Riley's ABC's

Here is a small video clip of Riley singing her ABC's. She gets stuck near R, but the reason it gets cut is that my video card ran out of memory. Here she is, all inked up!

Sorry it's sideways!

Beauty Queen

Riley decided to dress up for Halloween a little early this year! She told me she was putting on makeup...cute right? Until I lifted her shirt...

How does a 2 year old write on her back? All I could think of was Uncle Ryan and his tattoo's...

Doesn't her belly look like hyroglyphics? I am telling you, she has a mind all her own and she is VERY DETERMINED!

Thank God, it was not permanent marker!

It's been awhile!

I know it has been awhile since I last wrote, so I will catch you up briefly. The kids have adjusted well to school this past week, and although Riley has had some difficulty following the rules she too can not wait to go in the morning. We all had the stomach bug starting last Thursday with Camden, followed by Riley, and then I got it Monday and Kevin is fighting it off right now. So with no delay, I have been lysoling my house like crazy! The gym routine has been going well for me, and Kevin has been busy with his newly owned apartment building. There have been a few cute stories this past week with the kids, but they will have to wait. I'll update the blog more as soon as I get caught up with the other happenings in our busy lives.

Vacation

ATTENTION!

Our Family Vacation has been posted. I still have our two hikes (Wednesday's and Thursday's outing) to post, but thought since those make up half of the vacation photos, I would post them later. They were definately my favorite part of the trip, so I want to be sure to share the memory. Enjoy!

Love,

Sonia

Last Day of Vacation

Saturday we left for home, sad to leave, but anxious to get back. Before we left, we took pictures of all the great hiding places. The kids loved the "bridge" that walked from the stairs/bedroom to the loft and was above the open kitchen/living room. This was the highlight of "our log home in Maine". Kevin enjoyed the loft, this is where the TV is! I liked the loft, because it kept the family upstairs and I had peace downstairs.

View from the "bridge" looking down at the living room.

The loft had a large floor space, but as you can see, not a lot of head room. Camden and Riley loved hiding behind the TV and Couch (on the other side of the room).

Riley enjoyed this spot on the stairs. She would sit there and eat and drink, or play with her toys. I was always nervouse she would fall, so I teneded to tell her to go up or down, but not on the stairs. Peaking out from behind the couch, up in the low head room loft.

View from our front porch. Every morning I was the first out of bed and would drink tea and breath in the scent of Pine. On the clear days, there are mountains on the horizon. It is so beautiful.

We drove home Saturday through Canada, and had a little rougher time with the kids traveling than when we came to Maine. Riley had to pee every 20 minutes, and the kids kept screaming and fighting. There did not askn"are we there yet?" as often, and nap must have been a french term that day. None the less, I did manage to snap a picture of downtown Montreal from the van.We crossed over to the United States through Ogdensburg, and stopped for dinner before the last hour home. We figured we would be home by 6:00, perfect timing. Well...we found a little fair going on and of course took a 2 hour stop to enjoy. Delaying our trip home and driving through Riley Melt Down time. Here are a few pics from the fair. We made it home safe, and had a blast on our trip. We even had a day to unpack and settle back in. It was a great family trip, and very memorable for all of us!

Swimming

Swimming was the highlight of the day with the kids! We went every morning (except Tuesday) for about 2 hours. We had one incident with Riley jumping into the pool on the first day, but by Friday, the kids were natural water bugs. We met a woman who helped teach Riley how to float in the pool, Riley fell in love with her and wanted to swim the breast stroke and the back stroke when the woman swam her laps. Watch out Michael Phelps, here comes Riley!

The kids loved running to the club house wherer the pool is.

Here is Camden waiting to go into the pool area.

Here is a picture of the pool and hot tub behind Camden...we were the only ones there every day except Friday.

The kids waiting patiently...

Camden sitting on the step...

Look closely, Riley can touch the bottom! She was so excited to be able to do this, but she would not let go of our hands. Monday she jumped into the pool and thought she could swim. It scared her enough to respect the water, but she is still fearless.

I can't believe I am posting this picture, but we all did enjoy swim time.

Kevin enjoyed the hot tub the most...and swimming with the kids.

GOGGLES ARE TOO COOL!

Its a water bug!

Its super water bug!

