Graduation Party

I had the day off work today to go to Andrew's high school graduation party, a fun afternoon filled with lots of cousins, 2nd cousins, cousins-in-law etc. here are a few pics of the kids from the party & with some of the above mentioned extended family:

Klepto

To put it bluntly, Amelia is in a stealing things phase. 

Last weekend I went to put something in my purse and discovered my wallet was missing. Immediately suspecting her because, well, she steals things, I asked her if she took it. After tears and several denials she finally produced the wallet --empty of cash-- from under her bed. After more tears she produced all of the money except for one dollar that I have yet to find.

This afternoon when the fingernail clippers went missing she produced them from under her dresser. On a whim I went upstairs and peered under her bed, where I found half a dozen of Charlie's toys and some random pairs of my shoes. She is beginning to remind me of Mandy's pet ferret, who had secret nests around the house where he stashed shiny objects... 

When I put her to bed I asked her if she had anything else in her room that did not belong to her. She claimed no, but I am doubtful that this is true, especially considering that I forgot to check under her dresser to see what else might have been under there besides the fingernail clippers.

Last Day At Toddler Tech PreSchool!

Today was Amelia's last day at Toddler Tech Pre-School, as she is transitioning to summer camp at Merry Deb Nursery School next week and will then be attending pre-school there in the Fall. 

Here she is, heading in to school on her last day, and of course a picture of her on her first day :-)

First Grade Graduate!

Here he is getting off the bus this afternoon. What a long school year this year thanks to all those snow days! Charlie is excited for 2nd grade because his best friend, Doshyant, will be in his new class (the ONLY kid from his current class who will be in next year's class) and because his classroom will be on the 2nd floor, which apparently means lockers instead of a coat room, which Charlie thinks is extremely cool. He came home with a good report card -- On a 1 to 4 scale he got 4s in Reading, Oral Language, Math, Social Studies and Science, and a 3 in Written Language/Composition. He also scored almost all "outstandings" in the personal growth categories, including using time wisely, working independently, completing classroom assignments, courtesy, etc and his teacher wrote that he was a joy to have in class. Way to go Charlie! 

Thank You Card

Here is Charlie's thank you card to his first grade teacher. I knew it was going to be cute when he asked me how to spell "appreciate" while he was writing it. It says: "Dear Mrs. Norton Thank you for beeing the best teachr ever. I appreciate all the hard work you done for us. Love Charlie"

Today They Like Each Other

Home Made Mint Iced Tead

With mint from the herb garden of course :-)

A Little Too Much Fun In The Sun

Amelia passed right out as soon as we got home from the pool this afternoon. 

10 Years Later!

Mike and I are spending the night in Boston for our tenth anniversary courtesy of Grammy and Grampy who are babysitting for the night. Thank you Grammy and Grampy!!

New Running Sneakers

I broke in a new pair of sneakers this morning with a 3 mile run -- training for Run For Your Lives! The Zombie Infested 5K on July 27th has officially begun!!

Charlie's First School Project

Here is Charlie hard at work on his first school project --a poster about cheetahs-- and then with the finished project:

Gymnastics Videos

Here is Amelia on the rings: And on the horse:

Peek Week

This week is Amelia's last week of gymnastics for the summer (unless I manage to sign her up for the summer session) so they let the parents come into the studio and take pictures/videos and the kids all got a medal at the end. It was very cute -- here are some pictures from the class and I will post a couple videos later!

The Ruckus Run!

Erin, my boss Ralph and I survived the Ruckus Run this morning! It involved running 4 miles through the woods ( think  root-y narrow trails, jumping over fallen logs, etc) and over 20 obstacles -- mud pits, tire piles, balance beams, numerous walls that had to be scaled with ropes, foot holds or brute strength, cargo nets etc. We finished the course in an hour and 11 minutes -- Ralph could have done the course much faster but nicely waited at all the obstacles to make sure we got through them, despite his threats beforehand to leave us in the dust.

Mike brought the kids and Charlie did the kids' obstacle course multiple times before they made their way to the finish to cheer us on. 

