Are you ready?!

This my friends, is what we call a photo dump. So many things have happened, and I am just way too behind to really remember it all. I figure if I put up these pictures it will at least remind me of the highlights and we can move on from there. Mostly there are pictures of my cute kids, unrelated to anything extremely excited except that my kids are cute. So there you go. Cute kids. You are very welcome!

 

Jimmy took a leadership class, that kept him out until the wee hours of the night on Mondays for 10 weeks. Needless to say we were glad when the class was over. We were invited to the graduation. Jimmy and all the participants gave speeches and we ate food. It was sponsored by Roche Bros, what would an event be without food. Peder came along because this graduation was when he was visiting. Here is a picture of Jimmy and his class. It was special.

More cute kids, all dressed up for mother's day.

This little outfit was made my Karen. It was Jimmy's when he was young. We thought it would be a nice mother's day gift to Karen, and by golly he sure looks adorable. And let me tell you, Karen is pretty darn talented.

This was Sam's smiley face. He has grown out of this a little bit. It is funny none the less.

More cuteness, what can I say?!

For Jimmy's cousin Nicole's wedding we met up with a lot of the visiting family to eat at Kimballs. And yes we got ice cream, but that was only after we got some pretty stellar seafood. It was delicious. Sam was mostly interested in the watermelon. He LOVES watermelon, to the point that he won't eat anything else if he is offered it at the beginning of a meal.

Here is a picture of the crew.

I don't have pictures from the wedding because our camera was dead by this point. But I know Nathan got some great pictures of Lucy and Clara dancing. It was quite memorable I must say. And Nicole's ruby red slippers were fantastic! Hooray for cute married people!

Lucy got some awesome castle blocks from Grandma and Grandpa Coop. Here is one of her castles, before Sam tried to knock it down.

As the summer warmed I decided I would get ourselves a little kiddie pool. When Lucy was little we used a large bucket. I upgraded, for $15, to a kiddie pool. It fits more kiddies. Sam really doesn't go in, he is a little finicky about cold water. But he loves to stand on the outside and play. Lucy couldn't care if there was ice floating in the water. She is such a little fish.

Tangerini's where we get our CSA has an ice cream stand. We got some with our friends. They are our best buddies.

More pool shots!

The previous tenants to our duplex planted some awesome flowers. I wish I knew all the names. Heather knows them. Either way, they have all come in beautifully. It makes up for our lack of garden. We have woodchucks. My pea plants did not survive. I have a pumpkin plant hanging on for dear life, and my tomato plants are in pots out front. We also have some carrots that might do alright, but the soil they are in is very sandy. This was a learning year for us. Let's enjoy some flowers shall we...

A few weeks back I decided to take the kids on a hike. My friend Meg told me about the Ashland state park. We hopped in the car and made our way over there and found a quite lovely set-up. Normally I think it costs money, but we got there just before the season started. There is a rather large lake, with a swimming area and some nice trails. We went on a hike. Lucy's favorite thing was to stop suddenly and yell "stop, listen, what do you hear?" Then she would put her hand OVER her ear and try to hear the birds. It was cute. We talked about tree roots (she stumbled over several of those) and beaver trees. She is one smart cookie, that little girl of mine.

We also put our feet in the water. It felt good.

My kids are starting to read together. It is cute.

Just a week or two ago, my old roommate and mission companion came to visit. She has two adorable boys just about the same ages as Sam and Lucy. We went to the park, had taco salad and played. It was a nice evening.

This was the best picture we could get.

Lucy paints.

 Sam eats.

One of Lucy's favorite parks in the "park next to the school." It has some really fun slides and swings. And Sam loves the sandbox. They have a bunch of trucks that just live in the sandbox.

The daddy-daughter camping trip was supposed to happen near Cape Cod but because Jimmy gets home kind of late and because it was pouring, Jimmy and Lucy set up in the back yard. Lucy was super excited!

They ate sugary treats, played in the tent, and went to bed kind of early (for Jimmy that is). In the end Jimmy brought Lucy inside. Her inability to sleep with other people kept her and Jimmy awake.

