Arrrgh!

Hudson had his 7th birthday bash today. Pirate themed (obviously)... It was lots of fun!Having 8 boys in the house (including Ethan) was, well, interesting! We had a treasure hunt and a pirate ship cake. I think he was afraid the ships flags were going to catch fire... look at his expression!

Having Fun Isn't Hard When You've Got A Library Card!

If you're not an Arthur fan you may not recognize the title of this post... But that's what Hudson was feeling yesterday when he FINALLY got his own library card. Turning seven is so very exciting!! Not only do you get a library card, but you get to ditch your booster seat too!

Memory Walk

Today Alex, Hudson & I walked in the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk in Canandaigua. It's about a 2.7 mile walk, and the kids did great. Then we went and told Mum that we walked for her.

Tired out after the walk (with a buddy).

Ten Years....

Has it really been ten years? It doesn't seem that long. I still feel like that same girl- heavier, but basically the same. Justin's hair has come full circle and is near that length again! And I think that may have been that last time I wore lipstick!

We had a nice weekend in "the city"- a play at GEVA, nice dinner, night in a hotel, breakfast and strolling around Park Ave, and a visit to Strong Museum. We sort of felt a little out of place being at a museum devoted to play without our kids- but it was so nice to be able to wander around, not chase or lose anyone, and actually get to ENJOY it. It's a really fabulous place. The new Reading Adventure Land was almost as great as the Butterfly Exhibit. I highly recommend it.

We don't have any plans for tonight. Justin has to work. Alex has dance. Hudson does too- but he is sick on the couch right now with a 102.2 temp. I'll probably have a glass of wine, watch some (hopefully) great TV and fold laundry....such is life. Happy ten years to us!!

Fall

Sarah here:

Ethan and I picked a huge bucket full of pears yesterday and I made pear ginger crisp with some of them last night after he had gone to bed. Today he tried it and he loves it. He had a big serving for lunch. A little later he said, "Mom, can I have more pear crust?" and then "Can we go get some more pears to make some more pear crust?" It doesn't sound as appetizing to me when it's called "Crust", but whatever.

We brought the scarecrow down from the shed attic and tied it to the fence out by the road. We snuck into the field and "borrowed" some corn from the friendly farmer to decorate with. Yesterday Ethan heard the tractor so we took off down the path to go see what the farmer was up to. He was harvesting the corn. We waved, and when the farmer got near, he turned off his tractor and came over to see us. "Are you the little guy Uncle Dick brought out here last year?" he asked Ethan. Ethan was so excited he could barely talk to the guy!

My camera is not operating right now- otherwise I would have added some pictures of Ethan on the ladder.

Hot Cross Buns...

Hi all. As you know it i'm learning to play the flute, I had my 1st lesson today. I know the fingerings for 3 songs but i'm still working on the sound. Hudson and I are back in dance, and we're trying to get Ethan in to going to the preschool program. School is going great for Hud, Ethan and me! I hope you guys all had a great summer! Bye-Bye!!!!!

Ethan's First Day

Here is a picture of Ethan and his friend Meredith just before going into school for their first day. See how happy and ready Ethan looks? See how proudly he is wearing his back pack and holding his show and tell (there is a caterpillar in there)? Well, that didn't last. As soon as he remembered that he gets LEFT there, he wasn't too happy. There were no tears, but there was certainly some apprehension. But when I returned 2½ hours later he was fine. He had played at the rice table. He did a project. He played with his buddies that he remembered from last year. He did ok!

Fugly

It looks like a hillbilly picnic around here

First Day....

Today was the first day of school. The kids were up early and ready to go with lots of time to spare. It helps that their bus doesn't come until 8:55am. In case you have lost track, Hudson is 6 and entering 2nd grade. Alex is 8 and entering 4th. (Doesn't that sound OLD??!!) Here is a picture of last year's first day to compare. Hey look! Hudson is wearing the exact same shirt! Whoops! At least it gives you a good comparison of his size- look at how much he has grown!

And next year we get to watch this monkey go off to kindergarten!


