Did lots of things. Am tired. Kids are tired. Zzzzzzzzzz.

Monday:

LOOK MY POPCORN CAUGHT FIRE. GET IT?

Trip #1 to the grocery store. We did buy cookies. We forgot a turkey.

Visiting their lobster friends. That’s what they call them. I don’t have the heart to explain those aren’t the same lobsters as last week.

Monday:

It was freezing on the pier but the sun (and all the happiness) warmed my cold heart.

My TV babysitter earned her paycheck this week.

Go buy this book. HILARIOUS.

Tuesday:

Real street fashion: scuffed boots and yoga pants.

Evan loves his Duplos and Caroline loves creepy naked dolls

I don’t know how she doesn’t have nightmares.

Wednesday:

RUN AND GET A TURKEY BEFORE THEY ARE GONE, SLACKER

They put extra ginger in the pumpkin pie <3

Making pies is exhausting.

Thursday:

It’s sparkling cider.

NO REALLY IT’S JUST CIDER I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE HE LEARNED THAT.

Thankful

Friday:

Instead of shopping, we visited our favorite places.

She met Santa.

Hot cocoa and a lollipop = best day ever

Watching the town tree lighting

Saturday:

They FINALLY built a playground at the zoo!

Those are yesterday’s lollipops they brought to the parade

Our local parade is adorable, if not very fancy.

Considering it was only 30 degrees all week, we spent a TON of time outside. My kids don’t care. They were born in New England*. Today Caroline took off her jacket and her hoodie and ran around in just a shirt.  But despite the temps we had a really great week.

Now I am throwing myself FULL FORCE into Caroline’s birthday party. Luckily “princess” isn’t the most original theme, so just grabbing pink or sparkly or sparkly pink stuff is pretty easy. I just need to get my house in order so I can start putting things up before I buy yet another princess tent and realize I don’t have anywhere to put FOUR of them. Tomorrow I’m going to let her pick out the ugliest, most ridiculous princess cake we can find to order from ShopRite. I’m so excited.

*This logic fails since I was born in Massachusetts and I’m freezing.

My pictures this week are all blurry, of people’s back, or of nothing interesting. It’s actually a terrible representation of our week – we did a lot of stuff!! – but the more I have my big camera in my hands the less I use my phone. My poor Instagram feed is sadly neglected. Maybe some day I’ll find a balance.

Sunday:

A rare Suzanne sighting IN one of my pictures.

Couch naps at the lake – sleeping like a baby.

Oh, it’s cold and cloudy? NO1CURR. We want to swim.

Monday:

Evan decided mint chocolate chip is his favorite, which was totally my favorite as a kid too.

IT’S SO GOOD ONCE IT HITS YOUR LIPS.

Watching my kids play with my old toys in my old house is always weird.

Tuesday:

Jersey Plates: FISTPMP (I was stopped, traffic was terrible)

This is how she feels about cheeseburgers

The moon is far less impressive in this picture, but was very cool. You’ll just have to trust me.

Wednesday:

Hands in her pockets.

Don’t let her face fool you, she luuuuuvs frozen yogurt.

An evening walk-run-roll in the grass

Thursday:

For a kid who was having a TON OF FUN, that’s a pretty strong side-eye.

MISSER TATO HEAD!!!

Dancing at the winery – they fell down a lot for people who weren’t even drinking.

 Friday:

DRIVE THRU STARBUCKS DRIVE THRU STARBUCKS IN MY TOWN! And whatever this peach green tea lemonade thing is is delicious.

What are these candies shaped like rings?? What sorcery is this?!?!?!

Gorgeous night for a photo shoot at the beach.

Saturday:

Princesses love strawberries for breakfast.

As close as I get to a day off – letting them destroy the house and watch TV.

Evening walk. Still in royal princess garb.

 This week is going to be crazy too (pictures, orientation, Evan’s first day of school ON A BUS!) but hopefully I can do a better job blogging than I did last week. My mother will be very sad if I quite posting pictures of her grandchildren because I’m taking pictures of other people.

There isn’t exactly a shortage of scenic, fall-like locations in Connecticut, but sometimes you gotta escape to the Island. Rhode Island, that is. (Sidebar: trying explaining to a 3 year old why a place is called Rhode Island when a) it’s not an island and b) you don’t actually know WHY it’s called Rhode Island is hard). The Ocean State is pretty scenic too, especially if you’re a toddler who likes giant slides and goats. Then I highly recommend Clark Farms.

I’m taking a break-out session through Clickin Moms called Photographing Your Everyday and it’s sort of amazing. I was secretly hoping that just by READING really good advice on the internet my photography would somehow improve instantly. Oddly enough, it didn’t quite work like that and it’s going to take a lot of hands-on practice before I get better. But going into the day the intention of telling a story and a plan for how to do it definitely made a difference in my shooting.

Since we spent three full hours at the farm, it was kind of a long story.

Thanks to our friend Merin & her girls for inviting us and playing so nicely, even if the goats didn’t. I hope your kids crashed as hard as mine did last night, and you finally get to enjoy 9 hours of sleep.

Our newest obsession, Roger Williams Park Zoo/ Hasbro’s Big Back Yard in Providence. I’ve got a membership that includes a guest, let me know if you want to come with us! (At 9 am, we had the place to ourselves!)