safekeeping

They say it’s your birthday…

Duh duh duh duh duh duh.. duh duh…

We’re going to have a good time!

I’m glad it’s your birthday..

Happy Birthday to you!

Yes, we’re going to a party party…

Yes, we’re going to a party party..

Oh we’re going to a party party!

I would like you to dance… BIRTHDAY!

Take a ch-ch-ch-chance…

BIRTHDAY!

Much love and many thanks to all of you who have helped us grow into ourselves this past year!

Seriously, the official count for Maynard is 80 inches of snow since December 26.  So what does one do when life hands you so much snow your town sidewalks are impassable? You walk on top of it! In the woods!

HUZZAH! An excellent afternoon adventure! Take that, Mother Nature!

Saturday we celebrated Katie and Annie’s upcoming arrival. Despite some terrible car karma, it was great fun.  Poor Mrs. Sosnoff got a flat tire in Chelmsford and I got stuck in the driveway going to pick up Brita from the train!  I did manage to get myself out, entirely on me own, of which I was exceedingly proud.

We were all very impressed with how preggo dear Katie looks these days!

Mmmm… Cupcakes. Laura and Brita were very polite.  I was less so.

Books! This is a soft one about Pat the Bunny. Katie loved that there was a picture of the original Pat the Bunny book on one of the pages of the book ABOUT the Pat the Bunny book.

We all reconnected with old friends, both literary and feline.

Mrs. Sosnoff and Katie remembered Pat the Bunny well.

Lillie seemed very interested in the Penn Gazette. No pressure, Lil, but how cool would three generations of Penn women be?

Welcome! Welcome!

No joke, people. Ol’ Jack Frost has moved to Maynard.  Some of us at 60 Thompson are clearly more pleased than others by this development.

A milestone on many levels was reached the weekend of August 21. I spend my first night away from the baby, and we finally got to celebrate an official end to Caitlin’s singledom (this despite the fact that she hasn’t been single since she was nineteen, but still, rituals have their purpose).

Lovely Nancy hosted at her lovely family lake house in Ashby, which is a charming town not at all far from Maynard, which made it very convenient for me.

Parrot Inflate made a comeback, as did the tradition of ridiculous bridal headgear. It was great fun to break out my old friend The BeDazzler.

Nancy almost lost her sunglasses in the lake,  but a combination of Thea’s long arms and Nancy’s wading rescued them.

Then we went horseback riding!

And Caitlin showed off for the local farm animals. YAY Buddy’s Ranch!

Everyone brought tasty treats! Lisl & Nancy did a brilliant job grilling up delicious meats, but of course our Pig’s eyes were only for dessert.

Devoted Thea hauled a donkey pinata all the way from NYC, and while Jodie gave it a good shot, it was Caitlin who ended up being restrained from stomping its little head in. After a charming game of Truth or Dare Poker, where we all got to know each other a little better, we retired.  I must say, I very much enjoyed a full night’s sleep, but pumping was incredibly inefficient in comparison to the wee lass, and I missed her.

The next morning dawned rainy and gray, so we had to forgo the winery tour and lake swim, but we had a lovely hang out on Nancy’s porch and much good conversation.  Thanks to Thea, Nancy, Johanna, Andrea, Jodie and dear dear Piggus for a most excellent PigFest!

Last Sunday, we took our powerful little Honda Civic up Mount Washington, NH. October of 2007, Jason and I attempted to climb the mountain, but were rejected by the mighty mount’s snow cover.  So it was very satisfying to complete the journey this summer.

Just above the treeline. Some of these trees are over a hundred years old!

A break for Lillie’s lunch.

BEAR Country!

At the tip top! This photo was taken by a very kind Russian tourist, and right after us, his whole family had their picture taken with two American young men who’d climbed the mountain in the their superman drawers.  They looked very cold.

At the top of Mount Washington, the highest wind speeds recorded by man were documented.  Luckily Lillie had a very firm grip on the chains that anchored the building to the rock.

Such a nice time we had!

We came back tanned, rested, and with several new teeth!

Excuse the sappiness, but how fabulous is this kid in the morning?