The Rogers Five

Pinewood Derby

2012-02-02T22:02:00.001-05:00

Caden was very leery about joining Cub Scouts at the beginning of the school year, but since the very first meeting he loves it. Something the kids get to look forward to every year is the Pinewood Derby. They start with a block of wood and shape it into a race winning machine! Caden chose the shape of a race car, but more seasoned Derby-goers had some very original "cars"!

Caden got to work with Rob down in the shop which he was very excited about. I am sure the three guys will be disappearing together more often as they get older. Here is Caden's car "up on blocks" as he does the initial paint job before they put on the wheels. And I have no other photos of the getting ready stages because apparently I have the winter photo blues and barely take out my camera these days.

Race day! Caden was so excited!! Here's a look down the track.

Look at all the cars! Caden's is the first one (you can barely see the roof.. in front of the pencil). We had a lot to do that morning so Rob was first in line to register so we could fit everything in, hence the #1 position.

Caden's "Volcano" car.. passed all the weight and size requirements so he was ready to go!

All the kids were really into it.

These boys are just too silly!

Caden's first race!! He painted his car himself! I offered to paint his flames, but he wanted to do it himself! I was so proud of the final car! Although next year I think we'll clear shellac it to make is shiny! (among other things!)

Hmmm.. 3rd :( Caden was disappointed, but not discouraged... yet.

3....2....1..... GOOOOoooooo!

Up again! It's hard for a 6 year old to get 3rd place in all his races (I do think he managed a 2nd once though!!) Even I was a bit sad! But it was a great learning experience that we can't always win everything. And while he was a bit glum.. I was happy with how he handled himself.. I can only imagine we could have been dealing with an all-out hissy fit, but he took it much better than expected. Next year we'll have to do a bit of R&D to make the car at least a little faster! and actually use the tricks they give you... like graphite on the wheels? who knew!

Tiger Cubs final standings.. Hooray for "friend Cole"! He had a super speedy car! And was a great sport about winning!

At the end they got a participation trophy.. Caden is very proud of it.

The whole group!

And Rob has since promised Caden to make his car fast.. I hear it involves fireworks.. we'll see!

Swish... Basketball!

2012-01-21T21:58:00.000-05:00

Caden is old enough to play basketball this year. He was a bit hesitant, but we convinced him it would be fun. So far so good, and he's taken a real liking to it even though it is drill based only, no games yet and I am not sure they will. But is nice that they learn the basics without scrambling for the ball and travelling all over the place, as I am sure that is that would be the most popular call at this age..

Clearly he has Rob's athletic skills, as he is actually quite good at throwing and catching.

It is really funny and brings back so many memories.. each practice ends with "suicides" although they don't call it that for the kids, I think they refer to them as "ladders".

Cole sits in the sibling corner and plays games on the iPod with his friend from school.

Okay.. you may be wondering why I have FOUR photos of dribbling.. well the first reason is there is not a whole lot of variety in the photo department, but the the real reason is I am so impressed with his dribbling skills! Playing b-ball for 9 years myself dribbling was not my strong suit, and I avoided it at all costs! So to see him pick it up quickly is very exciting.. I will thank his Dad :)

This is Caden learning how to pivot.. and the look of major confusion! All the kids were a bit confused by this new technique.

But foot fire?.. big hit! He really had fun with that one!

And we finish it off with suicides again! I am enjoying this new sports venture!

Swish Swish... Ski!

2012-01-20T21:12:00.000-05:00

Cole is taking ski lessons with a group from preschool again this year! It is a surprisingly small group this year, but Cole is loving it still.

First day of lessons, up the magic carpet.

.. and down the hill, it seems as though he forgot a bunch that he learned last year.. but it had been a whole year!

Then I recognized the instructor from last year... the one who spent more than half the lesson with the kids walking around the mountain withOUT skis.. really? ski lessons without skis? I held my tongue with hopes that he had good reason for no skis and that the next week would with skis on.

Before ending the lesson, they got to put one ski on at least.

Cole was happy either way so at least he enjoyed it even if it was frustrating to watch from the sidelines.

Day two of lessons after a week off due to a snow day, isn't it funny that ski lessons get cancelled when it snows out?! But not for rain! Yay he came from halfway up the hill and had his skis on! Bonus :)

This trip down he made improvements.. he remembered hands on his knees.

Oh boy! Up to the top he goes! Prior to this the instructor was pulling him off halfway up.

Another interesting teaching tool.. the long pole which he skied down the hill with the kids on...

The other boy is a bit more skilled than Cole so he was allowed to ski freely down to the bottom, so really Cole was getting private lessons for most of the hour.

And he is free of the pole!

At the end of the lesson the instructor guides them with the pole over to the parent area for pick-up. I am still a bit opposed to this instructor.. he is enabling Cole with the pole, instead of teaching him how to walk with skis he pulls him with the pole or pushes him from behind. Instead of teaching him the correct way to control himself skiing he is slowing him down with this pole.

What I need is a free weekend to take Cole to the slopes myself! Or at least in the backyard to walk around like ducks! Step 1 has been accomplished with snow finally on the ground, now just to get a few hours free when it is not single digits outside like last weekend! Brrr!

Caden is also doing ski lessons through the elementary school ski club! how cool is that?! Unfortunately by the time I get there it is pitch black out.. hopefully by the end of the session it will be lighter out later.. or I can leave work earlier to get there in the light! either one is fine by me!

Pyndo Family Christmas

2012-01-11T21:45:00.001-05:00

We tend to celebrate Christmas with my Mom's side of the family after all craziness of the holiday has passed and you are feeling kind of bummed that all the fun has ended!

Cora and Cole insisted that Babci join them while they ate their fruit salad.. but Cole was not in picture mood.

Cousin Bill is awesome with the kids.. the lens wasn't wide enough, but they were playing "Don't Break the Ice"

She has recently been called "The Matriarch".. totally true! Babci is the leader of our family :)

Cole was adorable with his baby cousin!!

And then the fun began.. this year we had a non-traditional Yankee Swap.. we had to bring something used or re-gifted. The funniest gifts were Babci's mink stole (or perhaps some other impostor animal) and the expletive sweatshirt :) and I am now the proud owner of the "mink".. I have to admit while being somewhat disturbing it is quite warm! I love it!

Next up was Minute-to-Win-it Christmas Style!

1. Jingle box.. shake 12 jingle bells out of a tissue box strapped to your waist.. easier than I had anticipated.

The only guys who participated (until my Uncle took over for a drifter) weren't yet married into the family.. trying to impress their ladies :)

2.) Wreath Toss - Toss Marshmallows through wreath into a bucket

3.) Cookie Man - Place cookie on forehead, then use face muscles to move cookie into mouth (Note..don't use completely frosted cookies!)

4.) Rudolph's Red Nose - with Vaseline applied to your nose try to get Red pom pom to stick.

Definitely the most challenging game! Next time use WAY MORE Vaseline!

Tia was the only one to achieve a glowing nose!

A great party!! Lots of good laughs! Too bad Christmas doesn't come more than once a year! or at least this party.

Ringing in the New Year... 2012

2012-01-05T22:00:00.000-05:00

As per tradition we spend New Years Eve at the Sevin's.. Yummy food, yummy drinks.. fun (not yummy!) people! Forgive my narrative as my memory slowly left me as the night progressed.. and check out FB shortly if you want to see more pics that don't necessarily pertain to the family blog.. like big kid dancing pictures.

