Our life in pictures for the last couple months

It has been way too long since I last blogged. I think mid December was the last time. My only excuse is that we have been busy. A good busy though. Let's see..... where should I start. We have had a few visitors since then. We love to have family and friends come to visit!! We also celebrated Christmas and the New Year. We stayed home, just the four of us, for Christmas. It was a good way to end the year after Callie had been so sick in November. As most of you know, she had that dreaded flu and then got a stomach thing after the flu symptoms went away. Then she got dehydrated and ended up in the hospital. It was a scary week but in the end she came home from the hospital healthy and life slowly went back to normal.

After Christmas we had Grandpa Buck, Uncle Mel, Uncle Christopher and Aunt Erin come to visit. We all went skiing with the ski club on Friday night. They got to see our hectic Friday night ski nights at the lodge. I call it organized chaos but someone looking in from the outside might see it another way. Other than Christopher taking a tumble on his snowboard and breaking a rib, the weekend was awesome!!! Poor Chris went through the rest of the weekend in pain. Saturday we took a ride along the NH coast and up into Maine to the Kittery Trading Post. We ended the day at a lobster joint on the water. It was a great day!!!

About a week later we got to visit with Grandma DeeBee as she was working down in MA for a week. We were able to have dinner with her and her co worker at a yummy Italian restaurant in Bedford, MA. If you ever come to visit and you want some good Italian food we can take you there!!!

I co-coordinated the ski club again this year and Todd chaperoned again. We made it through ski club this year without any injuries or losing a kid for more than an hour. Yes, we lost one child one night for about 45 minutes. But we found him safe with his ski group and instructor. The kids were great this year and what a great group of parents that helped us this year!! They are the best and we couldn't run the program without them!!

Callie had her 4Th grade musical a couple weeks ago. It was called Broadway Beat. A lot of songs from Broadway musicals and a Disney medley. As always, it was very entertaining. Belle and the Beast from Beauty and The Beast even made an appearance.

While we have had all this fun, Todd and I have been trying to fight the budget cuts in the school district. As you know, Todd is on the school district Budget Committee. He has done a great job on the board, asking the right questions and informing people as well. Not one meeting when by without him making people laugh. I call it comic relief as these meetings have been pretty tense. To summarize, the school board asked administration to make some cuts. After cuts were made they asked for more cuts. In the end one of the cuts were an entire team of 7Th grade teachers (four teachers) at the middle school. This will affect Emily's class next year. This will mean there will be 27 kids in each class. The state mandates that there can not be more than 24 kids in a science lab and I firmly believe that 27 is too many especially given the age of these kids and all the changes that are happening at this age. So...........I, along with another mom, wrote a petitioned warrant article to put the team of teachers back into the budget. We had to get 25 signatures but got almost 70 in three hours time. It was incredible the response we got. There were people I didn't even get back to who called and emailed wanting to sign the petition. Next, we had to present it to the bud. committee and the school board. Now we have what is called a Deliberative Session on March 2ND. I will have to stand up and speak on our warrant article and then we all vote to pass it or not. All Merrimack voters are urged to come and vote on every line item in the budget. What passes then goes on to the ballot for election day. Yes, things are different in New England. They do it their own way. No place else I have lived have we been able to vote on the school budget before it going to the ballot. A learning process this has been for me. I have also learned that Merrimack is a small, small town. I hope that didn't bore you but this has been our lives for the past month or so. Keep your fingers crossed for a positive outcome at the Deliberative Session. Our work now is to get the word out to get people there to vote in favor of putting these teacher positions back.

The only thing I have left is pictures I have attached summing up the last couple months.

This is what we found on Christmas morning after Santa came.
Of course Roscoe has to be in the middle of things.


The girls reacting to Santa's gift. We have had so much fun with the Wii!!

Todd and I showing off our new scarves.

Our girls on Christmas morning. Callie wore that hat EVERY day from Thanksgiving until New Years. We had to take it off of her after she went to sleep at night.

Here is Noel (Grandpa Buck) and Emily at our favorite spot along the NH coast. We call it our Rocky Beach.

Uncle Christopher and Callie as we left the restaurant after some of us eating "lobsta".



Here is Uncle Mel and Callie on our Rocky Beach.


Brothers.....Noel and Mel.

Here we are, the whole group of us. We stopped at a place along the coast in Rye, NH. A place where my friend, Danial, introduced me too. It is near a surf shop and in the summer you can watch a lot of people surfing. This time of year the stores are closed, the houses are all boarded up and no one is surfing or swimming. This day we went was a beautiful sunny day with temps high in the 40's. It may have even reached 50 that day. We all walked along the beach for awhile enjoying the sights of the ocean and the warm sun.


Noel and Callie walked ahead and did some racing with each other. This is one of those pictures that makes me think of that song, "Let me tell you about my best friend...." from Eddies Father. Who remembers that show???

Uncle Chris and Aunt Erin enjoying the day on the beach.



Here they are at the Rocky Beach.

Here is Todd with his brother, Chris, and his dad, Noel.

Grandma DeeBee with Callie when we got to steal her away from work in MA to have dinner. Unfortunately I did not have my camera so I had to use my cell phone. That is why the coloring is off. We had a fun night and it was very sad to say goodbye when we dropped her back off at her hotel.

As I mentioned, Belle made an appearance at Callie's 4Th grade musical. Mrs. Vermilyea, Callie's teacher, was dressed up as Belle. Isn't she beautiful?? She is a wonderful teacher and I wish she could move up with Callie next year and the next, etc. Callie's friend, Courtney, is in this pic with them.

Here is Callie, Courtney and the Beast!!! Our Behavioral Specialist did the honors of dressing up as the Beast and she did a wonderful job!!!


Here is Callie and Mrs. Clark, Callie's music teacher. She is the one that makes these shows possible. They are amazing and she does a wonderful job! We will miss these shows as this was Callie's last show at Reeds Ferry. Callie will move up to the Upper Elementary school next year. sniff....sniff.....

Courtney and Callie with their new friend, Kamren. Kamren just moved here and didn't participate in the show as she didn't know all the words and dances. But she did come and give support to her classmates and new friends.



The other day we had a warm, sunny day. So I took the girls and a friend each out for gelato at Swan Chocolates and then out to the park. They ran around in the melting snow and ice and had a great time. I stood and enjoyed the warm sun on my face.

In the pic. is Emily, Morgan, Emma and Callie.

So........that about sums it up for us for the last couple months. This week is our Winter break. We have gone out to see a movie, had lunch with some friends and we plan on skiing tomorrow with Todd. A storm is in our midst as I type and another one coming on the heels of this one. Not too bad so far. It has been great to have a few sunny warmer days to give us a hint that Spring is indeed coming. We even heard some birds chirping yesterday. We will end the week with a visit with Margot, Brooke, Brady and Cameron. Always a treat for us!!! A bonus of moving here to have some family living only an hour away.

Until next time..................

Love you all!!!