Bye Bye Christmas

We're home from our trip to Maine for Christmas. The travelling was easy. Seriously. No traffic. No arguing among the kiddos. No bad weather. Easy. I'm thankful for that. We blew into town (home) around 2:20 yesterday. Becky had a birthday party to be at so we went directly there. I'm glad she got to go.
Christmas was wonderful, fun, busy. I didn't feel as prepared as usual due to schedules being messed up and people in our house being sick, but Christmas happened anyway and it was perfect. The girls were excited and happy and sweet Christmas morning - that's my favorite part. Katie made a special sign to hang at the top of the stairs for all of us. It said "Merry Christmas" and she must've spent quite a bit of time doing it. Sweet. I'm always surprised by how willing they are to stop what they're doing here at home and get ready to head to Maine. We were on the road by 11:00 a.m. Seeing family is a big motivator. I'll post Christmas pics later, promise.
Today we are hanging out at home. The girls are enjoying their gifts. Becky is on the Wii playing her new Hannah Montana game and Allison is playing her new Leapster Didj. I think Katie is in her room planning the redecoration project we're going to do. She wanted lots of room accessories and other fun things for her room for Christmas, along with clothes and shoes! Typical teenage girl stuff :) The tree needs to come down and decorations need to be put away. I hope we get that done today. I'm not as in a hurry as I usually am to get the house put back together but I'd still like it done SOON! I'd also like to make a trip to TJ Maxx or Home Goods but it's snowing to beat the band right now. Maybe the roads aren't too bad.
Anyone have any big plans tonight to ring in the New Year? Us? No. Never do. I like being home New Year's Eve. I like hanging out with the girls and doing family stuff. I hope you have fun whatever you do tonight.
I'm getting my haircut on Friday. It's too long. It's also HEAVY. I get headaches if I wear it in a ponytail. I'm telling you I have enough hair on my head for THREE people! Time to change things up a bit.
I've got to fold some laundry. Actually I have to fold LOTS of laundry! I'll be camped out in the laundry room for quite awhile! That's the downside to being away - DIRTY CLOTHES!
I'm not one for making New Year's Resolutions but I do like thinking about the passed year and what's changed in our lives since last year at this time. I'd like to do a post on the big deal things our family has experienced in 2008. I'll think on it and get back to you. In the meantime Happy New Year!!

Christmas Link

After reading over some of my December posts from years passed I realized that I haven't done much in the way of steering you toward some of my favorite Christmas web sites. This one you may have heard or seen somewhere else but it is certainly worth mentioning on the blog. It's called Soldier's Silent Night. It's just a nice tribute to the men and women who have served and are serving our country as soldiers. It's told from Santa's point of view. I'm definitely a sucker for a good Christmas tale. Enjoy. The link is www.soldiersilentnight.com/

I'm completely over my strep throat! YAY! Katie woke up this morning feeling achy and with a sore throat. yay. I called our pediatrician who graciously decided to just call in a prescription and save us a trip to the doctor's office. The good news is that she'll be germ free by tomorrow afternoon and hopefully feeling MUCH better, just in time for Christmas and our trip to Maine. I'm thinking (hoping, praying) that Allison may have started this whole thing when she was sick a couple of weeks ago. The doctor said it's possible that she carried the virus but didn't have strep herself. That would be good. I went nuts with the Lysol yesterday and aired out the house a bit too so hopefully we've got a handle on it now. New toothbrushes for everyone too. After 72 hours on the meds it's safe to change your toothbrush.

I went out shopping this morning. WOW! What a NUTHOUSE! Target was manageable. The grocery store was not! I haven't shopped for Ed yet - AT ALL. I don't mind the crowds really. I don't enjoy it though when people are rude or grouchy. I guess I've put it off long enough...Time to hit the mall---

Little Update

Another snow storm is pounding us as we speak. It didn't really get going until around 7 this morning. It's very windy too which makes it difficult to tell if it is really snowing or just blowing around what's already on the ground. We have a beautiful view of the western sky from our house and on a clear day the mountains rise up as the backdrop to the city. Today there are no mountains or city visible. Becky is on her way to a swimming party and Allison's basketball game is still on (for now). That's life in New England - no little blizzard is going to slow us down!!

Katie and Allison are still healthy. Ed seems to be doing fine. I honestly can't remember being this sick in a long, long time! The glands on my neck are huge - like you can see them from a mile away! I'm still swallowing razor blades. And I run out of energy pretty quick. We're talking DAY 3 people! When is the miracle medicine going to work? I've had quite enough of this being sick business, thank you very much. Today I'm just going to do what I've got to do - sick or not. That includes taking a shower. I don't think I'm contagious anymore since I've been on the antibiotic for THREE days. I think I'm going to have me some breakfast too.

Is your Christmas shopping done? Mine, you ask,--- not so much. Close though. Even though I haven't spent gobs of time shopping I have been enjoying the many Christmas shows on TV. Lifetime has had some totally sappy, goofy, corny movies on, that have been pretty entertaining. And there always seems to be some special on for the kids before bedtime. Last night they watched a Charlie Brown show that was really cute.

I will say that I am thankful to be sick now instead of a few days from now. And I'm thankful for my dog. She lays down next to the couch whenever I'm resting. She puts her nose up next to my face and waits for a pat on the head. Then she lays down again. She loves me. Sweet girl.

