Squires Comings and Goings

Summer is here!

squireshome — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 01:09:41 +0000

There has been a lot of activity in the Squires’ family during the last few months. Steve and I took our first camping trip in mid-May to York, ME with our dear friends. It was so relaxing and nice to eat without any kid interruption! Over Memorial Day weekend we took our 2nd trip also with the Reardons to Old Orchard Beach, this time with kiddos in tow. We had a great time hitting the beach, the carnival, ice cream, making smores, etc.

In May Steve also started his Sabbatical which means he will be home during the summer working on the last chapters of his dissertation. We are so glad to have him home. He has been working steadily to open our pool and we were able to use it last week for the first time!!! Woo hoo!!! Along with the pool opening, June has brought Hannah’s last days of school and her end of year celebration. Just yesterday another mom and I took Hannah and her friend Scarlet to the Boston MFA to view the Dale Chihuly exhibit. The kids loved it!

Take a look at all the pics on the media page as well as a few videos.

Hope everyone’s summer is off to a fabulous start!

Missy

Hiking behind our house with friends

West Side Story by Bradford Christian Academy - our babysitter was Maria!

Camping!!

Carnival!

Flowers from Daddy at Hannah's final show!

Just love this picture!

First pool day at our house

Hannah at the art museum

Josie's first time riding her bike!

Easter

squireshome — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 02:01:17 +0000

Well Easter has come and gone. We had a great holiday as always with lots of church events, egg decorating, lenten reading and of course candy. Hannah was off school all last week so we spent some good quality time with friends. Back to school today but only for about a month – her last day is June 3. Then first grade in the fall! I can’t believe it.

Check the newly uploaded pics on the media page! Here is a sneak peek below:

Easter Morning

Welcome Spring!

squireshome — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 02:28:45 +0000

So, in response to my serious lack of blogging, I have started to upload all the photos from my iphone into the mobile me account that can be accessed on the media page of this blog. You will see all the photos in there from our recent escapades in February, March and the beginning of April. A few pics below highlight our adventure to Home Depot today to build planters! The girls did so well with a hammer…I couldn’t believe it. Time to tackle larger projects. We also finished painting their room today which they participated in. They both did a great job, only a few drips!

Many more pictures to come.

Best, Missy

Ready for building!

Josie

Hannah

Final Results!

Oh yeah, built it myself!

Painting our own room!

Dad’s Day at MMS

squireshome — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:41:12 +0000

We just had Dad’s Day at Hannah’s School (Merrimack Montessori). This is a day when I go in and spend time with here and get to see what she is working on. It’s a lot of fun. Here’s a pic of her with a lot more over at our MEDIA page.

Hannah working on place value (wick smaht)

Sledding 2011

squireshome — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:20:25 +0000

Hey all, Steve here.

I took the kids sledding here in Hampstead over at the grammar school – awesome place to sled and we had an awesome time. Josie, well, she didn’t do much sledding – a lot of walking around and snow angels. Hannah on the other hand, got into it Here are some pics. I posted a video of her trip on the MEDIA page as well as the rest of the pics that can be accessed from our media page. Don’t forget to check it out!

Hannah Josie reading for sledding

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Moved to NH, Christmas. Been a while.

squireshome — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 03:03:22 +0000

So I have not updated the blog in forever, but I have a very good excuse. We sold our house and moved to Hampstead, NH! All of the paperwork, details, etc. pretty much took over my life so the blog was on the back burner. Really not even on a burner at all. Anyway, to catch you up I’ll start with Halloween. We had a fun night as always, and also had a really great Harvest Party at the church for the community. So fun for the kids as they ate donuts off a string, got their face painted, played in the bouncy house, ate pizza and of course trick-or-treated thru the rooms of the church that were decorated for a theme. A few pics below!

Hannah at the Harvest Party set-up

Josie at the Harvest Party

Ready for trick-or-treating!

Out they go with dad close behind!

Needless to say that between the party and trick-or-treating we had more than enough sweets in the house and had to decide that candy only lasts a month and needs to be disposed of thereafter:)

Our next adventures took place in November when Gramma and Grampa Gillette came out for a visit during Thanksgiving. We really enjoyed having them here and they were able to attend Hannah’s fall assembly. The videos of her singing with her class are located on the media page – check them out! Here are some pics as well:

Girls with Gramma and Grampa

Making Pumpkin Pie

Gramma carving turkey

Hannah entering for the assembly

Josie waiting most patiently

November also brought birthday parties, playdates, hikes, and a commissioned work of art for me. See below!

Josie and Ella at Ella and Tyler's birthday party

Ella and Josie again!

Tyler and Hannah thinking they are HILARIOUS

Hiking at Winnekenni

Completed painting

Hannah also had another assembly at school the day before our move. Make sure to visit the media page so you can see the video clip!

Hannah waiting to sing!

