We went to Disney!! When our girls were little we went every year. All of my kids love Disney but none as much as Chloe. I always called her my Disney baby. She was only 3 years old when we started going. She was too little for a lot of the rides so we spent a lot of time on the benches eating Disney snacks and people watching. She LOVED it!! She’s always called it her happy place 🙂
With graduation coming this year I knew that I had to take her on one more “kid” trip. I spent months planning every second of this trip. Even though things didn’t go off perfectly (I ended up in urgent care) it was definitely a trip we will always remember.
I’m so glad that we got the trip in when we did, Disney shut down 2 weeks after we got home. I’m also glad that we got to stay at “our” resort one last time with Chloe. I loved keeping things the same for so many years with my 3 big girls but I think we’ll find a new Disney home with Lucy and Beckett to create new memories. With all of the new attractions coming to Disney over the next few years I have a feeling we’ll be going back again and again. Right, Jon??
Lets throw some pictures up here so we don’t get completely behind, shall we? November and December have gone by in a blink of an eye. It’s crazy that it’s almost 2020. I do like the sound of that though.
Lucy was a jellyfish in The Little Mermaid back in December. She was the cutest little jellyfish I ever did see. She is so lucky to have all these big sisters come out to support her.
Beckett and Winnie cause trouble daily. Ha! Best of friends!
We went to Lucy’s parent teacher conference and she wanted to see if Beck would fit in her locker. I have the same picture of Lucy when she was his age.
Emma came over on her day off and sat and watched the new Blues Clues with Beck. It was one of her favorite shows when she was little.
Emma, Megan, Chloe and Ashlyn all met up at Meg’s apartment and spent the day in the city a few weeks ago.
My parents had a Christmas party the other night with just our immediate family. I was so nice getting together with everyone.
Beckett got all of his curls cut off…….. I have a love/hate relationship with his hair. I miss his curls but he looks so handsome with his hair short. Not sure where we’re going from here. LOL Yes, this is something I spend time thinking about.
He’s also very into green eggs and ham at the moment.
A few Christmas photos from the month:
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
This was our 24th Halloween trick or treating as parents! The scene looks so different from where it was only a few years ago. We are down to two little trick or treaters and pumpkin carvers over here. A little bitter sweet for sure.
We made sure to put on our annual pumpkin carving playlist while carving the night before Halloween
Beckett has been obsessed with all things Toy Story this fall so of course he needed to be Buzz Lightyear
Lucy was the cutest little she-devil
We met up with our friends to trick or treat
And came home with a ton of candy!
I miss the days of having all of my little trick or treaters here together but I never let that stop me from enjoying these days with my last two littles.
Christmas music has been playing through the house while I put out my turkeys and pilgrims. Our thankful leaves are filling up and I keep trying to convince Jon to let me put the tree up early. The holidays go by so fast so I plan on slowing down over the next two months. I’m in cozy, nesting mode right now, eager to welcome home Emma and Megan for Thanksgiving weekend!
Gosh, we are already in the later part of the season and I have so much to catch up on. This is my absolute favorite time of the year. Mostly because of the weather but also because even though it’s busy, it’s the perfect time of year to cozy up at home and just enjoy my family.
We celebrated Beckett’s 4th birthday earlier this month. I still need to go back and do a birthday update for him. I can’t believe how much he’s grown this year! On his actual birthday we drove into the city and had dinner in the North End
After dinner we went back to EMMA’S NEW APARTMENT for desert. All in capitals because I can’t believe she is on her own!
The following day we had a big family birthday party for him
Lucy is enjoying Cross Country
And Beckett is enjoying being the center of attention with all of her friends. Ha!
Alison and Grace came up to spend the day with us
Beckett decided that clothes were a suggestion and not a requirement. Hahaha~
We went to Tracey and Paul’s surprise 25th Anniversary party
We went from apple picking:
To pumpkin picking:
I worked on Chloe’s senior pictures
A few more fall pictures from this month:
The little kids are getting excited for Halloween but to be honest I am SO ready for the real holidays to get here. My house is feeling a little quiet with only 5 of us here. I can’t wait to have everyone home again.
We just got back from spending a week up in Biddeford. Out of all the vacations we take Maine is definitely the most relaxing. Although, I’m sitting here trying to figure out why I’m so exhausted. Emma was able to come up and spend a few days with us at the beginning of the week and then Megan was able to join us for the rest of the week. They actually crossed paths on the highway. Spending an entire week with everyone all together is getting harder and harder these days.
We spent most of our time at the beach with a few little day trips here and there. I have lots of pictures to share!