What A Week

As of my last post everyone was healthy in this family. Monday night Becky began running a fever. She had a nasty cough and with her past history of asthma I was concerned that the fever may be indicating something serious. So Tuesday morning I hauled her to the doctor. Her chest was fine. BUT she had strep throat. EWWW. She wasn't really acting to sick but she had that LOOK about her, like she just wasn't herself. After a couple of doses of miracle medicine she was just fine. Wednesday she went to school and I worked all day. It was kind of a funky day because the only real thing accomplished in any classroom in the school was practice for the chorus/band concert that afternoon. I actually got paid to watch rehearsals and the actual concert. I worked Thursday too, and it was a more normal day. Thursday night I took the girls to the mall for some shopping for friends' presents. I felt fine when we left to go there, but by the time we got home I was wiped out and had a sore throat. Friday morning I was supposed to go in and help with Becky's class party. I got up and ready determined to go. BUT, the more I moved around, the worse I felt. Before I knew it I was wrapped in multiple blankets on the couch. I felt awful! Fortunately I got in to see the doctor early and started my miracle medicine by lunch time. I still felt pretty awful ALL day and dozed on and off for the entire afternoon. My wonderful husband worked from home so I could stay permanently stuck to my sick bed, aka the couch in the living room. By 9 p.m. I felt slightly more human and I slept okay. But even today it feels like I'm swallowing razor blades - my throat is still so, so sore! Ed decided he should also take a trip to the doctor because his throat was a bit sore and he was starting to feel achey. Sure enough STREP for him too! So three out of five of us with strep throat - FUN! I'm just hoping that Katie and Allison don't get it! Or if they do that it will be well before Christmas when we're travelling to Maine!
We got about 8 - 10 inches of snow yesterday and last night. It's very pretty. The girls have been out playing in it. We're supposed to get another storm tomorrow. I guess we're pretty much guaranteed a white Christmas! I do love the snow! Now we get to put our new SUV to the test and find out its real worthiness. It has to be better than the van. That thing couldn't make it up the hill to our house in the snow sometimes. I'll let you know.

Our Budding Photographer

We were sitting on the bleachers TRYING to watch Rebecca's first basketball game of the season. Allison had other plans. The plans included whining, whining, and more whining. My bag of tricks got left at home so I dug into the depths of my purse and retrieved the only thing that even remotely resembled a 'toy' - my digital camera. She's five, so I thought she could handle it. I must say that the camera kept her happy for the entire game! Below is a sampling of the action shots she captured during the game...

Becky is the one with white sleeves, behind the girl in red...

In this photo Becky is at the far right.

And here number 5 is Becky.

The game itself didn't keep Allison occupied entirely so she created her own fun - with the camera...

This is Wall-E made out of Fuse Beads. Allison wanted to take some shots of Wall-E and his participation in the game...

Here Wall-E is having a break on the bleachers.

Here he is on the court...

And finally, here he is on Allison boot.

Priceless...

Fuse Beads

Some of you may know what Fuse Beads are but the name isn't familiar. I was completely ignorant of their existence until last summer when our neighbor brought some over for the girls to try out. They were instantly hooked so we went and bought our own big bucket of them. I think any big craft store must sell them. I will say that a certain amount of fine motor skill capability is necessary to fully enjoy them though. Allison does them without any trouble and has for quite some time. Here's a picture of the Fuse Bead bucket we have along with the templates (star & square), parchment paper, and a finished star. We also have tweezer type things that you can buy separately to help in picking up the beads and placing them on the template. Once the design is finished simply cover the beads with parchment paper and iron with a warmish iron until the beads FUSE together. Let them cool, then peel off the parchment and VOILA! You can stick magnets on the back to create beautiful refrigerator ornaments or slip a string through one of the beads to create a Christmas tree ornament.

Here's a close up of the beads. They come in lots of different colors!

This is one of the templates that came with our bucket. Many templates come in separate smaller kits as well.

And here's one of Allison's creations sitting on the parchment paper which was also included in the kit.

Now, stay tuned because my next post is all about Allison's creation and his participation in an athletic activity...

Ice Storm 2008

So. Yesterday was another snow day for the girls. Second one in a row. It rained. Ed & I were going to spend the day in New York (kid free) and have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I was bummed. Then I got an idea. I called our babysitter (who of course was out of school too and hadn't had time to make any plans for the day!) and asked if she was available for the day. She was!! And she brought her sister, who is Katie's best friend, with her. Katie doesn't need a babysitter but I don't feel comfortable leaving the girls all home together so the sitter was here for Allison and Becky and Katie and her friend did their own thing. It worked out GREAT! Ed & I shopped and went out to lunch. We were gone for about six hours!! If we'd gone to NY we couldn't have been gone that long due to the hour drive there and back and the need to be home by the time the girls got off the bus.

Now, back to the rain we got. Our house sits at 1230 feet above sea level and we got nothing but rain. Heavy rain - all night Thursday into Friday morning. Roads were washed out, yards were flooded, water raged down the mountainsides into gullies and small streams. It was pretty remarkable. However, we kept hearing reports and seeing the evidence (cars caked in thick layers of ice) that just a little farther up in elevation got slammed with a MAJOR amount of ice. Today we went for a ride to check it out. Literally 100 feet higher up into the mountains we saw trees down, power lines down, icy roads, and lots of ice still covering EVERYTHING! The area we drove through is part of our school district and after seeing the havoc caused by the ice it's no wonder they called of school! Here's some pictures.

Pretty wild, huh? It was incredibly beautiful to see everything so thickly coated with ice. The sun glittered off of the ice covered landscaped creating a magical, sparkling wonderland. Unfortunately, it will be days (or longer) before many of those people get their power back on. Life is certainly easier with electricity.

We are getting ready to head out in the bitter cold to watch Becky's chorus group sing outside at our town's holiday festival. It should be a fun time with lots of festive music, festive lights, and free hot cocoa!

I need to do a post of my children's obsession with Fuse Beads. Fuse Beads are so fun! But I'll post about that soon! Stay Warm!!

Cinnamon Ornaments

Here's the Cinnamon Ornament Recipe I promised along with some pics and video of the process!

1 cup cinnamon

1 cup applesauce (any kind)

1/2 T ground cloves

1/2 T nutmeg

Mix all together in a bowl to form a dough. Flatten dough on a cinnamon covered surface and use cookie cutters to cut out your favorite Christmas shapes. Use a sharp pencil to poke a hole in each ornament and let dry on the counter for a couple of days. Tie a ribbon through the holes and hang on your tree or use as a package decoration! Enjoy!

Here We Go Again...

