Close ups

Our family friend took an amazing photo of Aidan wrapped in a scarf during his birthday party.





It inspired me to look through my photos and edit some that I had taken that were similar.
Here are two:


Sarai had wrapped her head in her sweatshirt at the top of Mt. Wachusetts a week ago.



This is Carmen at the beach in NC in August. She had found a scarf, wrapped it around her head and I was able to quickly take her picture.




My girls are striking with their dark chocolate brown eyes.

Anniversary Present

This blog is well overdue. Our anniversary is June 12th! The morning of our anniversary Jenna and Isaac came over before work and gave us a present. It was a family decal for our car. I had been saying for awhile that I wanted one for my car.

So Jenna found a site and custom designed one for us. It looks so great!

She created a tandem picture for Abram and I.

Don't you love Abram's hair! She tried to give him a goatee, but it looked like he had a duck's beak. :)

She also created the kids:

Tobin is running, Sarai is dribbling the basketball, Carmen is heading the soccer ball and Rachel is punting the soccer ball.

The site Jenna used allowed you to customize hair, sports and size of person.

The decal came as one long picture. In reading the instructions we were concerned that our back wiper would hit and rub off the decal over time. After debating for a day we decided to cut the picture. This decision created great controversy. I agreed that I didn't want to split the family up, but I also wanted to make sure that it stayed on too. We came up with a humorous decision. The back window of the minivan has the kids on the left side (driver's side) and us on the right (passenger side). We decided that it would be funny to have the parents chasing down the kids!

Most people instantly recognize my car now. I do believe I am the only one in town with a tandem decal on my minivan! We love it!

Snow in October

It is mid October, but it looked like December outside today! It snowed large snowflakes for hours today. When I say large I am referring to the size of golf balls. It was impressive! We had some snow on Thurs night. Enough snow fell to cover our leaves, grass and plants. But then as the day progressed it all melted away. I didn't expect such a wet snowy day today.

Rachel seized the opportunity to play in the snow. She got all dressed up and slid around the back yard. We did discover that we need to find some larger sized clothes for her. The snow was so wet that you could easily slide on top of it. She slid down the slide on the swing set and flew off of it three feet from the end. She'd also run and see how far across the grass she could skid on foot.

Here she is looking up, catching the flakes in her mouth.

Carmen joined Rachel outside.

The most humorous member of the family outside today was actually Isaac! . I had jokingly said he owed us some home improvement time because Abram has been over much lately helping with their house. I said that I needed a hole dug for a hydrangea bush. I didn't expect to get a text today, while it was snowing, stating "time to dig the hole!" But he kept his word and here he is....

outside digging in a wet snow squall:

I joined him out in the snow to plant it in the ground. The hydrangea is a "Pinky-Winky" variety. It has branches that produce rose colored flowers and other branches that produce white ones. This variety doesn't change color in acidic soil. This is important to me since my soil is very acidic.

Thanks Isaac for digging the hole.

Now I can work on the garden once the snow melts! Hey, it's New England. Tues is predicted to get up in the 60's.

Lake Winepesauke

I have to go back in time. Back in August...

We had a wonderful opportunity to visit close family friends, the Stewich's, on Lake Winnipesaukee. They own a boat and had rented a house on the lake for the week. Sunday, August 16th was amazing!




We really enjoyed the gorgeous weather and time together.




Rachel is chilling in the boat, has her soda ready and cannot wait to go!

Kristin Stewich was the woman I ran my half marathon with up at Lake Winnipesaukee in May of 07. Carmen is very close friends with their daughter Madelyn. They are in the same girl scout group.




Rachel, Carmen and I tried to water ski. Each of us got up for a bit on the first try! Both girls were determined to hold on and keep trying.



Carmen up on the skis.



Rachel holding on for a long time.

Bill Stewich was so impressed on how determined both Rachel and Carmen were. They kept trying, held on and got up on the skis on their first attempts.




I'm ready!



I think my life jacket is too big! I didn't stand straight up, but did get up each attempt. It was a lot of fun!

We also pulled all the kids around the lake on a rope



and a tube.

Abram and I went in the float and the kids, ours and theirs, were chanting to dump us over. As much as Bill tried he was not successful. He took us into the middle of the lake. I believe that riding together on the tandem helped us work together and react to waves. At one point, Rachel was flipped out of the tube and came up laughing and saying, "That was great!"

I don't have pictures of this because it was our first ride out on the boat and we were concerned about getting the new camera wet. I took my small one out for the water skiing time.

