Fall Birthday Visit

Since I had to work on my birthday (Forest Society's annual meeting) and Andy was at a conference in Pittsburg, PA, Mom and Dad (Gee-ma and Ah-Pa) came down to watch Aiden and go out for a birthday lunch for my and Dad's bday. As you can see from the photo above, Aiden had lots of fun enjoying other people's birthdays! Mmm... strawberry ice cream. Aiden is sort of a maddening ice cream eater- he takes about one good lick from the top every minute and meanwhile talks excitedly about his wonderful ice cream with exclamations of "mmm... delicious!" Then he bites the bottom of the cone, so it starts to drip out onto his pants. It's hard to watch if you are the type who likes to prevent messes before they happen.

I put Gee-ma and Ah-pa to work digging in perennials in front of our house, and we went to Spring Ledge Farm and another local plant sale to buy even more plants. Aiden got his own pumpkin, which he is currently keeping in his room (clearly not sustainable over the long term). Then we made an upside-down gooseberry cake (I didn't take a picture because it didn't come out exactly as we had planned- still tasty though) and Micah and Becky drove up from Gloucester for our b-day lunch on Sunday. When Andy got home Sunday night, he found his little boy all bathed and ready for bed, but look what Gee-mah did to his hair!

Not too shrubby (anymore)

We like our new house in New Hampshire a lot. But it doesn't have much curb appeal. Sort of a gray vinyl box with some overgrown shrubbery out front. A landscaper used to live here, and I think they had a bit of the "shoemaker's children go barefoot" syndrome. I'm sure the last thing they wanted to do at home was landscape, although there is a nice brick walkway and circle by the doorway. Anyway, several weekends ago we decided to wipe the slate clean and start over.... which meant removing about eight 15-year old, very tenacious shrubs from the front and around the side of our house. Here is what it looked like when we started...

A few (like, 2) of the eight shrubs came out pretty easily, lulling us into a false sense of satisfaction with our progress... THEN we hit the yew bushes. Yikes. We dug all around and almost completely under those suckers and when it looked like there was nothing left attached, the stump still wouldn't budge one inch! It was amazing, really. Each one took about two hours to dig out.

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Aiden says, I got this one under control mom, you can relax.


We decided to leave the one somewhat charming looking piece of vegetation, a hydrangea tree in full bloom near the front door. But that's it. It looks really bare right now, but we're planning to plant a large perennial garden out front. In a few years it should be beee-autiful :)

More pics...

Here are some more pics from the weekend, taken by Grandma Chris! Enjoy!

Aiden waiting for the big one

Dan and Munson

Hanging out on the porch

Allison showing Uncle Charlie photos from her summer in Australia (I still need to see those Allison; bring them to xmas!)

Charlie and Mary

Deegan - Kulis family photo

Aiden is trying to figure out why there is a fire on his cupcake.

Dean - Rising family pic

Paulette fishing at sunset

Aiden's Birthday at the Lake

Aiden and Grandma apple picking

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Since everyone had such a great time last year at Aiden's b-day weekend, we decided to have his birthday party at the Lake again this year. The big "02"!! It was a busy weekend, and we had about 28 people at the camp for Aiden's actual party on Sunday. And of course, he made out like a bandit! He got a complete new wardrobe from Uncle Dan and Auntie Paulette, a hand-knit wool sweater from Aunt Chris, and tons of cool toys.

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On Saturday we went apple picking at Shelburne Farms- they were picking Paula Reds and very early, very tart Macs. Not that we could figure out which trees were which, as usual. But we filled out bags anyway and ate lots of apples and Christopher and Alex ran away from my camera lens like rabbits from a fox.

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Hannah and Aiden

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This is one of my gramma's idea of matching pajamas! Now who is colorblind?

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Not for you, Munson!

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Sunday was Aiden's birthday party and it was a beautiful sunny day. We woke up early (but when don't you wake up early with a toddler) and smoked 4 racks of ribs with cola dipping sauce for "appetizers." Aiden opened his presents with more gusto this year than last, and everyone cheered him on. His favorite (of course, this is typical) was a talking greeting card from Micah and Becky that featured Stewie from Family Guy saying something like "Mother, I brought you a present...I'll give you a hint, it's in my diaper, and it's not a toaster." After the eleven billionth time, even Micah was wanting to rip the thing up!

Alex digs into the ribs...

I got my own fishing pole!

The cool crew in all black. Micah is so addicted that he will fish even on a lawn with a Spongebob Squarepants rod!

Dadoo! A BIG TRUCK!!!

Playing poker in the screened porch (Chris is still hiding from me)

The dock was still underwater, but that didn't deter the swimmers.

Aunt Chris and Sarah, watching the swimmers.

Look, Aiden caught an Unclemicahfish!

Munson won the prize for most well behaved dog in attendance (sorry Timber & Sable)

And we had a pinata, stuffed with all sorts of candy treats that Aiden had never tasted before. He was completely confused as to why on earth we were trying to convince him to beat this poor horsey-in-the-sky with a stick (probably a good thing, when you think about it). So the older kids made short work of it and everyone got their lollipops. Maybe next year...

Aiden took a three hour nap outside in a tent while we all had a big feast of burgers and salads and fresh sweet corn. When he woke up we had our final course, cupcakes made by Grandma. Each one had an "A" and a little cape gooseberry on top. Very fancy!

Yum!

Happy Birthday to me! Thank you to everyone for coming!!!!!