thirteen

Thirteen years old. Thirteen years old?!?!

I've said this before, but I'm saying it again: Oh. Mah. Gah. Can he really be a teenager? Owen is so thrilled to be a teen that it's hard not to be excited for him. Although I don't think I'm ready for him to be this old. This means that I have to wrap my head around the idea that he is eventually moving out and my brain wants to think we'll always be all together like this. Don't get me wrong: I know that I actually will desire that he moves out when the time comes... He will not be 28 and living with Moms & Pops! I'm not crazy, for crying out loud. I'm just not ready to think about it yet.

Owen's bedroom doorway the morning of his birthday. I had fun decking it out while he slept the night before. (I actually remember doing something similar for Keall's 16th birthday!)

party invitations

Owen turned thirteen on Thursday, but his party was Saturday. He hasn't had a birthday party for two years and we just couldn't bear to have his 13th birthday be the year we made it three in a row! So he picked four friends to invite and I made up some cool "VIP Passes" as birthday invitations and we took them all go-karting at Maine Indoor Karting. Owen and his friends are mainly a bunch of computer/science/academia type kids, so it was fun to watch them on the race course... Oscar raced, too, but he was pretty freaked out about the waiver form they all filled out before their experience.  He's always been our "safety first" dude, so once he read about the risk of injury "including paralysis and/or death," it was all over... no pedal to the metal for him! The go-karts are capable of 35 mph, but Oscar wouldn't hear of that. He was consistently the slowest guy on the course, but the staff were awesome working with him to get him up to the speed that he needed in order to get his karting license. (50 sec lap requirement to pass and get your license.)

gaggle of racing dudes (owen and oscar are in green)

ready to race!

After they peeled themselves out of their sweaty helmets and jumpsuits they all smelled pretty ripe...  I had the pleasure of being cooped up with all of them and their locker room stench as I drove them back to our house in the minivan for pizza, cake & Minecraft. Skip set up a multi-port network switch so all the guys could have their laptops plugged in without wi-fi lag... they were psyched! Three bags of chips, six large pizzas, some cake and ice cream later, they were all on their way home again... The whole party was six hours long, but it felt like only half that because we had so much fun.

After the last guy left, the five of us settled in to watch a movie together, but Rocco and Oscar were the only two who stayed awake through the whole thing. We were spent!

Below you'll find a few outtakes as I tried to get a normal birthday picture of Owen with Oscar. You can see what I'm dealing with over here on a daily basis... No shortage of goofy boy tomfoolery at our house ever. It can be a real pain in the neck getting them to do anything, but I really do love their silliness! They make me laugh and I wouldn't want them any other way.

Ten Years

What a whirlwind of a week! I am exhausted! I'm going to curl up on the couch under the skylights and listen to this crazy rainstorm that is the edges of Hurricane Hannah...

Besides, I want to keep this brief so I can enjoy my handsome husband's company this evening- our tenth wedding anniversary!

We had a beautiful party last night to celebrate with lots of family and friends at the inn where our wedding reception was held... with the same band playing as on our wedding day. The food was amazing, so we hear. Between Skip and I we ate a total of ONE crab cake (appetizer-sized, to boot!) and ONE chicken satay skewer (also an appetizer.) Ugh. We were starving by the end of the night! We finally ordered pizza after getting up to our hotel room for the night!

As soon as I get pictures of the party I'll share them. But for now, I'll post pictures from the lovely wedding we attended last week at our friend's home. His daughter got married at his house on the lake... Skip & I danced all night long and then walked home in the beautiful summer night.

The next day, our sweet baby turned two years old! We took him to the animal park and then out to lunch to celebrate with his big brothers. The following day, we had a small family party with grandparents, aunts/uncles & cousins. R had a blast... the theme was a "puppy party" since he loves two things these days: dogs and cars. (Dogs seemed like a cuter theme than cars!)

Anniversary party pics (and more details!) just as soon as the photos are ready!

Sunset Ceremony


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The bride & her father showed up in his Godfather II replica limo
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Bride & Groom- just married
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Skip in action on the dance floor
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Blurry self-photo of Skip and I at the wedding
(The photographer was enjoying some fruity drinks that
her darling husband kept feeding her all night long...)
Although I somehow think, by the look on Skip's face, that
the photo wouldn't have been any better if he'd been the one to take it!
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Wedding Guests under the twinkly lights
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Skip & I on the dance floor
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Rocco, the birthday boy...
holding hands with Oscar for much of the day
Soooo cute
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Saying "cheese"
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Rocco & his daddy
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At Toys R Us on Rocco's bday-
we let him choose his own present- a couple of small
Geo Trax vehicles that he hasn't left alone all week!
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Birthday lunch at Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse-
Rocco loved watching the talking, moving animals
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Birthday party the next day- Uncle Dan caught a dragonfly
and Rocco was "petting" it
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Rocco checking out his new bike from

