Montessori Preschool

My little Camden is all grown up!  He is attending preschool this year for the very first time.  After four years of being home with Mama full-time, he now goes to a little Montessori school two mornings a week from 8:00-11:30!  We are so happy that we found such a wonderful, safe, challenging environment for him (we just wish it wasn't 20 minutes away!  Ugh!) and he really seems to be loving it so far.  Unfortunately, after happily being dropped off for the first two weeks, this past week brought major tears and yelling - He's not really sad, he's just being stubborn and acting angry and making my life, and his teachers lives, much more difficult for about 7 minutes.  Then he's completely fine.  His teachers call me or text me within 10 minutes to assure me that he's fine, and I continually feel thankful that we have found a school with such a personal touch.  When I pick him up he's happy and talking a mile-a-minute about his day.  But he told me tonight he's still going to scream when I drop him off...it's like it's a decision he's made and he's sticking to it.  I'm telling you, this is one stubborn kid.  Overall, though, we are loving our experience and are so excited to see our little man learning new things every day.

Here are the boys with their special breakfast before the first day of Preschool in September...

 We needed to take a few pictures before loading into the car!

 Micah totally cracks me up in this picture...

 He was a little nervous!

 What studs!  :)

 Showing off his new backpack!  Such a big boy!

 Standing in front of his cubby on Day #1...

 I may have shed a tear...

 Here are some pictures of his classroom.  Montessori is such a unique and amazing opportunity and he is really loving it!

 Behind that little fence is the snack/lunch area.  Camden is allowed to go to his cubby and get his snack at any point throughout the day if he's hungry and sit in that little area with friends to eat.  

 Micah wishes he could go here too!

 We joined the class for International Day of Peace even though it wasn't on our regularly scheduled day.  The kids made pinwheels and we all sang a song that they sing together in circle time.  It was pretty cute. 

 "Light a Candle for Peace"

A couple of the other Mom's and kids...Camden is buddies with the little girl in the purple shirt.  Isn't she adorable?!?!

Hopefully we won't get too burned out on the drive because this seems to be a great fit for Camden.  Here's to hoping I drop him off to no tears this week.  yeah right...

We Love Fall

Scott had his first Saturday morning off from teaching/coaching in about a month last weekend and we just had to get outside and do something fun together as a family.  We decided to bring the boys apple picking at Carter Hill Orchard.  I'd never been to this particular orchard before, and we had a great time exploring, playing with all the toys, picking apples and, of course, eating cider donuts!  Yummy!

 Camden was a very good apple picker!

 I know it's blurry...but too cute not to post it!

 I'm not sure why I still attempt to get pictures with these two goons.  They never turn out well!

 Oh well, good picture or not, I still love 'em to pieces! 

 Watching them make the donuts in the farm stand.  We bought a little bag of six and they were still warm.  They didn't last long. 

 I had been craving one of these for about 3 weeks...This was delicious, but it certainly didn't satisfy my craving!  I want more!

Happy Fall, Ya'll!

Just the Five of Us?

So, for those of you who live under a rock (or aren't Facebook friends with me), we have some news...

We are so thrilled to announce the upcoming arrival of of the newest (and last!) little Allenby.  Baby Goose (as the boys affectionately refer to him/her as) is due in late March on my Dad's birthday!  I love that this little one shares a due date with my Dad's special day, and although they probably won't actually share the same birthday, it's fun to think about the possibility.  (My mother-in-law's birthday is earlier that same week, but the likelihood of me actually giving birth to a child early is slim to none.  Both boys were six days late, so I'll probably end up with an April baby!)

Scott and I went back and forth for months (years?) about whether we wanted to try for a third baby or if our family was complete with our two boys.  We love our little family just the way it is, and practical concerns (financial, space in our house etc...) weighed heavily on us.  We talked this subject into the ground every single day and finally we decided to just stop talking about it for a little while and see how we were feeling in a few weeks.  One day Scott came home from work and said, "I've been thinking a lot these last few days, and I just really feel like our family isn't complete yet.  I also don't think it makes sense to make a decision like this based solely on finances...a lot can change and we just never know where we'll be, but I know we'll make it work."  Well, although he had been swaying me a bit towards his "no third baby" side with some legitimate concerns for a while, it didn't take any convincing for me as I was always leaning towards wanting just one more.

My concerns differ a bit from Scott's.  Finances will definitely be extremely tight, but my fears revolve more around the fact that I have to push another large Allenby baby (so far we have Camden weighing in at 9lbs even and Micah at 8.5lbs) out of me and endure excruciating back labor one more time...and the fact that I'm bound to get mastitis about 6 times in the first year of breastfeeding...and the fact that many nights a week during the school year I will be on my own attempting to put three kids to bed instead of just two...and the fact that right now, when I read bedtime stories to the boys, I have one arm around each of them with their heads resting on my shoulders and I just don't have another arm and shoulder for this third little person.  I'm sure we will have moments where we are overwhelmed and while we're scrambling in the zone defense we may sometimes reminisce about the good ol' man-to-man days, but I know for a fact that this little life is going to complete our family, that we will love him/her unconditionally, that s/he will be a great playmate for our boys and that Micah and Camden will love their little sibling and they will all take good care of each other.  Based on my experience with Micah's birth, I know that even if I'm nervous and feeling a little unsettled in the final days before Baby Goose's arrival, my heart will grow the moment I lay my eyes on this child and I will never be able to imagine my life without them.  I feel so blessed to be experiencing pregnancy again, to lie down with my boys and let them snuggle my belly and talk to the baby. We are just continuing to pray that all goes smoothly throughout and that little Baby Goose is healthy and content in there.

Does this mean I have to change the title of my blog?  Again?  (What was I thinking when I originally titled this Just the Three of Us?)  Thanks for all of your excitement!  It's gonna be a wild ride!

Pig Roast

We live in New Hampshire, so obviously, when we're invited to a friend's house for dinner our first thought is, will this be a normal cook-out with hot dogs and hamburgers or will we dig up our meal from underground?  Our good friends Gregor and Amy decided to have a Pig Roast and although I was a little nervous about the idea at first, it turned out to be so fun and so delicious!  Gregor's brothers were up visiting and they thought it would be fun to roast an entire pig underground "Polynesian style" - I didn't even know you could roast a pig underground, but they did it and it was awesome!  Here are some pictures from the beautiful summer evening...
What a sweet big brother...

 Digging up the beast...

 These guys live in a pretty picturesque part of town!

 Unwrapping the wire, burlap sacks, tinfoil etc...to reveal the poor pig!

 The head fell off - I guess that's a good sign that it was done!  I took a picture of just the head, but thought I'd spare you that vision...

 Camden wasn't quite sure what to think, but he sure ate a lot of meat.  I'm thinking this might be a yearly tradition. 

Have YOU ever been to a Pig Roast?