Life Updates :)

Hey folks!

It's been awhile, so I'm just going to go ahead and condense the past few weeks into one post. Mmkay? Mkay.


July 4th week we had our FIRST EVER family vacation and it was so so wonderful. It was Nicholas' first time to the beach. I should probably mention Nick and I are not big beach people. We're pool people. We're lay around and try to relax people. Anyway, enough about us. Nicholas had a great time- he was a little nervous at first, but Ima toot my own horn and say I helped him (along with his friends Matthew and Leah and Auntie Deanna) get comfortable with the water. I had him stand behind me and put his arms around my neck while I sat in the water, and he was then comfortable enough to creep in and hold hands with his friends. Here are some pictures of our amazing time in Newburyport. I didn't get many of Nicholas in the water since I was busy making sure he didn't drown ;) :

When we came back from Newburyport I had a little bit of a health scare, and after that Dexter wasn't feeling so great either. I found a lump in my left breast and was beyond terrified. I am thankful to say I went for a mammogram and ultrasound and it was found that I had dense tissue and no signs of an actual tumor or cancer. I can't stress enough how important it is to check yourself, ladies! I am lucky enough to have no family history of cancer but that's just one of the many factors that go into determing breast cancer.

We also visited the vet today and I'm thankful to say Dexter is also doing ok. The picture of Nicholas and Dexter below is when he brought his favorite bone over to play tug of war- he hadn't done that in days and it made me so happy.

My friend Brooke is going through a tough time with their dog Kaia right now. Kaia has been diagnosed with cancer and she's going through treatment- all I can say is Brooke (and Kaia) are two tough girls because I look at Dexter with an upset stomach and am reduced to tears. I can't imagine what they're going through and I can only hope that Kaia gets better- she's got two amazing parents who will do anything for her so she's in the best place she can be, and I choose to believe she's a fighter and will get better- she has so much more life to live. <3

Lowell Humane Society Upcoming Events

As many of you know, I've been volunteering at Lowell Humane for a little over a year now and it has changed my life. LHS does amazing things for so many animals in need.

In the past few months a few dogs have been surrendered and their bills have been astronomical. Denali needed heart worm treatment and will need double knee surgery, Baby Bella recently had knee surgery, Rex had cataract surgery, and we just out a new young guy named Ruck will need ball hip joint surgery. These surgeries for these dogs alone cost thousands and thousands of dollars.

Lowell Humane receives absolute zero government funding- they operate only on private donations and small grants throughout the year.

With all that being said, I know that we all have to pick and choose what we would like to donate to, and I know it's not often we've got just money lying around wondering "what can I do with this?"

I'm a member of the Dog Task Force which works specifically to promote the well being of the dogs while in the care of LHS and we came up with a few ideas that I wanted to share with you, and I also wanted to let you know about some fun summer events. :)

Have spare change?
Having a yard sale?
Have kids that want to have a lemonade stand/bake sale?

Considering donating a portion of these proceeds to LHS.

Upcoming/ Save the Date events:

Thursday June 25th: Garcia Brogan's in Lowell from 7-9pm Live Music, Raffle, Silent Auction, and kissing booth with Baby Bella- a $5 cover will be charged and all proceeds benefit the shelter.

Sunday June 28th: Shelter Me- movie viewing at The Luna Theater in Lowell. $5 and proceeds benefit the shelter.

Saturday July 11th: Pancake breakfast at Chelmsford Applebees $10 - we have to sell a minimum of 100 tickets so please please please, even if you cannot attend perhaps you could consider making a $10 donation?

Friday August 14th: Come. Sip. Stay Beer Tasting at Onyx Room at Western Ave Studios, $25 pp.


Thank you for all of your love and support folks, it means so much to me and to the animals in need. <3

If you have any questions or think you might attend some of these events, please let me know. Would love to see you guys there :)

Family

Family. It's Good. It's Bad. It's Ugly. But, it's part of who we are. I'm grateful that Nick is close with his family and we got to hang with a big group of them today. Life is good, you guys. Life. is. good.