The girls are home today. It's a Snow Day! Funny thing is, we aren't getting any snow--or ice--or sleet--or any combination of the three. It's actually raining--pure, 100% rain. Interesting. We are part of a regional school district and parts of our district are at high elevations where they are getting all kinds of wintry weather - I guess. So, the cautious thing to do is cancel school completely. I surely hope this isn't the beginning of a string of snow days like last year. The girls had something like 11 snow days and were going to school until June 22nd! This storm (we are officially under an ice storm warning) is supposed to last until tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is our anniversary. Ed is off from work and we are planning to do some Christmas shopping (which I am severely behind in!) and hit the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Those plans won't be possible with three girls lurking about. Please, no snow day tomorrow!

I filled up my vehicle for $17.15 today. I put in 17 1/2 gallons of gas. That's right, I got my gas for 97 cents a gallon! Our grocery store has this fuel advantage program where we get 10 cents off a gallon of gas for every $50 we spend. And it accumulates. So this time I saved 80 cents per gallon! I think the last time I filled up for less than a dollar a gallon was back in high school when I'd go to Charter and put $5 worth in my mom's Nissan Sentra. Interestingly enough it seems that the prices of everything else at the grocery store are going up--WAY up! I think I'm going to check out our other grocery store and do a little bit of comparison shopping. I'm wondering if the 10 cents off per gallon of gas may be an expensive gimmick to suck us unsuspecting shoppers in. Hmmm.....

Today the girls and I are going to make cinnamon ornaments. I found adorable little cookie cutters at Michael's yesterday. They are perfect for the ornaments! I haven't made them before but I've had one hanging on our tree ever since Ed & I got married. That was one of the most wonderful things about getting married at Christmastime - we got lots of Christmas ornaments as gifts! I love ornaments and the ones we received that year are very special to me! Anyway, the cinnamon ornaments are a piece of cake to make - or so I'm told. I'll take some pictures of our finished products and post them with the recipe later on.

Thought I should post this before the "Two Front Teeth" aren't missing anymore! :)

Hi!

I want to start this post by saying "HI!" to our sweet niece, Makenzie! I hear she has become a regular reader of the blog! So, hello Kenzie! We love you and miss you tons!! Can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

I love working as a substitute at our school! Even when I think I know what my job will be for the day, it sometimes is different when I actually get to school. Normally, I don't like unplanned changes. I like very much knowing what to expect - in advance. But this job is not like that AT ALL! And, I'm finding that I actually enjoy that part of it! Hmmm.... Today was supposed to be like yesterday. The morning would be spent as a classroom aide and the afternoon would be one on one with lovable Buddy, who is autistic. When I got to school I was asked if I could spend the entire day with Buddy instead. Our wonderful school secretary insisted that it was entirely up to me if I wanted to change things or leave them as is. But, how could I refuse to help with Buddy for the day? They were extremely short handed in the autism room and that is a pretty big deal. And, Buddy and I like each other - we get along famously, actually, so it was a pretty easy decision. BUT - as I was walking down the hall to Buddy's classroom I saw Allison walking down the hall with her teacher - carrying a trash can. Uh-oh. She was SICK. So, another change of plans. I felt awful for my poor little bug and I felt awful for leaving the autism room short a para. But, I'm so thankful that I was at school when my child needed me and hopefully another day I'll get to spend time with Buddy. Now, I just hope no one else gets sick!

We put up our tree on Saturday. It's a big, huge, fat tree! And it smells SO good! I hope to get some good pictures of it and I'll post them soon!

Well, I suppose I should check on my little miss. Have a great day!

Nothing in Particular

Not too much to report today. I've worked quite a bit this week and am finding many parts of my job rewarding. Yesterday I was in Allison's classroom - which is really fun. My lunch break was at the same time as Becky's lunch. I decided I'd rather sit in the noisy lunch room with my sweet girl than in the staff lounge. I asked Becky if she was glad I had lunch with her or if she thought it was weird. She said, "I was really glad you were there, Mom." That did my heart good. How special to be able to spend time with my girls while they're at school. I count it a privilege - one I'm so thankful for.

I finished the fourth book in the Twilight saga this morning. A friend and I are going to see the movie tonight. I can't wait! They'd better start cranking out the sequels to the first film!! As I mentioned before, these books are supposedly geared to teen readers. I found them to be a bit mature to allow Katie to read them, however. Anyway, a must read for adults for sure!!

The Christmas Tree is going up tomorrow. We may go and cut our own this year - maybe. The rest of the inside of the house is decorated just waiting for the guest of honor. My goal for today is to get wreaths in all the windows. That's the job Ed usually does but I don't want to wait!! Plus, he needs to do the outside lights! That'll take long enough.

Have a great weekend!!

The Weekend in Pictures

It's a good thing we left early this morning. We were on the road by 8:30 a.m. and made really good time until we hit the Mass. Pike. Then it started to sleet and freezing rain. The traffic wasn't terrible but the iffy weather definitely slowed things down. If we'd left any later the roads would probably have gotten much worse. Thankfully we made it home without any trouble. The laundry is already going and the girls are enjoying a bit of downtime - something they haven't had in DAYS! I'm trying to talk Ed into getting the Christmas decorations out for me so we can start making this place FESTIVE! I'd really like to get the wreaths on the windows at least. Anyway, as promised here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving visit to Maine.

The dessert table. That would be my pie front and center. The beautiful cheesecake to the left was made by Randy's girlfriend, Christy.

Here's the whole crew (including Lucy, who incidentally seems to have a bit of a stomach ache today after consuming JUNK from the kitchen floor all weekend!). It was tough getting us all looking at the same time!!

We encountered this group of turkeys crossing the road by Keith's house. He said he gets at least a hundred of them trotting through his yard everyday!! I think they are the most ridiculous looking animal!

Here's Katie and Becky brushing Cash. They loved taking care of him. Becky said that riding the horse was her favorite part of the weekend. And now she'd like her own horse, thank you very much!

Here's Kaleb (Randy's youngest), Allison, Katie, Becky, and little Jocelyn (Keith's daughter). The white horse is Cash and the brown one is Lucky.

