Halloween Trick or Treat

Quinlan was a "rock star" complete with 'tude. My black cat, rock star and train engineer ready to trick or treat..... more treat, less trick.

Reilly designed the kitty. I pulled out its' guts and carved it. It was very cute.

Here is Max doing his carving. He did almost the entire thing (except the guts) by himself.

Luckily, Chris helped out with Quinlan's pumpkin.... even the guts.

Can you tell how I feel about guts?? In the immortal words of Linus Van Pelt from Peanuts.... "OHHHHHH, You killed it!"

Quinlan's birthday with Will

Quinlan's final birthday celebration was with the Canandaigua Connors. Here is a picture of Andee, Max, Mina, Will, Quinlan and Reilly. Baby Tessa was sleeping or eating - because that is all she does (according to Reilly). It is hard to believe that these two are 8 years old. Thick as thieves and ready for any kind of trouble that comes their way.

Opening gifts and checking out each other's loot. There were many nice gifts to open and enjoy.

Quinlan's Birthday / Cupcake celebration

Well, I loaded the pictures backwards, or upside down, or anyway they are out of order. Quinlan had a Cupcake celebration party with some friends on Saturday, October 23rd. We had pizza and wings for lunch and a "big top" cupcake cake. Then the girls and Max (with Grandma Connor helping out) each got some cupcakes to decorate themselves! I put out white and chocolate frosting and a bunch of sugars, sprinkles and cake decorations. They were definitely works of art. After, Quinlan's friends boxed up their creations and took them home. A great time was had by all and of course, Quinlan got some great gifts. Here are the finished products.

Megan Wade and Lilah Hann were NOT supposed to be licking their fingers while they decorated. Obviously, they listen really well. NOT.

L to R: Reilly, Lilah, Quinlan, Ryan Springer, Megan Wade, Max and Megan Springer.

It tasted good too.

On Friday, October 22nd, her actual birthday, Chris, Reilly and I took McDonald's lunch to school to have with Quinlan and 2 of her friends and then with Max. That night we had homemade lasagna and brownie cookie-cake. Max is wearing his 5th grade shirt with his name on it. Can you believe he is the class of 2018?

Wickham Farms..... later that day.

Later that same day we went back with Max and Quinlan after school. First we drove over to the train store in East Rochester, stopped at the best bakery around and picked up half moon cookies and then went to Wickhams. Here is Max in the same maze that Reilly did. He wanted to go in the big maze (2 acres) but I was afraid I would lose him and the girls didn't want to go so he settled for this one. They sell tickets for this giant bouncy thing. My kids were on it for 45 minutes straight and were totally spent. It is amazing how high they can go jumping on it.

Here are Reilly and Quinlan in the "apple orchard". Everyone was invited to take and eat a beautiful New York State grown apple. Delicious.

Posing on the old tractor. Luckily it wouldn't run or my kids would have had it all over the farm. It reminded me a lot of the tractor Doc Chase used to keep in his garage. I'm not sure I ever saw it running but it was always there.

Wickham Farms, Penfield, NY

Reilly's pre-school class went to the Pumpkin Patch at Wickham Farms for a field trip. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny morning. They all had a lot of fun picking pumpkins, having an apple, riding in the hay wagon and listening to the lady talk about "indian" corn. She even got some to bring home. Here she is picking out her own little pumpkin. Posing with the giant "can you guess the weight?" pumpkin.

Listening, with her friends, to the lesson on Indian corn.

Outstanding in her field. The little maze.

State Road - First Day of School 2010 - 2011

Max gets off the bus after his first day of 5th grade. He said it was "great"! Flashing the "peace sign" to signal a great day at school.

Here are my little students ready for the first day of school. Reilly starts Pre-K4 on Monday, September 20th. She can't wait for the kids to get home after school.

Cute girls in their matching sweaters!