Moving right along…we closed on our new home on December 17. Yes, December 17. The day before our church’s huge weekend of concerts and the week before Christmas. All I can say is that we are SO BLESSED with so many wonderful people in our life! More than 15 people came out each night to pack us up and then unload at the new house. We were fed for at least a week by our church family. And our best friends took the girls out to get a Christmas tree for us!!! It was wonderful.

Playing Polar Express in the midst of our boxes

Goodbye old house! You were so good to us.

Hello new house! We are looking forward to many new memories...

Hannah and Josie picking out the tree

Decorating the tree with Grammie Squires and Daddy

Making homemade play-doh gifts for friends at church. The girls also donated toys to the church toy drive benefiting local families in need. The families were able to wrap the toys and give them as their own.

So with 3 days and counting we had a tree up and decorated. Now to just find stockings, fill, wrap presents, go to Christmas Eve services and impersonate Santa for fun (Steve had a busy week!)

Kids' Christmas Eve service

Hannah with Santa

Christmas Eve gift from Santa - new jams

Christmas morning!

Josie in her new rocking chair!

Polly Pocket campers

Lincoln Logs - always good

Our traditional birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas

Our Christmas dinner was Portillo’s of Chicago thanks to Grammie Squires!!! Italian beef and hot dogs. Oh yeah.

Portillo's

Another tradition we have begun is watching The Nutcracker, or a version of it, for the holiday season.

Hannah doing a Passe

Josie with her wooden nutcracker

Lastly, here are just some great pics of the girls with Grammie and Auntie Kelley. We are so happy they were able to come out!

Hannah and Grammie

Chillin' with Kelley

Sledding in the backyard!

I think I need to wrap it up there. We certainly had a wonderful new year as well celebrating with good friends and good beer:) This is the first week we have begun to feel settled in our new home.

We pray that all of you had a safe and blessed holiday season. We are looking forward to all that 2011 will bring!

Autumn

squireshome — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:39:21 +0000

In New England you have no choice but to respond to the changing weather and landscape around you. Every farm in the area has a festival. Apples call out to be picked and made into goodies. Pumpkins are picked right from the patch with soggy shoes and shrill giggles at the discovery of a lady bug:) See below for some of our participation in the season’s kick-off!

Josie's apple

Hannah's apple

How Josie got her apple!

How Hannah got her apple. Thanks Dad!

Making applesauce

Apple Collage

Eating Applesauce!

Pumpkin Festival!

Josie in the hay castle

Big jump!

Smile!

Ready for our hay ride!

Little tractors

Here she comes!

Josie's first pony ride

Hannah on Pepper

Entering the corn maze

Hannah

Josie

Our surprise discovery!

School begins…

squireshome — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:24:36 +0000

Now that I have posted, posted and posted to update our blog from the summer, I want to jump right into September with a first day of school picture! Hannah began school on Sept. 2 for her Kindergarten year at Merrimack Montessori here in Haverhill. Josie is doing some preschool work at home with me and I will post some pics of that coming up. I also started teaching again (my one-day-a-week job) teaching kindergarten art in Newburyport, MA. Steve also adds to his schedule teaching courses again at Endicott College. We are trying the get back into our fall routine with an added schedule of soccer games for Hannah on Saturdays. We are very thankful for the rest we had this summer and look forward to great work to be done this year!

Hannah on her way to class, Day 1.

Old Orchard Beach, Maine

squireshome — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:00:48 +0000

So our travels were far from over after our triathlon weekend. We packed up the trailer (really Steve did:)) and we headed east to Old Orchard Beach, Maine. We camped at Paradise Park Campground, about 3 blocks away from the main beach. It was great! The beach has a carnival, which the kids loved. On a rainy day we were able to head north to Portland, Maine and visit the Children’s Museum there. See pics below!

The pond at our campground

The pier at the beach on a very windy day

Carnival! Where we would be spending a lot of time...

Watching waves

Mom and Josie lounging!

Could dig all day

Carnival Rides!

Tea Cups

Trucks!

Frog Hopper

Josie and Hannah fishing at the campground pond

Waiting for more rides - carnival, day 2

Bear ride

Hannah climbing the huge euroslide

Motorcycles

Fire Truck at the Children's Museum

At fireworks night on the beach with Daddy...Josie fell asleep before she could go!

Out for ice cream at an old fashioned soda fountain shop in Ocean Park, ME

Our last day!

Mmmmmm.....

Off to the Timberman Triathlon and camping at Gunstock!

squireshome — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 01:37:07 +0000

In August Steve and I competed in the Timberman Triathlon 70.3 at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. I raced on Saturday, Aug. 21 in the sprint length and Steve competed in the full 70.3 on Sunday. We were also able to camp right at Gunstock Resort with friends. See pics!

Me and the girls at the end of my race

Steve coming into the finish chute!

Hannah preparing to rock climb during daddy's race

On the wall!

Our campsite!

Weirs Beach on Lake Winnipesaukee

The pier at Weirs Beach

The fam!

New sunglasses!

Looking off the bridge

Our set up on Weirs Beach with the Reardons!