Riley swimming with Dad.

Bundled up and ready for lunch. Bye Pool! Here is a video clip of Camden swimming under water. He could touch the bottom for about 10 feet of the pool so he got pretty comfortable jumping into the water and taught himself how to swim under water. He would not try with his head out of water, but loved "diving." Here he is diving and swimming to Dad.

Days of Relaxation

Monday and Tuesday we just lounged around the cabin and took it easy. Monday the weather was sunny and cool, so we thought we would go to Kelly's Landing for breakfast, and then to the local market to pick up some essentials for the week. Riley enjoyed two breakfasts (those are not kid breakfasts either and yes both plates are hers, really!) AND SHE ATE EVERYTHING! Here are the kid outside of Kelly's Landing, excited to be at Moosehead Lake. On our way into town on Sunday, we spotted a moose. Unfortunately, I did not get a good photo of it, so there will not be any wildlife to share from this trip. Tuesday, we all hung out at the cabin for the morning. The kids ran around playing hide and seek, while Kevin lounged in the loft. I read and napped. It was a rainy cold day, and since Greenville, Maine is a little remote with limited activities indoors, we decided to drive to Bangor and walk the mall. Here are the kids with their umbrellas.

The Road Trip!

Sunday, Kevin and I woke bright and early (4:30 a.m.) so that we could shower and get ready for our 9 hour car ride while the kids were still asleep. We ended up waking the kids around 6:20 when we moved them from their beds to their car seats. Here they are bright eyed and very AWAKE! Here is our Pilot, excited to get to Greenville.

The kids entertained themselves for most of the trip. Here they are listening to their DVD via headphones, a first for us. This allowed Kevin and I to listen to music or talk without background noise...it was GREAT! Here I am, the navigator to the pilot, and mediator to the back seat club. The kids each have a back pack strictly for travel that is filled with toys, games, books, and other fun filled items to entertain them on our car trips. I keep it packed and ready all the time and they are only allowed to use these items when we travel (so they do not tire of them). Here, is a picture of a train that Camden drew all by himself. Kevin and I are still suprised he drew it! The sad thing is, it is better than any train I can draw!

My Little Motzart

Camden is really enjoying his Piano lessons, he even practiced on vacation every day (we brought along the keyboard for this purpose). Yesterday I caught him "writing music." He took a paper and pencil to his keyboard and told Riley to leave him alone so he could write and play his music. I was amazed he even thought to do this on his own. I give him an A+ for trying, bless his heart. He practiced playing a song from his book, then he would grab his pencil and start making dots and lines with the letters A, C, D, E, and G. I could not stop watching him, it was so neat to watch my little man have such passion for music.

Our Family Vacation!

Our Log Cabin in Greenville, Maine.

The Kids really enjoyed Moosehead Lake this past week on our family vacation. While Kevin and I enjoyed spending a week with just our family, a first since kids. I took over 100 photos and have about 80 I would love to share with all of you. Rather than overwhelm you all, I thought I would post a few each night this comming week, since there is not much excitement planned. The kids will be attending school for their first full week this week and I will be starting my work out routine scheduled each morning; therefore I should be able to catch you all up on the last couple of weeks. Stay posted and enjoy the photos!

Second Day of School

Riley attended school alone due to Camden's high temperature spike again. She was very excited until it was time for me to drop her off and leave the building. She had seperation anxiety...not from me...from Camden! It was funny. I later went to check on her, to be sure she calmed down (she has been known to cry 45 min or cry herself to sleep when in a daycare setting) and brought Camden with me. Riley did calm down, and Camden did start feeling better. PHEW!

