We made our own Peppa Pig book

Sierra has recently become OBSESSED with Peppa Pig, a UK based show about a little pig and her friends and family. The other day she told me a story she made up about Peppa going to daycare so we decided to make it into a little book. Total time: 20 mins. Check it out below.

Tools needed:

• Paper
• Sharpie
• Crayons
• 3 Hole Punch
• Yarn
• Scotch Tape

HOLY SHIT this is funny.

Parenting: You win some you lose some.

This was a post I started writing 6 months ago and never finished but figured I might as well post it anyway. Enjoy.
-Craig

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This morning was tough. I mean really tough. When I woke Sierra up, all she wanted was her Mom. The scene played out like this: me trying to dress a 3 year old while she SCREAMED and cried for "Mammmmmmaaaa!!", tears flowing down her face, boogers streaming from her nose into her mouth, hair matted against her cheeks, going boneless, underwear half on and me with my head buried in my hands trying to breathe deep yoga breaths and compose myself enough to figure out how to get this child dressed without screaming and crying as well. We eventually both calmed down and got the job done but only after some snuggles, rocking and "shhh shhh shhh-ing". The rest of the morning went a lot smoother and happier. She helped me peanut butter her mini-bagel, we sang songs, we learned the letter V and we got out the door only 30 minutes late.

Moments like this can feel defeating. The 'terrible threes' are hard and theres no way around it. But there are also the wins, the moments where you are so full of happiness and love you just want to squeeze your kid forever and can't whipe the big shit eating grin off of your face.

SIERRA STARTED SCHOOL!

So a few weeks ago I started a blog post on how Sierra was about to start school (see below) but life got busy and I never finished it. So anyway she's been in school for a few weeks and it's been pretty great. She's very happy, loves going and has met a lot of new friends. There were a few hiccups though: Some kid said "I don't like you" to her (and I got a lot of good / vulgar feedback about it on Facebook) and an after-school person gave her a non-vegan cupcake even though it's clearly listed on allergy sheets. Besides those two little things it's been a lovely experience and I'm enjoying her daily updates about what she's doing, getting to hear about all her new friends and I am looking forward to watching her grow throughout the year.

Will post more about my little kindergartener soon! -Craig


PS. I will probably post a blog entry on the 'i don't like you thing' at some point. Got a lot of solid feedback on how to deal with it, read a lot of great stuff online etc and figure I might as well pull it all together for a "How we dealt with it" post. Later this week maybe!

PSS. Feel free to leave a comment about your back to school experiences / If you've ever had to deal with / explain to your child why someone would tell them they don't like them. #Feelings

--

In about 2 weeks Sierra starts school and it's all I can think about. I've seen photos from friends with kids who have already started going back and the instagrams full of screaming and tears makes me pretty nervous of how Sierra is going to react on her first day.

She says she's excited and can't wait but that may change when the time to actually go inside and be left by your parents comes.
 

CommonSense.org

Samuel L. Jackson teaching you that it's your responsibility as a parent to check ratings on movies and video games instead of blaming the actors / creators. AMAZING!

More Info: http://commonsense.org

My birthday AKA Thank you Ironworker guy!

So I turned 27 on this month. That still counts as mid-20's right? Please?

Anyway about that Ironworker. For my birthday present to myself I bought a motor scooter! I've wanted one for awhile to get to and from work quickly and just around the city in general when the misses is using our car. So I scoured Craigslist and found a good deal on a 2010 scooter with only 305 miles and picked it up the day before my birthday and I LOVE IT. I've been using it to get to work, around the city and just joy rides for 2 weeks now and couldn't be happier with it.

That was until this morning* when halfway to work at a red light it just shut off and woudn't come back on. So I'm sitting in bumper to bumper Boston morning traffic on a 200+ pound scooter and have to push it to the corner / up onto the sidewalk while some guy (asshole) behind me is honking.

So after about 30 seconds of "Did I buy a lemon?!" and "I think I got screwed!!" I try restarting it, giving it a little gas but nothing. I look at the battery, not that I'd know what to look for, and figure maybe it's a dead battery or low fuel. Luckily I broke down right near a gas station so I push it there and put some gas in the tank and try starting again and still nothing. As I'm waiting for my cab to arrive to bring me to work a gruff looking man of about 50 on a scooter pulls up to me and asks what the problem is. I explain and he tells me he's been fixing scooters for years and proceeds to get down on the ground and fiddle with the engine. After about 30 seconds he tells me to try starting it up. It rolls over instantly and is running perfectly. He explains I flooded the engine when trying to restart it and should be fine now. We spoke briefly, mostly me thanking him a thousand times, he tells me he's a local iron worker and that he hopes I have a great day.

