Miscellaneous Thoughts

Allison & Rebecca are having a fun time swinging in the backyard while Ed is up on the deck staining.

I titled this post "Miscellaneous Thoughts" and then I realized that I could probably use that title for all of my posts. You may see it again in a Part 2 or 3 or 20...

I fixed the Six Flags links in my post titled "Six Flags". If you had clicked on the links before it came up as an error. I realized my mistake and fixed it so now you can click to see the park and the rides I mentioned.

I watched "Just Like Heaven" last night. It was very cute. And if you like Reese Witherspoon, which I do, you'll really enjoy the movie. It's definately a girly movie so husbands beware. At a little over an hour and a half, it was the perfect length movie for after the kids go to bed. Those of you who know me know that I like to go to bed a little on the early side. Anyway, check it out.

I'm hooked on a new Bath & Body Works fragrance. It's Black Raspberry Vanilla. YUM! Kind of fruity, but light. The day we came for the final walk through before closing on this house, the previous owners left us a Bath & Body Works gift basket and black raspberry vanilla was the scent of the lotions and candles. The other day they were having buy 3 get one free so I stocked up. Katie is also getting into the bath and body stuff. A friend at school had some lotion that she liked so I got her some. It's from the American Girl line at Bath & Body. They have a few different scents in lotions, body splash, body wash, lip stuff, etc. Katie likes the Apple Blossom. Now when she's done in the shower the whole upstairs smells like yummy apples.

Ed is mowing the lawn as we speak. It needed it. We have a few weed issues that need addressing; crabgrass, and dandelions, and clover, OH MY! He'll spread some stuff down later that'll hopefully help. He also stained the back deck yesterday! It looks great. Today we'll put out the patio furniture. It'll be nice to be out there on those warm days.

One view of the newly stained back deck.

Another view of the back deck. What a difference it made to freshen it up. Didn't Ed do a good job?

Katie played her first soccer game yesterday. She did great! At first she was apprehensive and unsure of herself, but by the end of the game she was aggressive and determined to get the ball from her opponent. They lost 5-0, which is discouraging, but they learned alot, I'm sure, and today's game will be better! They have nine more games so there's plenty of time to turn things around.

Doesn't Katie look cute in her soccer uniform?

Great day to Everyone!!

Posting Comments

I posted this picture because I love it! Allison was moments old and had been screaming since birth. Doesn't Katie look scared? And the nurse thought it was all pretty funny! Memories...

Time for a soap box moment:

Let me start by saying that I have appreciated the comments that have been posted to my blog so much! It's so encouraging to know that other people have something to say about what I post.

Now for the rest of you...I know several people check out the site, some check it regularly. However, most of you never comment on anything. I would love to hear from you and know some of your thoughts about some of the stuff I've posted. I'm not asking for a novel size comment, just a thought or two. If you don't want your comments out there in cyberspace you can either e-mail me or comment annonymously. My blog is visited an average of 5 times a day so I know it's being read, and I LOVE that it's being read. That's the coolest part of having the blog is knowing folks check it out! So there...'nuf said.

On another note: Katie and Becky's report cards came out yesterday. I'm so proud of them and the way they've adjusted to their new school. Both of them did extremely well. Katie got 5 A's and two B+'s. Becky's report card was graded with 1,2,& 3's, 3 being the highest and she got 95% 3's. What can I say, they are both highly intelligent because of the good genes I passed down to them! Sorry Ed. Seriously, they're both doing great and I'm real proud of them.

Allison is doing great in her swimming class. After only 3 classes she is swimming alone with the bubble on. The first class, she clung to the teacher. The second class, she clung to the teacher while kicking her feet. And this week she let go of the teacher, and used her arms as well as her legs to swim. It's so amazing to me that children so young can be taught to swim! I love to watch the little ones especially! Becky is also swimming and doing well. She is swimming the entire length of the pool on her front and back. And Katie is busy with Soccer. They practice twice a week with one or two games per weekend. She likes it and is getting to know more girls her age. I'm glad for that.

