Playing in the Woods

Playing in the woods, a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

We've had some really good fall weather and the girls are playing outside as much as possible. Soon, it won't be so nice.

Both girls are loving school. We had a conference with Sadie's teacher and Sadie is having a great year. She excels at reading, makes connections quickly, has a lot of knowledge to share and is a good friend to her classmates.

Helena is learning a lot in Montessori. They are working to help her spell her name. She usually says "H E H E A", so she's getting there! Her teacher brought a big tree stump into the classroom and Helena loves to put on safety goggles and hammer nails into the stump. She will go to the fire station tomorrow with her class and she is very excited.

Sadie's first grade picture came out great. Helena's pictures were also adorable. It was hard to choose the best pose. We'll share these soon!

Happy Halloween!

The girls had a fun Halloween, despite snow on the ground. They collected lots of candy and lots of money for UNICEF.

Cute pictures

Here are two cute pictures of the girls from Weston's birthday party this weekend. We're having fun with Instagram, a tool that you can use to make your photos look vintage.

Fall Fun!

Happy Helena, a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

We are enjoying beautiful weather for Columbus Day weekend and are taking great advantage of it.

Saturday, we hiked Gile Mountain after Sadie's soccer practice. Both girls loved this hike and climbing the fire tower at the top. Helena walked the whole thing, she didn't need to be carried at all!

Sunday, we went to the Cedar Circle Farm Pumpkin Festival, which was lots of fun with yummy food, and lots of our friends were there.

Today, Dan had to go to work, but the girls went up to Poverty Lane to pick apples. We looked at pumpkins too, but didn't buy any yet. Both girls have field trips to pumpkin patches coming up in the next couple weeks.

Night Football!

We had a great (albeit wet) time at the first Dartmouth night game!




Happy birthday to Mommy and Grandpa!

Helena's First Day of Pre-School

1st Day of Pre-School, a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

Helena started pre-school this week. She is going to the Montessori school where Sadie went. Helena was so excited to start and have been loving it so far. She's doing great. Her teacher told us that Helena was "delicious and inquisitive." We agree!

Sadie is having a great time in first grade. Her teacher told Dan that Sadie is a "voracious reader". We agree with that too!

Salad!

Salad!, a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

First grade is going excellently so far. Sadie loves her teacher, is making new friends, has taken out a book from the school library. And...
Sadie tried salad in the lunchroom, liked it, requested that I purchase the salad items she likes, and is now gobbling it up! And so is Helena!

(Sadie usually brings her lunch and buys her milk, but she likes to buy lunch on Friday, when it's pizza, salad and fresh fruit)

A Milestone for Helena

Helena drew her first person this morning! She is 3 years, 2 months old.

First Day of 1st Grade

So excited!, a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

Sadie had her first day of 1st grade today. She was so excited this morning and she had a terrific day in Mrs. McKittrick's class. We are so proud of our big girl.

Storyland

Untitled, a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

We had a great time on our annual trip to Storyland with Isaac, Naomi and family. We tried something new this time, a character dinner. It was fun to meet the characters and hang out in the park after closing time. Here, the girls are talking to Alice in Wonderland, Humpty Dumpty was at the next table over.

Party Girl

Party Girl, a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

Helena had a great party this morning and now we can stop celebrating her 3rd birthday and just enjoy her being 3. She had a lot of friends over to play in the backyard, break a pinata, splash in the spray pool and eat cake. Happily, we planned the party for early in the day, because today is sunny and hot without a cloud in the sky.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Birthday Darling, a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

Helena turned 3 on July 7th. We have been celebrating ever since. We celebrated with Grandpa and Grandma on her real birthday, again with Nana, Bob Bob and Grammie when Dan came home from France on the 10th, and she'll have a party with friends this weekend.

Nellie, sweetheart, we love you so much and we are so proud of you. You are smart, sweet, funny and adventurous. You are just the right girl for our family. We wish you many many more happy birthday.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy and Sadie

Vacation in Maine

We went on a mini-vacation to Maine. It was cold and drizzly, but that didn't stop our fun.

Lunch and candy at the Goldenrod:




Fun-o-Rama:


Beach:

Happy Father's Day

Dan and girls at the last baseball game of the season, a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

Happy Father's Day to Dan, who is a wonderful father and husband, and to Grandpa and Bob-Bob, who are the best dads and grandfathers we could ask for. We love you all very much!

