First Raleigh St. Patty's Day

Who knew Raleigh had such a large Irish contingent?  We headed downtown to explore the festival and watch the parade, and we met up with some friends, too... Irish friends, at that... Finn, like me, loves a good parade! The fried food helped the festivities along.. and Guinness for the adults, too. 

 

parade watching...

yes, that is a John Deere hat... 

Finn and her man, Patrick McGinn- with his mama Annie

Finn with her potential in-laws... Finn McGinn?

celebrating is exhausting...

and right in the middle of nap time. 

but the par-tay must go on for now.

Mason

Before hubs, before babes, there was Mason... A few weeks ago I had to say good-bye to my sweet boy... He came into my life completely unplanned over 11 years ago courtesy of an impromptu trip to Petsmart for Mary's new puppy, Bailey.  I, in a one bedroom apartment with one dog, thought adopting a 125 pound yellow lab with a bad leg was a great idea.    And he became my loyal storybook companion- as a young dog, bad behavior some of the time, best intentions all of the time.   He stayed by my side always, moving from Richmond to Charleston to Baltimore to Ann Arbor to Raleigh... :)  But his favorite place was always the river, where he could run and fetch and sleep on the dock. Age slowed him down, but he was always happy and wanting to be near us...  I learned so many things from this precious animal, and his passing has left a void in my life.  Having him meet Finn meant a lot to me, and appropriately, her first word was "dog". I think he knew. 

The two that came first-  Dixie and Mason...

Then this guy showed up for us...

and then Lily...

...and then there was this little bundle to adjust to... 

His best friend, Bailey- adopted the same day... 

100th post!

We set up this blog while we were in Ann Arbor so long distance family could see photos of the babes as she grew... and now here we are 100 posts later with a full blown toddler running all over the place... everyone warned us that the time would fly, and they were right! A few weeks ago Anne and Brandon came to visit for a few nights, and not only did Anne and I get some girl time while Ahren babysat, we also spent time just hanging out with the little ones.  Brandon is also a full blown toddler running all over the place, and our days of just hanging out while they play are long over.  He is seriously stinkin' cute- and it's true that he comes up to Finn's belly button.

Story time with Ahren-  

He was not a fan of the focus light on my camera-  too bright for him...

Don't mind if I do...

Charleston Part 3

Now over a month ago, our trip to Charleston ended with  an oyster roast that Nick and Gretchen hosted before the Avett Brothers concert.  On the morning of our departure, we walked out to Morris Island lighthouse to explore.  In the four years we had lived in Charleston, we had never been to the lighthouse, and it the perfect winter morning to see it!  We had the beach to ourselves, and Finn ran and played the entire time.