Happy Birthday Daddy!

HAPPY 34TH BIRTHDAY to the BEST Daddy and Husband in the world!

We love you tons and tons!

Seth loves you so much that he won't even let you open your own cards!

We didn't want to catch the house on fire so instead of 34 candles, we just put four candles on your cupcakes!

Next year WATCH OUT, we are going to party it up as you turn the corner to the dark side of your 30s.

I will love you no matter how old you are Daddy!

FYI... Leah is in fact starting to crawl. She gets about 4 paces (steps, not sure what crawl lingo is titled as) and then gets tired and frustrated. It is so flipping cute! I'm not exactly encouraging it, but it is amazing just the same.

Excellent 1st Day

I heard the ice cream truck on the next street yesterday afternoon so I rushed both kids outside quick to get Seth a special treat for his first successful day of school. He was THRILLED!

1st Day

Seth popped out of bed this morning saying, "I am so excited I don't want to be late for school!" We got up, ate breakfast and waited to leave and every five minutes he would ask, "Is it time to leave yet??" I have never seen a little boy so excited and proud of himself. He had his backpack ready, his juice box and his soap to give his teacher.

I think that Ro and I are still in shock. This was the first time we have taken Seth somewhere and left him. He has been in Kidnastics, swim, art classes and story time since he was 6 months old, but we have always been right there by his side. So for both of us to walk out that door was tough. Knowing that he was super excited and had a great big smile on his face made us feel 100 times better. He will have a blast, learn tons and thrive as he always does.

We stopped for a photo opt with Mrs. Puccia AKA grandma!

Our little man all ready to go!

It was also so strange to drop Seth off in his classroom because his classroom was my Kindergarten classroom WAY back in the day!

Happy 6th Birthday Sophia!

We all love you and can't believe that you are 6 years old today! We can't wait to celebrate with you on Saturday. Leah picked out a very cool gift for you too!

Bonfires Galore

We decided after Saturday nights bonfire was such a success that we would try our hand at one more to end the summer so we invited friends over to enjoy the summer evening together.

It was the third night in a row that Seth stayed up extra late so he was absolutely exhausted today, but it was worth it to hear all the laughter and fun the kids had.

Morgin even had her 1st S'more at our house!

Seth and Morgin marched all around with their sparklers, it was priceless!

The men kicked back and enjoy a cold beer or three!

As you can see even though the events of this weekend are in reverse on the blog postings, it kicked butt and we enjoyed every single moment that summer had left to offer us. I am truly blessed to have soooooo many wonderful people in my life that want to spend time with us. Even those of you who were out of town this weekend, we were thinking of you and missing your company! Tomorrow marks the start of yet another school year. For me it marks my 10th year teaching and for our little boy it marks his first year. Seth will start nursery school tomorrow morning. I will be sure to take tons of pictures in between the tears. We are so excited for him and he is READY! His bag is packed with his juice box and he can't wait! Wasn't he just a baby like Leah learning to crawl?

Backyard Picnics and Lobster Dinners

What more could you ask for then a picnic in the backyard with your wonderful family AND a lobster dinner as a farewell to summer?? On Sunday after we went to the Cider Mill and then ran errands in prep for the work/school week we decided to have a picnic in the backyard with the kiddos. It was so fun and Leah was able to work on her crawling skills on a giant blanket!
Seth had the most random picnic lunch request... apples with caramel sauce and pasta salad!

I tried to catch the last few rays of sun while I could!
For dinner we treated ourselves to a giant lobster tail each. They were melt in your mouth WONDERFUL!

Facing Facts Fall is Approaching

Let's face facts...whether we like it or not...fall is approaching faster than we can handle!

So in the spirit of fall we headed to the Cider Mill on Sunday morning for warm apple cider donuts and a crisp fall waterfall!

Let us not forget apple cider as well!

Leah even tried her very first apple cider donut. Having no teeth isn't stopping this little lady!

We intend to make many more trips to the Cider Mill during this fall season, those donuts are to die for so I may be adding on some pounds because of them!

Picnic at the Beach

Saturday night our original plan was to go to Southwicks and have a picnic, but friends of ours told us about this secluded DEC run beach so we decided to be adventurous and check it out. Other than a severely drunk man walking the beach, it was amazing and we had a BLAST!

At one point in an attempt to crawl, Leah took a major nose dive into the sand and was covered!
We did not plan to wear matching t-shirts by any means, but just look at us!
Sand sports!
Our yummy beach meal!
Burying Seth in the sand, he LOVED it!
Our grabby girl!
Testing the waters!
Seth was washing all the sand off and it was too cute not to take a pic!
Beautiful end of summer sunset.
After the beautiful sunset we came home and had a bonfire in our own yard. Seth had his first s'more!
My favorite boys!Getting in on some sparkler action.

We had the best night filled with great memories!