The end of summer vacation

Our last day at the shore was the only one that had less than perfect weather. We were spared the major destruction of approaching Hurricane Earl (I think that was its' name) but the waves were huge and we had rain, so the beaches were closed. No swimming or wading. Here is a picture of the kids on the end of the walkway onto the beach. Notice the waves were right up to it. Usually, we had quite a walk from the end of the sidewalk to the ocean. It was raining when this picture was taken, that is why everyone is grimacing and squinting. Our last day at the shore and the kids are all posing with their amusement park prizes from the night before.

It isn't a great vacation without ice cream.

Eric took this picture with his professional camera our last night at the shore. Quinlan tried to convince me to ride with her but the four kids took up the entire space so I got out of it. I think if you click on this picture you will see that Elizabeth (far left) is cracking up, Meghan is smiling directly at Eric and his camera - she is an old pro at this picture business, Max (far right) is truly enjoying the ride and Quinlan (middle, next to Max) is screaming in terror!! Not funny for her but really funny for all of us. I think it was her idea to go on the ride in the first place.

More Wildwood

Surfer Girls: Elizabeth, Quinlan and Meghan

Daddy and Reilly spent a lot of time together in the pool. The child is a little fish.

Riding the waves.

Quinlan

Wildwood, NJ

Quinlan followed the lead of Meghan and Elizabeth Bennett and started "body surfing" the waves.
Miss Reilly in the ocean. Once she got used to it, she loved it.


Max was in the ocean for hours and hours and hours. He even got really good at picking up shells under the waves.

Beach baby!

Aunt Colleen and her friend, Felix, came to visit on our first full day at the shore. Here is a picture taken just before they went home. (front l to r:) Quinlan, Reilly and her new bear/dog/whatever infront of her face, Meghan Bennett, Max. (Middle:) Elizabeth Bennett. (Back:) Eric, Felix, Colleen and Chris

August 2010 and we are UP TO DATE!

Well, it has been a busy summer. I hope you enjoy the update to the blog. Soon I'll need to post Wildwood NJ vacation pictures (upcoming) and "back to school" pictures...... can you believe it is that time of year again?? Yeah!! I'm looking forward to just a little alone time once they are back to school. Max, however, never wants summer to end.

New baby cousin, Tessa Noelle Connor, was born on August 16th. We stopped by to see her and hold her last Sunday. I really wanted to bring her home with me but Andee said that I couldn't. Guess I'll just need to go visit more often to get my fill of "new-baby". Here is Max holding the new baby.
Quinlan and Reilly got a chance, too.

Mima and Poppy Reilly celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary with cake at Keuka Lake.

Quinlan, Max, Sydney and Aunt Susie husk some NY sweet corn for dinner Saturday night. It was really good. Quinlan had 2 pieces and wanted more. They did a pretty good job husking.... it is hard to get all that sticky corn silk off.

Sydney Reilly, Quinlan and Reilly have a snack on the back steps at "Poppy's Lake" - Keuka.

More Summer pictures

Our neighbors, the Marques family, got a new pool this summer. They have been very generous in allowing all the kids from this end of the neighborhood to go in it a lot. Here are Max and Quinlan hanging out. Reilly is probably in there somewhere.

Hanging at Keuka Lake with Grandma and Grandpa Connor. And the Canandiagua Connors (Curt, Mina, Will and Andee). Aunt Mary stayed home to rest up for the birth of their new baby.

Here is our "little fish" showing off her underwater swimming skills.

Reilly catches some rays in an Adirondack chair that is just her size. I never believed in those "swimmy" things until this year. They have really worked for us.

Reilly turns 4

We had a great party at home with all of Reilly's neighbor friends. Pizza, wings and cake were on the menu. Here is Reilly opening some of her really great gifts. Here is Reilly stuffing the "goodie bags". She thought they should have a tootsie pop and some silly bandz in them. Perfect, I guess.

We had a few tears just before cake. Not only was she completely worn out by the festivities but someone suggested that she might not get to eat the "big rose"..... so she cried. I took it off the cake and put it on her piece but in the end, it went into the trash. We had 2 cakes, Mickey Mouse and the chocolate one because there were so many people.