Tobin and Sarai went to Weir's Beach to walk around. There was another family visiting as well. They had two boy teenagers and they joined Sarai and Tobin in Weir. I know that they will stay with us on the boat next year. Sarai did get a chance to ride on the float with Rachel. She is a good big sister!

I hope we get another chance to go up on the boat next year!

Soccer: Goalie Rachel and Defensive Carmen

Usually, soccer games dominate our Saturdays. Instead this Saturday was too rainy to open the fields. I decided to capitalize on some extra free time and update the blog.

It has been a joy to see how both Rachel and Carmen have grown over the summer with their soccer skills.

Rachel's coach has the philosophy that all the girls should experience each position this year. It is the first year with a goalie. Rachel played goalie last week for the second half of the game. She saved 6 out of 7 attempts on the net! She also attended a goalie clinic to learn more.

Rachel commented that it seemed as if they were kicking the ball right to her. I'd agree, but she never flinched and was always ready to make a catch.

Here again making a great catch.

On Thurs one of Rachel's coaches complimented on her skills. This coach knew her from last season and assumed her great improvement was due to us working together. I cannot take any credit. Rachel has grown more confident as a player and much faster on her legs. All of this together has created a great player who can dribble to ball up the field, maintain control and make good passes for a goal.

Carmen still plays defense. Not by her choice, but by the fact that she is one of the best on her team and coach needs her there.

Carmen is the player behind the goalie. She always backs up her teammates

She has gotten stronger over the summer. Her foot skills have improved. She still has her speed and bravery. She is never intimidated by a larger player. You'll see this in the following pictures.

Now, for some of the incredible shots I took of her taking on the other team....

Somehow they don't collide, but she does get the ball to another teammate up the field.

Here she had been trying to get the ball away from this girl who is several inches taller. Most attempts failed until she decided to wedge her body in between the opponent and the ball. In basketball we call this "boxing out". She is able to use the skills from various sports to aid in the one she is playing. Boxing out was partly successful. She didn't have a teammate to pass to so the other team regained possession.

In this shot it looks as if the green team is punching Carmen. I included it because it was a cool shot. Nothing happened to Carmen, but as you can see she runs full force into other players to protect the ball and their possession. The ball is between their feet.

She loves soccer. She plays her heart out and the coach knows it. She is never subbed, even though we have enough players to do so.

The big question is what am I going to do with other 400+ pictures I have from soccer! We've only played 3 games so far.

Soccer Time

The soccer season has begun! Carmen and Rachel had games this weekend. Both girls have gotten stronger since last season and we could see it in their playing.

Carmen has been playing defense for a few seasons. I have always believed that she could be a very good midfielder. This game she played both positions. As defense and midfield she took on any player and made great plays. One of her most entertaining plays was when she headed a ball that came back down to her and she was able to kick it in mid air. Here are the pictures of that play!

Carmen's team is new this year. She's playing with the same coach from the spring season and with some of the same girls. A number of her past teamates moved up to an older age group and so we have many new girls join this team from other teams. They need more time playing games together and making sure they cover for each other. Carmen played well though.

Rachel's playing looked stronger and more solid from last spring. She only had one practice before the game on Sunday. I believe that giving the girls a larger field to play on and being able to play with just girls has made a huge impact on them. Many parents were commenting how much better each player looked. This year they have a goalie for the first time and 5 other players on the field.

Rachel loves to say she is only good at defense. She prefers this position so she can rest, but she is a great soccer player in any position. She was able to drive the ball up the field from her defense position multiple times. I also think she liked playing against one of her good friends who is a great soccer player. Rachel has been on her team for years. Now they can compete against each other and Sunday both handled the challenge well.

The soccer season has just begun. There will more pictures and updates to come.

School's Begun

School began for everyone Sept. 1st. I began work on August 31st. I work as a kindergarten teacher's assistant in our school system. It was very difficult to transition back into work/school mode after a wonderful summer and beach vacation in North Carolina.


I took these pictures in order of bus arrival.


Tobin is now a sophmore at Shrewsbury High.






Sarai and Carmen share a bus even though they go to two different schools. the schools share a back parking lot they are that close to each other! Sarai is in 8th grade at Oak middle. Carmen is in 6th at Sherwood Middle.



Notice Sarai's new hair color. She got it re-dyed before school. She has streaks of blue and purple in it. We also re-dyed the red/orange hair back to her normal color. I am amazed how dark her hair looks with these new colors.







