Hartford Half

 I did it, I ran my first 1/2 marathon post Baby Vivi.  It was hard, I had a lot more weight than normal on my body and I was out of practice.  I wanted to prove to myself that I could do hard things after having a baby and I did.  I finished the race without stopping to walk once, that was the goal.  Mission completed.  

I was able to run with my friend Kim, it was her first race and she was awesome!  

This year the race was rainy and wet THE ENTIRE RACE.  The town of Hartford came out and cheered even with the rain, I cannot help but love this town and this race.  With the rain and low temps I was FROZEN by mile 10 and just wanted to finish.  I was so happy when I saw my family and bawled like a baby when I finished the race.  This was my seventh half marathon, but in some ways in felt like my first.  The hardest races are always the most emotional I suppose.

 I'm so thankful for my family support who cheered me on the terrible weather!  

 We were lucky to stay with our friends the Hammonds who live just outside Hartford.  Berke loved playing with Gabe's lizard and I'm sure was the highlight of his trip.  

Vermont Fall Wedding

We were so lucky to spend our anniversary weekend in Vermont with our family celebrating the wedding of our friends Jeremy and Jeff.  

We took Friday off to drive up and enjoy the beautiful colors; on our way we stopped at Sugarbush Farm where we were able to feed goats, taste test cheese and enjoy the scenic views.  The kids loved the farm and Berkeley loved feeding the goats and tasting the cheese.

We arrived at Lareau Farm for the pre-wedding festivities of carving pumpkins (that were used to decorate for the wedding the next day) and a flat bread pizza dinner and smores by the fire.

The venue was so idyllic and probably the most adorable I have seen, not to fancy but so beautiful.

Our friends Travis and Lauren were at the event as well so we got to party all weekend with them.  They are such  great friends and wonderful to our children.  We are so excited for them to have little baby boy Owen this December!

Saturday before the wedding we took a wet trip to tour the Ben and Jerry's Factory.  It was fun and the ice cream was AMAZE BALLS!  What a cool story Ben and Jerry have.  

Then on to the wedding which was just perfect in every way!  The grooms looked fabulous, the ceremony was beautiful and the food and reception were great.  It was a smaller wedding of about 80 people and it really was the perfect size.  Both their families were so kind and sweet and we loved getting to meet them.  We loved that there were children there and that they got to have such a fun time as well.

Sunday morning we stopped by a Cider Mill to see how apple cider was made and tested some (obvi).  We also tasted some yummy cider donuts.  We then visited Cabot cheese and Lake Champlain Chocolates, testing more cheese and chocolate.  

Then we drove to the Von Trapp Famiy Lodge for some great views and for lunch before we headed home.

We did our rendition of the Vermont Hills were alive with the sound of music.

Such a wonderful weekend getaway.  Happy 12 years to my amazing husband!  

Congrats to Jeff and Jeremy.

Vivienne at 9 months

Vivienne at 9 months

Biggest Milestones: Babbling,  can say Dada, clapping and Crawling  

During Miss Viv's 8th month of life she got to spend a week with her Gram Dianne whom she is named after.  They played and had fun all week going to the beach, playing at home and going on adventures around New England.  Vivi is starting to be very interested in everything her big brother does; sometimes he is good about sharing his toys and playing with her and other times he is very good about pushing her over to stay out of his way....

 Viv had her first experience Apple Picking, which will not be her last.  

 Viv's hair is coming in thicker now and there is no doubting the fact that this little girl is a ginger!

 Vivienne loves taking baths and splashing, lots and lots of splashing!

Vivi has her two bottom teeth, her fist word was Dada and it took her until her 9 month birthday to actually get crawling down after 3 weeks of being oh so close.

She continues to be a very happy girl and attracts the attention of anyone we come into contact with.  She is very social and loves to interact with anyone she sees, she has however acquired the ever present stranger danger and is very much a mama's girl.

Vivi started daycare at Mrs. Lorraine's house, a woman who does daycare out of her home.  Vivienne is the only child being watched this year, which we couldn't feel more lucky about.  Vivi gets lots of attention and is very loved while her parents are out working.  We feel lucky to have such a great arrangement.  

We love this little lady!

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Kindergarten we go!

 It happened, that's really all I can say.  My baby boy began Kindergarten; it's pretty magical, but tragically sad and awful at the same time.  I mean seriously, how did that cute boy who was just pulling himself up on my couch and singing along to Sesame Street  now this big brave smart little man?  He's pretty special, he really is!  If you know him, you know what I mean.  He just isn't your typical little man, he is really dreamy, and I mean super imaginative.  He isn't the bravest soul or the most coordinated boy I've ever met, but I will say he is one of the most creative and interesting humans I've ever encountered.  Not only that but he makes every day of my life challenging in the best way possible.  

Can you believe he wrote that long long word?  K i n d e r g a r t e n is soooo long and has soooo many letters, but look how fantastic he did?!?!?  This kid often fights us when it comes to learning the basics, but man look at how worth it the fight was!

So he's off to learn 5 days a week with Ms. Scrima (quite possibly the most type A, organized, fantastic kindergarten teacher there ever was) along with 21 of his other classmates.  

When he grows up he wants to be:

a pizza guy

a gas station guy

a police officer

a donut shop owner

a dad

and an artist

Dream big dude, the world is yours to own!

Portsmith, NH

Gram came to town again to help us with the kids; she is the best!  We wanted to do some fun things with her before we stuck her at home with two kids for a week; one day we headed to Portsmith, New Hampshire.  We had never been there before and I cant imagine why, it was such an adorable town.  We had a lovely day there going on a picnic, enjoying a nice harbor cruise, shopping and eating delicious sea food as the sun set on the ocean.  It was a really great day.

On our cruise we saw the navel shipyard and one of the three submarines being worked on there; I had no idea how huge these things were.

Below is the little island where we had our picnic.  What a beautiful city.  

Vivienne at 8 months

Most of Vivienne's seventh month of life was spend on the west coast.  She was able to meet most of her family for the first time minus 1 aunt and uncle and 3 cousins total.  Not too shabby!

Viv continues to be a delightful girl!  She is so very social and loves to smile at anyone who will look at her.  She continues to be a pretty quiet baby, when she does cry it is not a loud cry and she is very deliberate about any sounds she makes.  She will laugh out loud and we always love hearing that; she is usually laughing at the goofy things her big brother is doing.  

Viv has two solid bottom teeth now, which she has been using as a weapon to bit her mom during feeding sessions.  When mom gets mad at Viv for biting she just smiles super big.  She can sit up very well now and is a champ and lowering herself down if she wants to be on her stomach instead.  She is working on crawling, she has all the motions down…..just not together.  She is great at moving backwards at this point.

Viv learned to wave a week before she turned 8 months. It is pretty adorable to watch and I love seeing her learn these little skills.

 Her Cousin Reed helped her meet some Fairies in Pixie Hollow.

 Viv did develop some stranger danger during our trip, I'm guessing it was due to the high volume of people who wanted to hold her.  She became a very clinging mommas girl and that has not changed since we have returned home.

 Vivienne Dianne with her Great Grandma Dianne; I just love this picture.  

 She looked so uncomfortable in her life jacket when we went boating, but she never cried about it at all.  She is such a mellow and well tempered baby, so far her red hair has not been true to the stereo types.  She is happy as long as she is begin held or someone is paying attention to her.  She is not a big fan of being left on her own (so boring).

We just love our baby girl!  She is really developing her little personality and we are totally in love with her!  Happy 8 months my sweet little mermaid.