Spring Break 2009

I am way behind in posting things so I am trying to catch up today as I am home with Emily. She is sick with Strep throat....AGAIN. Below I have posted a lot of pictures from our Spring Break week back at the end of April. Sorry there are so many pictures but I couldn't just pick a few. I took a lot and I love them all. My Mom, Dad and Mia came to visit us during our week off. We had so much fun with them. We also got together with Aunt Margot, Brooke, Brady, Cameron and Jessica. Brooke and Jessica are my cousins that live about an hour from here as does my aunt. Brady and Cameron are Brooke's children and are so sweet and fun to be around. It is always a pleasure to see them and I am grateful that they are so close to us. So here is our week in pictures. I have so many more pictures that I didn't post but these are my favs.



We picked up my mom and Mia (my niece-Matthew's daughter) at the airport. As you can see by this picture above that they were so happy to be together again. My dad arrived the next day by car to join us. That afternoon Aunt Margot, Brooke, Brady and Cameron came up to visit. We had a nice lunch together. Mia and Brady were so cute and they both put a show on for us by singing. So precious. We have some video of it as well.

Here is Mia, Emily, Callie and Brady sitting in the wagon. They played outside together for a long time.

Cameron was a trouper but in the end couldn't fight the sleep anymore and fell asleep right before they left. Isn't she precious? Beautiful!!!

One day we drove up to Manchester and went to this beautiful park with a playground and a nice walking/hiking path around a small lake. Here I am with Mia when she got a bit tired of walking.

Here is Callie with Mia.

We stopped along the way several times to rest and enjoy the scenery. Here is my dad with his granddaughters.

Here is my mom and dad with their girls!!
Saturday was game day. Emily and Callie both had soccer games. So we packed everyone up and went out to the field. Aunt Margot and Jessica joined us. Above is Mia and Todd having a staring contest. Todd said something to her that she wasn't very happy with and she said, "I am just going to stare at him." And she did. Of course Todd played along.

Here is Todd, Dad, Aunt Margot, Jessica and Mom watching the game.

Emily and Mia snuggling during the game.

Mia watching the game.


Mia laughing about something. She is a happy kid!!

The weather turned a bit cooler but one night we decided to get out of the house and go to another park here in town. Here is Mia laughing so hard. She was sitting on something that the girls were jumping on which made Mia bounce up and down. She loved it!!

The three girls sliding together.


I took this picture looking up into an enclosed slide.

This park has a hiking trail as well. It takes you down to some waterfalls. Some of you might remember the pictures I posted of the Mother's Day floods a few years back. This area was completely flooded. You couldn't get near this area. The waterfalls and stream are behind the girls.

I love this picture!! They all look so happy and glad to be with each other!! Our week was great and we will always remember the fun we had.

Meanwhile...we are heading to the end of our school year. Because of all the snow days and ice storm days our last day isn't until June 23rd. We have had a lot of school functions happening. We had the Art Show at Callie's school and the Artfest at Emily's school. I will post pictures next of some of the art work. The Artfest at Em's school was quite an event. They had a book fair going on, art displayed all over the school, a hot dog dinner for all and a concert to end the night by the 5th and 6th grade bands and the Jazz band. During the hot dog dinner they asked the kids to do solos, duets, trios, etc with friends and/or family. Emily and I did two duets together on stage while people ate their hot dogs. I was so nervous but so glad we did it. I have posted a video of our duets. It is hard to hear as everyone is talking. We were the background music for the dinner as was many other kids and their parents.

Father/ Daughter Dance

I have not been very good about blogging lately. In fact I haven't blogged since the middle of March. Where did the time go? Well, here in New England Spring has finally come and right now the lilacs (New Hampshire's state flower) are in full bloom everywhere!! You can drive down just about any road in town and smell the beautiful smell of the lilacs. I am happy to say that my little lilac bush (that is really our neighbors) that I have been trying to keep alive bloomed more flowers this year than ever in the five years we have been here. Thankfully my other neighbor across the street gave me permission to cut her lilacs, because she has many, so I can bring the nice smell into my house.

I have so much to blog and can't possibly to it all in one posting but I wanted to post these great pictures of Callie and Todd when they went to the Father/Daughter dance. It is a fundraiser through the school and it is held in a ballroom dance studio here in town. As you may remember, Emily and Todd went last year. This year was Callie's turn. She looked absolutely beautiful and was so excited about going. Todd bought her a beautiful corsage that she wore on her wrist.

Here Todd is giving Callie her corsage.

Callie showing off her corsage.

Father and daughter! Very sweet!

Callie wanted me to straighten her hair for the dance but I reminded her that Daddy isn't a big fan of the straightening hair. So she agreed to let me do what I thought would be best. I LOVE this picture!! Great smile and look at those curls!!!

I will be blogging again soon. So check back soon!!

Oops!

When I tried to post the video of Emily's D.I. team it didn't work the first time so I had to do it again. Please read the post underneath the video before watching the video.
Thanks!!!

The Flabbergasterz

Destination Imagination 2009

The Flabbergasterz!!

Morgan, Emily, Alivia, Kurtis, Melissa, Sierra and Joe

We had the D.I. tournament on Saturday. It was a rough D.I. season for Emily and I but we got through it and made it to the tournament. The kids did a great job but didn't place for the state tournament. They came in 5Th out of nine teams. The top three teams move on to state. Their scores for their team challenge were great scores especially since they were the first team to present. Because one of the team members is in the 6Th grade they had to compete at the middle school level. So to come in at 5Th place when you are competing with mostly older kids who have been doing it for a bit longer, is a great accomplishment. Sadly this team did not work well together this year so when it came time for their instant challenge they bombed. The appraisers could see they did not work well together. Their team challenge was called ViDIo Lit Hits. Basically they had to come up with a music video based on a piece of literature. They had to retell the story in a song. They chose to do it in a rap. I have posted above what Todd video taped the day of the tournament. It is long so watch only if you want and have the time. The whole video is 7 minutes and 29 seconds. You can probably fast forward through the set up part. It is cute if you can understand what is going on. The props they made were awesome. The team was disappointed....it was kind of bitter sweet for me. I am glad it is over. But with that said, I am glad that Emily and I stuck with it because I think we learned a lot in the process.

The next thing on Emily's plate is the school play. They are doing Alice and Wonderland. She is a citizen of Wonderland. She will be playing a flower and a card. No actual lines but she sings with the cast. She is excited about it. The play is scheduled for Friday, March 27Th. I will post soon Callie and her invention she presented at this years invention convention. That is all for now!!

Skiing during Winter Break

Our winter break was last week and now it is Monday and we have yet another snow day. So our winter break has been extended an extra day. So far they are reporting 7 1/2 inches that we have from this latest storm. Anyway.....Todd took Wed and Thursday off last week and we all went skiing. Wed. we went up to Ragged mountain. It was a beautiful day and the sun was warm. I enjoyed sitting in the sun later in the afternoon just soaking it all up while the rest continued to ski. Thursday we went to Pat's Peak which is where we go for the ski club. Another beautiful day and it felt so warm. Here are some pics I took with my phone on those days.

This is at the top of Ragged Mountain. Todd is on the right, Callie is next to him and Emily is in the white coat. We were with some friends of ours.

Emily and Callie waiting to go back up after lunch.
Todd waiting as well to head back up the mountain.

Emily and Callie riding the lift up for another run at Pat's Peak.

Here is a pic at Pat's peak from the top of one of the lifts. It isn't the very top of the mountain.

Lastly...here are the girls getting ready to go down the mountain.