Happy Father's Day!!!

We celebrated father's day at my parents house.  It was SUCH a gorgeous day.  Beth joined us all for a morning boat ride into Boston and the boys had a blast.  Of course, super baby fell asleep in the cabin below and we all took turns sitting with him and just staring at his cuteness.  :)  Meanwhile the boys were loving every minute of the ride.  We rode past big boats...under airplanes and bridges and even used Papa's water hose to shoot at moored "pirate ships".  Just a great afternoon!

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there...and to the two great men in my life!  Dad...you were the first love of my life.  :)  Thank you for being such an incredible father, role model, "papa" and friend. And Kevin...you are the most amazing daddy.  The boys positively adore every moment spent with you.  I love watching them light up when you walk in the door...watching you wrestle and laugh with them...your constant awareness of their safety and the way you love them.  No one can hold a baby...or deal with the insanity of our lives...as easily as you!!    Love you!

Fireboats!!!

After going to our cousin's AWESOME pool...we decided we were in dire need of pool floats.  These were the best buy ever!  Got them at the local wholesale club and there were TWO boats in one package.  Perfect!!  But the biggest allure were the built in squirt guns...  Why didn't they have these things when we were kids?  The boys had a blast.  They call them their "fireboats" and are whizzing around putting out fires.  So much fun!

Hanging with our cousins...

Between myself and my three cousins we have ELEVEN BOYS.  It is crazy!!  We decided to get together for a fun little pool party at Chrisi's house and had the best day.  Her pool is paradise!!  And watching the boys together was just awesome...  Cole and Tommy are the youngest and they are STILL talking about their big cousins.  Look at these handsome boys... they look like two sets of twins, don't they?  Clearly cousins!

And mind you...I have many more cousins...with many more kiddos!!  It would be awesome to get them all together one day.  When I was growing up we were lucky enough to always have a lot of cousins around us.   I always knew who my relatives were and felt lucky to have such a big extended family.  I want the boys to have that same feeling.

I love that the boys already know all of their aunts and uncles by name...that they miss and love their Grandma and actually call our guest room "Grandma's Room" and that they know all of their first cousins.  Seeing them experience this new level of family is just awesome!!

Hoarders?

It's worth noting that the boys have this very strange hoarding thing going on lately.  They love "piles" of stuff.  The pile could contain shoes, towels, toys, yard equipment...you name it!  Here is one example.

God forbid you try to move any of these items!  They have explanations for everything.  This was their "spaceship" and they needed all these things in their ship just in case.  I could probably create a series of postings with these piles.  I'll try to take more...they are so completely random!  And if something is missing?  It's a pretty safe bet that you'll find it here.  :)

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

For the boys last day of school, I snuck special notes inside their lunch boxes, treated them both to cupcakes from the new "cupcake cafe" in town and had a little party each night to celebrate.  Mind you...this was TWO celebrations.  Tommy's last day of school was Tuesday and Cole's was Thursday.  So this was two parties...two sets of cupcakes...two VERY happy days.  :)  The boys were so cute talking about "summer ba-cation" and asked me everyday to tell them again what it meant.  As I explained it to them each day leading up to our final week...even I was getting excited!!  Days spent at the beach...swimming in the pool...BBQ's...field trips....let summer begin!!

Here are some pictures from our respective last days.  What a difference a year makes!

October 2010 

June 2011

The car ride on the way home was so funny.  Here we are...en route to cupcakes!  Not TOO happy....

And here we are the first official day of NO SCHOOL!!!  It's 6:00pm...we've spent the entire day in the pool and dad was grilling up the boys first steak for dinner.  Our "Super Boys".  I know it looks like they are always having a good time...that is because they ARE!  What could be better than life spent with your best friend?

As for the steak?  SUCCESS!!  Tommy declared it was "yummy".  These boys have been full of firsts lately with food.  Thank goodness!  We are looking forward to family dinners where we all eat TOGETHER...and the SAME food.  :)  Here is our dramatic Tommy after his first bite...

The first day of summer was a success.  Now...only 2.5 months left of activities to plan!  We can't wait!!!