where'd it go?

 it seems impossible that it's the end of august and the end of summer vacation already. we packed a bunch in this year, and it flew by! since i last blogged:
*zane took a reading course that was offered (free of charge) by my school district. this pushed our kansas city trip back about a week, but it was good that he got his foot in the door a bit with the special education director.
*we went to kansas city for 2 weeks! well, truthfully, we were in kansas city for most of it, but did take a long weekend trip up to iowa for some fun (trip will be it's own post)
*came home from kansas city and received our new living room couch(es)! we're in love.

 *we celebrated the end of the res beach season :( it was quiet the last few days we went, which made for a nice change of pace, but it really showed how late into the season it had gotten. looking forward to next year already.

 *zane got a NEW JOB! during our trip to the midwest, he was in touch with various administrators in my school district about a couple of opportunities. he even interviewed by phone at the omaha zoo, in a hallway. as we landed in boston, i checked my email on my phone and learned that one of the job opportunities was moving forward and they wanted zane for the position! it was a welcome treat to come home to! he will be teaching a small, 4th grade class, in the same school where i work. we are so thankful that this came along this year and he no longer has his long commute!

 *nola got her kindergarten classroom assignment, and we were thrilled to learn that she has the same teacher that avery had last year! i'm sure there are no "bad" kindergarten teachers at their school, but we were so happy with avery's experience and her teacher. nola did have a momentary sadness over being a "red bird" and not a "purple cat", like she was hoping to be, but i think we're over that.

*avery got her class list with her class teacher and i think was a bit disappointed at first that none of her good friends from last year were in her class. however, we all went to an open house that her teacher hosted and avery saw a couple kids that she knew and liked from the playground. she also got to meet a couple of the class pets and hear about the funny turtle named max who is still on vacation, but who seems to have quite the personality.

 *we celebrated my dad's birthday, complete with a homemade cake (linda's work, not mine) and ice cream. it was a nice night to hang out with family a bit and let the girls go wild on sugar.

 

*we also celebrated my parents 50th anniversary!! it was an awesome time seeing some extended family and friends that we haven't seen in forever and celebrating quite the milestone :)

*i've had a couple dr's appointments and everything is on track with cupcake. i think i grew exponentially while we were away, and i'm sure the excess of mexican food didn't help :) i just got word today that i passed my gestational diabetes test and that i need to start upping my iron, because like last time, i'm anemic again (and i've been feeling it). the girls are getting an absolute kick out of watching my belly roll around and feeling the heels and elbows poking out whenever i sit down for more than a couple minutes. yesterday during my appointment, the dr got a kick out of the lumps in my belly when she was doing the doppler (heartbeat in the 140's again).

(25+ weeks)

one new symptom: restless legs. as soon as i sit on the couch at night after the girls are in bed, my legs go wild and it's annoying as hell. luckily, once i go to bed and lay down, it seems to calm down and doesn't keep me up. i've heard it can be a side effect/symptom of anemia, so maybe if i get that under control, it will go away?
according to my due date and their tendency to do c-sections about a week before the due date, we're looking at the baby coming sometime the week of thanksgiving. i'll have a more definitive answer probably at my next appointment. and funny thing, my ob (once again! though this is a different dr/different practice) is pregnant and due a few weeks before me! what are the chances?

*we've had the last of our sunday night movie nights. i was slow to convince in the beginning that these would be a good idea, but i have to say they were a blast and i hope we can keep up with them next summer. it was fun to get to know some of the parents and kids that the girls hang out with. 

trip to maine :)

 thanks to zane's incredibly generous co-worker, we were able to take a mini-vacation up to maine for 5 days and stay just about beach-front. one of the assistant's in his class has a house in saco, one house back from the beach. we drove up, enjoyed the beach, ice cream, mini-golfing, eating seafood and sugary cereals, and relaxing with just about zero distractions. the girls did amazing with sleeping and playing and being flexible. it was the perfect little getaway!

 first afternoon on the beach at low tide. 

 

like father, like daughter :)

 

 

 after seeing a disappointing "earth to echo" the previous week, we found and watched "E.T". the girls loved it!

 my little bear. can't believe how much she's grown up recently.

 bathing beauty. 