Red Solo Cup... we drank you up! Apps, snacks and desserts.. you can't go wrong with those categories.

Practicing for a mug shot? Now I know why the kids avoid me.. they get it from their Father :)

Brendan and his infamous pose.. being mocked? or is it a family thing? we might never know.

Naturally we brought the Vita-mix because it is my new best friend and I apparently cannot leave home with out it! Not only did we make tasty adult beverages (whole fruit margarita might be my new favorite!) but also tasty kid fruit smoothies.. with a secret vegetable ingredient of course.

Cora has followed Charlotte's love for dress-up. These girls get along so well these days! The age gap is filling in!

Celebrate!!! Cora's first pigtails!! I was so excited!

Outside for fireworks and Sparklers...

Cheese!!.. seriously? girls are so much more cooperative in front of the camera!

One of our neighbors must have been waiting for us to come out.. after shooting off a couple of our own suddenly there was a lovely display next door! It was pretty funny.. I think :)

Oh the excitement!!

Note to self.. need to get better at photographing with sparkler smoke. Probably should have turned the flash off?

Action photo.. the sparkler discard.

Double fisting.

Okay.. a couple dancing photos.. Brendan trying to get Rob to dance (XBox Kinect style)... I am sure you can guess the outcome

Wait a minute! There is not supposed to be evidence of me dancing.. and apparently singing!

How did they do it? many of the kids made it to midnight.. Caden went to bed shortly thereafter and slept til 10 the next morning!! now that is a good night's sleep! but not as good as the next night when we put them to bed early and they slept from 6PM to 8AM.. seriously? 14 hours of sleep! I would love that!

Why do the kids look more awake than the adults?!

Thanks Sevin Family and everyone else for a super fun night!

And the 2nd year at our new annual tradition.. running the Millennium Mile road race in town on January 1st. A one-mile race.. downhill! What more could you ask for in a race?! Except maybe it could be a tad bit warmer! Last year was unseasonably warm.. I'm not sure what we will do the year it ends up raining, snowing, icing.. or whatever.

You can see our "team" was not in much of a mood for photos.. even at 2PM they were zombie children. We did however get Caden to "race" Rob alternated running and walking with Caden while I ran with the other two in the trailer. This race definitely is a good way to start off the New Year! And after waking up feeling not so ourselves.. after running we felt great! I highly recommend it.

Next year we will get Caden a bib number of his own. And because I am super dedicated to getting free stuff.. I have promised him a hat (note Rob's above. You have to be one of the first 500 registrants to get a free hat.. we were # 32 and #33.. last year we were like 503 and 504 or something ridiculous like that! we just barely missed it.. clearly I was determined this year)

There he is! Avoiding me.. grrr.

Saddled up in the chariot and ready to go! It will be exciting when we can all run it! Maybe 2014?!

Christmas Festivities 2011

2011-12-29T22:02:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we hung around the house most of the day. Kim and her husband came over to give the kids their gifts.. Hess trucks with a Hess car! Cora's was extra special...

Dave's body shop painted Cora's truck and car purple!! Her favorite color, they even gave her pinstripes and had her name painted.. she certainly is one lucky girl! And she now loves playing trucks with her brothers!

We are so lucky to have Kim in our lives! She takes such good care of our kids while we are at work.. we all love her and her family!

And then we went to church for the Children's service.. this is actually after because as usual we were running out of the house just in the nick of time.. You will note that Cole is not wearing a festive shirt, we did not argue because we did not want a repeat of last year (Cole stripping off his clothes that we picked out for him while in his car seat and screaming about who knows what. he wouldn't settle down so I sat in the car while the others went into church.. I finally got his clothes back on and convinced him to go into church when out walks Rob and the kids.. service already over. The crying, screaming and ranting started again only this time yelling that he wanted to go to church.. good times.. NOT!)

Christmas Eve always lends itself to one gift.. Caden knew what it would be.. he's catching on.

Christmas Eve PJ's!!

Cora just loves her nightgown, does any other grown person despise nightgowns? They ride up/bunch up above your waist.. why bother?! But she loves them!

The tray is prepared for Santa and his reindeer.. hope he's hungry!

And another tradition.. the reading of "The Night before Christmas"

They almost look like angels.. don't let them fool you!

Set out with pictures Caden colored for Santa and his helpers.

Santa sure did enjoy his treats!! But once again he offered a bit of advice...

Santa got down the chimney!

And the Christmas ornaments were delivered successfully.

Christmas Morning

The Christmas parade starts down the stairs with excitement!

Stockings are so much fun!!

Cora got lots of pretty hair things now that she is willing to wear them!!

Santa uses these clever labels!!

And the ultimate present from my super fabulous parents-in-law! the Vita-mix! Ever since going to a party at one of our friends house that have this I have been a walking, talking info-mercial.. This magic appliance is amazing! See those carrots in there?? When they are in a smoothie the kids don't care!

Mmmmm!!! Everyone loves them!

And do you see this one?? with Spinach?!! actually at first try this one was a bit too... spinach-y, but with the addition of more apple, more peach and a banana it was delicious! and Mr. Cole-bear who lives mostly off of yogurt and bread products drank it up and asked for more!! How can you say no to that?! Nutritious and delicious! Not only have we made smoothies, but soup, bread and spaghetti sauce!! Yum! This guy earned prime counter space!

Christmas Miracle.. the dining room table has been cleared off for dinner!! we have a serious problem with horizontal surfaces, they like to collect a lot of stuff!

And the day Cora has been talking about for months!! Her princess bed has arrived! My canopy bed from when I was a girl is in the house!! Now I just need to repaint, re-decorate and start/finish her quilt! But I still need to finish Cole's quilt before that.. his is getting closer to being done. This winter that will be my goal because I have all the fabric to make Rob and I a new quilt as well!!

My goofs!! These two make me smile even without their silly faces on!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

Pre-Christmas Wrap-Up!

2011-12-23T22:16:00.000-05:00

Since I am way far behind it is best that I just wrap it all up in one neat package of a post! Because I am sure there will be plenty more in the next 48 hours that I will not want to put off!

Once again I will repeat that I love our town's school system. They do so much for the kids! We went to "Winter Wonderland" which is a breakfast for families including a chorus concert while you dine! Caden then went off with a shopping helper to have him shop for presents for us (we give him money/budget ahead of time). He checks out and then has them wrapped! So exciting! Obviously Santa was there, and also a cookie table where you could by cookies by the dozen.. delicious! And I found a super cute idea for Cole's preschool goodies (see below)!

This year all the kids are really into posing in front of the tree.. but never really wanting to take the time for me to set up a shot I would like to take.. but I'll take what I can get.

We had a marathon Christmas weekend.. I love this photo because EVERYONE is looking!! but not everyone was in the photo yet...

Here they all are! (minus one sick cousin G who was being tested for mono)

The kids look on in awe as the presents tower toward the ceiling!

Everyone was festive!

Cora joined the big kid club with a purple Leapster!! She was beyond excited.

Family Christmas Party #2! we ventured to Maine to have Christmas with Grampy and Uncle Brian followed by the Waterhouse family Christmas. These girl were best of friends! too bad we only get to see them once a year.

Uncle Brian is always the hit of the party with the kids.

Second cousins!! (I think.. my cousins kids?)

