This is my latest project. It is a shadow box(kind of) from my New England trip. Everything in the book is from my trip. I loved this project. I don't know if I should hang it on the wall or just start a bookshelf with vacation shadow boxes. It is not completely finished, but I only have one more thing to add.

My kids are such rock stars!

Mason has been a song writer for a few years now. His lyrics have come a long way. He started out with songs like "I Dropped My Ice Cream Cone". Then moved on to "My life Sucks, but I Don't Care". His latest was my return home surprise. It's called "I Like". I think this was co-written by Boston. It goes like this. It's sung kind of Nirvana-esque.

I like watching the sun set. I like watching it rise. I like watching for the colors of the dark blue sky.
I like, I like, I like these things so much.
Yaa
I like, I like, I like, I like thinking of you.
Yaa.
repeat.

This is kind of short for Mason, but I have a feeling his "mom" was not his favorite topic to write about. I absolutely love it though. Boston and Mason performed it for me when I got home from VT. I might have teared up if it weren't for their nasally, hard rock way of singing. Anyway it was cool. ( yes, I do keep all the lyric sheets, someday they will be needed for the documentary.)

Also, I wanted all those who have not heard yet, to know that Boston won first place in his 1 mile run for cross country. This is his first year running and he loves it. His time was 6 minutes and 30 seconds. I thought that was pretty good for his first race. I was gone, so I can't wait to see his next one.


Sid gets her rock star points for playing football with the little neighbor boy. He's 2 and apparently loves to tackle.

10-12-07

Today was fun. I took the kids, and a friend for each, to their favorite skate park this morning. They were all tearing it up. Then we went to a pumpkin patch for a few. Not too long, they were having trouble with the rules. When we got home Sid and I made cookies for refreshments for some church thing tonight. Then the missionaries came over for dinner. That was fun. One of them lives by Tom & Nat.

Happy Birthday Elise!

Elise is almost exactly 2 years older than me.
Elise was a cheerleader in Jr. High. Can you tell?
In high school she was a witch. OK not really, but some people thought she was!
She was really an arty-farty pants, and she still is.
After high school Elise was my best friend, we did pretty much everything together.( weekend dances, concerts, hanging out, ski trips, beach trips, volleyball, shared a room, shared clothes, share other best friends, like I said everything)
Then Elise went on a mission. She went to Slovenia, and loved every second of it.
She married Steve, and has three hilarious kids.
Elise is still one of my very best friends. I love every second of her!
I hope you have a fabulous day lady, you certainly deserve it! Can't wait to see you in 20 more days.

Just a few moreeeeeeeeeeeeeee

That was funny. My "e" button stuck. I love flawed things, so I'm leaving it. ( ok, if I really loved all things flawed I also would have also left "Me "e" button stuck." I must be reading Chelsea E P's blog too much. They are very in to pirates)

For cryin' out loud can I just get to the point? Here are a few more pics & of course my silly little comments will follow.

A big huge thanks again to Michelle. She was our inspiration for the trip, our tour guide, our landlord, and if you read Darilyn's blog, you know she was also our entertainment! Can anyone guess what this restaurant was called? I had forgotten until I saw this picture.


By the way, if you happen to be looking for Michelle, she is probably by the pamphlet shelves. She has a serious addiction. With Darilyn close behind. I almost got beat up a few times for my maps and info.


This is at the Alcott home. I think this place was most enjoyed by Darilyn. She had some weird tongue issues going on. She could not stop repeating" I love this place" and "I loved reading Little Women as a child".


This is not staged. I pinky swear!

This is for you Sarah S. You must know I love ya, if I put this picture up for all to see. We were thinking of you!

Pack up, we're moving to VT

Salem Mass in October was the big draw for me to go on my little trip. It seems funny now. I had a great time in Salem, but it was not my favorite. Maybe it was the seriously delusional witches, the cheesy light up historic figures who talk when you push the button, or the obnoxious 15 year old on our House of Seven Gables tour. Learning a bit more about Hawthorne was awesome and I did like hearing all about the witch trials. Very fascinating! We found a great candy store(sugar may be a recurring theme here) and a fun little place for dinner. Surprisingly one of the few places I had seafood.I don't know who this is, but he is very Salemesque. This was on a very busy street and before the transcendentalist lecture, so who had time for details?

