Auction

We held an auction for the middle school at the farm during the Jamaican Grill and Buffet.  Since I was gone all of July I had done most of the solicitation by letter in the spring.  We ended up with a lovely variety of items.  In addition to the various tickets and offerings, we had some desserts available to buy now--tables enjoyed a sweet ending to their Jamaican food.

We framed some of the articles which have featured the school and the students and parents who came were thrilled to see them.

Swimming lessons

Braeden and Teagan finished their summer swimming lessons at Lake Wequaket today.  Braeden was in level 5, often with only one or two other boys (and no girls).  They have races and play games and practice their various strokes, diving is done off the rescue board further out in the lake.  Braeden loves these swim lessons.

Teagan was in level 3 with a large group and two instructors.  Teagan loved the other people in her group and her instructors.  She has gained so much confidence that she is swimming all around the swimming part of the pond without any floaties.  She continues to work on her crawl with breathing and her underwater swimming is fantastic.

The kids get to play while the other one takes lessons and for the 45 minute break between the lessons.

Braeden and his friend Ben worked hard building this sand mound.  After all their hard work the jumped on it to make it level!  Then those sand monsters washed off with a nice swim.
Teagan spends so much time underwater that I had a tough time getting a  picture of her!

Happy Birthday Jeff

Teagan thinks Jeff turned 28 today!  Next year in school we will do a work that will help her work out that extra decade.  Jeff, Braeden, and Teagan left Joe's Pond this morning to come home.  We had the traditional chocolate cake, decorated by Braeden and Teagan.

Cheryl goes to Seacoast

I spent all (well almost all) of July in New Hampshire finishing up my Lower Elementary Montessori training.  Against all that I believed when I left, I actually was able to complete all my assignments and am now ready for AMS to certify me!

Here are the other crazy people in my class:  Ned, Ali, Irene, Debbie, Liz, Heather, Josh, Katheryn, Mary Anna, Amy, Laura, me, Maribeth, Kathryn, Gretchen, Lyndsey, Karina, Jinda, Rebecca, Angela, Kim, and Lyndsey.  Spending 8-12 hours a day together for two months, plus seminars, you form a strong bond!  I will miss them, but I know I will continue to see many of them at local Montessori conferences and it gives me even more reason to attend the annual conference!
Myself, Karina, and Jinda at our beautiful July home!  We placed an ad on Craigslist and ended up with this wonderful home for the month in our modest budget!  

The deck of our humble abode where I greeted every morning with some yoga,  It is easy to hold balance poses with all these trees around!  On the lower deck is a hot tub which we only used a few times, but it was lovely to have!

Although the home was wonderful, I was at school for a minimum of 8 hours a day, sometimes 12, made many materials, practiced countless lessons, organized and completed albums in language, geography, arithmetic, geometry, history, and science, as well as some theory, music, art, and peace education work, took at least one practical exam every week, completed a 15  question essay exam (10 pages single spaced and I was exempt from one question!), and two theory papers.  Whew!  No wonder I am still tired!

dinner in Raymond

Jeff and the kids were going up to Vermont just as I was getting ready to come home!  The planned trip for the weekend before needed to be postponed due to weather.  They were able to come to my "July house" for dinner with Karina, Jinda, and I.  Doug and Caroline also joined us.  We were sorry to that Michelle missed the fun, but yoga class called!

It was fun to all get together for some fajitas and good times.  I had finished my work, with only classes left to attend, so it was fun to celebrate with the family.  

Caroline, Braeden, and Teagan wading in the hot tub.  We were able to control the temperature and kept it cool enough for them to have gone in, but rain chased us inside.
Playing on Jinda's trampoline inside.  Caroline is wondering what her crazy cousins are doing.
Then she decided that making faces looked like lots of fun!
Caroline in the throne of honor.
Caroline and Karina.  They both had a great time counting together in Chinese--Karina grew up in Hong Kong.
The cousins playing on the top bunk in my room--they thought it was great fun to climb up there.
Braeden catching a Pickerel Frog.  They came to visit the edge of the hot tub almost daily.  We would relocate to the stream near our deck (we had a really fabulous house) often, but one or two were there every morning!

playground

On Sunday we went to a great playground with the Santoro's (Lisa, Riley and Logan) and the Compton's (Siri, Brian, Eric, Celia, Lily, and Justin) to play and have a picnic with some of the leftover food from the party.

Teagan on some crazy pedaling and arm turning contraption.
Riley in the funny mirror.
Logan and Justin driving the bus.
Riley and Teagan in the airplane.  They are wet from playing with a spray bottle.
Braeden on that same crazy contraption.
And Jeff gets in on the fun.
Riley and Teagan on the carousel.
Under the rainbow.
On the tire swing.
Eric and Braeden
Eric, Braeden, Teagan, Celia, and Riley trying to get the swaying ride to sway.
Riley in a tree.
Teagan and Riley in a tree.
Logan and Lala on the carousel.
Eric and Braeden on the carousel.
Riley.

Mom's party

Mom is turning 70.  She keeps pointing out that she is NOT 70 yet--not until July.  We had the party early because I could not get down in July due to school.

We had her party at Lisa's house.  The guest list included 18 adults--Mom, Lisa, John, Myself, Jeff, John's sister Tracy and her husband Xavier, John's parents Bob and Myra, our friends and former next door neighbors of Mom's Siri and Brian, Carol--Siri's mother and long time friend (Siri was first Mom's next door neighbor when she was born and a second time when she was having her first child!), Mom's friend and adventure travel partner Libby and her husband John, Mom's friend Margaret and her husband Roger (They were actually married at Mom and Dad's house.), and our wonderful cousins Bill and Bessie.

With all those adults, it also included 10 children!

By all accounts the party was a success.  Everyone had a good time talking, no one got sick from our food, and there was only one music complaint :)

Eric and Braeden decorating cupcakes for dessert.

Bill, Mom, Margaret, John, and Bessie looking at Mom's book.  We made her a 70th birthday book with messages and memories from all who wanted to participate.  We received wonderful pictures from her whole life (almost 200 of them!), and great messages.
Blowing out the candles on her cake.
Bill, Mom, and Bob.  Bob and Myra didn't get the no presents memo.
Braeden and Logan our matching boys.
Mom's cake and flowers 
kids eating