4th of July

We moved into our new house on June 28th, so what better thing to do a week later than to host a 4th of July party in the new house, right??  People thought we were crazy to do it, but we really love hosting our 4th of July party, so we went with it.  It was actually awesome.  Almost nothing was unpacked, but it motivated us to get the house to a point where we could show it off a bit.  But at the same time, everyone knew we had just moved, and didn't expect much from us.  It was great. 

We bought an enormous blow up water slide, which was a big hit with the kids.  It turns out we have an excellent party house, and everyone had a blast.  What a fun way to break in the new digs! 

Mama was kind enough to take some pictures for us.

Josh (Gwen's husband), with new baby Clara, came for a visit.

Cindy, Nicole and I tour the house.

I love my Annie!!

Cindy, Jennifer and Uncle Joseph escape the heat in the air conditioned living room!

Anthony and Lauren do the same!

DJ, Nicole, Matt, Aaron and Dad check out the deck

Lexi on the awesome slide!

Mollie Bedard loves it!

Riley and Jack - old, great friends!

Andrea, Nicole, Maria, Christi and Me!

Awesome cake by Nicole!

What a great day.  We felt really lucky to have all of our friends and family come and celebrate with us in our new home. 

Last Day As a Rockin' Robot and Thomson Tiger!!

Today was Lexi's last day of school.  Normally this is a totally happy day, but today was bittersweet.  Because today is moving day, it also marks Lexi's last day as a Thomson Tiger.  She had an amazing year in 1st grade.  She had a wonderful teacher, and a fantastic class.  I really watched her come alive this year, and truly enjoy everything she was learning about!  She loved being a Rockin' Robot, and even though I know she will meet lots of new friends, and be very happy as a Franklin Dragon, I think we will both always miss our fantastic Thomson community.

Because it was moving day, Lexi slept at Gigi and Poppy's, and I didn't get my traditional last day of school picture.  So, for the comparative we will use a picture from the first day of summer camp (which was taken on July 1st...two days after the writing of this post...creepy).

1st day of 1st Grade

1st Day of 1st Grade with Zach

End of 1st Grade with Zach

Mrs. Radulski's Rockin' Robots!  A great group of kids!

It's Time To Move On

Things got a little quiet on the blog (although I am now filling in events, so ultimately this will go unnoticed in printed volumes) because life got rather wild this spring.  After quite a bit of discussion, Ahren finally convinced me to leave our adorable little white house on Harold street and move out to the boonies of North Andover!  The date of this post is June 28th because that was our moving date, but I'm writing it in the new house on September 11th.  I will say that living "out town" is not as terrible as I thought it would be, and our neighbors (those that we have met) are very nice.  It's an adjustment, but I know that we will be happy in this house.  However, we will never forget our little white house where so much of our lives were lived.

Sadly, I don't even have any pictures of the new house yet!  That will come...promise!

Peonies

Each year, Gigi takes a picture of Lexi with the peonies in her yard.  Here is a small collage of each year from age 2 through age 7.

Zachary's Last Day of Preschool!

Today was Zachary's last day of Preschool.  My favorite part about the last day of preschool is the End of Year Performance that the kids do for the parents and grandparents.  Zachary was really excited about this, and did a great job!  Here are some pictures and videos of his big performance.

I'm a Little Star

Moving On Song 

Next year Zachary will be back at NEMS for one more year with Miss Melissa and Miss Marcia in the "Older Learner's Classroom".  He is really going to miss his teachers this year, especially Miss Karissa who will not be returning because she is having a baby.  But I know he'll love Older Learner's in the fall.

Smile

This is the smile that gets this boy off the hook on a daily basis. He's lucky he's so cute. ;)

Zach on Being Sick

Zachary had a really lousy cold this week with a terrible, constant cough.  He was exhausted, we were exhausted, it was not good.  One afternoon he said to me, "Mama, I wish they had made me so that I wouldn't get sick."  I said, "Who?"  He said, "The people who made me."  I said, "Buddy, Mama and Daddy made you, remember?" He replied, "Oh yea.  Why did you make me so that I could get sick?"  Hmmm...I guess we're not as awesome as we had previously thought.

Later...

Zach: "I hate getting sick."
Me: "I know buddy, but you know, getting a little bit sick from time to time is not a bad thing!  You see, we have this system in our bodies called 'the immune system' and it's like a muscle.  If it doesn't have to fight off illnesses from time to time then it gets weak, and can't protect us when...
Zach: "Ooh, mom!  Look at this!"
Me: "Zach, didn't you want to hear my story about the immune system?"
Zach: "I don't really know that story...  OOH!  I KNOW!!  Can we BUY it??"
Me: Sigh...

And on a completely unrelated, but odd, note.

Zach: "Mom, remember that fat painter that was at our house?"
Really??  Did my son seriously just refer to someone as the "fat painter"??  Where have I gone wrong...