Letterboxing Sackets Style

Over the summer The Gilbert's and The Charlton's placed a letterbox in Sackets and since then I have been checking on it to see if anyone has found it and to make sure that it is still hidden in the right spot. It is, but upon checking in on it on Friday we found the CRAZIEST letter and item placed in it. The letter went something to the effect of how great letterboxing is and how great we were for placing it in Sackets blah blah blah.... At the end it said "PS: Enjoy the canibis, don't misuse the "gift"!! So I look in the bottom of the box and sure enough there it is. I was floored and I very quickly grabbed it and threw it in the lake. Why do people have to ruin a good thing? Anyhow, our letterbox is now clean and ready for the next person to find it.

After that we headed towards the clues for the second letterbox that is now in Sackets. Let me tell you, the clues are tough and finding it was even tougher. Friends of ours said it was easy and they found it no problem so I guess the lesson I learned was that my Mom and I can't go alone if the clues are tricky because we had to call Kristen for her help. Once we were in the right location is was no problem.

We had a great day in Sackets, we walked, searched and ate at Chrissy Beanz!

Not Ready!

Miss Leah may be ready for this, but I want her to stay my baby for a while longer. I'm not rooting for the crawling just yet! She does look stinking cute though doesn't she??

Saying Goodbye

Yesterday was day 2 of our school superintendent's days so I picked up the kids from Pat's and headed up to my Dad's to visit with Pop Pop. We would have stayed longer, but Leah is readjusting to being back at Pat's and was so exhausted from not napping enough that we had to leave. After a power nap on her behalf, we headed to my Mom's for one last swim in the pool. Seth LOVES to swim now that he has the hang of it so he was in his glory. He even convinced Poppy to join him.Poppy started out fully clothed not intending to swim, but in the end he caved and was swimming right along with Seth.
In the end Seth kissed the pool good bye for the summer and was very sad to leave. We are so fortunate that we are able to utilize the pool. We all have a blast and it is great to spend time with the whole family. Thank you to Mom, Tom and Justin for putting up with us all summer long and for playing with Seth endlessly in the pool. He loves you all so much!

**I now have 4 days left until the dreaded work starts back up so we are making the most out of every minute we have. Today we are going walking in Sackets, stopping by Chrissy Beanz and looking for the new letterbox in Sackets. Tonight we are headed to our friends the Voss' for Chinese. We haven't gotten together with them in over a month to hang out so we are pumped. Saturday we are going to have a BBQ at the beach in the evening. Sunday we are getting lobster and cooking it on the grill as a farewell to summer treat for ourselves and whatever else comes up this weekend we welcome. Our little man starts Nursery School on Tuesday so we are all excited and sad about that. He is growing up so quickly. Also, Miss Leah turns 6 months old tomorrow. That is totally crazy! Where does the time go??

Correction

Below this post I talked about my upcoming 31 party. My good friend Beth just gave me more info on ordering online in case you are unable to attend the party, but are still interested in purchasing something. Here are the steps to take in case this is the route you would like to take.

* Go to the following website: www.mythirtyone.com/bethanyirwin
* Click on the link titled "My Events"
* On the calendar that pops up, click on my name (Jen Charlton)
* Click on "Shop for Event"

Happy Shopping!!!

31 Party!

For all of you who were formally invited and for all of you ladies out there who check the blog, but don't see me regularly I'd like to let you know that I am having a 31 Party at my house on Saturday, September 19th @ 4:30pm. It should be a ton of fun. I'm making all sorts of appetizers and of course there will be wine. I also have catalogs that you can glance through ahead of time or if you work with me and you would like to check out the company just let me know. It is super fun and the items are wonderful!

You can also go directly to the 31 website...https://www.mythirtyone.com/bethanyirwin

Savoring our Final Moments

Yesterday was such a beautiful day that I decided to take my two favorite kids to the zoo for the morning. I told Seth that we were going on a surprise outing and away we went. He was thrilled when we pulled into the parking lot at the zoo. We also lucked out because we saw a ton of animals. The temperature was so perfect that the animals were all out and roaming around. I am not sure who was more excited, myself or Seth. It was so nice to go with just us for a change because I didn't have to yell at him for running and he actually took the time to look for all the animals. It was a GREAT morning!

We had the BEST time in the butterfly house. We saw all sorts of butterflies and cocoons too!Seth was fascinated by the cocoons and asked all sorts of questions.
Seth was being such a good big brother, he kept moving the stroller around to make sure that Leah got a good view of the animals. It was priceless.
When all was said and done we had a little picnic lunch on the lawn out front.

I have been definitely savoring each and every moment during this last week of vacation. I am dreading going back to work. I am truly lucky to be a teacher and have soooooo much time off, but in a perfect world I would stay home for the next 5 years while my two little ones are home. I bet you never thought those words would come out of my mouth! Since I can't I will continue to enjoy each day that I am home with them.