 20 week belly and probably the last view of my feet for a while. 

 the girls made a (very "spirited") friend while we were there, named olivia. she made herself right at home.

goofs ;)

mini-golf! the girls were pros by the 18th hole.

fun in the sand.

this trip took me back to summers as a kid going to the cape or scituate. it was amazing to be able to hear the waves at night when i woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. mornings with salt air are just better, no matter what time you wake up. finding shells and seaglass (and a sand dollar!) is better when you get to share it with your little ones. all in all, great trip.

SUMMER!!!!

so it is officially summer. we are ALL out of school (FINALLY!)

we started movie nights on sunday nights here. the first week it was mostly neighbors that showed up, and all girls (kids). they had a blast playing outside and half watching frozen on the laptop on the deck. this week we had a bunch of other people show up, and a lot more boys. it was equally as fun, and this time we got a projector that works. it's a fun way to wind down the weekend and give a little bit of routine to our weeks that otherwise tend to blend into each other during the summer.

it's been hot and humid here this week. the girls started their 2 week long swim lessons yesterday at the res and we're going non-stop it seems. yesterday, after an early ob appointment that we all went to so the girls could hear the baby's heartbeat (in the 160's this time) we were at the res from 10-2, and the girls were pretty much in the water the entire time. we came home, crashed in the living room-me to almost nap, zane to read and the girls to play on the computers. it was the perfect summer afternoon laziness that we were all craving.

today, i had my 18 week ultrasound. it was a bit anti-climatic. zane wasn't able to make it, as he got a last minute call from my principal to interview with the special education director in my district. the girls were all excited to see cupcake (i guess this is the "official" nickname) and get pictures, but once we got there and there wasn't a whole lot that they could understand on the screen, they got restless. cupcake was stubborn (ie asleep) the entire ultrasound, despite the technician manhandling my belly to get him/her to move. it's head was buried deep into my pelvis and the tech couldn't really get any facial measurements, so we get to go back in a couple weeks for another. at least zane will be able to come :) got to see the heart, the legs and arms, hands and feet, and the tail end of a big yawn. most of the measurements she was taking averaged in the 19+ week range, but she didn't say anything about it. actually, she didn't say much of anything. it was a bit of a let down, but maybe we'll get a more peppy tech next time :)

she was able to get this picture of the profile (head to the right, looking up, with it's nose touching the side of my belly)

we're still working our way through the original star trek series, and it's so nice to be able to relax on the couch with no other obligations like lesson plans! we are fully embracing this period of down time. we have some fun summer plans coming up and before we know it it's going to be september and the return to school.

winding down.

avery and nola (and zane too) have just 2 more days of school for the year. it's a big year end too. nola's leaving adventures and is off to kindergarten in the fall. avery's first year of elementary school is coming to a close. and we're all a little emotional about it.

on tuesday, parents were invited to avery's class for an author's celebration. we got to see all the hard work they've done and the morning ended with a video compilation her teacher made of the kids throughout the year. i kept myself busy during the video because i knew i'd start crying if i really watched and listened to the sappy music that went along with it. i made it through fine, but then nola came up to me (she came along before i dropped her at preschool) sobbing. i think part of it was her sensitivity and feeling the close of things, and part was that she wants to be in avery's school SO BAD and didn't want to go back to preschool. either way, she and i were a tear-stained mess within minutes and avery was totally fine. (to be fair, her teacher also had red eyes and it just goes to show what an amazing year it's been for this class and what a truly wonderful teacher she is).

nola has her graduation on friday night and luckily, if it's anything like avery's was last year, it's not very sentimental and they don't put too much effort into things :)

we have a couple of boxes from zane's classroom sitting on our dining room table right now, which is another sign that things are slowing down. we're hopeful beyond words that these boxes will not return to marlborough and that they can find a new home in a closer district!

one thing that isn't slowing down is this baby (still nickname-less, unless you count 'cupcake' or 'camel'-the first is nola's idea, the second, mine). on monday night i was lying in bed and felt the baby start kicking around a bit, though it felt a little stronger than usual. i lifted up my shirt, and soon i heard zane say "i saw that!" a few twitches were definitely seen. this morning, the baby was doing acrobatics again and i caught it on video, which the girls were thrilled to watch when they woke up. this little one definitely went from 0-60. (i was just saying at work on monday that i felt like i had started feeling the girls by this time and maybe this was just a lazy one ;))

5 years?!

