So today marks the 1 year anniversary of our Connecticut house. 365 days ago, we were plunking down a lot of money for our new adventure here. Reflecting back, a lot has happened in that time. Here's a few tidbits:

First, there's the house.

Before painting (circa end of July):


Then after painting a few weeks later:


Declan started Kindergarten:


Then Fall came and we did things like apple picking:


And we had a tree come down:


Zandra became a famous radio personality:


And James actually ran a 5k (sick and totally congested the day after flying home from a business trip):


Our first Christmas in our new house:


And then it snowed:


And snowed:


And snowed:


And then the ice and water damage:


Thankfully, Spring did show up eventually and we now have a garden:


Declan graduated Kindergarten:


And we're all still here, in CT. Sane (for the most part), happy, and another year older and wiser.

What's next? Stay tuned to find out!

Tags: Moving, Declan, Andrew

No updates the last few weeks because we've been busy playing viral tag in this household. Not that that shouldn't be a surprise this time of year, and especially this year with temperatures swinging 40 degrees from one day to the next.

I'm hoping we're finished, with the beginning and end both being Declan. Traveling with a viral momento from Declan made my typical quarterly trip all the more tiring. Only to return to him having another one.

All I can say is, next week, during Spring Break, we better all be healthy!

Tags: Declan, Andrew

So we’re back from our 4 day adventure at Disney World. It was great fun! The kids had a good time (we think) and the two parents enjoyed no work for 4 days. I even deleted the work account from my iPhone to make sure I didn’t check email.

Of course, no vacation is perfect and we’re all back with some varying degree of coughing. Zandra and Andrew are the worst off.

But to prove at least the kids were there, here’s a picture of the kids with Pluto at breakfast.



More pictures later!

Tags: Andrew, Declan

Painting the family room has been “next” on our painting list for quite a while. A few weeks ago, I started tackling this project. I’ve been doing one wall per week (it takes a while to tape and move furniture and stuff).

Of course, the first wall I picked (actually one wall and a part of a second) was the corner that Declan has tended to call home for his activities. It was first not only because it had the lightest furniture to move, but also because Declan had drawn all over the walls with crayon. With the original builder paint on the wall, scrubbing the crayon off was out of the question...

The “after” pictures (I didn’t think to take “before” pictures - click on the pictures for full sized versions):





That chalkboard is actually a usable chalkboard - I picked up some Benjamin Moore chalkboard paint. I figured I would try it - at least it looks really nice.

Tags: Declan, Home Improvement

Last week, we took a family trip to Boston. Zandra had a conference, so we all took the train up to Boston with her.

One thing I learned is that it’s very difficult to get a clear picture of someone on a moving train. Here are some attempts:





Finally got something close:



Because you can’t tell, this is Declan “chillin’” on the train with blanket in lap, juice cup in mouth, headphones on head, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse playing on the iPod.

Tags: Declan

While I was away on business last week, I got one of “those” calls from Zandra. Kind of went like this:

Zandra: “Hi - guess what your son did today?”
Me: “Um, what?”
Zandra: “He wanted some candy at 8am out of the pantry and was told he couldn’t have any.”
Me: “Okay, I agree with that.”
Zandra: “So he got mad and put a hole in the door.”
Me: “What?!?!”
Zandra: “He got mad and put one doorstop through the door and broke the other one off.”

Here’s the pictures of the hole.



Here’s the picture of the broken doorstop.



Can’t wait for those teenage years....

Tags: Declan

We decided to head out for ice cream last night as a family and finally decided to test a theory that we've had for a while.

Question: Does a forward facing car seat fit in the Mini Cooper?

Answer: Yes

So the next question: Does Declan like driving around with the top down on the Mini Cooper?

Answer: Yes

How do we know? Aside from the wide grin on Declan's face for the entire ride last night, when we went to take the Freestyle to go shopping this morning, Declan kept tugging at the door handle of the Mini and looked confused when we put him in the Freestyle.

Tags: Declan