Jen's and Steve's

Red Sox game

2009-07-29T22:32:00.005-04:00

We tried to get tickets to the ballgame but ended up watching it from a bar across the street from Fenway. Then we went shopping for RedSox stuff and bar hopping.

Maureen 30th B-Day Bash

2009-07-29T22:16:00.002-04:00

Anna and Sophie playing nicely together.

Anna learns how to blow bubbles from a pipe.

A lovely duet!

Maureen get some help blowing out the candles.

Cape trip, June 2009

2009-07-07T22:00:00.002-04:00

We had a nice visit with Grammie in Truro the weekend before last.

Anna checking out a lobster before we put him in the pot for dinner.

Shopping in Ptown.

Watching a lightning storm over the ocean.

We've reached 101 blog posts!

2009-07-07T21:53:00.005-04:00

Here are some photos from our first few farm pickups of the season.

Trying out the new macro lens taking pictures of peas.

Anna especially loves the strawberries!

Red Sox game

2009-05-10T20:48:00.004-04:00

Maureen was in town for the weekend and the Sullivan clan went to Fenway Park for a Red Sox game. Turns out, if you're willing to get there a few hours early, you can buy same-day tickets. Seems to be a well-kept secret.

Maureen and Anna posing in front of the sign honoring the World Series that the Red Sox won to commemorate the year of Anna's birth.

Anna was very enthusiastic about clapping for the home team...

...until she fell asleep. Actually, she did clap in her sleep a few times.

Here's Anna watching the game with Maureen,

doing the wave,

eyeing Grammie's beer with envy,

and having a drink of water.

Walk for Hunger

2009-05-10T20:36:00.004-04:00

Last weekend we participated in the Walk for Hunger. Steve and Jen have done the walk before, but it was Anna's first time. We all had fun, and we even managed to finish the whole 20 miles! We were particularly impressed by how patient Anna was about riding in her stroller.

We met up with Susan, one of Jen's college friends, for the walk. We met up at Dunkin Donuts so we could fuel up with coffee and munchkins. Here we are starting out.

The girls taking a break in front of the "keep it up" sign.

Anna walking with Mom (this only happened for a very brief part of the walk...)

... and taking a little break to stomp around in the leaves.

We ran into Susan, Liam, and Peter along the way.

"Napping for Hunger."

Easter 2009

2009-04-21T21:23:00.005-04:00

We're a little behind schedule, but here are some photos from Easter Sunday...

The Easter Bunny brought these great plastic eggs. Hours of amusement.

He also brought the "Belly Button Book." Here is Dad reading it to Anna. This book has one of Anna's favorite songs in it ("Belly, belly button, oh so fine! Belly belly button, glad that you're mine.")

Later in the morning we went to church. Here Anna is listening to the childrens' homily.

And saying hello to our friends Liam and Peter. They were on their way in for the noon Mass as we were leaving the 10 AM.

Grammie brought another Easter basket. This one had a toy flute (well, technically a recorder) in it so now Anna can make music like Mom does.

Later, we dyed eggs....

... and finished off the day with a family dinner including homemade chocolate peanut butter cake.

Florida 2009

2009-03-30T21:13:00.004-04:00

Earlier this month we made a trip to Naples, Florida to visit and celebrate Jane's 70th birthday. It was great to spend time visiting with family, enjoying the warm weather, and relaxing. Here are some highlights from the trip.

Going to see the manatees the day we arrived (Aunt Maureen loves manatees). Anna kept saying "I see 'em!"

There were lots of manatees! They're not very photogenic, though. They kind of look like potatoes floating in the water.

Swimming in the pool at the condo complex. We did this just about every day we were there. Anna loved it!

Getting dressed up to have our portrait taken on the beach.

Anna sleeping through our walk along the Naples Pier. (She did wake up later, in time to say "I see 'em!" for the pelicans too.).

And back at the house... a snack.

And playing around with the shopping bags.

Stomping in Puddles

2009-02-16T21:01:00.003-05:00

Not sure where Anna learned that stomping in puddles is fun. But she jumped right in and had to stomp in every puddle she saw. Must be an instinct. Now every time we go outside she says, 'Stomp in puddles!'

Here we are walking to the park. Anna is looking down for more puddles.

Anna is getting a running start.

This one is nice and muddy!

These boots were made for stomping.

A day at the New England Aquarium

2009-02-16T20:44:00.003-05:00

On our first date we met at Quincy Market and went to the Aquarium. Every year we go back to relive that perfect first date. Of course now we bring Anna along.

Riding the train to the Aquarium.

Anna weighs almost 20 pounds plus 5 pounds of baby gear. Dad is getting a workout!

I think we should go this way.

Riding up the escalator.

Mom and Anna lean over to see the penguins.

With some coaxing Anna gets the courage to touch the starfish.

Anna watches the fish zoom by.

After the aquarium we stopped by Quincy Market for a chocolate chip cookie. Anna was nice enough to share some of it with us.

Strawberry ice cream cone!

2009-02-12T21:33:00.002-05:00

Anna had her first ice cream cone yesterday and she took to it like a pro!

Fun in the snow

2009-02-08T21:56:00.004-05:00

We put on our snowshoes and loaded Anna in the sled and headed out to the trails that run behind our house. The wooded trail leads to a park and ball field where we stopped to build a snowman.

Mom and Anna start by rolling a small snowball until it gets bigger.

Anna is making sure it's well packed.

It's ready!

Anna seems to be quite happy with her new friend.

Anna is trying on Mom's snowshoes.

We balanced the camera on the sled for this family group shot.