Katie passed out invites to her party. We've already had two RSVP's. She invited somewhere around 15 girls. I'll write more later about that.

Today's weather report: Sunny skies, light wind, high 50's. Everything is blooming like crazy here. I'll try to post some pics of the beautiful Spring blossoms soon.

Just Some Fun Pictures

Six Flags New England...

Here's Becky, Katie, & Allison waiting in line for our tickets. Wait a minute...is that Allison sitting in her stroller?! Couldn't be!

Allison was waving at me but she didn't know where I was, that's why she's not looking at the camera. Erica and I found a comfy bench seat and enjoyed a few peaceful moments on the carousel.

I don't know this character's name. He's Martian somebody or other. My girls have no idea who the Looney Tunes characters are but Ally was happy to give him a hug anyway. Next time we'll get an autograph book. There are Super Hero characters around the park too.

This is Superman Ride of Steel. Check out the drop. Maximum height is 220 feet and top speed is like 75 mph. The ride lasts over two minutes and the only thing holding you in is a lap bar! The ride also sits next to a river so when you are climbing the steep hill you can look to your left and see nothing but water, I mean nothing but water. Yowser!!!

More House Pictures

Thought I'd post some more pictures...

This is the master bedroom. Check out those curtains! I hung them myself using Ed's DRILL. I think I need my own drill...I can see why guys like power tools!

This is Allison's bedroom. It's a very pretty pastel pink, which I'm not sure you can see in the picture. Her first pair of shoes is hanging between the windows. Even though she's ready to be all grown up I can still hold onto those baby days.

This is our family room. It is right off the kitchen which I love since it's where we hang out the most and we can all be together. It's a nice big space and it has a great fireplace on the far left wall. I can imagine our "stockings hung by the chimney with care" this Christmas.

So there's a few more pictures of the inside of the house. As you can see I still have plenty of decorating to do. It's been fun so far. I don't think there is a room in the house that I would say is done yet. That's okay. Linda H. once told me that it takes a year, at least, to be completely settled. I hope it won't take a year but it makes me feel like I'm doing well when I remember that.

Different subject...We are planning a pizza party for Katie and her friends next week. I'm looking forward to having her friends here and meeting them and putting names with faces. I've been having a hard time with this part of our move. I knew Katie's friends in Maine pretty well. I had lunch with them all every Wednesday. I liked knowing them and feeling connected to Katie's life at school. There hasn't been any oppurtunity to really meet the girls here so we decided to host a party. I've also told Katie she should invite friends over after school. Hopefully some of these efforts will pay off. I'll keep you posted.

The pastor from the E-Free church we've been attending is coming to visit tonight with his wife. I'm looking forward to it. It'll be nice to get to know them better. They have Pioneer Club at the church and the girls will try it out this week I think. I can't quite refer to it as our church yet. I'm not sure why, it's not like we're still looking around. As of the annual meeting at Berean we are no longer members there. Does that mean Berean isn't our church anymore? No church is OUR church! I'm kidding, I'm not too worried about the technicalities.

I think my brother in law is hooked on letterboxing. He and our niece were going out this afternoon to find some boxes. Have any of the rest of you tried it out yet? I'm telling you, you gotta try it...

We saw "The Wild" this weekend. It was cute. The girls enjoyed it and that's why we went, for them. So the fact that it reminded me of "Madagascar" but not as good, doesn't really matter. The animation was awesome, best I've seen. I'll say 3 out of 5 stars, 1 1/2 thumbs up, better than sitting home on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Speaking of rain...it's rained here for the last three days. Sunday poured, with wind. If our house wasn't on the side of a big hill I'd consider building an ark! On the bright side...no sea breeze...Love ya dad.

Six Flags New England

We went to Six Flags New England yesterday with Ed's brother, his wife and daughter, and Ed's mom. What a beautiful day, weather wise. It had to be 80 degrees and not a cloud in sight! Perfect. The park was pretty busy with the kids being on school break and the nice weather!

