Some of September

September ... wow, it's already gone by at this point! Another month full of adventures with Charlie. The month started out with summer weather and activities and ended with the start of our family fall festivities.

~Family Hike~

A few miles down the road from our house is a great park. We haven't yet used the (always packed) playground or the awesome pool that has a wading area with toys for kids, but we like to walk the ~1-mile trail around the lake. We get Charlie all snug into her backpack and Aaron gets to lug the lightweight around. She looks at the dogs that walk by and keeps her eye out for ducks in the water.



~BIG ice cream~

When we go for ice cream, Aaron and I never learn that WE could go for a kiddie size ... but when you order an ice cream for a baby, don't you think the workers would no they don't need to put a mountain of ice cream on a cone. Charlie was in heaven!

~New (pink!) Wheels~

Another great Craigslist find was a little pink car for Charlie for $15! The horn plays music when she presses it and it has a "trunk" which is perfect for her love of collecting "haycorns" on the deck. She doesn't yet know how to move forward in the car using her feet, but does throw her arm back and move in reverse just like we would in a real car. She spends lots of time climbing in and out of her little pink wheels.

~Moms Night Out!~

In joining the Moms Club, I've met some great friends that I get to go out and spend some time with. Kate, one of the girls with three kids, told us that her husband DJs at the local Asian restaurant (yes, our Asian restaurant!) on Friday nights - so her, Taryn and I had a fun night out. It was great to get out and enjoy a couple of Mai Tais and some dancing.

~Hanging Out With Rylee~

I haven't gotten a babysitter for Charlie yet, but Charlie and I got to hang out with our little friend Rylee for a bit while her Mom, Tracy, had an appointment. Charlie and her get along well and hang out often.

Unfortunately, they just moved about 30 minutes away in lat week. :( We still have play groups and meet up at our weekly music class.

~The BEST Neighborhood!~

Oh how we love our neighborhood. We often talk about our next house and the yard we'd love to have, but we may end up staying in this house forever only because the neighborhood and neighborhood could never be found anywhere else. In addition to the Moms Club, I enjoy spending time with the ladies in the neighborhood (some of which are in the Club as well). They held a game night one evening that I was unable to go to ... little did I know that this is a no-no! I woke up to a gift on our front step from them ... hahaha!

~The Annual Visit From The Bowlers~

Paul, Lille, Erica and Ian came down for the second year to spend some time with us. They come down on Saturday and then Paul and Lille head to the NASCAR race while we get to spend time with Erica and Ian. Charlie LOVED the attention from the kids and was very attached to Ian - a great little caregiver! We headed out to Hampton Beach to hit up the arcades and have some fun.

We stopped at the Lindt Chocolate Outlet on the way home, which had the cutest little bunny Smart car.

~Charlie, the Clown~

Charlotte is always a character. She keeps me on my toes, but also keeps me laughing.

Doesn't everyone carry their chocolate milk this way??

The Littlest Mermaid

I think she misses summer!

This is Charlie's cupboard ... I guess she has taken full ownership

~Duck Dates~

We have a pond around the corner from our road, and we often walk down with the wagon to see the ducks. Lately, we've been meeting our friends Fatema and Aamir there to feed them together. It's like a little date - Aamir climbs into the wagon with Charlie and hang out while we're there. Sometimes, Aamir gets out and pulls her in the wagon too. They are a pretty cute couple. :)

We miss them SO much while they're in India for TWO months!!

~Moms Night Out (again!)~

Another night out with the ladies for me! This time, we had a Moms Club planning meeting first, then continued on with the Moms and some neighborhood ladies to where else, but the Asian Breeze! Lots of fun with a big group. (Not so fun the next morning).

More September happenins' to come!

The End of August in a Nutshell

August 9th - 31st

After all of the birthday festivities were over, it was time to get back to normal life in NH. And by normal, I mean busy ... but fun!

Charlie definitely likes to try to help out around the house and copy what we do. We came home with groceries one evening and she was so proud to help out. It was adorable.

And now, if you hand her a swiffer duster, she will take care of all the lower spots in the house. It's great!

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Shelley, Tori & Trey came for a weekend visit, which is always fun. This normally means a lot of shopping, but this weekend meant a friends' birthday party and a visit to the Budweiser Clydesdales ... on top of the shopping.

I think this tired the kids right out!

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Nanny & Papa came for a visit this month too! Charlotte was so very excited to have them here and spend some time with them. Waking up to eat waffles with Nanny and sing songs with Papa - what more could Charlie ask for??


It was also Nanny's birthday so we made some muffins and sang happy birthday. Charlotte helped her with her wish.

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One of Charlotte's favorite pastimes this month was collecting "haycorns" (as they call them on Tigger and Pooh). They fall out of the trees and cover our deck, so we take her little yellow bucket out there and she goes crazy dropping them in there one by one. Seriously, I got to sit for at least a half an hour every time she did this!

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This little girl fought sleeping in her crib for so long - I always love to capture the fight on the baby monitor. Here she is sleep standing once again!! Crazy girl.

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During the summer, we rotated hosting ice cream socials each week and I hosted a week in August. Boy, do kids love that stuff ... with sprinkles!

Charlie's friend Rylee enjoying some chocolate!

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Is it time for school yet?

One day, Charlie wanted us to put her backpack on. It seems like such a small backpack to us ... until she put it on and it made it look big. She kept it on and walked around the house for quite a while. It made me sad to think the one day, we really will put one on her and send her off to school!

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We all know Charlotte loves her books, and she has now created her own reading nook under a little table we have. She brings books under there to look at the pictures, and also brings her snacks under there at times too. She is a hoot.

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We love our little town. One day, we got a flyer in the mail, inviting us to a town "Block Party" at a park just down the road. We decided to check it out and got some pizza for dinner, tried out some delicious steak tips, and had some yummy ice cream for dessert - all for free and put on by a local radio station. Our neighbor, Ken, joined us as well. We're glad we went and got to talk to some local businesses (and got a great deal on our gym memberships from it ... which I guess we should start using!)

Ken, picking up chicks. We told his wife!

We thought Charlie would be scared of the pizza and ice cream characters walking around, but once we let her loose out of the stroller, she ran right up to them. Watch out Disneyworld, someday we'll be there!!

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Rainy and cold days are on their way. Charlie and I don't mind them so far - we get all cozy and put together blanket and pillow beds to watch tv shows, read her books and play with her toys inside.

Her Syracuse sweatshirt is just the cutest, too.

Goodbye August, it was fun!!

An Afternoon in Boston

September 4th

We headed down to Massachusetts for a great Craigslist find - (a Crate and Barrel table!) - and decided to make a day of the trip. Once we picked up the table, we headed into Boston. Our first stop was lunch.

After lunch, we walked over to Boston Common to relax and let Charlie run around in the park. She loved watching the birds and squirrels and enjoyed her freedom of running free.

Charlotte was also having a blast running up a hill and trying to make her way back down without falling. She wasn't able to do that just quite yet.

We strolled around the park a bit, hit our usual Starbucks (coffee and restroom) and made our way back to the car. A perfect relaxing afternoon in a great city.

(Little did we know I'd find an awesome Crate and Barrel desk that we had to go pick up in the South End of Boston the next day!)