This Year's Apple Adventure

Ahhhh, it's that time of year again! Al, Mandy and the kids went out last week to pick apples at one of the local farm/ orchards. It's a small family run place that grows and sells various fruit and vegetables throughout the Summer and Fall months. Depending on what they have, the kids also get to see and interact with some farm animals as well. The kids always enjoy the horse drawn wagon ride out to the apple orchards. Mia wasn't too sure what to make of the horses, but she did remember their names and as soon as she got home she told me that they were Abe and Abbey.

Maddox seemed to emerge as the apple picker of the family, while Mia made herself known early on as the official taste tester. Maybe this could be a potential career for her since it is rare to find anything that this girl won't eat or at least try!

I'm not too sure what was happening here. Maybe it's best for a Nana not to know. All I know is Mimi looks really determined and Maddox looks like he's thinking, "Uh oh, she's gonna fall and I'm gonna get blamed!"

ABC's & 123's

Maxie started a new preschool this fall and so far he seems to really like it. They have been going over all of the usual Fall things, learning to recognize their own names in print and most importantly how to be good little preschool citizens and classmates. So far there have been none of the teary mornings that Mandy had to deal with last year- and she hasn't had to peel him from her leg in order to drop him off. What a difference a few months make!

What's One More?

Here is the newest addition to our already bursting at the seams household. This is Mandy's new friend. He is an 8 month old Solomon Island Eclectus parrot. His name is Jasper. He is quite beautiful and so far he only makes noise when he hears loud music....he is particularly fond of Shakira. He has been quite friendly and gentle as evidenced by the fact that we still have all of our fingers and toes. These birds can become very good talkers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMx10BUgzEM
If it holds true that they learn whatever phrases they hear the most often, his first words are sure to be either Naaaaannna!!!, Emmy Peed!!!, or MADDOX CADEN!!! GIVE THAT BACK TO MIMI!!!

Imagine That!

Our house has become quite a treacherous place to be these days. It started last weekend when Maddox and I were home alone quietly enjoying a movie. As I headed to the kitchen for something drink Maddox yelled “Nana! Be careful Alligator is coming! Run!” He and I had quite an adventure that night! We were finally able to escape once the hungry alligator fell asleep. I don't know if we have inadvertently awakened some sort of Jumanji like spirit in our home, but we have since been plagued with crocodiles (they have big teeth like the alligator) the occasional lion, various dinosaurs, and this morning we all found ourselves running to escape the scalding breath of a fire breathing dragon! Maxie is spending the night with Jamie and Josh tonight. I suppose I should warn them just I case any of this wild life has managed to sneak away with him in his back pack. Funny thing- if they can just manage to survive until Maddox falls asleep, the spell seems to lift and the creatures vanish. Go figure.

Sweet dreams little man.............................and remember; The alligator likes cookies.

The Guimond Family Tree

Last weekend we bundled up the kids and headed out into the Maine forest (okay local tree farm) in search of the perfect tree for this year's holiday. For the past several years we have been perfectly satisfied with our non-needle shedding artificial pine accompanied by a good pine scented candle for effect. This year, what with Maxie being old enough to start to appreciate the the tradition and ceremony of it all, we decided that we should go out and cut our tree like the true Mainers that we are. All in all it was a nice outing at Mason's tree farm. The kids really seemed to enjoy it even though they really didn't fully understand what we were doing. I think the highlight of the event for Maddox was the machine that they put the tree on to shake off the excess needles and the bundling machine thatwraps the tree in the netting.My intent with my picture taking on this day was to follow up with a picture of the tree nicely decorated, standing in our living room all fragrant and beautiful. Well, in the week since putting it up the dog has knocked it over once. (We think it was the dog......may have been Mimi.) It has shed more needles than I ever thought it had to start with, and Mimi and Emmy (boxer) are having a daily competition to see which one of them can undecorate it in the quickest and most creative way. Mia's method seems to consist of grabbing one end of the bead garland and pulling. This usually gets her the garland and whatever ornaments it manages to snag along the way. Emmy on the other hand seems to prefer the "grab the end of a branch and shake" method! This works kind of like the harvesting cherries from the trees only instead of cherries she gets rewarded with needles and ornaments. I have given up putting whatever comes off back on at this point. We currently have about 4 feet of bare tree at the bottom. I'm learning to choose my battles............. I will re-beautify it on Christmas Eve after the kids .......ummm I mean dog have been crated, and the kids are in bed. Maybe then if it has any needles left on it I will take my picture to post!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hagatha Lotsawarts

This is my latest doll. She was done in honor of Halloween. She has quickly become the favorite doll that I have done so far. Her hands, head and feet, and walking stick are all sculpted from polymer clay. Her clothing and hat are all made of various fabrics. She is approximately 21 inches tall and took me about a month from start to finish since I was only able to work on her on weekends and days off.

