Hello February!

Hello February

Hello climber

Hello blue sky

Hello shadow

Hello daffodils (eight weeks early....)

Hello pitcher's arm

What other delights/ surprises will this New England February deliver?

Happy weekend to you.

xox

Friday:)

Enjoying the beauty outside.....

And inside......

Happy weekend to you......

May it be filled with many beautiful things.

xoxo

green & laughing

Happy St. Patrick's Day:).

This has been a crazy week. The kind of week where I rush out of the house and have to dry my hair with the car heating vent and still end up 30 minutes late to work, sans breakfast. The kind of week where Ben decides to be fussy at 2am and 'cry it out' lasts for 3 hours. But.... today, St. Patty's Day, was a good day.

Ben gave us his first laugh. A full-out belly laugh. And he did it again. And again. And again. And guess who he was laughing at?

:) His mama! So all of that rushing around and bad hair day bit.... totally worth it:).

Benji with Grandpa! :)

This weekend we'll be starting our vegetable seeds indoors. Which only means one thing- Spring is a-bloomin;). Hope you're seeing signs of it from your home too:).

xoxo

Happy Weekend

xoxo

Sunday naps and Christmas card photos

earlier in the day- activity time with dad & Luna

Happy Sunday. It's cold, rainy and dark here today. I'm sitting here with my sleeping baby on my chest, my sleeping hubby on the couch next to me and a sleeping pup on her blanket by the fire. There is no place I'd rather be:).

We finally ordered our Christmas cards. Usually, I shoot for perfection (or as close to it as I can get). Matt humors me as we take 200 (yes, 200!!;)) photos until Matt, Luna and I are all looking at the camera with happy, Christmassy expressions. 


Take #1

 This year, with my new-found style of breast milk and spit-up-stained clothing, unwashed hair and yesterday's lunch crumbs still hanging out on the coffee table, perfection is not the goal.


Take #2

 So, after three takes, we got a shot. Not perfect, but we captured a real moment, so that, in and of itself, makes it perfect.
 

Take #3


(thank you, also, for editing software;))

Have a lovely week:)

xoxo

an autumn sunday at home

a nosy little pup

new england foliage

Benjamin's room in progress

fall's finest

a room with a view

Happy Weekend 

Home Renovation- Week 1

Happy Weekend:)

This past week was the first of our home renovation, which will consist of splitting the large upstairs guestroom into two smaller rooms (nursery & guest), the addition of a large dormer, two smaller dormers, the conversion of a laundry room into a mini office and finally, we're adding on a master bedroom closet. Phew.

We've had these renovation plans for a long time now, but with the baby on the way, we've decided to jump in full speed. So, hopefully, all of these renovations will be done just in plenty of time for us to settle in with the new little man (fingers crossed).

We live in a custom-built cape (b. 1996). It's quite charming, but it's bothered us that we were never able to see out the front of the house from the second floor. Plus, the original second floor plan consisted of two very large bedrooms, and was a bit dreary. The first floor has a beautiful open floor plan, with a lot of light, while the second floor was just kind of drab with two cavernous rooms on either end of the dark hallway. By splitting them up, we should be able to add some character (and more space for guests to stay, which we love). The dormers will add more light, though we still hope to maintain the cottage-y & cozy feel that we fell in love with when we purchased the home. More photos to come as the changes progress....

On another note, we've had a very special visitor recently. He's been spotted on three separate occasions (only evenings), literally hanging around outside our family room. He's either drawn to the light or the conversation;). Funny little guy, eh?

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.

xoxo

Carrot Cake Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

Today, Mother Nature doesn't know if she wants rain or shine in Massachusetts, so we've seen a little of both. I wrote this post last night, but didn't upload the photos until today. Since I wrote this, I've eaten 3 cupcakes. Yikes:).

There's been a lot of talk of Autumn floating around this blogworld lately. While I really love the summer, I can't help but get excited for fall, as it's been my favorite season since I was a little girl jumping in gigantic piles of leaves and carving pumpkins. Maybe it's because Autumn always brings my birthday, or maybe it's because of the smell of pumpkin pie, freshly plucked apples, anything-spice. Perhaps it's because the clothes are oh-so-cute-and-snuggly. I don't know, but whatever it is, it's on my mind right now:).

And when I think of fall, I get a hankering to bake.

 

Tonight I baked one of Matt's favorites- carrot cake. But instead of a cake, I found a sweet (and delicious) carrot cake muffin recipe online here.

 

Absolutely scrumptious:)

 

With the pumpkin spice candle lit and a tall glass of milk, we're going to sit and enjoy the taste of fall on this rainy summer evening.

Happy weekend!!

xoxo

baby and chipmunk

Yes, something is most definitely growing in there. Something that has a sweet tooth, I may add. Or maybe that's just my excuse:).

On the garden front, this evening I spied a little chipmunk in the garden. I'm not 100% sure if he is THE tomato thief, as I didn't catch him in the act. But I'm a little suspicious....

I hope you're all gearing up for a lovely weekend;). It's almost here!

xoxo

morning still (and the tomato thief mystery)

I've been awake since 4am thinking of all of the things I could should be doing. Checking e-mail, writing work reports, folding that ever-growing pile of laundry that has taken over a fourth of my bedroom. You know those sleepless nights?

My husband looks so cute in his sleep, it takes all of the strength I can muster not to smoosh his face or wake him with my eyes. That would be mean:(. So, instead, I've gotten up to do the want-to-do's, which include stepping out with the camera for some fresh morning, summer air (I actually love this time of morning, when everything is so still, so dewy), browsing my favorite websites, choosing paint colors for our upcoming renovation.

The need-to-do's can wait.

After all, it's Wednesday, the ever-so-cleverly named 'hump day', which means only two-point-five more days until the weekend. This week has been just one of those weeks that crawls.... along..... at a snail's.... pace.

 

I'm looking forward to a very lazy home weekend with my husband and dog; something that we haven't really had in a while.

On another note, there has been a smart (and admittedly, slightly obnoxious) little guy who goes into my garden and takes annoying little bites out of my tomatoes. He seems to really enjoy the Early Girls (one per day) and the sweetie baby girls (of which he prefers two per day).

At least eat the whole thing, so I don't have to know you even exist! But no, he takes a snippy little bite and leaves the rest for me. It's the game of twenty questions: What kind of little creature can get through chicken wire? What kind of creature likes to eat tomatoes? A creature that, maybe, only comes out at night? Can any of you dear readers help me solve this riddle??

Happy hump day to you all.

xoxo