and a cubanelle pepper!

In Bloom!

One of the many squash blooms we have in our garden!  We cannot wait for our home-grown veggies!

Happy Birthday Michael!

Michael aka Daddy turned 35 today!  We had our parents, Cioci Kimmy, Uncle Jason and the girls over for a small little barbecue to celebrate.

AJ was once again sleeping while we sung Happy Birthday!

Blowing out the candles

All in one breath!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Today was really crappy weather for a small intimate birthday bbq, but we still had one anyway!  Babcia and Dziadzi, Cioci Kimmy, Uncle Jason and the girls and Cioci Sue and Uncle Steve all braved the rain and came over for some yummy food and cake!  

My beautiful cake!  

Funny story about this cake though - I asked Michael for a vanilla cake with traditional butter cream frosting with pink, blue and purple colors.  Instead - I got a marble cake with bettercreme frosting (blah!) in a maroon color.  Maybe next year I'll stick to ordering my own cake?! haha Love you honey!!

My little peanut was napping while we did cake so he didn't get to experience it with me, 

but Katie made sure I didn't feel alone. 

Happy 31st birthday to me! 

Date night

AJ had his first solo sleepover at Babcia and Dziadzi's tonight while Mommy and Daddy went out for a date night at Mohegan Sun!  

After dropping off AJ, our night started with dinner at Hash House A Go Go. 

Then was followed-up by a free show by The Presidents of the United States of America at the Wolf Den!

Last (and first!) Ride in the Silver Bullet

Michael and I have been talking about possibly getting a van for a while now.  We know that when we decide to have a second child, all of the gear and every other little thing we need just won't fit into the Sonata.  Let me rephrase that - it might fit into the Sonata, but it won't be pretty.  We would like to have the luxury of having a bit of extra room in addition to having all the gear and everything but the kitchen sink in the new car.  And the Silver Bullet (Michael's 2007 two-door Honda Civic) is starting to have some problems so we figure it's time to offload it before we have to put some major $$ into it.  So I had Cioci Kimmy on the lookout for a used van and I decided to look too.  We initially found what we thought to be a good deal on a 2012 Honda Odyssey down in Wallingford, but upon some research we learned that dealership only sells salvaged autos - so that turned into a bust!  But then I found what seemed to be a decent deal on another used 2012 Honda Odyssey - the only drawback was that it's located in Woburn, MA, which is about a two-hour drive away.  So I convinced Michael to take today off, we put AJ's car seat in the Civic and we were off to Woburn, MA to take a look at the van.  We got there and the van was right out front and it was super nice looking!!  We met with the car dealer who showed us the van and Michael was off for a test drive (I'm not a big fan of test drives so I made Michael go!  I trust his opinion!).  Once Michael came back, we talked about it and decided we wanted to make an offer.  And it just so happened that my friend, Buddy (aka Sarah) had a a service appointment on her car at the same dealership we were at at the same time we were there so she was able to help us by watching AJ while we wheeled and dealed with the car salesman.  After a bit of back and forth and a couple hours later, we walked away having purchased a used 2012 Honda Odyssey Touring Elite in Mocha Metallic.  Unfortunately, we haven't taken any pictures of our new ride yet, but don't worry - hopefully soon the new van will make an appearance on the blog.

Oh man... I'm a soccer mom now!!! AHHH!!!

AJ's first and last ride in the Silver Bullet.

Michael was super sad to see the Silver Bullet go.  In his words 'it's the last thing I had from my single life'.