Todd's Veteran's Day speech at JMUES

Happy Veteran's Day!!

Todd was asked to present a speech about Veteran's Day at the Veteran's Day Assembly at Callie's school.  Todd has attended this assembly every  year for the past four years.  Twice for Emily and now twice for Callie.  (The school is 5th and 6th grade only.) Callie took part in the assembly as well playing her trumpet with some of her fellow band members.  I wasn't able to attend but thanks to Miss Saranita, the band teacher, I have Todd's speech on video.  I tried to upload it right to the blog but failed.  So here is the link to his speech. It is 7 minutes long but worth it.  He did an outstanding job!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gedxP-ZC4Y

This picture was taken at the end of the assembly.  Todd is in the second row all the way at the end on the right. Callie is in the first row at the end on the right.

Memories from Last Summer........

Before I go into all the fun things we have done this Summer I wanted to take a step back and post something about last Summer.  I have been very bad over the last year about blogging and totally missed this one that I wanted to blog.

Last Summer in August, my dear friend and "cousin in law", Patty, drove with her three children from Cleveland all the way to NH to see us.  Patty is married to Todd's cousin, Dave.  They  have three wonderful children.  Their two girls, Gabby and Kristen, are very close with Emily and Callie.  They break off in pairs and seem to be in their own little worlds for hours.  Emily and Gabby are so alike and get along so well.  Sometimes I can't even tell who is talking.  When Gabby says, "Mom?" I answer her every time thinking it is Emily.  Callie and Kirsten not only look a like but are very much alike in many ways.  No doubt they both have Beard blood flowing through their veins.

Then there is Carson!!  Otherwise known as C-Dog. Cute, adorable, funny and go with the flow kind of kid.  Always a delight to have him around!! 

When they came they stayed for a couple days.  We had such a good time with them.  Below are some pictures I took of their visit. 

The last day they were here we went to a playground here in town.  Here are all the kids hanging out.

There is also a trail to walk behind the playground with some water falls and rocks to climb and a tiny beach at the end of the trail.  Here are all the kids sitting on some big rocks by the water falls.

  I love this picture!!!!

Here is a picture of Patty and the kids that I took right after I fell on my butt and my camera went flying and hit a rock.  Maybe I shouldn't mention that everyone laughed at me.  Especially Emily and Patty!!  Apparently I fell in slow motion and it looked pretty hilarious.  No worries, I was ok and so was my camera!!! 

Here I am with the kids.

All the girls walking down the trail to the tiny beach.

Walking on the rocks and looking for things in the water.

Old fashion fun!!

All the kids got some great quality time with each other and Patty and I got to spend a lot of time catching up and chatting.  Lots of memories were made!!

Patty and me. 

It was a perfect ending to a perfect visit.  After the park we went to get some ice cream and then they had to get on the road.  They headed up to Maine to visit with Patty's brother. 

Great fun was had by all!!

What we have been doing since February!!

Happy Summer 2011!!

We have been very busy since my last post back in February! We had a snowy Winter with about 5 snow days from school. With all the snow days added on at the end of the year we just got out of school last Wed. But it was a good Winter for skiing! Spring took a long time to come to New England and when it came Winter decided to come back and say hello. After that Summer came and then Fall decided to come and say hello. We had a chilly start to Summer and had a couple fires in our wood stove just this month but I think Summer is finally here to stay.

I have posted some random pictures from Spring Break/Easter up to some recent pictures.

Our Spring Break this year started out with Easter. Mom and Dad came to visit and we headed down to my aunt and uncles house in MA for the day. It is always so great to be there with family. My cousins were there and my cousin, Brooke's kids. The picture above is of Emily, Callie, Brady and Cameron. Brady and Cameron are Brook's kids. We are missing Emma as she was taking a nap.

While Mom and Dad were here we did a lot of day trips. One day we drove to the coast on our way to Portsmouth. We walked along the beach. The photo above is the best of three pictures I took. Some people were not being cooperative but I still love this picture!!!

Dad and Emily walking on the beach in Rye, NH.

As most of you know, Callie started playing the trumpet this year. Here she is with some of the kids at her school that participated in a Spring Recital. Callie did three solos. It was a great evening!!!

