Happy 4th of July Post!

So I'm sitting in my office trying to climb the mountain of emails that were sent to me over the long weekend and I have to say that I have a severe "Case of the Tuesday's". Long weekends are GREAT but going back to work after them is always so hard. So here we are the day after the long 4th of July weekend and it's "photo dump" time. There are a LOT of photos in this post, but trust me editing down 450+ photos to about 25 or 30 was really hard, lots of great ones. Friday we planned on going to Boston's SOWA Open Artist galleries and studios and then were pleasantly surprised when Michael (the other half of THD) & Adriana (of Just By Living) said they were going to join us! What we did not plan for was everyone being STARVING and it being near impossible to find a place to eat that was kid friendly, had more than one high chair and also didn't have a 2 hour wait. We decided on The Beehive which is a self described "bohemian eatery" in the South End of Boston. The food was amazing and the kids has a great time playing at the outdoor seating area. Sierra even got to be part of a wedding party! By the time we finished dinner and hit up a playground everyone was pooped and it was late so although we didn't see any art we still had a great time.

Sierra sharing her flower with Henry @ The Beehive

Adriana enjoying her yummy sangria :)

Sierra pretending to be the flower girl for the wedding party!

After dinner we headed to a local playground.

Henry cruising in his Quinny.

Not their best photos but I love it anyway, they look like they are at a dance party being photographed by our buddy James Colletta! (p.s. check his stuff out here!)

I absolutely love this photo of mama and Sierra, Mama you forgot your purse!
p.s. Mama just wrote an awesome blog post on breastfeeding: here

So no art, but a great night none the less. We took the train (and a bus) home and all passed out of exhaustion. The next morning we went to our normal Saturday brunch with "Aunty Kiki" a.k.a. Kaitlin Maud. After a ton of coffee, bagels and (vegan) french toast we headed to this little parkish area and enjoyed some sun and flowers before heading home to straighten up our apartment before Uncle Will and Aunty Jill came to visit. Once they finally arrived we rented a Zipcar (our new obsession!) and headed out to Revere beach for a little late afternoon beach time fun. Aunty Kiki came with us too as her husband (Uncle A.J.) was away for work. The weather was really nice and fun was had by all of course.

Sierra posing for the camera at the "parkish" area after coffee.

When we leave the house we HAVE TO bring basically everything we own or it's meltdown time. So we brought Biddy Baby, Nini (aka bath baby), three purses and our Maclaren Baby Quest Doll Stroller.

We finally made it to the beach and was a wonderful time. Sierra is a bit scared of the ocean so normally clings to either myself or mama for the first few minutes but eventually settles in and enjoys herself.

Me and two of my favorite ladies, Sierra was off burying Nini in the sand.

Sierra still a bit tentative about the whole beach thing but really cute anyway. 

I wish Nini's hand wasn't in this but I love this photo of her anyway.

Uncle Will snapping photos, Aunty Jill reviewing photos, Aunty Kiki checking Twitter
...Yeah that's about right.

So after the beach fun we headed home and put Sierra down to sleep and had a little pre-4th cookout and drinks. We listened to records, watched a little TV and played a little "corn hole". It was great to spend so much time with good friends and we had an amazing fun filled day. After about 4 hours of sleep we woke up and took a Zipcar down to the Freetown State Forest for a dual Birthday party for my sister's twin girls (2 years old!) and the most amazing man ever, my Father. (Happy 46th Dad!). All week my mother kept telling me she had a surprise waiting for me at home and couldn't wait to give it to me. I had no idea what it would be but after getting lost for about 45 minutes in the woods we made it to the party and were pleasantly surprised to see my other sister who lives in Maine with my 3 nieces and nephews had come down for the day too! This is the first time we have all been together in one place in years and it was an absolutely perfect day with my entire family.

This is my beautiful sister Sherrie who I love with all my heart and was so excited / surprised to see!

Here is my Dad with ALL his grand children in one photo!
From left to right: Dad, Ashley, Lexi, Autumn, Cora, Sierra and Timmy.

My father with all his children AND grand children!
From left to right: Dad, Ashley, Alison, Autumn, Lexi, Sierra, Sherrie, Cora, Me & Timmy.

Sierra on the catwalk apparently in her adorable new swimsuit.

Here is my sister Alison's adorable daughter Ashley.

Uncle Will & Timmy

My brother in law John and his darling daughter.

Sierra and Tia Jill playing a game.

Sierra and her cousin Cora modeling.

Sierra with her cousins Cora and Lexi (who has pink hair!! Radical!)

My sister Alison's big blue eyes daughter Autumn on her 2nd birthday!

My sister Sherrie snagging a kiss from Sierra during snack time.

After the party we stayed the night, got some laundry done and just relaxed as we were too tired to drive back to Boston. The next day was finally the 4th of July! I painted a bookshelf (an entire entry on that project coming when I finish it!), we cleaned our apartment and Sierra took a VERY long nap (growth spurt anyone?). After that we went to Uncle AJ and Aunty Kiki's apartment for some cookout shenanigans and then called it an early night. All and all it was a wonderful weekend spent with friends and family. We will have a new giveaway very shortly (for a hint to what it is click here) and a few new posts as well! If you have a spare second please click the banner below to vote for us on TBB, xo -C

Pamper's Little Miracles Father's Day Cookout!

