Marissa's visit

My friend Marissa was up in Massachusetts for a visit so when she is up we are very busy! On Monday (labor day) we went to the Woodstock Fair. It was fun but it was really crowded! After a few hours into being there I suddenly wasn't feeling well. I thought I was just getting overwhelmed by the crowds. When we left and got into the parking lot I felt a little better so I thought getting away from the crowds was the solution... until I got home. When I got home my stomach was bothering me. The next thing I knew I was throwing up from both ends for 4 hours straight. I have never been that sick in my life. I don't know if it was food poisoning or a stomach bug but whatever it was it was aweful. The next day big Eric went to work and threw up in the parking lot and was sent home. He seemed to have completely different symptoms then I had but needless to say we were very thankful for daycare that Tuesday because we were able to get Eric out of the germs and be taken care of.
On Wednesday we were recovered except I had a stomach ache that didn't go away for a few more days. Needless to say I still made room for pizza for our usual papa ginos night. On Friday we went to Wrights Farm and Saturday was a girls night out. It was nice to have her here for my last week before school started.
On Sunday she left and Eric and I dropped the little guy off at my parent's house so we could have a date day. We went to the Highland Country Club in Grafton and ate at the John Henry Tavern. The burgers were unbelievable! And we were able to watch some of the Patriots game. We left at halftime and then went bowling in Milford. It was very expensive but lots of fun. It was the big balls which neither of us had done before (besides on the Wii!). At the end of the lanes they had huge screens with the Patriots game on so we were able to watch the game and bowl! We had a lot of fun. It was nice to have some time together before life gets crazy.


There's that pretty little Savannah with Marissa's mom and step dad

Apparently after our visit to Wrights Sydney declared that she is going to marry Eric Charles. Here she is showing the love!

This was a duck game at the fair. Eric picked a duck and then won a prize. He just wanted to jump in and swim with the ducks!

Eric took Eric Charles on this crazy bus ride. They did it once and then Eric was shaking the gate trying to get on it again so they did it one more time.

This was something that I thought was very cruel at the fair. They had these horses pulling blocks of cement as some sort of contest. It was really not pleasant to watch. But Eric liked the horses at least!

Holy pumpkin!

This was a racecar that you can sit in for a photograph.

I thought it would be cool to get a picture of Eric being put into the car by a man in uniform.

There she is, that cutie Vannah!

Tickle Tickle!

Baaa

I found this part of the fair kind of gross. They just had a bunch of animals in cages and it was smelly and hot in there and there were a lot of people. But the kids loved it!

Happy Birthday Auntie Karen

When I was looking at the pictures that I have on my camera I realized that I did not blog these pictures. For my sister's birthday I cut out a shape of a flower and I had Eric paint it. So Auntie Karen, here he is painting your picture!

my apologies

It has taken me a while to get back on my blog so I want to apologize to all my impatient readers. I had ordered a new laptop and right before I got it my computer got a virus (and I'm not placing blame but it was my husband's fault!). So I have been working on getting my laptop all set up and getting pictures on it etc. But have no fear, I am back. Life has gotten quite hectic lately. I started school again this week and next week I start my internship. I have been really excited for school to start back up but now that it has I am a little anxious to make this all work. I also am starting a new job so I have a lot of changes going on and I am just looking forward to settling into my job, internship and school.
School was great last night. It was so nice to see all my classmates again. We all stay together and take the same classes for the first two years. Everyone is going through similar things that I am and stress and anxiety so it feels good to have the support. My first class was ok. I am looking forward to the reading material because it is all about how to be a clinical social worker and that is my field so I am excited to find out how to provide therapy to clients. Especially since that is what my internship is all about. My second class was a macro class. I loved it not because I have any interest in macro but because I find the professor fascinating. He is the CEO of You Inc, a huge human service agency in the Worcester area. I feel like he has so much to offer us so I'm excited and honored to learn to him. Ok now on with the blogging!

silly kid

Eric was being very silly this morning. He was trying to jump and then he'd end up in a somersault. I don't know where he learned to do a somersault but every once in a while he'll do it and it's so funny. I didn't think I would be able to get this on video but he did it right on cue!

Happy 21st birthday to me!

Well it's that time of year... I'm officially another year older. I had a nice day with my family at night. We had Harry's pizza and cake yummy! Even though we have a tiny apartment everyone still managed to fit and have a nice time. The kids enjoyed themselves and my husband did a good job sitting on his hands because he really wanted to wrestle with all the kids but there is just not enough room here for that with a full house! At one point there were a lot of balls flying around the living room but nobody got hurt! Here's some pictures to chronicle my day.
The day before my birthday Eric was in charge of making my cake. I don't know why he had to take his shirt off before he made it but here he is working away while Eric waits with the cake holder:





Daddy showing Eric the nice picture frame that my sister and her family got for me. It has a bunch of pictures of Eric and some of us together. It's really nice


Dylan having a jam session (Eric Charles was on the mic!)

Trying to play Dylan's computer with Pepe

Ryan trying not to get trampled but all the kids

Eli tickling Eric's feet

Eli's little sister is a day older than Ryan. They were even born in the same hospital. I feel a love connection!

After the party was over we had to do a major clean up. Especially of the kitchen. There was cake all over the floor. Eric Charles was in charge of the sweeping (or so he insisted!). There's also a video of him cleaning up. He actually did a pretty good job and managed to make a nice little pile! We're going to have to start giving him an allowance soon!

the weekend

We had a fairly quiet weekend. Today we just hung around the house mostly because of the yucky weather. Saturday we went to a BBQ at a friend's house. Eric had a blast. He practically dove into the sandbox at their house. He also loved playing with the other kids. It's so cute to watch him timidly go up to the other kids and just play near them in the hopes that they'll play with him :).
Here's some cute random pics and videos from the weekend:

Eric's become fascinated with Daddy's sunglasses lately. We had bought him his own pair with a strap on it because we thought it was the only way we could get him to wear sunglasses if we went to the beach or something. Well now he loves them so we'll have to buy him some real sunglasses. When he wears them he's constantly poking the glasses as if he's trying to poke himself in the eye. They are kind of tight to his face so his long eyelashes probably rub up against the glass but he likes it when he wears them and we call him a "cool dude." He loves them so much he fell asleep in the truck with them on.


As I mentioned in a previous entry, he loves reading books and mostly to himself lately. His favorite thing is to sit on our bed and read. It's even funnier when he pulls the covers over his lap too (he didn't when this picture was taken).

Last weekend we were watching a show and on it two guys shook hands. Right afterwards Eric came up and shook my hand and then Daddy's hand. I didn't realize at first that he was copying the guys on the show. He still does it sporadically and I was able to get it on video because it's so funny and random. The best is that after he shakes our hands he shakes his own hand! I had to do two different videos because in one of them he wouldn't shake his own hand but I caught him doing it a few minutes later.

Mmmm!

Tonight I whipped up a quick dinner when I got home from work. I made Eric a grilled cheese to keep him satisfied while I finished the rest of the meal for Eric and I. I made chicken, potatoes, and corn on the cob. In case anyone is interested I made Big Eric's chicken different then mine because he whines about how he doesn't like chicken so I try to make it a way he'll like it. I put mayo on both sides of the chicken breast and then sprinkle taco seasoning over each side. I bake it on a cookie sheet lined with foil for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. He says it's delicious!

I gave Eric Charles a bowl of mashed potatoes because he loves them. The last time we had corn on the cob he ended up eating some of the corn off my cob and I will do anything to get vegetables in him so I saved some of my corn for him... and of course we took a video because he's so grown up!