We took our annual trip up to Portland so we could stop at The Holy Donut (here)
I’ve been sitting here going through old blog posts from when my girls were all young. I’ve also been looking through old blog posts from one of my favorite bloggers (who inspired me to start my own) and it’s crazy how fast time has flown by. How much these kids have grown (mine and her’s). I’m missing my babies like crazy!! So much that my breathe keeps catching and my eyes start filling up. I miss posting about their first days of school and simple grocery store runs. Play dates, sleepovers and first field hockey games. It all went by so quickly. Then I hear “mom, take a picture” and turn to see this
I’ve been soaking in all of these baby moments with him because I know how quickly time is flying. Two more years until he’s off to kindergarten 😭
Just a quick photo dump over here so I have these pictures.
Before we left for London we had a lobster boil for Marlene and Brian’s 50th wedding anniversary
4th of July celebrations in town:
I really want an alpaca but I can’t convince my dear husband
Few more summer photos:
Officially half way through the month of July and I’m already dreading the thought of sending everyone off to school! Luckily we have a few more vacations to look forward to. Happy Summer!!
It’s been almost 5 years since we left London. I don’t think there has been a day that’s gone by that someone in this house hasn’t mentioned our time there. Jon and I are celebrating our 20 year anniversary this summer and knew we wanted to go back, just the two of us. I really wanted to do a late spring, early fall trip. Jon was 100% looking forward to a summer trip. I felt guilty about leaving the kids during their summer break and was really nervous about leaving Beckett. A few months ago my dad called and told me that the Red Sox and Yankees were going to be playing each other in the first ever MLB London series. I hung up with him, called Jon and told him he could have summer. AS LONG as he was willing to go to the game. Huge sacrifice, I know. HA! 20 minutes later I called my dad back and told him I booked a trip. We spent the next few months planning exactly what we wanted to do while we were there. There were certain museums, restaurants, pubs and shopping that we KNEW we wanted to do. LOTS of things in only a short amount of time. A day trip to Paris was also on our list.
First up was Chiltern Firehouse We booked this reservation about 6 weeks in advance.
We barely made our reservation because our flight was delayed about an hour. Our Uber driver raced through the city, driving by our old apartment (which was a treat), but we made our reservation without a minute to spare. It was worth it! The food and the atmosphere were both amazing!
If you go you have to try the crab donuts (above) and don’t miss out on sharing a platter of truffle fries!
We spent the rest of the day wandering around the city, hitting The National Gallery, our favorite neighborhoods and favorite pubs:
Friday we woke up and headed straight for The Tower of London
Then we went over to Borough Market for some lunch
More from Friday:
Friday night was my favorite night. We went and grabbed some food and wine for a picnic in the park and headed over to Kensington. We sat on the hill overlooking the palace for hours. That area is my absolute favorite in London. I spent every single day there with the girls while Jon worked. Every night after dinner we would stroll the park with the girls and stop for ice cream or chocolate waffles. I know that area of Hyde park like the back of my hand. Sooooo many good memories there.
After 2 bottles of wine (HA!) we went over to The Churchill Arm This place was on my list of must do’s and it did NOT disappoint!!
Just as pretty in the day!!
Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and headed to Notting Hill. We strolled through Kensington one more time. We were there before the rest of London woke up so it was very peaceful.
Notting Hill:
Sunday morning we woke up and went to Westminster Abbey to attend the 8:00 mass.
Then over to the game.
We had such a great time!! There were tons of Yankees fans sitting around us and they all started to groan (LOUD) as soon as the first two notes of Sweet Caroline started to play. Even though we were losing, every single Red Sox fan in that stadium sang at the top of their lungs!
We had to head back to the hotel early that night. We woke up at 3:30am on Monday to catch a train to Paris.
Standing inside the Louvre was breathtakingly gorgeous! The white dirt roads paved the way for the cream colored buildings that were out of this world beautiful. The pale blue sky and bright green grass had pops of every color coming out of thousands of flowers, it made for the perfect backdrop. If you stood there alone and looked around, you would swear that angels were singing. It was THAT gorgeous. I love my Paris pictures so much and I really wanted to love Paris but I just didn’t (besides the Louvre area). Outside of the Louvre was very dirty and felt extremely dangerous. The Eiffel Tower was also very pretty (from afar) and we did a nice boat tour down The Seine River. We shopped around Louis Vuitton and had lunch at a cute little cafe, then a picnic later on in the park. It wasn’t a bad day, I just don’t think I would ever go back. If I’m missing something about Paris leave me a comment down below because I feel like we’re the only people unimpressed by the city.
As for London, I will go back again and again. It feels like a home away from home.
Chloe had been looking forward to this day for so long and I think prom itself exceeded her expectations. She had so much fun!! I mean, most girls that I know LOVE getting all dressed up. What’s better than having your hair and makeup done and feeling like a princess? Ok, obviously there are more important things but this really was a great feeling. Look at her:
She looked so beautiful!
I swear this dress was made for her! It was perfect!
Such a wonderful night for such an amazing young woman.
Stories about family, faith, friends and funnies. Pull up a chair. Grab a cup of coffee and laugh, cry, ponder and inspire about ordinary events of this wonderful, ever changing, bubbling pot that we call "every day life".
Seven Friarys 
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