Pete loves taking care of things, he always has … he takes care of his toys and always takes care of us if he thinks we’re not feeling well, but he always takes especially good care of his animals. For Christmas, Santa brought him a new doctor’s kit and a veterinarian’s outfit. He loves it and has spent countless hours being a doctor or vet and helping anyone and anything that needs it. Today, he decided to take care of Bailey, and she surprisingly let him! He listened to her heart with his stethoscope, gave her medicine to drink, gave her a shot and she even let him put a bandaid on her paw. I was very impressed with her patience and I absolutely loved watching him take such good care of and talk so sweetly to Miss B! 
Category: Our First Kid Is Furry
Blizzard of 2015
I have sooo many half written posts that I need to finish up, but figured there’s no time like the present to at least post something! The blizzard of 2015, aka Juno, dumped about two feet of snow on us … it’s a winter wonderland out there and the boys and Bailey loved playing in the snow. I forgot how excited Bailey gets about snow, and it was fun watching her enjoy herself – and make us all laugh in the process!
Pat spent most of yesterday digging us out. The boys loved watching him with the snowblower and the end result (of round one) was rather pretty – which is easy for me to say, since I didn’t spend all those hours making it look that way:
Pete, James and I had yesterday and today off, which was such a nice treat. We knew about the storm ahead of time, so we were appropriately stocked with firewood and beer milk, bread and all the ingredients to make cookies, and made the best of being snowbound. Pete loves the snow, and loves being outside, no matter the conditions or the temperature. The minute we stepped outside, he launched himself (face first) into the snow. I don’t think he expected it to be so deep, because when he stood up, he said “umm, Mama? Who turned out the lights?” You did Pete. You did:
Pete desperately wanted to play with his toys in the shed, and gave it his all trying to dig them out. He made decent progress before tuckering himself out, and then brushed off my car “because Dada didn’t really do a good enough job” (really, he did) and climbed snow mountains:
There was so much snow that if we dropped James, there’s a good chance we would have lost him! Luckily, that didn’t happen 🙂 The little guy loved the snow at first, and tried to eat it by the fistful, but quickly tired of not being able to do a whole lot. He sure did look adorable though:
All in all, I’d say our first blizzard as MA residents was a success!
Lazy Sunday Morning!
I posted this on Instagram yesterday, but had to post it on the blog too. I just love this picture! We were at Target this weekend and someone commented that Pat and I had “such a beautiful family” and I almost burst into tears. I could not be more proud of our little family 🙂 I love my boys, and of course Bailey too!
2013 in Review …
… also known as the post where I link to all the posts I had at one point started and have finally finished!
April – Pete’s birthday party
June – Pete’s first time swimming
July – 4th of July
August – Vacation!
September – Finally Fall
October – Beach Day; Halloween
November – Thanksgiving
December – Baker Pete; Christmas
In looking through all the posts I had in draft status, I stumbled across one called the Ghosts of Christmas Past. I’m not sure why I never published it three years ago, but it seems as fitting now as it was then. Brienna’s story is, quite simply, a love story. And those are always worth sharing.
One of my goals for 2014 is to post something (anything!) twice a month. I love looking back at old posts and seeing how Pete has grown and changed. Hopefully someday he will too! We have a lot to be excited about this year and I know I’ll want it well documented. Please feel free to hold me accountable and call me out on any missed months 🙂
Happy New Year!
Nerd Alert!
Bailey hasn’t gotten much love on the blog lately, but she is still our favorite (very tolerant) four-legged friend!
Peas in a Pod
Choosy Baileys …
… choose JIF!
Happy Birthday Bailey!
Bailey turns three years old today! We love our “fur baby” and thought we’d post some pictures of her adventures this summer.
Bailey’s first nautical adventure, complete with PFD!
Excited to be at the beach!
Chillin’ at the beach …
Bailey gives us a reason to smile every day and reminds that there is always something to be happy about. We love her so much and don’t know how we would have survived the last two-ish years without her goofiness!
Mid-Summer Recap
It’s been a busy few weeks for our little family … we spent 4th of July on the Cape with Pat’s family, and had a great weekend. The weather was beautiful, and we enjoyed some much needed time at the beach with Bailey. Despite our best efforts to get her in the water, she is still petrified! She she never fails to make us smile though, and that is good enough for us.
