Happy Spring!

Gabrielle just found out that today is the first day of Spring!

After the long, cold and snowy Winter, she wanted to celebrate!

A Walk In the Park

After a very long Winter, Mother Nature has shown us some mercy the last few days and given us some warm, sunshine'y days.

Gabrielle had her first ride in her baby stroller today.   I walked down to meet Sarah at the bus stop and Sarah pushed the stroller back home. 

I think Gabrielle seemed to enjoy herself.   What do you think?

Easter 2013

Happy Easter from the Madore-ables!  We had a very casual and low-key kind of day, we certainly had a fantastic one.

We started out the day with attending Sunday morning Mass at our parish, and headed home to have a nice Easter dinner (ham and TONS of vegetables).  We were very fortunate to have my brother and his fiancee over for dinner too.  After dinner, we had our egg hunt.  The girls had a blast looking for their little goodies around our front yard.

Home At Last

So, as many of you know this past weekend was my 39.3 mile, 2 day Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.  The last 7 months of fundraising and training all come to a peak in one weekend.  I just completed my 3rd year, and I tell you, it never gets old.  There's a new friend to walk with every step.  There's a new story to laugh at or cry at.  There's a moment of exhaustion and suddenly in the same breath a moment of inspiration.  I had many of those moments, and as I look at the photographs that I took, and that were taken of me and posted on Facebook, I can think back to exactly what mile it was.  I can think back to whom I was walking with.  I may not know my own name sometimes, but I love what these walks have done for me.  The exhaustion and the tired achy (and sometimes blistery) feet are completely and totally worth it.

Everything about the weekend was perfect.  The weather.  The crowds cheering us on.  The food and snacks.  Even the grape Gatorade.  The hot shower.  0 blisters.  The sunrise on Sunday morning.  But you know what my favorite part about the walk weekend was?

Walking from mile 38 to mile 39 and seeing Jeremy, my Mom and these little sweethearts at the very end.

(I will have more photos and more stories to post about soon!)

Picnics and Library

Yesterday, the weather was absolutely perfect for a trip to our local library...

Sarah Really Enjoys Playing With The Computers While I'm Choosing Books

Bubbles & Vitamin D

The Madore-ables (and Mommy too of course) are really enjoying the Spring weather we've been having.

We've been getting some serious Vitamin D these days between bubble blowing and playground hopping!



Rainboots and Giggles

Rainy days and Mondays always seemed to get Karen Carpenter down...

The Madore-ables don't seem to care as long as they have their umbrellas and rain boots on!

Then the girls wanted to play "Duck Duck Goose"

Sarah Tagged Sam With A Goose Here

I Unexpectedly Turned the Corner and Surprised Sarah Here...

The Madore-ables also discovered worms recently.

Samantha wasn't sure what to think of them.

Easter 2012

This year's Easter was quite a lot of fun. Good Friday, we dyed eggs (something that I've never done before) and the Madore-ables absolutely LOVED it.

Easter morning, we got dressed and headed to the 9:00 a.m Mass and actually made it early enough to grab a good seat. (Jeremy and I have found that when we sit up front, the girls are more likely to pay attention to what's going on. They also ask great questions which we love).

After Mass, the girls were invited to an egg hunt in the town where we live. I have never seen so many eggs in one place! The girls had a great time. When we asked Samantha what she liked best about this egg hunt, she said her favorite part was the candy. When Sarah responded, she said that she liked looking for eggs with her good friend Maddie.

After the 1st egg hunt, we went home to have dinner and filled ourselves with marinated, grilled steak tips and boneless spareribs. After dinner, Jeremy and I hid eggs all around our yard and the girls loved it.

After we digested dinner, ran around the yard and hid eggs, and of course digested dessert, we played a very long, intense game of UNO.

We hope everyone had a nice, relaxing Easter!

Our Strawberry Shortcakes

Yesterday, my Mom and I took the Madore-ables to go strawberry picking. The girls had never been before, so they were in awe of all the strawberries that could be picked. They really had a great time! We were fully prepared and dressed in rain boots and rain jackets, but the weather held out and was perfect for picking.

