Maura's Birthday (April)

Way back on a sunny day in April.......

Maura and I had a special lunch at the American Girl store near Boston. We made reservations months in advance. We had two special guests, Maura's own American Girl doll and someone who was once my own version of a doll...Ashley!! 

A birthday crown for the birthday girl and a special chair for the doll. 

The food was delicious and the portions were not skimpy like I had read about. 

Check out the doll, it's all decked out in birthday accoutrements and a tiny cup of lemonade. 

It was a very special way to celebrate Maura's 11th birthday. Her interest in dolls will probably not last much longer, so I'm glad we had the chance to celebrate this way. 

My sister Leanne wrote a funny post today about my Mom. You should go read it. I laughed because I have felt that way SO MANY TIMES. I'm going to add in....Mom had six kids! Enough said? NOPE. She always had a  house bursting at the seams. For example, our family pool was a community pool all summer- filled with other people's kids who were often unaccompanied by any form of parental supervision! What a woman! She should have been recognized as the Volunteer of the Year....every year! 

So, I know I rock because I posted a post on the posting thing. April, May, June, July, August....5 months....NOT BAD!!

Susannie, if you're out there, I took this for you. "Are ya Bessie?" Those were great days!!

Merry Christmas, Happy Everything

We celebrate Christmas today here at the Ramsay house. Ashley and Uriah came tonight, we wrapped up wrapping and I'm looking forward to opening presents and eating breakfast. Landon put his reindeer food out, we'll see if it's still there in the morning.

We are twenty/We took a picture.

On Saturday we endeavored to take a family picture of ourselves. We had a location in mind that I have had my eye on for a long time, maybe two years now. The object of my affection is an old hangar at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT. I have heard that Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart both flew out of there at some point. So we packed up the kids, camera stuff and headed out. Gord stopped at Starbucks and we all ordered hot drinks, setting the holiday mood for everyone. We were indeed in a great holiday spirit when we arrived at The Hangar.

Gord and the kids assemble in front of the hangar, at a distance so we could get the tower in. I was taking some est shots for exposure, etc. It was then that a problem we thought would be surmountable became an obviously insurmountable problem. We had no tripod. No amount of piling camera bag on top of car seat, on top of coats, on roof of truck, etc. could serve the same purpose as a tripod. So we all piled back in the truck and went to Best Buy to get a tripod.

Everybody back in the truck!



We arrived back at the hangar, still in the holiday mood, still smiling, and dancing.

We took lots of pictures and got "the one for the card"......but you'll see that one on the card.

We got married 20 years ago today. We celebrated by going to Vermont for a couple of days earlier in the month. Ash and Uriah babysat for us and we had an awesome quiet, relaxing mini-vacation. When I say relaxing, I mean that it included quiet dinners, a house all to ourselves, a 3 hour spa/massage, stopping wherever we wanted to shop and browse in sweet little shops, and great meals. It was a great getaway! Twenty years...I just find it so inconceivable that I have done anything for twenty years, but the reality is we're REALLy twenty years older than we were in 1990 and here we are, so much to be thankful for! I love that this is my life and God has chosen this for us, this colorful tapestry.

The kids let loose at the end and no, this is not the card pic!


Speaking of the holidays....I am waiting for Thanksgiving to pass and then we are diving headfirst into Christmas decorating and cookie baking! Last year was so disappointing as I had just started working at the cookies were lacking, the decorations few, and the holiday spirit nil. So onward to the cookies...we've marked a few pages, me and the little girl.





We'll call you when they're hot out of the oven!


Have a great Thanksgiving, I hope it is warm, happy, thank-filled and pie-filled.

Joy comes in the cupcake.

When Heidi was here visiting Ash and me, I took a day off from work and had a sister day. It was grand. We ate at a local lunch place called the "Mustard Seed Cafe", a shout out to Leanne, the missing sister. She is involved in mission work in Calgary that is called...."The Mustard Seed". So we thought it was fitting. Then we are cupcakes from a shop next door called "Sugarbelle".

Here we are found enjoying our lunches on the outdoor patio. The sandwiches are all given Biblical names. We loved the "John's Locust and Honey Wrap" (just kidding!)

And NO! They are not my daughters! So stop it.

Heidi's cupcake was raspberry almond...she really loved it. I am not sure she enjoyed hers quite as much as Ash but what can you expect if you don't pick chocolate?

Here you see a confident Heidi stating "this is going to be the best bite ever". It turned out to be the cupcake-eater's equivalent of saying "Look Ma, no hands!" Sadly.

Within moments of her cavalier statement, her bite of frosting fell to the bricks. This is not the face of someone savoring their last bite of frosting. It is the face of defeat and acceptance.

Broken and ruined.

She soldiered on, settling for the remnants of Landon's cookie-dough cup cake. It is amazing to see the human spirit recover from such hardship. Who knew a cupcake outing could be so inspirational?