Aunt Jojo came to town. We were so excited. She is known as the baby whisperer you know. So I figured she could lull my sometimes grumpy children into a stupor. She was awesome. She is heading to work at a summer camp and then to Colorado to school so we are going to miss seeing her for a while. We are so glad she came to visit. We read books.,ate at Twist and played at the park. She also watched my kids while I went to an interview at Babson college. And by the way, I got the job! I will be working once a week in the fall, helping out with their labs.

I love this picture.

Last weekend we decided to go for a hike. On one of my longs runs I noticed a trail head in some reservation land in Medfield. We found a nice 1+ mile hike and went for it. Lucy did the whole thing.

 At the top we got some pretty nice pictures and could even see Gillette stadium

Lucy only wants me to do braids in her hair. I think is looks so cute, but it makes her look old. Sniff...

Last Monday we took the kids to the Temple for a picnic dinner. Lucy is terrible about looking at the camera, unless, we found out, the camera is on automatic timer. Either way, we got some really interesting pictures.

 Let me in...

Look at how caught up I am. These pictures are from last week.

Lucy started swimming lessons. She loves the water and has no fear of jumping in and dunking. She is however not extremely coordinated. The lessons are helping her tremendously. She is learning to move her arms, kick her legs and blow bubbles. It is very entertaining to watch.

The abundance of our CSA. I really do love it, even if it means we eat a lot of lettuce. We are starting to get some more vegetables, like zucchini and peas. Yum!

Blowing bubbles.

Lucy fights naps almost every day now. This is the result of her not napping, she conked out while I was making dinner.

Here in the lovely state of MA they have what is called Fun Free Fridays. It allows people to go to over 66 museums/parks for free on Fridays. It happens only in the summer and only on Fridays. Every week there is a list of places you can go. Last Friday was the first free Friday. We went to the Franklin Park Zoo with some friends from church. It was CRAZY busy! I think everyone was there! The traffic was gross and the zoo itself was like Disney World. But we saw some awesome animals and Lucy loved being with friends.

My favorite moment occurred at the lion. See below. He is lounging, if you can't tell from the picture. While we were watching Lucy chimed in "Its like Aslan!" I seriously could help but beam a little. Though I can't take any credit. She reads the Chronicles of Narnia with Jimmy. Either was, it was cute.

And on Saturday was this little boy birthday. He is 1! Ahhhhh! He walks, he "talks," and he is whole lot happier than he was a little baby. We love him so very much.

For his birthday weekend we went up to Nelson. Peder was coming back with us, because I took him to the airport this morning.

My parents weren't around on Saturday, but we still partied hard. Jimmy made these grass and dirt cakes, in honor of the things Sam likes to eat. There was also banana pudding in the middle. It was impressive.

We took the cakes up to Grandma and Grandpa Schillemat's house and sang happy birthday. Sam was very unsure.

Eventually it got the hang of it.

 Lucy on the other hand, had no issues eating cake.

 We also visited my great grandma. She turned 103 today! She is amazing. She may not have the memory she once had, but she is quite the conversationalist. We love being able to see her.

Peder photo bombed this picture of Grandma Schillemat with Sam.

After Great Grandma's we took the kids out to eat. Jimmy wanted to try the Keene buffet. He has a thing with buffets. I indulged him. And plus, there were things for the kids to eat. Sam was pretty fixated on the broccoli.

And our last big Nelson adventure was swimming at Center pond. It is hard to leave Nelson in the summer, without doing some sort of swimming. Plus, I figured Lucy needed to practice and show Jimmy what she had learned. The water was brisk, but really quite nice once you got in. Sam had a blast.

We finished the weekend by going to Church, attending an ice cream social, and then driving back to go ol' Millis. Peder left this morning by airplane. He is headed to BYU country.

Life has been eventful. That is for sure.

I'm catching up, I promise....

Another installment of updates...

Boston Marathon and training for a marathon - The Monday after Gretchen and Chris' wedding Jimmy had the day off. It was Patriots' Day. That's right a state holiday here in Mass and it is wonderful! We needed a day off after the weekend we had just experienced. Lucy was sick as sick could be, and Jimmy wasn't as excited about seeing the marathon, so they stayed home, while I took the little Sam to see the Boston Marathon.