 it really is too bad she wasn't excited at all about turning 5 :) we had a blast celebrating her last weekend. we had her school party on saturday where she and her friends got to paint pottery and eat cake. afterwards we opened all her presents and then went out to dinner, just the 4 of us. she got the royal treatment with ice cream at the end of dinner, complete with the waiters and waitresses singing to her.
on sunday we celebrated father's day by running some errands (to buy her birthday presents :)), taking the girls to a friend's birthday party, making cupcakes for her friends at school and then going out to eat for father's day. by the time her actual birthday came around on monday, we were exhuasted and just kept going. i picked the girls up from school and we waited for zane to come home before heading to the res beach for opening day! it's been hot and humid the last few days, so the sunshine and cool water was heavenly! we picked up some take out for dinner and came home to more birthday presents from us and mema and grandpa dan! we now have more hello kitty and little girl make-up paraphernalia around here than we know what to do with.
happy birthday, bear! these last 5 years have flown by, but in a haze of happiness and smiles that you uniquely bring to our family :)

and in other news...

the girls and zane have 2 more weeks of school. i have 3. it seems so close, yet so far. i think we are ALL looking forward to no real structure to our days for a while!

nola graduates preschool on her last day of school and as much as she says she can't wait to go to kindergarten (she asks almost daily when it's her turn), i think when she actually leaves adventures it's going to hit her. avery has already been talking about how she doesn't want to go to first grade because she just wants to stay with her teacher. big transitions around here but i think we're ready for them.

we're almost through with a whirlwind of a weekend. the girls had two birthday parties yesterday back to back, and after running our errands in the morning we were all wiped out when we got home last night. after a quick shower for the girls, avery came to me and asked me to take her temp. so i did. 101. girl knows her body. since then she's had an on and off headache and sore throat. pretty sure a dr's visit is in store with us tomorrow morning unless she somehow bounces back miraculously. there is another birthday party scheduled for today but i don't think parents would appreciate me taking her :) ice cream will hopefully make up for her disappointment.


and in baby news.
so the stomach bug i thought i had back in april turned out to be morning sickness. i thought it was weird when all the other staff that had it the same time as i did were feeling better and i wasn't. i thought maybe i had an ear infection that was making me queasy. i took a test figuring the dr would ask me anyway and i was just ruling it out. surprise! i had to find a new dr and when i finally got in for an appointment i was just under 7 weeks.

current status: 15 weeks.
due date: november 30th-december 3rd (dates never match up well for me. baby was measuring 4 days ahead at my early dating scan which gives the earlier date)
feelings: at first, a bit of a shock. then, a bit of worry about how everything is going. then, relief that things seem like they're on track. then, getting used to the idea. now, enjoying not feeling so sick and the first tiny pops and kicks.
the girls? they are over the moon. ask all the time if i can feel the baby, how big is the baby, does the baby like what i eat, is my belly getting bigger. it's been a blast to share this with them.
will we find out? nope. a surprise just like the others.
nickname: doesn't have one yet. so far we've tossed around 'tickles' (avery's suggestion) and 'cupcake' (nola's), but none have really stuck. 

well, helloooooo second trimester!

:)

mema and makeup!

mema came to visit for 2 weeks!!! it was WONDERFUL to have her here and have all the good feelings that come along with her being here.

in other news, the girls got makeup from the easter bunny. huge hit.

finally feeling warm

it still feels a long way from beach days, but this week we were able to play outside with the girls without being (too) cold :)

i've been feeling lousy this week with a mild stomach bug. kids and teachers at my school are dropping like flies, so i just hope it stays with me and doesn't spread to anyone else in the family.

nola moved up to scotty's class this week and LOVES it. it was the first wednesday (neither of us have school on wednesdays) that she was sad about not going to school. she loves counting to 100 on the way to school in the mornings and then by 100's to 1000. it's amazing how much she's learned in the 10 months since her tubes were placed-we're pretty sure that her hearing was so bad for so long that it slowed down a lot of what she was able to comprehend and take in.

zane and i (mostly zane) are tutoring for math mcas at my school two days a week. we're hoping that him getting into the school, meeting teachers, working with the kids and impressing the principal will go a long way towards him maybe landing a job in the district next year. fingers crossed.