Allison got a kick out of holding the chicken. Keith has a large chicken coup for his 'flock' and they are currently producing one egg a day!! That cracks me up. He said they'll start to produce more as they get older. They're still pretty young.

So there you have it. Time to get Ed moving!!

Happy Late Thanksgiving

Happy late Thanksgiving. I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday spent with the people who mean the most to you. We are still in Maine enjoying a wonderful visit with our families. We got in Wednesday evening and will head home tomorrow morning -- early!
Thursday was spent preparing for the incredible feast that is what Thanksgiving is all about. My mother in law hosted 24 people and cooked over 30 pounds of turkey! The afternoon and evening was filled with food, a dessert contest, and a lighting ceremony. The dessert contest is a long tradition. My brother in law, Randy, and I started this contest years ago. It all began with pie crust. We were probably both still in high school when the challenge started. So this year I called for a pie contest between the two of us. Everyone else who entered made any kind of dessert they wanted but Randy and I made pies. I made the Pioneer Woman's Scrumptious Apple Pie. Randy made a strawberry apple pie. Neither of us knew what the other was making so it's pretty comical that we both made apple pies! I'll admit that my pie crust came out really good, but Randy's came out better -- he won the contest. All of the desserts looked fabulous - I couldn't eat any of them - I was way too full!! After the contest we all went outside where my father in law plugged in the lights that he worked so hard to put up for us to enjoy. They looked great! The kids were signing Christmas carols and dancing with the music.
Friday morning my mom, Robby's girlfriend, Sara, and I went shopping. Sara is such a nice girl who is just crazy about my goofy brother. They go together so well. I was glad to spend some time with her. We found some good bargains too! After shopping we went back to my parents' house to decorate their Christmas tree. The girls enjoyed that! Then it was off to dinner at the Sea Dog - YUM!
Today has been busy but laid back too. We went to Ed's other brother's house (Keith) where the girls rode horses and played with chickens! Keith and Erica's house is in the most beautiful location. The long driveway winds just enough to hide the house from the street. As you round the corner a clearing appears. The house sits in the clearing surrounded by more trees. There's a little pond, big boulders, and lots of quiet. The back yard slopes down to where Keith and Erica have cleared a pasture for the horses. It isn't your typical flat corral type pasture. It rolls through the hilly woods. The horses enjoy the shelter of the trees as well the openness of a small clearing. My girls had a blast riding Cash. My sister in law, Erica, has been around horses most of her life and has owned Cash for 13 years. She is so good with the girls and showing them what to do. I would say the best part of the time there was being with Jocelyn and Chase. Jocelyn is 2 1/2 and Chase is 1. They are both so very sweet and lovable. I will post pictures as soon as I get home. It was absolutely wonderful spending time with them!
Tonight we are heading to a Portland Pirate's hockey. We'll get to see our dear friends, Chris, Michelle, and Hayley Wheeler! Both of Ed's brothers are going too - so all together there will be 17 of us at the game! Fun times.
Tomorrow morning we are heading out as early as we can possibly get ourselves out the door. We've all eaten too much and stayed up too late. We need to recuperate a tad before school and work on Monday!!

My Favorite Blogs - Part 4 -- And Other Stuff

I've worked quite a bit this week. It's been fun and challenging, but mostly fun. I like being in a different classroom each time I'm at school and getting to know different kids. Monday I actually spent part of the day in Becky's class and the other part in Allison's class. Today I was the librarian. That was a bit more work than I'd imagined but I had a good day!

I did get to make Pumpkin Cookies this week. They are a favorite in our house and they never last long. Here's the recipe:

Mix the following:

1 1/1 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 can pumpkin (or pumpkin puree!)
2 3/4 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. slat
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Stir in 1 cup of butterscotch chips and 1 cup of walnuts, if desired. We do the chips but no nuts.

Spoon onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes. Depending on the size you could get up to 6 dozen. Enjoy!

I promised another blog recommendation. Faithful Froggers is another amazing blog. Heather is the mother of 5 children and lives in the Tampa, Florida area. She has a set of triplets, one of whom passed away about two years ago. His name was Jacob and he had a rare form of cancer. Heather is so open about her grief, but she is also extremely full of hope, full of joy, and full of faith. Her family adopted a beautiful little girl from Guatemala about a year ago and Heather shares her family's joy at having this special addition to their family. You'll feel like you know this family after reading just a bit of Heather's blog. And you'll feel truly blessed by her unwavering faith. So those are my favorite blogs for now. I'm always checking out new blogs based on the recommendations of other blog readers. I'll let you know if I come across any other great reads!!

I'm now reading the third book in the Twilight series. The movie is in theaters starting today. My friend, Natalie, and I have plans to go see the movie together. She's the one who got me hooked on them!! I hope the movie does the book justice! Don't bother to try and sign them out from your local library. There is no doubt a huge waiting list! I tried to sign out book three and there were eleven people already waiting - I went to Barnes & Noble and bought the book instead! Anyway, find the books if you can - you'll love them!!

Basketball is starting this weekend for Allison and Rebecca. I can't wait to watch the little kindergartners trying to play! Rebecca is an old pro by now - at her age it starts to get more competitive and really fun to watch. I'll try to get some good pictures to share.

Have a great weekend!

This and That

I'll get back to blogging about my favorite blogs next time. I have at least one more I'll share with you.

I worked a full day on Thursday and a half day on Friday with a little boy with Down Syndrome. He was very sweet. Everyone who knows this kid loves him. We'd walk down the hall together and all along the way people (kids and adults) would stop to say hi or hug him. He'd light up and share their enthusiasm! Being in the classroom with him was a bit of a challenge. I was at least the third person to work with him that week and he'd clearly had enough. He was stubborn about many things and I was completely unsure of how to encourage him to do what he was supposed to be doing. Finally, we took a walk down to the special ed room and got some help. He was very excited about having computer time and that became a great motivator for getting him to do his work. That was kind of a turning point for us. It was really all about us getting to know each other. He's a good boy and I genuinely hope I get to work with him again sometime. He pretty much won me over when I caught him staring at me early that first day. When I looked up at him I smiled. He smiled back real big and said, "You're pretty."

