guilty

okay, so old habits die hard.
and despite humid 89 degree weather...

yes, i was in the garden weeding.
and yes, i did have to use a pick axe to get the last of the weeds up.
and yes, my back is very sore and tired.

and yes, i am still aware that i'm pregnant.
so yes, i did in fact lay down after i finished so i'll be able to walk later.

AND
yes, i'm guilty. 
BUT
i had help this time!

dave's parents and sister are in visiting from indiana, and they like to help with projects (so you can imagine why i love them so much).

dave and his dad have almost finished painting the garage doors black (from white). the shutters used to be white, and we did those over in black last year, and the doors were white, and are now a fabulous puke-y yellow, and now? the garage doors will be finished to complete a front of the house face-lift.

next up: the house trim needs a new coat of white, and the house will get a grey/blue/slate paint update. it gets a lot of full morning fun, so it's faded a lot in the 4 years we've been here. i need to find just the right shade, though- not too light, and not too blue. i'm open for suggestions :) 

dave transplanted this arborvitae from it's random spot on the other side of the garden to here to the front left side of the house (where it can hide the propane tank and canoe until we put a fence up. don't get me started on my desires for a fence, though...)

and look what i found hiding under, i don't know, eight inches of tall grass and a thicket of crawling weeds:
OUR GARDEN!
we weren't actually going to do a garden this year, but when my friend deanna had extra plants that she didn't have room for? well, i couldn't say no to that!

it's actually kind of fun, because some of the plants are mystery plants, so eventually, we'll get to find out what they are! i do know we have tomatoes, roma cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini, basil, strawberries, and...maybe squash?

later today and tomorrow while i'm at work we'll also finish installing an attic staircase in the landing upstairs. our 163 year old home, though lovely, has no storage. we have a dirt basement and not even CLOSE to enough closets, so the attic, albeit small, if accessible (and not via a 2x2 portal in our bedroom), will add a lot of value to this old house. and make more room in the garage again, so maybe, just maybe, i'll be able to park my car in there before winter :)

what can i say?
i love life in the projects.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

whoa whoa.

wait- is piper really turning 2 on friday?!

and am i really 5 1/2 months pregnant?!

and have i seriously only blogged 8 times since the beginning of may?!

and did i really just consider writing back-dated blogs?! (yes. i did. and i really just may, so watch out.)

blogging is a funny thing, and i honestly do blog as much for myself as i do for family, friends, and the occasional random person. i want to remember this crazy time in life, because i already don't know what exactly has absorbed my time since may.

so i'm going to recount our busy lazy days of summer.
where we've been, and what we've been doing.
right now.
before i forget.


let's start with baby. as you know,

which we recently discovered at one of my innumerable appointments at BIDMC in boston. YAY! is it november yet??

and then there was eli's 4th birthday party (i owe him a birthday post, and like i said, don't think i won't back date one)

of course, he chose a star wars theme, and we spent a very warm and sunny afternoon with all of eli's favorite (and my favorite) people, swinging light sabers at darth vader's pinata head and having squirt gun fights. WAY fun.

then there's our couple's group every other friday, filled with the best people ever, where we get to talk about our marriages and books like this one, which is the one i'm trying my best not to ruin over the next few weeks


and there's the moms group, which i try to organize meetings for twice a month. moms need other moms. these get togethers are good for the soul, for serious. you want to come? hit me up!


and there was our trip to florida. which was so so SO fabulous. and even relaxing. and beautiful, and exactly what our little family needed. we got to celebrate dave's grandmas birthday, and elias and piper were especially ecstatic to see dave's "cussins"




happy 90th birthday grandma skip!

and then there are fun days out to places like the artesani water park in brighton with our friends, the bazdars. this place is awesome. you should go.


and trips to the beach with some of my kids' very favorite people (and my favorite people)


and parties! graduation parties, welcome home parties, tons of birthday parties...man, we've been partying like it's 1999.

and in between we've painted our skin blue like avatars

and done a fair amount of swimming in nana and gp's pool with family


and made as many spontaneous trips to the beach as possible. like dennisport last week to see the shea's. oh, how we LOVE the beach.



and when we're not planning fundraisers, or hosting small groups, or enjoying time with friends, doing play dates and spending time with family and as a family, or doing house projects (more on that soon)?

well, we're goofing off.
because that's what this mom likes to do in those stolen moments.

oh, christmas tree!

one of our stratton christmas traditions we've developed over the past five years is a yearly trip to a tree farm (we've settled on the mockingbird tree farm as our local fave) to choose a tree out in the snowy fields and to then ceremoniously cut it down ourselves. i think our tradition began of necessity when dave and i lived in easton in a condo with a loft, so the ceilings were high. and the only place to find a 12 or 14 foot tree is a tree farm! it's a cool tradition, and scouring and hunting down the "perfect" tree is tons of fun (exceppptt when it's 26 degrees with 10 mile an hour winds...then it's umm, cold)! :)

so today our tree is finally up (we'd have liked it to be up right after thanksgiving, but with that whole flu issue, and then the rain trend we've been seeing on weekends, it has taken us a while), we made it to the little gym almost on time, and heck, i went for it and took the kids grocery shopping after (huge mistake, by the way. market basket is a MADHOUSE apparently at 1:30 on fridays. or is it every day? right. it's every day...).

