It's been a while!

Sorry I've been bad about posting but it's been a busy few weeks! We've been parading and festivaling (I know it's not a word!) the past couple weekends. Here are a few pictures...

Mason's two new favortite things: The Jumparoo and finding his feet!

Ray and his boys

The Three Stooges - Three Amigos (Max, Blake & Alex)

Max having fun in his pool (and Ray having a little fun torturing our poor child!)

The most mellow kid in the world!

OUR LITTLE ROCKER!! (Thank Uncle Greg!)

The Summer is only getting busier and busier but I will try and update this as often as I can!

Thank god for A/C!

Another nice weekend...HOT, but nice!

On Friday our friends Tracey & Ryan came over with their 6 month old, Aiden! It was nice to gt the boys together and to visit with them!

Mason (3 months) & Aiden (6 months)

Mason, Max & Aiden

Max all hyped up on chocolate cake & jacking his pants up to his eyeballs, running around like a crazy man!

Yesterday was gorgeous so Max and I spent a good part of the day outside doing yard work, washing the car and playing with the hose to keep cool and make a slip and slide!

Dipping his head in the bucket to cool off!

Today was a scorcher but we went to the Sea Dogs (luckily had a sky box and were in the shade but it was still HOT!)

M& M decked out in there RED SOX gear to head to the game!

GO SOX! (and Sea Dogs!)

They call him...MINI ME!

And just some cute pictures of the boys taken over the last couple days! have a good week - stay cool!!! (those of you in the northeast!)

It won't be too long before he rolls over completely! Loves being on his side and sneaking peeks of the TV!

Hanging out in the shade to keep cool!

Is he really only 3 1/2 - he looks 10 in this picture!

Mason's favorite pass-time...sucking his fingers.

Old Port Festival & Mason is 3 months (already!)

Mason will be 3 months tomorrow...how quickly they grow up! He's doing great! He started daycare last week and it's been going very well - they are amazed at what a good baby he is! (he really is, we're so lucky! knock on wood that it continues) He started on rice cereal mixed with either applesauce, bananas or peaches and LOVES every second of it. Since we started feeding him solids he's had 3 nights in the past week or so that he's pretty much slept through (9-10pm to about 5-5:30am) I think he's almost there!! Yeah, then he can start sleeping in Max's room versus the living room in a pack 'n play! Ugh, this housing market and economy need to improve so we can move into a bigger house!

Cute as a button

I love my exersaucer!

This weekend we went to the Old Port Festival with Lori, her kids, her boyfriend and his kids. Great time had by all. We then all went to my parents house for a birthday BBQ fr Lori.

Max feeding the goats

Ray playing "tackle" with all the boys at my parents! :-)

Nice long weekend

Ahhh, it was so nice to have a 3 day weekend. We had a busy one...as Memorial Day weekend tends to be for us every year.

In a nutshell...

Saturday Max and I went to the Seadogs with my sister and Garrett. The boys had a nice time. It's neat to see them together because they are pretty much the same age difference that Max and Mason are. Garrett just turned 7 and is at the age where hanging out with a 3 1/2 year old isn't all that fun (but he's good and tolerates him!) This pictures captures them perfectly!!

After the game Ray & Mason picked up Max and I at the game and we headed to the Belgrade Lakes area where the annual Arbour camping weekend takes place. Max was in his glory hanging out with Jackson for the entire weekend (Ray's cousin's little boy who's 4) . The two boys had an absolute blast together!!

You think they had fun?!?! :-)

And a few other pictures from the weekend - Mason had a blast as well and was SUPER happy all weekend - lots and lots of smiles, giggles and talking!

Mason also started on RICE CEREAL this weekend and did awesome!

Tomorrow is Mason's first day at daycare. I'm okay with it. Of course a little sad but he'll be in good hands...and big brother will be there to watch over him as well. :-)

I DID IT!

Well I did it - 39.3 miles (a marathon on Saturday - 26.2 and a half marathon yesterday -13.1) It was an experience that's hard to put into words. I'm in rough shape physically (lots of blisters and soreness) but it was all worth it. The way I looked at it - the people in which we were walking for are in far more pain than I was feeling. Every time I wanted to stop and wave down the chase vehicle (or as it was referred to as the "Boob-mobile") I thought about a variety of things:

* I pictured the woman standing on the side of the road Day 2 at about mile 4 or 5 who was obviously going through chemo cheering us all on as we walked with a smile on her face and tears coming down her face.

* Seeing all the T-shirts people wore with their stories written on the back. One that struck me was a young girl, probably close to my age with a shirt that said "For my Mom - I will always love you"

* The quote we kept hearing throughout the weekend - "Blisters don't need chemo"

* Listening to the Youth Group (kids ages 10-16 who were "Jr. Staff") who told their stories about why they wanted to be a part of this event.

* Seeing ladies with "Survivor" T-shirts or hats on or messages that said "I am walking for...ME" 200 of the 2,900 walkers were currently battling the disease and were not yet in remission.

The list can go on and on but it was an emotional weekend, one that I certainly will never forget.

Over 2,900 walkers participated raised a record breaking $6.9 million which will go towards finding a cure. While the walk began Saturday morning with torrential downpours, by 9am the rain stopped, we began drying out & the rest of the weekend was absolutely beautiful. We (my sister, cousin & I) completed the full 39.3 miles which took us a total of 15.25 hours over 2 days and 80,000+ steps.

Ray, Max, Mason, my Mom and Dad were at the finish line to greet us which was a nice way to end an emotional, exhausting weekend.

Lastly, A HUGE THANK YOU to all of you who donated!! I couldn't have had this great experience without your support!!

Here are a few links to photos taken so you will be able to get a better idea of the weekend:
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=46191211244696351/l=367404603/g=25399525/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=268181211164598269/l=375093374/g=8062366/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=191181211152035133/l=377584191/g=28410537/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Work, Garrett's B-day, room and Avon Walk....

Well I went back to work on Monday. Ho hum. It stinks but the 2nd time around it's not as hard. Trying to find time to get everything done that I need to is what's hard. Having Mason at my Mom's for the next two weeks and Max at daycare it's tough to get them both (they are at opposite sides of town) home at a reasonable hour, get dinner, have baths, do the laundry, get a walk in, clean up dinner, make bottles for the night...you get my gist!

Who wants to hear me moan and groan...on to better things!!!! ;-)


This past weekend we went to Garrett's 7th birthday party which Max had a lot of fun at:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GARRETT!!

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This weekend is the BIG WALK in Boston!! Both Lori and I met our $1,800 goal on Monday! YEAH! Thanks SO MUCH to all those that donated to us!! So we're both 100% walking - along with our cousin Donna who decided a short time ago to join us which we're excited about! The weather isn't looking too promising so everyone do a rain dance for us!! The way we look at it - walking 26.2 miles day one and 13.1 day two in the rain is NOTHING compared to battling cancer, going through chemo or losing a loved one so we need to remember the reasons why were doing this - RAIN OR SHINE! I'm actually REALLY excited for the whole experience!

Max and Mason's room (well Mason still isn't in it, not until he sleeps through the night...which may be a while. He's not the sleeper Max was, that's for sure!) is almost done. I'm still waiting on a few things to come in the mail but here's a before and after:

Before:

After:

Here are a few pictures of the boys taken over the last week or so!

The newest Arbour...

A BIG congrats to Ray's brother, Greg and his wife Allison on their new baby boy born last night!

Colin Bray Arbour

7lbs. 14oz.

20 inches long