We also planted a hydrangea tree Brienna’s memory. The tree was a gift from Judi’s coworkers and will no doubt be beautiful …
After another weekend on the Cape to celebrate Aunt Mo being in town, Pat and I headed to Washington DC, while Bailey enjoyed some time with her buddy Maggie at my parents house. Pat was asked to speak at a conference on social media in government, so we decided to take advantage of the great location and I tagged along. We were able to take in all the sights, as well as meet up with one of our friends from PC. It was nice to get away for a few days, but we’re happy to be home.
While Pat was attending the conference, I took advantage of the nice (hot) weather and ran along the Potomac River. It’s a very beautiful trail and I thought of Brienna the entire time … beautiful things tend to remind me of her … also, in the past, I never would have ventured off on my own … but she has taught me that life is short, and to take full advantage of the time we’re given. I am so thankful to her for that gift.
I also visited Arlington National Cemetery, where my maternal great-grandfather is buried. If you’ve been to ANC, you know it’s HUGE. My aunt Patty visited a few months before, so I was very lucky and already had the location of his grave. I had been there once before when I was about 10, but it meant quite a bit more this time around. It is such a remarkable place … there is so much history and I’m proud that “the Colonel” is buried there. My nephew Quinn has quite the namesake! And no, there is no relation to the Quinn’s on Pat’s side of the family – we hope anyway!!
We returned home to celebrate my parent’s 34th wedding anniversary, and will celebrate the Marr’s 33rd anniversary next weekend – quite an accomplishment and we’re very proud of our parents!
We are so thankful to everyone for helping us keep Brienna’s memory alive. She will never be forgotten by us, and it’s comforting that so many others still think of her. It’s hard to believe that almost seven weeks have passed. Not a day goes by that we don’t ache for her. She is such a treasured part of our lives. We are so thankful to have each other, as well as the continued love and prayers of our families and friends … thank you all so much.
We hope to have some new pictures to share soon!!
MiniMarr and LittleConroys
This is a little belated, but better late than never! We celebrated Easter last weekend with my brother and his family. It was in a way, a reunion of sorts. The last time most of us were together was out in Oregon in September. Toot was there too, we just didn’t know it yet!!
The new Wisconsonites flew into Boston Thursday night and we spent Friday just hanging out at the house and taking the boys to the Children’s Museum. Quinn got to ride on a train, and was very excited about it. The conductor gave the 7 of us a family fare, hinting that I was under 18 so it was okay … I smiled and said yes, quickly hiding my pregnant belly 🙂 We had a great afternoon, and met Kris to take the train home from Boston and back to Canton. I can remember going to the Children’s Museum when I was little, but it was neat to see it through Quinn’s eyes. He dove right into all sorts of activities, having a blast with the boats (and ending up soaked) and fun with bubbles, trucks, balls and all sorts of other activities …
Reece turned 1 on April 7, so we had a little birthday party for him on Friday night. He loved being sung to, which totally cracked me up. He just knew we were singing to him and would smile and clap, it was adorable! Being the good big brother that he is, Quinn graciously helped open all his presents too. We had a little open house on Saturday so all our relatives could see the boys (it’s quite an occasion when they come to town!) and the Marrs came to visit too! It was a great afternoon and I loved having my entire family together. Easter Sunday was all about the boys … we had an Easter egg hunt, decorated eggs and opened lots of Easter presents. It was a great weekend, and hard to say goodbye to everyone!
Bailey was of course with us too, and despite her initial trepidation about the little people, she quickly learned that when kids are around, food is dropped and therefore she can eat it! She followed Quinn everywhere (who also quickly learned that Bailey would try and eat everything and kept his hand up in the air if he had food in it) and sat beside Reece for every meal … needless to say, she was well fed all weekend! Here’s the none-too-pleased Easter Bailey:
We hope everyone had a great Easter and is enjoying the awesome spring weather! It’s hard to believe it’s the middle of April already! We’re getting closer and closer to our due date and anxiously awaiting the arrival of our sweet Toot 🙂 Thank you again for all of your continued thoughts and prayers. We appreciate them more than you know!