Recap

Once again it has been too long since we've posted anything here. 

Sorry. 

Molly has been loving school. In the fall her class learned all about orchestras and the different instruments. She even got to play some. 

The fall brought some good, old fashion leaf piles to play with. The kids took full advantage. 

After over two years we finally succumb and got Wes a haircut. He wasn't really a fan of the idea. 

I'm not sure how we did this, but the kids have offered to wash the floors a few times. We are happy to oblige. 

Molly's study of orchestras dovetailed nicely with the beginning of a new tradition: going to a holiday concert by the Portland Symphony Orchestra with Grammie and Momma. 

 

Molly has also been working on her drawing and recently made this self-portrait. 

With winter in Maine comes snow. With snow comes sledding. With sledding comes happy kids. 

For Christmas Wes got his own robe. 

And Molly got and engineering game. This was taken moments after she finished it. 

And they're scrubbing the floors again. 

We've also had a chance to try out our snowshoes. Nothing too fancy yet. 

Grammie was able to capture this shot of Wes showing off his new binoculars. 

In non-people related news we added two feline members to the family: Shackleton (tan, longer hair) and Ozymandias (tan, bobbed tail). They have done a great job settling in to their new home. 

When you eat ice cream you need to make sure you stuff your face in the cup. Obviously. 

Wes still enjoys going up in a wrap. 

Halloween Party

This past weekend Molly's preschool had a Halloween party for the little kids. Everyone got dressed up and played some games and ate some food.

Molly went "bobbing" for donuts. The whole point was to eat the donut off the string without using your hands...

 But really, who doesn't use their hands?

 Despite what it looks like, this was not supposed to be an interpretation of Cinderella. This is "gourd curling".  Molly won.

 Wes was a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing. He spent most of the time sampling the food to ensure it was tiger safe (no tunafish sandwiches though).

They also had some face paint.

Which Molly applied herself.

Who could ask for a cuter pair of kids?

Dancing Machine

This fall Molly started dance class. Classes are once a week for 45 mins. Normally Wes and I just sit in the lobby and wait, but last week was "watch week". Luckily Katie was also able to make it to see what Molly's been up to. As you can see, she loves it.

Her dancing skills are quite improved from a year ago.

Preschool

Molly is loving preschool and so is Wes (even though Wes isn't actually going yet, he still loves dropping Molly off and picking her up). 

This picture is with Molly's "favorite person in the world", her advisor Stacie. The crown is from Uncle Nate and Aunt Ellete. Molly was extremely excited to show it to everyone today. 

Summer recap

The temps took a dive into the 40s (overnight) recently as if to remind us that summer is ending and fall will soon be on the way. Here's some of what we have been up to (in no particular order):

One of the biggest things this year was Molly starting preschool. We were worried that Wes would have a hard time leaving her there but he's been great (I think he's enjoying the time spent as an 'only' child). This picture is from Molly's first day. 

Can you tell they're best friends? I was trying to get just a picture of Molly for the first day but Wes was all about being up there too. 

We were also able to get out to MI this year (finally, with the move and my back injury we weren't able to make it last year). This is atop the first crest of the Sleeping Bear Dunes. 

Grandma was able to join us.

We also made it to Glen Lake for a memorial for Pa. It was great to see (almost) everyone in the family. One cousin wasn't able to make it, but his wife had a baby a week or so before so I guess that's a good excuse. 

Molly got to hang out with her cousin Carolyn. These two are named after their great grandmother (Carolyn) and her sister (Mariel). 

On the trip out to MI we stopped off where it all started: the Little Pub at Hamilton. This is the first time we've been back since right before our wedding almost 6 years ago and almost 11 years since we first met. 

We also stopped at Niagara Falls (on the Canada side). 

And we were able to go for a run along the Falls as well. 

In mid-summer we celebrated Katie's cousin's wedding aboard a schooner off the coast of Maine. The wedding couple couldn't have asked for a better day (nor could we). 

One of the great things about where we live is the ocean right at the end of the street. 

Wes has been perfecting his "cool kid" look. 

The kids also went for their first dental appointment. Everyone was impressed with how well they did (and the dentist even does ballon animals!). 

This pretty much sums up the kids relationship.