Seamus's Dedication

We had Seamus's dedication at the Church of the Nazarene in Massapequa Park, NY on Sunday Sept 23rd.  It was a beautiful, crisp fall day and he was surrounded by a lot of love and laughter. 

Shea's God-mothers

Apple Picking

 The 2nd annual apple picking at Lawrence Farms & Orchard was a great success! Since it was such a hot summer, a lot of their apples / pumpkins and other veggies that we normally wouldn't have been able to get were available. 
Jocelyn was very interested in helping to pick this year and did a great job finding the right beans and taste testing the rasberries. 
Shea was very content riding in the stoller gazing at the clouds- what a good baby!

the big bean hunt!

what a good picker!

Shea 16 weeks, Jocelyn 2.75

on-to the apples!

Catching the big one

 Battery Park has some amazing activities for the kids, both during the week and on weekends.  We took advantage of their "Go Fish" program they have some Saturdays.  They set up the rods, help bait your hook (the first one at least) and even teach those of us with two thumbs how to fish. 

Would love to say that we caught the big one, but that would have required us to last longer then 10 mins fishing.  I was prob. not the right one to "teach" J how to fish, considering I've never been a fan (always felt bad for the little guys- but not so much fried with butter- hehehe), but it was an experience for her!

Mommy getting casted out

Showing J all my fishing skills

Moments before we ditched the pole and went and got some ice cream

As the love grows

15 weeks

Jocelyn giving a very exuberant hug to her brother.  Shea, trying to breathe.

Jocelyn loves her drums!  She is only allowed to play them out on the balcony, so after getting glammed up for her concert (notice the leopard pants and shiny shoes) she rocks out for all the hear.

The relationship between Jocelyn and Shea is progressing even more.  J has gone from barely glancing at Shea to asking about it and even worrying about him when he's upset.  I think the idea that he's here to stay has sunk in and she's begun to realize, he's not half bad.  Now, if he could only master those maracas, they could really get this band going. 

First day of Pre-School

Sigh. 
So much of our time is spent just getting through the day- making plans, going to parks, coloring, taking naps.... We feel we don't have time to take a breathe, enjoy what's going on and realize, it's all so short lived.  
My little girl started pre-school on Monday and couldn't have been happier.  Mommy- well, it was  a bit harder on her.  Where did the last 3 years go? And how did it all happen so fast?

Jocelyn went running into the school, so excited, ran right up to the first woman she saw and exclaimed "Thank you for the card Ms. Winters, we just had a dance party to Black Eyed Peas!" 
Well it wasn't Ms. Winters (her teacher) but rather the director of the school who found it all very amusing, especially the dance party part.    She lined right up with her class, waved good-bye and was off. 

Day 2 was very similar except I did the drop off (Chris did Day 1's), and she was pumped to go in, and excited when she came out.   Going into Day 4 now, she was dressed and eating breakfast asking Chris "can we go to school now Daddy?"   This girl was ready. 

It makes us feel really good though to know she's so excited about it and obviously enjoying it so much.  She is so smart and eager to learn, she'll do amazing things. 

9/8/12

Carosel- Brooklyn Bridge Park

Hanging with Yaya under "our" bridge

Shea- 15 weeks, J 2.75

Labor Day Weekend

Seamans Neck - Sprinkler Park

Pop-pop showing Logan the fine art of carpentry

Northport

How did that happen?!  Labor Day came sneaking up on us this year.  Just when we were getting ready to get into summer, it's over!  We knew this was going to be the case this year, as things were a bit of a blur for a few months.
It's been some amazing few months as we grew as a family.  One big change was as of this weekend, we're signing contracts and moving out to Northport, Long Island.   We wrestled with the decision for awhile, but with the arrival of Shea, it became very apparent that we were no longer going to comfortably fit into our apartment.  As much as we love living in Manhattan, we began to really think about where we wanted to see our kids grow up and what we wanted to be able to offer them. 

Very good friends of ours, Missy and Mark recently moved to Northport on Long Island, which drew our interest.  So after seeing over 50 houses in the area, we found an amazing place and will be moving in at the end of this year.   We are both excited but it's mixed with sadness to leave an area and friends we've grown to love so much.  But we won't be far and it's all about making the effort!

Labor Day weekend gave us a chance to get to know the Northport area even better.  Missy & Mark asked us to house / dog sit for them so we stayed out in their new house for the long weekend.  Burton had a blast chasing rabbits in the yard, and J found it very amusing to run circles around and outside the house (2 doors? You mean, there are two doors that I can run though to get into and out of the backyard?! )   We feel even further in love with the area- beautiful water views, a great community and tons of things for us to do with the kids (including a Ralph's Italian Ice within walking distance of our new place- essential for our family!)

Now for the fun to begin... starting to pack!