A visit from Komo and Mike

I can't believe I'm actually updating the blog again. Well, this is our busiest time of year, and thus our busiest picture taking time of year.

We had Komo and Mike here this weekend which reminded me that I had some pictures taken at their New Canaan residence that I hadn't uploaded yet. So, the first few pictures are from the end of April. The rest of the pictures are from yesterday, the last day of May. We went to Great Brook farm in Carlisle for a little hike and lo and behold they had a little festival going on.
We got to go on a tour of the milk barn, listen to a little blue grass music, and of course, have some ice-cream. It really made it feel like a summer day, it's a shame the girls still have a month of school left :(
Anyway, enjoy the pics!


The girls playing with a ball at Komo and Mike's place:



Komo magically suspends the ball in the air. How does she do it???



Komo and Mike:



Brother and Sister shot:



Some animal shots, Mr. Goat :



Teddy (aka the Tedster)



A cow in the dairy barn:



Two horses from the hay ride;



Everyone but me (someone had to take the picture):



One cutie pie:



The other cutie pie. I love the red of Hannah's shirt against the green of the corn field.
Besides, who doesn't love a little Elmo????

Hannah's birthday

Hannah has finally turned twelve.
She has dreamed of this day for a long time because it means pierced ears!!

The birthday also involved a cookie puss cake from Nana and a Twilight themed scavenger hunt, sleepover birthday party. I posted a lot of pictures but some are self explanatory so I won't label them all. All in all, I think turning twelve was a great experience for Hannah.


Cookie Puss cake:



Shot of the birthday girl:



Sophie trying to steal the show:



sweet picture of Gene and Sophie watching Hannah open gifts:



Hannah is very pleased with herself:



Sophie decorates her face with the cookie puss frosting. Stealing the show again??????



Hannah takes it all in stride (with a clean face you might note)



Time for bed twelve year old!



Too Cute!!!



The following pictures show Hannah's scavenger hunt party. They went around the neighborhood looking for hidden clues, at the playground, under a mailbox, in a dog house, at the cememtary, etc. They don't need a lot of explanation but they show what a good time the kids had:



Gene says the picture below is very "Stand By Me". I agree.














After the sun went down Gene started up the fire pit and the girls sat around and made smores.
They had a great time and we had to corral them back inside before the neighbors started complaining!








All in all it was a great birthday for Hannah!

Pl (e) aster

Comedy/Tragedy Part II

Hannah worked on finishing her plaster comedy/tragedy masks over this past weekend and Sophie decided to make a plaster easter egg so she could be part of the fun. Here you can see the artists at work.

Hannah starts by making a blue goatee on the tragedy mask:



I took the following picture of Hannah filling in the rest of the blue face and only after I uploaded it did I notice the silly guy in the back. Why is that silly guy in all our pictures????? :


Hannah is "tragedy" (she makes the comment that her mask looks more like a blue man group character than a tragedy mask but hams it up anyway :))



Hannah is comedy. We think the eyelashes make a nice "happy" touch:

Sophie works hard on her plaster easter egg:


The finished egg (pop-pop and daddy helped a little in the end):

The finished mask:

Easter Morning:

Every year I take the requisite picture of the girls with their easter baskets after their annual easter egg hunt. This year I was struck by how old both girls looked so I found the oldest digital easter picture I had and posted it for comparison. It feels so strange to me to look at these little girls, and I miss them, even though they are still here. How is that?

Easter 2002:


Easter 2009:

Sophie gets Plastered

Hannah is currently doing a school project on Ancient Greek theater. Of course, no greek theater project would be complete without the requisite comedy/tragedy masks. So with her sister and I as subjects she went to work with some plaster strips and a lot of patience from us.
Sophie got to be comedy, I was tragedy. I know I haven't posted anything in a while but this event seemed worthy of a little photojournalism. Enjoy!

First you have to make an "X" over the nose, then you do the forehead.


Next the cheeks:

Finally, fill in the blanks, but leave some air holes!


This thing is getting heavy! Get it off me:


Ahhh! Relief!!
The finished product and a happy girl with a clean face!

Now it's Mommy's turn! (Remember the mask is a tragedy mask so I only look grumpy on the outside)
Tada!!
Stay tuned for when she paints them tomorrow!!