Once again the best weekend of the year came and went and I ate all the things. We did exactly the same stuff as last year – Greek Festival, Ledyard Fair, Taste of Italy, Taste of Mystic – except my kids are a full year older and easier to take places. LOOK AT HOW SMALL THEY WERE LAST YEAR! SO SMALL! The only real change was this year Evan could go on the giant slide at the fair, which made him the happiest kid ever. And also they ate a lot more, even if most of it was ice cream.

I’m very proud of myself for doing the whole weekend alone with the kids (E had inspections at work), not missing any of our plans, and fitting in three photo sessions. Working (or “working” as I am still calling it for now) is something I love, but I don’t want it to come at the expense of all our family time. The Best Weekend Of The Year only happens once a year, I can’t let photography get in the way of ALL THE EATING.

p.s. Too tired and lazy to make any collages, so be prepared for one million photos. At least Connecticut is pretty and my kids are cute, right?

Thursday:

Ordered the kids a gyro but they didn’t like it. Such a tragedy I had to eat it.

SOMEONE GET THAT KID A BARRETTE

Awwwwwww

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

OMG AAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Saturday Morning:

Riding the bus shuttle, which is very exciting when you watch your brother get on a bus every day and you NEVER GET TO RIDE ONE.

Evan picked almost the EXACT same horn as a prize this same weekend last year. Shockingly, that one broke. Even more shocking, this one “broke” too!

What up, Goat?

This lady said “Do you want to sit on the cow?” and just popped Caroline right on it.

Future rodeo star?

Root beer float. NO WONDER these kids were insane all day. I don’t think they even SAW a vegetable.

Saturday Night:

While I was taking their picture a lady came up and said “HOW DO YOU GET THEM TO STAND THERE FOR YOUR PICTURES????” I said “Practice”. But the truth is Evan would have done ANYTHING for that bubble gun.

Black olive calzone and fried ravioli

BUBBLES BUBBLES MY BUBBLES

Sunday:

Ginger Baby: The Return Of The Hat

Crab and crawfish cakes

Hush puppies

I will take two of everything.

We had a choice of cookies – Patriots or Jets. This was the last Patriot cookie because OBVIOUSLY they are more popular. GO PATS.

MESS.

Besides seeing how much the kids have grown, comparing last year’s pictures to this year’s is really eye opening. I was SO PROUD of them last year, and now all I can see is the flaws.  I figure the same thing will happen next year, but the way I look at it as long as I’m getting BETTER instead of getting worse I’m doing great.

And now I’m super hungry from looking at all those photos. Mmmmmm…crab cakes and frozen lemonade.

I keep thinking I must be getting close to my 3 year anniversary of these posts, but I am too lazy to actually do the math in my head. This week has been exhausting in a good way (work!!) and a bad way (when did my children go deaf??????) and next week looks exhausting too (NO REALLY, WHY ARE THEY DEAF????) so basic math is one of those things I can’t be bothered to care about. I really am just that lazy and stupid.

Sunday:

My very make-shift newborn set up in a client’s apartment. I’m pretty proud of my fake-studio skills.

BABY FEVER: LEVEL CODE DOUBLE RED ACHIEVED

Dancing to the band at Hot Summer Fun on the roof of the Mohegan Sun parking garage

Monday:

One of those Top 10 for Kids is probably a bad idea.

Surreptitious grilled cheese eating

For someone who BEGGED for mac and cheese, that face is not happy enough

Tuesday:

She said her first day of school sign says “Caroline goes to big girl school”

A pumpkin mocha iced latte, that’s what

Hand stamping some thank you cards to go in my fancy professional type photographer packaging

Protecting Brutus from a thunder storm

Then we went to the beach…

Then we went to the country….

Wednesday:

…so it’s not surprising Wednesday looks like this….

…and this. (They both went to school Wednesday and I went to work, there are just no iPhone photos.)

Thursday:

The definition of “partly cloudy” – and pretty good for a family session

Greek food, get in my face

Sun-streaking

Friday:

Because that’s what stickers are for.

The pavilion at Rocky Neck all opened up for a wedding

Well done Connecticut (with an assist by Long Island in the background)

Saturday:

Model poses

She would ride the carousel ALL DAY if they let her

I promised him a bouncy house but it was gone, so I finally FINALLY bought him the light up bubble gun he’s asked for at every fair and carnival and festival and parade we’ve been to for the last year.

We successfully ate ALL THE THINGS this weekend, so I’m totally stuffed and feel like I could sleep for a million years. Considering it’s 6 pm on Sunday and Caroline just put herself to bed, I think the feeling extends to the whole family. Even E, I guess, although we’ve literally only seen him for 15 minutes since Tuesday, so who knows. I’m hoping next week gives us a little more family time, even if there is less deliciousness.

Last week of summer, first week of school! Except I just realized today Labor Day means no school for anyone tomorrow, so we can fit in one more beach/fun day before we start a regular schedule.

Sunday:

Apparently this is the only photo I took on Sunday. I can’t even remember Sunday. Did Sunday even happen?

Monday:

Nothing like a nuclear power plant to add to my scenic beach photos

I love this beach

The most adorable ice cream and candy store in the world

Tuesday:

She changed her mind about the birds. NO BIRDS, MOMMY.

Sea lion show. My kids can name all the sea lions.

Grilled cheese of the day: Basil pesto, artichokes, tomatoes, mozzarella on Italian bread.

Wednesday:

In this episode, Spiderman joins S.H.I.E.L.D. I had to Google to find out if that was accurate (it is).

Evan’s favorite part of his new school: cool sinks.

Orientation is EXHAUSTING.

