It's Official, I am now a soccer mom...

Sebastien loves his tot soccer practices. There are no games, just "practices" for the handful of 2-4 year olds in his group.

 Playing with the parachute at the end of practice is always a tot pleaser.

 Genevieve took advantage of the big kids being across the field to play with all the soccer balls. She wants desperately to join her big brother.



Three 3 Year Olds

Olivia and Christopher turned 3 this week so we headed to western Mass. to visit them and share in the celebration. It was a busy, fun-filled weekend with kiddie playtime during the day and nice adult dinner and conversation at night. Here are some of the highlights:

Below: Christopher and Olivia about to blow out their birthday cupcakes:

All 4 monkeys getting ready to open presents. Note: Genevieve cried in almost every picture we took of the 4 of them together. I don't know why.

  We walked to a nearby neighborhood park. Sebastien insisted on pulling Genevieve almost all the way home. Despite her expression in this picture, she got used to it.

On Sunday we went to Forest Park, which was a huge park, complete with playgrounds, a zoo, a train, and more. Here are the kids lined up on the playground for a picture.

 

 Christopher and Sebastien take a break to watch the train go by.

 In the park we noticed a very cool looking tree that Dan informed us was a rare ginkgo tree. Not only was it very cool, it made a nice photo op and the 3 year olds liked climbing in it. Of course Genevieve would not smile.

And finally the kids got to ride on the train.

The Big 3: Party Time!

Sebastien's 3rd Birthday Party at the apple orchard today was a success! We had beautiful weather and plenty of friends and family to share it with. Before we left, I took a picture of the cake. My nightmares of something happening to it in transit luckily never came true.

 I took about 100 pictures today so obviously these are just a tiny sampling. Here's Sebastien leading everyone to the apple orchard. Onward!

 Uncle Phil helped Sebastien make sure his bag was good and full.

Grandpa and Genevieve are checking out the busy scene. Soon after Genevieve was busy running around eating apples. I'm pretty sure she ate no less than 5 apples over the course of a few hours.

I'm glad we took a few spare seconds to snap a family photo.

Friends picking apples.

Some of Sebastien's friends waiting for the pizza to arrive.

Grandma with the birthday boy.

Sebastien and Co. opening his presents.

Cake time! Blowing out his candles with help from Bella and Luke.

Beautiful scenery

playtime

What a wonderful day! Thanks to all who could join us!

Fishin'

Daddy bought Sebastien a fishing pole for his birthday. Sebastien is very excited about it. They caught 2 fish on the first try. Here they are at (what's left of) the pond behind our house. I think evening fishing is going to be a weekly event until it gets too cold out. :)

 

Tea Party

There happened to be a Toddler Tea Party at the Dracut Library on Friday morning, which happened to be Sebastien's birthday. Before we get to that, I had to share these funny morning photos. This is the kids watching cartoons.

...and this is Genevieve's morning hair. What am I going to do with this?!

Below the kids are dressed in their "fancy" clothes (per the library's suggestion) for Toddler Tea Time.

Birthday boy enjoying his tea.

Adrianne, Avalynn and Bella at our table at the tea party.

Me and the munchkins.

Happy Day - Sebastien is 3!

Sebastien turns 3 today! Wow, what a crazy, fun and wonderful 3 years it's been. We love you Sebastien!



How Do You Like 'Dem Apples?

Next Sunday is Sebastien's 3rd birthday party at Mack's Apples in Londonderry. We decided to check it out this weekend too so we could determine the location of the best picnic tables, best apple orchard, best parking area, etc. We grabbed a pizza on the way and ended up having a delightful pizza picnic in the orchard. Sebastien brought his soccer ball and had fun kicking it around after we ate.

 Genevieve and I were fond of this willow tree.

 Sunday morning we hit up a garage sale down the street. You can't beat a box of 1980's My Little Ponies for a couple bucks.



Labor Day Weekend and ABCs VIDEO

It's almost too hard to admit that Labor Day has come and gone. Is summer really over? I keep thinking about those long winter weeks when I was cooped up in the house with the kids for days on end. Winter certainly goes by so much slower than summer. Ah, but I'm being pessimistic. Real winter doesn't start for several months and we should have plenty of more time to play outdoors, even if it's technically not "summer" anymore (well as of 9/21). We had a lovely Labor Day weekend. We spent some time at the park, played in the backyard and went in the pool. We had a last-minute cookout with friends on Monday afternoon, which was splendid.

Here are Dan & Sebastien reading from the big Winnie the Pooh book before bedtime on night this weekend:

Kim and Genevieve in Dracut at Sunday dinner 

 Genevieve grabbed this unripe tomato from the garden and ate half of it (before I took it away) like it was an apple.

 Scene from our cookout. Dan was finishing up planting some trees that he bought to (eventually) give us some privacy from our neighbor's new 2 story deck.

 

VIDEO: Genevieve sings her ABCs. It's amazing what she picks up from her brother.

(@ almost 18 months!)