Mama Likes to Jitterbug

Glorious Weekend

The weather this weekend was incredible.  Temperatures were in the 80s, which is almost of unheard of in Boston in April.  We spent our weekend on the baseball field, at a carnival, the circus, and on the trampoline in our back yard.  It was a fabulous weekend!  The kids especially loved the circus.  Well, Gracie loved the circus.  Sean loved the food at the circus.  While his sister sat on the edge of her seat in awe of all the acrobatics and death defying stunts, Sean kept commenting (between bites of popcorn and cotton candy) that he "didn't think that was a good idea".  LOL!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend.  I think you can definitely tell it was sunny, warm, and fun!

 

Gracie loved riding the rollercoaters at the carnival.  She is such a thrill-seeker.

 

Sean was only interested in driving these cars, eating, and play carni games. But he came home with a new stuffed animal (a dolphin), so he was happy.

I'm generally a pretty laid back parent, but this slide was way too dangerous.  Gracie and I both ended up with burns on our elbows.  It was fast, and it hurt!  Notice the Croc shoes.  My kids LOVE them - the brighter the better - and while I'm not a fan, I've learned to pick my battles.

Boy Crazy

Gracie had her first T-Ball game last weekend and the picture below does a pretty good job of summing up what she liked best about it. 

 

She definitely has a thing for older boys.  At the birthday party we attended a couple of weeks ago for her best frenemy, Ava, Gracie wanted nothing to do with the kids her own age, especially the girls.  Instead she spent her time cartwheeling around, trying to catch the attention of the older boys.  And when that didn't work, she went on the offensive.  She's only four, but this child is completely and utterly (6 year old) boy crazy! 

R.I.P. Frankie Manning

I was sad to learn that renowned Lindy Hop dancer Frankie Manning passed away today.  He was just one month shy of his 95th birthday.  Frankie was one of the original Savoy Ballroom dancers of the 1930's, and helped introduce Lindy Hop to the world via the silver screens of Hollywood in the 1940's.  After being rediscovered in the mid-80's, he spent the last years of his life traveling around the world teaching Lindy Hop to a new generation of swing dancers.  Steve and I had the honor of performing at Frankie's 87th birthday celebration, and also met him again at a history presentation a few years later.  I don't know what made me think to get this picture of Gracie with Frankie - I'm not one to usually throw my baby at celebrities for a photo op - but I'm really glad to have it now. Thank you Frankie for your gift to dance.  Your spirit will live on through generations of dancers to come.  May you rest in peace.

Gracie (5 months) with Frankie Manning (90).

 

Take Your Kids to Work Day

Yesterday was National 'Take Your Kids to Work' Day.  Steve decided to take Gracie and Sean with him since (A) he's a lot braver than I am, and (B) he works for a company that is way cooler than mine (at least from a kid's perspective).  Robots vs. Mutual Funds.  Not much of a competition.

 

Here's Gracie posing with one of the government/industry robots. Surprisingly, the kids weren't as interested in these as they were the home robots.

 

Sean particularly liked the gutter cleaning robots and was even allowed to operate one.  He thought that was pretty cool.

In fact, he thought the whole experience was pretty cool.  He loved going to his dad's work, loved learning about the robots, and loved wearing this sticker. 

Gracie was less impressed by it all.  If she wasn't eating La-Cheetios* and listening to her iPod, she was doing cartwheels for the CEO and asking when she could go home.  I think it's safe to say that she probably won't be offered a summer internship anytime soon. LOL!

* I'm convinced Gracie is part French.  Or maybe it's that her daycare provider is French and speaks it around the house.  But everything that comes out of her mouth has "La" before it.  La-Cheetios (Cheetos), La-Nastics (Gymnastics), La-Donalds (McDonalds).  It drives me La-Bananas.

Rock Band

A picture of my little family of noise makers rockers enjoying Rock Band for Wii.  The only reason we own this awful video game is because it was the only way I could get Steve to agree to let me buy a trampoline.  (Yep, that's pretty much how things work around here.)

My Brush With Stardom - BEN!!!!!!

If I were to make a list of five three celebrities I'd like to run into on the street, Ben Affleck would definitely be on that list.  I love him.  Love his movies.  In fact, the last movie I saw in a theater was his.  So imagine my excitement when I found out he was filming a new movie across the street from my office today.  As soon as we heard the news, my co-workers and I headed down with our camera phones to check out the scene.  We weren't expecting to be able to get very close or see anything, but surprisingly there weren't a lot of people lingering around.  Apparently Bostonians, especially the corporate types who work downtown, are too busy and important to be bothered with Hollywood.  (Self excluded.) 

He's much taller than I expected, and even more handsome in person.  And because there weren't a lot of other people standing around and we were so close, he actually looked RIGHT at me.  Rather than waving or saying hi, I got embarassed, looked down at my phone, and pretended to be responding to some important email.  (Really I was just admiring the pictures I'd taken.)

  

Number 8

Little League kicked off in our town this past weekend with a parade from the school to the baseball fields.  Gracie is signed up to play for the Red Sox with some of her best friends from daycare.   Although truth be told, I think she was more interested in walking in the parade and having people cheer for her, than she was with the idea of actually playing baseball.

 

  

Poor Sean missed the age cutoff for T-Ball by less than six months.  I feel terrible because he wants to play so bad he can hardly stand it.  I bought an extra jersey and I'm hoping that if (like soccer) Gracie decides she doesn't want to play, the coaches will let Sean sub in.  I just can't imagine him having to sit on the sidelines, or having to wait another whole year to play.

Jumpoline!

The weather was beautiful today, so we decided on a sort-of-whim to buy a trampoline (or a "jumpoline" as Sean calls it) and spend the afternoon jumping.  Soooooo much fun!  We literally had to drag the kids out kicking and screaming.  That being said, they were asleep before their heads hit the pillow.  And in my book, that's the sign of a great investment.  :)

 

Two Movies, Two Thumbs Up!

Steve and I hired a sitter and treated ourselves to a date night at the movies.  The kind where dinner is served inside the movie theater.  (A brilliant concept, in my opinion, for parents who want to kill two birds with one stone and shave at least an hour off the sitter bill.)  We saw State of Play.  A crime drama thriller about a team of investigative reporters who work alongside a police detective to solve the murder of a congressman's mistress.  Loved it!!!  And because crime drama flicks are my favorite, and I was in a movie mood this weekend, we also rented We Own The Night.  A movie about a New York nightclub manager who tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hit men.  Another GREAT movie!  I can't believe I hadn't seen it sooner.

 

Easter Puppies

Our Easter weekend included a quick trip to Vermont to see Nana and Papa.  The weather was cooooold, so much to my disappointment our egg hunt had to be held indoors.  (I can't believe that growing up we actually had to be careful about putting chocolate in eggs because it might melt before we got home from church, and my kids have to hunt eggs indoors.  I hate that!  And don't even get me going on cute Easter dresses that have to be covered with sweaters and coats.)  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from our egg hunt.  Since it was indoors, I decided to put down my camera and just enjoy chasing behind my kids. 

However, another highlight of our weekend included a stop by Aunt Penny's house to visit Walter & Sophie, and I did have my camera ready for that.  I adore this picture of Sean with the dogs.  He loves them so much and kept lying on the floor so they could lick him and jump all over him.

 

And Aunt Penny was sweet enough to let the kids take Walter and Sophie out for a walk, even though it was freezing and the dogs were less than thrilled to be outdoors. But Gracie and Sean loved getting to be dog walkers for a day, so no doubt this Easter will be remembered more for puppies than bunnies.