Thursday:

Ready to go!

The cat loves Caroline

This is her “WE’RE GETTING CHEESEBURGERS!” face

Friday:

Playing “Tick-tock croc eats Captain Hook!” while we wait for the bus

She is loving our outside play time while we wait for the bus. It makes me feel bad we never use our (very tiny) front yard.

What do you wear when it’s 80 degrees?

Saturday:

Craft store…

…pretzel burger…

…and Sherlock. PERFECT SATURDAY.

I’m so excited Evan likes school, the bus situation seems to be working out, and that when Caroline starts school on Tuesday I will be able to get back to a regular schedule for me too. I loved going to the gym last year, but totally failed during the summer. I need to get exercise back on my list of priorities, if only because I have to be in better shape to work as a photographer. Taking newborn photos is like doing 200 squats. I’m going to have buns of steel if people keep hiring me.

DO ALL THE SUMMER BEFORE IT’S GONE.

Sunday:

I put away the changing pad (that I’ve used maybe twice ever) since I don’t have any babies anymore.

Fresh neighborhood eggs are a game of IS THERE A CHICKEN FETUS IN THIS OR NO?

Best spot ever for senior pictures? Probably.

Monday:

Tired.

Mess.

Tired.

Tuesday:

I WILL MISS YOU WHILE I AM AT SCHOOL BABY SISTER EVEN THOUGH WE ARE GOING TO SAME SCHOOL.

Mommy the donkey is my best friend!

Cloud or portal opened to another dimension by a tesseract?

Wednesday:

Our last gymnastics class. She’ll have to use her super strength somewhere else.

Our duck pond has an endless supply of adorable baby ducks and I cannot stop taking pictures of them.

Waiting patiently for her grilled cheese.

Thursday:

NO PICTURES PLEASE.

Tinker Bell rests in the tasting room of the winery. Being a fairy is hard work.

My sister and her boyfriend are EXCELLENT child watchers. I like them.

Friday:

The princess generously bestows bacon upon her people.

Beach baby

THREE GINGERS.

Saturday:

Yard sale. Most of it’s on the curb now, it was not a smashing success. But at least it’s all out of my house.

Second day of the princess dress. I peeled it off her to wash it because 2 year olds are gross.

Watching more Watch Us Edit videos from Clickin Moms and it’s still blowing my mind.

It was a surprisingly good week, even if I continue to make poor choices in regards to my own bedtime. 11 pm has become midnight has become 1 am, which means I’m getting like 5 hours of sleep which means I am chronically tired which is my OWN FAULT and yet I keep doing it. I am not very good at learning my lesson. I’m also so, so excited about Ginger Snaps Pictures (website! facebook! in progress, so don’t judge too harshly) and the photography classes/workshops/critiques I’ve signed up for I CAN’T go to bed any earlier. I need those post-kid hours. Although I have managed to thoroughly wear them out several days this week so they took naps – NAPS! – and slept a full 12 hours at night.

This week will be almost as full as last week, which is my favorite kind of week. Even if I am tired.

One of the best parts of summer is the constant parade of farmer’s markets in our area. If I put a little effort into it, I bet I could go to at least one a day (and two on most days). Unfortunately, just because food is fresh and local and organic and free-range doesn’t make it calorie-free. Which is totally, totally unfair. If I’m going to make an effort to eat natural, real food the payoff should be automatically fitting into my jeans. Why doesn’t science work like that?

The kids love the farmer’s market(s), although I’m sure that has more to do with the fact that the majority of the vendors we visit sell things like kettle corn and maple cotton candy. (Getting any ideas why my jeans don’t fit?) Plus our favorite – the Bozrah one on Friday nights – is like an automatic playdate. We always run into people we know, the vendors are all super nice, and there are tons of free samples. There’s a whole corner of cheese merchants, which might be Caroline’s idea of heaven. Who knew my 2 year old would go nuts for a fresh chevre with herbs de provence?  Last week there was a barrel train pulled by ponies. PONY. TRAIN. It was almost too much, and I don’t mean for the kids. I might have actually squeed over the ponies.

There are a lot of disadvantages to living in a state we don’t technically have any connection to. We are not from here. We don’t have any family here. We’re transplants and no matter how many of my children are born here or how long I live here I will never actually think of myself as being “from Connecticut”. I don’t feel the same deep obsession and connection to this place that I did when I first set foot in Charleston during a college visit. But after 8 years in New England and 7 in this town, I do love it.

We live in Connecticut. It’s the only home my children know. It’s become a huge part of our daily family affirmations: “I’m Evan and you’re Mommy and sister is Caroline and we live in Norwich!” They can both tell me exactly how far down the road to school the town ends and are always asking if we’re back in Norwich yet any time we drive more than a few blocks.

I think home is a confusing thing when you’re little – you know your house is home, but what’s outside that? Your yard? Your street? Your town? Your county? I tried to explain America to Evan yesterday because he wanted to know why there were so many Captain America flags. (He called the American flag the “Captain America flag”, because obviously identifying superheros correctly is a more important skill to teach your children than real facts). I told him we lived in a town, in a state, in a country called America and sometimes people live in other towns in other states in other countries. He was fine with states, but didn’t like the idea of something bigger. I told him his Aunt Carolyn used to live in France, which is a country across the ocean. He said “I would be sad if I live in France.” I told him he didn’t have to move to France and could stay with me forever and I really truly meant it.

Although I’m sure if he knew he could have baguettes for dinner every day in France he’d get over it.

This was his dinner request. A whole loaf of bread. He ate more than half.

We got Mango Tango

Buying it his own self.

Not our pizza, although my kids ate half of it.