Eva's 1st Birthday

Today we celebrated Eva's 1st birthday, the daughter of our very close friends Matt and Jen. It was the perfect day and everyone had a great time.

Memorial Day Weekend & Kangas Family Reunion

Our quartet headed to Long Island this past Memorial Day weekend. We had not visited since last August so it was great to be home (yes, I still call it home).

Saturday we had our 2nd Annual Kangas Family Reunion. My cousin Ron and his wife Melissa were a huge help in planning the event and scoped out a great location at South Haven Park on Long Island. Also, major shout out to my cousin Amber and her husband John who traveled from Florida, and Jason and his wife Miri who made the trip up from Tennessee. I know it's not easy so I truly appreciate the effort you made in coming. Even the NY family, thank you for taking the time to come. It really means a lot to me that we can all be together. It was a much smaller gathering this year than last, so I'm thinking we'll change it up next year and hopefully get a big family group to come:)

Here are some pictures of the day- it was truly perfect weather and I think everyone had a great time. I know we did.

The cousins in order from oldest to youngest:
My brother Erik, my brother Dylan (oldy moldies), Destiny, Dylan, Jason, Ron, Me, Amber, and Tom. The super sweet kiddos are Zoe (my cousin Dylan's daughter), Katie and Eli (my cousin Amber's kiddos).

Normally we head back to Massachusetts very early on Sunday morning but we spent the extra day and headed to Fire Island with Erik and Joe on Sunday instead. We had the pleasure of seeing Erik and Joe's long time friend Tom who we had not seen in ages- he's the coolest guy and it was THE BEST getting to see him and just relax and take in the beautiful weather. Major thank you to my Mom for watching Nicholas so we could have a grown up day out. :)

My Dad and Dexter on Memorial Day- giving him some comfort on a tough day for Veteran's.

The drive home...

One of the many things I love about my dog...he always looks like he just farted and is super embarrassed about it (and it's usually true).

xoxo

Mother's Day

Hey folks.

So. Being a Mom. It's pretty good. I mean. It's real good. It's real awesome.

But. Sometimes- you go to a fancy pants brunch- and well- it doesn't quite work out. I mean- you get good pictures:

But, as you're witness to this- it's taken in the parking lot before we've eaten anything.

I don't have pictures of us eating, because I was trying to enjoy it, and it didn't work out. Not to say I didn't have a good time, it was just a lil rough around the edges. Nicholas was good- but he was 3 year old good. Lots of yelling fun things like " I WANT CHICKEN TENDERS" - when he has an option of 50 things to eat, and chicken tenders aren't one of them.

I wouldn't trade it for anything. Nicholas was difficult. Well, you know what? He's effin 3. He's entitled to be difficult. He knows he's being a jerk, but he doesn't quite get that yet. And as much as it makes me crazy, I get that. I really really do. I'm sure I was the same way at 3. And i'm ok with that. I know how fortunate I am to have a happy, handsome, insane, opinionated little dude.

Later that day, we went to a brunch with Nick's family. We haven't hung out with them in awhile, and Nick's Auntie Karen hosted the MOST WONDERFUL Mother's Day Brunch. It was really really great to be with family and we had the most wonderful time. Here are some pics from the day:

XOXO

Big Boy Bed!

Lately it just seems to be one milestone after another- time is flying by and I'm trying so hard not to miss a moment.

We are so lucky that Nicholas is a pretty easy going kid. He has always loved his crib (I put him in there when he was just a few weeks old). He's actually never even tried to climb out of it. But the bigger he got, I realized it was time for a big boy bed.

We went to Bob's Furniture and Nicholas loved the huge koi pond they have there. He made a few new friends and brought me over to meet them, saying "this is my mama" (melted).

Afterward we went out to dinner to celebrate. The bed came in a few days later and he LOVES it! Our friends were kind enough to lend us a bed rail so we didn't even have to buy one.

Our little boy is getting so big! <3