Hudson is looking a little "Jack-o-lantern-ish" lately. He lost his top tooth the other night while he was sleeping.... and we can't find it!! Wonder were it ended up?


* The kids just got off the bus at 4:20pm! Yes, that is late for them...hopefully the next few days will be a bit earlier. Normal time is about 4 or 4:05. Hudson was very quiet and hasn't said much of anything about the first day. Alex was the first person to talk to the new boy in her class.... hmmmmm, sounds a bit like her Papa.

HOT HOT HOT

Its just too hot to do much of anything but complain about how hot it is.... so that's our excuse for not posting much. When it gets this hot, we get sort of silly and then this happens....

Kelly- I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alex here- I just wanted to say,"Kelly-I love you"!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes you heard me, I went to a Kelly Clarkson concert at Darien lake yesterday. First we went on rides and then we did something I've always wanted to do...SEE KELLY CLARKSON LIVE!!!!!! It was the most fantastic concert I have ever gone too- actually my first concert too! I loved ALL the songs and her new hair cut. At the end when she was singing Breakaway, we got about 10 feet away from her and she waved to us, and I yelled, as you can guess, "I LOVE YOU KELLY!!!" At the very end they threw confetti out of these big blower things and I got pockets full to take home. One more thing- THANK YOU GRANDMA PATTY for the tickets !!!! I love you tooooo!!!!

The Never Ending Birthday

Ethan is still receiving gifts for his birthday. Today a big package from Target arrived. Ethan was SO HAPPY to find more tractors inside...and a gator AND a buck! Thanks Sheller/Fisher family. That was very nice of you. And I am the WORST about sending out thank you notes... every day I think, Oh, I should really get to those thank you's from Ethan's party and then, again, I don't actually get to them. We do appreciate all of his wonderful gifts... thanks everyone!!

So Long Sammy Davis

Sammy Davis is the name Alex gave to one of the tadpoles we harvested from Megan's pond. We were raising him and his "brother" Samuel (I know, very original names) along with nine "Moonies" (another of Alex's names)- which are actually a different variety of tadpole- in a plastic tote on the breezeway.

This is a picture of Sammy Davis last Tuesday. He still has his tail. On Friday we went to the pet store and asked the gentleman there what to feed a young bullfrog (we are guessing he's a bullfrog). He suggested crickets and gave us a free bag full. "There is no way that this tiny frog can eat a cricket almost as big as him," I thought. Well, I was wrong! I watched him gobble one up yesterday afternoon.

This is a picture of Sammy Davis a few days ago. He still had a nub of a tail. We all had fun watching him change and grow.

This is a picture of Sammy Davis on the right with Samuel on the left, taken yesterday. See how Sammy Davis has completely lost his tail? Then this morning we discovered that he had escaped! He had tried to escape once before, and we found him by the door in the breezeway, scooped him up and deposited him back in his home. But this time there was no finding the little guy. So Long Sammy Davis! You were fun while we had you!

Another One Bites the Dust.....

And another one's gone, and another one's gone, and another one bites the dust....

Yep, Hudson lost his second tooth. He's going to be rollin' in the tooth-fairy dough before the summer is out if this pace keeps up. Alex was calling him Gumby this morning.

And another school year bites the dust too..... can you believe that I will now have a 4th grader!!! That sounds so OLD! And a 2nd-grader too. We got Alex all signed up for her flute. It will be delivered to school in September. They are required by Mr. Gerolomi to stick with it through December, but I think that Alex will love playing an instrument. She plays her precorder All. The. Time.

This summer the kids are signed up for only a few "structured" activities. Alex will be doing theater camp in Canandaigua for 2 weeks and both she and Hudson will play soccer and go to Veggie Camp (for one week). We are planning a vacation to the Adirondacks, and a reunion with Justin's family at Letchworth in August. We plan on getting together with our friends Tessa and Bethany for some trade-off playdates (one day here, one day there) and playing a lot at the lake with all the cousins. I really can't believe that summer vacation starts this afternoon!

Finally....

