Christmas with the Freemans

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Before...... After

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Before...














After...





She broke her arm in two places after falling off the monkey bars. Doesn't she look proud?

camp

Well, it was another crappy week at camp, although it was better than the last vacation in June. It only rained every other day. We celebrated Luke's birthday, Gabe and I made a Mayan temple Cake. It was AWESOME! There were teddy graham worshipers and of course the Mayan King atop of the temple. We even had the sacrificial offering, if you look close you can see the poor fella tumbling down the stair case.

There was a lot of cribbage playing at camp and couple of scrabble games. The kids played and watched movies now and then. There was way too much food, but it was sooooo good. Dinners included spare ribs, pulled pork, grilled chicken, spaghetti, chilli and lots of leftovers. The boys worked on the dock and I am so happy to report that it is in! That was a job and a half. There were no injuries to report, except the noseeum fly feast that was had every night while we played cribbage.

All in all it was a great week and fun was had by all.

4th of July

We spent the 4th at camp on Ambejejus lake in Millinocket, or TR something. Since the weather was well more than crappy the lake was very quiet, not much boating happening. We did have a few dry days, but it was too buggy to really enjoy the outdoors. We had a lobster feed with steak, corn and all the fixins! We tried to race the lobsters on the deck, but they weren't going very fast. Alyssa was more than dissapointed. Even though the weather was bad, we all had a good time being at camp. Alyssa did some fireworks on the deck and as usuall we saw some fireworks on the lake! We plan on heading up again this summer, hopefully the weather will cooperate.

A day in Bar Harbor

We spent a drizzly grey day in Bar Harbor. We went up Cadalac Mountain and even though we couldn't see very much, Alyssa and Jack had a lot of fun. Alyssa learned that it used to be a volcano "colcano" as she says. She loved exploring on the rocks. After the trip up the mountain we spent some time at the beach in Seal Harbor, one of my favorite spots. The sun eventually came out for a little while. On the way home the kids slept and we stopped in Ellsworth at Pat's Pizza for speghetti and pizza.

Lauren's graduation!

Lauren graduated on June 9th from John Bapst Memorial High School with high honors! Congrates to you! We are so proud of our oldest and first born! We celebrated with family on Saturday with a barbie here at home. She is looking forward to attending UM at Orono this fall, she's been accepted into the nursing program. She plans to live off campus at Mimi Betsy's. She is currently working two jobs, at Dairy Queen she is shift leader and is hostess at the Texas Roadhouse. On her days off she spends them at camp or with her longtime boyfriend Luke.

A day at the park

This is a park in Brewer that we love to go to. There is a special area just for toddlers that Jack has come to love, and Alyssa loves this big slide which she started going down last year! Unbelievable how she has very little fear. Jack just loves the red tube . And of course we always make time for the swings! This is one of our favorites!

More Christmas

Here are some more Christmas photos. I think the dinner photos are actually from Thanksgiving, I recognize Colin's Thanksgiving attire. I love the picture of the kids, Colin and my mom. Enjoy!

Hives Breakout!

Alyssa broke out in hives all over her body! She was covered! We went to see Dr. Bob and he said it was from a virus. He gave her benedryl and she was much better within a few days. But oh she was so itchy! These pics were taken after her dose of meds so she was actually much worse.

Jack and Alyssa December & January

Jack and Alyssa love playing together! Jack loves his toys and especially loves the mommy and daddy dolls that Alyssa got for her birthday one year. One day he carried them with him every where he went; to bed, to his high chair, in the playpen. He wouldn't let go of them! The picture of Jack asleep on Jason is a rare one. Usually he prefers to just go to bed and fall asleep on his own. The one of him going up the stairs was his first trip up! So far he hasn't fallen, although he is NOT allowed up them by himself of course. We have a gate.

Jack goes to ER

Shortly after Christmas Jack cut his finger on a metal filing cabinet. At the time I wasn't certain if it had gotten squished or exactly how it happened but we took him to the ER at EMMC just to be safe. He had an X-ray and it showed no structural damage, just the cut. No stitches, they used some adhesive to close the wound, cleaned it and wrapped it up good. As you can see, the glove did not hinder him one bit. It became a weapon to punch people with. Getting him dressed was a bit of an issue, not much would fit over his huge bandage. He had the glove for only a few days, then we resorted to the triple bandaid. Now it is all healed and not even a scar is left! The amazing human body!

Lauren's cheering competition

I am new to uploading video, so I hope this goes through ok. Lauren and her team competed today at the State Championships at the Bangor Auditorium. There were 12 teams we were competing against in Class B. Last year the Crusaders placed 2nd at States. This year we headed to States placing 3rd at regionals. We were very close to 2nd place at regionals with the Waterville Panthers just ahead of us. 1st place at regionals was Herman Hawks who were pretty much unreachable with all of their tumbling. You will have to view the video to see how the JBMHS girls did at States. Let me know if you were unable to view. In the video, Lauren is on the far right with the very blonde curls. She is the base for many stunts, including the basket toss! From so far away they look all the same with their cheer curls and in their uniforms. As a former JBMHS cheerleader myself it was soo thrilling to see them perform! I hope you enjoy it too!

Birthday boy

Jack had lot's of fun on his 1st birthday. Lauren and Luke made the choochoo train cake and Mom decorated it. It said "Happy 1st Birthday Jack" and we put a picture of him on it! He is really getting around these days, mostly by crawling and sliding on his belly doing the army crawl! He will walk holding on to someone, as you can see, and he can walk holding on to couches, chairs and end tables. He doesn't like to stay in one place too long. As a matter of fact, as I am typing this, he is off to the kitchen AGAIN and heading for the stairs! For his birthday he got lots of cute outfits, he's into 12-16 months now, toy cars, money, savings bonds for college and a walker shopping cart that nearly dragged him from one end of the room to the other as he literally took off with it!! The highlight of the day was definitely the cake eating, first he grabbed a hunk with frosting and made a wrinkly nose as he tried to shake the frosting off his fingers. We all imagined him saying "what is this crap?" Then after a few bites he totally gave up on his hands and dove in head first and ate the rest of his cake hands free! It was precious. Alyssa was very helpful with the preparations as well. She and Colin put together the goody bags and helped decorate with balloons and Sesame Street party hats. Thanks to everyone who came, and those who sent gifts. I know you all wish you could've been here. - Michele