How I Got So Many Blog Posts Done Today

Maddie and Theo were playing in the fruit basket so I blogged away.

Maddie's artistic rendition

And Theo's

Gabriel was unloading the kitchen cupboards!

A Fairy House?

We've Got a Walker!

Gabriel took his first step today!

Here Comes a First Grader!

It's hard to believe we've finished Kindergarten. It was a great year full of so much growth for Maddie. According to Mrs. Bella, she's a leader and role model in class, she loves school and learning and is a joy to have in class each day! The end of year was great fun with classroom picnics and a party with some of her close friends and moms at the Windsor Club.

We were suppose to walk to a picnic at Maddie's friend Avery's house but it was too rainy. We had the picnic in the classroom, the kids didn't mind. Elyse, Avery, Samantha, Taraneh and Maddie enjoyed a special snack.

Some of the boys - Anton, Christian, Julien, and Tyler.

Our first grader

Cycling and Father's Day

It was a big bike weekend for the Sanders. Nathan did the Brewery to Brewery ride on Saturday, 150 miles from Boston to Windsor, Vermont. It took a lot of training but he was really pleased with his result and not to tired too boot as he met me at a party that night!

Maddie and Theo rode in the Kids PMC ride to raise money for cancer research. I was so proud of them, we went door to door selling raffle tickets. Maddie memorized a speech and was excited to raise money to help people. It brings back found memories for me as I used to terrorize the neighborhood selling everything from girl scout cookies to terrible pizzas. In fact, I once sold the most girl scout cookies in the troop earning a sleeping bag that I kept until Nathan and my camping trip after business school when he said get rid of that thing!

Selling door to door

The day of the race - cold and rainy - do you sense a trend here?

A happy cyclist!

The crowd went wild with Theo doing the big kids course, about a mile loop.

Nathan loves that this ride is on Father's Day. We celebrated with another Mexican dinner at our second favorite place. He's such a great daddy who inspires the kids to reach for their best.

One tired boy who was home late for his morning nap. In a few years, he'll be on the course too!

Theo on his Bike

Oceans and Dolphins

Maddie has been studying the oceans for about two months. Each child chose a creature to study and Maddie chose the dolphin (Nathan's favorite animal). She learned so much through lessons, a field trip to the Aquarium, and a visit from a marine biologist who brought props - starfish, sea cucumbers, etc. The class presented their work and Maddie was so proud to show Nathan and me what she has been working on.

She really loved Mrs. Bella and so did we!

Angier Color Day

I was fortunate to be able to volunteer at Maddie's color day, what used to be field day, I guess. There are a bunch of fun activities for teams to "compete" in. Though I was surprised that there weren't foot races, etc. The kids had fun and it was great to see everyone in action.

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Time to celebrate Nathan! We started the celebration weekend off with a very fancy dinner at Aujourd'hui at the Four Seasons in Boston. It was amazingly posh and so delicious, made even better with a very generous gift certificate we had thanking Nathan for one of his projects. Nothing like an uninterrupted (free) three hour dinner of delicious food (such small portions though!). It was a lovely celebration for my foodie. Sunday dawned with a special adventure for Nathan and Theo, kayaking on the Charles River. Theo snuggled between Nathan's legs and they explored the river seeing a wide array of animals and getting some great father/son time. There's a boat rental quite close to our house and I can see this becoming a frequent family outing.

We then went into Boston to our favorite, fairly authentic, Mexican restaurant, no it's nothing like Arizona, La Verdad. The kids had fun, we had sangria and got our Mexican fix.

And a late afternoon family bike ride. Gabriel was a good sport for about 20 minutes.

A yummy family dinner that garnered high marks from the birthday boy (you all know what a feat that is!). A special roasted chicken, it was either from Italy or raised in the Italian way - we named him Paulo, roasted veggies, crusty bread and an almond torte with whipped cream. Happy Birthday Nathan!

Strawberrry Season

A sunny day, freshly warmed strawberries, two helpful kids, and a hungry baby - perfect! We headed out to Verrill Farm for our annual pick. It was so much better than last year when I was very pregnant, who knew bending over and picking strawberries at 37 weeks pregnant was so difficult! Maddie and Theo were great pickers, and eaters.

All Aboard

Theo received this cute dress up outfit for Christmas from my aunt. On Christmas, he wore the outfit the entire day! He loves to play train and we were on quite a journey today.

Just like the Swiss, he wants to be on time.

And away we go!

Pigs!