First Peek at Baby #3

We had an ultrasound today of baby #3. The girls came with us and Arilyn was really into it. She loved seeing the heartbeat. Addison was of course oblivious and just kept saying baby! These might be a little hard to see, but you'll get the idea!

It's amazing that you can actually see the profile when it only weighs 4 ounces!

Here's a little hand!

And here's what everyone wants to know...It's a boy!!

Another view of the important parts!

Family Visit

My brother and his family came to visit us last week. They stayed at our house for a few days and spent the rest of the week at a beach house in New Hampshire. It was great to see everyone, but I wish we would have had better weather for them. Rain, rain, and more rain.

Beach Day One...

The girls and I went up to New Hampshire with my brother's family for a few days. The weather was horrible. It was cold and rainy! But we went to the beach anyway. Arilyn wanted to put her feet in the water, so Mike was walking her to the water.

And here she is running away from the water! If you closely at Mike's face you'll see how cold the water was. It was FREEZING!!!

Addison wouldn't even get close to the water. She was too cold.

Arilyn got her pants wet in the waves and then was really cold. One of the waves knocked Arilyn's flip flop off and boy did she scream! She thought the ocean was going to take it away. Luckily, Uncle Mike was there to save the day. When she finally looked down and realized he had it, she started laughing. It was funny.

And here we are hanging out in the house due to the rain! 

Edwina reading a book to Addison.

They were supposed to have fireworks one night on the beach, which we were all excited for, but they were cancelled...due to the weather! I brought Arilyn and Addison's heavy sweatshirts, but Addison was still cold, so my niece, Edwina shared her sweatshirt with Addison.

The Beach Day Two...

The weather was supposed to be better the next day and all in all it was the best day yet, but still pretty ominous. The sun did come out later in the day so everyone got a little sun.

Uncle Mike digging with Addison.

My nieces, Benita and Melinda with Arilyn. I don't know how, but Benita and Melinda went swimming in the water and played in the waves for a long time. They even got yelled at by the life guard because they were going out too far! Even Edwina got in later in the day. The water was so cold, I don't know how they could stand it, but they had a good time.

Arilyn trying to be brave and go in the water. She never made it very far. I think one wave crashed and got her belly wet. 

Edwina tried to get Addison to come in the water, but as soon as the water would touch her feet, Addison would start screaming and run away. She's a smart girl!

Addison stayed away from the water and just played in the sand.

We attempted to get a picture of me and my girls, but Addison wouldn't look at the camera. She was worried that the waves were going to get her! She kept saying 'Water too cold!'

Addison doing more digging.

The sun went behind the clouds and it got pretty chilly. The girls were watching Melinda and Benita swim.

Arilyn trying to make a sand castle.

Addison sitting with my brother and sister-in-law, Linda. Notice they both have books. My brother wanted to read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince before the movie comes out- I think he got through all but about 50 pages- again...due to the crappy weather!

The 25th was Benita's birthday, so here she is opening her presents.

Edwina carried Arilyn out pretty far into the waves. Every time a wave came in Arilyn's legs would go straight out so she didn't get wet. What was hilarious was that night Arilyn woke me up about 4 times throughout the night because all of the sudden she would tear off the covers and put her legs straight up in the air like she did in the water. I was a little irritated at first because she kept waking me up, but once I figured out what she was doing I laughed so hard!

Addison was yelling at Benita to come back out of the water.

Addison kept wearing Benita's sunglasses.

Boston...

The last day, we went to Boston. We tried to do the Freedom Trail, which takes you on a tour of a lot of historical sites throughout Boston like the State Building, Paul Revere's house, and the USS Constitution. We only made it to the 3rd of 4th stop when it started raining. Arilyn and Addison had developed running noses and coughs and weren't feeling the greatest, so we ended up leaving early. My brother and his family stuck it out and it turned out to be a beautiful day. They got to see a lot more and enjoyed the afternoon. This was the King's Chapel Burying Ground, one of the oldest burying grounds in Boston.

