After almost 7 years

We have reached our free storage capacity on blogger so our NEW blog will be molonfamily2.blogspot.com (very original I know).  Find out our latest adventures there!

Spelling Bee

This past weekend, Hannah was in her first townwide Spelling Bee.  It was a non-competitive, fundraising bee where the girls had lots of fun. 

 

 

Hannah and the rest of the Star Daisy team!

 

 The Star Daisies onstage waiting for their swarm to start.

The girls did a great job and spelled all but one word correctly.  A success.

Halloween

Halloween at our house was all about Barbie this year.  Hannah dressed as a cheerleader (Barbie Team Spirit) and Emme was "Merliah Summer" (a character Barbie plays in A Mermaid Tale)..

 

 

Go Team!

 Merliah has blonde hair with pink strands...just like little Emme. 

 The girls with Nana and Papa before Trick or Treating.

 And they're off....first house.

 Our newest decoration additionn this year...

 Emme lasted about 15-20 minutes out.  She came home, had a piece of candy, and went to bed (only a few minutes later than usual).  Hannah wasn't out terribly much longer.  Hannah and her loot which she was all too happy to share with everyone. 

Great Nana's Birthday +

The end of October always means Halloween, but first there is Great Nana's 96th Birthday Party!!

 

Nana blowing out her candles (Addie helping)

 

 Emme enjoying her piece of cake

 And Hannah enjoying her homemade whoopie pie.

 The next day, Nana and Papa came to stay with us for a few days.  One of Hannah's favorite things to do with Nana...co-drawing pictures together. 

 Emme and Papa thought it would be fun too!

 And then of course, pumpkin carving.  This year Hannah was allowed to use the real knife to cut the pumpkin.  (She quickly realized it's really hard and let me finish the job)

 Not quite too sure about the ooey gooey insides.

Hmm...what a difference a few minutes make...

 Emme finally came over to the table to help with her pumpkin.

 And then Nana came to carve Hannah's pumpkin design while Mommy did Emme's (a "scary" one)

 Our finished pumpkins!  Emme's is above Hannah's.

Most of October

October was quite busy.  Here are a few pictures from the middle of the month that I never got a chance to blog...

 

 

Daddy travelled to Europe for a whole week!  We missed him very much and the girls were very excited to pick him up from the airport.  Here they are waiting for him to come out of the doors!  First picture is better of Emme, second of Hannah...

 Then towards the end of the month, Hannah had to go into MGH for Children for a small procedure.  Here she is all smiles before the procedure with her coloring book, crayons, and stickers!  She got to decorate her mask for anesthesia.  What I did not realize at children's hospitals is that there is an employee whose sole job is to make sure the children are happy as they can be.  Hannah seems to be doing just fine.

 After waking from the anesthesia, she was given her prize (the socks) and a popsicle (the really big ones with 2 sticks)...still full of smiles!  She wanted to stay and color more, but I assured her we needed to get home and pick up her sister.  I should mention all went well with the procedure....clearly. 

 Then, I was lucky enough to get to chaperone Hannah's 1st grade field trip to the Discovery Museum in Acton.  Hannah, 4 other girls from her class, and I got to explore the whole museum for 2 hours. 

 

All about sounds.

 Pendulums

 So happy!

Now onto the rest of the month with all of the Halloween festivities!

Fall Camping - Lost River Valley

This past weekend, we took a drive along the Kangamagus Highway in Northern New Hampshire for some leaf peeping fun.

 

 

We made frequent stops along the highway to see the Fall foliage from all different vantage points.  This was a stop that didn't have a trail.  Hannah and Joe trekked on whereas Emme and I made our way back to the car.

 

But we still had smiles!

Another stop...just beautiful.

Joe and Hannah walking out to rocks.  Joe helped Hannah to get to the bigger one.

Lots of picture opportunities

 



 



Our 3rd stop...Sabbaday Falls.  It was a short hike to the falls.  

As we were hiking down from Sabbaday Falls the rain started coming down...softly at first and then heavier.  Luckily we were in the car when it was at it's heaviest.  We debated whether to just head for home or stop to camp as we had originally planned.  We decided to stop at Lost River Valley Campground to camp for the night and it turned out to be a great decision.

Our tentsite abutted a brook with rocks that we could climb on.  Hannah and I went exploring while Joe set up the camp.

Joe teaching Hannah how to start a fire. 

And then Hannah got a hold of my camera and took a few pictures...of our tent

Emme and Mommy

and Daddy chopping wood (making kindling)

One happy girl!  She loves to camp (except for the going to sleep in a tent part, but that comes later)!

Roasting marshmallows!

Waiting out their sugar high from their 1 marshmallow before bedtime.

After a chilly night (43 degrees) in the tent, Daddy and Hannah got up (while Emme and Mommy slept in) and went exploring the brook again.

This was our backyard.

After breakfast and packing up our campsite, we went off the beaten path for our drive back home avoiding the tourists and finding a great hike up to East Pond.  The entire hike was 3 miles, but that says nothing for the degree of difficulty...uphill the whole way with rocks and mud puddles and brooks to cross over.  It was terrific!  The easy part

Hannah had so much fun hiking and was such a trooper the entire way.

Mommy helping Emme avoid the puddles.

The scenery was so beautiful.

We finally made it to the pond.  Emme only had to be carried (on Daddy's shoulders the last 1/4 mile up) and walked the whole rest of the way.

Walking on the way down the trail.

It was a super fun hike and a super fun family weekend!  Definitely a new tradition for our family.