Megan's 4th Birthday

Megan's 4th Birthday party was held at Bounce Town again this year. I was afraid that it wouldn't be as novel an idea the second time, but rather it was a great hit! This year, along with all of our familiar friends from years past, we also invitied Megan's preschool class friends. Uncle Ryan (who gave her the Alice in Wonderland dress) and his "little brother" Johnny joined in the fun. Nonni and Papa also came to watch and even Nonni did a slide with Megan. Everyone had a great time getting their energy out. Christina made red velvet cupcakes and decorated them with a fruit roll-up rose on top!

Megan is sitting on her new big girl bed with a Little Mermaid comforter that Nonni made for her.

Balloonfest

Megan and friends went to a balloon festival. Will fill in the details when I remember to ask Christina about it.

Girls' Night Out

Megan gets ready for her trip to see Cinderella's Christmas show. She met up with several of her girl friends. She has style, personality, and she's culturally enriched...

Fall Fun

Megan spent a fun day with Isabella and family at Pumpkin town in East Hampton on Rt. 66. Pumpkin people (scarecrows with pumkin heads) were stationed around a miniture village. The town buildings, which were made out of sheds, included a bank, a church, a post office, a country store, and a gazebo (pictured here). Megan and Isabella enjoyed navigating a hay bail maze while Uncle Tony and I launched balls from a sling shot into a pond, trying to hit Yankee's and Red Sox themed targets to win an unknown prize (didn't happen).




Megan enjoyed jumping into leaf piles and being dragged around the yard on the tarp as I used my new backpack leaf blower to clean up the yard. Megan has helped collect the acorns in her bucket, after which I will play home run derby, using her fat pink baseball bat to knock those acorns deep into the woods behind our home.







Megan also recently joined Jackson, Lilah, Julianna, and Robert for a day at Beardsly zoo.

The Annual Corn Maze

This year we tried a new location in Rocky Hill for our annual corn maze with our friends. They had pumpkins everywhere and a sand box full of dried corn kernals for everyone to play in. The kids were cutting through the corn maze walls this year, making it difficult not getting lost. The afternoon was topped off with an ice cream stop at the farmstand.

Yearly Apple Harvest Shifts

I think that this is the first year that we did not pick apples off of the trees at Johnny Appleseed's farm in Ellington. We got their peaches, and we got their apples at the farmstand, but somehow we didn't fit in our orchard romp. I'm sure we'll be back next year. We did however, make a second annual trip with friends to Belltown orchard in Glastonbury, where we picked apples and pears. We have also been able to harvest apples off of our own apple tree in our yard at our new home.

Notice how the kids are growing in height - Megan still lags behind a bit, and probably will continue to, but she is also the youngest.

Henry and Wickham Parks

Over Memorial Day weekend, Bailey enjoyed the day in his favorite place - Henry Park. We also enjoyed spending a playdate with friends at Wickham park. These pictures don't do justice for the beautiful gardens we saw - especially the new sensory garden in Wickham park.

The New Year Came Early

We didn't want to keep the kids up too late, so we celebrated the new year's arrival at 6:30ish at our friend's place. Who are we kidding - we didn't want to stay up late either! Anyhow, the girls loved the dress-up, dancing, and limbo game.

This past year has gone by very fast. Mostly because we spent most of it trying to sell our former house and moving into a new one. I really feel that we made a great move and it will benefit Megan and Bailey in the future. I think we did pretty well despite the stress from moving- we hosted Megan's 1st b-day, Easter, and Christmas Eve. We vacationed in Florida with the Rickerts, in Maine on the beach, and had a great summer day at Mystic Seaport. We spent great holidays with most of our friends and enjoyed the orchards. We had many visits with family.

Megan has grown up so much - talking sentences now and expressing herself in a variety of ways. She enjoys gymnastics classes weekly.

Bailey has lost weight and looks healthy. He is anxiously awaiting spring to play in his new back yard and for the Rickert's to return from Florida.

I have been fortunate to pick up more hours at work, but my former colleagues at the pharmacy will see our old place of employment close for good.

Last year this time, I wished for a better economic outlook for everyone. A recovering economy and lay-offs still have affected individuals close to me. My family has been very fortunate this year. I hope 2010 is a year of prosperity for everyone.

Halloween with old young friends and Trick or Treating in New Neighborhood

Friends Jackson, Lilah, and Isabella (not shown celebrating her birthday) party with Megan in their costumes! Liliah is the perfect Snow White.

In our 2nd day in our new home, we had neighbors visit to welcome us (with pies in hand!).

In our 3rd day in the new home, we went trick or treating around the neighborhood and met some very nice folks - this is the neighborhood that we were hoping for!

Megan and Bailey are Tinkerbell and Peter Pan.

More orchard harvest

Taking a break from packing, we went to Belltown Orchards with our friends the Civitillo's. Jackson, Lilah, and Megan enjoyed picking and eating their share of apples. We soon ran out of apples, however, and had to revisit Johnny Appleseed's again. Bailey likes the tractor ride.