The Widsom of a 3rd Grader

"Pants. They're really important."

-Casey, Nov. 8, 2008

Lucky, Lucky Me

I got new countertops this week. It's Formica, in a color called multifleck. You can see it, here but it's hard to tell on the screen just how pretty it is.

Britt's Take on the State Prop. Results

Question 1: Repeal the state income tax? NO
Question 2: Decriminalize marajuna possession? YES
Quesion 3: Prohibit greyhound racing beginning in 2010? YES

= Your tax dollars: buying pot for retired greyhounds.

Our Halloween

This year, our Halloween began a full week before the actual event. First up: a Halloween celebration at Britt's office on Friday afternoon beforehand. Beau and Casey are, perhaps, getting a bit old for the event, but it was good to have them there to off-set the tide of preschool princesses.

Beau was a sort of mercenary archer, and Casey was Jackie Chan.

That weekend, Britt and Casey went to the Halloween event at the local cub scout camp. (Can you find Jackie Chan?)



Casey carved his own pumpkin this year.

As usual, we had the neighbors here for pre-trick-or-treating dinner. (We also had a "haunted basement this year, but there are no photos of the actual basement-dwelling ghouls.)

Then, sufficiently fortified, we went out to beg for candy.

I'm Baaaaack

Apparently, the kids miss seeing themselves on the blog, so I've been badgered into brushing off the dust and mothballs...

Here's some of what we've been up to for the past two months.


The kids went back to school on Tuesday, September 2, and not a moment too soon. Well, actually, it turns out that summer is about two weeks too long... but that's another story.



As usual, we went apple picking in September.



This year, Casey plays on the travel soccer team. Here he is before his first game (with his pal Sky) in his new team uniform.



Every September, on the Saturday closest to 9-11, hikers from all over New England scale the 48 peaks of New Hampshire that are 4,000+ feet high and fly the American flag. The boy scout troop that Beau now belongs to (he crossed over from cub scouts to boy scouts last spring) typically climbs one of the peaks. This year, they climbed Mt. Hale. Here is Beau holding up the Stars and Stripes.



Over the summer, in addition to outgrowing his jeans, Beau outgrew his bike. Since he's now riding his bike to school every day, finding a "new" bike for him became our September project. After weeks of trolling the ads on craigslist, we finally found a great bike for a great price.



Casey's ice hockey team played in a tournament over Columbus Day weekend. They came in third. See that hair plastered to his head? That's from sweat! I love hockey because it makes the kids work hard. (And tires them out.) Oh, and Casey -- who plays defense -- scored three goals over the course of the tournament.

And here's a small video of Casey's goals at the tournament in Nashua. He's number 16 in maroon.

Also on Columbus Day weekend, while raking leaves, Casey and I found two Brown Snakes. (Yes, they are "brown" but they are also called "Brown Snakes.") We kept them for two nights so that Casey could show them to his classmates, then we released them back into our yard so they could find appropriate places to hibernate.



Beau wants me to tell you that on Columbus Day weekend he was at MassJam -- once-every-five-years, state-wide boy scout event. Yes, he's now old enough to leave us for whole weekends at a time.

The Regulars v The Patriots: With Water Guns

On Saturday, we packed up our water guns and extra "ammo" and headed into Boston for a great big water gun battle . We were all assigned to the Red Team (British Regulars). Here are the troops ready to march to the rendezvous point.

(Casey, Tyler, Beau, Mathias)

Once assembled, the Regulars and the Patriots met in battle of wet mayhem:





I think it was Beau's dream come true.



Not sure who "won" the skirmish, but we all had fun



and finished with ice cream.

My New Best Friend

First weekend after school let out in June we went camping and returned home with mounds of wet, muddy laundry, only to discover the washing machine was kaput. (Yes, the fourth major appliance since February to go belly up!)

This morning at 7:15 am, my new best friend arrived:



It was the Consumer Reports "Best Buy" pick for a front loader (ie works well, not too expensive).

So far, so good: four loads of laundry down; a lifetime to go.