one down

we finally have a kindergartener. he got very nervous in the car so mama walked him alone to the class line.

 he was so stinkin' nervous, but so excited too.

 here he is finding his name tag. all by himself.

sniff, sniff.

 i saved the waterworks for this. all the big guys from preschool are now the babies again.

his teacher is mrs. bender and he loves her and loves school. his favorite parts are "recess, snack, gym, art, choice time, library and music class". and i've learned two things

1. he's super wiped out from all the learning

2. we should sign up for another art class.

 it rained on the first day so these guys broke in their new raincoats. and boots. lots of tears. one guy doesn't like socks or zippers. handful.

 they have started a pre-pre-school class. lots of art, and story time and run around time.

(don't get excited...it's not drop off)

painting flowers.

 but we also had orientation for their real pre-school which they will start on january 4.

 its the same school matt spent the last year. so they have been dying to get in and play. no worry they will suffer from separation anxiety.

 post-orientation walk with some familiar faces. 

 we had a great, long, hot, fun summer. light on blog pictures, but heavy on making memories. will try to catch up soon.



vacation

we made our annual trek to the white mountains way back in august. story land park, red jacket resort, mt. washington, honky tonk...sounds lovely, no? we may try something new next summer.

kids loved it. and popsicles at the pool every afternoon was nice.

and beer.

especially since one guy hung on me all day.

matt can finally swim. he spent hours in the pool.

jack was skeptical of everything at storyland.

 while matthew dove right in.

ben had fun. running away from us all day.

 it's nice how we always manage to book storyland during a heat wave. thankfully it offers relief. for the kids.

a couple of night-tetherball games near the sweltering bonfire...

then we rode on an old fashioned railway..

  and three little boys slept the whole way home.

catching up

this guy has been the star of the summer...he just up and decided he was done with diapers. and only a handful of accidents in the last few weeks.

 sometimes not yet ready for undies either though.

sweet j likes to sit on the potty but...

..also to pee in his "unnies." so little bro still wears the diaper.
he's not happy about it one bit.

this giant has been gearing up for kindergarten...by acting like a three year old! i think someone would do very well with military school. maybe next year.

we celebrated 9 year anniversary with a giant cupcake. and some milk. and some wine.

and of course the elm bank car show. huge hit in our world.

this year matt brought a buddy who thankfully prefered to zip through rather than read each of the nine hundred signs. matt thinks uncle vic would like to come to the car show next year

we had a busy visit with mema and cheetah.

and a trek up to uncle vic and aunt joan's new lake house. we will be back for sure! mama didn't even have to go in the lake!!

we spent the 4th in newport. we always assume this will be the trip the kids cooperate with the car ride, sleeping in hotels, behaving in restaurants. not the case this time. but they did love the beach, our "boat hotel" and the fireworks.

throwing rocks and shells at third beach

being cute at third beach

thankfully we did not get removed from the concierge lounge because the view was great.

sometimes ben likes to dine alone.

and never likes to share his ice cream.

these guys are mostly the bestest of pals. as long as there are two of the same toys to play with. the exact same.

my sweet buddies.

"hey matt, go rinse off again so we can leave"

 seriously. they choose the swings on their own.  

 a visit to the aquarium with the most adorable cousins maddie and katelyn

was fun street show, but hot.

more fun

this is our little crew. we went to the zoo last week and this was the only minute everyone stood still.

we also spent a day at a playground in brookline. these guys loved it.

and they had the water on! between the four cars we found a few extra shorts, tees and diapers, and were all set.

strawberry picking at sunshine farm

they should've weighed the kids when we left. they ate a lot...

went to battleship cove in fall river for fathers day

at first they tried giving dad a break.

but they switched after mom collapsed. why don't they just walk??

ben was afraid of this boat. until he tried to knock it over.

real fun is lugging a wiggling two year old up and down these stairs. 35 times. in cute sandals. thankfully matt walks.

and they had a carousel.

and after a scrumptious lunch with snoozing toddlers and a well-behaved five-and-a-half year old, we spent an hour throwing rocks into the water.

and relaxing.