2009-02-07T21:57:00.004-05:00

It's been a crazy December and January. We moved into a new house and are still unpacking boxes and getting settled. On top of that everyone got sick for two weeks! We finally have begun to do fun things again and have unpacked the camera. So here is our trip to Cabot's Icecream with Grandpa and Grandma.

Anna is coloring while she waits for dinner to arrive.

Handing the crayons to daddy.

After dinner Anna got her very own dish of chocolate ice cream. She didn't want any help and she dug right in with her spoon.

Yum.

Scoop.

Ice cream cone.

A snowy pre-holiday weekend!

2008-12-21T20:48:00.003-05:00

The snowy weather helped us get into the holiday spirit! On Friday afternoon we headed out (on foot) to buy a Christmas tree at the Wreaths & Trees sale at the high school up the street. Anna got all bundled up and rode along in the hiking backpack.

On the way back from the tree lot, Anna fell asleep despite the bitter cold and wind-driven snow!

Here we are decorating the tree the next morning:

Saturday afternoon we went to the Community Sant'Egidio Christmas party, then to the Stone Zoo to see the lights and get a picture with Santa. Anna likes Santa better from a distance than close up.

Sunday we went out in the morning (between storms) to play in the snow. Anna loved going for a ride in her sled. She also got to walk around in the snow a bit (although only on the shoveled paths since the snow in the yard would have buried her up to her armpits). We tried to build her a snowman but the snow wasn't sticky enough.

Exploring with Dora!

2008-12-03T21:28:00.002-05:00

We went to the Quincy Christmas parade on Sunday. We didn't take pictures at the parade because it was cold and rainy, but Steve got these great photos of Anna and our friend Sophia at the house afterward, playing with their Dora balloons.

Anna's First Haircut

2008-12-03T21:25:00.003-05:00

Anna and Jen both had their hair cut on Saturday. Joanne at Attractions has been cutting Jen's hair since Jen was 11! Anna was very cooperative for the haircut and it's nice to to have her hair in her eyes.

Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo!

2008-12-03T21:21:00.002-05:00

We went to the Franklin Park Zoo with some friends the day after Thanksgiving. Anna got a lot more out of it this year than last year. She was a bit scared of the gorillas but liked the birds and fish and frogs.

The three moms watching the dads and babies run around...

Thanksgiving

2008-12-03T21:17:00.003-05:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner (complete with a local free range turkey) with the Sullivans followed by dessert with the Sulewskis (pumpkin pie & lemon pie). Anna's favorite part was the pie. Plus of course the chance to spend the whole day playing with all her favorite people.

Play Date

2008-11-07T21:52:00.006-05:00

Here are some photos of Anna at the Children's Museum. She is 15 months now.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-02T22:02:00.003-05:00

Trick-or-Treat! Anna has been practicing those words, but she clammed up when we went out trick-or-treating. She did do well picking out candy and placing it in her bucket.

Mom taking videos of Anna in her Kimono.

Grandma and Grampa got her this dress when they were in Japan.

Heading out to get our loot.

Hi Pumpkin. This jack-o-lantern has the same teeth as Anna.

Children's Museum

2008-09-30T21:00:00.001-04:00

Anna had lots of fun playing with Uncle Dave and Daddy at the Children's Museum today.

Fun with Anna

2008-09-30T20:57:00.002-04:00

Trying on "hats" from the Tupperware cabinet.

Playing in the toddler area at the park.

Picking veggies at the farm

2008-09-30T20:56:00.000-04:00

Going to Boston

2008-09-30T20:53:00.001-04:00

Anna got all dressed up in one of her new fall dresses to take the train in to the South End Open Studios the weekend before last.

Uncle Dave's birthday

2008-09-30T20:50:00.004-04:00

We celebrated by meeting up at Dave's house for breakfast, followed by a visit to a local park in Brookline.

Trip to the Cape - Again

2008-09-07T22:01:00.005-04:00

We spent one final weekend at the Cape over Labor Day. This time Aunt Maureen came up from Philadelphia, so we had the whole Sullivan clan together.

Anna enjoyed playing in the sand. She was quite puzzled when Maureen buried her feet.

The girls enjoying the beach.

Playing with sand toys.

As a birthday gift to Jen, Maureen gave us tickets to a sunset sail on the schooner Hindu, along with free babysitting. It was a beautiful evening and made for a great date night.

Later in the weekend we took further advantage of all the willing babysitters and went for a bike ride out to Highland Light in Truro.

Baby loves bubbles!

Dinner with Friends

2008-09-07T21:59:00.003-04:00

Our friends Allison and Patrick invited us out for dinner. They really just wanted to see Anna of course! Anna enjoyed her first Chinese restaurant.

Jen's Birthday trip to the Berkshires

2008-09-07T21:42:00.006-04:00

Anna is getting ready to step into her bath. We are getting ready for our trip to Tanglewood for Jen's birthday, a yearly tradition.

On the way we stopped at the bridge of flowers for a picnic.

We stayed at the Porches Inn across from Mass MOCA. These were renovated homes that the mill workers used to live in back in the 1890's. We highly recommend it.

We got our blanket, fruit, cheese, bottle of wine, juice boxes, and Beethoven 9th. What more could you ask for?

The next day we explored the marble quarries just north of Porches Inn at the Natural Bridge State Park.

Dad and Anna are looking under the Natural Bridge.

We finished up with an afternoon at Mass MOCA. Anna is checking out the projected tree art on the wall.

\

Sunday brunch and a walk along the Charles

2008-08-18T20:47:00.004-04:00

On Sunday we met Grammie, Grampa, and Aunt Maureen for breakfast at Henrietta's Table in Harvard Square. The hash and eggs were delicious!

We parked our car across the river and walked over for brunch. On the way back we relaxed on the grass and Anna practiced her standing.

