The North End

My high school English teacher Mrs. LeBlanc (er..ahem...Debbie as she has requested that I call her) was in town with her family so her son could tour a few local colleges. We met up with them at a great place in the North End. Dolce Vita. Funny how we can't manage to get into Boston for a night out without an excuse!

Boy did we have fun. Debbie's husband was charming and very entertaining and it was fun to hear about all the excitement surrounding Andre's college visits.

Waiting for a pasty at Mike's

Debbie and Andre

The LeBlanc Family

A night out!

A North End MUST.

We stopped by the science center on the way back and caught a show at the Omni Theater. Gotta use those season passes! It is a 360 IMAX. Think dome. Totally impressive. But combine it with a science center visit or as part of another outing.

The show was about risk taking read--sky diving. I used to be a bit of a dare devil but the more I think about it...you just have to be insane to do that!! No offense to any insane friend readers out there. Thanks to Melanie and Andrew and Jennifer and Curtis for making the night possible.

Welcome Spring

One weekend it literally rained for 36 hours without stopping. Enter fake good weather then another 24 hours of torrential downpour type rain. It was an official disaster. Apartments in our complex and homes in our town were evacuated. Many friends from church had submerged basements. Longtime residents say they haven't EVER seen this much rain. I think it was a 70 year record. Thankfully we stayed dry (note to self: renters insurance doesn't cover floods.)

Falling asleep on the way to the park.

Playing on the front porch because we could!

Yeah, we may be speaking too early...but WELCOME SPRING.

Bathtub

Will was giving me cute smiles in the tub and while he didn't quite reproduce them for the camera EVERYONE needs a bath picture.

Bathing brothers!!

There are moments of pure insanity (why can't there be just one thing that isn't touched?! why can't it be quiet for a few minutes?! why does it feel like NOTHING gets done?! why is there so much water on the floor?!) but then David and Will giggle and each other or give me sunggles or say something funny or learn something new and I think being a Mom is alright.

Meet Baby Benjamin

We had a little get together to welcome Benjamin Douglas Keyes into the dental school family. He was born in Canada (on New Year's Day!) during the APEX rotation, and we hadn't had the chance to meet him yet. This is Benjamin's big brother and sister and their favorite guy Derek.

Abby spent most of the evening in the car! We were all thankful for amazing weather espeically since the weekend before was rainy and the weekend after was really cold.

The kids decided it was ok to hang out with their Dad too.

A shot of the crowd inside. And sadly the only photo I have of Benjamin. He was a darling and enjoyed snuggling with his Mommy. The kids and adults enjoying playing with David's "train tracks" and of course chatting about school and other exciting things.

Sadly the party had a bit of a bad end. Our kids had a stomach bug a few days before the party. We didn't think much of it since it was quick and not too messy but we gave to almost everyone else. :( What a terrible feeling. The Keyes got sick, so did Derek's wife Mel. Brad and I got it too. Thankfully the baby was immune! I've never EVER seen anything that spread like that before. Note to self...

Little Leprechauns Visit

The leprechauns made their annual visit this year. They must have been busy frosting cookies for the neighbors (or something like that!) because they only left plastic coins--no candy ones. David saw the little trail after waking up and coming downstairs and said "oooh coooool."

Picking up their coins which conveniently fit into their mouths and were difficult to remove!

At least the leprechauns left something!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

And of course David ripped off with a cookie for breakfast.

Celebrating a birthday just a few days late. Some of us didn't wear green.

I really love pretend ears. Sadly I kind of gave them up after high school. Sigh.

Happy Birthday Lacey...next year there are seriously going to be some pinches!

Will is One

Will turned one today! We decided that you can't celebrate too much so it was into Boston for a visit to the Children's Museum. Tonight was $1 night. What a deal! $1 tickets plus $13 dollar parking plus a dinner that was even more expensive than that. Good thing we went with the cheap admission.

First time he was front facing.

Our cute baby!

Of course the kids thought the train table was exciting...another one of those "hmm, did they even realize we were at a new special place?" moments.

Will and his Daddy.

Getting a kiss from his favorite monkey.

The family with George.

The Welkers

Trying to get a bubble over both David and BrDad.

We love you Will!

Will has formed a little bit of an attachment to his fuzzy blue blankie. He points to his head, touches his head and says "head." Will likes to clean things up and loves shape sorting. He often mimics big brother David which can be both good and bad. Will seems to prefer his Dad to his Mom. :( He likes cuddles and eats his veggies.

Goodbye Kings

One of the heartbreaking things about living in such a transient ward (the name of our church congregation) is making good friends that will inevitably move away. It sounds like a Hallmark card but you know...the people that touch your life for a moment yet you will remember them for a lifetime.

Jan and Stacy at Jan's farewell party

Us and the Kings

I couldn't decide which photo was better...or worse...

The Kings moved here in June and greeted us as we got back from two months away. I think the first time we met them they invited us over for dinner even when they were new in town! Probably the second thing they did was help us pick up our BBQ, I'm sure the third and fourth and fifth thing they did for us involved watching our kids and/or making dinner.

The list goes on, it was honestly hard to keep track of all the kind and wonderful little acts of service both Jan and Ben did for our family.

How cool to totally invest yourself. I'm not sure I'd do that if I knew I'd only live somewhere for eight months.

Jan and Ben--we'll miss you, your boys, and your company, and your many talents!