Luna and Phoenix...

We are now officially a family of SEVEN!!! Wednesday night, we drove up to Vermont to pick up the puppies. We got home right at 8pm, which is usually the kids bedtime, but we knew there was no way the boys would want to go to bed right away. The puppies seemed really homesick their first night here. They whined and howled quite a bit. Paul and I took turns getting up to take the dogs out in the middle of the night, which was a totally new experience for both of us. New, for Paul, because he *rarely* got up to help me when our babies were tiny. New, for me, because I *rarely* had to get up with our babies because we were co-sleeping and because my babies somehow always knew that night time was for sleeping. Each potty session seems to take at least 45 minutes because the puppies like to play and get out some energy before they pass out again. Paul's goes back to work tonight, so I am all on my own. 

I know people think we are crazy to get puppies with so much in our lives going on already, but I am so happy to get all of this hard work and training (for the puppies and kids) out of the way. I don't want to constantly be in the "baby" phase of someone's life. In a couple of years everyone will be potty trained and sleeping through the night. Until then, we are going to be a busy family and I LOVE it!

Payson getting to know Luna.

Luna looks like the smaller puppy, but she
actually weighs 3 ounces more than Phoenix.

This is how Phoenix likes to sleep. Lol.

Phoenix playing with Irelyn.

I love the marks on Phoenix's face.

Luna (7weeks) and Phoenix (8 weeks).

Sleeping on the cool marble floor.

Spring Teaser...

Well, it looks like all of that nice weather we were getting was just mother nature teasing us. We were literally playing in a friends pool last week and this week everyone is bundled up again. I am so bummed because I bought the kids their summer sandals and some summer clothes. It's okay though, I'm sure the warm weather will be back before I know it. 

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Unfortunately, the sudden rise in temperature set things back with our new house. The warm weather melted the layer of frost in the ground, turning everything into mud, which created problems for the heavy machinery to clear our land. Luckily, the ground dried up fast and things are getting done again. We went out to our land two days ago to agree on the position of the house. Everything was officially staked out yesterday and they should start digging on Monday!  If you would have told me six months ago that our house wouldn't be started until the beginning of April, I would've had a heart attack. Either way, here we are now and I am just glad that we will be in our home soon.

Mark and Paul talking about the house placement.

Here are the boys "helping" Mark measure the land.

St. Patrick's Day...

Here are our three lucky charms on St. Patrick's Day!

Doesn't she look great in green?

Maple Weekend...

Yesterday, we went to the Parker Family Maple Farm to enjoy New York State Maple Weekend. It was very interesting to learn how pure maple syrup is made. I always thought that the sap from maple trees was a dark color like syrup, but it really comes out looking and tasting very similar to water. We learned that it takes forty gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup. While we were there, we had an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, we went on a horse drawn wagon ride and sampled some maple flavored treats. We also ran into a few of our friends from playgroup, something that makes me love living here. I hope that weekends like this will be great memories for our kids.

Can you see the blue tubes collecting
the sap from the trees?

This is what the sap looks like at the beginning of the process.

Fresh and hot maple syrup.

Paul walking the boys over the bridge.
(I held my breath the whole time!)

Irelyn enjoying her pancake.

Payson loved the pancakes,
but wouldn't try the syrup.

Enjoying the wagon ride.

Beckett eating his maple ice cream cone.

Payson showing me his ice cream.

Payson was obsessed with looking
at his reflection. It was pretty cute.

Payson trying some maple cream on a pretzel.

Ms. Lori (our playgroup director) showing Payson the big tub of syrup.

Paul and Payson walking back to the car.
He wanted to help carry something. LOL.