We rented a "flash pass" which allows you to reserve your place in line at several different rides without having to wait in line. The attractions that use Flash Pass have a bar code on a sign for the ride that you scan with the beeper type device. The device beeps when it's time for you to go to the next ride you reserved. You can scan several rides but you can only ride them in the order in which they were scanned. Using Flash Pass eliminates hours of waiting in line, literally! You know how it is, you can stand in line for 2 hours for some of the big deal coasters! Not us! We entered the ride at the Flash Pass entrance and waited less than 5 minutes for our turn to board. It was definately worth the money.

We all had a great time but I felt like Becky and her cousin Makenzie didn't get to do very many "big deal" rides. They are at a hard age where they are getting to be too big for the kiddie rides and yet too small for some of the bigger rides. And then of course there's Allison, who really can't ride anything except the kiddie rides. And Katie...Katie doesn't have patience when it comes to accomodating the younger kids. She wants to ride, ride, ride. I wish I had done a little more planning/investigating before we went, which isn't like me. Usually I'm all over the planning stuff. This morning I went to the 6 Flags website and looked at all the rides they have. There are actually several more rides that Becky and Makenzie could've ridden, Allison too. The park is laid out very well. It seems like there's something in each area of the park for each age group, which means, in theory, I should be able to keep all three of my children happy at all times! There's always a learning curve with these sorts of trips. Next time we'll have a better handle on things, know where to look for the rides Beck can ride, and probably have even more fun! Don't get me wrong, we all had a blast, the day was great!

I rode Superman Ride of Steel which was VERY scary. I rode it last summer when we went but I kept my eyes closed the entire ride! I was determined to look this time. It was just as bad! It's fast, long, and lots of negative G's! Katie loves this ride, so does Ed, and Ed's brother and mom liked it too. I'm totally outnumbered. Let me say in my defense that I enjoy a good coaster as much as the next guy, and I am not afraid of the "big deal" ones, but this one...this one scared me! I'll take a rickety old wooden coaster any day!

Becky's favorite ride was Thunderbolt. It's an old wooden coaster with just the right amount of big hills and thrills! She keeps her arms in the air the whole time! Allison got to do a small roller coaster in the Movie Town section and she LOVED it! She got off grinning from ear to ear saying, "I screamed, I screamed!" Very cute.

All in all a great day. We can't wait to go back, next time more prepared! The great thing about living close to the park is having folks come down to go with us!

More Letterboxing Fun

My mom and dad were here for a few days, they actually just left and are on their way home. We had a good visit and did some really fun things. We went to a nearby Shaker Village and saw some adorable baby animals. I don't know anything really about the Shakers but the village was beautiful and there was an old round stone barn. The baby animals were in the round stone barn so we got to see the interesting architecture inside. It was all very cool! The babies were so small and sweet. Allison and Becky got to climb in the pen with the little piglets. They were very playful and cute! There were also black lambs, cows, and goats. We saw a newborn tiny white lamb who was so precious. We also went into a Discovery Room where we tried to milk a pretend cow, weave the seat of a rocking chair, see baby chicks, see honey bees in action, and try on fun outfits! We all had lots of fun.

Here's Becky, Mom, and Allison in their dresses.

We also went hiking to find a letterbox. The hike itself was much longer than we anticipated but the payoff was great. We could see Mt. Greylock which I think is the highest mountain in Mass. The trails were well cleared and the day was just cool enough that we didn't get too warm while hiking. Mom, Dad, and I had to take turns carrying Allison which was no easy task! Just when we were about to give up, Dad suggested we go a little farther and after some serious searching we found the box we were looking for. Fun, fun!

Here's everyone stamping their books. Even my parents have started their own letterboxing book! I think they had a fun time!

Today we went to a waterfall! It was so pretty. The sound of the falls was very soothing. We were the only ones there except for a couple of people fishing. The sun was bright and warm and the walk to the waterfall was short and easy. We went specifically to hide our first letterbox! We had to find the right spot to hide it and then think of clues to lead others to find it. I posted the clues on the letterboxing website, www.letterboxing.org The name of our box is Falls Fishy. I know I've said it before, but letterboxing is so much fun. If you haven't tried it yet, you should. Most of the time it costs nothing, and you get to be outside enjoying time with your family.