Anyway it meant a lot to me that someone would stop on their way to work to help someone they don't know. Maybe there is a shred of humanity and decency left in this world.

THANK YOU IRON WORKER GUY. YOU MADE MY DAY.

* "this morning" was actually last week. I started writing this post then but only finished / posted now.

"cuz he's black" by Javon Johnson

Please take 3 minutes out of your day to watch this.

Happy 4th birthday Sierra!

Well hello there. It's been (almost) 2 months since we've blogged. Lot's to talk about  (make excuses for why we haven't blogged) but I'll save that for another post.

The reason I came here to post today is because it's my daughter's FOURTH BIRTHDAY. She's four, it feels weird to even type that. Four sounds so much older than three. This time last year we were gearing up for her to go back to daycare and this year we're trying on school uniforms. YES school, Sierra starts K1 in September! I can't believe how fast she is growing and learning these days.

She astounds me every single day with the things she knows and does and I feel so lucky to be able to help her along the way. Before I start crying, I'll just say: Happy Birthday Sierra!

Love,
Dad

Sierra the comedian.

Sierra has randomly been telling me jokes. Yesterday we were in the car and from the backseat I hear: 

Sierra: "Daddy why don't ducks drink milk?
Me: "I don't know, why not?"
Sierra: "BECAUSE THEY DONT HAVE WHEELS!! HHHEHAHH"
Me: "Oh. Good joke. Who taught you that?"
Sierra: "Nobody. I just knew it!"

I look forward to hearing more of her comedic genius and will be sure to post them here.

-Craig

What a weekend a.k.a. WE GOT ENGAGED!

What a weekend!

Saturday morning Lauren's mother, Nana, came to get Sierra for an over night sleepover (first time ever!) and Lauren and I were going for a night away alone (first time ever!) to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. We wanted to stay nearby so we went an hour or so North of Boston to Hampton, NH. Hampton is a small town with a long boardwalk full of restaurants, bars and arcades running along side a big beautiful beach. We had visited Hampton once before in the winter and have always wanted to see in it's summer season.

Packing

Leaving our lovely city.

We left Boston around noon and headed north for the night. We had a lovely drive listening to and singing along to the cheesiest music possible; Dashboard Confessional was in heavy rotation. Once arriving in New Hampshire we were both famished so we stopped at Good Karma Café, a delicious raw vegan gluten-free place in Exter. If you are heading through NH and have dietary restrictions (or even if you don't) I highly suggest you stop here - the food was wonderful!

Uplifting sign as you enter the restaurant. Thanks Good Karma Café!

After lunch we went to our hotel to drop off our things and take a quick dip in the pool and a nice relaxing lounge in the jacuzzi before heading up to our room to search for fun things to do (on our iPad. Thanks for the present Gramma!). Hampton is full of things to do, including tattoos and mini golf which is of course what we decided to do. We found a place that had great reviews and photos of their work just down the road from the hotel called Jim's Tattoos and decided to check it out. We both got quick little tattoos and love the way they came out! If you're ever in Hampton and in need of a tattoo i suggest Jim's HIGHLY! They do great work, it's affordable, friendly and FAST!

Our New Tattoos.

After that we went and played 16 holes of mini-golf and I kicked Lauren's ass (by two whole strokes). After my PGA quality game we rushed home, changed into fancier clothes and rushed out to dinner.

Dinner was amazing - seriously. Blue Moon Evolution is an awesome vegetarian & vegan friendly restaurant that is in situated in an old restored barn in Exeter, NH. It's dimly lit by candles and string lighting, has a great menu and the service was top notch. If you're vegan and in need of a good date spot in New Hampshire this is it - no contest. For an after dinner drink we went to 10 Water Street down the road on the river and Lauren even let me watch the 3rd period of the Hawks v. Kings game... THAT LATE GOAL RIGHT?! 

Blue Moon Evolution and 11 Water Street - both great spots!!

After our drink we headed to the Boardwalk back in Hampton and went for a lovely walk and even hit up an old school arcade to play skee ball. We grabbed one more drink nearby and headed to the beach to star gaze.

The arcade and our loot.

By this time it was nearing midnight, making it June 9th, officially our anniversary. I'll spare you the mushy details of my proposal but she said YES and thats all that matters!

We had a child first, then we moved in together and now we're getting married. Not the traditional order of events but it's worked for us. I feel incredibly lucky to be engaged to such a gorgeous, smart, caring and supportive woman who I have a beautiful daughter with and I couldn't be happier or be more lucky.

-Craig