Halloween Party and the Orchestra

Our friends host a pretty great Halloween party every year.  This year, due to some unforeseen circumstances, they were unable to host, so we moved the party around the corner to our house and had a blast.  There was lots of candy, donuts from string and that time we let the kids toilet paper the play set... I think that was a good idea... they did all help to pick it up though;)

The next day we headed to Portland for another orchestra family concert.  Ben was chosen, again, to be a conductor and he did a great job!  All of the kids really love the instrument petting zoo and once again Ben proved to be destined for brass and that he doesn't care about clashing stripes in his wardrobe...

Fall Hodge Podge 2017

The persistent warm weather has really made things interesting this fall!  We have just harvested our carrots, but it is still too warm to store them outside, so we had to put them in the refrigerator.  It is always so much fun to see what has been growing under the ground all summer:)  The pigs are settling in nicely and starting to turn over the ground.  Just because we thought life wasn't full enough, we decided to get another round of meat birds before winter... I think that was a good idea...

The kids and I took a foliage walk up Titcomb, still without coats at the end of October.  Last weekend James and I ran in the Fit Girls 5K and he did an amazing job!  It was his fastest race to date and he finished near the top of the entrants.  Noah and I are training for a half marathon in December and had just completed a long run the day before, so he opted out of this race.  Our early morning runs have been beautiful!  Nannie came this past weekend while Gabe was on a hunting trip and we made sure to tackle the corn maze and get some pretty impressive pumpkins.

Ben has now lost his second top tooth and is wondering if he will still be waiting on both front teeth for Christmas.  He is still rocking the sweatband and since this seems to have some staying power, I did buy him two real sweatbands so there is an alternate when one needs to be washed.  The sweatband craze occasionally spills over to the other kids, but no one is as committed at Ben;)  James and Audrey got up early last weekend and were playing quietly until they came in a showed me their new ammo belts... for pretending to be in the war... for the record, this was the answer to my question to James, "What are you planning to do with all of those broken tees you keep collecting?"... 

Glidden Wedding Weekend

We didn't stay for the entire week at the fair because we had to get home, get the pigs settled and make a quick turnaround to head to Millinocket for Tim and Brandy's wedding!  We had so much fun, I think the pictures sum things up nicely. Audrey had her first flower girl experience.  It was hard to tell, but I think she enjoyed getting her hair done, she was expressionless and refused to speak to the hairdresser, but she didn't complain either;)  The barn was beautiful, the weather was perfect and everyone had a blast.  It was fantastic to be able to spend time with everyone at such a happy occasion.  Congratulation Tim and Brandy!

Fryeburg Fair 2017

We had so much fun at the fair this year!  The kids are finally old enough to sit for more than 2 minutes somewhere, we only kind of need a stroller and we can mostly trust that no one will run off (they may wander off, but that's a different issue;)).  Gabe thought he at least had a few days off during the week, but as it turned out he was only able to be at the fair with us on Sunday.  We were all pretty bummed about that.  The kids and I had so many days at the fair that we really got to take our time and see everything we wanted to see.  We watched a few magic shows, numerous tractor pulls, rode on some rides and even got to play a few games.  The baby goats were particularly frisky this year and tried to eat all of our clothing.  Thanks to being able to stay in Uncle Jon's camper again this year, we got some resting, school and non-fair food meals in too!  

This year was the anniversary of Woodsmen's day so they had a special paratrooper performance.  The kids were blown away by this and Audrey no longer wants to be a mom doctor, but instead a paratrooper.  I have no doubt that she would be successful at this if she really puts her mind to it;)  The second highlight of the fair this year was the pig scramble.  Noah and James were both eligible for the pig scramble and both put their names in.  Noah's name was chosen and James' was not.  Noah caught "Big Bill" and James got to pick out "Sheera" from the same farmer after the scramble was over.  So, I guess we are doing pigs again this year... I hope loading them into the trailer goes more smoothly this year... they are awfully cute...