Some how, Zori got into the picture:) She loves Sarai's attention in the morning.


Rachel is in 3rd grade at Spring Street.

August Fun

The week of August 11th was packed with activities. We began the week by going to Breezy Farms. There were three water slides and a lake to swim in. Rachel discovered treasures in the lake! She used her snorkle and mask from her birthday to find rocks, a fish and a life guard whistle. Tobin, Sarai and Marita read on the grass much of the time. I was too worried to take the good camera, so I don't have any pictures to share.

The following day, I took the girls to Clay time. (Tobin was working at Synqor.) My previous post showed our work.

Wednesday was very rainy so we went bowling. This time I brought the camera, but left the card in my lap top from the previous night!

Now, Thurs was fun. I took the girls to Kimball Farms. Kimball farms is well known for its amazing home made ice cream. It seems that many people come here on their lunch hour to get food too! After eating more ice cream than we should have, I believe we almost had a pint each, we went on water bumper cars and mini golfing. It was a hot day. I do have good pictures from this day!

Sarai took Rachel with her. Rachel was worried about controling the cars before she got in. she learned quickly and didn't want to share the controls with Sarai!

The bumper cards were great! There were 20 cars out at a time. Eveyone had smiles the whole time.

Carmen had traveled under a bridge and I was able to get her attention to say "Hi!". She's always full of life!

We played a game of minigolf afterwards. This was hot but fun. Carmen had to adjust to putting a light ball. She had been playing field hockey and was use to hitting the heavy ball with all her might. Needless to say the first few "putts" were well off the green!

I also enjoyed taking pictures of the water falls!

I am learing how to change the shutter speed. I love seeing the water droplet effect with a low shutter speed. I really am enjoying my new camera.

I do believe that after all this fun we went to Jenna's apartment to swim a bit and cool off.

What a day!

Clay Time

This summer we've enjoyed going to a local pottery place and painting objects. To say we "painted" these pieces is deceiving. The paint is really glaze. There is a plate at each table that shows you the fired color and number that goes with it. When you glaze your work the color can look very different from the fired look. It is a great place to go anytime of the year.

I went with Sarai two weeks in a row this August. The first time she and I were the only two home. We took a friend and spent over 3 hours working on our pieces. The following week I took the four girls: Marita, Sarai, Carmen and Rachel. Marita had spent a few days with us and was looking forward to painting pottery.

Rachel painted a monster. Really, I painted 2 1/2 coats of purple onto the monster! You need to put 3 coats of each color in order for it to have the best result.

Carmen worked on a winged pig.

Marita worked on a mug that has legs!

Sarai made two pieces. A mug that looks like a root beer float

and another that she is still working on, her zebracorn. That's a unicorn that has zebra strips.

Here is the bowl I glazed. I was trying to make something that would match my kitchen. I began painting on bunches of grapes and realized that I had 6 bunches. It was a coincidence that I could write every one's name on a separate grape bunch. Inside of the bowl it reads "My Wonderful Bunch, Dancy 09". This is the finish product.

The day before we did this we found a great lake with water slides. I didn't get any pictures to share of this adventure though. It is called Breezy Picnic Grounds. It is a nice family run area. There are only three water slides, but it's still fun. The part of the lake that you can swim in is very clean. Rachel enjoyed the lake. She brought her snorkel and found treasures. She discovered a lifeguard's whistle, many rocks, and saw an orange and white fish. I think she found a sun fish. It was swimming around my legs! Marita, Tobin, Sarai, and Carmen came too. The older teens just sat and read much of the time. They did however "play" in the sand and make a sand castle in preparation for the beach week!

Jacuzzi Fun

Saturday Aug 8th was a hot day. Abram was painting the trim on the house and I was watching and helping him. We had bought a 30 foot ladder to do the high trims. It took us awhile to manuver the ladder, sand the trim,wash and paint two coats. He spent all day doing this. Since both of us were busy we couldn't take Carmen and Rachel to the pool. I promised to take them the next day.

Well.... Sunday was a very different day. It was cloudy, instead of clear skies. It was cool (low 70's) instead of hot (high 80's). The pool adventure was not looking too good. Rachel came up with a great idea. She asked to swim in our jacuzzi tub in my bathroom. She and Carmen got on their bathing suits, grabbed goggles and the bubble bath. The pictures will tell the rest of the story!

We may not have a pool, but our jacuzzi took it's place on this day! It's my indoor version of a hot tub.