Pirate Ship

For reasons unknown to us, Jude and Levi thought it would be a good idea to pretend that this box was their pirate ship. Complete with decorations (coloring and stickers) it made the perfect landing for 2 pirates to enjoy their feast (dinner).

Halloween 2011

Due to the snow, trick-or-treating was postponed a day. Usually our town holds trick-or-treating the day before Halloween (very odd if you ask me....). This year we got to trick-or-treat on the actual holiday. Perhaps there was some good to come out of an early snowstorm?

We hit the roads with our new (and awesome) neighbors after enjoying some warm grub together. Maggie (5) was dressed as a princess and Tessa (3), a flower-child. Aren't they adorable?

Jude decided to switch it up, last minute, and wear last year's race car driver costume. Levi, again, a monkey- an after thought.... if Joel would have gone as the Man in the Yellow Hat, they could have been a curious (George) couple.

October Snowstorm

What a weird turn of events happened at the end of October. New England was caught in the middle of a Nor'easter. Over the course of the blustery night we got about 6 inches of the powdery white stuff (I have a hard time bringing myself to say the "S" word this early in the season). The boys were thrilled with the opportunity to shovel and scrape in October. (Inland, there were areas that received over 20 inches of snow. We were lucky not to lose power, millions of others had theirs knocked out.)

Pre-Halloween Parties

This year Halloween seemed to be more of a long weekend event rather than a 1 day event. It started with Levi trick-or treating at a retirement home on Thursday. He loved wearing his monkey costume so much that it was hard to get him to take it off when it was time to pick Jude up from school.


Friday night our small group helped support a Family Fun Night Halloween extravaganza at the Seymour Osman Community Center. The entertainment and the games seemed to be a huge success (perhaps Joel's fake tats and mullet helped to spark some extra energy). Jude sported his dragon costume and we didn't have a difficult time convincing Levi to climb into his monkey costume once again.

Above: Jude, Henry Charlie, Owen, Tucker, and Hailey posed in there costumes
Below: Levi, Jude, and Tucker

An extra shot of Levi picking out one more pumpkin at Emery Farm. Our realtor gave us a coupon for a freebie.

Apple Pickin' 2011

Butternut Farm was in full harvest when we went to pick apples this year. Our favorites by far were the Mutsu's (as you can tell by Levi's progress on the apple above).



Who needs a ladder when you have this father-son duo getting the perfect apples from up high?

Touch-A-Truck 2011

Pease Tradeport once again held their annual touch-a-truck. The boys loved going around to test out all of the vehicles. They were so hands-on that it was difficult keeping up with them. This year they walked away with all kinds of freebies. They managed to walk away with stickers, chocolates, balls, balloons, hardhats, and matchbox cars. Fun, fun, fun!

MOPS to the Fire Station

Every other Wednesday, the boys and I get to go to MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers). The boys enjoy the time they have there learning lessons out of the Bible, while I enjoy time with other moms. On occasion, MOPS will have outings on other Wednesdays. This particular Wednesday we took a trip to the Lee Fire Station. Here the boys got to see what a fireman looks like while all geared up and ready for action. They also got to tour one of the fire trucks.



The trip to the station was so short that we decided to see what our friends Olivia and Hailey were up to. Jude was having a fantastic time going down the slide with Liv.

Class Trip to Emery Farm

Levi and I jumped on the chance to chaperon Jude's class on a field to Emery Farm. While there we were able to go on a hay ride, pick out a pumpkin from the patch, eat a delicious cookie, pet the animals, play in the sandbox, and find our way out of the beehive themed corn maze. What a fun morning! (Jude's good friend, Soren is in his class... Nils and Abby came along to chaperon too.)

October Trip to Mich

What a wonderful way to spend one of the most beautiful weekends in October! A quick trip to Michigan to visit family and attend our good friends Peter and Barbara's wedding was delightful. We packed in as many mini adventures as we could on our short visit. It was perfect timing too, Uncle Steve was able to come up from Georgia, and Uncle Mike and Aunt Angel were able to join us for a birthday dinner celebration for Papa.

We spent a morning playing at Yates Cider Mill. The boys loved the wagon. We enjoyed the most delicious doughnuts, cider, and popcorn while aboard the wagon.







Jude and Levi had a great time feeding the goats and sheep....

Jude saddled up for his first pony ride.....

After the cider mill we meandered our way over to the playground. The boys fed the ducks their leftover popcorn. The weather was so nice and warm that they decided to disrobe and take a dip in the creak.


Uncle Steve's phone was a huge hit with the boys. They could watch all of their favorite Sesame Street YouTube videos....
Back to the playground... this time with bread for the ducks and cars of course.

After another dip in the creek, Levi fancied the big boy swing. He LOVES his Grandma!

For some reason I never manage to capture many shots from weddings... I guess we're just having too much fun to bother with a camera. (That's what the professional are there for, right?) Anyways, here we are all cleaned up for Peter and Barb's wedding.
A couple more shots before we head off....























The boys were so worn out from the weekend that they both fell asleep on my lap during takeoff. They really did a wonderful job traveling this time around!