Anna's birthday party

2008-08-18T20:41:00.003-04:00

On Saturday we had a birthday party for Anna. All her grandparents, Aunt Maureen, and Uncle Dave came over.

It was a duck-themed party, complete with duck cake, duck streamers, and a duck dress for Anna (the same dress she wore to the Mother's Day duckling parade).

Happy Birthday, Anna!

2008-08-12T20:57:00.006-04:00

Today is Anna's first birthday! It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by. We celebrated with a family outing to the Children's Museum. Anna enjoyed playing in the Playspace for 0-3 year olds. There were lots of fun toys there.

Afterward we went to Joe's American Bar & Grill and ate lunch sitting on the patio.

Of course, no birthday is complete without cake!!

The birthday girl fell asleep on the way back to the car.

Anna goes to the cape

2008-07-31T00:02:00.003-04:00

The last time Anna was at the cape she was only two weeks old.
Now, just shy of her first birthday she is back to take her first
steps on the sand.

She approaches with caution and curiosity.

Later we take a trip to the swings next to Days market.
She likes a big push!

Adventure on the high seas!

Of course a trip to the cape is not complete without some shopping in ptown.

Blueberries

2008-07-13T22:21:00.001-04:00

Blueberry pancakes for breakfast.... Yummy. and messy.

Anna is learning to walk

2008-07-02T22:22:00.003-04:00

She loves to push around this little cart that Grammie and Aunt Maureen found for her. She thinks she is the cat's pajamas! She doesn't quite understand the concept of steering, though - she just keeps going until she runs into something.

The Great Flood of 2008

2008-07-02T22:19:00.003-04:00

No, not the Mississippi River, the flood in our basement...

We thought we had protected against floods by keeping our stuff in plastic bins but then the bins floated away and tipped over and filled with water. What a mess!

Trip to Atlanta for Nick and Amy's wedding

2008-07-02T22:03:00.005-04:00

Steve's cousin Nick and his sweetheart Amy got married and we took a family trip to Atlanta to join in the celebration.

Here are Nick and Amy.

Anna got to meet her great grandmother for the first time.

Playing with Dad at the church after the wedding ceremony.

Anna was the cutest girl at the wedding. :)

A family photo, all dressed up in our Sunday best.

Anna with Dad and Great-grandma.

Three generations: Great-grandma, Grandma, and Anna.

Uncle Fred and Anna on the dance floor.

We also visited the Georgia Aquarium while we were in town.

Father's Day

2008-07-02T21:58:00.002-04:00

Ok, so what does a cow have to do with Father's Day you might say. Well we went to Drumlin Farms for a picnic and to show Anna the animals.

A sheep says Baaaa!

Maureen and Anna checking out the sheep.

And the goats.

Enjoying the outdoors (with Anna)

2008-06-10T21:06:00.004-04:00

A picnic at the park with Dad.

Anna loves to crawl and grab things that look interesting. Such as the camera.

Arrrrrgh. Anna does her best pirate imitation.

Trying on Dad's hat.

This is the family at an orienteering event in Framingham. You use a map and compass to find flags in the woods. Some people compete against the clock. Our goal was to not get lost and be back before dark. ;)

Check out the great backpack we got to carry Anna. She was a total backseat driver!

Dad, I think we are supposed to go that way.

All tuckered out.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Memorial Day

2008-05-27T21:17:00.005-04:00

Taking the train to visit Auntie Maureen in Philly. Here is Anna getting ready to board.

Anna did very well on the train. She enjoyed looking around and smiling at the passengers. She also took two naps and had her lunch and bottle on the way.

After six hours we made it to Auntie Maureen's new house. Grammie and Grampa were there to meet us.

Grampa explains the finer points of golf.

Anna goes exploring.

It's a little slippery!

Can I be any cuter?

The family out on the town on the way to lunch.

Anna only broke one dish. It was a good lunch outing.

Afternoon nap.

Picnic at the Chaddsford Winery. These are some of the vines. We enjoyed wine tasting, the blues band, and visiting with our friends the Olsons.

Anna really liked the gelato.

Mother's Day Duck Parade

2008-05-12T20:50:00.005-04:00

Hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day. This year we joined in the Boston Duck Parade benefiting the Friends of the Public Garden.

Anna is not sure what to think of all this.

Ducklings gathering on the Boston Common.

Quack, quack!!

Still not sure what she thinks of all this...

A better view of Anna's duck dress.

Waiting for the parade to start.

Anna trying out the duck lips.

Aha! A smile! NOW she's happy. :)

Oops, we ran over a duck with the stroller.

Wait, is that Big Bird?

Anna meets Mayor Menino.

Picnicking in the Public Garden after the parade.

A family photo with the duck statue. We had to wait in line to get this shot.

Anna's first Easter

2008-03-31T21:35:00.008-04:00

We had a wonderful Easter celebration with Anna at church. Dad picked out her Easter dress all by himself. Here is a picture of us all dressed up for Easter.

The Easter Bunny brought an Easter Basket with a sippy cup, books, and blocks. Grandma and Grandpa brought an Easter Bucket with more toys and books.

Anna enjoying her gifts.

After church we had a Ham dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Sulewski.

Marie's Blanket

2008-03-31T21:29:00.004-04:00

Anna says THANK YOU MARIE for the nice warm cozy blanket. What a very thoughtful gift. You are really good at knitting!

FYI: Marie is Grandpa Sulewski's co-worker.

Anna goes to Michigan

2008-03-26T21:32:00.005-04:00

We went to Michigan for Steve's Grandma's memorial service and family reunion. It was good to see everyone and for Anna to meet the family. Here she is playing blocks at the hotel.

