Day at the Farm

The Stoney Brook Farm, where we went on a dairy tour last spring, had a family fun day this weekend. There was pony rides, hay rides and lots of smelly animals to enjoy.

It was a beautiful day.

There was a mini farm set up where the boys could be the animals.

We had a blast on the hay ride.

Jacob even enjoyed it.

We were rather chilly near the end so Adam loaned Jonathan his sweatshirt. He is so cute.

Alex was able to get some really amazing smiles out of Jacob.

Thank you Great-Aunt Janice!

Adam's Aunt Janice has made a blanket for each of our boys and we recently received Jonathan's. She actually won a blue ribbon at a fair for this one and we agree that it is gorgeous.

Here is the one she made Alex.

And Jonathan.

And of course, Jacob.

Thank you Great-Aunt Janice, we love your gifts.

Paint Ourselves!

Every Kindergarten class starts out with a unit on " All about me". So I started doing various activities with Alex to emulate this unit. This Saturday I told the boys that they were going to paint themselves. Jonathan took this very literally. I was thinking a nice self portrait but when Jonathan started to strip his clothes off and slowly paint red everywhere the day took a turn. The boys had loads of fun. Everything ended with a shower that looked like someone had been murdered.

Soccer game #2

Alex's second soccer game fell on a Friday evening. We packed up the crew and headed out.

Here is Alex getting all set. We got him really excited to play and at the start he seemed ready to go.

Alex played every time it was his turn. He even got to take a turn as goalie. I was so proud as he blocked every shot.

Jacob loved watching his big bro play. This was a much better game. Alex left very happy and excited for the next one. I was also really excited.

First day of school for Jonathan

Today Jonathan started preschool at the New England Montessori Academy. This is the same school that Alex was in for 2 years and he is actually in the same classroom that Alex started out in. He was so handsome all dressed and ready to go. Jonathan is my nervous, very shy kid. All summer he would say how he didn't want to go to school and that he would just kick the teacher when he got there. We ended up preparing him by sending him to an hour long class at the Y that lasted 6 weeks. And he also went to day camp with Alex for a while week after Jacob arrived. By the time the first day of school arrived he was much more open to the idea. Just a little nervous still.

Alex also officially started homeschool. Of course, as most of you know he has already been working very hard everyday for awhile now. He learned to read at three and a half and last April we started on the math. Now he is proficient in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. He has also memorized all 50 states and their capitols, has continued his reading program and become an excellent player of The New Super Mario Brothers WII. Which is my backup for when I need a break.

Here we are getting ready to say goodbye to Jonathan.

I missed him a lot and it was hard to see how big he has gotten. He was excellent his first day. The second day he screamed his head off when I left. And on the the third he was fine again.

Jacob has a lot to live up to when it comes to his older brothers. But as you can see he is super.

Yay! I am a soccer mom....almost.

The day after we returned from Rhode Island was Alex's first soccer game. He did excellent at his first practice the week before and although he was a little nervous he was ready to go.

Here are some quick shots of him warming up.

He was looking really good.

Then he got hit in the stomach with a ball. Game over. He wouldn't budge from the sideline the whole game. He was across the field from us and just kept raising his hand and gesturing for us to come get him.

So superhero Jonathan just hung out. My parents were still there so they sat and cheered on the team. I was pretty peeved and it was all my fault. I had totally psyched myself up and was rather disappointed. I did get over it once Alex started to show enthusiasm the next practice. He said he would hit himself in the stomach more to toughen up. He was out there running right when practice started.

Uncle Don's Graduation

Twelve weeks ago my "little" bro, Don, reported for OCS for the navy in Newport, Rhode Island. This weekend he graduated and we meet up with my parents and sister to celebrate his graduation.

The weekend started on Wednesday night, or really Thursday at 1am when I picked up my sister from Logan airport. We got home, due to middle of the night roadwork it took twice as long to get home, and promptly(3 hours later) got to sleep. When the boys were up at 6am, we got dressed and started what ended up being over a 3 hour drive to RI. Adam was dropped off at work and Cathie and I, on 2 hours of sleep each met up with my parents. Adam road the train into Providence later in the day to join us.

This is Don in his funny parade call or whatever uniform. He was selected for the colorguard which was awesome.

The boys really behaved amazingly for the graduation. Jonathan was a bit restless but Adam and I took turns walking him around.

Alex sat the whole time and even took a moment to practice his thousand yard stare so that he could be just like his Uncle Don.

Here is Ensign Don about to receive his certificate.

This is his group. They are blindingly white in those uniforms. But all very handsome.

I loved this part. Once he graduated he officially became a higher rank then the men who were his drill instructors. So they all lined up to get their first salute by the men who yelled at them for 3 months.

We are so proud of you Don. One more step completed in your Mission to Mars.

After the graduation was finished we all headed north to our place to hang out for a bit.

My mom and dad were shocked to see just how much Jacob had grown.

The boys sure had tons of fun.

I have to give huge thanks to Adam. First he volunteered to stay home with the boys so I could have a relaxing dinner when we went out to celebrate. And then we brought a fairly inebriated Don home and Adam had to take him out to "celebrate" more.

Statue Of Liberty Road Trip

We must start with a cute smile from Jacob.

Alex has been begging us for quite awhile now to go visit the Statue of Liberty. He had seen Ghostbusters 2 numerous time and loved the part where the Statue walks through the city. With Adam on vacation for most of August and a little of September we decided to just jump in the car for a road trip. The directions stated that it would take just over 4 hours to get there so we left thinking we would drive for about 9 hours the whole day. Well... more on that later.

The boys had never been to the big city before. We got to drive through Manhatten and they loved it. Of course, I did not like driving in NYC but I handled it.

We only got to stop at Ellis Island for a moment. It took over 6 hours to actually get to the boat so we were a little behind schedule. And we weren't really in the mood to run after the boys in a museum that they weren't interested in. Maybe when they are older we can fully enjoy it.

Unfortunately, the boys were too short to walk up to the crown but we did make it to the top of the pedestal. Where we promptly discovered that I have a completely irrational fear of heights. Walking down the steps just about killed me.

Here we are entering to statue.

We got to look at the flame they had in the entrance. The boys did great so far so we kept going.

Alex had to help pick lady liberty's nose.

Jonathan rubbed her feet.

We got up on the pedestal only to find that there was a wall the boys couldn't see over. In some ways, safety, this was fine. Of course, it meant that we had to lift the boys up to see the view. Scary.

Jonathan started running around the pedestal. Freaking me out more. So finally we just made our way out.

It took over 7 hours to get home with traffic. By the time we arrived at home I had driven nearly 13 hours. Way more then expected. However, we would do it all over again. We had a great family road trip and I really hope to get more in while the kids are willing to be around us.