Everyone Left

Thanksgiving is over and everyone is gone. Chris went back to work, the kids went back to school, and my family just pulled out of the driveway. I hate this part of the holidays when I'm home alone, crying and sad that our families live so far away. My stomach churns and it just all around sucks. I wish someone had told me when I was in high school or college about how hard it is to not have family around once your grown, married and have kids. Sure, moving away when you're young and single sounds exciting and grown-up, but that doesn't last. Now we're settled, Chris is in a job market with no prospects in PA, and we have to settle for seeing our families just a handful of times each year.

I'm already brainwashing my kids to stay close to home.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Today was parent-teacher conference day! The kids had a half day of school so the conferences could be held in the afternoon. They got off the bus just before 12:30, we had lunch, then it was back to school for conferences at 2:00 and 2:15 PM.

Francesca's conference was first. Her teacher Mrs. Flamand is about my age or maybe a couple of years younger. I like her - she's very personable, nice, and just a normal person - someone I'd be friends with! She told me that Francesca is quiet and studious (my child? quiet?) and doing very well. She is competent in everything they want her to be at this point. Her reading is definitely at level and a little above, so she may move to the more advanced group in the next couple of months if she keeps progressing as she has been. The only thing she needs to work on is her pencil grip.

Dominic's teacher said he's basically good at everything - math, money, time, science, spelling, reading, etc. She wasn't even aware that he's the youngest in the class by at least 4 months because he fits in well, is social, and is at the top of the class for all of the subjects. So our decision to put him in first grade last year instead of Kindergarten seems to be working out okay so far! She also said he's polite and a good kid. The only thing he needs to work on is his spacing when he writes since he tends to squish some words together, especially when using regular wide-ruled paper instead of the handwriting paper with the dotted line across the middle.

My kids are smart - yay! And apparently they are also well-behaved at school. *whew*

Hawaii Here We Come!

Well, it's official! I earned my third trip from Usborne Books! Chris and I have already been on an Alaskan cruise, spent 7 days in Rome, and now we're set for a Hawaiian cruise in April! I'm so excited! (Well, not about the traveling & flying to get there part, but definitely about the cruise part.)

We'll be cruising on the Pride of America, a ship with Norwegian Cruise Lines. The cruise starts in Honolulu, spends two days in Maui, one day in Hilo, one in Kona, two in Kauai, and then it's back to Honolulu. The ship has 10 restaurants, about 9 bars/nightclubs, 2 pools, hot tubs, a theater, and lots of other stuff including a gyrosphere!

We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon, so it's fitting that we'll go back again in 2010 - next year is our 10-year anniversary. What better way to spend it than on a second honeymoon in Hawaii?

Trick-or-Treat!

We had such a fun night trick-or-treating this year. At least most of us did! Chris usually takes the kids out with Pete while Lori and I stay home to give out candy. But this year we invited my friend Lois and her daughter Mia to come trick-or-treat with us. They live on a winding, rural road and don't usually trick-or-treat. So this year, Pete, Lois & I were on walking duty. I left Chris armed with a cauldron of treats and his convict costume. I was dressed in Aunt Lorraine's wedding dress as my token dead/zombie bride. We got really lucky with the weather - it was about 60 degrees. Woohoo!

Dominic was Mario from Super Mario Brothers, complete with bushy black mustache!

Once all of the kids were dressed, they were raring to go! We were lucky to get them to stay in one place long enough to take a picture. The following two photos were taken with the kids all standing on the big rock in the Beaudoin's yard. Francesca is next to Dominic in her geisha, I mean, Asian Princess, outfit. Mia is next to hear in the front center. Scout was Super Girl and she's in the back center. Logan was really cute in his policeman costume (far right). Their cousin Nick was also trick-or-treating with them this year - he's between Scout and Logan in the back.

Francesca and Logan didn't make it very far. After going down the Woodridge cul-de-sac and back past our house, Francesca got halfway around Coldbrook before I couldn't take the whining anymore and agreed to take her home. Logan opted to also head back, so I dropped them both off before meeting up with the others. Once we completed our neighborhood, we headed over to an adjoining group of streets to get even more candy (like my kids need it - or can even eat 3/4 of it!) After starting at 6:00, our trick-or-treating excursion finally wrapped up just before 8:00. We snapped a couple of pictures in the house before Lois & Mia headed home to sleep off the sugar high.

Halloween Pictures from School

At long last, here are some pictures of the kids from Halloween! First, they had a Halloween parade and party at school on Friday, October 30th. I went to Francesca's classroom early to help her teach get all of the kids into their costumes, then watched the parade, and also helped out in her and Dominic's classrooms for the celebration afterwards.

Pics from trick-or-treat coming soon!

Halloween Zumba

I've been teaching Zumba for almost 3 months now and really enjoying it! So for my two Halloween classes (Wed, Oct 28 and Sat, Oct 31) I decided to choreograph to all Halloween themed music (Thriller, Monster Mash, Sympathy for the Devil, etc) and have everyone dress up. Turns out that all of the Saturday soccer games were moved early in the day because of Halloween and overlapped with Zumba, so the turn out wasn't that high, but we still had a great time!

Here's a picture of me and my awesome friend Lori before Wednesday's Halloween Zumba!

She was a cute garden fairy and I was a "gothic mummy" (that's what the name on my costume said). So she wasn't quite as believable doing her zombie walk during Thriller - too cutesy for a zombie! :)

Apple Picking

We managed to squeeze in two apple picking trips this year - one at the beginning of September and another on Halloween between Dominic's last soccer game and trick-or-treating. Pickings were slim, but we filled our bag mostly with yummy Topaz apples. Maybe tomorrow I'll make a pie....

Here are pictures of us picking at Tougas Farm...

Francesca's Playdate

Tomorrow I'm taking Francesca on a playdate to her friend Jaden's house. Jaden is a cute, quiet little boy in her class. They've taken a liking to each other and we always hear about Jaden and his parents always hear about Francesca. Now, Jaden's parents are divorced - his mom lives in Millbury and his dad lives in Holden, and the playdate is at the dad's house. I'm already working on topics of conversation including did you grow up around here, what made you become a firefighter, and why did your marriage fail? Just kidding on the last one! (I tried to convince Chris to take her but he doesn't want to. You all know how much he likes making conversation with strangers.)

Anyway, Francesca is very excited about her playdate tomorrow! Today at dinner she told us that she can't wait because Jaden wants to play the kissing game. I asked her what that was and she said "It's when we just kiss like crazy!"

Okay, maybe Jaden isn't as shy and quiet as I thought....

I explained that with the swine flu going around, it's probably not a good idea to be doing any kissing right now. It should be safe by the time she's 20.

(Speaking of the swine flu, there were 9 kids absent in Dominic's class today. NINE out of twenty-one. I wonder if we'll be next....)

Wish Lists

I just added wish lists to our blog. If you look on the right side of the screen and scroll down, you'll see the lists so far.

Please let me know if you purchase anything for the kids from their lists so I can remove it. And as always, include gift receipts in case we get doubles or clothes don't fit.

Happy shopping!

Halloween

Picture coming soon! I promise!