Here she is fresh from the oven before being painted.

Introducing Emmy

This is our new baby. She came to us in a round about way, but she is here and she is ours never the less. Her name is Emmy. She is a 3 month old boxer. Jamie happened to see her a few weeks ago at the same place where she and Josh got their male boxer . Knowing how much I liked their Bentley, she called to ask me if I wanted her to get the pup for me. I declined at the time feeling that it was the wrong time for a new puppy. Besides, I really wanted a male boxer if I were ever to get one; she wasn't really the exact coloring that I had in mind and so on and so on........A few weeks went by and I didn't really think about it any more. Then we got a call from Jamie saying that she and Josh had just bought the pup and that they had decided to keep her. They stopped by our house on their way home and I instantly fell in love with her; the rest is history. I know that they really did buy her for themselves, but I think that a little part of Jamie knew that once I saw her...................Thanks Jamie! She is a little quieter than your average boxer, at least she seems to be based upon what I have read, but she still has the quirky goofy boxer personality.

Fall Happenings

If anyone were to ever ask me why I love living in Maine, "October and November" would easily be my answer without hesitation. There is nothing like this time of year in Maine. Even a simple ride to the grocery store becomes a scenic tour. We still get those amazing days of full sunshine, but the air is crisp and cool.......it just makes you feel good. One of my friends at work always says that the weather this time of year makes her feel frisky. Here are some photos that we have taken over the past several weeks. If I were a better blogger I'd get them up as things happen, but days go by and, well......you get the picture.........eventually!

Mimi & Papa at the apple orchard. I love this picture.


Who needs a ladder when you have Papa!

Showing off their haul.

Bringing in the firewood. I wonder if they will be as willing to help when they are teenagers??


The Pumpkin Patch

Budding Artists........such concentration!

Halloween Costumes

Furry New Grandpups

We have new furry members of the family. Jamie and Josh have acquired two new pups; a pug (Bayla) and a boxer (Bentley) They are going through the usual pains of training and housebreaking that always accompany a new puppy. I'm sure that Both Josh and Jamie would say that doing it with two is double the pain! They are both so cute and are giving me puppy fever in a big way! Al, on the other hand seems to have gone and gotten himself immunized against this particular strain of the "fever." Maybe he just needs to be exposed to those eyes a few more times.....

The Wild Bunch

The girls decided to take a quick shopping trip to Freeport to exchange a few items that Mimi got for her birthday. As we have come to expect, her clothes were all too big. We keep trying to get her some “Big Girl” outfits but the typical toddler clothing tends to be short- which works in her favor. Unfortunately, most of it is also wide- which doesn't.

The plan was to head south with Maddox to York’s Wild Animal Kingdom after the shopping, depending on how he was holding up. I had not been to York’s since I was a child so I decided to take a quick look at their website to see what they had to offer. I was reading down their list of typical zoo animals and came upon their ad for elephant rides. I thought to myself how much Maddox would love seeing a real live elephant. I leaned back in my chair and pictured him standing safely behind a very high, very sturdy fence excitedly pointing and jumping up and down as he watched the elephant do it’s elephant things. I breathed a sigh of relief, confident in knowing that there was no way that my girls would ever think of putting my precious grand baby boy on an elephant. After all haven't we all read the headlines about the elephants gone crazy? Not to mention the fact that we are a family who does not agree with wild animals being kept in these kinds of conditions. Have we not boycotted the circus for years as our own way of protesting the wild animal acts for goodness sakes? Nope, my girls would never approve of this, let alone support it......then comes a jingle of my cell phone and up pops this:

Yes, that would be Amanda and Maddox sitting atop that enormous beast. Okay, I admit a small part of me was just a little amused at the sight of it. I like it when my girls are able to shake off the shackles of their overly cautious mother and go out and do something that I would never dare to do. (Within reason, of course!)