Drummond Park

There were a lot of changes for us in Septmber. Dave started work at a new school, Mairead started going to school full days, and we had a whole new routine.  It was strange, still is, really, to have just the boys all day.  Don't get me wrong, I am still outnumbered, but it just feels like we are missing something in our day.  I almost feel bad doing something fun because Mairead will miss it.  For as long as the boys have been alive, we have been a little team (or traveling circus) and we have gone everywhere together.  I know that she loves school and that she is having fun there, but I still miss her!  The boys do, too.  Even now, they will still ask where she is, when we are going to get her, etc.  Ben, especially, will tell me that he misses her and wants her to come home from school.  So sweet!

 

Luckily, the boys still have each other!  They are so funny- they truly are best friends and they are usually very sweet to one another.  Every once in a while there is a battle over a train or toy, but mostly they like to hug, help each other, and play together.  Jack is definitely the boss and Ben will usually be happy to go along with whatever Jack has planned.  Lately, though, Ben has been coming to me saying, "Jackie's being bossy."  But, they still just want to be together all the time.  I have had to separate them at nap time because otherwise they don't sleep.  Ben cries every time I tell them they are going to have separate naps.  He misses his big brother!

One September day, we met up with Katie, Lily, and Kellan at a playground in North Andover.  Drummond Park is a very nice playground with tons of great climbing equipment.  It is fenced in on three sides, with one side opening to a very large soccer field.  Little ones would have to get down a pretty big hill in order to get to the fields, so it's not too bad when you are chasing more than one kid.  Now that Katie's family lives closer to us, we get to see them more often and we all love that!  The boys are 9mos older than Lily and people often mistake them for triplets.  I was holding Kellan at the park and one grandmother said, "Oh my, you have triplets and a baby!??!"   I calmed her down and reassured her that I no, I didn't have triplets and a baby.  Just twins with a sister 19 mos older.  She didn't seem to think that was all that much better.  One other woman commented on the twins and asked if I had others.  When I told her yes, she said, "Oh my God, I don't know how you didn't shoot yourself."  Um, thanks?  I guess?  I don't know why so many people see having twins or twins plus one as being the end of the world.  Is it hard?  Yes.  But I would never see it as a bad thing!  I also don't know why people can't keep their negative opinions to themselves, but that's another story...

Anyway, we had a great time at Drummond.  The only real drawback for me was that they do not have picnic tables.  Snacks are very important to us and we like to have comfortable snack eating locations.  The kids had a blast chasing each other all over the park and playing together, so it was a very nice morning!

Zain's Birthday Party

Yeah, we went to a lot of birthday parties this fall!  We are lucky to have so many great friends who invite us to be part of their special days!  Zain is a little boy from Jack and Ben's class, and his family invited us to the party at Imajine That, which is a really great indoor playplace in Lawrence. It was the first time that the boys have been invited to a birthday party without Mairead, and it was kind of nice to see them making their own friends.  She handled it really well, which was great.  They are all so close in age that I am sure they will always have some mutual friends, but I know they will each develop friendships of their own as they get older. 

 

Imajine that has tons of things to climb on, hide in, ride on, and bounce on.  They also have a big train table set up, so you can imagine where we spent a lot of our time.  For parties, they partner with Sal's pizza which is downstairs, and the pizza there is excellent!  The kids had a lot of fun! 

Kacey's Birthday Party

We always have fun at the birthday parties for the great kids in our lives, and Kacey's was no exception!  The party was at Kimball Farm in Westford and the weather was absolutely spectacular.  Kimball's is an ice cream stand, but they have SO much to do there.  The boys LOVED the driving range and spent a long time there.  They were pretty good, I have to say!  I wouldn't mind having little golfers in the family.  Mairead took an interest, too, and had a lot of fun swinging the club. 

There was a ton of food (including lobster- Dave was psyched!) and an ice cream buffet.  The kids had so much fun playing with the other kids, going in the bouncy house, and playing horseshoes.  It was a really nice day for us as a family since we got to enjoy fun activities, great food, great friends, and a beautiful fall day.  Thanks, Parcells, for having us!

Kacey turned five, but her little sister, Maeve turned one less than ten days before, so both girls were celebrating that day!

Liam's Birthday Party

Our friend, Liam, was nice enough to invite the kids to his birthday party in September, and it was our first trip to Chuck E. Cheese!  In case you haven't been in a while, they do still have the giant animatronic puppet things that form a band and sing to everyone.  They also have a ton of games and fun things to do.  The kids really loved it there!  Thanks to the Whites for having us!

 

Skee Ball is always a family favorite, even though we still can't quite grasp the underhanded throw.  There is a lot of chucking it overhand as hard as they can... lookout, spectators.