We Have a New Sparkle In Our Lives

Meet Sparkle. She's a one-year-old Treeing Walker Coonhound.
Walker Hounds are used for chasing bear and racoons up trees for their hunters. We have no interest in that. When I took all 3 kids to the shelter to find a good family dog, she seemed to fit the bill. Whereas some dogs were beautiful and friendly, they could be a little too rambunctious to have around a 2-year-old. Sparkle, however, is playful outside but calm and quiet inside. The poor girl, hasn't had a moments peace since we brought her home. She's been smothered with hugs and kisses and puts up with it all beautifully. She came with the name "Sparkle" and since she seems to know her name, we'll keep it. She's perfectly house-broken. I wish I could say the same for Heather.

Here is a description from Dogster that I lifted:

"Treeing Walker Coonhounds are high-energy, hardworking canines with an excellent sense of smell and a keen intelligence. Somehow, in spite of these powerful hunting instincts, they manage to be gentle and relaxed in the home. Treeing Walker Coonhounds are very patient and playful with children, and they can be quite friendly with new people."

The site also says that they are good watch dogs, but I haven't heard her make a sound since she came home. She cheerfully welcomed Wayne's friend Ben and his parents into our home this morning, so I don't think she'll be much better than Hogan ever was as a watch dog. That's ok. She's just for fun.

Glover Day

This is a notice to those of you who always like to participate in the Glover Day races. You can now pre-register online and save $5. You will still have to pay on the day of the event, but as long as you are pre-registered (by July 21) you will recieve the discount. Use the link below.

http://grecreation.org/annual-events/glover-day/registration

And for those of you non-runners, walkers, and bikers, if you would like to help out in anyway with Glover Day, you can sign up here:

http://grecreation.org/volunteer

Lillian's Graduation Party

Why do you think this family looks so happy and proud?

It's because Lillian graduated from Cabot high school this week, and in the fall she'll be attending Harvard.
Wes and Joanie went to the graduation ceremony Friday evening. Joanie lent me the memory card from her camera so that I could post these pictures. Thanks Joanie!

As valedictorian of her class, she gave a speech.

Aunts and cousins from the Slocum side helped organize the party. This was the smoothie bar. Very yummy!

Thank goodness Chelsea was present to keep an eye on Heather.

Alexanders...
More Alexanders...

It was great the way Susan and Cedric had set up these tables outside in the front yard. It was a beautiful day, for a change.

I think Paul feels a little like a third wheel in this picture.

Wayne made me nervous on this swing, but he was having a great time.

Then there was the trampoline...

and basketball...

and flowers to look at...

and a pond to catch frogs and to swim in. The kids were the only ones brave enough to go in.

Heather was furious that I had not brought her suit so that she could also go in the water, but sitting with Joanie on the dock seemed to calm her down.

Martha took Cole on a tour of the pond.

Lillian with the Slocums.
It was a beautiful day and a very fun party. Congratulations and best wishes to Lillian.

Stepping Up and Moving On

Today was "Step-Up Day" for Cole, a chance spend a couple of hours getting acquainted with Mrs. Dudley, his classmates and his new school. Here he is with his entire kindegarten class - and Heather. Grant, the boy with dark hair was in his preschool class. The girl, I can't remember her name, was in his preschool, but in a different classroom.
It's not apparent in these pictures, but Cole was actually really excited about step-up day. He couldn't wait for snacktime and recess.

When step-up day was over at 11:00, it was time for me to come back to get Cole and we went to Wayne's classroom to see them perform a little play. Wayne had been talking about this for days and days. The play was called "Do You Live in a Nest?" He was a bat and used a Halloween costume that Martha had given us last fall. I was afraid that he would be too shy and self conscious and mumble his words, but I was so proud to see that he was actually very confident and spoke so clearly and loudly. The play was done in their classroom and there were two showings - one earlier in the morning for the third graders and the 11:00 performance for the 2nd graders and parents. Asom and Melanie, as bees I think, and Wayne in his bat costume.