It wasn't easy saying goodbye to my parents but I know we'll see them again soon and we had such a fun time with them here. We're enjoying our family in a new way now that we don't live close by them. The time we spend with them is spent doing cool stuff; stuff we may not have gotten to do together otherwise. I do miss the routine, ordinary things we did together all the time but I'm focusing on the positive! Maybe their trip here will inspire my parents to do their own letterboxing at home!

Easter Fun

Tomorrow is our first holiday away from family...It's Easter. I'm glad it isn't Christmas. In the grand scheme of holidays Easter just isn't as big as Christmas, although from a Biblical stand point both are equally important. At Christmas we celebrate Christ's birth but if He had never been crucified, buried, and then risen again (Easter), His birth just wouldn't hold the same meaning. The fact that He did conquer death is what makes it possible for us to put our hope in Him. To stay dead would've equated Him with the common man but He overcame death, which demonstrates His power over EVERYTHING! It is because of the power Jesus has over death and sin that we can put our trust in Him for our salvation, (saving grace from the eternal punishment for our sins.) Alleluia! In a world polluted by commercialism I hope that we can all take a moment this Easter and remind ourselves and our children what we are really celebrating! Hunting for eggs and eating chocholate bunnies is all in good fun and harmless in and of itself, but let's not forget "the reason for the season". By the way, what do eggs have to do with bunnies anyway? Okay enough of my soap box...

The girls and I did go to a community egg hunt this morning. Becky's friend Chloe and her sister came with us. They had lots of fun. Ed stayed home to put up the swing set. YAY! (not that Ed stayed home but that he's putting up the swing set). The weather this spring has been absolutely georgeous and I gotta tell you mid-coast Mainers, I DO NOT miss the "afternoon sea breeze" one bit!! 'Nuf said, I won't rub it in.

Back to Easter away from family...We will go to church and then come home and do an egg hunt in the yard, then baskets. I don't know about lunch. I'd like to go out, but I guess if we are going to do that we'd better decide and make reservations somewhere. If the afternoon stays nice we'll probably go for a walk. Maybe we'll try the local bike path. It runs along a lake and into some beautiful park like areas. We'll see. If we were with family we would go to church, then my mom's for dinner and eggs and baskets, then later to Ed's mom's. Happy Easter family, we love you!

Here's Allison with a lollipop she found on the "hunt". She was so proud!

Home Improvements Part 2

Some of you have asked to see pictures of the outside of our house. I will include them with this post, but keep in mind that these are BEFORE pictures. We are doing landscaping this Spring so I'll send AFTER pictures later. The house is three years old and we are the third owners...hmmm...A good scrubbing and some cosmetic help and it's good as new. I truly didn't mind having to clean it or paint it, I have a saying, "Once you clean it, it's yours." It's mine alright, all of ours, because we all worked hard those first days in the house. My mom and dad even got in on the cleaning. Mom was up on the counters cleaning the top of the cabinets and Dad pulled out the stove and fridge to clean back there. We found quite a few "treasures" including a key chain from Paris, various magnetic letters, and lots of grime! And they brought up their rug shampooer so I could do the rugs, YAY! What a difference it all made. The Cooks are big on smells and none of us liked the smell of this house when we moved in. After the good scrubbing, febreeze, and candles it smells like US! Now it's the decorating that needs to be done. Mostly curtains, but the girls need things on the walls and I need some more house plants. Curtains seem to take a long time for me to pick out. I just got some yesterday for our bedroom. I'm going to see if I can't figure out how to hang the rods myself today. Maybe I'll post some pics of my success!
Allison is sick today. She was sick in the night and now has a slight fever. I don't know...She's a tough cookie, she doesn't really act sick until her fever reaches about 104. Right now it's about 101. Her hair is all wild and she's still in her pj's! Poor little pickle.

This is the outside of our house. The lattice is off now and planting preparations are being made. We've never owned a BLUE house before!