A friend loaned me a couple of books from the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. It's written for teens but it's so good it doesn't matter what the intended audience is! I know it's now a movie - at least the first book is - but really, when a book becomes a movie it's always a good idea to read the book BEFORE you see the movie! I read the entire first book yesterday (500 and some odd pages) and today have gotten deep into the second book. Good stuff. A little creepy but GOOD!

My big goal for the week is to make pumpkin cookies. My kids love them! Somehow I have not found time to bake them yet. This week girls - I promise!! Uh-oh, now I have to do it!

My Favorite Blogs - Part 3

Today you have to visit c jane enjoy it. This blog is written by Courtney - a new mom who lives in Utah with her husband, new baby, and is currently the guardian of three of her sister's children. Her blog is truly inspirational. Her faith is strong. Her love and devotion to her family is unmatched. There is so much I could say...I want you to know the circumstances that have led to her taking care of her sister's children...I want you to know how precious her family is to her...I want you to know all about the journey she's been on...but there is no possible way I could do her story justice. You have to visit her blog yourself to see just what I mean. Her blog continues to remind me of what is truly important - Check it out!

I also have to share these pictures with you. When Allison was teething her front teeth came in after the others. She looked like she had little fangs and her smile just cracked us up!!! Now that she has lost those two front teeth her smile is similar to the way it was - way back then!

Allison at 7 months with her goofy grin!

Allison at 5 years old with another goofy grin!

Since there's no school today the girls and I are lounging a bit. Becky and Allison are upstairs playing school and Katie has retreated to her room to read. They are still recuperating from the late nights we had in Rhode Island.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Our Weekend in Pictures

We were in Barrington, R.I....

Allison lost her other front tooth shortly before bed Friday night. She and my mom were being crazy and it came out. I LOVE her gappy, granny grin!!

Little Miss insisted on sleeping with the sleep mask she found in the goody bag provided by the hotel. I was surprised she actually fell asleep with it on!

Saturday night we went to the Providence Place Mall. This picture of the escalators may give you some idea of how large it is! It's also carpeted throughout which I found kind of interesting.

Now don't go thinking I've lost my mind! I had to take a picture of the restroom hand dryer. It was the coolest, most efficient hand dryer I've ever had the pleasure of using! And...it was a DYSON!!

Sunday we went to the beautiful Narragansett Bay where the shore was literally covered in shells.

I loved hearing the Sea Gulls cry and feeling the brisk sea breeze. Katie didn't seem to mind it either!

Becky found a perfect oyster shell - top and bottom. She brought it to school today to show her class.

And the reason we went to Barrington was for the soccer tournament. Our girls won the championship and brought home the Douglas Cup. They weren't scored on the whole tournament! And Katie scored the game winning, only goal of game four!! A great way to end a great weekend!

My Favorite Blogs - Part 2

I hope you checked out the Pioneer Woman's blog yesterday. I check in with her every morning while I eat my cereal. Actually that's the time I check in with all of my favorite blogs!
Today I want to introduce you to Way Out West. This blog is written by my dear friend Heather. We've known each other since elementary school and our blogs are how we keep up with each other! Heather is a Maine native who now lives in beautiful Idaho with her husband and two young boys. After a few years as a working (outside the home) mom, Heather now stays home with her sweet boys. Her blog is funny, inspiring, real, and relevant. It's refreshing to read about the struggles she experiences in raising her family as well as the joys. This upbeat blog is also the place to find fantastic recipes, with photos I might add. Way Out West is full of fun ideas to share with your children like, Muffin Tin Monday, a new regular feature that Heather has done for a few weeks now. If you want to spend time reading about things you can totally relate to then head on over to Way Out West!

The Northeast is experiencing the most balmy November weather! It's a bit drizzly today but WARM! We'll take it! It won't be long before we're up to our EYEBALLS in snow - which I love! We're off to Barrington, Rhode Island tomorrow for our last soccer tournament of the season. I'm so thankful that the weather will be so much warmer than last year. We all froze our bee-hinds off!

Some of you may remember my rotten luck with all of my kitchen appliances. Basically they all ceased to function - one at a time. All except the dishwasher, that is...until recently. About three weeks ago it also stopped working. Actually, it worked fine until it was time for it to drain the filthy, nasty, water. So now, I own a pretty, new, stainless steel dishwasher! My old one was white, which was fine since it matched the cabinets. But since we found this one on clearance at Sears, at my other appliances are stainless, we figured we'd go with the shiny silver model. I like it just fine. I don't think I'm particularly attached to any of my kitchen appliances. They're all nice enough but if I'm going to be excited about an appliance it's going to be my DYSON vacuum!! I do love that machine...

I think I'll take old Lucy girl for a walk before the girlies come home from school. I hope the humidity doesn't frizz my hair all out like I stuck my finger in a socket!!!

Let Me Clarify

I don't want to defend my opinions or keep hashing this out, but I feel that my comments about many voters not doing their homework needs some clarification. I really hesitate to even do this but I want to be sure that you see my meaning. And for the record I'd have most definitely voted for Obama if I thought he represented my views better than McCain. This excerpt from Howard Stern's radio program demonstrates the ignorance with which some people went to the polls. It clearly shows what I meant about "doing their homework". SalInHarlem.mp3 (3256.5 KB) Please, check it out. It doesn't really matter at this point but it is interesting none the less. Now, that's enough political stuff. This blog is hereby a politic free zone!

My Favorite Blogs - Part 1

I went to work yesterday for the first time in nearly 14 years! For three hours I got to color, read books, play math bingo, and listen to calendar time and classroom election relsults! I was working one on one with a little girl in first grade. She was a sweet girl with chubby, freckled cheek who liked to hold my hand. It was a good first day of work.