PEI & CBI

Our trip to PEI/Cape Breton was wonderful but too short. Looking back, we spent great amounts of time with other people. The kind of people that are really important to you, here are two of them. My Dad and Donnie. On the beach in West Mabou. That defines quality time.



Port Hood Beach, Gord, Saff and Landon romping in the water.


Argyle Shore in PEI with cousins, hours of fun.


Mark and the two little adventurous boys- Jonah and Nate.


Sunset bonfire near the cliff.


The family members who were present.


Cute little fingers successful at fishing:


One day, on Argyle Shore......


Two days later, West Mabou- who is a lucky kid?


Buried on Port Hood Beach...



Saying good bye to Mom and Dad at the homestead.


Back home....Gord picking the lock on the pool because I lost the key.


Our new little family member, Kona. She is a four month old German Shepherd. And the bane of poor Sapphire's existence.

Spring Sing

Landon had a Spring Sing in his class- all the afternoon kindergarten gathered to sing cute patriot songs, Ting-a-Layo, It's a Small World, You are my Sunshine, Down by the Bay, etc. Cutest thing ever!!

He's arriving. He is wearing a shirt he liked at ahem.....goodwill.....long story but it's not a battle I choose to fight. I know Adam would have been made to wear a Polo button down and khaki pants back in the day. But not anymore, friends, not anymore. So a Bionicle shirt from Goodwill it is. No problems.



He's still trying to find me :)


Love the little smirk when he sees me, my baby.


You're a grand old flag, you're a high flyin' flag and forever in peace may you wave. The emblem of the land I love, the home of the free and the brave. Every heart beats true for the red, white and blue............


The 'refreshments' in the Butterfly Garden.




And Stuart is getting so big and smart. He's tremendously cute and cracks us up all the time. David loves him.

Safety, Inventions and Bombs

Gordie and Landon were so cute tucked together in one chair, watching the movie "Up". I had forgotten how cute and poignant the movie was until I heard Gord sniffling and then I, having seen it last year in theatre, remembered how touching the storyline was. Landon was more concerned with the dogs in the movie and at one scary point he said "If that happened in real life I would wish I was still in Mom's belly." Everyone's idea of safety is different.

David is really happy the school year is coming to an end. He has never been able to convince himself that school is of any use. He is working on an invention, and I am limited in my freedom to fully disclose the details, but from what I understand it is a chip that is implanted in the brain of a child that includes all of the knowledge they will gain in school. I asked him what he hope to achieve by having children miss the learning process and he said, and I quote:
"I will save them from this pain that I am going through."

My kids have been dropping bombs on me lately. Let me explain;

Adam gets himself up in the morning, no compaints, he is as happy at 5:45 as he is when he gets home in the evening. It wasn't always this way, in fact he used to be difficult to get up when he was younger. Now that is almost done with 8th grade, his memories of getting up as an elementary student are negative ones because of guess who....ME!! After dinner one night last week , we were talking about getting up for school as I cleared off the table, the whole family seated and waiting for dessert. Adam casually mentioed that he hated getting up for school when he was in elementary. He went on to say that he hated the "wake up, wake up" song every morning, even mimicked the hand clapping that went along with it! The dinner table erupts in laughter, Gord gasping for breath, Maura doubling over, and I realize they are blaming me for singing the reviled song. Whatever! The tune was similar to "death is coming, coming, coming" (Just kidding) but the way he mimicked me was in the tune of the "clean up song" and I have absolutely no recollection of doing anything like that ever in all of my days. But, I do make songs up and sing at random moments, so I take the blame, acknowledged that I may have sung something cheerful once or twice in the morning but it definately wasn't that song. My Dad said it right when he, always with a Proverb on the end of his tongue would say " He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him." Pr 27/14. Bomb #1 dropped, right on target.

After PEI conference, Vicki took David and her boys to the Blue Goose Restuarant in DeSomething, PEI, and there he ordered Poutine, which is gravy over fries. He was eating with gusto and Vick asked him if he liked it. He told her "This doesn't make going home to chicken and pasta any easier." Bomb #2 dropped, again perfect marksmanship.

But I love them anyway, the little ingrates.

Maura's party

We held Maura's birthday party here at the house today. She wanted an Art theme, the color blue and together we were able to put on a party. The invite did indeed have all the info like time, rsvp, etc. but we stripped that off to show you here.

Cupcakes are apparently the new birthday cake.

The Art Studio.....

Treat bags...

She made up this game "Match the artist with his work" and found the pics all on her own. Of course, Eric Carle is in there with the greats!!

And this one she made up as well. Pin the paint on the palette.

We made Modge Podge canvasses, and after we were waiting for some to finish up they wrote all over the paper lining the table.

I thought this was cool, a streamer layer cake.


Finished products. You've got to love Glitter Modge Podge!!

Opening presents.

All hands on Saff!!

And....a Stuart update..

Dave holds him and secures him by his tail.


Cute, maybe? Sometimes? I don't know. To Dave, he is very cute.