It's 5:30PM and the little one is down for a nap because she is so exhausted, we all are. We had a VERY busy morning! We were invited by our new friend C.C. Chapman to attend a exclusive Father's Day cookout being sponsored by Pamper's and their 50th Anniversary Little Miracles Campaign (which we wrote about here). It was a very fun day and we were honored to be among the 30 families invited.

We arrived a bit late due to the Bruins Parade taking place in Boston but got there just in time to partake in some Baby Yoga. Hendrix and Sierra were a bit nervous but with a little help from Dad and Dad we got our stretch on real quick.

Both hands to the toes!

Sierra looking at something, not sure what though. C.C. in the background working on his film which we are both going to be in and are very excited to see!

Here Hendrix is eating a fine delicacy: The Knuckle Sandwich.

Sierra pouting when we tried to get her to play the parachute game.

Sierra's beautiful mother, Lauren instagramming some photos.

I asked Michael and Henry to take a nice photo which they did. I asked Christian to do the same and did not get the same results (see next photo).

Whenever Christian is asked to take a photo you get a wonderful face like this, he's basically the most photogenic person I know, p.s. how awesome is the skull sweater?

After a bunch of fun games it was time to chow down on the meal provided by the NE Aquarium and Pampers.  Thanks guys!! Mmmmm.

The last activity before hitting the Aquarium was a raffle for some awesome prizes! Including a Tricycle, Movie Tickets and the Grand Prize of a Flip Ultra HD camcorder! When they asked for a child volunteer to pick the winners Sierra and I stepped right up. Guess who we picked to win the grand prize?

YEP! Michael and his family won the video camera! I assure you it was not rigged. Sierra is just a good picker I guess. She also picked some free IMAX movie tickets for mama and myself, who's babysitting?

After all the festivities outside it was time to head inside to check out the Aquarium. We have been before but it is always fun and the kids seem to enjoy it more and more each time. The first stop was the penguins which are always fun to watch swim and play. 

Here Sierra is enjoying a close up view of some tropical fish. She kept saying "FISH! FISH!" and making her fishy face which we've been practicing for weeks now.

The NE Aquarium located in the heart of Boston only steps from the TD Bank North Garden was in full support of our hometown Bruins winning the cup as you can see from their Stanely Cup on the bottom of the fish tank!  

Look everyone, Michael has crabs!

I kid you not this is a real picture. Michael uses "6 to 8" sugars in his coffee... I tried telling him if he needs that much sugar perhaps he should switch to chocolate milk or apple juice. YUCK.

Next we headed to the seal tank which Sierra LOVED. 

We all had a wonderful time and were very tired by the end of the day!

Pampers 50th Anniversary Miracles Campaign

Michael and I have been invited to an exclusive event at the New England Aquarium being hosted by Pampers. The event is Saturday June 18 and we hope to see some of you there! The event is to bring 30 dads and dad bloggers together to network, socialize, and be recognized for their role in supporting others while generating awareness about the Pampers Miracles Campaign on Facebook. Pampers is celebrating their 50th anniversary by kicking off their Miracles Campaign which embraces 50 years of parenting and recognizes that every baby is a little miracle. They are trying to give 'little miracles' to families everywhere in the form of prizes like free diapers for a year and other really helpful things for parents. All year, Pampers will announce different tasks (or missions) on their Facebook page. With your commitment to support a little miracle in your life, Pampers will respond to touch the lives of many more! We will personally be taking part in some of these missions and doing what we can to provide families or families to be with little miracles! You should to! To participate in a Pampers Little Miracle Mission, you can visit Pampers Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pampers.

Sierra's 2nd Birthday!

When I was a kid birthday's seemed so easy, eat a bunch of cake, get a bunch of toys and then take a nap but now that I'm the one throwing it, it seems a lot more stressful. Sierra's birthday is in mid-august and I've already started thinking about what theme we will do, where it will be, who will come, etc. Although sort of stressful it's also so much fun, I had a blast planning last year's and am excited that Sierra will be older and enjoy herself more this time. Does anyone have any good suggestions for themes? I'm at a loss!

Sierra's first birthday was a MONSTER PICNIC and it went so well that I feel we have a lot to live up to! At the time we were living in a small apartment in Somerville that had no backyard so we held the party in a local park and it was a beautiful day. I handmade all her invites, each one was different and they were a ton of fun to make! Mama made the cake and cupcakes from scratch which were so delicious my mouth is watering even a year later. A lot of people bought us "monster themed" gifts that Sierra and we loved. It was a really fun day and I hope this year is just as much fun and then some. Here are some super cute photos from it:

This was the handmade cake by Mama, I made the letters though!

There were tons of babies in attendance, including the other ½ of The Hipster Dad's baby, Hendrix, who was just learning to walk as you can see --- FACEPLANT!

Sierra loved her cake but was a little confused why 40 people were staring at her when she was eating it.

Here are some of the invites I made! This is Freddy and Samara (of The Ring)

Frankenstein and Vomit Breath

Dracula and Frenchie

The information for the party was on the back of the puppets.

Our buddy Kaitlin even brought a cute bunny!