And these are the fun cookies I referred to above!! Melting Snowmen cookies! How adorable?!

I had planned on documenting all of Jingles crazy hiding places.. but, well.. add it to the list next year!! But here are a few I actually did manage to photograph!

Here Caden wrote a note and left a gummy life saver from his gingerbread house "For the Elf". Jingles enjoyed it and was thankful it was not a black jelly bean!! It says "Thank You", but I'm not sure you can see it in the picture.

It has been really fun this year in the house!! Cora is at an age where she understands Christmas so all three kids are just a blast and their excitement is infectious!! I can't wait for Christmas Eve.. never mind Christmas morning!!

Trimming the Tree 2011

2011-12-11T20:19:00.001-05:00

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we ventured off to go cut down our tagged tree. The cutting was rather uneventful much to my dismay! None of the kids wanted to help cut! I am the one who insisted we cut one ourselves, and now I question why we didn't just go pick out a pre-cut one right in town... but at least we know it is fresh!

The kids did enjoy helping to roll it back to the car at least.

Ta-da! Ready to bring the beauty home!

And look who arrived!! Clinging on for dear life! 'Jingles' our elf! (Formerly Star-Feather... Rob and I decided he needed a new name so that night we came up with Jingles)

More on Jingles and his landing spots later :)

My favorite part of decorating the tree is when the kids open their ornament box and go through them figuring out who's is who's. I am so happy they love their ornaments as much as I do! I can tell you where every ornament on our tree came from and why.. and many of them are hand-made by my Mom and I, we used to pick an ornament each year and make a bunch to give away, I need to start doing that with the kids since that is a big memory I have (Mom do you remember the year of the red bells and white doves for our own tree?! ugh!)

Caden moves into position before I can get in!

Cora loves her babies!! This was the perfect ornament for her last year!

The kids were fully into decorating this year! Down to the last ornament. In the past they would drop off after a few. We rocked around the Christmas tree and decorated the whole thing.

Putting the star on was a job for Rob since it was super close to the ceiling.. but the kids helped straighten it.

Cora also decorated herself...

Caden then wanted pictures in front of the tree.. that is when the sillies began! It was a fun night!

Thanksgiving Weekend in Quogue

2011-12-02T21:58:00.001-05:00

We woke up Thanksgiving morning and started a puzzle! A Harry Potter puzzle that was practically all the same color. Hmmm.. It said 8+ I might argue with that, but then again maybe when I have an 8 year old I will be a better judge of that! Taking breaks here and there we finished by midafternoon, it was very satisfying, I forgot how much I love puzzles!

The puzzle came with a secret decoder, you can see Caden holding it here.You were supposed to use it to find hidden images within the puzzle.. Clearly we were using it wrong because we found nothing which was a bit of a let down!

After lunch Cora fell asleep so we took the boys to the beach to run out some energy! Caden was a bit grumpy to start because he had wanted to go to the playground, but then he realized how fun the beach was.

Cole loves the beach no matter what season.

He master throwing.. when he started throwing rocks he was leading with the wrong foot.

Re-load...

There were a bunch of these clams along the beach and they were alive! I'm not a clam fan to begin with but I cannot imagine eating one this large!

The beach is so different right now compared to the summer. In the summer there was no flat shallow area like you see here. In the summer it drops off quickly... It was so pretty to see it like this!

Snail

The way the waves crash it creates this ledge at high tide.. Cole spent a good amount of the time jumping up, landing on his butt and sliding down.

Aww!! Look they do love each other!

Caden was yelling my name.. "Mom, take a picture of me throwing the football!" Okay! But then I had him move his arm so that we could actually see the ball and his expression wasn't good.. so they got deleted.

Of course Cole has to send most of the time in the sand.. he found a feather and stuck it in the hole of the football and was pretending it was a sailboat.. pretty imaginative i thought.

And on our way out they obviously didn't want to leave so we spent some time on the steps climbing up the railing.. hope they don't get to fond of the game since it should probably only be done in the off-season.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Our only family picture.. our shadow family!

Next day we were back at the beach.. while it was warm a couple miles inland, the wind was rip roaring at the beach so we didn't stay very long that day.

But they did get a few last railing climbs in...

Saturday morning we went to the playground, the weather was unseasonably warm!

After the playground we went to the field club for an event. The kids were in arts and crafts heaven and we came home with several projects each. Once they'd had enough we headed outside to where all the kids gather.. the sand pit on the 9th hole (or 18th on how many holes you are playing!!)

Really? They smoothed this pit for at least a half hour! Apparently we need to turn our yard into a sand pit with big rakes to get the kids to help out!

Cora's First Haircut

2011-11-16T20:31:00.001-05:00

As much as I didn't want Cora to have her haircut, it was time for a trim, it was wispy, uneven and thin at the bottom in the back, although probably hard to tell from these pictures.

BEFORE

The Trim...

Right before we were going to start Cora changed her mind about getting a haircut, probably because she had just watched me trim the boys hair with the clippers! I convinced her that we were giving her a Tinkerbell Haircut, and she became willing again. Easy cleanup doing haircuts outside!

Caden was my assistant, he held the bag so we could collect the hair from her first haircut. After we compared the three bags of each of the kids first cuts.. Cora and Caden's color is identical, Cole's was a bit darker.

We didn't cut off much, but it made a world of a difference!

AFTER!

Now we just need the front to grow!

Leaf Jumpers

2011-11-14T21:10:00.001-05:00

Caden is a big fan of helping Rob in the yard.. especially because he gets to use the leaf blower! Which is very helpful for leaf jumping because he can fix the pile himself! Genious!!

It is funny how happy a pile of leaves will make children.. it is also how funny how UNhappy leaves all over the ground makes adults! haha!

Caden likes to hide and we have to say "Caden, where are you?" and he'll pop out.

Just a few quick pics in the leaves.. Cole was tired and being cranky, so he did not play much with the others. Rob has since cleaned up the yard beautifully, however I am sure there will be plenty more to fall.. much to his dismay.

Trick-or-Treat 2011

2011-11-12T20:26:00.001-05:00

Snowtober postponed Trick-or-Treat this year until November! Very strange. This year we had two Ninjas and a Tinkerbell!

There was a whole gaggle of us with the Sevin's cousins added to our group!

Where there are boys there are sword fights! No denying it!

The LFD always drives around our neighborhood, this year they stopped at each group of kids and gave out glow necklaces! How cool is that? I just love our town, they are so kid oriented.

This house was amazing! Instead of having the kids have to walk up their super long driveway, they had this set up,fog machines and spooky music! Not to mention the candy givers were in costume.

The wagons came in quite handy halfway through the night.. we had Cora just sit on the back to keep her wings from getting squished!

Payday! They obviously had to examine their loot and have one treat each before going to bed.

Cora is the best sharer! Every day she gives me a piece of her candy,

Happy Halloween! Or should we say... Happy November?!

Snowtober!

2011-11-07T20:23:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to me! A foot of snow and a five day power outage! who could ask for anything more?! well the kids were quite happy with the results.. at least for two days before it melted.

Looks pretty, aside from all the branches we lost

Rob cuts the branches away that were lying on our power lines.

And we thought it was just sand that Cole liked to be upside down in, guess we were wrong!

Caden was the happiest boy in the world!

We are even raising helpers! And they actually do a pretty good job!

Snowballs.... sure to cause a fight, and not just with snowballs.