Jimmy's aunt and uncle live in Hopkinton, where the marathon starts, so they told us where to go. I watched with Jimmy's aunt for probably and hour or so, and let me just say it stirred something within me. There were people running while pushing wheelchairs. And they weren't pushing children either, full grown people. It was amazing! Not to mention the elite runners. They were insanely fast. It made me want to run Boston, and another marathon pretty darn bad.

So I thought on that for a good while, and decided on the Hartford marathon, in October. It is a feeder race for the Boston Marathon. Unfortunately I probably won't be able to use that as a qualifier for next year, the registration will already be filled by then, but I am running none the less. I signed up the day after I turned 30. I felt like I had to make a commitment, and being 30 and all, I thought it was a good way to start a new decade.

So I am waking up at 5am and following a marathon schedule I found online. It is not as rigorous as the one I did 8 years ago, but I am not as physically fit as I was 8 years ago. That being said, I am happy to say that I have already run 13+ miles. It was unintentional, considering it was supposed to be a 11 mile run, but I did it. We will see if I can get a good time come October.

And by the way, my birthday was great. Jimmy made me a lovely angel food cake with berries and cream, and the next night he took me out to Indian food. It is really one of my favorite types of food. We went to place in Ashland, and the food was authentic, as was noted by the extreme heat of all the food. We enjoyed it!

But in other events.

My new job(s) -  I am now fully training as an adjunct for Southern NH university. When we got to Millis I decided to apply, again, and within a month or so they asked for my transcripts, then I had a phone interview, and lastly I went through a 3 week training course. Now, I am waiting for assignment. Initially they told me I would probably start in their June term, but I haven't heard anything, so I think it might not be until the next term. That might be a good thing. We kind of have a busy June. Lucy starts swimming lessons.  Either way, I am happy to have a job lined up.

I am also applying to Babson in their science department. Yeah, they have a science department, not a physics or mathematics department. If I get a job with them it will be in a class where I teach a variety of science related topics, Energy, Life in the Universe, Electric Technology. We will see where it leads. That would start in the fall.

Sibling visitors - Wow, I am so bad at putting these events in order. Oh well, at least I am getting them written.

My lovely brother Peder came to visit at the end of April. He had a Monday off, so he came late Sunday spent a few days with us. We went to the park, had frozen yogurt, went to the library. All the things you can do in Millis. Lucy loved it! Sam tolerates fun sometimes, but I think he started warming up to Peder by the end.

At the end of May, Poul and Danielle paid us a visit. They came right after Lucy birthday, and right before mine. We celebrated by having chili, for which both my parents and Peder also came to visit. My mom brought some dresses that her mom had made for us as children. Lucy is just the right size for most of them.  Also, I believe there was some kite flying in all of this excitement. After my parents and Peder left, we played some rousing games of Flux and Dr. Lucky. Fun times!  The next morning Danielle and Poul took us out to breakfast. It was so nice to have them around.

Lucy's Birthday - Lucy had a lovely little birthday and birthday party. Seeing as how she is still young and still won't really remember what we do, we go SIMPLE. I am not really a party person, but I do like having people over to eat my food. Not that my food is anything special, I just like to cook for other people. Anyways.... On her birthday we had pasta and meatballs, because that is what she wanted and we went out for frozen yogurt. I really didn't feel like making two cakes, I am lazy like that. She "opened" her bike in the morning and over the course of the weekend received two kites, a tea set, a monkey named Coconut and LOTS of chalk!

The next day was party day. We invited her cousins, Ada, Alice and Clara, their parents and the Calverts. The Calverts are from our branch and they have three cute kids, one of which is Lucy's age. She calls him Gretchen, even though his name is Preston. It is cute.

Back to the party. We decided the easiest way to party was to take the kids to the park. We live right next to a park, so that is where we went. The kids were pretty happy, even the older ones. Sheesh Ada and Alice are strong. I can't really remember being able to climb around a play ground like they do. Well, I take that back. I was quite the little dare devil on our Nelson school ground. I am pretty sure the stuff I did would not be allowed these days. I did a lot of crazy jumps and flips. It was dangerous.
Lucy is quite proficient on this playground. She climbs up pretty much every part of the large slides and can zip down the slides without much hesitation. Clara bouncing behind made it all the more exciting to watch. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Nathan took some great pics, I will have to upload those later.

