September

September started off with a bang!  We spent the holiday weekend with our friends at their farm house.  We are grateful for the Carpenter family, and the fun friendship we share.  The first night, the dads took the kids to the race track for a taste of the local speedway.  

Ice cream treat after a hike

Back at home - more ice cream because, why not?!

Dinner with friends at the pool on the night it closed, which officially marks the end of our summer.  Sigh.  

Over the summer, the kids worked towards a challenge of collectively reading 10,000 pages.  They surpassed that amount with a week to go, and the prize was another hamster.    

They named him Chipper!

School is back!  6th grade, 4th grade, and 2nd grade this year.

With the start of school is the start of other activities.  This fall Rooke played soccer, and the girls took dance classes.  Bridgette is in a ballet/jazz basics class.  Gretchen started in a ballet class, but we quickly realized I accidentally signed her up for the advanced class (oops!), so she switched to a Hip-Hop class, which is going much better =)

We're learning about chemistry in science this year.  One of our first experiments helped us learn about density.

Burning off steam at the arboretum . . .

Uncle Steve and Aunt Vallerie tirelessly labored in love to build a new deck for us.

Taking science outdoors:

She looked so cute, ready for co-op on an out-of-uniform day

Safety Day in Cheverly is so much fun!  This year I was helping keep an eye on a handful of extra kids, so I wasn't able to take many of my own photos, but someone else sent me this of our beautiful Bridgette-turned-fox

We took the kids to their first concert - we went to hear the Grey Havens perform.  It was a fun show, and just the right speed for the kids' first show.

We love the new deck!!

More science - experiencing what an amorphous solid feels like

With Rooke and Gretchen being old enough to stay home by themselves for short periods of time, I have a special errand buddy.  She doesn't always appreciate being the only one who has to go with me, but we make the best of our time together

A Saturday afternoon bike ride, still enjoying warmer days