Of course the big news at school, and everywhere for that matter, was the election. Allison has a competitive spirit. It was difficult for her to be bantered about her choice for president. She held firm though and defended her choice. At home she was glued to Fox News as we watched the election results trickle in, no I'm not kidding! She kept saying, "I want to watch the voting Mommy!" So we did. You may see her on Fox News one day as a political analyst! Of course I'm disappointed in the results. I really feel that many voters didn't do their homework on the president elect before they voted. With great restraint I will leave it at that...

For the next few posts I thought I'd highlight the awesome blogs I read. There are tons of bloggers in bloggerland and I only read a handful but they are GOOD! Today I want to introduce you to The Pioneer Woman. Ree Drummond is the blogger. She and her husband are raising their four children on a working cattle ranch in Oklahoma. Her blog is chalk full of fabulous photography, recipes, and anecdotes from her life on the ranch. Currently, her husband and two daughters are visiting the Dominican Republic with Compassion International. Compassion is close to my family's heart and reading Ree's updates from her family's visit is truly inspiring. Read about Compassion International here and then go to Ree's blog and read the first hand account of what Compassion does and the impact the visit is having on Ree's family. Spend some time perusing older posts from the different areas of the site. You'll love getting to know this modern day Pioneer Woman!

The Week in Review

Been a whole week since I posted. Oops. Been kinda busy around here. Big decisions. Business trips. Halloween. 'Nuf said.

So. Katie is going back to school full time. Now don't go assuming it's because I'm incapable of teaching her or that she's difficult to teach. Fact of the matter is she's an awesome kid with a sweet spirit. It was not an easy decision but I truly feel that she is supposed to be in school. God doesn't seem to want my children in a private christian school or at home. He's made it clear to me that I need to stop fighting Him on this point and just trust that He knows best. That may sound like a bunch of crazy talk to some of you, but for me it's the truth. I'm glad to have help in this journey of raising children and living my life!

I've got me a new job. A paying job. The kind where you go in and work and then leave and then get a paycheck. An actual, for real, paycheck. The kind that can be put in the bank or spent at the mall. I haven't had this kind of a job in 14 years!! I'm now a substitute paraprofessional at Becky and Allison's school. I'll work one on one with special needs learners, help in a classroom, or fill in at lunch and recess duty. Funny that I've done some of this as a volunteer but now I can actually get paid for it. Cool. Being a substitute is right up my alley because I'll still have plenty of time to volunteer in the girls' classes, write, and do my regular errands, and be home with my girls! I'm excited to start.

Ed was gone again all week. I don't like it too much when he's gone. I miss him. The girls miss him. It's too quiet around here. I have to take the trash out and I don't like that too much. The week goes by slowly for all of us. But we love when he gets home! The girls fight for his attention and he bops around the house saying things like, "I love my girls!" He enjoys being the center of attention among his adoring fans!

It snowed this week. Can you even believe that! I'm not talking flurries in the sky but actual, stick to the ground, build a snowman snow!! The girls loved it! I love snow too but in October?- not so much!

Yesterday (Halloween) Katie and Becky both had parties in their classrooms and I volunteered to make cupcakes for both. Then I talked Katie into making the cupcakes. She made over 70 cupcakes! I was so glad that she was willing to do it! The parties were lots of fun. The school does Character Dress Up day where the kids dress as a book character. I loved seeing all the kids dressed up! Allison was Hannah Montana - I know she isn't technically a book character but try telling that to a five year old! Becky was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. They both looked adorable! Then of course last night was trick or treating. They got dressed up in different costumes! Katie handed out candy and Lucy tried to devour a chihuahua dressed as a bumble bee. A fun time was had by all...

Becky the Clown ready for some trick or treating!
Allison the Princess in her princess pose!

Today we are getting a couple of house projects done and then heading to Albany. Our house is still officially 'on the market' but no one has looked at it in a couple of months. We figured it was no big deal and we'll just stay here. We like our house. Well, the realtor called and asked if she could show the house on Monday. The listing contract expires this weekend but I told her to go ahead and show it...whatever, right? She'll take the sign with her when their done looking at the house. And if they don't want the house that's fine - it will be off the market and we won't be showing it to anyone else. Still, there are a couple of small projects that should be done before people come traipsing through here. I'm so glad Ed is here to do them!! I'm sure that right about now, he is too!
No soccer this weekend! This is the first time since Labor Day! Next weekend is a tournament in Rhode Island and then we are officially done with the fall soccer season! The tournament is fun - we get to stay in a beautiful hotel, in a beautiful spot, close to Providence, and with a pool! Not a shabby way to spend a weekend!

And finally...a video that demonstrates Katie's evil tendencies!

Gappy Grinned Girl

Check out that gappy grin! Allison lost her first front tooth the other day while she was at school. I worked in the library that afternoon so I got to see her and hear all about it from her and her friends! I just love the gappy grin but it does mark the end of that baby toothed smile I've loved for the past five and a half years :( She's definitely loosing her teeth earlier than her sisters - it's got to be that "I've got to keep up with my sisters" attitude -LOL! Apparently Allison has a less than positive view of the tooth fairy, although I honestly don't know why. Thursday morning she came into my room with her empty tooth pillow and announced that the tooth fairy didn't come. I insisted that she had indeed come because Allison's tooth was gone from the pillow. "But she didn't leave me anything..." We looked high and low and finally found her treasure UNDER the bed. Phew! Then later that night at bedtime Allison told me this story...."When I got up to go to the baffroom in the night I dropped my Beary on the floor. When I got back to my bed from the baffroom I couldn't find my Beary anywhere. I fought the Toof Fairy took him! But then I saw him on the floor." Why, oh why would a little girl think that the tooth fairy stole her bear?! Kind of sad. I assured her that the tooth fairy wouldn't do anything like that. Never a dull moment!


I also need to share some of Allison's artistic ability with you. I'm always amazed by my children's creativeness because I am SO lacking in that area! Especially when it comes to DRAWING anything! They must get their abilities from their Dad.

It's a Giraffe - in case you can't tell - which of course you can because of Allison's exceptional artistic ability!! Never mind about the five legs - she just got carried away is all.