Aunt Donna and Uncle Gary
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Make a Wish, Baby!!
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Before I go... Some outtakes from the wedding...
(Try to guess how many drinks I'd had when taking each photo... hahaha)

Skip dancing
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Striking a pose
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Whoa... Ultra closeup
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This is a photo of Skip and I.
Or, more accurately, our outfits... as I apparently took a picture
pointing down towards the dance floor.
Skip's got a nice tie on, though, doesn't he!? haha
I'm the black dress. Aren't we cute? ;)
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To my dear readers... I promise a more organized, interesting read next time. This is a pathetic excuse for an entry, but at least it keeps you abreast of our comings and goings until I get with the program....

To my fantastic, loving husband, you are the best thing EVER!!
You really put the pep in my step, Baby!! Happy Anniversary-
from the luckiest girl in the world.

To my humble little blog, Happy 100th Post!!
It seems like just yesterday that I posted this.

xoxo Mrs. Sullivan
(for ten years and counting...)

thirtysomething

I feel old. Well, not really. But older. Which I am! Yesterday was my birthday.

Thank you to those wonderful family and friends who called, emailed and sent birthday cards and gifts. My day had a somewhat shaky start, so your birthday wishes meant more than you probably knew. (Now, now. Don't cry for me, Babies... The day ended on quite a nice note, once I got over my little pity party.)

I stopped by the house of our magnificent photographer friend yesterday (you've maybe seen her pictures on last year's xmas cards) and, as it turns out, my birthday is also her daughter's birthday... Which explained why she had balloons all over her yard. So that was kind of neat. (By the way, if you check out Wyndee's site, you'll notice a few familiar faces in her galleries... We have a photo in each of the babies, kids & families galleries.) But what I'm about to say next might really blow your mind. I don't know if you're ready for the parallel-universe-ness of this whole thing, but here it goes...

Do you remember The Other Koren Sullivan? Surely you recall my alter-ego whom I mentioned before? (For those of you just joining us, you can get caught up here.) She's been doing her thing "across the pond" but she and Guy broke up a few weeks ago. Hopefully she'll get a new boyfriend with an equally cool-sounding name... I like my alter-egos to have friends with jaunty names and wild experiences!

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to tell you. That's not the interestingly, mind-blowing news. Guess who had a birthday yesterday? Koren Sullivan. That's right, me. But also The Other Koren Sullivan! How bizarre is that? Two Koren Sullivans- both with a birthday on May 29. That really boggles my mind. She's quite a bit younger than me- she just turned eighteen. As we exchanged birthday wishes via email, I told her that I got a new iPod for my/our bday... She said she got a laptop for university in the fall...

The whole thing is very surreal.

Hmm. How to seg out of this topic? It would be a good spot for a picture. But I don't have any new ones. I am both proud and ashamed that I have not been bothered to dig out the camera once this month, I don't think! Well, I guess I'll just have to leave 'er as is.

I plan to take at least a couple pictures over the weekend. Perhaps I'll even post them. In the meantime, enjoy the weekend. Have a couple drinks and toast the Koren Sullivans and their birthday!

Another Birthday

We had another January birthday last week... Owen turned eight years old! He had a quiet evening at home on his birthday, followed by a party at the University planetarium a couple of days later. Owen is really into space stuff (for the last two years about 99% of the books he brings home from the school library are about space/planets/etc) so he really loved it. It was also surprisingly reasonable as far as kids' parties go, too. (Unlike Chuck E. Cheese or the like, where you plunk down an easy $200!)

The planetarium was very cool; it was also the quietest party to which I've ever been! Very mellow with just a few cousins and also Owen's neighborhood friend and fellow classmate who rode into the party with us. We did presents and then "mooncake" with freeze-dried astronaut ice cream. Owen selected which planetarium show we watched: "The Little Star That Could." It was cute, but Rocco was a wiggly worm after the cake sugar buzz, so I spent much of the show trying to entertain him instead of watching... But Owen absolutely loved it.

Owen's space cake
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We took the boys and Owen's friend out for a bite to eat after the party... Dinner with four young boys in a restaurant is certainly interesting, but it went pretty well! I don't think we're convinced yet that having four kids is in our best interest, but we managed just fine this once, so you never know! haha

See what we were dealing with at dinner?
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Rocco really loved the sundaes we had
at home on Owen's real birthday!
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That's enough from me for one day. I think I'll fold some laundry and chill with the kiddos until it's time for yoga class. (I'll need some Zen by then, I suspect!) Have a good one...

PS- I almost forgot... I wanted to update anyone keeping track: I am well on my way to keeping my New Year's Resolution! I have not set foot in the gym once since making my resolution!

xoxo k.