Dance Class

Heather started her first dance class this morning! She was very excited and has been counting down the days for a long time.  She's been wearing her leotard everyday since we signed her up and I was sure she'd have it all worn out before the classes even started. Luckily it held out.

 Parents are not allowed to watch the classes so I only have pictures of her on the steps of the town hall and in the basement getting ready to go up to her class.

Makes my heart ache a little to see how grown up she looks.

Bald Eagle

The other day, coming home from Barton with the kids, we saw a lot of cars pulled over to the side of the road. I couldn't imagine what was going on until Wayne exclaimed, "There's a bald eagle up in that tree!"  I pulled over too and took these not-so-great photos with the junk camera I keep in the car for just such an occasion.

He just sat there patiently letting everyone take pictures, not knowing what all the fuss was about.

October, This and That

October has brought us foliage and bow season. Even Heather is getting in on the bow shooting after school.

Wayne is a really good shot, but he doesn't have a bow hunting license  He needs to take a special class for that.  In the meantime, he spends hours in the backyard shooting at targets. This evening he was out there until it was too dark to see anymore.

Cole has learned to play chess from a book his teacher has in his classroom. 

The next best thing to a partridge in the pear tree - turkeys in the apple tree. (Took this picture through the window)

Last year we had tons of apples from the two apple trees here in the front and back yard. This year, not a single one.  We had to buy these apples to make an apple pie. It hurt me to do so. Wayne loves using this peeler Joanie gave us last year. It works beautifully.

Chopping.

Peeling.

Everyone had to have a turn. It's fun!

The finished product!

Tonight's Dinner

Autumn means hunting season in Vermont, and Wayne is following the family tradition.

Every hunter likes to tell his story, so I'll turn the page over to Wayne.

Me and my Dad were walking down the driveway partridge hunting, because I often saw them on the driveway going to school. After a few minutes, we saw a partridge fly across the driveway into the woods near Waterfall Park. We kept going down the driveway, but then I decided I wanted to go after the partridge. So we went into the woods. We were heading up towards the pond, and there was a small stream/ditch leading away from the pond. I saw the partridge walking around in the ditch, and I shot at it. It tried to fly away after it got shot, but a second after that, my Dad shot too and it was dead. At first I didn't think it was dead, because it's tail was sticking up and I thought it was its head, and I didn't know how its head would still be standing up if it was dead. I went over to look at it and realized that the tail was just it's head. Then we brought it home.

By

                          Wayne A.

The End

---------------------------------------------------------

Last Year at This Time:

Piano Recital

Wayne and Cole had a soccer game this morning. I didn't take pictures because it was so windy and rainy. This afternoon, they had a piano recital at their teacher's house, which is also where they take lessons. The lighting is bad and you'll have to turn your volume up if you want to hear what the teacher  is saying, but if you have nothing better to do with the next 10 minutes of your life, here you go!

"When the Saints Go Marching In"

"I Am the King"

"Three and Twenty Pirates"

Heather just had her first piano lesson, so maybe next time there's a recital I'll have a video of her to share too.

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was Heather's first day of real school - kindergarten! She was very excited and not the least bit hesitant.

 Today also happened to be school picture day and this is the dress Heather wanted for her school picture. We bought it down the road at the barn for 2 dollars.

She also got to be Mrs. Dudley's classroom helper for the day.

At breakfast she said, "I don't think the first couple of days will be very challenging. We'll probably just write the ABC's and do some counting."

In the car on the way to school, Cole was giving her some bad brotherly advice. "Don't talk to anyone. And never raise your hand. Just shout out all the answers." 

I told her not to listen to him. She said, "I know. I never do."

When she came home she reported that her class did not do any work, neither with ABC's nor counting. "We just made a lot of stuff. I guess kindergarten is just like preschool to start off with," she said.  Here's a sample of a folder full of stuff she made and brought home.

The Last Day of Summer Vacation

Here's Wayne in his third baseball uniform of the summer. Now it's "Fall Ball" which is much more relaxed, noncompetitive, and leisurely. The good thing is that he gets to play with some of the kids he will be with next spring when he steps up to major league, which I think is ages 11-13.

 They had their first fall ball game today. He got a good hit here, but an outfielder caught it.

 Playing third base, below. I think Wayne has had a growth spurt recently.  A couple of times when his team was walking out onto the field, I'd think, "Who's that tall kid on our team?" Then I'd realize it was Wayne.

 On the pitchers mound.

 In the catchers gear. They won this game by one run.

 The other day we dug up our potatoes from the garden. Wayne had been wanting to make homemade potato chips, and I figured this was our last chance. Here he is slicing up the potatoes.

 I cooked them in the hot oil.

 And he salt and vinegered them.

 They were really good and they disappeared in a flash.

Tomorrow morning, 6:30 a.m. A rude awakening. 

But not for Heather. She starts on Sept. 4th.

And not for me. I start Sept. 10th.

My vacation is just beginning.

Mrs. Dudley, One Last Time

We can tack this on to our list of the "Last of the Firsts" - having Mrs. Dudley as kindergarten teacher. I was always hoping that she would not retire until all 3 of our kids had passed through her classroom. It looks like we're going to make it.

Yesterday, Heather had her individual classroom visit and some preliminary testing. Over the next week or so, before kindergarten begins, Mrs. Dudley will be testing each incoming student so she has an idea where everyone is starting off. I left Heather for the one hour testing and when I came back, Mrs. Dudley went over her results with me and kept using the words "phenomenal" and "incredible."  Heather is already at a mid-year level for reading and literacy and even first grade level for much of the math. 

Beauty and brains. What more could we ask for?

Soccer

Heather and Cole have been participating in GREC soccer. (Wayne is too old - the age groups only go to 8 years). Those two kids behind Heather were in preschool last year and will be going to kindergarten this year (elsewhere, not Glover), but doesn't she look so much older than they do?

 They do not actually play soccer, they just learn a lot of skills.

 I like that there are cows in the background.

 The boy with the number 3 on his shirt is Jaden, Jason and Betsy's younger son. He'll be in Kindergarten with Heather. She and he are good friends from t-ball and from playing on the side lines at their older brothers' baseball games. I can't remember exactly which day he was born, but Jaden is 3 or 4 days older than Heather. They get along great.

 Cole didn't want me to take any pictures of him, but I snuck this one with my zoom lens.

Flying Away

On Estelle and Lena's last full day in VT, they came over to spend some time in the sun with Wayne, Cole, and Heather before flying back to France the next day.

There was some  blackberry picking in the corner of the hay field.

 They found a monarch caterpillar which we took inside and kept in a plastic container.

 There was some wiffle ball. Estelle has good form.

 There was lunch on the porch.

 And there was a little bit of gardening.

Now to show Estelle and Lena what happened with their caterpillar. We fed in lots of milkweed leaves for about a week. Then it made a cocoon. 

 After about 10 days, the cocoon becomes transparent - you can see the butterfly all scrunched up inside. This means it's almost ready to come out. We noticed this change on Tuesday evening...

 ...and on Wednesday morning, the butterfly emerged. Along with a friend we had found. (In all we have 4 cocoons). When they first come out, their wings are all crumpled and crooked. The butterfly has to be able to hang so its wings will straighten and dry and become strong for flying.

 After a few hours we took them out to the garden and let them fly away.