We left when we started to feel raindrops, heading back for a light lunch and cake. Sandwiches were devoured and watermelon was enjoyed. The kids played pin the nose on Olaf, which Lucy won and the kids ran around like banshees, which I think actually happened before we went to the park. Pinning the nose Olaf that is. The kids ran around like banshees before and after the park.

Then we had cake. Lucy was very adamant about chocolate peanut with blueberries. I but I blueberries on the outside edge, just in case people didn't think peanut butter, chocolate and blueberries go together. I used the frosting recipe that Heather has raved about, and goodness gracious it was good. There is a lot of butter in the recipe, but it is so good, you almost forget...almost. We sang, we partied. It was nice.

So that is all I will do for now....

Tangerini's CSA
Nicole's wedding
Ashland State Park
Sam walking
The dentist
Kiddie pool
Our flowers - thank you past tenants
Our Utah friends visit

Sheesh, April was busy!

That's it! I need to make an effort to catch up a little bit. My posterity are counting on me...a guilt trip does wonders for my productivity.

So there is a lot to talk about.

Sam's sleeping habits. Well, let's just sum it up. Sam is a very finicky sleeper. Those ears infections just kind messed with his sleeping habits. When we first moved into our current home he was all over the place. He would wake up once, then three times, then once again. It was exhausting. I blame most of it on his teething, which is always easy to do. He currently has 5 teeth, two more on the way. Teething stinks, my friends!

That being said we are finally on a more consistent schedule. He goes to bed at 7 pm, then wakes up when he hears me move. That's right, as soon as I move out of my bed, he started growling from the other room. That is currently somewhere in the 5 am hour. So we deal with it.

Sidenote: Yes, he growls, because he is boy. If you knew Lucy when she was his age she talked like a high-pitched fairy. Sam sounds like a boy, through and through. 


Lucy's dancing and singing. Well Lucy really is quite the little mover. After the Disney world trip we learned that she had some pretty awesome moves, mostly due to her doing a potty dance for weeks on end. That is another story for another time.  And that is exactly how she describes them to us and other people. "Mom, look at my moves," she says. Let's just say there is an awful lot of hip movement going on. If I could upload a video, I would. But blogger is being silly and won't let me. Just picture a little prancing, hip waving girl. It is awesome to watch. Plus, since she has seen Frozen she now sings the ballad "Let it go!" It is her song. "Reindeer are better than people." is Jimmy's song, and "Summer," is my song. Lucy requires that we sing the duet when that comes on as well. She is funny like that.

On a related note, I signed Lucy up for dance classes through the rec department. The class is called Creative Dance, which I am sure will be perfect for such a free spirited dancer, such as Lucy. You better bet I will have my camera for those classes. It will be quite entertaining.

Gretchen and Chris' wedding extravaganza (and Lucy gets terribly sick!), and Easter, and talking in church, and... In the middle of April my youngest sister Gretchen got herself hitched to another mathy nerd Chris. It was a lovely affair. The wedding took place at the Temple in Boston in the late morning. Lucy and Sam went to play with their aunts and uncles while we were inside. Once we got outside, we realized it was freezing! Lucy had a coat on, but no tights. Thankfully she runs around like crazy, but I still think she was quite frozen by the end of the pictures. Sam was miserable. He only wanted to be held by me, and he also required being bundled in his blanket. There were a few times my aunt and uncle took him screaming so that I could be in the pictures. I am sure Brandon got some really classy pictures of Sam looking very unhappy.

Chris and Gretchen however, were super happy, as was very apparent from their grins.

 

Happy couple!

 

After the Temple we headed back to Nelson. Most of the decorating was already done. We had arrived in the Nelson the night before and helped a little. And by helped I mean we had our kids play with each other. That's right Ange, Roland, Liam and Landon were around too! We missed them so much it was great to have them around.

But back to the wedding day. We went back to Nelson, sat around for a bit and then went up to the reception which was being held at Apple Hill. Nice venue for sure. We ate pie. Yes, it was themed as pies for PI (nerdy math majors!). We enjoyed the sunset and then we went back to our house. We figured our drive to NY was closer from our house anyways.

 

Peder wanted to hold Sam so bad -- Sam wasn't having it!

Poul, Danielle and Liam.

This is the best picture we got of the cousin. They all like to move a lot!

