End of the Blog??

So I had about a month's worth of pictures to share on this blog and I finally sat down to do that tonight when I discovered that my blog has used up the 1G of free space. I didn't even know there was a limit! I need to now purchase space for a monthly fee. It's not much, but ughhh...every month-just don't want to pay for it, you know? I suppose I could do something crafty like start a new blog as a new user. Hmmm...I'm going to see how that goes. To be continued....

Grandma and Grandpa's Beach House

Grandma and Grandpa Masse built a beach house in York, Maine and move-in day was Saturday. The house is an 8-10 min walk from York Beach. We had a nice time moving, then going to dinner in York.

Dan walking from house to truck:

 Sebastien carrying pillows and putting them in the bedrooms. He was a good helper!

 The beach house!

 Everyone on the porch after all was moved in.

 My little beauty at dinner.

Haircuts and Soccer

I don't know if you remember all of the drama we used to go through in getting Sebastien a haircut. It used to be a disaster. Well about 6 months ago, I discovered Dot-to-Dot Doos in Hampstead and it's made all the difference. Little man can watch a movie and sit in a car while getting his hair cut. End of Drama.

 Genevieve has never had a haircut so she was thrilled when the hairdresser gave her a braid, just because.

 Due to some delays, the kids had their last tot soccer class today. Sebastien did well playing goalie. Here is Genevieve trying to score on Sebastien.

Smiling with their soccer medals! 

(Um...so yeah, it's cold now. I dislike it very much. It's also very dark very early. Ugh!)

Lapinski Cousins!

This post is a little out of order because two weekends ago, we went to visit my cousin Tony, Ana, Christopher and Olivia near Springfild, MA. We had such a good time and all the kids play so well together.

One of the highlights was carving pumpkins. Here Tony helps them draw faces on the pumpkins.

 Sebastien, Olivia and Christopher help clean out the "goop". Genevieve, in typical fashion, would not partake.

 The finished products.

Halloween - a bit delayed

We've had no internet for the past week...alas the lack of posts. Before that, we had no power due to Hurricane Sandy. Luckily we had no hurricane damage and the internet has been repaired and I can share some photos with you. The kids toggled between costumes for Halloween this year. Sebastien was sometiems a dinosaur (thanks to the Richards for the costume) and Peter Pan (last year's costume that still holds his favor). Genevieve went between Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and a Lady Bug. Luckily we had enough dress-up events for them to wear a variety.

Here they are at the Hampstead playgroup's Halloween party.

 At the Nolan's annual Halloween party, Sebastien had a blast running around outside with the bigger kids. Here he stopped to let me take his picture.

 This is the cake I made for that party.

Kitchen Redecorating

For anyone who has ever been in our kitchen, you know how crazy the wallpaper is...was. When I was in Indiana in September, Dan stripped off the wallpaper and prepared the walls. It was a big job!

Here is the kitchen before:

 Hallway into kitchen:

 There were multiple layers of wallpaper on some walls. Here's the second layer - how lovely.

 This wall was the worst. At one time, someone partially ripped off old wallpaper, then mudded over it and loaded it up with glue to apply new paper. It took a lot of sanding to get this wall smooth.

 Sebastien helped with the first coat of paint. We choose a very subtle seagreen color.

 

 Finished! Here are the painted walls and our new kitchen light.

Ahhh, much better! :)

Outdoorsy Stuff Weekend

Luke and Rick O'Donnell went with us to the Kimball Farm Corn Maze in Haverhill, MA on Saturday. Last year we had a crew of over 20 people, and this year, only us. Funny how that happens, isn't it? Anyway, unlike last year, we actually made it through the maze this time.

Here are the munchkins (Luke, Sebastien and Genevieve) making funny poses in the pumpkins.

 Checking out the pigs in their mud pits. They made the entire farm smell.

 Resting before the maze.

 Walking towards the maze. Genevieve is definitely not a fast walker. Walking for her means, dancing, singing, stopping to pick up rocks, look at the sky, collect leaves, etc. If you notice up ahead, Dan has the kid backpack carrier and we used it in the maze.

 Which way?!

 On Sunday we went to a nearby park in Hudson, NH that we'd never been to before. I had heard good things about it. Low and behold, it was Benson Park, an old zoo/amuzement park that was open from early 1900s to 1980, then reopened 2 years ago as a park. It's creepy and really cool at the same time.

Here are the kids posing by one of the ponds. There used to be a ferris wheel somewhere near here.

 Playing in the gorilla enclosure that has been restored.

 Perfecting her "grumpy face". I guess she doesn't like being a gorilla...or being behind bars.

Doggie Happenings

Windham's annual Doggie Costume Parade was last weekend. Genevieve and Gwynnie made quite the pair in their matching ladybug costumes. (Although I had a bumble bee costume ready for Sebastien, he chose not to partake.)

 Here are the girls getting ready to walk around the park in the parade. Mommy ended up carrying Genevieve and holding Gwynnie's leash do we bowed out of the parade halfway through.

 Gwynnie also had her annual vet checkup this week.

In non-dog-related news, Genevieve is FINALLY old enough to participate in soccer classes. She is loving it. Here are the kids (Sebastien in blue and Genevieve in red) warming up.

Fall is here. Sebastien loves his scooter and almost never rides a bike these days!

He also LOVES anything outerspace. He drew this picture of the solar system and labeled the planets with their first initial. (I still think it's sad that Pluto is no longer included.)

Proud face?

Avalynn and Sebastien cart Genevieve around.

Constitution, as in the ship

This weekend we took advantage of our proximity to Boston...and our siblings who live there, and visited the USS Constitution. My dad would be proud. It's a wooden war ship that was used in the War of 1812 and is still commissioned by the Navy. Sebastien and Genevieve just thought it was a pirate ship. There were many references to Captain Hook throughout the day. We had beautiful weather in the high 70s, which I'm wondering if that will be the last warm day for the year.

 Steering the ship

 Jaclyn shows Sebastien how to fire the cannon.

 Below deck

 Looking out towards Boston

 Jaclyn & Sebastien ahead and Genevieve walking the Freedom Trail after visiting the ship.

 We had a yummy lunch, then visited a park by the river. Dan and Brian relaxing.

 Sebastien and Jaclyn at the park

 So the next day (Sunday) was rainy and boring so we thought, "hey, let's go back to the Constitution and go to the museum since we didn't get a chance to go yesterday." So we did! (and luckily all this stuff is free!)

Here are Sebastien and Daddy pulling a goat onto the ship.

 Genevieve practiced sanding the ship deck...

 ...and sleeping in a hammock.

 They even could play with this while we looked around the museum.

Since we had some more time, we stopped by the Boston Children's Museum for a couple hours before heading home. Needless to say, the kids were spent!