It didn't take long at all to fill up our Tupperware buckets. So right before we were done, Samantha started to protest that she wasn't done picking yet. When I explained to her that we only brought two buckets with us, she then asked me how were we going to pick all the other strawberries. Sam didn't understand that they didn't have to pick the entire field of strawberries which I thought was hysterical.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the day :)

We Found Nemo!

Over the weekend, the Madore-ables were invited to go fishing with Shannon and her father, Jimmy. Samantha has been pretending to "fish" at home with various toys, so when she found out that she was going fishing, she was very excited.

The weather wasn't very cooperative, so we didn't bring our camera with us, but I did manage to sneak in a video after a trout was caught.

C'Mon Mother Nature...Bring On the Puddles!

I think Mother Nature doesn't like New England.

She's decided to give us clouds and rain all this week.

Yes, all this week

How nice of her.

I need to find some entertainment for this week, otherwise I'm going to be seriously outnumbered.

I need to keep positive.

At least there will be plenty of rain puddles, right?

Happy Mothers Day!

I remember as a child reading the Sunday comics in the newspaper. Family Circus was always one of my favorites. It wasn't until I had children of my own that I truly understood what the comic really meant. So, I'm going to do my own It's Apparent You're A Parent segment.

This is dedicated to all the Mommies of the world, and especially to all the stay at home Mommies.

It's Apparent You're A Parent If:

(and yes, all of these have happened to me at one point)

1. You constantly have the "Dora The Explorer" theme (or insert any children's theme song here) in your head.






2. You constantly talk in the 3rd person.






3. You can carry heavy babies on your hip all while wearing high heeled shoes.






4. "Sleeping in" on the weekend means waking up at 8.






5. The sweetest words you'll hear during the day is "Hi Mommy, I love you".






6. You stick the key in the ignition even when you don't have your child/children with you, and the sounds of Laurie Berkner blast through the speakers.






7. Kisses can make everything feel better






8. You realize your mother was right all along....darn it! (Ha ha)






9. You find yourself saying or doing things that your Mom used to do or say, and you vowed you would never EVER do that.






10. You can multitask (i.e - hold a conversation on the telephone, make lunches, and monitor what's going on around you all the while getting lunch on the table within 30 seconds of starting it.)






11. The sight of poop, puke and drool don't even phase you anymore.






12. 5 minutes of "Peace" means 2 minutes of using the bathroom by yourself and 3 minutes to check your email and Facebook messages.





13. You find mysterious things in your purse like a can of tuna, or a box of macaroni and cheese or your shoes are found in the bottom of the bathtub.




14. You spend an hour cleaning all of the windows or the kitchen floor and they're dirty within a few hours. (Dirty windows can be trendy, right?)




15. You could have had 2 hours of sleep and that one smile or that one "Hi Mommy!" makes you just melt.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!

My Little Red Wagon

About 25 years ago, my grandparents gave me a shiny, new, red wagon.

Today, the wagon is still red, but it's no longer shiny or new.

That doesn't seem to bother the Madore-ables.

I think they had fun, don't you?

Tree Huggers!

Last week, the Madore-ables and I celebrated Arbor Day with the Mayor by planting a tree. Before the ceremony, the tree was dedicated, and mostly all of the children were able to get a turn with the Mayor by shoveling dirt around the new tree.

I should also point out that Samantha is already taking after me when it comes to her schmoozing with strangers. Samantha had no problem raising her hand nice and high when she wanted a turn to shovel the dirt, and when the Mayor called her on, she stood up and immediately started to talk about her Easter egg hunt at Nanny's house and how she's going to be a flower girl in her Aunt Jessica's wedding. (I kid you not).

The Mayor dedicating the tree and explaining the importance of why we celebrate Arbor Day

Samantha helping out the Mayor

Sarah had so much fun helping out!

After we planted the tree, we all went inside and created our own "Arboretum".

Sarah loves loves LOVES glue sticks

Happy Arbor Day!!