A little late!

Sorry I forgot to post an update on how Hunter made out at his first day of school. I'm here now to fill you in... I know, I'm always writing on her lately right?? First Grade seems to be working very well for Hunter. He really enjoys his new teacher Mrs. Campbell. She is very structured, and keeps a very calm room. I was very impressed. Hunter was happy with lunch as well. They had one of his favorites on his first day back.. A Chicken Burger..... The rest of the week followed with more of his favorites. Taco Salad, and Pizza! He was very happy to see his friends again. Although he was sad, to see that his classroom of 15 from last year, went down to only 7 of them being together this year. :(
As a parent I was very happy to see that Mrs. Campbell is a little more organized. She gave them all folders with a take home, and return to school section. So the papers don't get crumbled or lost along the way! Also, she sent home a paper to guide you and give you directions on their homework. OH MY WORD, I can help him with homework and know what i am doing! LOL... Sorry but compared to last year, when we only got instructions on post-it notes and half the time Hunter would lose them before making it home, it made it extremely difficult to help him with it. That was such a blessing! They are even numbered, so you know what he is going to have before he gets it! I think the start of the year is looking bright! I'm very happy with it, and hope that we continue to have a very successful year.
Hunter's first field trip will be coming up, they are going to a local fair, where they learn about agriculture and stuff. They went last year as well, and they got to help make some homemade butter, and a blueberry pie ... I believe... I'll keep you posted! :)

Just Some Summer fun!

Sadly with all the rain this summer, we haven't really been able to make it to the playground much this year. For most of you, you know this is a rare thing for the Bertone family! We are always at a playground during the summer months! We captured a few of their cute, and some growing moments we would like to share with you.



Sage & Rachel getting along can you believe it???


I must add that watching Sage "try" to kick a soccer ball is very funny.... She can't quite grasp the kicking concept yet... its more of a run, and hit the ball at the same time kinda thing. :)


This year Rachel is able to climb on this without being scared and thinking she needed help. Look how big she has gotten! Can you believe 5 in less than 2 months now??

Hunter has worked really hard the last year to master being able to go across the monkey bars. Now that he is in First Grade, he informs me, he is able to do it! Good Job Hunter! Practice makes prefect!

The simple women's daybook

THE SIMPLE WOMEN'S DAYBOOK


FOR TODAY September 1st

Outside My Window...

the sun is peaking out nicely, its a bit chilly out there, but suppose to get warmer before the day is out. :)

I am thinking...

What a lovely weekend we really had.... hope today is just as good.

I am thankful for...
My kids, and my family.... they are a great inspiration to me!

From the kitchen...
the smell of sausage, eggs, and English muffins YUM!

I am wearing...

Pj's at the moment, but must get dressed very soon.

I am reading...

Just finished "Bitter is the New Black" By Jen Lancaster... A friend recommended them and said they were funny. So, I thought I would read one.

I am hoping...
that I can find a Job soon.....

I am creating...

a clean work space in a few hours. I have to clean the office! :)

I am hearing...

Mickey Mouse Club House, Sage is addicted to it!

Around the house...

It is rather quiet this morning... Andy is making breakfast, Hunter is eating, Sage is watching Mickey, and Rachel is sleeping (although, I have to wake her up soon)

One of my favorite things...

My kids when they smile at me or get excited about something!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
Not really sure what the rest of the week has in store for me.... Today we have a BoyScout Fund raiser, I need to clean the office, and then go to a meeting tonight... The rest of the week is up in the air.. Rachel starts school on Tuesday.(look for a post) Couple of appointments, and that is it!

The picture I am sharing:
Is Hunter on his second day of school... holding a flower he picked me... I like this picture cause it is black & white... :) My little boy is growing up to fast!

Labor Day Weekend Part 2

Alright, as promised part 2... Today we started out our day rather slow and relaxed. When we got up Andy made us pancakes for breakfast. Then the kids went outside to play... While Andy and I just hung out in the house, relaxing and chillin out. Nice calm relaxed day.... comes far and few between. Later this afternoon we got ready to go to a friends house. We had made plans to go to Holly & Aaron's house for the evening. It was nice, cause Andy has stuff in common with Aaron. Upon arriving my children dove right in like they owned the place! This is what kids can do in 5 mins......
We had dinner there... Boy was it good! Pork chops, mashed potatoes, stuffing, peas, and carrots. So good!!! Thanks again Holly! I tired to help with dinner, but the baby started to cry so I picked him up and got him to fall asleep. Yes, I'm using the baby as an excuse! :)

After dinner we attempted to get the kids to pick up. Can I tell you what a task that was. My kids hate to pick up no matter where we are... UGH! But man can they make a mess in seconds. I feel absoulutely horrible about the fact we left such a mess behind. We ran out of time, if we wanted to make it to see the fireworks in time. SO AGAIN.... Holly I am so so sorry! I owe you! Next time we will get together at my house..... LOL! :)

We made it to the fireworks just in time... They started them just as we parked. I was surprised to see how many people were at these. Norridgewock is a small town after all! They were at the local small airport.. Not a bad location for them actually. They even park people, so you can sit in your car and watch them if you want. My kids got out and stood in front of my car. They were very nice fireworks I must say... I mean for what I usually see! Andy captured a few I am going to share with you in moment. This is only the second time my girls have seen the fireworks, and I must say they weren't scared at all which surprised me. Poor Ryann, and Silas were a bit spooked by them I think.




There are just a few of my favorite shots. :) Andy did a good job getting them! Now I'm going to share a photo of the kids watching them.


I was trying to get a shot with my cell phone. I got a pretty good one, that is now my background on my phone.