Aunt Gloria and Anna

Pam and Anna

The Family reunion brunch.

Visiting the Hunt family.

Wii Party

2008-03-26T21:29:00.002-04:00

Wiiiiiiiiiii! Family fun with the Wii.

Maureen was in town for a wedding and crashed at our place. Anna's first Pajama party sleep over!

Anna's first trip to Florida

2008-03-05T20:32:00.005-05:00

Anna and Jen went to Naples, Florida last week to visit Grammie & Grampa Sullivan, who are living there for February & March. Aunt Maureen came for part of the week too.

Some of Anna's favorite parts of the trip were:

Wearing pretty sundresses

Watching the Red Sox play Boston College in Fort Myers (Guess who won?).

and swimming in the pool (Anna is a natural!).

On our last day in town, the whole family went out to brunch:

New England Aquarium (with Anna of course)

2008-02-23T20:53:00.002-05:00

We had a great time at the Aquarium and Anna loved looking at the penguins and fishies. You have to get there early because it gets packed with families, kids, and strollers especially on school vacation week.

Is that Nemo?

Looking down at the top of the giant ocean tank.

Jellies!

2008-02-23T20:48:00.003-05:00

Anna falls asleep nose first on her tray. Zzzzzzzzzz.

Give peas a chance.

Grampa is giving Anna some tax advice.

Valentine's Day

2008-02-23T20:45:00.003-05:00

Anna's first Valentine's Day with her "I Love Daddy" shirt.

Goodbye, Bernice and Selena

2008-02-06T21:01:00.001-05:00

Last week we brought Bernice and Selena back to the House Rabbit Network, where we got them. They will live in a foster home until they find new owners. Hopefully they will get to move to a house with older kids who can play with them and pet them.

It was sad to see them go, but it does make life a bit easier not having to keep up with them and clean up after them.

Family fun

2008-02-06T20:49:00.000-05:00

Here are some miscellaneous photos of Anna hanging out with us.

Playing with Grandpa and Mom at Grandma and Grandpa's house:

Talking on the phone:

Taking photos in the mirror with Dad:

Adventures in eating

2008-02-06T20:37:00.001-05:00

We've been having a lot of fun introducing Anna to solid food (well, mush). We started out with plain rice cereal, which she had fun making a mess with but didn't eat much of.

Then we tried peas, which she hated. Wish we had photographed that moment - it was pretty hilarious.

Butternut squash went pretty well, but then we discovered PEARS! Yummy!

Taking a break from the pears to chew on the toy lion...

Anna likes to hold the spoon. This works well until she starts banging it and flinging pears everywhere.

Merry Christmas!! (a little late)

2008-01-04T20:57:00.000-05:00

Hmm... seems like a lot of things happen late lately.

Here are some photos from Anna's first Christmas.

Anna liked the lights on the tree so much, Dad decided to decorate her swing too.

She really likes the newly-redecorated swing.

A couple of the many ornaments purchased to commemorate the occasion of Anna's first Christmas and our first Christmas as parents.

We took Anna to Christmas Mass and to Jen's Aunt Elaine's & Uncle Bill's party on Christmas Eve, but we didn't get many pictures because she was sleeping most of the time at church and crying most of the time at Aunt Elaine's (too many people at once!).

We did take lots of pictures Christmas day, though:

Anna could probably fit inside her stocking! Santa left some bubbles, new binkies, and a crinkly star toy.

Anna's favorite toy was the wrapping paper.

So excited that Santa came!!

Dad got a new tripod for Christmas so we used it to take a family portrait on Christmas morning.

We spent the afternoon at Jen's parents' house in Quincy and went for a walk along Wollaston Beach with Aunt Maureen. Anna loved being out in the fresh air.

Here's what she's laughing at:

The next day we visited Grandma and Grandpa Sulewski in Marlborough.

Yay, more presents!

Showing off her pretty red Christmas dress:

Anna Video

2007-12-04T15:42:00.000-05:00

This is a 4 minute video compilation of Anna's first three months.

Anna goes to the Museum of Science

2007-12-03T20:41:00.001-05:00

This weekend we took Anna to the Discovery Center at MOS. It's a fun place with lots of activities and stimulation for babies and toddlers. Mom and Dad and Grandma had fun too.

Anna makes a new friend, Ollie Octopus!

Funky Family Foto.

Anna kicks a ball.

Playing blocks with Grandma.

Whew, what a day. I'm sooo tired!

Anna goes to the zoo!

2007-12-03T20:38:00.001-05:00

The day after Thanksgiving we went to visit the animals at Franklin Park Zoo.

Thanksgiving

2007-12-03T20:30:00.000-05:00

We don't have too many photos of Anna on Thanksgiving day because she was being a fussy fuss. And she also made a mess of her Turkey outfit. But here we are at Grandma's house having Turkey!

Ahhhh... Heaven!

But we are most thankful for a happy and healthy family!

Happy Halloween

2007-11-12T21:54:00.001-05:00

Anna lies in the pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin to arise and deliver toys to all the good boys and girls. It is a very sincere pumpkin patch.

Anna has picked out her very own pumpkin.

What a cute little pumpkin.

Can you say trick-or-treat?

Go Red Sox

2007-10-28T22:54:00.000-04:00

It is in the 7th inning as we type. Sox ahead 3-1. Anna is cheering on the Sox!

Anna gets Baptized

2007-10-28T16:14:00.001-04:00

Last Sunday, Anna was baptized in a lovely ceremony at the Paulist Center.

She started off the day with a bath and some smiles (the first smiles we've caught on camera!)

Anna's favorite part of the baptism was being dunked by Fr. Ruben:

Here she is in her white dress with her parents and godparents, being blessed:

Afterward, we had a big party at Grandma and Grandpa Sullivan's house, with lots of friends and family, and cake and presents.