Shop Talk & Finding Favor with God

Shop Talk: "Whoopie Pie" is on its way to Kid Zone magazine. This article was my tenth and final assignment for the writing course I took. I'm officially done! I say that with a bit of hesitation because I'm nervous about being on my own. The course motivated me to write something. It gave me an 'assignment' which had to be completed at a certain time. I liked that accountability. It will harder now to be motivated, but I have my critique group. They are encouraging and inspiring. With all the changes in our daily schedules since school started it's no wonder I've been too busy to focus. Now things are settling down and I can take time to get to it!
A few days ago I got a forwarded e-mail regarding some political stuff and some religious stuff combined. It was interesting enough that I did in fact forward it to a few people I thought would also find it interesting. As these things go it got forwarded many more times by people I sent it to. A day after I e-mailed it I got a response from someone I don't know. She (I assume it was a woman) seemed very offended that the e-mail contained some, what she considered false, religious information. She went so far as to say that our country was NOT founded on christian beliefs but rather the belief that we should all worship as we choose. That of course is NOT true so I had to respond back to her. Our country was founded by people who wanted to worship GOD. BIBLICAL principles guided our forefathers and set the foundation for this country. Shame on anyone who doesn't acknowledge the truth of that. As we have gotten away from God and our foundation the evidence is clear that things are literally crumbling around us. The blessings of living in a country that worships the one true God are disappearing as people turn their backs on Him and look to other FALSE gods. So this woman and I have exchanged a couple of e-mails back and forth. She is clearly misled about who God is and seems confident that anyone who loves God will find favor with Him. True enough that those of us who love Him will find favor with Him but she seemed to miss the most important part. We need to acknowledge the fact that we all sin; we needed Jesus to die and take the punishment for those sins; we need to ask Him to forgive us and cleanse us; we need to ask Him to come into our lives and fill us with His Holy Spirit; and we need to thank Him for loving us enough to save us. You can love God in word only or you can love Him through your faith and belief in what He did for you. That's when we find 'favor' with Him. We have to be saved in order to truly LOVE Him and have a REAL relationship with Him. I expressed all of this to this woman and my prayer is that she (and you) will take this seriously and accept Jesus as "the way, the truth, and the life."

More Fish!

Last night was fish night. I must say that the idea of adding something healthy to my family's diet is the driving force behind trying to overcome my lifelong aversion to fish. I'd like to have more variety and who knew there were so many kinds of fish out there just waiting for me to cook 'em!!! I find that when I spend some time getting a bit adventurous in the kitchen I really enjoy cooking - did I just admit that?!- Must be that I enjoy feeding my family healthy meals... So here's last night's recipe.

Quick Easy 'n Fast Crusty Potato Fish Fillets Recipe

6 white fish fillets, about 3/4 inch thick (I used Haddock)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
pinch salt
pinch freshly ground black pepper
1 4 oz. pouch roasted garlic mashed potatoes or regular instant potatoes

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cover broiler pan with foil and grease well or spray with nonstick vegetable spray.

In a medium bowl, beat eggs and lemon juice; add salt and pepper to egg mixture. Empty pouch of potatoes into a separate medium size bow.

Dip fish fillets in egg mixture, then into dry potatoes and coat both sides. Spread fillets on prepared broiler pan and bake in preheated oven for 10 - 15 minutes. Set oven to broil and cook until tops are golden brown. (If you cook in a convection oven you probably won't need to broil as the tops brown while they cook).

Makes 6 servings.

Note: Fillets may be grilled or sauteed in hot vegetable oil.

Apples and More

We went apple picking a couple of weekends ago. The orchard we went to was gorgeous! Picture a hillside sprinkled with different hues of red, orange, and gold. Then imagine an apple orchard with the brightest red apples you've ever seen carved out in the middle of the hill. All around us the cozy colors of autumn oozed their warmth while the chill of the October breeze made us hug our jackets tighter to us. A truly perfect autumn day!

Little Miss among the apples

Yum!
Katie.
These faces are so mischievous!
If you squint your eyes and cock your head to one side you may be able to distinguish the house at the top of the orchard. The owners of the orchard live here. Can you even imagine what it would be like to enjoy that view everyday!?

Shop Talk: I received another rejection letter. This time from Boys' Quest. However, this time the editor wrote me a short note at the bottom of the form letter. This is not the usual way it works! Apparently my article was good but the theme it fell under (baseball) is "full at this time." So, while I was disappointed that they didn't take it I'm glad it wasn't rejected because of its lack of merit. I'll take that as a good thing. I'm still waiting to hear from Cricket about the same article. I also submitted a short (125 words)story to a writing contest. I won't find out anything about that until February, I think. I'm also waiting to hear from my instructor about the Whoopie Pie article I submitted for my final assignment. When that comes back I'll fix it up and send it out to magazines. In the meantime I need to get my writing butt in gear and get some more stuff written and ready to submit!! Honestly, I'm just not spending the time filtering through ideas and organizing my thoughts.

Becky and Allison apparently really enjoy riding the bus in the mornings. Allison announced that it's 'so fun because the kids can scream!' Wrong, Little Miss...no screaming on the bus! I'm glad it's such a fun way to start the day!

I'm trying another fish recipe tonight. This one is made with Haddock. We'll see. I'll post the recipe if it's any good. I mean, if my family thinks it's any good. I have a hard time looking at fish let alone eating it. I made a homemade pizza last night. Homemade crust and everything. I don't have a bread machine so I did the dough thing by hand. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The pizza turned out pretty good. I am going to look for a bread machine at our local thrift stores though. It would be so much easier!!

