Our very first chapter book

At the beginning of the school year the kids and I decided to try and read a chapter book. The one they picked was Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. This was a daunting pick for our first attempt but they loved it. When I read it as a child I remembered it being strange with difficult vocabulary at times, but it is a really weird book. Alice falls down the rabbit hole, has foot races with animals, talks with a caterpillar and a cheshire cat, grows, shrinks and grows again and has her life threatened by an unfair King and Queen. When she wakes up at the end you can't help but wonder if it was really a dream or did it actually happen.

My personal favorite part of the book is when Alice meets the Duchess who is holding a wailing baby as the cook is throwing pots and pans at them. It was so funny to picture.

Our next chapter book is going to be The Tale of Despereaux. Here's to happy reading!!!

Wuv tuwoo Wuv!!

Aren't my Mummy and Daddio so cute?!?!

Naturalists

I love that my kids love nature. They feel very at ease when it comes to mud, bugs, trees and animals. I think most kids usually do and as adults we grow out of it. Just the other day as we were leaving the Y we saw an odd insect climbing up the outside wall. We watched it trying to figure out what it was. The best I could determine was that it was a spider with only 3 legs, trying to climb up. Someone walked outside and saw what we were doing and commented, "I'm glad some people like bugs." I myself have always been squimish around spiders, but have gotten stronger the last couple years. Dropping off the kids one the days this week there was a spider in the doorway. The kids said "Ohhh, look at the spider" quickly followed by "NO MOM- Don't kill it." I didn't.

When the kids found a lump of sticks they automatically figured out that it was a birds nest fallen from the trees. They took it home, grabbed a ball that looked like an egg, assembled everything outside and used my camera to document the find. Here are their snapshots.

Not bad photography for their age.

Oh Poor Lemon Squares!!

On one of those days when there are a million things to do and a million places to be the kids had Parent Night at the preschool. Everyone was to bring a dessert and we brought lemon squares. While I finished up a couple of things I sent the kids out to the car with Brooke in charge of the dessert. It wasn't  until we got there that I realized there was something odd about the dessert. Upon closer investigation I realized that there was a sneaker print in the lemon squares. Apparently Brooke had put them down on the ground to run around and when she returned to get them she stepped on them. Luckily there was saran wrap covering them and I wasn't above serving them despite the foot print flaw.

Cam's first day of Kindergarten

Yes, Cameron has started Kindergarten. I was pretty sure that I would be able to handle it well, since I still drop him off at the same place at the same time everyday, but it was still hard imagining my little boy climbing on the school bus and traveling to Greenleaf School. In Haverhill there is full day Kindergarten, but that is only until 3:30, and I still need daycare for the kids until 5 most days, so Cam and I opted for him to go the half day program at Greenleaf. I thought I was doing well when I dropped him off at the pre-school until I went to the 3 year old room to return the blanket he has used for the last 2 1/2 years. That's when I could feel the tears burning in the back of my eyes, but with a deep breath and a comforting pat on the back from one of Cam's former teachers, I managed to make it through the day without crying.

Cam's "C" pancake

And Brookie got a "B"

Big smiles

The new backpacks

It wasn't until review of the pictures that I realized Cam's sweater was on inside out.

The Big Boy on the school bus. When he got off he ran up and gave me a hug and said "This was the best day of my life." Are kids usually this excited about Kindergarten?!

Em turned One!!

I was more than overjoyed on August 5th, 2008 when I finally became an Aunt. Emma Rose Pietal has graced us with her spunky personality and gorgeous auburn hair since. Cameron and Brooke have been enthralled with her since she was born and Brooke recently exclaimed "I can't wait til Emma is older so that we can play." A few baby pictures to look back and remind us how much she has grown.

Smiling in her sleep

One of my favorite pictures of all three kids.

After the millioneth picture the kids got a little restless,

each one is doing their own thing.

The happy cousins

Introducing the Lawrence Ward

On July 26th our family had a little surprise at church. My mom had warned me that I needed to go to the branch for church in the morning. Once there we realized that all of the Stake Presidency was there. Several things were running through our minds. When President Watson got up and released Dad as the Branch President there were audible gasps, quickly followed by sobbing from many of the members of the branch. This was resolved when President Watson declared that the Branch was now becoming a Ward and called my Dad as Bishop. It was a momentous occasion for our family, the Ward and the Stake. We are so proud of Dad and all the hard work he has put in to making the Ward what it is today. Well done Papa!