Jojo, the baby whisperer!

Gretchen and Lucy!

 

Then next day we woke up, dressed in normal attire and headed over to a friend's house from church for an Easter egg hunt. It was a lot of fun. They had eggs for all the kids, and one of the moms with a child Sam's age even brought eggs filled with baby-type goodies. Everyone was happy, even though we were all tired.

After the egg hunt we drove directly to NY. In NY was when Lucy was starting to appear sick. But that did not stop her for getting her groove on right as we arrived. This reception had amazing latin food. Empenadas, plantains, rice and beans etc... I have quite a love affair with rice and beans. I am pretty sure I want that to be my last meal here on earth. I digress. The reception was quite lovely. We ate, we talked. It was a lot of fun. But, by the end Lucy was extremely sluggish and only wanted to be held. Thank goodness she let Ange hold her. Ange didn't have a her children with her. What a saint she is!

We drove back that night and all went to bed exhausted.

The next day was Easter. Jimmy and I were speaking in church, and I was giving a lesson in Relief society. Because we were speaking Jimmy's parents and grandma came down. It was just what we needed. Besides being a little tired, we couldn't have managed giving talks without them. Grandpa Coop took Sam and Lucy was thoroughly entertained by her grandmas. And the talks went well.

After the talks, we decided Lucy was too sick for nursery, so she Grandpa Coop, Sam and Jimmy went home. The grandmas stayed with me, for moral support. I gave my lesson and then we went home.

Because we had wanted to have a proper Easter, Jimmy prepared a leg of lamb in the crockpot. Karen brought some other goodies and we enjoyed a relaxed meal after church. Sadly, Lucy was so sick at this point that she didn't want to eat. Gasp! Lucy not eating is a big deal. We let he rest on the couch and finished dinner. Once everything was finished and everyone left, we breathed a little bit and went to bed. What a weekend!

Unfortunately, Lucy was sick most of the next week. We think it was just a virus, but it sure did wipe her out. Jimmy and Sam got it a little and I miraculously avoided it. That my friends is a miracle!

Okay, well that was a big chunk of stuff. Let me revise my list a little bit based on the biggest events.

Boston Marathon - marathon training
My new job
Sibling visitors
Lucy's birthday
Mother's day/my birthday

I also think there might be a random picture post coming up. I am sure you are just tingling with excitement...

May has arrived...yes, I know it is almost over!

So it is May. May is a busy month for us. We have mother's day, and two birthdays and it is extra busy this year because one of Jimmy's cousins is also getting married at the end of the month. It will be fun.

So we have made sure to make May even more busy by playing with a lot of our friends and being outside as much as humanly possible. Yes, I think spring (maybe even summer) are finally here!

So let's review one of the prior events to May, just so I am caught up a bit.

At the beginning of April Grandma Marie gave me a call and said that we should go out and get a bear from Build-a-bear for Lucy and Sam. Lucy is a fan of stuffed animals, and Sam likes to cuddle things so we happily obliged. We went to the Natick mall, which is HUGE by the way. We arrived a little early, but luckily snuck in right before the Girl scout troop. I didn't know you could make stuffed animals for Girl Scouts? Maybe it would have kept me interested longer if we had done that in my troop. I digress.

When you get inside basically you go in a line around the store. You pick a shell of a bear (or whatever animal) and then you stuff it, cloth it, and finally name it. Lucy, of course, picked some of the most crazy wild animals, but as we continued to move along the bins we all finally agreed on a monkey. She really like monkeys. Sam got a bear, per Jimmy's request. He likes bears.

Then we stuffed it, which involved giving it a heart (or two or three) and giving it "life." After we pick some clothes. Jimmy really wanted the Jedi suit for Sam's bear, and I thought it was cute, so we went with it. Lucy looked at all the princess stuff, then wanted a tutu, and finally decided on a Sophia the First outfit. She wanted to name her monkey, Sophia the First, but we decided on Sophia the Monkey, Sophie for short. Sam's bear was name Old Bear Kenobi.

