....and a surprise appearance by Mrs. Claus!

Breakfast with Santa, 12/4/16:

Santa: "What do you want Santa to bring you this year?"

Beatrice: (mumbling and quiet voice)  "I can't think of anything."

Santa:  "An elephant?  Okay, I will try to get you an elephant!"

guess my Christmas shopping isn't done after all.....

Well, that month flew!

November felt a lot like October with beautiful weather and long-lasting foliage!  We met the Chazanoffs at Plymouth Plantation on Veteran's Day and the kids had a wonderful time!

Beatrice's 3-month Theatre class did a culminating Broadway Revue show, and she did a nice job singing "I Won't Grow Up," "Let me Entertain You," "There's no Business like Show Business," and she's been stomping around the house singing parts of Hamilton also.

 In preparation for Thanksgiving, Bea made this wreath for Tita Lucy, with all the things for which she's thankful:  food, turkey, God, family, cousins, and pencils.  A very complete list!

Grades 3 & preK led a Thanksgiving service at school, and luckily Lolo & Lola were in town to see it, along with her show!

(they were also in town for the Dancing with the Stars season finale!)

We spent four wonderful days in Maryland, so wonderful that I didn't take a blessed picture.  Apparently Bea did, though, as I just found these of my pumpkin pie and Lolo & Lola's front yard on my iphone:

and then returned for the Razzle Dazzle light parade, such a fun annual tradition! Here are three third grade angels:

and a selfie with Rowan's mom.  Christmas season, here we come!

a warm November day

Halloween

The holiday started with downtown Putnam trick or treat Friday night, which Samm joined us for.  The girls had fun, but the highlight may have been sitting at Victoria Station reading their free comic books!

Fuchsia 014 was a pretty unique costume!

Anthony headed to NYC with his cousin and Truman and Hank came over for an overnight.  We went swimming at the Y and then the kids shot some hoops, or played steal-the-ball-and-run as Bea demonstrates here:

At night we went to a spooky Halloween place in Pomfret and the kids loved it!

Monday was her class party and school parade.  Bea has been in this six years now, and this is her last as it ends with grade 3.  One of the big kids next year!  For today though, she was a Vampire Nail Polish Bottle...

The sign on the wall says it all...

Fall Fun

I have been trying to update the blog for over a week now and finally figured out the problem....my new security  software was preventing the photos from being uploaded.  Meanwhile more fun kept coming so now I have a hodgepodge of events....time with cousin Jhents in Providence, a visit with Rachel, a way-overdue weekend in Philadelphia with Jonathan and Cecelia, pumpkin carving at the Fulcos. For the life of me now I can't organize or space these out so I'm going to call it a day and publish as is.

Day Trip

Our wedding anniversary was on 9/24, so we headed to Maine that weekend to visit Portland and to say hello to the beach where "the big event" took place 11 years ago.  It's always so nostalgic to go back to my childhood vacation AND wedding spot, and it was a beautiful day near sunset, just like the one we chose back then. Except this time we had an 8-year old along for the ride!

Here's Bea, walking down the same "aisle" I did...

and frolicking in the chilly water.  Sadly the beach is eroding more and more each year and I predict our "wedding altar" will be the ocean floor within a decade.

We re-enacted a moment from Bea's first ever visit to Maine in 2009, which was photographed and hangs on her bedroom wall:

Beatrice made us this digital card with our favorite PBS characters on it.

It was a beautiful day on Ferry Beach, both 2016 and 2005......

Wild Child

Back To School

Beatrice started Third grade on Wednesday:

It was an extra-special first day, because Lolo and Martha were in town to witness the event!

But first, we had to say goodbye to summer (and I had to catch up on some photos from before school started.  Sometime this summer, when I wasn't watching, someone stretched Bea's feet & legs!

Another time when I wasn't paying attention her hair decided on a middle part!

and when I least expected it, a young lady replaced my baby girl!

 We spent a little time on my last day off at the lake, where Lolo "swam" for the first time in ages:

Bea and I had some girl time at Victoria Station, where she learned that she loves mango smoothies:

and we met up with Annalena!  What a perfect last day of summer.