Wordless Wednesday

My Newest Love

Meet Battle! He is an Arabian gelding from the the 15-horse stable that I volunteer at every Saturday. I answered an ad on Craigslist for some part-time stable help and am loving every minute of it. For a few hours I feed, water, turn-out, groom, and exercise the horses. The smell of horses, hay, leather and grain makes me very happy.

The owner invited me to take part in a Labor Day trail ride and I was all too happy to join in. I rode Battle and he was a dream. (sigh) I used to have horses as a girl and I have missed it so much. 18 years later and I am back in the saddle again. It's a great feeling.

Cracking Me Up

Can I just say that my little girl cracks me up on almost a minute-by minute basis? She is quite the comedian, and giggles at herself constantly. Here she is from dinner the other night.


"What are you staring at? Isn't this how YOU use a spoon?"

LOVE HER!

My Not-So-Little-Boy Goes to Pre-School!

There are so many emotions swirling around inside of me as I collect my thoughts for this post. Pride, sadness, joy, anxiety, and overall a letting go--of my baby!

We enrolled James in the public pre-school this summer. There are 11 children in his class, and school is four days a week for three hours every morning.

James is three years old and many of the children are four, so I am a little anxious as to how well he will do for himself--but so far he is doing great!

Last week the school had an open house, and James got to meet his teacher. Let's just say that he is ENTHRALLED with her. I mean seriously--he had only just met her and when we took his picture with her he looked like this!


When was the last time I got him to smile like that? Honestly, I think it was on his train ride to NYC!

Anyhow, the Open House was fun, James got to meet the other children and check out the classroom. Ella had fun too. Here she is with Granny Annie:


James was pretty happy to check out the school mascot, "Stripes" when we left.


After the Open House we took him down to Essex to ride the steam train and the riverboat as a special treat. More pics from that later.


And here is my boy, on his first official morning of school.

Looks a little unsure! Maybe he needs some extra cuddling with his Mom?


Uh, no. He's good.


So Chris took the day off and we drove him to school together. Miraculously I kept my tears at bay. But boy, let me say that when I hugged him good bye and sent him off to his teacher he NEVER LOOKED BACK.

I thought "Well, maybe when we pick him up he'll need me to smother him in kisses and will allow me to make an utter fool of myself mauling him in the school parking lot with hugs."

Uh, again, no.


Pretty much all he wanted was his Daddy.





It's cool. I'm good with it. (Sob, sob, sniff.)

A New Chapter Begins

So, here I am, turning the page and starting anew after a nice rest during which I soaked in some late summer sunshine, celebrated my daughter's first birthday and sent my son off to pre-school. For those of you who used to read my posts on Tutta la Storia, welcome to Under A Shady Tree!

A few weeks ago my husband said that he missed my blog posts. That was all I needed to get back to Blogland. You see, Tutta was mainly created to keep family updated that were far from us. My husband is out of town nearly every week, so I was chronicling moments from home for him to share in.

My first blog post on Tutta was a collection of photos taken to celebrate my son's first birthday. We recently did the same a couple of weekends ago in Maine for my daughter. We chose a spot not far from where I grew up and a friend from school took the photos. The day was breezy, sunny, and beautiful. Enjoy.








The dresses that Ella is wearing are vintage--the pink one is from the 50s and the white one is a Victorian Christening gown that was altered to add-in a doily that says "Baby." These were gifts from my Mother.

The photographer is William Morgan Conant from Brunswick Maine. Leave me a comment here if you would like his contact information.

The End

After nearly two years, I am going to stop blogging here.

I have decided that there is a time and a place for everything,
and that right now I need to be in the moment and
that means away from the computer.

I am going to focus on the stuff that gives me great happiness,
which is rolling in the grass with my kids,
reading that book that has been on my nightstand for six months,
getting back to journaling on paper,
and compiling the kind of scrapbooks that
can be physically handed down to my kids.

It has been a fun and rewarding experience,
and a great pleasure to meet so many people with an affection for
children, crafting, photography, baking or birdwatching!

Here are a few of my favorite blogs, a short list of some
women who I call my dearest bloggy friends.
Stop in and say hello! You may come to find that
you look forward to their posts as much as I do.

Stephanie
Mrs. M.
Kim
Teresa
Sharon
Jayne


To all of my regular readers,
thanks for stopping by and becoming a part of the fabric of my life.

If you'd like to say goodbye, please do so here, and if
you'd like to keep in regular contact,
you can e-mail me here, at tuttalastoria at gmail dot com.

XOXO

-Allison

Hmmm . . . .

I'm just not feeling it -- blogging regularly. I don't think it gives me the joy that it used to. Maybe I need a summer break.

On the plus side, I am spending more time reading actual books.

This blog was always meant as an online scrapbook. Maybe its time to go back to hands-on scrapbooking.

I'm going to give it a break and see how I feel.

XOXO

Allison

A Stunning Cardinal

Just LOOK at this photo that Chris took!
(You have to click on it to enlarge it.)

I am just speechless.
In this case, a picture is definitely worth a thousand words!

An Overnight to Providence

On Thursday we headed to Providence, Rhode Island for an overnight trip. Our plan was to go to the Roger Williams Zoo on Friday if the weather was good.

We stayed at a Hilton in downtown and the kids got to play in the pool. Isn't Ella's bikini adorable?


We had a great dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then settled down early for the night. When you put your kids in bed by 8pm and you are in one room, that means the whole family goes to bed at the same time!

The next day we headed to the zoo--we were lucky, the weather held out and was sunny for our entire visit.


I am such a kid about going to the zoo--I really love it and am probably more excited than my kids are.


Some of the highlights of the visit were that we got to see the elephants being bathed--they laid down and had their backs scrubbed and really seemed to enjoy it!

There was also an indoor butterfly exhibit that was just amazing.


The butterflies were literally all around us--they would fly right past Ella's little nose. It was a great exhibit for her to see.


We had a great time and will definitely go back. And thanks to a short break in the weather, we were able to have a lovely, rain-free visit! (The minute we left the parking lot, the downpour began).


Of course, before we left Rhode Island, we stopped for a Del's Lemonade and clam fritters. It was a great mini-vacation!

Sweet Baby Ella

Just sharing a few sweet photos I took of Baby Sister yesterday.
She's so cute she makes my heart ache.