i can't believe avery's almost done with kindergarten. we had her spring conference a couple weeks ago and her teacher was very complimentary on the sweet girl she is. gets along with all the classmates and doesn't get involved with the girl drama. yay! :) i'm still surprised every time she opens a book and reads-she read a bedtime book to nola and i the other night and it was one of the best things we've done in a long time.

counting down the days until our april break. no big plans right now but hoping for warm weather so that we can play outside, maybe paint the dining room and get rid of all the germs everywhere.

marley ran away over a week ago and has yet to return. we're pretty sure she found a new family that thinks she's a puppy to fawn all over her. king hasn't missed a beat, which is a relief, but also maybe speaks to his neurosis ;)

march 9th.

looking so forward to daylight savings!

we had a messy day on thursday, with heavy snow, rain, sleet, you name it. the girls and i all had early release days and zane was off. it was so nice to have him around for the morning routine and help get kids to school!

after we got out of school we ran some quick errands to get lunch. the roads were getting pretty bad and people were driving terribly. but we made it home, ate our lunch and then zane went upstairs and took a nap while the girls and i snuggled on the couch watching "the aristocats" under a blanket. they took turns rubbing my back for m+m's. it was heaven.

avery and i took a walk up to the square to get some wine while nola stayed inside and colored and zane started the storm clean-up. we probably only got about 6 inches, but it was heavy and wet and a workout to walk through. when avery and i got back, nola suited up and we made a snowman in the front while zane finished snow-blowing.


friday, we all headed back to school. i was expecting the worst from valentine's day on a friday before vacation at an elementary school (which also coincided with a full moon), but i was pleasantly surprised. fridays are my long days with 6 classes pretty much back to back (ranging from k-5 grade). i had a fun game planned for the older grades, and they did amazing with it. the younger grades (who are usually out of control on good days) were fantastic and the day flew by. i got 3 roses from students and a heartwarming card.


the girls had a blast at school with valentine's celebrations. we layed low yesterday afternoon and headed to bed early since we have THREE birthday parties today. luckily they should all be done before we get MORE SNOW. there's a blizzard watch along the coast, but we're in the 5-8 range. it seems like there will be a pretty dramatic drop-off in totals, so we'll see what we actually end up with.

and that's that. we have this next week off, and are trying to fill it with play-dates, day trips and maybe a trip into my school so that i can get ahead for once this year. if nothing else, we plan on enjoying the break and taking full advantage of no real obligations.

snow day. not fun.

we were excited with this upcoming storm, assuming we'd have the day off and we could snuggle down and enjoy the time off school.
wrong.
i woke up with a fever of 103 at some point during the night. assuming it's the flu or some other horrid virus. the fever is just about gone, but achiness took it's place.
the girls got a chance to play outside for a long time this afternoon while zane was snow-blowing. they came in, he gave them a snack, but neither really ate it. zane had just gone upstairs to lay down for a bit and i had just gotten myself to the kitchen to take more advil when i heard nola get up and say she thought she was going to throw up. and she was right.
i wrote to a woman i work with who has 2 high school boys. i jokingly asked 'how do moms with two young kids hold down a job?' because seriously, it always seems to be someone. or something.

anyway!
the girls are still growing like weeds.
on to pics.

would like to have a caption for each, but my medicine is blurring the screen.

merry chrismas/birthday/new year!

 *forgot to post this 3 weeks ago...*

whirlwind of a holiday vacation. (nola was convinced that we were actually going away on "vacation" and kept saying she was going to miss bitzer. it took me a while to explain to her that we weren't going anywhere)

*friday after we were all home from work and school we headed out to do some shopping (for the girls to give to each other) and we saw santa. we were up past our bedtime but it felt fun because it was "vacation"

*i got sick saturday. the first day we all had off. just a sore throat and achiness, but annoying. zane did the grocery shopping (happy early christmas to me!) we spent the day wrapping presents, skyping with mema and grandpa dan, playing legos and snuggling. that night we watched the rest of "polar express" with popcorn, made sugar cookies and let the girls stay up late with us as we started "it's a wonderful life" to celebrate winter solstice.

*on sunday we did more of the same, with a few breaks to do some last minute shopping. the girls both took naps (another christmas miracle!) and we were able to finish our movie that night with them(they loved the "buffalo girls" song)

*monday it was pouring. we had a big pancake breakfast and hung around until we took the girls bowling. it was something they had both begged to do but since we had never gone before we had no idea what to expect. they loved it and were great at it! definitely something we'll do more of this winter when we just need to get out. after bowling we went to the girls' doctor for avery's 6 year well-check. got both girls ears and throats checked out and they both had slight fevers. came home to eat dinner and watch a holiday movie after the girls were in bed.