Hudson has finally lost a tooth! It happened this morning. He is 6 years and 8 months old. And can you see all the gear he is wearing? Does it remind you of anyone? We call him Keenan Jr.

Kristin is Evil!

Sarah here- and all I have to say is, Kristin, you are evil, evil, evil..... Those cookies you sent me for my birthday are far too yummy!!! Sure- she loses all this weight and then sends me a dozen ginormous, delicious, different flavored (so I can't just have one and be done with it...No! I need to try all of the varieties) cookies. So, if you need me I'll be wiping crumbs off my chin in the kitchen.....

I'm BAAAAACCCCKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello all! Alex here. Guess what?! I got chosen to play the flute in fourth grade! Only about 6 or 8 people get to play it too! Aren't I lucky! My ballet recital went great too!!!!!!! Hudson loved it so much, he wants to do dance again in the fall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More Dance Photos and Ethan's Party

As promised, here are more pictures from the recital. They don't allow flash photography during the performance, so these are backstage shots. Alex had 3 costumes... Jazz was the hoe-down costume, tap was the Broadway costume (with a cane as well) and ballet was the white cygnet costume. Hudson was a butterfly for ballet (which I unfortunately did not get a picture of- the kids wore all black and had wings and antenna) and he was the frog for tap.

Yesterday to top off our busy weekend we had Ethan's 4th birthday party. It was a John Deere theme, with a tractor ice cream cake and green and yellow accessories (balloons, plates and napkins). He got lots of great toys and a fun time was had by all. The weather could have been better- we were hoping for something like last year's party- an outdoor event.... but it was chilly. The kids played outside and the adults sat around the food in the kitchen and chatted.

Frogman & Swan Princess

The kids had their dance recital this weekend.... it was great. They both did a really wonderful job and were very proud of themselves. I'll post more pictures soon.

Alex Who?

Well, it appears that Alex has lost interest in writing this blog- at least for now. I really don't blame her, she has a lot going on right now- with all the GROWING and stuff. (I cannot keep that child in clothes. I just bought her size 6 ballet shoes.... 2 months ago I bought her size 4!!!) SO, the responsibility of keeping everyone up to date on our exciting bunch falls to me. And since I am tired and don't have much to say I will just post pictures from the parade yesterday... in which Ethan did in fact ride on the float! I think the fact that it was pulled by a John Deere tractor had a lot to do with it!

Did I tell you that Hudson & Justin are out of this world?

More Storytelling....

Mom here again.... Alex talked about going to a board meeting to receive recognition for her storytelling her May 3rd post. You can read more about it here http://accelerateu.org/districts/bloomfieldcsd/Other/index.cfm?&SessionID=2734&ActivityID=8251

Curriculum Fair

Me and Hudson had a Curriculum Fair on May 16 and that was the day I had my precorder concert. (Editor's note: A precorder is a smaller recorder, aka a flute-a-phone.) Here I am with my mask from art class. It had to have at least one horn. (Mine is the purplish one with a light salmon nose and 2 feathers on the horns.) Hudson did some research on ants in the deciduous forest, and he made 2 clay things in art class. One was a monkey. You can kind of see it in the corner of the picture here.

Miss Williams Goes to Washington

Melissa,Hudson and me,Alex are now in front of the Linlcon Memorial.

Now every one who came to D.C. with us is here except Aunt Kristin and my mom (who is taking the picture). (Editors note: Harrison is missing form the picture too.)

Right now I'm close to the Washington Memorial and pool.
the water behind me is not the reflecting pool.

Hudson,Melissa and me are in front of the White House.

Here I'm in front of the

veterans wall with my almost gone coke.

Wednesday Afternoon.... just a usual day

Hi all! Alex here. Today an author came to our school, her name is Cynthia DeFelice. We are reading a book she wrote in school called Under The Same Sky. Another one of my ballet performance is coming up, its called,"To Paint A Dream." If you can't see it I'll send you a video of it. Did you all know my dog can play soccer? She's real good at it but, she's got to learn to play with her arms and legs and not her teeth! Today I'm also going to a board meeting for story telling. Right now its time to eat dinner, yum noodles and sausage!