The kids are wearing nice glow necklaces, that they got from Holly & Aaron... The kids say "Thanks" again. They love them. The girls hung them on their beds while they sleep! So, they could find them fast in the morning. :)





My last photo to share is of Holly, Silas and I! We haven't had a photo taken together for a long time. I was happy to get one tonight. We had a great time with our friends. I hope that we get together again soon......

So there you have Part 2 of the weekend. So far we have had a really great weekend. Spent together as a family and also with some great friends. I hope that tomorrow brings the same relaxing fun times. So, stay tuned for part 3.....


"Happy Labor Day Everyone"

Labor Day Weekend Part 1

Over the course of the last week Andy has been cleaning up the front yard, which may I add has desperately needed it. Well in doing so, he decided to make a fire pit.... cause the kids love to toast marshmallows, and just sit around the fire, especially in the fall! :)

Saturday being the first part of our Labor Day Weekend, we weren't really sure what we wanted to do. Funds being low, and not a lot of options in the area. We started it out by picking up Rachel from my moms... she spent the night there on Friday night. We visited with them for a little while and discussed what we would like to can this year... My mom, and I like to can apple pie filling for the year.... in the fall. Plus we were talking about maybe some jelly this year, along with some pickles, cause mom has tons, and I mean tons of cucumbers this year!

Getting off subject... sorry! I like to ramble. After we left my mother's we came home, as we had a birthday party to attend for Autumn. Although, Rachel was cranky... (no doubt from her lack of sleep.....mom said she was up before them) and Sage had fallen asleep in the car. She was feeling a little under the weather from Allergy's. We then decided since it had been a few weeks since we had been to the library... we would take the kids down, when Rachel could settle down a bit. Off we went to the little library in town.... Its small but quaint. We like it, and the kids just love going to get new books to read/have read to them. Hunter loves the Magic Tree House Series, and also found a new set The A to Z Mysteries that he enjoys. He and I take turns reading the pages, to increase his confindence in reading, and for us to enjoy time together. Rachel well, she likes anything princess of course, but is pretty open to hearing any good story. She even got a book to keep cause she qualified for some new program Governor Baldaci is doing with Kindergarten students state wide. (She would have been in Kindergarten, but her birthday is 12 days past the cut off) Sage's love for books is just as strong as the other two. She loves to get those books, that she can identify things in, or learn her ABC's.... This trip to the library we decided to get a few fall, and Halloween books for the upcoming season. Here you can see that they all had their special book they needed to carry to the car, and look at for the short drive home.

From the Library we made a couple of stops and headed back home. Once home of course the kids had to read some of their books they picked. Then they went outside to play while Andy made dinner. After dinner they went back outside, and Andy decided he wanted to go out and get the fireplace going. So.... I went out and sat on the porch and played with the Smilebox program a little bit. While the kids ran around like crazy people. Then we made some s'mores for the kids. Oh weren't they excited about that. They love marshmallow's!Sage enjoying that gooey mess!


Rachel got really messy! Even ended up with Marshmallow in her hair, and on her nose! Guess she was really enjoying it!


Hunter is the biggest S'more fan in our house! :) Yummy!!!!

After they finished with their marshmallow mess... We put out the fire, and cleaned up our mess. Came inside, and all sat down to watch a movie. We ended up watching Harry & the Henderson's. One of my favorite movies as a kid.... Hunter really enjoyed that one too. After the movie, they all headed to bed. We had a great first day to our Labor Day Weekend... Stay tuned for Sunday Part 2....

Hunter's First BoyScout Trip

This is actually suppose to be back in July...but I'm just now getting to it. On July 26th, Hunter's BoyScout Troop, went to what they call FunPac weekend in southern Maine. Andy went with him, as I thought this should be more of a father, son activity... They left very early Saturday morning....like at 5:00am I do believe. :) To head out for their adventure. The first stop being at a restaurant in a town near the camp, for breakfast. Upon arriving... they set up camp... right next door to the Anson Troop. Then they went to their big gathering...our troops first activity was swimming. One rule being that they have to have a buddy, and they did random buddy checks. Lunch followed their swimming...

Afternoon brought more excitement with Sports, doing some Olympic like activities.. followed by scout crafts..his troop, learned what Firefighters did in training.. like rolling hoses, dressing up in the fire suit and running, climbing up ladders to rescue a cow. (sounds like it would have been a riot to watch) Then they were off to enjoy the Nature, learning about animal prints, plants, and they went on a hike. Hunter was excited he got to see some turtles on his hike. After a exhausting them on a hike, they went to have dinner. They cooked a foil meal on the fire pit. They had stew beef, potatoes, and carrots. (YUM)

After dinner, the evening meeting started... the different troops, did their skits.... Unfortunately, our troop did not do its skit, cause to many kids were exhausted from the day... After the meeting they went back to the camp for some s'mores.. Then it was bed time, guessing it didn't take long for the kids to pass out!

Sunday morning, they got up and had breakfast.... and off to Archery they went. Hunter was very excited about this.. he was very eager to try this. As you can see in the above photo... with the big smile plastered on his face! Then they went to B.B guns. Also, making Hunter very excited he got to try this out. He was very proud of himself, and that was the first thing he told me about when he got home. To wind down the weekend, their last thing was Arts & Crafts. In this Hunter made his neckerchief with his troop number and some drawings on it. Then it was time to pack up and head back home. The boys slept most of the way home... as they were so exhausted from the weekend events. Hunter had a blast, as did Andy. They are eager to return for next years activities.

More silly cute photo's!

Sage's Gorgeous Smile!


Sage Just Being Silly!


Rachel Dancing!