Happy 8th, Noelle!!!!

Sweet, sweet Noelle. You are eight!!!! 

A snapshot of you right now:

- you LOVE ballet and want to be a ballerina when you grow up

- you love to sing and have a beautiful voice

- you still love all things tiny and cute

- you seem to travel in a cloud of glitter and sparkles

- everyone loves you: you had four friends give you a BFF necklace for your birthday

- you are thoughtful and kind and tender

- but when you get mad, you get VERY mad; we call it "tiny rage!!"

- if you have a fight, you are quick to make up and say you're sorry

- you love to snuggle and cuddle, and some mornings you take turns snuggling with all of us: Delilah in her bed, then me, then Daddy, then Disney. 

- Delilah is still your favorite person in the world, even though you two do have the occasional sister spats. The two of you currently enjoy making outfits for Barbies out of whatever materials you can find. The sound of you two in the middle of a giggling fit is your dad's and my favorite sound in the world. 

You had a big weekend of celebration this year!! First, we picked you and your sister up from school on Thursday and drove to Great Wolf Lodge. Oh my goodness, did we have fun. The water park slides and wave pool were a blast, and you even were brave enough to do the ride where you drop straight down!! Y'all also got glitter tattoos, mined for gems, played in the arcade, and went on the MagiQuest. Delilah and Daddy partnered up for the Quest, and I got to be your buddy. We followed every clue, vanquished every goblin & dragon, found all the gold and gems, and helped the fairies and princesses. At the end, you and your sister were knighted. It was so fun. We got back to Lenox just in time for you to go to Olivia's sleepover for her 8th bday on Saturday night. Then Sunday we took you and your friends to Build-a-Bear for your party. We were all exhausted by Sunday night...we'll have just enough time to recover before the Halloween festivities on Wednesday. :)

Sophia, Chloe, you, Olivia, Willow, Ada, Abby, Frances

We saved the sparkler candle for when we got home; last time we used a sparkler candle in public, we set off the fire alarms!

Happy 8th, Ellie Bug. Everyone you meet adores you because you are so full of light; you brighten the world.

Trip to Wareham!

The girls and I were getting nostalgic for our road trip last year, so we decided to have a quick getaway. My only criteria was that our beach house had to be right on the water. I found a cute little house in Wareham, MA, just outside of Cape Cod. We went from Monday to Thursday (Chris had a lot of work to catch up on and was sad to see us go, but also a little relieved by the thought that he would get some much needed quiet time). The night we got there was not fun...for some reason we were all cranky and I was ready to just leave and go back home. But we persevered, ordered some pizza, and all was well. The next two days were spent playing in the sand, building sand castles, searching for hermit crabs, and burying each other in the sand. We went out for ice cream every day.  We also played mini-golf, watched Freaky Friday, ate lobster in Cape Cod, and on our last day, we went to a water park after we checked out of the house. It was super crowded so we didn't go on all the rides, but we still had a ton of fun.

It was a lovely few days. I love traveling with my girls!!!

Partial Summer Recap

What a fun summer!! We spent nearly all of it outside, which is my favorite way to spend summer. In no particular order:

- Delilah did a week of sailing camp with Maddie. She enjoyed it, but said she'd like to do it again when she's older and stronger

- Noelle did a week of circus camp and loved it. Our friend's son, Eli, was there and he said she did great!

- Both girls did Botanical Garden Camp and loved it.

- Grammy Di and Papa H came for a couple weeks. We went to Tanglewood, the Mount, Mass MoCa, Laurel Lake, Cranwell, a baseball game on the 4th of July, and I'm sure a number of other things I'm forgetting. In the middle of it, Diana and her friend Tammy rented a car like Thelma & Louise and took off for Montreal. It was HOT while they were here, but we all had a great time. 

- I got to walk in the Pittsfield 4th of July parade, and I asked Noelle to join me. She got to help walk the giant balloon our group was in charge of...so fun!!

- We took Claire and Frances berry picking

- The girls slept outside on the trampoline

- Lots of sleepovers with friends and time at the lakes and pools

- We climbed our first mountain as a family: Cascade Mountain in the Adirondacks. We camped nearby and one of the most memorable moments was Chris telling off the group in the neighboring campsite for being so loud and inappropriate; he went total Papa Bear to protect his girls. :)  The hike took over five hours so we were all exhausted, but it was fun. I was so proud of Delilah, Noelle, and Disney!

- Delilah went to basketball camp and played softball. Her summer softball team finished second in the league and her spring team won the league!

- Delilah saw West Side Story with the Hennessey's and loved it. 

- And even though it wasn't technically summer yet, I slipped in a photo of Noelle's class on the last day of school, and her Daisy Scout troop trip to Build a Bear. 

Delilah and Evelyn were the only two to shake every hand of the team that beat them in the tournament. Good sportsmanship!

With Noelle, Olivia, and another friend of the Ackermans

With Catherine and Teddy in the stroller :)

Berry picking with Frances

With Frances and Claire

Enjoying Tanglewood. Grammy Di and Papa H are sold on the Berkshires and considering renting a place here during the summers. 

With Willow and Meadow

Giant percussion at Mass MoCA

Delilah staged and took this photo

Pittsfield Suns

With Frances and Veia at the lake

The girls of Ms Dunn's class

Daddy reading a good night story on the trampoline

Summer 2018 has been great so far!!