Cole having a small meltdown after getting hit from one of Caden's "snow bombs"

Whee!! This Pooh Walker has seen better days, but they still use it!

Cora trying to keep up with Charlotte on the snowbank, and not liking the trudge.

Riding in from the horizon, Rob had gone on a gas run for the generator... Most of the stations had no power, the ones that did had a long line... Thankfully we weren't yet on 'E' so he went back out later once some of the stations had regained power.

We had to build a bridge over the puddle at the bottom of the driveway because it was a very popular hang out and they were all going to go home with wet boots! I should mention part of the puddle was due to the fact that we had to drain our pool because it was over flowing from the snow and all the rain we had had previously! Whoops!

Snowtober.. pretty fun in the long run! Thank goodness for the generator, it's really earned it's keep :) Who knew we could build snow forts in October?!

Head of the Charles 2011

2011-11-06T19:33:00.000-05:00

Every year Rob and I take the kids back into Boston for the Head of the Charles to show the kids what we did when we were in school. We go to the boathouse to see friends we went to school with and then walk around campus a little. Next year, since we didn't get to it this year, I would like to take the kids to Weeks Bridge.. that is where all the action happens, or at least your greatest chance to see a collision! I am postitive the boys would love that.

This year they had warm-up ergs set up on the dock. While the rowers weren't using them spectators would try them out. The kids thought they were big shots "working out". Judging by the splits they were pulling I don't think they'll be recruited young :)

And each year of course we have to take the same photo with Boston's skyline in the background. Some day the kids can see how they have changed from year to year by these photos! If you are wondering about Cole's giant sweatshirt, we thought we forgot it, we had an extra of Caden's in the car so we put that one on him. Of course when we got home we realized we had had it all along.

Pumpkin Time!

2011-11-03T21:23:00.000-04:00

Normally we buy our pumpkins early, close to apple picking time.. and they always end up rotting out on the bottom while waiting in the garage for carving time. This year we waited until two weeks before Halloween, and because there has been so much rain, practically all the pumpkins in the field were rotting! Grrr.. we can't win! Caden of course wanted the biggest pumpkin he could find. We told him that if he could carry it to the register he could have it...

There was lots of trial and error...

Cole and Daddy on the search of the perfect pumpkin

He could pick it up.. but he couldn't walk!

Exploring through the soggy pumpkin field

Caden points out a great choice..

Hmmm.. Cole and Cora find something else!

Cora tries to move the pumpkin

Cole finds a worm!! and Cora finds a seat!

The look of devastation when Caden realizes he found the perfect pumpkin, but he can't lift it

Ingenious! I was so impressed when Caden figured out he could just roll it to the stand... to prevent damaging it we carried it to the stand to see how much it weighed.. Unfortunately it was ridiculously heavy, so we resorted to one of his earlier picks that was still pretty big, but not quite as expensive :)

On our way back to the stand we passed this partially eaten apple.. nothing goes to waste! these bees were quite satisfied.

Here are the crazy kids with their pumpkins.. I will tell you it took about 15 minutes to get this picture, you can only imagine what the ones prior to this one looked like!

I told them to make their best Jack-o-Lantern face, this is what I got.

Hmmmm.. I guess Cora's Pumpkin will be eating :)

The day before Halloween, during the power outage we carved pumpkins! Rob got this crazy pumpkin gutting tool off of Amazon, he was so proud! Boy did it make it easier! And cleaner.. but I personally think it took a little bit of fun out of reaching your hand into the slime! Although I guess you could still do it, but none of the kids chose to.

Cora though it was too loud

In action

The boys gave it a whirl for their pumpkins

Caden takes after his Dad.. power tools make everything better!

No messy hands in our house!

Maybe with a smile we would have advertisement material:)

BOOoooooo!

Tagging our Christmas Tree

2011-10-28T22:30:00.000-04:00

The years that we can fit it into our schedule we like to tag our own Christmas Tree.. surprisingly there aren't very many places around to cut your own tree, never mind pick it out early and tag it to cut down early! Unfortunately they are only open for two weekends in October for tagging, one of which is Head of the Charles weekend which is generally very busy for us! So mother nature has to cooperate with us for the other weekend. This year we lucked out with great weather, and a soccer schedule that allowed us to fit in the tagging between games! yikes!

Tagging your tree is an event in itself! You bring decorations to decorate your tree so that everyone knows it is no longer for the taking!! This year we (okay I!) decided to make birdseed ornaments with the kids! I found a recipe on-line and we got to it!

We pressed the concoction into cookie cutter to make shapes and poked a hole to tie a string once they dried.

Our masterpieces drying...

The morning before we left we released the ornaments from the cutters and tied strings on... unfortunately most of the ornaments crumbled!! I later looked up more ornament recipes and found most of them had one key ingredient... gelatin! Of course I picked the one without it :( But we did have a few that made it.. and the rest we just scattered over the branches. I am sure the birds will appreciate it no matter what form it is in!

Caden scopes out a prospective tree...

Cora gets tired of trudging through the tree farm

Cole and Cora really loved this Charlie Brown tree... but unfortunately it does not meet our height requirements :)

We found our tree.. and the kids fought over who would spiral the tagging ribbon around the tree

We decorated the tree with the few ornaments that survived the journey.

Here is one of the ornaments that made it, and then there is what the rest looked like!

Our Tree! Unfortunately with very few ornaments. next year we'll have to make it spectacular!

On the way back to the farm stand for lunch Cole decided he wanted me to take pictures of him! I've never denied anyone this request!

Some fall foliage to affirm that it is not Christmas time yet.. thank goodness!!

Recipe for Birdseed Ornaments! (These ones shouldn't crumble as it is a different recipe than the one I used)

Homemade Birdseed Ornaments

4 cups Birdseed

3/4 cup Flour

1/2 cup Hot Water

1 pkg unflavored gelatin

3 Tablespoons Light Corn Syrup

1. Mix the birdseed and the flour in a large mixing bowl.

2. Heat the water in the microwave (you want it hot enough to dissolve the gelatin).

3. Pour the packet of gelatin into the hot water and stir to dissolve.

4. Add the 3 tablespoons of corn syrup to the gelatin mixture (I did all this right in the measuring cup)

5. Pour the gelatin mixture into the bowl of birdseed and flour.

6. Stir until everything is well mixed.

7. Scoop some of the birdseed into each section of a cupcake tin. (or cookie cutter... or whatever you are using for a mold) Use the handle of a wooden spoon to make a hole in each of the sections. This will allow you to put a string through the birdseed ornament for hanging.

Dad's Birthday.. another year older!

2011-10-28T21:19:00.000-04:00

I think we are reaching the age where we wish the time would pass just a little bit more slowly to make our next birthday not come so soon! But alas, they still keep sliding in from nowhere!

Don't ask about the crazy green reflection of the candles.. I thought I bought the UV filter to avoid that.. FAIL!

Four candles, because we ignore the first digit of our age :)

Caden picked out the recipe from our giant box of recipes to try... Grasshopper Pie! It was super delicious as you can see.....!

Happy Birthday Rob! Hope you enjoy your new Birthday TV!

Bear Brook State Park

2011-10-28T20:50:00.000-04:00

We've started exploring the State Parks around our house... this particular weekend we went to Bear Brook State Park to explore the trails and maybe even find said "brook"! We ventured off toward the top of Catamount Hill.

