Just a few fun pictures!

I took Ailsing, Siobhan, and Wyatt out for ice cream the other day. (Al and Connor were away at camp). I had a little fun with the Hipstamatic app on my phone.

The girls pushed their baby in a stroller the way there.

Seven years old!

Aisling Abigail Frugoli turned seven years old this morning!

I can hardly believe it. She is growing up so fast! She has changed a lot over the past year, that's for sure. She is becoming such a kind and loving young lady, and I am so very very proud of her!

For her birthday she had, as always, a revolving door of ideas. Bounce house, rock concert, pool p[arty, craft project party... you name it, she thought of it. Last week though when we hit the new playground for the first time, she was sold. Playground party! That I could totally support. No mess in my house, and it's free. I am all over that! She also said she wanted to go camping and bring some friends with her. We also thought that was a great idea. That, however, will be another blog entry, as there are so many pictures!

We had her party on Saturday, because Al and Connor left for cub scout camp this morning. When we got to the playground, the kids of course ran off to play on the equipment. After a while they came back to work on their crafts. We found these cute little canvas bag kits at Iparty. The kids could decorate them with the fabric crayons included. They then used those to carry their loot from the Pinata.

Here's the group lining up for the Pinata. Aisling had her close friends, but no one from school. With her having a summer birthday it's always really hard to get a hold of new friends from school. This year her teacher wouldn't give out phone numbers, and I didn't remember about her birthday in time to figure out another way to get a hold of the parents. Well, I am sure she's going to survive this childhood trauma! Thankfully we have very special friends all around us.

(Connor, of course, is ever the joker).See what I mean?
(Random cute little sisters)

The pinata was a pull string pinata, which meant there was no bashing it with a wooden stick. Probably a good choice with this crowd. Each kid got a turn to pull a string and one string pulled the bottom out of the pinata. Great fun!
Then there was the cake; which I obviously did not make again!

Then, of course, there was gift opening.
One of her favorite gifts was from her best from of forever (in-utero?) Vaughan. Vaughan decided to make Aisling a gift. He picked out a t-shirt, hat, and little bag and decorated them with fabric markers. On the shirt is a picture of him giving her flowers. On the back it says "happy birthday Aisling, Love Vaughan". On the bag it mentions her 7th birthday. It is so cute and so very thoughtful.

From one of her other best friends, Nova, she got a cute beach bag, and another hand made gift. This one was a wave tube. She loves this thing, and fell asleep with it last night!
I so love that some of her friends took their time to make her gifts this year! So special! Her other close friend Braden bought her a science kit to make her own bubble gum! She was disappointed because she can't have gum right now with her orthodontic expander. However, when I let her know that in November (when it comes out) she could have a special gum chewing party with Braden, she was good to go!

Given that this was a Hannah Montana party, after the present opening there was lots of dancing. Dancing, of course, can very quickly turn into spotlight stealing by a certain older brother.

The kids played some more, and then we headed for home.
It was a super hot day, so we jumped into the pool.

This morning, her actual birthday, she decided that she wanted chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, so I took her and Siobhan and Wyatt out to the diner for a special breakfast.

Aisling as always I hope you have had a wonderful and happy birthday! We are so blessed to have you in our lives and we love you so very much!

Are you there God? It's me Heather!

How exactly does one let God know that one has had all that one can handle? Seriously? Prayer? Letter? Telegram? Owl? What's the secret path to relief?

I only ask because I am starting to feel a smidgen overwhelmed. Life for me is, in general, slightly near overwhelming on a normal day. That I'm okay with. I know I own that for the choices I've made. However, some days it feels like I've been thrown the work of one hundred other mothers as well.

This past weekend we went camping with Aisling and a few friends as a little birthday treat. (Blog update coming). Then, on Monday afternoon I left to drive to Boston for a work training. I met up with my best friend from high school on monday evening, and then Tuesday morning headed into Boston. All day tuesday and Wednesday I was in Boston at a residential hospital based school program for kids with Autism and behavior disorders run my a mentor of mine. The two days were overwhemingly full of fantastic information! I rerutnred home to the damily on Wednesday at around 11:00 PM.