Here's Ed washing the back deck. Check out the difference. He uses a Behr Deck Wash. It's awesome! It works great on composite too. Now he just has to seal it. It was suggested that he use Australian Timber Oil to bring out the natural Mahogany color. I'll post an after picture later.

Birthday Girl Pictures

Our trip to Maine was all about the Birthday Girl. I think she had a great 7 th birthday.

We had a birthday brunch to celebrate with family at my in-laws. Here she is with a stuffed frog from Auntie Mimi. She says now she needs 100 zillion more just like it!

Then we had some of Becky's friends for a party at McDonald's Playplace. Look at those silly little faces! Even Allison got in on the action!

All in all it was a great time. I think the joy on Becky's face says it all!

Becky's Birthday

My sweet Becky is 7. I can hardly believe that 7 years ago she was born into our lives. My favorite memories of Becky as a baby are: When the nurse brought this screaming bundle of baby to me in the middle of the night and as soon as I took her and held her in front of me so I could see her pink little face, she got completely quiet, and all I could see in the half lit room were her beautiful blue eyes staring at me. That moment is frozen in my mind. Those blue eyes...they tell all you need know about what's going on in that little head of hers. Mostly her eyes smile, but those times when she's sad, silent tears will stream down her cheeks, and break even the hardest heart. Also as a baby/toddler she was so content. Every week at Bible study she'd sit in my lap and never squirm to get down. And the hours we spent at the Y for Katie's swim team practices she'd sit happily next to me with no complaints. She's still like that, content. As she's growing I see in her a desire to always help anyone in anyway, a kindness and thoughtfulness, and a sweetness she definately did not get from her mother! Now that she's 7 some of my favorite things about Becky are: her great belly laugh, the fabulous way she has of explaining things, the sparkle in her eyes, her kindness towards her sisters (most of the time), and her devotion to her dad.

We had a fun time in Maine this past weekend celebrating Becky's birthday with friends and family. The time went too quickly and I wish we could've spent more time visiting but it was good to come home and back into our routine. I'll post some of my favorite pics from this weekend later...IF blogger cooperates - at the moment I'm having some technical difficulties!

We did manage to go Letterboxing again. Fun, fun. We brought Terri, Alicia, and Rachel with us and we went to a box left by our old neighbors. What a nice little walk we had. The girls loved spending time with their friends and as always we had a great visit! I wonder if they will get hooked on letterboxing now.

It's a beautiful day in western Mass.; not a cloud in the sky and 60's. No complaints. The laundry is all caught up and my floors are vacuumed. Allison is playing happily in her pop up castle and I remembered to bring a special treat to Becky's school to share with her class in honor of her birthday. It's the little things...

A Few Fun Pictures

Thought I'd post a few pictures, just for fun...

This is Katie's bedroom. It's Lime Green.

This is Becky in her bedroom which was a little messy at the time...

Here's Katie giving Allison a Play - Doh manicure!!

Positive Moms

Allison and I went to MOPS this morning. There is a meeting every other week and this was our second time there. We both had a good time. The moms are watching a video series " The Power of a Positive Mom". It's all very practical and helpful. Today we talked about how our children are reading the book of example all the time. We are the book! Everything we do or say is observed by our children, good and bad! Hello! I guess we all know that but to be reminded and made to think about that opens a whole different train of thought. We discussed some of the positive and negative traits we carried into our parenting from our own parents. And then some the positives and negatives we see in our children which they get from us. Hmmm...Kind of an eye opener to think about this stuff. What are my children observing each and every day? Am I passing down more positive traits than negative? Do I want to know the answer to those questions, I'm not sure I do.

As moms we need to know our positive traits. It's easy to list the things we don't like about ourselves or our parenting abilities but naming the positives, for me at least, is definately more of a challenge. If we know our strengths we can focus on them and maybe they will become more dominant in our lives than the weaknesses.

We also mentioned the apostle Paul and his "thorn in the flesh". Why didn't God remove this weakness from Paul even though Paul asked Him to three different times? If we feel compitent in our own strength then perhaps we will forget the One from whom our strength comes. That's why God allows weaknesses in our lives. He wants us to rely on Him for the strength we need. I know I forget this concept just about daily!