Lovely photo right?! This is the way we were SUPPOSED to go to (grrr!) instead we followed a way we believed to be a "shortcut", it was a shortcut all right.. straight to the bottom again.

Unfortunately Cole and the compass were not helpful in this particular situation :) So much for our fun family hike! By the time we figured out our mistake the two littler kids were not so excited to start up the hill again. So instead we walked back to where we started and had a picnic lunch at the playground and explored the beach area.

Only a little bit of foliage around there.

Cora's hair gets super-charged down these plastic slides!

Fun park! We'll have to check it out again in the summer.. and maybe next time we'll actually get to see the top of that hill!

Corn Maze..we did it!

2011-10-26T21:06:00.000-04:00

Each year we go to Elwood orchard for their corn maze. Last year we arrived for night time maze and couldn't make it out before the kids got too tired. It was tough last year! And the dark makes it even harder. This year we started around six so that it was still light out, but would turn dark while we were in the maze.. worked out to be an EXCELLENT plan!

They were off! The kids took turns leading the way.

The corn that makes up the maze is used to feed the animals after. Farmers waste nothing!

Last year we used a system to mark the paths we'd tried.. Caden remembered and decided he'd be in charge of making the X's

Cora loved running through the maze... until she turned around and realized she was all by herself!

Head lamps and flash lights were out! and we stuck close together.

Hooray!! We found our way out! and it only took us about an hour.

Apple Picking Party 2011.. back again!

2011-10-25T21:17:00.001-04:00

We started having an apple picking party each year a few years back.. Last year instead of just having the party on a Sunday, I waited until the soccer schedule came out in September, and then realized it was too late for invites so we missed that year. But we were back this year!

Being two years older the kids needed activities to keep them busy! First we painted pumpkins...

Then we had a donut-on-a-string eating contest! Which was quite hilarious!

The string was a bit challenging for the younger crowd..

You can see here this is Cole's frustrated face... he was not having much luck getting the donut and was getting VERY angry about it! Soon the donut was swinging through the air, and ultimately landed on the floor.

Charlotte gave a good effort!

But in the end.. everyone just wanted to eat the donut! Mmm tasty cider donuts!

Cole wanted to play again, he makes me feel good about my games :)

After activities and some harvest foods.. apple grilled cheese?! Yum! We then headed to the orchard to.. pick apple of course! On our way to the orchard we passed two of the more popular orchards in town.. more highly frequented by tourists. But they don't have a hay ride! or a corn maze.. so we head to Elwood Orchard. It isn't as big... or as fancy. Their trees may not be the prettiest, but I feel like we are helping to support local business by coming here. Not to say we don't support the other orchards at other times! We got the donuts from Sunnycrest! and our pumpkins (and summer ice cream!) from Mack's.

Look at this little tree! Cole can even pick apples from the top!

Nothing like a fresh picked apple right from the tree!

Charlotte reminds me of Laura Ingalls (Wilder) from Little House on the Prairie here! I look forward to reading those books with Cora.. I hope she doesn't find them too old fashioned!

Our harvest!

My lovely non photo-agreeable children :) How am I ever going to get a Christmas photo??!!!

After we picked our fill of apples we headed to the farm stand for their complimentary hayride around the corn maze! (stay tuned for that visit!)

Cora was not a fan of the hayride at the start.. but warmed slightly by the time it ended.

The day was good fun! Thanks for coming everyone! even if you aren't pictured here!

My Soccer Guys!

2011-10-24T22:14:00.001-04:00

Cole started rec soccer this year. Rob is the assistant coach.

Looks happy huh?! Like he LOVES soccer?!

Haha! He loves the idea of soccer, but this is what we see a lot of the time.. scratch that! Normally his shirt is OVER his head!! Cole as you probably know has a very short attention span.

Cole's fan club

Team cheer!

Coach talk

And this guy has totally become a new player this year! Most games anyway :)

Caden's fan club

Catching his breath from lots of running!

... and he's off!

He scores!!

Goalie.. not his finest position, he gets a little restless, and a bit distracted by the nets.

Saturday is soccer day, two games never even close to the same time! Sometimes we feel like we live there! I can't imagine what it will be like with three soccer players!

Cole is actually improving! I guess it is hard to get worse :) I am positive that soccer will be much like everything else Cole does, he'll show an interest and catch on quickly when he is ready, and not a minute before.

His favorite new move... rolling the ball backwards to a teammate.

Cora enjoys hot chocolate at early morning games!

Proof! He's playing!

Caden loves throw-ins

And he's off!!

First Day of Preschool!

2011-10-23T20:38:00.000-04:00

Cole's 1st day of pre-school!! Pre-K I think it is officially called, although I refuse to think about the fact that our little Cole-bear with be in Kindergarten next year.

So being a bit behind on the blog... Cole has been in school for a month, and loving it! As we know Cole does things at his own pace.. well, he has taken to learning this year, and catching on with lightning speed which is very fun! He is so proud of all of his work that he comes home with, and loves to share everything that he learns. Just tonight he taught us a song that he learned at school, which Caden would never do! Although, as Cole was teaching it we learned that Caden knew the song too.. go figure!

I am wondering if these two are part of some dance group that I don't know about! They were doing these moves unprompted!

Cora has a very different relationship with each of her brothers.. But both love to give her hugs and pick her up.. even though she weighs almost as much as Cole!

Cole shows off his name tag! I could've used a bit less aperture... it says 'Rogers'

A successful start of preschool!

Dance, dance, dance!

2011-10-19T22:36:00.000-04:00

Cora started dance classes!! I enrolled her in a Parent-Tot class, as I am having a hard time letting go of my littlest baby! I would like to keep her young as long as I can, since day to day I think we expect a lot more from her than maybe we should! But she acts so much older, I assume due to the fact that she has her two older brothers to show her the ways of the world.

Cora loves to twirl, hop, skip, shake.. boogie all the time. Her first two weeks of class were a bit discouraging, I got to hop,skip, jump and boogie while holding her! By the third class, with her new sparkly "big girl" leotard she made me proud and did everything they asked! And now she is bringing the songs and moves home with her which is super exciting!

In the waiting area before her first class.. that smile faded shortly after, but it is back now thankfully!.. hopefully some day soon I'll actually get a chance to take some photos during class.. although they keep us pretty busy!

Pawtuckaway and Hopkinton.. two fun days!

2011-10-18T22:27:00.000-04:00

Labor Day weekend! We were completely free to do whatever we wanted! It was quite exciting. True to form we spent the actual Labor Day.. laboring! We got a lot of yard work done! But the first part of the weekend was all fun and games! We decided to go to Pawtuckaway State Park, it was a nice day and they have a few options on things to do! We decided to have lunch first.. which was delayed a bit because the kids wanted to play in the water.. The initial plan was to eat lunch, do a hike, then come back to the beach and put on bathing suits and swim... turns out you should never plan anything :)

Notice the dragonfly on Cora's head!!? haha! Three kids means three heads.. which means disagreement. The two younger ones wanted to play in the water, Caden wanted to play on the playground.. so I took water duty.. clothes, not suits.. and amazingly they stayed fairly dry!

Rob took playground duty (it was hot in the sun!)

Finally we met on the playground and played bit more before we decided it was time for our hike... hike being a relative term.. Cole is instantly tired, and while Cora is a trooper we can't go too far because a two year old just isn't ready to hike long distances.. and well, we all know she is too big to carry!!