After the play, Mrs. D asked parents to stay because she had some awards to hand out to her students. She gave Wayne an award for his "super knowledge of science, animals, and dinosaurs." She mentioned that whenever they have a scientific question, the class turns to Wayne for the answer, and that they all started to refer to him as Dr. Science. I never knew that.
Cole, Heather and I stayed for lunch. Wayne with his friends Ben and Lily.

Heather loved having lunch at school and drinking chocolate milk like a big kid - until she dribbled it all down the front of her white sweater and dress.
Last, half day tomorrow.

The Countdown

There is one week of school left. Friday is a half day.

When Friday comes, Joanie will say farewell to her teaching career. A retirement party was held in her honor last night at a nice restaurant in Newport. Lisa and Martha came and spent the night. While they were here, Wayne coerced Lisa into going to the pond with us. I did not purposely dress all my kids in red this day.

Keeping an eye out for salamanders. They didn't catch any. I don't think Lisa was too disappointed.

The stealthy hunter. Today frogs, tomorrow deer.Heather - her energy just cannot be contained in a photograph.

I didn't go to the party. I stayed home with the kids. We had a beautiful fruit salad with our supper made by Martha (Grammie), which I had to fight for because Wayne, Cole, and Heather would have devoured the whole delicious thing by themselves in one sitting if I had let them. Then the next morning, we had another treat. Lisa made us a breakfast of pancakes and bacon. Martha, who had also attended Joanie's party (and spent the night at Joanie's house) joined us for breakfast.
Joanie talked to Julie on the phone.

Uncle Walter heard that Martha was in town and stopped in for a nice little visit.

Heather and Martha did the breakfast dishes.

Then we all went over to the Drew Place house to see what Joanie has been doing over there. She has already moved quite a bit of stuff in and hung pictures on the wall. Her moving date is the 27 of this month. Very exciting. We can't wait to have her as a neighbor.

Just a moment ago, when I went up to kiss Wayne and Cole goodnight, Cole said, "I wish Grammie and Aunt Lisa were still here. I wish they would stay here forever."

Cole Says Goodbye to Preschool

Yesterday was Cole's last day of preschool and today was the end of the year party. Heather won't be quite old enough to start next year, so it seems strange that after 4 straight years of bringing first Wayne and then Cole to this school, I won't have to go there next year. It will be nice to bring them both to one school, but I'll kind of miss the friendly faces at preschool.

Wes took a half day so that he could attend the potluck party. Heather was sick today with a painful cough and she was very drippy and runny, so I ended up staying home with her. We figured since Wes had arranged a half day, he might as well be the one to go. They got to the party quite late because he had flat tire on the way home from Hardwick.

Cole with his teachers Miss Denise and Miss Debbie. Cole had a lot of fun in their classroom. Remember the chickie that hatched? and the birdhouse he made? We'll miss their fun and interesting ideas. They did a great job preparing him for Mrs. Dudley's kindegarten class.
Usually these end of the year parties are quite crowded, but it looks like by the time they got there the crowds of little kids and parents had cleared out.
Cole with Cheryl who works in the office and is probably the nicest person in the world. She greeted us every morning as we walked into the building with a cheerful, "Good morning Cole! Good morning Heather!"

And on a random note, I found these pictures on Wayne's camera from a recent fishing trip to Shadow Lake. I didn't know they existed or I would have posted them sooner.

As I recall, they didn't catch anything, but had a lot of fun.

Memorial Day Weekend Part 2

Today we headed to the cemetery to plant flowers and have a picnic. This is one of Wayne's favorite days of the year, along with Green Up Day and Christmas. He really loves planting flowers, spreading mulch, getting dirty. Meanwhile Heather, dressed in her fairy princess dress, shows off her knowledge of the alphabet.
Wayne and Cole get to work planting some flowers for Grampie.

Wayne loved these little pruning sheers of Joanie's.

Planting some flowers for Ellie.

By this time Wes and Cole had gone to get sandwiches for our picnic.

Heather supervises.

We took a break for lunch. It had gotten very windy and chilly so we all put on jackets and sweatshirts. At this point, I brought Heather home for her nap and Joanie, Wes, and the boys did some more planting at Westlook and then they were headed to the Barton cemetery.