Leading by positive example is one of the biggest challenges of parenting. I know I will be more conscious of things I do and say, hopefully not just today but from now on, and not in my own strength of course.


The view of the Sunset from our bedroom window is one of my favorite parts of our life in The Berkshires!

Blessings

Last week I made a decision to be outgoing (not easy) and meet some neighbors in our new neighborhood. A family moved in around the corner a week after us so I started with them. I made brownies and brought them over. They just had their second little boy a week earlier. And their older son is Allison's age! YAY! Then at the bus stop I decided to introduce myself to the mother of a little girl who's Becky's age, (we all drive down to the bus stop so we are sitting in our cars to wait). That was a little more difficult, but I did it and that afternoon Becky played with Chloe. As it turns out Chloe's family loves to go to Disney World just like we do. After chatting with Chloe's mom for awhile it was obvious that we will get along great! Very exciting. I also met who I thought was a new neighbor when in fact they were just moving out, but that's another story. Later in the week we met a little girl and her mom who live two doors down from us. The little girl is Allison's age. And behind us we met another girl Becky's age. At Allison's gymnastics class I met a few moms who were more than happy to give me lots of great info on the area, like things to do with the kids, places to hike, parks, wildlife sanctuaries, etc. It was great. I was so excited that as soon as I stepped outside my comfort zone (with God's help)the blessings were there. As you've probably noticed, there aren't that many girls for Katie to play with. There is a couple of girls across the street but one is moving soon and Katie doesn't feel like she clicks with the other. God knows and He will provide just like He did in Maine.

I think we've also found a nice church. It's an Evangelical Free Church which I guess is a little different than what we're used to but it's a good different. If you want to check out their web site it is: www.pittsfieldefc.org It's a good site with lots of info on the church and their belief system and such. It's a much smaller church than we came from but it's nice. We'll try it for awhile and see if it's where we should be or not. I'm looking forward to getting to know them.

Home Improvements

Here's a idea of what we've been doing to our new house since we moved in a month ago...The kithcen was in need of some improvement. We replaced the countertops, sink, faucet, hardware, and repainted the yellow walls a beautiful rusty red color. The counters were a blue marble laminate which we replaced with a brown speckled Sile Stone. We also bought a new stove which isn't in these pictures. The top picture is the before and below is after. It's been fun making this house ours. Of course the list of things we'd like to do is long but what fun would it be if it was all done at once! We also hired someone to paint the rest of the house. The walls were all a pastel yellow. Not anymore. Anyone whose been in my house knows I like color! Our last kitchen was a plum/purple. This time I've chosen more earthy colors. The girls got to choose the colors for their bedrooms...Katie chose LIME green, very bright and cheerful; Becky chose a pretty blue, and Allison's room is a pastel pink. We'll be starting outside soon and I will post more pics then.

Here's Allison and Ed walking on the Appalachain Trail in Cheshire, MA

This is the sign marking the boundary for The Trail.

Letterboxing

My first blog entry, how exciting! I thought I'd start with our first letterboxing experience. Yesterday's weather was perfect for being outside; 60 degrees, full sun, light breeze. We decided to try letterboxing. A friend in Maine had told me about it and I had done a little of my own research. If you'd like a better explanation than I can give, go to www.letterboxing.org There you will find all you need to know about letterboxing as well as locations in your area to go letterboxing.

I had printed out a set of clues to a letterbox on a section of the Appalachain Trail. We had no trouble finding the box and the girls had a great time! Here's Becky and Katie with the box. Allison thought it was so neat to walk in the woods and get a stamp in her book! We are hooked! The girls wanted to find more boxes but I only had the clues for that one with us. We did continue on up the trail for about 1 1/2 miles, it was so beautiful. There were two hawks flying right over head, so close. It was neat to think of all the people that have hiked The Trail right where we were hiking. We can't wait to explore more of the beautiful trails around us. Letterboxing is a great way to become familiar with your community and enjoy great, quality time with your family. I'm looking forward to going out again!