So we went on more of a walk.. Caden and I found interesting things to take pictures of. It is fun to have a photo buddy!

These water bugs were interesting!

We saw LOTS of mushrooms

Our crazy kids!

Alligator tree

Our little Amazon woman! We made it! Probably not much more than a mile, but we all walked it! Rogers' family in training for.. hmmm, maybe just a little bit longer hike!

Sunday we checked out the Hopkinton Fair.. The Sevins are seasoned veterans to this fair and gave us a tip to go early! Great idea, because we avoided a bunch of the crowds.. AND a lot of the heat. By the time we left it was super crowded and SUPER hot.. ugh not a fan! But we are of course fans of fair food. While Rob and Caden were off getting fried dough Cole and Cora shared a cotton candy.

Weekend as a Single Mom...

2011-10-18T21:31:00.000-04:00

Yes! I will do this! I am only two months behind! Could be worse right?! Thankfully, once I started getting really behind I stopped taking as many photos knowing that I would eventually have to do something with them! Must be some sort of survival instinct!

Anyway.. Rob was off on his annual man-cation with his BU rowing friends... boy would I have liked to be a fly on a wall in Denver! They are so silly when they all get together.

The fun began on Thursday night when Rob had a softball game, so Kelly and I took the five kids to Kids Night which kicks off Londonderry's Old Home Days activities! Another thing about being a single Mom is that you are also the only pack mule, so carrying every one's things and corralling them constantly also puts a damper on photo taking!

Did I mention I got to hold the three kids balloon items while they went in the bounce houses? carrying around 2 swords, a butterfly and three pairs of shoes and a backpack = no photos!

I ran out of money... so Kelly took the kids on the train! Next year I'll be better prepared!

Friday was the last day of British Soccer Camp! It is a very well run camp that comes to town each year. well worth it! I only got to watch the last day of camp.. and I was shutling back and forth to home for swim lessons for the other two.. and once back on the field we shuttled back and forth to the port-a-potty which was literally 200 yards away from where they were playing.. not sure why it was so far away.. but it was very inconvenient! Needless to say... again, no plethera of photos!

At the end of each day they play a 'World Cup' Tournament. Caden was on the Argentina team.. and they won the cup! You can see the camp director on the left.. clearly from Scotland! He was hilarious!

After camp we went to Caden's Elementary School where they posted the classroom assignments! It was very exciting getting to see who Caden's teacher was going to be and if he knew anyone in his class!

Friday night was Old Home Days Fireworks! Pizza and cheesy bread for the road!

Cora and Charlotte walked around hooked together by glow necklaces all night!

No room for the tripod in the wagon, this was not my opportunity to practice fun fireworks pictures!

Saturday morning we trekked ourselves to the parade! Luckily with the removal of a side, the wagon acted perfectly as a bench!

Cora was a little apprehensive with the noise of the bagpipes, cannons, fire engines, etc. You can see she doesn't know whether to clap or close up her hands to cover her ears!

The ears won!

After the parade we ventured to the town common where vendors are set up and you can get 'free stuff'! play games, and do other fun activites.

Sunday my Mom, my savior :) came to watch the kids while Kelly and I went in to Boston for a photo walk in Back Bay! (her birthday treat!) Super fun to just go off in dtake photos without worrying if you are holding anyone up! They offer other walks in other areas of the city as well.. I am sure Beacon Hill has some great shots! But here a couple of my favorites from our day.

Staycation - Part 2

2011-10-01T21:13:00.001-04:00

Our Staycation continued! With mini golf at Mel's Funway Park.

Don't let this picture fool you!! Mini golf isn't fast paced enough for Cole... he didn't do much traditional putting, but he did like pushing it around like a hockey puck and retrieving the balls from the hole.

Caden was a pro. I think this is the first summer where he really gets how the game works.

Cole enjoyed the ball bridges :)

And they stood still for just long enough to get all three together!

And of course you can't leave without having ice cream!

Rob had a game that night so we went to watch, but more importantly play on the playground!

Friday we went to the beach! We ventured to Crane Beach in Ipswich to meet up with the Padgett's!

Baby-Padge got to test the chilly water a bit with his toes!

Caden was in his mood, and didn't enjoy the beach until we were ready to leave.. typical!

Cole loves the beach and could've laid in the much warmer tide pools all day long!

Could anyone get much happier at the beach?!

Oh wait! he just did!

Cole practicing his Ostrich pose.

A beautiful day at the beach and a visit to Russell Orchards for some Cider Donuts and a peek at the animals!

Staycation - Part 1

2011-09-21T22:01:00.000-04:00

In August I took a week off from work and we had a staycation! for the most part anyway... The first weekend I had a girls weekend in NY with a few friends from college, a very good time.. only wish it was longer since it rained on our only full day together.. next year!

Monday we met Danielle and her family at Canobie Lake Park. It was an intersting day with not a lot of pictures.. we had Caden who was grumpy all day and didn't want to do anything, Cora who was afraid to do anything, and then we had Cole who was my amusement park buddy! He went on every crazy ride with me that he was allowed to due to his height! In a couple years buddy.. we'll be doing loop-de-loop rollercoasters!!

The first ride they went on was for kids only. Caden and Cora didn't want to go on. Maya and Devon rode together.. I don't remember why he started off with this sad face, probably because he was riding by himself.

That is more like it!! Big smiles! And that really is all the photos I took, not even a group picture :( I only brought my point and shoot which is incapable of taking ride photos without being blurry.. so the camera was put away for the most part and we concentrated on having fun.. with those that were willing anyway :) Clearly we are not ready for Disney! But when we were home and started getting ready for bed Caden ended up burning up and we discovered he had a fever.. it went away during the day and came back at night for about three days.. I guess that explains his grumpiness.

Tuesday we ventured on a canoe adventure! Caden was grumpy again to start and didn't want to go.. but we forced him and he ended up LOVING it! Thank goodness!

They gave us an extra paddle so everyone could "help"

Really!! We had fun! Even though it doesn't look like it here!

The boys did some fishing.. without a hook anyway just using a weight on the end to practice their casting.

This is when it started getting really fun! We went on a turtle hunt! and saw tons of turtles! The canoe rental company also gave us a sheet of things to look for like bugs, fish, and birds and lots of plants so it was a fun scavenger hunt.

Lookin' for turtles..

Cole got tired and took a nap in the bottom of the canoe... turns out he had a fever as well.. super vacation! Luckily it didn't stop us from our activities.

Rob didn't have a fever, but said I wasn't pulling my weight because I was too busy taking pictures :) So he protested and laid down.

We had lunch in the canoe

Poor Cole-bear.. too tired to sit up and eat his apple!

Tuesday night we drove to Maine to visit Grampy and Uncle Brian.. Rob and I were supposed to take stand up paddle board lessons with Brian.. unfortunately it turned cold and rainy so the lesson got canceled :( But at least we had a nice visit anyway! No photos since it rained and all photo ops are outside.. but here is one of Cole.. We told him the story about me when I was little, how I used to empty the toybox and get in to pretend I was Oscar the Grouch... he though that was hilarious so decided he'd give it a try. I think I have a photo of myself in a photo similar to this that I should dig out!

Why we had more than one child...