Other than aching muscles and scraped knees and elbows I made it through unscathed and had an awesome time!! Here are some pictures:

Father's Day Biscuits

A Few Drinks Before We Ruckus!

My friend Erin and I went out for drinks tonight to celebrate the end of our training for the Ruckus Run! We run at 10am on Sunday -- Bring it on!!

Flag Day At Clifford Marshall

Apparently the kid who was supposed to read the poem at this morning's Flag Day festivities at Charlie's school chickened out, so Charlie volunteered himself for the job! Here he is :

Cashed Out

After days of being pestered about it I finally took Charlie to Star Market this afternoon to cash in the contents of his piggy bank at their Coin Star machine. I was expecting him to get in the neighborhood of $40 but he actually had $105, and netted $95.13 after Coin Star's fee. And what does he plan to do with the money you might ask? Why, he's saving for another snake, of course! 

Here he is with his coins and then flush with cash :-)

More New Hampshire Wildlife

We had a fun trip to New Hampshire today which included lots of wildlife -- we stopped just before we got to Grammy & Grampy's to remove a large snapping turtle from the road -- who I must say, was not particularly appreciative of the rescue effort! Unlike the tiny baby we found last time, adult snapping turtles definitely live up to their ornery reputation! 

We also fed a family of ducks on the lake and Charlie and Mike had a successful afternoon fishing. Grammy and Amelia fed the birds and squirrels, watered Grammy's baby trees and planted a little flower bush that Mike's cousin gave to Amelia this morning. 

We also had a delicious barbecue lunch -- all in all a great Sunday!

Here are pictures!

The Scooper Bowl

I picked the kids up this afternoon and we took the train downtown to the Scooper Bowl, an annual event to benefit the Jimmy Fund, which involves about 30 flavors of all you can eat ice cream from a bunch of vendors including Ben & Jerry's, Friendly's, Baskin Robbins and Breyers to name a few. Charlie took the "all you can eat" to new heights, and Amelia generally ate about a third of each cup and then handed it to me so I was eating double portions of all-you-can-eat. Here are a few pictures of the kids in various stages of sugar high:

Blue Stripe!

The Massachusetts Herpetological Atlas

Yesterday while dutifully searching the Internet for types of salamanders native to Massachusetts at Charlie's request, I came across the Massachusetts Herpetological Atlas website (which I would put a link to if I wasn't blogging from my iPad) which is a collaboration between UMass Amherst and The Audubon Society to document the range of all of Massachusetts' native reptile and amphibian species. To this end it relies on volunteers to photograph native species, fill out an online form and submit it so that it can then be reviewed, documented as a confirmed sighting and added to an interactive map which shows the range of each species in Massachusetts. 

This is, as you might have guessed, extremely right up Charlie's alley. He submitted his first photograph today, of a salamander he found under our neighbor's trash can, which has already been confirmed as an Eastern Red-backed salamander and added to the database. 

I have a feeling we'll be photographing quite a few critters this summer! And that "volunteer for the MA Herpetological Atlas project" will be going on Charlie's college application forms, ha ;-)

Basil Chicken Stir Fry With Fresh Basil From The Garden!*

*Ok, 90% of the basil was from the store, we would have needed a whole field of basil for the amount called for in this recipe...

Maybe She's Been Taking Gymnastics For Too Long...

Give her a bar and she will hang from it...

Officially Summer

The opening of the outdoor pools at the Weymouth Club means its officially summer!! And we finally got there this afternoon! 

Black & Blue Stripe

Charlie tested for his blue stripe this morning. It is a 3 part process where they demonstrate their form, then a series of punch/kick combinations and then spar. The sparring is supposed to be no contact, so they just wear their helmets and gloves instead of full sparring gear. Unfortunately Charlie was on the receiving end of a kick that he apparently ran right into, and received this lovely shiner on his leg. Fortunately he finished up without seeming any worse for wear & his teacher gave us the heads up that he did pass his test -- yay Charlie! I'll be sure to post a picture of him in his blue stripe belt when he gets it on Wednesday.