Part of the Stake Presidency and the Bishopric

Cameron with one of his idols

Proud Wife

Family Picture (minus a few)

The Sevigny Family

In July my good friend Hilary and her family came back home for a visit from Wisconsin. Hilary and I have been friends since freshman year of high school and through it all have remained good friends, even if we don't get to speak often. She has four children, Audrey and Olivia who are 6, Isabelle who is 3, Ethan who just turned one in September and her husband Adam. They were able to come for Ethan's baptism. We had a lot of fun visiting and catching up, and getting all the kids together for their pictures.

The Verrington Clan

Happy Ethan Lucas

SIX little monkeys

One of the funnest pictures we have taken of them

12 years of friendship

Keeping Busy

The kids got dragged to a YSA activity in June. They worked on their mastery of carpentry...

and made friends with the locals

I also forgot to tell about a Cameron-ism over vacation.

At the top of Mt. Philo we were all remarking on the color

of our skin in the bright sunlight. I was comparing my comlexion to that

of Jose Reyes, my skin is alabaster compared to his cocoa.

I complained saying "Geez, I'm white for a white person."

Cam replied, showing that he has indeed spent a good amount of

time at the branch, "I'm white for a Dominican."

Thendara : Part 5 - Fun Randomness

Most of the days we were at Thendara were really nice. Sunny, warm, what more could we ask for, especially considering the weather back home in Mass. They had rain for several days straight. We only had rain a couple of hours one or two of the days we were there. Here are some of the antics we got into.

We love sparklers!

This is a giant moth that we found
just hanging out on the porch.

It was gorgeous . . . and bigger than my hand.

On one of the rainy days we had we sat and painted. I would give the kids something to look at, part of the scenery for example, and we would all paint the same thing, then compare. These kids never shy away from art projects.

Cameron and I swordfighting with swimming noodles.

One of our favorite Thendara movies is
"Dancing in the rain."

Here is Cam doing just that.

And Brooke joining in the wet fun.

This is the best place for taking pictures.

Looking down at the lake at dusk

The kids enjoying the last few minutes of light

Night

Thendara : Part 5 - Lake Champlain

Part of the appeal of Thendara is being situated right on Lake Champlain. Even with the threat of the local Lake monster, Champy, and the temperature of the early summer water, we take full advantage of being able to swim and boat to our hearts content. Thendara is fully stocked with canoes, row boats, sail boats, and floats. Even though as teenagers Luisa, Andrew and I did sailing in Haverhill, we never attempt to take the sail boat out, because it is much more complex than the sunfish we sailed in Plugs Pond. Last year when I took the kids out canoeing it was a choppy day on the water, and with a voice full of skepticism in my being able to handle the canoe Cam said "Momma, maybe we should go back and wait for Papa to take us." Well, we neither drowned nor capsized, but they have been reluctant to go solo with me since.

Dad getting the kids situated before they set out for a little rowing.

I used Alex as a guinea pig to play with a continuous sequence feature on my camera.

Here he shows off his diving "ssskillzzz

THE JUMP

THE ARCH

THE SPLASH

Caleb, our Thendara neighbor, and Cam searching for toads

Brooke trying to gain the courage to jump in with Nana

Cam figuring out how to navigate the ledge for a more extensive search of amphibian

Thendara : Part 4 - The Summit, continued

Here are some pictures of the Hikers enjoying hanging around at the top.

Mom - contemplating the creation of Earth . . .

or just catching her breath.

Mom and Brooke - discussing how Mt. Philo was once covered in water and how glaciers placed the colossal rocks all around it . . . or just catching their breath.

Somehow these two little monkeys still have the energy to climb trees. I am standing on a rock that made me equal to their height.

Looking at the group.



Cameron is in that tree somewhere.

Brooke yelling for everyone to see her accomplishment.

The two littlest hikers, they were totally not into the photo shoot.