Thursday morning I went right back to work. Cue to Thursday afternoon; the dreaded call from day care. Siobhan, they think, has lice. *SHUDDER*. It's okay, go ahead and Shudder again.

I brought her to the doctor, and sure enough, she does. I cannot tell you how often someone at her day care has had lice and I have commented on how it's the worst thing I could imagine having to deal with. Well, now I can tell you with great certainty, it's the worst thing I have ever dealt with.Not only does she have it, but she also passed it along to Aisling. I am also quite sure that I have it too. (Damn co-sleeping family!)

Thursday night was the Harry Potter event. I did not want to let Connor down, so we went to it. (Late). However, there were countless bags of cloth things to bag up; rugs and beds to vacuum; children to shampoo; and nits to find. The children did not go to sleep until after 10:30.

Cue Friday morning: Siobhan woke up with one eye stuck shut. Darnit. I pretty much ignored it and hoped it would go away.

It didn't.

Friday afternoon we went back to the doctor and got a prescription for pink eye.

Did I mention that Saturday is Aisling's birthday party? Because I was away and then the kids had lice, we still had not purchased anything for her party. (In fact, I forgot to invite some of the people she wanted to have come. That poor kid always seems to get shortchanged in her birthday. The summer can be so nuts.

So, tonight we took the kids out for a quick dinner, then went to Iparty to get her birthday stuff.

However, we neglected to remember that we still had to nit pick; vacuum everything; and put all the sheets in the dryer on hot for 20 minutes.

Again, bed after 11:00.

Tomorrow is her party. Then, Al and Connor are leaving for a week of overnight camp on Sunday morning, so; next week I will be all alone.

I need to know, then, how do I let God know that I have reached my limit? I can't really take any more crises; most definitly not next week.

Harry Potter!

This morning, at midnight, was the release of the final movie of the Harry Potter seires. Connor and I have read (and loved!) all of them. Shelburne Museum celebrated this movie opening by holding a special Harry Potter event. (Similar to the doll event of not long ago).

Connor and I went along and had some special time, just he and I.(For those who have not read the book, underlined text will take to you a link explaining the reference)

First, we began (obviously!) at platform 9 3/4.It was here that Connor was able to get his wand from Mr. Ollivander, the wand-maker.

Connor was chosen by a wand made with Phoenix feathers. (Similar to Harry's for some reason...)

Once he had his wand, he realized he needed his robes.

We then headed off to the great hall, where Connor was sorted into his house.

He then had to find the sorcerer's stone, taking great care not to wake up fluffy!

Next we went to defense against the dark arts, where we learned how to duel. I was Connor's dueling partner, so didn't get any pictures. I can assure you he won with the old stand by "expelliarmus".

From there we learned the basics of Quidditch. Connor was a beater.



He did voice his frustration at the end of the game that they could not fly. I do agree that would have been a much more exciting game!

From there we left to participate in the maze of the triwizard tournament. Connor made his way through in record time and was able to solve the riddle, earning himself a galleon.

From there it was off to pass his O.W.L.'s.

Thankfully he was able to pass with a grade of "outstanding".

After that it was off to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes for some fun. Here we attempted to make a snitch out of golden origami. We failed miserably, but had fun trying.


Next we went off to find all seven Horcruxes. This was a challenging quiz through which Connor sailed like a pro! I was actually surprised at how much detail he remembered from the books!

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get there as early as we would have liked. The cafe was serving butter beer, and they were all out by the time we got there. (We had some stuff going on at home).We scarfed down a quick sandwich while we walked around for dinner.

We did have a blast, and it is always so much fun to hang out with one kid at a time! It's also such a blast that Connor is getting older now and can share interests! We had a lot of fun. Thanks Connor!