Here is Emily with two of her friends from school, Alyssa and Sierra. This was taken at

Camp Mi-Te-Na. The 7Th graders all go on a three day/two night camping trip. The weather wasn't the best but she had a great time. Todd went as well as a chaperon but had a group of boys he stayed with. I thought it was great because he was there and could watch Emily do all sorts of great things with her friends but he wasn't with her all the time so she had a lot of time with just her friends. If I had gone I would have been with her the whole time. There were SO many stories from both Emily and Todd when they returned!!!! Todd is already talking about when he will go with Callie so I think he had fun too!

At the end of May Emily and I did a walk for Cystic Fibrosis. We raised $390.00 between the two of us. We walked in honor of a little girl named, Hannah. I have had the pleasure of working with Hannah the last two years in preschool. Hannah has CF and doing very well. Her mom believes we will find a cure in her lifetime. Wouldn't that be awesome!!!! It has been wonderful knowing Hannah and her wonderful family!! Pictured above is a picture of me with Hannah and two wonderful ladies I work with, Carmen and Hope.

This is a picture of Emily with Carmen and Hope's daughters who walked as well. Callie wanted to walk but was in the middle of Spring Soccer season and had a game that morning.

Here is a picture of Emily and some of her friends. This was taken at the Music Awards Night at her school.

Here is Callie standing in front of her ladybug art at the annual Art Show at her school. She did an awesome job on this piece and I was able to order a mug with the picture on it.

The same night as the Art Show there was a hot dog dinner and concert. During the dinner kids could play their instruments in the courtyard while people ate. Callie did a duet with her friend, Alicia, pictured above. I have posted a video of the duet below. Don't these two girls look so much alike???

This picture was taken by a friend of mine during the concert part of the evening. This is Callie doing her solo during the Jazz portion of the night. The video of this is posted below as well.

I had the pleasure of helping out this year during Callie's Jaguar Jamboree. It is their version of Fun Day or Field Day. It was a hot day and this picture was taken when we were all eating lunch. A fun day was had by all!!!!

Callie had an awesome Soccer season this Spring. She was selected for the All Star Team. This picture was taken after the All Star game with some of her team mates she has known since we moved here 7 years ago. They have all grown so quickly!

Callie participated in a reading program through our local minor league baseball team, The Fisher Cats. After she read five books she sent the paperwork in and won us tickets to a game. It was a fun night at the ballpark and a wonderful way to start off our Summer Vacation.

Just yesterday, Brooke, Brady, Cameron and Emma came for a visit!! It was so great to see them and the kids were wonderful to be around. Emily and Callie were so good with them!!! They all get along so well! So nice to see them together playing and hanging out. We had a nice lunch on the deck and some swimming. This beautiful picture above is Emma!!! What a great baby she is!! Always smiling and she is such a snuggler!!

Here is Cameron and Emily hanging out by the pool. Cameron has such a great sense of humor!!

Here is Brady floating around in the pool. I think I have a picture of him on this tube every year!! What a smile!!!

Both Emily and Callie had wonderful years at school this year. It went by so fast. It was Emily's first year in middle school and she loved it!!! She made high honors three out of the four quarters and made honor roll one quarter!!! Callie got straight A's almost every quarter! They both participated in Gateway again this year and in band. Callie added chorus half way through the year. Emily decided to try out to play the piccolo next year. The band teacher would only take one piccolo player so Emily had to try out as well as 5 other girls. Emily got it!!! She is so excited about band for next year which is such an improvement from the beginning of last year when she just wasn't sure she wanted to continue. She was able to bring a school piccolo home to practice all Summer.

On a sad note, we lost an amazing woman just about a week ago. My grandmother, Mama Rachel, (aka Memaw, Rachel Ann, The Big R!) passed away. She was such a wonderful Grandmother to me. She left me with so many great memories of my childhood and as an adult. The time she flew out to California to see me and my new baby and the time she flew to NH to surprise me for my 40Th birthday are priceless!!! This is a woman that hated to fly on a plane!!! I can still hear her laughing. She had such a contagious laugh that could be heard all around her. Knowing she is in heaven now with my uncle David and my cousin Noah makes me smile. I miss her terribly but will always have her memories!!!

Rachel Ann Springer Pfost

January 19, 1922 - June 19, 2011

Go on to the next post to watch the videos of Callie playing her trumpet.

Callie's Trumpet Duet and Jazz Solo

The second video of Callie doing her jazz solo is a little longer than her solo.  You have to wait more than half way through before you see Callie jump out of the crowd to Miss Saranita and play  her solo.  Worth the wait!!