Anna goes to Connecticut

2007-10-22T23:14:00.001-04:00

Anna first out of state trip was to Connecticut to visit with her Aunt Maureen who was there for a wedding. Anna loves road trips!

Grammie and Anna.

Aunt Maureen and Anna wearing Red Sox outfits getting ready to watch the game down at the bar.

Aunt Maureen got Anna a nice blue seat to sit in.

Yawn!

Jen's and Steve's 3-year anniversary

2007-10-22T23:10:00.000-04:00

We celebrated our three year anniversary at the Way Side Inn. But first we had to get a baby sitter for Anna. Grandma and Grandpa took care of her while we enjoyed a lovely dinner. We mostly talked about Anna the whole time.

Anna is one month old!

2007-09-17T14:08:00.000-04:00

How the time flies! She is growing and changing every day. At her one month checkup last week, she weighed 7 lb 12 oz, more than a pound over her birth weight. She is holding her head up more and more and can even lift it up when lying on the floor for tummy time. She also spends more of each day alert (and wanting to be held and entertained). She can follow people or objects with her eyes and head and is starting to make happy noises like cooing - although crying is still her preferred means of communication. She enjoys playing with her play mat, going for drives, going for walks in her stroller, being carried around the house facing outward so she can see everything, and being carried in her sling.

Anna goes to her Grandparent's House

2007-09-10T19:19:00.000-04:00

Anna is tired from her trip over the hills and through the woods to Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Anna gets a manicure

Anna and the Three Bears.

This is the dress that Mom was supposed to wear home from the hospital when she was born, but it was too big. Her sister, Maureen, tried to wear it when she was born, but it was too small. Then Anna tried it on and it fit perfectly.

Tummy time can be a bit frustrating.

Uncle Dave Returns from Africa - Anna's 1st bath

2007-09-10T19:11:00.001-04:00

Uncle Dave has returned from Africa after spending one month volunteering at a refugee camp. Here he is holding Anna for the first time.

ANNA GETS HER FIRST BATH! See how much she likes it...

Anna goes to the cape.

2007-09-02T12:31:00.001-04:00

WEEK THREE. Anna is growing like a weed. She can now hold her head up and spends more time awake and looking around at her surroundings. This is her first of many trips to the cape. She really enjoyed the sounds of the ocean and sea birds.

Jen and Anna looking out at the beach.

Grandma and Anna at the cottage.

Anna gets sponge bath.

Anna and Jen go shopping in P-Town.

Anna in her "Cape Cod Crabby Cakes" shirt she got in P-Town. Very fitting.

A trip to the cape wouldn't be complete without Peach Daiquiris. Anna gets milk.

Anna goes to the farm

2007-09-02T12:27:00.001-04:00

This is Anna's first trip to the farm. This is where all the veggies come from. She slept through most of it.

Anna at home.

2007-09-02T12:17:00.001-04:00

Anna has made it safe and sound home from the hospital and has settled into her cozy seat.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Anna likes having her hair washed and brushed.

This is Dad drying Anna after her sponge bath.

Good night Anna. Pleasant dreams.

Anna is here!

2007-09-02T12:02:00.001-04:00

Welcome Anna! On August 12 at 1:14 pm after 20 hours of labor, Anna Jane Sulewski was born.
She weighed 6 lbs 10 oz. and came out kickin and screaming with a healthy set of lungs.

Mom is really happy to finally hold her new baby.

Dad is also very happy to finally see Anna.

Anna is very tired from the whole ordeal.

All snug and secure in her car seat ready for the ride home.

Baby's Room

2007-08-06T21:07:00.001-04:00

Isn't this the cutest baby room ever? We think so. It's also neat and tidy, but not for long. We are all ready except for one thing. Hmmmmm, what was it? Oh yeah, the baby!

One Local Summer Week 3

2007-07-12T22:25:00.001-04:00

Okay, so we missed Week 2 due to holiday & vacation plans, but we're back on board for Week 3 of One Local Summer with some fresh seafood from our Cape trip. Our latest local dinner consisted of locally-caught striped bass, along with beets, spinach, and broccoli from Waltham Fields.

Cape vacation

2007-07-12T22:19:00.000-04:00

We just got back from a few relaxing days on Cape Cod with Jen's family. It was a much-needed break from work and baby preparations.

Here is a photo from Provincetown:

And one of Jen in her swimsuit at 36 weeks pregnant! Only 4 weeks to go.

To get ready, we stopped at Babies R Us on the way home and bought a car seat and a bunch of other stuff, including a few things we'd never thought of before. We took advantage of the expectant moms parking:

One Local Summer 2007

2007-06-29T21:25:00.001-04:00

One Local Summer has a record number of participants this year! It's great to see something like this catching on.

Here is our Week 1 meal for 2007: locally made spinach ravioli (made by Dave's Pasta in Somerville, bought at Russo's in Watertown), served with sauteed kale, garlic scapes, and green onion from the farm. The usual exceptions prevail: imported olive oil & parmesan, salt & pepper. Oh, and the lime slices in our water. The milk is fairly local - the cows are in Vermont, but the milk is processed at, and delivered to us by, Crescent Ridge dairy in Sharon, MA. The milkman comes to our house once a week and delivers milk and other dairy products - the milk even comes in old-fashioned glass bottles that get picked up at the next delivery and re-used by the dairy.

Jen is now 34 weeks pregnant!

2007-06-29T21:22:00.000-04:00

Check out that baby!

