Joanie's Moving Day

Joanie has moved into the Drew Place house. Unpacked and settled in? Well, that's a different story. When I saw her living room yesterday afternoon, it was filled with boxes.

First of all, Martha (Grammie), Lisa, Dan, and Anna arrived Friday afternoon for "moving weekend." Anna played a very long and complicated game called "Shoe Birds" with all the kids. It had something to do with birds that would steal people's shoes.

Thomas called and Estelle spoke to him on the phone, until she was distracted by something in her shoe.

Lisa had brought dinner for both Friday and Saturday nights and tirelessly (?) played with both girls.

Cole is in love with Baby Lena and she with him.

Before Friday dinner, Grammie occupies the kids with some coloring on the porch.

Moving day arrives. We keep the kids at Elijah's Place. Chelsea comes to help out with watching the kids. Sandy and I discuss many kid and canine issues.

Heather and Estelle help Lisa make the frosting for Joanie's retirement cake.

Grammie and Lena.

Elijah has a snack.

When Lisa told Estelle that she could lick the bowl, Estelle took her literally and leaned down to actually lick the bowl. She got the hang of it soon enough. "Crazy American custom," she must think.

Cole, Chelsea and Lillian.

Elijah finds something mechanical.

Sparkle keeps her nose in business.

Wayne, Cole, and Jacob play, play, play all day.

The babysitters, hard at work.

Time for the moving crew to head over here to Elijah's Place for a lunch break on the porch.

Sadly, this is the only picture I got of Joanie all day. She was so busy with moving that I hardly saw her at all, except at lunch. There she is on the left.

Lisa's delicious cake for dessert. It was amazing.

Back to work at Joanie's house.

What a nice yard.

A last minute baseball game before the day is done.

And the next morning, Foosball (sp?) before heading back to NH.
Hope you like your new house Joanie. I know we'll love having you as a neighbor.

P.S. Thanks to Martha and Chris for sending some of these pictures!

Help Wanted

Yes, I'm shamelessly using my blog to search for Glover Day volunteers. If you are not a runner, walker, or biker (or if you are currently suffering from some strain or injury that prevents you from participating in these activities) but would like to get involved somehow, you can use the link below to sign up to help with race registration in the morning, man the water station, be a finish line timer, help set things up on the green in the morning, or help out with some concessions.

The whole thing only lasts a couple of hours and when you see the pink elephant, you know it's almost time to hit the lake.

I Wanna Be a Glover Day Volunteer

Fun in the Sun

Julie, Estelle, and Baby Lena have arrived from France. This morning we finally had some nice weather and the kids made the most of it.

First of all, Wayne and Estelle worked on the weeds in the garden for a little while.

Then it was time to don swimsuits and run through the sprinkler.

And play on the playground.

Wayne and Cole sprayed everyone and everything with the hose.

Then Cole taught Estelle how to use the hose,

and he immediately regretted it.

She really got the hang of it!

I just realized - no pictures of Baby Lena to post today! She's been sleeping a lot, but we'll got some on here soon. Don't worry.

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."