2011-09-11T21:44:00.001-04:00

Okay.. maybe not the real reason.. but it certainly is convenient that Caden actually enjoys pushing the other two on the swings! So when Rob and I are tired of endless pushing since they seem to never tire of swinging... Caden steps in! Even better when we are at a backyard birthday bash and we want to enjoy conversing with other adults.

He can even do both at the same time! Man this kid is awesome :)

Side note.. today Cora and I both wore crop pants, when I told her we had the same type of pants on she said "Mommy! we match, we are awesome!" She cracks me up!

And the reason for this Backyard Birthday? Their princess cousin of course!

One cannot resist a sleeping baby cousin

This pinata was extra funny because the kids strings kept falling out without them pulling, and finally all the strings were pulled and the pinata still wasn't open.. Pinata fail! But it didn't matter, the kids collected the loot just the same.

Summer is for the Birds!

2011-09-05T21:35:00.001-04:00

Not really! But kind of? Lots of hatching going on this summer! We had a Robin's next in the hedge in the pool area. Our first nest since we've moved in that we've noticed anyway! And I must've scared the Mama bird to bits when I trimmed the hedge one day without knowing the next was there! I trimmed to within 3" of the nest! Whoops!

The kids and I loved peeking into the nest to see the progress. Lifting them up one by one to see our feathered friends.. fighting over who got to see first.

Our first family had an only child... I guess I'd never seen a newly hatched bird before, I thought there was something wrong with it since it barely had any feathers! We had a cold snap while it was still young and I must have a mothering instinct because for a bit I thought the parents had abandoned it because we hadn't seen them around, I wondered how we would raise it! thankfully they were still there.

Of the four baby birds we watched this summer this is the only piece of evidence other than the nest. I wonder what they do with the hatched eggs?

Our next family had three babies! We wondered if it was the same parents or a new family that took over the nest! It was interesting, the Mom and Dad bird always stood watch when they weren't in the nest. But they always let us peek into the nest without putting up much of a squawk. One time I peeked in when Mama or Papa was in there too.. it scared me.. A LOT! They have very angry eyes!

Two hatched! I just love how they use every ounce of energy to lift their beaks for their food... I felt a teensy bit bad that I kept trying to get them to come up together so I could get them both asking for food.. but I bet their Mama secretly thanked me becaue I bet they slept well that night :)

And then there was three.. the other two wouldn't wake up for me to get them all begging.

We watched them closely as they grew.. kinda dinosaurish I'm glad human babies don't look this scary as they grow!

Looking much more like birds these days, and almost ready for their first flight! We missed them when they were gone.

We had one more laying of three eggs, but I fear a chipmunk must have gotten them because they disappeared after a few days.. I am hoping the parents moved them, I'm not sure they can do that.. but I'd like to think they can!

Blueberry Picking

2011-09-03T20:30:00.000-04:00

I'm still so far behind! And I realized I missed our blueberry picking! So I back track even more... Caden and Rob were at Jedi camp (more Caden, Rob was dropping him off) so the other two kids and I hit the blueberry fields.

I just love the little hands picking the berries

Cora thought she was sneaking the berries, but lets be honest, we knew she wasn't much of a harvester yet!

Cole had a few, but this year he's actually getting better at helping collect some too!

Cole found some cute flowers which he presented me with too.

The only thing holding us back from collecting lots and lots... were the three different potty breaks we had, but I guess I shouldn't complain better than an outfit change.

My blueberry picking pals

The parking lots were packed!! we couldnt' even park where you are supposed to so we made up our own spot... and this is when we left, still full!

Family Camp Trip 2011

2011-08-31T22:24:00.000-04:00

Back to catching up! All the way back in July we ventured to Cape Neddick, Maine for our family camp trip, the second year in a row! It is a nice campground that is close enough that you can go home if you need to, as has been the case for the poor Chirco Five. Maybe next year we can make it the whole weekend together!

Our McMansion tent! Plenty of room in there for growing!

We ventured to York's Wild Animal Kingdom, and while I always ask myself when I get home why in the world I took so many pictures of animals and end up deleting most of them.. but this baby monkey was one of the cutest things you've ever seen!! It would be better in video, but still shot will have to do!

Lots of fun animals to see!!

This butterfly had a particular attachment to Uncle Brian!!

Clearly his next tattoo should be a butterfly :)

The kids thought it was the greatest thing ever!

Even sleeping Baby J got in on the butterfly action!

I thought it was funny that the butterfly was perched here on the chrysalis poster, like it was trying to make us understand their life cycle.

These ducks were not lacking food!

The deer are one of my favorite parts of the zoo! They can walk around with everyone and they love to be fed.

This is definitely NOT my favorite part :) Snakes!!

Cole is my ride guy! The rides open later than the zoo.. so let the fun begin!

I love this photo.. Cora is just under 4 months older than her younger cousin... but about 4 times bigger!!

Bumper car time!! Always a favorite, Cole was my partner

Our cheering section

Love this guy!

Bumper boats

This could have been a ghost train, Cole was the only passenger!

Dinner time!

Aww! Brotherly love.

First Camping trip!

Not my kid!! No char allowed!

Interestingly the kids enjoy making s'mores but not necessarily eating them.. so I got to eat four! maybe more I tried to stop counting.

Story time!

We cannot go without mentioning our friendly owl "Horton" who kept us company last year was at our sites waiting for us!!

Caden's 1st Day of First Grade!

2011-08-30T22:42:00.000-04:00

It is hard to believe we've stood on these steps for four years for first day of school pictures! As I told Caden that we can measure how much he grows by how far he comes up on the door grid I couldn't help but shed a quick tear :) How quickly it goes by! Today was his first day of FIRST grade!! A full day of school, I am sure they will be coming home exhausted this year.

He was very excited to begin the day! to pick out his breakfast, his snack, his lunch, his drink.. you name it!

Cole wasn't as excited.. I don't know why!

Silly?

Cora just loves her biggest brother!

Caden with my Mother's Day Marigold's that he planted in Kindergarten, finally blooming!

And here we go!!

.. And there they go!

The kids at the bus stop.. unfortunately we have to walk around the corner to the bus stop rather than getting picked up right outside the house.. it is fine now, but I think we'll be sitting in the car on rainy days and in the winter.

These guys are so silly! It is great having such super neighbors with kids and adults that get along! And since we both work we are alternating days going late to work to get the kids on the bus.

My big guy, so proud of him!! I should also mention it was Rob's first day of school too!

Here comes the bus!

Since our Cole was in a bit of a mood he was off doing his own thing, you can see him up in the top left corner.. the funny part of the morning was that the bus stopped to let him on!! hahaha!! We had to waver her on for the real school kids!

And they took off for the bus without even saying goodbye!

Thankfully the bus driver stopped them so we could get a photo and a hug goodbye!

.. And off he went!

And so as not to cry I took many.. many pictures of the bus going away.. Kelly almost got me going (the sap! hahaha!), but I held together with some welling up that a quick swipe took care of.. phew!

And while the big kids were at school we had some playground fun, which was quite hot.. so we cooled off with the sprinkler.

.. getting sleepy!

Why do kids love to spray their bottoms so much?!!

And we thought only the boys played "battles", but I bet they don't battle to win a princess wand :)

Time for the bus again!

First one off! And Rob made it home in time to make the bus so he made a beeline for Daddy.. better him than knocking me over with the camera! I'm not sure why we didn't take a first day buddy picture.. something to remember in future years.