Opening day at the farm

2007-06-17T21:29:00.001-04:00

Tuesday, we went for our first farm pick up of the season. We've been eagerly awaiting our fresh delicious veggies. We got lots of food, more than we expected for the first week - apparently it's been a good growing season so far. We got lettuce, bok choy, endive, kohlrabi, radishes, spinach, snap peas, mint, and chives.

When we got home, we had our first all-local meal of the season - a couple of weeks ahead of the One Local Summer challenge, so we are off to a good head start.

32 Week Pregnancy Update

2007-06-10T21:33:00.000-04:00

Here's the latest photo:

Everything is still going great, and we are looking forward to greeting our new arrival in two short months!! We've been hard at work painting the nursery and the furniture.

A Belated Happy Mother's Day

2007-06-10T21:04:00.000-04:00

We commemorated Mother's Day with a 28 week belly shot:

We also got together with both families for a delicious brunch (waffles and fruit) prepared by Steve & Dave, then we all went to the Garden in the Woods.

While there we purchased a few plants for our own garden, which is shaping up nicely this year.

Another baby update

2007-04-24T21:33:00.000-04:00

We're up to about 25 weeks now, so according to BabyCenter.com, the baby should be about 1.5 pounds. Jen had a doctor's appointment yesterday and all is looking good. Started prenatal yoga classes a few weeks ago and that has been really fun - a bunch of pregnant ladies doing yoga using those big exercise balls that you can sit on. We have also signed up for a childbirth class (Hypnobirthing) and have even started to buy some baby gear - we now have a bassinet and a pack n play and a few other things. We started to look at car seats and strollers but are a bit overwhelmed by the number of options. We do think this Uppa Baby stroller is cool but are not likely to spend $600 on it.

Here's the latest belly shot:

Baby on the way - 19 weeks

2007-03-12T19:19:00.000-04:00

Here are our first baby photos! Everything is looking good based on the ultrasound. We got to see the baby kicking & moving his or her arms around, and we saw the heart beating, the spine, the brain, and even fingers and toes. The ultrasound tech now knows whether we are having a boy or a girl, but we resisted the temptation to have her tell us so we're still waiting (if you can tell from these photos, don't tell us!).

Baby's face from the front

Here you can see the top of baby's head and the hands and feet (or are those elbows and knees?).

Side view

Baby's hands up by his/her face. :)

Oh, and here's the latest shot from the outside...

Bun in the oven!

2007-03-03T19:49:00.000-05:00

We're back with good news. Haven't posted in a while but we would like to share the awesome and exciting news. As you can see the book we bought worked really well. It worked so well Jen got pregnant the day after we bought the book. We didn't even get to actually read the book. I highly recommend it.

13 weeks

15 weeks

17 weeks

There's a baby in there!

Eat Local Challenge Week 12

2006-09-16T20:01:00.000-04:00

It's the last week of the challenge! We made it (and had a great time along the way).

For this week's meal, a last taste of summer. First course: tomatoes and basil from the CSA with fresh mozzarella from Vermont (figured a small New England producer is close enough to local, and boy was it good!):

The main course was corn and cod chowder, with corn and potatoes from the farm and fresh cod from the local fish market. Yes, we finally managed to pull off a non-vegetarian local meal. I would highly recommend the recipe; it was delicious!

Non-local ingredients: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and a little bit of cream of unknown origins (one thing this challenge has made us aware of is how hard it is to tell where most of our food comes from... most of what we buy only has the address of the corporation, e.g. Whole Foods or Kelloggs; unless something is from a small local producer it's hard to tell how far it's traveled).

Although the challenge is over, and as such Jen may actually stop running for the camera every time we eat a local meal, we'll definitely be continuing to eat local as much as possible - we've had a great time and it's hard to go back once you've discovered how great local food can be. :)

PS: Speaking of local foods, remember those sunflowers we posted a picture of a while back? Well, the seeds are now drying in our basement. We'll see how they turn out...

Eat Local Weeks 9, 10 and 11

2006-09-06T22:02:00.000-04:00

So, here we are catching up again. :)

Week 9, nothing too exciting, but we did have some veggie sandwiches with tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce from the farm, local goat cheese, and bread from Great Harvest (which I think is technically a franchise, but at least the bread is made in a local bakery so it basically counts).

Week 10 (last week) we made a mostly-local pizza: pizza dough from Boston Pizza Company (or something like that), homemade pesto, tomatoes and eggplant from the CSA, cheese from Wisconsin (hence, "mostly-local"). It was beautiful, but we were so excited to eat it we forgot to take a picture!

This week, we've had two local meals already. First was Monday morning's breakfast: "kitchen sink home fries" with potatoes and veggies from the farm, and more homemade pesto. Non-local ingredients: the usual (olive oil and parmesan cheese, in the pesto). The toast is from the grocery store bakery, so kind of local I guess. :)

Tonight's local dinner was ratatouille (made of CSA farm veggies), tortellini (from Rhode Island), bread (from a local bakery), and wine (brought back from Martha's Vineyard). A feast fit for a king!

Can't believe the challenge is almost over - we're tempted to keep going and see how long we can keep this up. The fall harvest is not even under way yet, plus we're getting a winter farm share this year, plus our fridge is stocked with pesto and tomato sauce and salsa and soup and various frozen veggies....

One Local Summer Week 8

2006-08-22T21:54:00.000-04:00

Okay, so we're late in posting (again), but this may have been our localest meal yet! A big salad made with veggies from the CSA and goat cheese from another local farm, topped with olive oil (okay, that's from Italy, but we did buy it right at the farm where it's made while on vacation this spring) and vinegar (from Chicama Vineyards on Martha's Vineyard, bought on one of our summer adventures). Accompanied by wine from Nashoba Valley.

