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.