Callie and Rachel's duet at December recital

Callie's trumpet solo at December recital

Update since Halloween - what we have been doing

So....I haven't updated since Halloween. We had a busy November and December here in New Hampshire. We spent Thanksgiving in Essex, MA, with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. Always good to see them and always grateful that they are nearby. December was filled with Christmas shopping, baking, wrapping, parties, a visit from Grandpa Buck and Grandma DeeBee, and a visit right after Christmas from Mama Ann, Papa Bob and Auntie Allison.

Below are some pictures that show and tell what we have been doing.

The day before Thanksgiving I took the girls ice skating. We met up with some friends and Callie got to skate with her newest friend, Aliza. Callie met Aliza this year in her class.

This picture was taken Thanksgiving day in Essex. We had a wonderful meal that "couldn't be beat" with family! This picture is of me with my cousins Brooke, Alyson and Jessica.

Here is the next generation of cousins. My two with Brooke's three.

Emily, Brady, Callie, Cameron and Emma. I took a lot of shots of these five kids and every one has some kind of crazy thing going on! I think this one Cameron was all done with pictures and telling me "no more!"

In December we had Emily's Holiday concert and Callie's Holiday concert. I didn't get any pictures of Emily's because the band was too far away to get a clear shot. Callie had her very first band concert! She even did a short demonstration of the trumpet by herself during the concert. The picture above is Callie with her friend Rachel.

There is the trumpet section. Callie is the 5Th one in.

Also in December, Callie's school had a recital night. Anyone who played any kind of instrument could perform at the recital. Callie did a duet with her friend Rachel and a solo. I will try and get the videos uploaded. I am having a little trouble with that at the moment.



Here is Miss Saranita (band teacher) with Callie and Rachel.

Here is Callie and Rachel again. Callie and Rachel met a few years ago through their friend Alexia. Todd went to graduate school with Rachel's dad. I met Rachel's mom, Shelley, through my friend, Lynn, Alexia's mom. As some of you remember Callie and Alexia became good friends in first grade. Alexia and her family moved to California a couple years ago. It seems like they have been gone forever!! We had to say a sad goodbye to Rachel and her family last week as they have now moved to Georgia. We miss them dearly and wish them the best in their new home!

On to Christmas........

Here is Todd and the girls reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas as he does every Christmas Eve. He also reads Twas The Night Before Christmas.

Here are the girls on Christmas morning waiting patiently to come downstairs!!


Our tree Christmas morning.


The Monday after Christmas Mama Ann, Papa Bob and Auntie Allison arrived from Ohio. It was so great to have them here!! We spent one day up in Portsmouth, NH, and another day down in Boston. We had so much fun with them. We even did some dancing with the Just Dance 2 for the Wii. What a riot!!! So much fun and a workout too!! Mama Ann even danced!!


After sleeping in a bit on Wed. and eating a huge breakfast at home, we headed down to Boston. We walked over to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. We all got a yummy snack at Quincy Market. These next two pictures are of us sitting inside Quincy Market....or should I say Quincy Mawket!

Todd, Emily, Me, Allison, Mama Ann, Callie and Papa Bob.


After Quincy Market we walked over to Faneuil Hall. We walked, sat and read while we were there. A lot of history there. The above picture if Papa Bob taking in all the information they had there.


Chillin' out in Faneuil Hall.....Emily, Todd, Callie, Allison and Mama Ann.

Then we walked down to the North End and stopped in at Mike's Pastries. Here is Todd, Allison and Emily standing inside Mike's. Not sure what Todd is doing. I think he is doing one of his many impersonations that always make us laugh.



Mama Ann and Papa Bob with their pastries. Whenever in Boston, one must stop and get something at Mike's!!

As we walked up out of the North End I shot this picture of Boston. Then we headed over to the Union Oyster House and had dinner.



Papa Bob and Mama Ann enjoying their lobster.....or should I say Lobstah!!

It was sad to see them leave on Thursday morning but was glad they came!! Always nice to have people visit us here!!

We spent New Year's Eve at my friend Hope's house. Below is a picture of all the girls there. They built a huge ice rink in their back yard so all the girls had fun skating.

Nadia, Emma, Callie, Eden and Emily. Eden and Emma are Hope's daughters and my girls love hanging out with them!!!

So that brings us to a new year. Happy New Year!!!! May 2011 bring you joy!!