We also saw some signs of local eating on our trip to the Berkshires. On our way to play mini golf, we saw a sign for this farmer's market at the Berkshires Mall, and went there to buy our picnic food for the evening concert at Tanglewood.

We also saw this bumper sticker on the car parked next to ours at the base of Mt. Greylock:

It says, "Be A Local Hero, Buy Locally Grown."

We think the local eating thing is catching on...

Sunflowers!

2006-08-22T21:49:00.000-04:00

We planted sunflower seeds in front of our house this spring and they turned out to be the best return on a 99 cent investment ever! They are about 8 feet tall and totally awesome.

Birthday trip to the Berkshires

2006-08-22T21:38:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we ventured out to the Berkshires for Jen's annual birthday weekend trip. First we went hiking on Mount Greylock and stayed at the Bascom Lodge at the top. Pretty basic lodging but great food, especially for hungry hikers, and great people!

The next day we hiked back to our car, played mini golf, and in the evening, went to a concert at Tanglewood. Unfortunately it poured rain throughout the concert, but the music was lovely and we had a nice time anyway.

Here is Jen talking to her mom on the cell phone while climbing Mt. Greylock. She called to tell us what great deals you can get on sunglasses at Wal-Mart. :)

Here's Jen doing some more serious hiking...

At the top of the mountain is this World War I memorial:

Three Local Meals

2006-08-10T23:05:00.000-04:00

Well, we've been eating our local meals every week, but not doing a very good job of documenting it (too busy having fun in the sun!).

Two weeks ago (Week 5), we had pasta with sauteed veggies in (non-local) olive oil. Can't find the photo right now...

Last week (Week 6), our local meal was a delicious green gazpacho: recipe from the Boston Globe magazine, veggies from the CSA.

This week (Week 7), the local meal was a lunch of roasted veggies (cooked up the night before), accompanied by a local peach.

Martha's Vineyard trip

2006-08-10T22:10:00.000-04:00

Last weekend (or, I guess, that was the weekend before last... they go by so quickly in summer!) we made our annual camping trip to Martha's Vineyard. We took Monday off so we could get in three full days, and full days they were indeed!

Friday night we drove through all sorts of thunderstorms to get the late ferry over, biked from the Vineyard Haven ferry to the campground, and set up our tent.

Saturday we biked out from Vineyard Haven to Gay Head (a 38 mile, hilly ride).

We stopped at a great farmer's market in West Tisbury on the way, and had a snack of lemon-raspberry ice and banana bread.

Sunday was a guided kayak outing in Tisbury Great Pond (sorry, no pictures, we didn't bring the camera because we didn't have a dry bag with us), that also ended up involving a fair amount of biking to get to and from the kayak spot.

Monday, we were worn out from all that biking, so we went out for breakfast, did a little shopping, and went to the bead shop to make bracelets (and earrings for Jen) with the lovely beads that Steve's Aunt Linda gave him:

Next we did a tour and wine tasting at Chicama Vineyards. We bought some wine and some vinegar there, to add to our local foods collection.

After that, it was back to the campground to get all our stuff....

... and head home on the ferry. Here's a last view of the Vineyard Haven harbor:

One Local Summer, Week 4

2006-07-19T22:11:00.000-04:00

Okay, so it's really only Week 2 for us, but that's because we joined the challenge two weeks late. Our local meal for this week was spinach ravioli (made by Dave's Pasta in Somerville and bought at Russo's), with a side of sauteed Swiss chard, leeks, and garlic scapes, all topped with fresh herbs. Non-local ingredients were salt, pepper, olive oil, and Parmigiano. We even had local milk for our beverage.

This is actually one of several predominantly-local meals we've had this week... it's so easy to eat local during the farm harvest.

Big Fresh

2006-07-19T22:07:00.000-04:00

The eating local trend is turning up everywhere! Yesterday, we discovered this great restaurant in Framingham called Big Fresh. They serve a variety of healthy, organic, inexpensive meals, and they buy a lot of their produce and other ingredients from local farms. We had Moroccan Tangine and curry chicken, both of which were delicious.

Eating Local

2006-07-16T11:58:00.000-04:00

We finally discovered why so many people eat junk food. It's because the veggies you get at most grocery stores have such little flavor compared to what you can get fresh at your local farms. Once you have tasted the difference it's hard to go back. Below is a stir-fry made with green beans, snow peas, patty pan squash, bok choy, and green onion, from the Waltham community farm. The noodles are fresh lo mein noodles from Russo's, a local market. The peanut sauce was home made but from non-local ingredients. We shared this meal with Jen's parents.

This is our first entry in the One Local Summer challenge; watch for more delicious meals in the coming weeks!

Mike and Melissa's wedding

2006-07-16T11:31:00.000-04:00

My cousin Mike just got married! The wedding was in Georgia and it was a fabulous time and it was nice to see the families together.

This is Mike and his new wife Melissa cutting the cake.

Jen and I rented a car for the weekend and got this Prius. It was a fun car to drive once you fiqured out how to get it started! It was like driving an iMac.

This is my grandma. She won the Miss Traditions Beauty Pageant last year! After the wedding we went to the Aquarium and saw fishies. (more on that later).

Farm Day

2006-06-12T21:27:00.000-04:00

Sunday was our first farm pickup day. It was a lovely day at the farm, and we got all sorts of great food, including lettuce, kohlrabi, radishes, kale, bok choy, spinach, broccoli, and herbs. Our friends Allison and Patrick came with us to help; then we went home and made a salad to have with our dinner.

Dr. Jen's Graduation

2006-06-11T23:19:00.000-04:00

Catching up on old news... here are some photos from Jen's graduation from Brandeis on May 21.

Italy!

2006-05-25T22:51:00.000-04:00

Here are some highlights from our Italy vacation (this trip was a celebration of Jen's graduation - more on that in the next post).