We printed off their birth certificates and we were off. I took some cute picks of the kids with their stuffed animals. It was fun. We then went to Grandma and Grandpa Coop's for general conference. We all know how productive conference is with kids. Needless to say I am reading all the talks right now. I hardly remembered 2 or 3 from the actual weekend.

catchup

Welp, I am even more behind. I guess it is hard to stay up to date when life is going on, huh?! And we are going to have a busy summer too, but I will get to that later. Let's try to fill in some blanks, shall we.

First, let's talk a little bit about Millis. Millis is a town of about 8000 people, with a brand new library, a Roche Bros, a farm, and a fantastic park yards from our house. We visit the library at least once a week. Although it is normal for us to go a couple times. Friday is the day we go for story time, but they also have story times on two other days. It is fantastic. Lucy is thoroughly enjoying the singing and reading. She even sings the songs at home. I am a big fan.

We are also super fortunate to have a park minutes (walking) from our house. We go almost every day. We had a playdate the other day and my friend commented that it was pretty much like having our own playground, like it was "Lucy's park." It is true. She knows all the slides, swings and trails. And if she doesn't want to do something one day, she knows she can come back and try some other time. Sam isn't as much of a fan of the swings as Lucy, but he will do it for a little while. And he loves being outside, so it is a win-win when we go to the park.

Right behind the park is some conservation land with some splendid walking trails. We have frequented them often. Lucy likes to point our the trail signs, reading every letter individually. I appreciate her desire to hike and read. She also loves to through rocks in the stream. She is a real outsy type of girl.

Here are some pictures of the park. We love it!

 

We have had some interesting encounters at the park. Most of them innocent, and no one's fault. One of them was mostly due to Lucy's inability to keep her personal life to herself, but what almost three year old does that. It occurred when we were at the park with a bunch of slightly older kids (4-5 year olds). Lucy was climbing one of the ladders and announced to a little boy "I go poo poo!" That was it. And of course that little boy thought, well this little girl goes poo in her pants, what a silly little girl. He began spreading this information to all the little kids on the play ground and pretty soon Lucy was the girl that went poo poo and no one wanted to play with her. He even asked her if she was potty trained. Lucy was confused by the question and didn't really answer, so he assumed she went in her pants. It was heart breaking. But Lucy had no idea what was going on and played merrily.

 

Since then I have realized when the kids her age are normally at the park and we go at those times. Not that Lucy really cares about silly little boys spreading rumors about her. And honesty I really wasn't mad at the little boy. He didn't know any better. But I totally see how bullying happens, even in its most innocent forms.

 

Other than that Lucy, has also tried to hold hands with almost every person she sees, and that includes a 12 year old girl who was coming back from the trail. It was awkward, but the girl was a good sport about it.  Lucy is so cute, it is hard not to at least not give her a smile.

 

She was scared of the slides for a little while, but got over that quickly once she realized how fast she could go. Currently she is scared of the "big girl" swings because she biffed last week and her front teeth hit her front lip. It was bloody and sad. We went home after that. Thank goodness we are so close.

 

The farm that is in town, Tangerini's is awesome. I kind of stalked them online, and then I made out of the way trips passed the farm just to see where it was. They opened this last week. We went and got some ice cream, looked at their plants, and fed the goats and chickens. We are doing a CSA with them this year. I went to an orientation this week. It is going to be great! My mom has done CSAs for a while and I have always wanted to part of one. The difference between ours and other CSAs is that they let you do some pick up right in the barn, but they also have a U-pick option, which allows you to go out to the fields and get some of your own produce. I am so excited to take Lucy. It will be great for her to see where the food is coming from.

Part of the reason we are doing the CSA is to compensate for my lack of gardening skills. Two years ago I gardened at my parents, but wasn't really around for the harvest. And to be honest, I don't think it did that well. This year we are putting in a few plants of our own. I've had some plants growing inside for probably a month and I started some cold season plants in a little garden we have on the side of the house. I do not expect everything to do really well, I am still really new at this, but I hoping we can get a little more experience planting and harvesting. Although I did see a woodchuck peering over our landscape the other day. That does not bode well....

So that is Millis. We love it! We are excited for the summer, although it is going to be super busy. Bring on the nice weather.

Left to blog:
Build-a-bear
Sam's sleeping update
Lucy's dancing and singing
Boston Marathon
Gretchen and Chris' wedding weekend
Lucy gets real sick...
Sam's new teeth
My new job