Jobs

Dan: where does Daddy work?
Helena: The lab.
Dan: Where does Mommy work?
Helena: At the office.
Dan: What does she do there?
Helena: Check.
Dan: Check what?
Helena: She check on it!

Swinging Song

Swinging a video by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

Helena's Song:

Swinging along the way
Swinging up high
Up to the sky
And see the world!

Congratulations!

Sadie has graduated from kindergarten. We are so proud of our wonderful, smart, kind, beautiful and loving daughter.

You're on your way, darling girl!

Busy Day

Ann: Sadie, did you realize you did three sports today? Baseball, gymnastics and swimming?
Helena: And another thing, we eat ice cream!!

Also, farmer's market:


And gardening:

Baby Henry!

We were so excited to spend time with Baby Henry, Lolly and James' new son, over the weekend. He is so sweet and the girls were thrilled to meet their new cousin.







Congratulations, Lolly and James! He is perfect!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to the most amazing woman I know!

Lebanon Youth Baseball Rookie Intro League

Sadie and Red Team Coach Dan, a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

Sadie is playing Intro Teeball this season. She is on the red team and Dan is one of the coaches. They have been having a great time playing together.

Fashion?

It's rare for me to appear on the blog...but here I am, in photos taken by Sadie!
(Dress: Kenzie, jacket: Apt 9 at Kohls (hand me down from my sister), tights: George at Walmart, boots: Dansko)





Now that the girls are growing up, I'm making (a little) more effort to look nice and enjoy clothes again. It's been fun to find clothes that are cute and work with being a mom. I am really enjoying Ain't No Mom Jeans for great ideas. I was actually featured there a few weeks ago in a weekend outfit.

For more mom style ideas, see Ain't No Mom Jeans' Mom Street Syle Linkup!

Hint of Spring

Finally, we had a seasonably warm day. We celebrated by going to Ice Cream Fore U.



Sadie: "Why did they want to spell their name wrong?"
Ann: "It's kind of a pun, because fore is a golf word and it's near the golf."
Sadie: "And then just the letter U, to make it easier for kids."

Friday Evening Dance Party

Friday Evening Dance Party a video by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

Time to party and have fun on Friday! Sadie and Helena love all kinds of dance music and had a great time dancing to Love Shack tonight.

Learn About Pluto

Sadie's report on Pluto:

Pluto!

Pluto!, a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

Sadie did a wonderful job in her class play about the Solar System. She was Pluto and she was terrific!

More pictures and video to follow.

Bacon

Bacon a video by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

I had cooked some bacon to make a quiche and Helena saw it and wanted some.

We bribed Sadie to try the bacon. She admitted it was "ok" but still strongly prefers sausage.

Sweet Fun

On Sunday, we took a little daytrip to North Woodstock, NH to visit Fadden's Sugarhouse. The girls had a fun time seeing the sap coming out of a tree, watching the syrup boil, and going on a horse and wagon ride.



The best part was that this sugarhouse gives out sugar on snow instead of offering little cups of syrup like our local sugarhouse does. Sugar on snow is heated maple syrup that cools to a thick caramel when it's poured over snow (or shaved ice). Then, the caramel is twisted onto a popsicle stick. Delicious!

Bedroom Changes

Sisters a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

Within the last few months, Helena has moved into the toddler bed that was Sadie's and Sadie decided she was ready for a "real" bed, instead of her mattress and box spring on the floor.

So, Nana and Bob Bob brought us the bed that Dan slept in when he was a boy and set it up for Sadie. She loves it, especially the headboard with built in shelves. Since this picture was taken Sadie also got new bedding, featuring her new favorite color, "teal turquoise blue".

Sadie has been reading Helena a bedtime story almost every night, which they both really enjoy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Leprechaun girls a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our 1/4 Irish girls. Thank you Nana for the funny leprechaun girl headbands!

DisneyWorld

Snow White, Cinderella and Rapunzel a photo by Dan and Ann on Flickr.

We had a great vacation in DisneyWorld with Grandma, Grandpa, Jenny and Andy! The girls had a terrific time. One of the highlights was the princess breakfast, where we got to meet Cinderella, among others.

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for the wonderful time! (More pics on Flickr)