My absolute favorite place was Concord Mass(I love saying Mass, that's how everyone there said it). Michelle, Darilyn, and I had grand plans of seeing all the historic sights. I think we ended up at 2. Everything was just too cool. After shopping(I think I found my favorite store ever), we headed over to the Orchard House, the home of Louisa May Alcott. We took the tour which was amazing. It's different from other historic sites because they had so many of the families original things. 85% of the stuff was original, and there was a lot of stuff. I loved all the drawings on the walls from May Alcott( Amy in the book). Actual drawings all over her room and other places as well. They had Marmie's china, the sink Louisa had bought for her mom, a chore list for all the girls, and so much more it was awesome.
Now here is the crazy part. Darilyn overheard some people talking about a gathering to be held at The Concord School of Philosophy(Mr. Alcott's school, it's on the same property). It was open to the public so we decided to go. Before it started though, we did hit the fabulous ice cream shop that had been highly recommended(more sugar and well worth it), then we hit sleepy Hollow to see the Alcott, Hawthorne and Thoreau grave sites. We arrived quite late and were afraid we might get locked in. It was dark out and just a tad spooky. Odd side note: The grave yard smelled so good, like rich dirt and trees. I really did want to eat some dirt( I know, Weird), but that seemed extra gross since it was dead people dirt. I don't think they had very good seals on coffins back in the day. So then we headed back to the school. I think we stumbled into a once in a lifetime experience. I think there was about 25-30 people there. Most with white hair and dressed very Ivy league casual. We got ourselves a very intellectual earfull on the beauty of Thoreau and transcendentalism. I can't describe how amazing it was. It would take forever to tell of all the crazy details. I came a way with a huge desire to learn about everything I see. Michelle on the steps of the school.
Darilyn in front of the schoolI had coconut almond chip & maple walnut. Thank you Sarah for the best recommendation ever.
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Alcott headstones. Doesn't that dirt look yummy?


The next day(after another night of no sleep) we went to the Joseph Smith monument(birthplace). They were showing the JS movie. I had not seen it, so that was awesome. I really loved it. Other than that I thought the rest was kind of boring. There was too much monument, not enough Joseph Smith. The area was very beautiful though.
Then we went and walked around the town of Woodstock VT. It is a cute little touristy shopping town. We found a fabulous chocolaterie. MMMM! french style dark hot chocolate, truffles, pistachio macaroons! You get the idea. The town was fun, lots of cute shops.
That night we finally went to Windsor VT. That is where Michelle lives. It is a breathtaking little town with tons of charm and beautiful old homes. I am trying to convince Chris that we really do need to move there. Snow? Yikes! maybe not.
Anyway still recovering from sugar highs and sleep deprivation. Thank you so much to Michelle and her wonderfully adorable family for the incredible time.
This is such a brief over view, it is almost painful. I didn't want to bore your brains off though.

I'm home from VT, MA, NH and I have tons of amazing things to post, but not right now. Here's a couple of pictures though.

They other day I told someone their child looked like a Tim Burton cartoon character(the human ones). I meant it as a compliment. Her son has these amazingly huge eyes. They are beautiful. With a little nose, slightly turned up, and a cute little mouth. After it came spilling out of my mouth I realized that maybe not everyone would like that comparison. I don't know.

how much compromise?

When I first had children I decided that I would raise them similar to the way my mother raised me. Maybe not in all areas, but one in particular. Electronics! I'm not a fan of video games. I always say "no game systems allowed". I do not like TVs in the bedrooms. I think they take away from bonding time in the master, they make it way too easy to sneak forbidden shows in the kids rooms, and when I was growing up only spoiled kids had them in their rooms. Also, cell phones are very unnecessary for children under the age of 15. Mp3 players are for teenagers not kids. I don't mind them using mine when I'm around, but they certainly don't need their own!
Well I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I sadly report we have gotten a WII. We did get rid of the Xbox though. We have TVs in two bedrooms. We have 4 mp3 players and they are not all mine. None of my children have cell phones, but they do have to show me how to use mine!
I still hate all the brain suckers being around the house, but I admit the longer they are around the more I don't even notice them. Am I living in wacko world for wanting them gone or do I just need to let it go?

Happy Magic Month!

It is finally October. Now I can talk about Fall and Halloween all I want. Now I can go buy a million different varieties of pumpkins and put them all over my doorstep. Now I can put my halloween music on my blog!