17/52



The park days and cookouts are slowly reappearing into our schedule. Most days we are still donning fleece jackets and sneakers but we have had a few wisps of Spring and it feel lovely. This week has been one full of ups and downs. Nothing to drastic but just a tiring Mama week. A lot of doing the things that need to get done like laundry and housework but not having any time for myself. This mom gig is tough going all of the time but this past week in particular stretched me thin at every turn. I am hoping to get a few moments to myself this weekend to work on some projects and just to have a bit of time to recharge. Happy Friday...cheers to the weekend. 

16/52

 Mr. Museum Hands, I taught him well. 
Happy as a clam to be out and about. 

Wow, so it has been a busy, busy week and frankly I'm exhausted! It was Oliver's school vacation and rather than getaway we did a good old "staycation". And let me tell you we did it up! Monday was the running of the Boston Marathon aka Marathon Monday aka Patriot's day. We headed over to Brookline to watch the runners struggle through the rather warm weather, it was a beautiful day to watch but not necessarily to run a marathon, let alone the Boston Marathon. So congrats to any and all who rocked it out! Then it was just me and my boys for the most part (my mom came up to play on Tuesday). So in order to keep busy and be outside (thank you Spring!) we went to Drumlin Farm and Oliver ran around with friends until he could run no more. We also met up with friends out to Weezie's garden in Wellseley which is a fabulous playground/park/garden that had a sand pit with dino bones and fairy houses and plenty of ponds to peek into. Then we capped off the week with a trip to the MFA with Ollie's buddy Benjamin and we just let the boys lead us around. We saw just about everything there was to see from the Contemporary Art to the Period Rooms to the Egyptian mummies.  It was an epic morning spent wandering around a beautiful space. Throw in some afternoons at the park and an upcoming weekend full of activities and I would say that we are getting good at squeezing every last drop out of our free time. I love it. I have busy boys and I like to think it will keep me young but my feet hurt and I'm ready for those busy boys to tuck in for the night. 

Lots of pictures after the click through. 

15/52

 I present to you, pre-bedtime antics with Mama's phone. Just a couple of goofballs over here.



Secondly, I present to you, mini-man on a teeny, tiny John deere tractor. Beep beep. I'm working over here. 

 That is all...thank you iPhone.


gardens and yards as big as parks.

Over the weekend we headed to Mahoney's Garden Center to plot and plan our container garden for the Spring and Summer. We did not purchase anything seeing as we still had our fleece jackets on but it it nice to think of having a bit more of a garden this year with tomatoes and runner beans and kale because last year we were a bit more concerned with growing our newborn rather than tending to a garden . 








Phase two of our weekend was a trip out to Sherborn for a lovely lunch with friends who are close as family. I grew up running around in their backyard, climbing up the treehouse, cooking in the kitchen and watching plenty of movies snuggled under blankets in the basement. Oliver is comfortable visiting their home and is always a bit amazed by the big backyard. In fact when he was younger he stated upon leaving that he could not believe that Auntie Abby has a whole park behind her house! Oh my little city boy. 

Always entranced with "Auntie" Liz, she tells the best stories and is amazing with kids (it's no wonder she is fabulous teacher).

Abby and Priscilla were so sweet to dig out Duplo Legos from the attic so there were toys for little hands to play with. 

And of course if you grew up in Sherborn then you know this sight. C&L Frosty's is an institution of ice cream, grilled cheese and raspberry lime rickeys. We stopped for a little ice cream treat for the ride home. 


back home. heading to our park...still wearing fleece and hats. Come on Spring!

14/52




Outings. Plans. Playdates. I truly consider myself to be a homebody. But with kids, for me it is a whole different ball game. While I love curling up with a cup of coffee and a good book or plotting out a meal to try or sewing up in the office, with my kids I get stir crazy. My coffee cup migrates around the house. I generally stick to a few meal favorites during busy weeknights and my sewing machine sees more dust than I would like.  

With my boys I like to have a few outings planned during the week. Of course Oliver is in school during the day but Huck and I strike out to various playdates around town. And this self-proclaimed homebody, introvert thrives on these social outings. They add structure to my day and as much as I love playing with my kids, they do not always want to play with me. They would much rather run around with friends or in Huck's case flirt with all the ladies and perhaps try to nosh on that play doh. 

So perhaps later I can try to finish that book or I will nuke my coffee one more time and try to getting some sewing or blogging accomplished during nap time (like right now!). I try not to get sucked into the land of Instagram or other blogs that seem to be doing it all. It's hard at times when I see pretty pictures and perfectly coifed women and wonder how the heck they can seemingly do it all. How do they run a cute business, have three kids, have their hair done and manage to make it look easy? I do not have the answer because frankly, that is not me. But I would like to think that maybe, just maybe outside of the perfect square of their Instagram photo lurks a pile of laundry. Who knows. All I know is that my coffee is cold and the laundry buzzer just went off. 

off to the big top.



Last weekend, on a bit of a whim I took Oliver to see the Big Apple Circus. The Big Apple Circus has been coming into town since I was a little kid but I do not remember the last time that I went to see the show. I was a bit wary of the content, would there be sad animals? Would the performers be any good? Well, let me tell you, it was so much fun! The theme for the show this year was 1920's travel and the entire show was presented in a traditional vaudeville style which I think made it much more approachable than the traditional masquerade of creepy clowns and whatnot. The show was almost 2 hours long with an intermission but it moved right along with fun acts ranging from a juggler to two acrobats in spinning metal wheels to supremely strong men doing handstands in unison. 

Before the show we walked around government center, grabbed lunch in Quincy market and ate under the rotunda. Then we walked back to the big top and found our (amazing) seats where we chatted about the lighting and met one of the clowns. We settled in for the show and I smiled as Oliver ooh and ahhh at the spectacle. 

Then came the highlight for me (and for Oliver) he was chosen out to the entire audience to participate in a skit. He marched right out into the middle of the ring and proudly followed directions as he recieved a clown nose "transplant". I was so proud of him! He is five and had such poise and presence and smiled and laughed. I would have never even been so brave to raise my hand at his age.

So for a rainy Saturday with minimal plans Oliver and I ended up knocking it out of the park with a fun filled trip to the Big Apple Circus. 

Click through for ALL the pictures.

Blog Archive