This was the head stone of Elizabeth Pain, who the story of the Scarlet Letter was supposedly written about. I loved that book in high school, so I thought this was pretty neat. They say that the code of arms in the left corner shows the 'A.'

I had never heard of this guy before, but it was the first tomb we looked at. The last name is Townsend, which is my mom's maiden name. Who knows if we're related, but I thought it was pretty neat. He was a volunteer surgeon at the Battle of Bunker Hill. 

This was at Granary Burying Ground. This is Paul Revere's tomb. Other people buried here are Benjamin Franklin's parents and all five of the Boston Massacre victims.

Samuel Adams was also buried here. 

Arilyn & Addison were not having a very good time in Boston. They wouldn't even smile for the camera. We left shortly after this.

New Patio

Shawn was on vacation last week. We didn't have any plans to go anywhere, so we decided to build a new patio. Here is the progression...

The before picture. Shawn staked out the dimensions.

Here are all the bricks and the anxious girls ready to help!

This was the big pile of rocks we had delivered for the base. Arilyn was so excited to help Daddy. She got her wheel barrel and shovel and literally helped Shawn until all the rocks were in the patio. She was so proud of herself and I was very proud of her. She was an awesome helper!

I thought this picture was funny because Shawn and Arilyn were doing everything in sync. Arilyn did everything Daddy did. When Shawn was done filling his wheel barrel he'd put his shovel back in the rocks so it would stand up and Arilyn would do the exact same thing. It was very funny to watch!

Filling the base with the rocks.

Here is Ellie's contribution! It was very warm, so I guess she was trying to stay cool.

Ready for the sand!

Once we put the sand in, the girls went crazy playing in it! I really thought that they were thinking that we were really building them a huge sandbox! They were a little disappointed when they had to stop playing.

Arilyn even got out her sand castle molds and made sand castles!

Finally!! It only took us 3 days to finish, but it was a lot of hard work! I wanted to wait to take pictures when it wasn't raining, but honestly, I don't think we're ever going to have a sunny day again, so I had to take them in the rain.

Another view.

We haven't gotten much use out of it yet because of all the rain, but it will be well used...if it ever stops raining!

Visit from Grandma Campbell

Shawn's mom came to visit us this past week. We spent a day in Boston, went to a little zoo, and had lots of fun with Grandma. Arilyn & Addison loved having her here and were sad to see her go.

Our Day in Boston

Shawn, his mom, and the girls by the harbor in South Boston.

We walked to the Boston Public Garden, which was beautiful! There was a really nice playground and of course we had to play!

Grandma & Addison playing.

There were really cute frog statues around the playground, so the girls were posing for pictures with the frogs.

Arilyn sitting with the frog.

This frog had a life preserver that he was holding, but it looked like a little seat. Addison thought it looked like a potty. When she sat down she kept saying- poop on potty. It was funny.

This frog had a hole in its mouth that will probably spray water in warmer weather. Addison found it and was trying to figure out what it was.

The girls and the frog.

Arilyn kept climbing up this frog to see how high she could go.

I have no idea what kind of flowers these were, but they were so neat. They looked like big puff balls. They were really pretty.

Addison with the pretty flowers.

After we left the garden, we ran into some Boston police officers on horses. The horses were so pretty and big. Arilyn and Addison loved them. The officer on the black one behind this horse kept making his horse whinny. It was loud, but the girls just laughed and laughed.

Our Day at the Zoo

We went to a little zoo not far from our house. It doesn't have the most exotic of animals, but the girls really enjoy going. I'm not sure what's going on in this picture. I think they were trying to say cheese, but ended up with silly looks on their faces.

There is food that you can feed to the animals. Addison was feeding the goat.

Surprisingly, Arilyn fed the goat, too. She thought it was pretty funny and tickled her hand.

These were the fattest raccoons I have ever seen. I guess they get fed well in the zoo!

I thought this was funny. I'm not sure what this is, maybe an alpaca, but it was laying in the food thing eating. How lazy!