*tuesday (christmas eve day!) we were able to skype with mema and grandpa dan and open the gifts upon gifts that they had sent. shortly after i took nola back to the dr with a raging fever and sore throat. negative for strep, so we left with orders to take lots of over the counter medicine and rest. after stopping for a milkshake, we came home and nola passed out in her bed. took the rest of the day easy and played with new toys (wii!) and waited as zane grilled steaks for dinner. made more cookies for santa and put everything out before hopping into bed, in hopes that the morning would come fast. zane and i watched "white christmas", as we do every christmas eve, and were in bed pretty early.

*wednesday-merry christmas! zane and i got up early and made monkey bread and finalized gifts under the tree. got the girls up at 7 (they had both been up over night-nola for medicine, avery to ask if santa had come to our house yet), and watched them rip into presents. hung around until we headed to my parents house for family, dinner and more presents. nola felt pretty bad and didn't eat hardly anything, but was a trooper and had fun with henry and avery.

*thursday-the let down day! wandered around the house for most of the day, trying to clean things up but not really wanting to. played a bit more with the wii (avery's favorite game is ratatouille, and she's awesome at it!) i still felt crappy and nola was slowly coming around.

*friday-by the time dinner rolled around and we were watching "wizard of oz", avery was laying on the couch and looking either sick or tired. turned out it was sick. fever and sore throat for the win.

*saturday-nola's finally feeling better, avery not so much. with nola feeling better physically she was also back to being the epitome of limit-testing and button-pushing. ran some errands, the girls made a birthday cake for me with zane.

*sunday-my birthday. by 9am i had declared it one of the nicest birthdays in a while. by noon i was eating my words. overall i tried to appreciate the good things, but by the girls bedtime i was over it and just wanted the day to be over :)

*monday-today. just about everyone is (finally) feeling better and we're back to getting stuff done. we may go out to dinner tonight to celebrate since we haven't gone out much in the last week. at least it's saved us money ;)

overall, not the vacation any of us was envisioning. but i think the girls have had a lot of fun staying in jammies most days and playing at home. during the rush of school days with drop-offs and pick-ups and the go-go-go, it's something that we don't get to do much and i'm trying to sit back and let it be.

i'm dreaming of a white christmas!

 

I'm pretty sure there will still be some snow on the ground by Christmas. We got snow overnight (our first "real" storm) and I think it'll be cold enough for the next 10 days that it won't all melt. The girls had so much fun today playing in the snow, and then took a 2 hour nap! A Christmas miracle! 

 

To get in the Christmas spirit (it didn't take much, I was itching to go before Thanksgiving), we've been listening to Christmas music every chance we get, making a gingerbread village, buying presents, decorating the tree, house and cookies, and writing letters to Santa, and last night as the snow was starting, we drove around looking at Christmas lights.

 

Avery turned 6! It's truly been a magical age--the bickering and icky behavior of the 5 year old seems to have left and has been replaced by a helpful and respectful little girl. Couldn't be more proud :)

 One of her presents was ear buds that she can use when she's on the computer. So grown up :)

 

Working backwards, we hosted Thanksgiving here and it was the smoothest turkey day to date! We made a couple of dishes the day before and it made the day of so much easier. I think we were done with cooking and preparing by 11am! We were able to relax, eat, drink and enjoy the rest of the day.

 Avery also got a "how to draw" book for her birthday. Her first picture was of a queen. She loves to draw and this book has been wonderful! Side note: we had no idea that Nola could draw (we had really only seen her head with two legs representation of people before, but it turns out that she has an incredible talent for copying artwork-pictures to come)

The girls have also been to some birthday parties, a cookie decorating party, we've started our Harry Potter movie night marathon, Avery was sick last weekend, I got sick this week and now all of us girls have super stuffy nose, I had my first (and second, and third) observation at work and happily my principal seems to think I'm good at my job (whew), we saw Frozen last weekend (so good!) and have pretty much been trying to soak in all the winter and holiday goodness we can. I have to admit though, this week can't go by fast enough so we can slow things down and enjoy the extra long winter vacation.