First Day of School

Camden & Riley

First Day of School

September 3, 2005

After a week of night time routines, and discussing the start of school, and having an end of summer playgroup, the day finally arrived...The First Day of School! With Camden sick again and asleep by 6:00 Tuesday night, Riley and I had a girls night preparing for the big day. We gave each other manicures and pedicures, picked out her outfit for her first day, talked about what to expect and how she is such a big girl now, and giggled in bed about "boys" before drifting off to sleep. I was not sure if Camden was going to attend his first day of school or not due to another fever of 104.6. But after a long night of tossing and turning, he woke up cool and perky. When asked, he replied he wanted to go to school, so Mom got to take pictures of their first day of school together. Riley woke up excited around 7:00 and we dressed in her out fit that we laid out the night before, put her hair in a pony tail and curled it under, brushed our teeth, and she was super excited because Mommy gave her permission to put on her very own eyeshadow and blush (made of pressed baby powder). We topped off primping by putting on lip gloss and eating breakfast outside on the front porch while the bus picked up the neighborhood kids. (I am pretty sure the bus garage did not get the memo that Camden is not attending the public school this year because the bus driver stopped in front of our house--he would have been the first on and off the bus). Meanwhile, Camden and Daddy woke up at 8:40, took showers, got dressed, came downstairs to eat breakfast, grab backpacks, lunches, and school supplies, so we could pile in the van at 9:10 and head off to school for 9:30. Riley and Camden were both excited for school, but I think Riley takes the gold for her excitement! She has been waiting 12 months for the day she could go to "big girl" school with Camden. She loved wearing her backpack for the first time to school, having her own cubby to put her stuff in, she talked about making "me own friends", and when we dropped her off, there was not one tear shed...she was a natural! So Mom and Dad leave the kids at school and have two hours (normally three but not on the first day) to ourselves...what to do, what to do? Errands without kids of course! It was GREAT! At 11:30 we picked the kids up and were able to observe the end of day circle time. Each child is expected to wait until their name is called to be dismissed to their parents. Riley was first, and after her name was called and a stamp on the hand, she ran towards us beaming from ear to ear! Ms. Nancy had to remind her to use walking feet inside, and she nodded while she eagerly waited for her to finish. Rileythen walked over to us and gave me a great big hug and kiss, and went to get her bag out of the cubby. Camden was last out of circle, and he too was grinning from ear to ear and really enjoyed his first day too! I am so glad he is there with Riley because he is more able to tell us how the day goes than she is right now. He told us of Circle time and the story about a frog and alligator, and a story called "Catch the Bus." He said he learned letters (which is actually the phonetic alphabet not the letter names), and played with magnets and puzzles. Riley said she ate snack--of course! But when I asked what she did at school, and what her favorite part was, she said "circle time!" Camden said his favorite part was playing with the magnets. As we were leaving the classroom to go home Riley suddenly got upset and did not want to leave! She also started getting upset because she thought we forgot her plant that was requested as a school supply for each child to bring and learn to care for throughout the school year. She kept pointing to her plant and saying, "mom, forgot. mom forgot something." It was cute that she was so concerned about her plant. She even commented on it again when we were at home. "mom where plant go?" I had to remind her that her plant (one that had been on my kitchen counter for weeks) was to stay at school now. Camden was concerned later in the evening about his family portrait (another school supply requested--a family portrait framed for the student to place in the classroom to make the learning environment more comfortable) asking where it was. I had to remind him too that it was to stay at school so he could always see mom and dad when he was learning. After school was eventful too! And we have not started extra curricular activities yet! We ate lunch, visited our neighbor Terri for a while, then toted a Little Tykes Country Cottage playhouse across the street to our house that Terri gave us (THANKS AGAIN TERRI), the kids then took a nap while I went outside and cleaned the playhouse with the hose and Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, Assembled the house, and finally closed the day with a later dinner of ham casserole which the kiddos helped me make. they ate the yummy brain food so they would be smart and ready for school in the morning. Next was Baths, Books, and Bed! So here I am recapping the big eventful day! I think I shall enjoy the kids going to school, although I was a little teary eyed dropping them off and picking them up today. Mostly happy tears for them because they were so excited, and some were caused by the empty nest syndrome. I snapped out of it quick though!!! School Rocks Kids!

Camden & Riley Tuesday morning, waiting for their friends to arrive for an end of summer playgroup. (Look at Camden, can you believe he had a 104.6 temp 2 hours later?)

Riley, Kimberly, and Anna having a summer picnic the day before school starts!

Riley eating breakfast on the front porch before school.

In front of the cubbies!

Playing with magnets at school.

Riley running to greet Mom at the end of the day...just before Ms. Nancy stopped her and reminded her to use walking feet inside. She is going to be my trouble maker...hahaha.

Camden coming to greet Mom and Dad at the end of the day...he is not as enthused as Riley. Been there, done that.

The End...

of the first day at school.