Our first stop was Venice. Here is a photo of the cheesy touristy gondola ride that we didn't take:

And a lovely evening photo of the Piazza San Marco:

The sun setting on Venice:

Murano, where they make beautiful glass (we carried a small dish home in Steve's suitcase):

Next we went on to Florence. Here's Jen at the gelato shop (actually we had gelato pretty much every day of the trip).

The view from the top of the Duomo (cathedral):

Our last leg of the trip was in Tuscany, where we stayed at a farm called Fattoria La Loggia - we'd highly recommend it! In this photo we are watching the sunset and drinking some of the Fattoria La Loggia Chianti wine on the grounds.

And here's an evening photo of the buildings:

Steve playing soccer with a couple of kids in the nearby town:

And finally, a couple of photos from the medeival towns that we spent our days wandering around:

Earth Day at the Zoo

2006-04-22T19:27:00.000-04:00

Today we celebrate Earth Day by visiting the Franklin Park Zoo. Since Steve's company, Forge, is doing some pro bono work for the zoo, we were able to get VIP passes to go to a reception and meet Jane Goodall! It was very exciting - she was very friendly and offered to sign her new book (Harvest for Hope), which we had just bought. She then gave a wonderful talk, for which we got to sit in the front row, since we were VIPs. :)

While we were there, we walked around the zoo and looked at the animals. We saw :
Gorillas (notice the cute baby!)

Zebras

A peacock showing off his beautiful feathers

Storks

And a sleepy lion!

If you live around here, we highly recommend checking out the zoo! We had a really great time there. And this summer, you can see the new baby giraffes, zebras, and tigers.

New Beginnings

2006-03-12T12:36:00.000-05:00

Lots of exciting stuff has been going on! First of all, on Friday, Jen defended her dissertation, so this is the beginning of her post-grad school life. The first thing we did was have some friends over for a cocktail party.

Here's Jen pouring some Buzz Aldrins. Thank you to Maureen for the great drink idea (they're a specialty at the Continental Martini Bar in Philly). They were a real hit. If you want to try it at home, here's the recipe:
1 oz. peach vodka
1 oz. Triple Sec
1 oz. Tang (remember Tang? We didn't even know they still made it!!)

Saturday we continued to celebrate Jen's freedom by going for a long walk/hike through Newton, following the Sudbury and Cochituate Aqueducts.

We also made a detour to Hemlock Gorge, which has some beautiful waterfalls, and crossed over Echo Bridge, which is closing to pedestrians this week, so we just made it.

One the way home, we happened upon this wine shop called Vino Divino, where they had a wine tasting going on. A perfect break for tired feet!

And finally, it's the beginning of spring! Crocuses are blooming in our front yard, and all sorts of other sprouts are emerging as well. :)

Remodeling, Part II

2006-02-12T22:18:00.000-05:00

We finally put up the curtains in the dining room and they look great!

Wallpaper

2006-01-08T22:05:00.000-05:00

DOES YOUR KITCHEN LOOK LIKE THIS? ARE YOU TIRED OF THE SAME OL BORING WALLPAPER WITH THE CHINESE LETTERS? WHY SETTLE? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? LET JEN AND STEVE DESIGN AND REMODEL YOUR KITCHEN FOR ONLY $5,000.00. PROFESSIONAL GRADE. ACT NOW!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

SEE THE DIFFERENCE IS HUGE. IT'S LIKE A WHOLE NEW ROOM. OUR PROFESSIONAL STAFF IS UNMATCHED IN THE FIELD.

WE ARE PROUD TO ANNOUNCE, JANE SULLIVAN WITH 14 YEARS OF WALLPAPERING EXPERIENCE, OUR EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH. THANK YOU JANE FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK AND DEDICATION. A JOB WELL DONE.

Christmas with Jen and Steve

2005-12-28T20:34:00.000-05:00

In case you were wondering what it's like to celebrate Christmas with Jen and Steve and the bunnies... well here it is!

Christmas morning. Jen doing her Sudoku while the bunnies open their presents.

Selena is asking if Santa brought her a box of raisins.

The Christmas tree. Many hours of adjusting and leveling went into getting it straight. Jen directed. Steve stuffed newspapers under the legs of the stand.

The D.C. ornament Jen got for our One Year Anniversary. The one on the right is a photo of our wedding day.

Ahhhh... Christmas dinner. Beef Burgundy. Mash potatoes. Wine. Lots of good wine. Can't remember much after that.

Ahhhh... Christmas dinner. Carrot tops. Water.

Maureen, Jen's sister, gave us the best gift ever.
Some good things to dip are, marshmallows, bananas, pretzels, strawberries, pound cake, caramels, oreo cookies, and chocolate bars.

Gluttony.

Weekend at the Highland Center

2005-11-27T20:40:00.000-05:00

It was a beautiful weekend - much warmer than last time, but snowy. The snow was great because it made the woods a winter wonderland and also we got to go snowshoeing!

Here are a couple of photos from our hike up Mt. Willard Saturday morning:

We saw this beautiful bird who was very friendly; he would sit on people's hands! Our guide said he is a gray jay and it's very unusual to see one below 3,000 ft.

Here is a photo of the whole family outside the lodge:

Getting started

2005-11-24T22:43:00.000-05:00

Hi! We're just learning how to do this but are hoping to use this blog to share our photos with family & friends.

We just had a wonderful Thanksgiving with both of our families, and are headed out tomorrow to the AMC Highland Center for a weekend with Jen's family. We went to the Highland Center a couple years ago and it was brutally cold - here's a picture of us hiking in -10 degree weather. Hopefully it will be warmer this year!