A Little Tweak

Isn't it amazing how one little tweak to the daily routine can greatly improve your attitude? I've been suffering from a bit of burn out. There were a couple of things that were setting me over the edge. 1) Getting all three girls upstairs and in bed seems to take FOREVER! I've been desperately missing those days when we'd tuck them in at 7:30 and we'd get a few hours of kid free time before bed. Obviously Katie and Becky are a bit old to go to bed at 7:30 so I've had to be flexible and accommodating while maintaining my sanity. So, without going into all the details, we've come up with a plan that I think will work. The bigger issue seemed to be number 2. I spend A LOT of time in my car making countless trips back and forth from our house to the elementary school, and then our house and the middle school EVERY DAY! That in itself is frustrating enough, but add into that ROAD CONSTRUCTION and it's pretty hard to deal with. I don't have a choice about driving Katie to school for math each day or soccer practice twice a week. But I do have a choice about driving Becky and Allison to school every morning and then driving back to work in the library and then driving back to pick them up once a week. Silly, silly, silly. So now they will ride the bus to school and home everyday. Ahhh...Eliminating one extra trip (sometimes two) a day makes me able to think and function like a normal human being instead of a resentful, irritated, grouchy louse! Driving them to school was fine when I wasn't making extra trips back and forth to Katie's school but times have changed and gas is expensive. One little tweak, I tell ya.

Katie has a soccer tournament this weekend and the weather is supposed to be beautiful! Nothing like a soccer game on a perfect fall day! Or in this case FOUR maybe SIX games!! Happy Weekend!

Fish for Dinner?

I'm still in shock over what I made for dinner and we all (me included) ate it. I made Oven Baked Salmon Fillets Dijon. Why is this so shocking, you ask? Well, because I don't like fish! Never have. But, in the name of mixing up the dinner menu and adding something healthy I decided to try a fish recipe. I actually had that "No way am I gonna get this down" feeling but I kept telling myself - "it's just like tuna. I like tuna." Becky actually went back for seconds and Allison ate all that I gave her. Ed and Katie are fishaholics anyway so of course they loved it. I liked it fine enough and I'll try another fish recipe next week but me and fish are far from being in love! Here's the recipe:

Oven Baked Salmon Fillets Dijon

4 (6 oz.) salmon fillets
2 to 3 Tbsp Dijon style mustard
1/4 c. dry bread crumbs
1/4 c. butter or margarine, melted
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Line a shallow baking pan with foil.
Place each fillet on top of foil, skin side down.
Spread top and sides of each fillet with a thin layer of mustard, using 2 tsp. for each.
Cover mustard with a layer of breadcrumbs. Drizzle butter over tops of fish. Bake until fish are opaque in center, about 15 minutes. With spatula, lift salmon to serving plates leaving skin on baking sheet. Serves 4.

Poor Ed

How come when my husband sets out to do a relatively simple household task it somehow takes FIVE TIMES as long as it should? Now I'm not blaming him really. It's a phenomenon that I simply do not understand. For instance, he went outside to mow the lawn about an hour and a half ago and has yet to actually begin to mow the lawn. I heard him weed whacking, which seemed to go smoothly enough. But for the last hour it's been silent outside. He just came in to tell me that he's going to run to Home Depot to get a new battery for the lawn tractor. Again, I'm not blaming him...as a matter of fact, it turns out that I'm the one to blame for the completely fried, totally dead, unresponsive battery. While Ed was in Mobile Alabama I thought about mowing the lawn. After coming to my senses and shoving all thoughts of lawn maintenance from my mind I apparently left the key turned in the ignition which sucked ALL of the life out of the battery. This particular battery has been finicky for some time and my negligence simply put it over the edge. Oops. Still, it always seems that something hinders Ed's ability to just do the job. I feel a little sorry for him. It's like the poor guy can't get a break. So now instead of taking an hour to do the lawn it'll be more like THREE hours by the time he's finished. He and his laid back personality just take things in stride while I want to go out and KICK that foolish tractor for giving my man a hard time!

We've come to a turning point, I believe, in Katie's homeschooling. We decided late (1 week before school started) that we were going to homeschool her for all subjects except math. I took the recommendation of some friends about a curriculum to use. So we ordered it and felt fine about our decision. However, as we began to use the curriculum and deal with the increasing frustration of the online academy it became clear that we needed to make some changes. To make a loooong story shorter I'll just say that we've revamped our curriculum choice and mixed things up a bit. I found this amazing science curriculum online and CAN NOT wait until it comes and we can begin using it! And yesterday at Barnes & Noble I was browsing through the Spark Notes which are kind of like Cliff Notes only more intelligent. I found one for S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Remember that book and movie!? It was awesome! So I bought the book for Katie and the Spark Notes for me and we're going to do a study of the themes, characters, motifs, etc. in the book and she'll do a literary analysis on some part of it as well. This is what we call
'supplementing the curriculum.' It's also one of the best parts of homeschooling. The ability to take something that interests us and turn it into education! We're also mixing up the Social Studies thing a bit too as well as adding Spanish 1 to her daily lessons. All in all we'll be using a different homeschool publisher for every subject she does. What a learning process this is but when the right combination of materials is found the excitement of homeschooling really takes hold! I'm feeling more confident in our decision to keep Katie home.

Allison continues to thrive in kindergarten. I love her sweet stories about different things she's learning as well as songs and rhymes. She has an amazing memory and after hearing a story or song ONE time is able to repeat it almost word for word. She's also so pleased with herself for following the rules and earning rewards (prize box, stickers, etc.) for doing it. I'm proud of her. Becky is enjoying school as well and her teacher has all good things to say about her. One area I've noticed a bit of struggling for her is MAP READING. I'm surprised by this because reading maps is all about logic. I guess lots of people struggle with this though. I'll be talking with her teacher about some extra worksheets or something to help her along with this. I personally have never had a hard time with map reading and so I think I'll be able to offer her some help here. Other than that she's plowing through her work without any difficulties.

Soccer games and a birthday party this weekend. And maybe a couple of household projects....maybe.

Our Hillside

Fall is most definitely in full swing here in New England. I couldn't resist this shot of the beautiful foliage on the hillside. That building is a bunch of condos now and I'm not sure what it used to be but isn't it lovely? It's made from stone - lots and lots of stone. That hilllside is the same hill we live on, only on the other side of it. I was sitting in the parking lot of the middle school waiting for Katie to finish math when I noticed the maginificent colors. What a perfect mix of autumn's colors and summer's remaining green...