how about some pictures??

elias was so cold he stopped at every tree pretty much every one nd said "how about this one? this one looks good"

dada takes a saw to it while eli says "you can do it dad. never give up! you're doing great!" hilarious.

and here it is, anxiously awaiting ornamentation. that's going to have to wait a couple days, but...

tell me, what are YOUR christmas traditions?!

nantucket photo journal: part 1

i have to preface this entire post by expressing much gratitude for the generosity and hospitality of the louise and jim ozias. (prepare for run-on) friends of theirs attend another local church here called the fellowship, and through that couple, the pastor of the fellowship, bernie powell, shared with dave at one of their monthly prayer meetings that the ozias' kindly open their home to pastors and their families to come stay with them on nantucket for free. yes, free. they have a nice little apartment over their garage that they graciously let us stay in and enjoy all that charming nantucket has to offer. God really is good. we had the opportunity to sit and chat with jim and louise one of the nights we were there and they have such a great story; from how they met and came to live in nantucket...about the church that met in their house for nearly a decade...about the love they had for their son, dave, who loved people almost as much as surfing, but passed away unexpectedly from a blood clot in 2001. and about how much they grew to love the Lord even more fully through that loss, and how his life and their strength and faith has shown so many on the island what the grace and peace of God is. an amazing couple. blessed to have met them and shared stories over boston cream pie. elias called them "jim and louisey" :)

with that said. here's some photos of our trip to the lovely island of nantucket.

this is pip driving the car on the ferry. we actually went over on a barge because it was the first boat to come in, and we had decided last minute to take our car (thank GOD we did), so we didn't have a reservation. wouldn't you know it, though, we were the very last car to get on the very first boat. God provides again.

elias spent the entire time (it takes 2 full hours on a big slow barge) with his head out the sun roof.

the view sitting in the front seat of the car. it was like when you ride in the back of station wagons as a kid and it's the coolest because you're looking backwards. there was no one to make funny faces at from the back of the barge, though. expect maybe seagulls.

me and my boy

piper playing dentist

ahoy! LAND! finally. what a pretty harbor...

SO many boats. and yachts.

this was our first beach day at nobadeer beach, which is on the surfside or south side of the island. so it had huge waves and it was almost empty when we'd arrive in the morning. it made us feel like we were at some private, exclusive island and had it all to ourselves. the airport is only a mile maybe from this beach so elias delighted in the hundreds of airplanes that took off overhead.

trucks and sand=all elias needs

piper literally spends almost the entire time we're at any beach climbing and crawling all over me. she finds great pleasure in being in my personal space. i find great pleasure in not having to share my personal space. this is not a good match...

a quick game of gotcha last. this time with no knives.

and of course, "frinsbee"

our first try at talking public transportation. yeah. 45 minutes later, the whole waiting with a 3 year old on a busy road made me about as anxious and annoyed as it gets. i will say that the buses are clean as a whistle and smell magnificent. are they fast or convenient? heck no.

but elias is adorable with his hat on backwards. i can't even take it.

out to dinner- piper makes sure everything makes it safely into her mouth.

while elias is busy looking cute

we made a habit of driving into town, finding a spot for the car, and meandering on brick sidewalks and cobblestone roads. even if we only had an hour or two, we enjoyed exploring the narrow windy back roads, looking in the shop windows (strollers + 3 year olds + expensive breakables = not a good idea to go in the stores), and enjoying the architecture of the homes and churches on the island.

elias and piper are kissaholics. they really love on each other, and it melts my heart.

note how ENORMOUS that tree. HUGE.

this is the library on nantucket. one of the many building with a grecian influence. we got ourselves a library card and rented movies took out new books for ourselves and the kids. we don't mess around. we love the library.

this was someones backyard. and i liked it.

dave and i joked about nantucket because there are typically these indicators (or pre-requisites?) for what is quintessentially nantucket, if you will. for example, you must have a yellow lab or a golden retriever, you must wear nantucket reds or maybe madras, and you most definitely grow roses on one of these delightful garden arbors:

we took the kids to a little aquarium (loosely termed) and it was a pretty expensive way to spend 20 minutes. ahh well. it's vacation, right?

a look in the tank

lots of crabs, of course

a jellyfish (i know. you were thinking- "man, what IS that?")

the coolest fish ever. talk about intelligent design!

me and elias, aka the blondies

this is children's beach, aptly named because it's a quiet little beach in the bay outfitted with a playground, snack bar, and green grassy field. all a kid needs, really.

my spunky little love. "ohh, mom, no more pictures, can't you see i hate them!"

elias teaching alicia to swim. cutest.

i love how he holds her by the neck. so primal, e.

there was this little hole in the wall convenience store at the end of our road (we stayed on lovers lane- how cute is that?!) that had soft serve ice cream. i am a sucker for soft serve, and davey indulged me (and elias) on more than one occasion. here we are curbside, enjoying our ice cream...

strike that- elias is enjoying my ice cream. greedy punk :)

tomorrow is part two of my photo journal and a nantucket wrap-up. soon to follow, some highlights, including the new books, movies, and music, that made my vacation.

can't wait :)