There went a man from the house of Levi.

I remember sharing a room with my brother and loving my little cave, the bottom bunk. In fact when we moved to our big house when I was 6, I was given my own large room. The insecurity that overtook my soul when I had no layer of protection hovering over me led my parents to get me a canopy for my bed. That's not what I was going to tell you about but weren't my parents awesome to come up with such a solution. Mom sewed the whole set for the bed, canopy, shams, etc. it was gorgeous!

Back to the bunk bed.... Dad used to read to us at night and he would start of "there went a man from..." And Barry and I would shout "from the house of Levi." And on and on it would go, this little game meant to keep us interested. To this day, I cannot read this passage without recalling that great memory.

Time invested in story time and reading time is never lost.

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!!

Pre flight briefing

Landon and Maura flew with Gordie last weekend. They just flew 20 minutes but in a beautiful airplane on a gorgeous day. Of course, having Gordie as pilot is quite the privilege as well. As Gordie was preparing the airplane to leave, Landon was giving me his last wishes. You know, just to be safe. He told me if anything were to happen to "tell all the future ladies that I was a hero".

Home improvements.

In April we decided to go ahead with a project we had been wanting to do for years. The carpet in the family room had deteriorated to the point that needed to replace it so we opted to go with extending the pine kitchen floor into the family room.

The two men that worked on the floor did such a great job, as close to perfect as possible. I've included pics where they took the legs off the island in order to do a better sanding job.

We have really enjoyed the new look and the lack of carpet! Now we have to repaint and get a rug.....stressful decisions!

An indelicate balance.

This morning Landon made a comment that I laughed really hard at, but Maura just shook her head and kept reading the cereal box. A few minutes later when Gord came into the kitchen I recounted the exchange to him. Landon who was within earshot, looks at both of us, shifting his focus back and forth erratically and says "laughing or spanking"?

Because it usually falls into one of two categories.

Do you want to know what he said? Maura told him a nice thing about his his grandparents and he said "you gotta love the elderly".

Performing Arts

Maura and Landon both took acting classes this year and they ended the program yesterday with a little show. It was so cute!!

Although Maura is the more animated performer, she is not appear as psyched as Landon to receive the coveted certificate of completion.

Riiiight?

Little reader

The littlest read himself to sleep.

Lancaster, PA:

Hotel Kitchen:

Landon is waiting on Maura and I in our restaurant.

























Sorry this isn't more detailed! I put a lot if time into this post this afternoon but the Internet ate it. Quick rundown if what you see above:

Fun, informative Gettysburg guide, Jim, who drove our truck for two hours and told us everything about Gettysburg. It's such a fascinating subject, really brings out the nerd in me.

Jim knew of a Ramsay monument and took a detour to find it, facing away from the road near the Wheat field, there's a pic of Landon on that monument.

Pics of gord, adam n david are at Little Round Top, site of one of the bloodiest battles.

Oh and a pic of us with Abraham Lincoln, no big deal.

This was going to be my comeback post but I've been thwarted by the Internetz as I peck away here on my phone.

Thanks for checking in, glad I could provide some month old material for you!!

Sunshine in Starbucks

I hope you have the privilege of sitting with sunshine today!

When extra credit is worth the extra.

David's Social Studies teacher is very supportive of the US Armed Forces and the veterans that have served our country. When Adam had him as a teacher, he gave extra credit to kids who visited the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall when it was set up in East Hartford. Gordie took the boys to that exhibit and Adam took tons of really cool photos with his little Rebel.

This year the same teacher offered extra credit to students who created a care package for soldiers. You had to provide images of your care packages so we took pics as David was setting them up. Adam helped him shop for the items, they took their own cart around Target and set aside their differences for a short while in order to better serve their country. Short while. Jokes aside, I thought they did a great job of picking things. Dave also added his old-ish iPod Nano, and a headset to one of the boxes. It was great to watch him pack these boxes as though he was giving a gift to a specific person. He had as much concern and care about the relevance and usefulness of each item as if he was giving the boxes to a friend.

Here are the pics of the contents of his boxes.

Old Spice

I cleaned out my spice cabinet and realized I bought this bottle in 1990 when we got married. I needed it for a specific recipe and never again since apparently.

New Years Day 2012

New years day was beautiful and sunny, the best way to start a new year. We took a walk on the rail trail in the afternoon. It was not easy convincing the young males of the household that it was going to be fun, visually stimulating and improve their eye/hand coordination but had no choice bit to join us. So they did. Grudgingly. Mumbling.

Gordie was feeling under the weather but he came with us and took lil Kona along. She was way out of her element with all the other dogs around, making yelping sounds that I've never heard her make before. She is such a good little dog and by the end of the walk she was acclimating to all the wacky sounds and smells.

I made sure I had a pic of Adam and I from the walk because we took one (a walk and a picture) on NY day 2010 and I wanted to compare them. You'll have to figure them out because this app won't let me move photos around.

We hosted NYEve at our house and there were about 40 people I think. Basically we ate for 5 hours. Not many stayed for midnight but since it was Sunday the next day folks left early.

Have you started any new habits-to-be for the new year? I am doing the Bible in a year, it's 4 or 5 chapters per day with a Psalm. Gordie is doing one that is chronological, so I may bail on mine to do that, it sounds a little more purposeful.

Keeping along the same line (biting off things I cannot chew)......I've committed to a run in May in Halifax, NS. I'm freaked out, gotta be honest. I do love to run and as long as I have the time to do my running, I'll be fine. Helloooo treadmill :) I bought warm running gear and I'm buying good(er) shoes this week because I love to run outside despite coyotes, loose Rottweillers and fisher cats. (drama much?) I'm running the race with my sisters and our cousin, I am really looking forward to it. Running has been such a positive experience for me, breaking through walls that I told myself were there.....but they really weren't...running extracts the truth from me and it's been such a good thing. The first time I ran three miles was a sweet moment for me, and I can't wait to break through more imaginary walls.

Now we are on our way to a conference in NJ, the kids wanted to go and as long as we have teenagers asking to attend a conference we will take them.

Happy new year! I hope it's a profitable and joyful year for you!

Pomegranates

Maura loves pomegranates and enjoyed deseeding one a few moments ago.