A successful day! He wants to go back! And he even answered our questions and gave us details about his day, it was very exciting than the usual response to our questions... "I don't remember". Today he had art and he came home with an amazing picture! I am still do not fully understand how he did it.. but either way it is pretty cool!

And after the first day Kelly had the wonderful idea to go for ice cream to celebrate! Can't pass that up! So we had ice cream for dinner, and spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread for dessert! (Special meal request from the school kid!)

Big school kids!

Love all these kids!

Another Beach Day...

2011-08-25T21:24:00.000-04:00

One weekend a long long time ago :) We made our annual trip to Hampton Beach State Park with the Sevin's for some beach fun.

The Cole's

The girls liked hanging out together...

The boy's liked passing the football

Cole need some practice, but he just loves hanging out in shallow water and right on the edge in the sand.

Can you imagine having 5 children aged 6 and under? Plenty of people do it i am sure!! But I don't envy them!

I think this picture is funny because it is like Cora and the lady in front of her are doing the same thing.. I wonder if she was wearing pink crocs too!

The jetty

We got to introduce the Sevin's to the best ice cream on Earth!... Hodgies Mmmm.

Charlotte sure enjoyed it! Her chocolate mustache was hilarious!

Kid shot of 5 very tired beach kids

Polar Caves!

2011-08-20T23:25:00.000-04:00

We were North a bit on an errand.. so we thought we'd jaunt up an additional hour or so to the Polar Caves!

The kids were extra excited because a little piece of them was hoping to see a real Polar Bear

They have a small practice rock formation to go through to make sure you aren't claustrophobic.. we all passed :) but right here you can see the difference between being a child and being an adult! We soon saw that that afternoon the kids went for a walk through some rock caves while Rob and I twisted, ducked, and contorted ourselves to get through the park!

Lot's of steep steps deep into the depths of coolness on a hot summer day... we even saw ice in one of the caves!

Our cave explorers, unfortunately since the caves were practically pitch black I had to use a lot of flash.

In we go!

Can you imagine building all the walkways?

Best Buddies.. my favorite Caden quote of the day as we went through the first cave was "Wow... we should have worn gloves. We sure are touching a lot of nature here!" In his defense a lot of them were quite damp.

I didn't realize what Rob was gesturing to me until just now when I was choosing which photos to include.. I kept it anyway because it makes me laugh.. he didn't realize he was skipping a cave as he sauntered down "Party Poopers Lane", but he didn't hear the end of it!

In the end you have to choose between Orange Crush or Lemon Squeeze, we figured we'd start with Orange Crush and then do the other.. but we didn't realize it was one or the other.. something to go back for!

Under the Kissing Bridge they didn't want to smooch Cora on the cheek as I requested, but we got this one showcasing a little more personality instead!

Into the gift store to purchase some mining stones Cole-Bear proved we nicknamed him appropriately.

Ready and waiting for the fun to begin

Caden jumped right in, not needing much instruction

Cole being our special child required a little assistance.

Cora watched the boys closely as they figured it out and took it head on!

Rob jumped in to assist really quick... and then she was back at it.. we have to remind ourselves sometimes that she is only two!

Some of our "gems"

I have this thing.. I see hearts in things no one else sees.. Rob thought I was carzy.. seriously? This is totally a heart!

I like all things rustic.

Why thank you we will!

Quogue Vacation: The End

2011-08-17T21:53:00.000-04:00

You will be happy to know that we have come to the end of our beach vacation.. unfortunately (for you :) ) we did go to the beach again during the summer, so there WILL be more beach pictures! Sorry, can't help it. Above the kids collect drift wood to help with their "cooking".

Meanwhile.. we lose one toward the water!

Beach Spaghetti! Every dieter's dream!

Uncle Aaron shows us how it is done

Who needs a boogie board?!

Stylin'

Rob wallows

Another sand flea.. clearly related to Cole :)

I see a modeling career in this ones future!

No vacation ends without ice cream! So after the beach we headed to the local shoppe.

Cole loved this tent, he found Dundore's iPod and holed up in here to "make cookies"

On our way home from ice cream we passed a pond with lots of lily pads and lily's all over.. so before dinner we went for a bike ride to... take photos of them :)

But I guess they close up early! Who knew?

There were a gazillion frogs though! Every step around the pond you'd see frogs jump back into the water.. Cole and Cora stopped to watch them more closely.

Where's Cole?! he thought this was hilarious, little did he know he really is quite hidden!

Our trip to the pond was Cole's first bike ride on his own! other than cruising around in front of our house anyway.

Here we go! Rob walked with us in case Cole got tired, but he made it the whole way.

Dundore reads good stories!

Our final day we didn't hit the beach exactly.. but we did go to the inlet, we lucked out and saw a fishing boat come in.

There was sand though.. and a lot of fishing folk hang out here, so there are a lot of treasures. The kids found a dead fish down in rock crevice, I think that was the highlight of their day, they thought it was amazing!

Bubble are every one's best friend.

Cora plays the role of big cousin very well

We ate lunch on the benches.. I recently learned this tidbit "It ain't lunch if it don't crunch" how true that is!

If this doesn't say excitement nothing does!

Quogue Vacation: Playground and... more beach!

2011-08-14T21:40:00.000-04:00

Before the beach Dorothy and I took 4 of the kids to the playground, which is conveniently located right around the corner from the house.

"Ice Cream" stand

Cora takes off to catch the escapee.. I should have taken a wide angle shot, she was headed off into an expansive double soccer field or maybe larger!

It was HOT! headed back home for the beach!

Today was sand burying day for the Rogers'

Except Caden.. he was in a Caden mood and did not want to wear a bathing suit, but he did build a road around a towel and then a sand castle with Daddy, his new best friend.

Why the thumbs down Cora?!

That is better!

Another fun foggy day at the beach.

Quogue Vacation: Three Hour Tour

2011-08-13T21:24:00.001-04:00

We had a couple of tours that added up to three hours.. the littlest Rogers' woke up tired, as children tend to do on vacation! So the best way to get them to take a nap is to pedal them around for an hour! They were snoozing within the first 10 minutes.

We then set off on a boat tour.. Little Bo Peep thought he'd join us :)

Our sturdy ship

Our little group of 10 made up half the boat.

Cousin Sarah could be one of our kids with her blonde hair and blue eyes!

What we didn't realize is that the boat tour was totally interactive! We learned a lot from the guides and they passed around fun things to touch.

Cora liked the mermaids necklace

And halfway through the tour much to our pleasure, they beached the boat and we got to get out for some water fun, and some net fishing. You can see Cousin Grace scoffs at pants at the beach!

Dundore found her own treasure, and Cora just enjoyed splashing around in the super warm "estuary" water.

Rob's proof that I am on vacation with them :)

Cole gets in on the fishing action

They had the kids collect the catch for their fish tank on board. Cole had many attempts at finally getting a fish into the bucket! They are super wriggly!

A snail was much more Cora's speed, she wasn't a fan of the fish flipping around in her hand.

The kids hum to the snail to get it out of it's shell.. it's blurry, but it was waaaayyyy out!

This was a moment that makes a Mom's heart go pitter patter! Cole couldn't see into the bucket that held the fish because it was up on a table. Caden said "Come here Cole, I'll help you see" and he picked him up to lift him high enough to see!

I just like these guys.

Four of the five cousins.