October in New England

Most people just rave and rave about the leaves. Around here, they call it "foliage." When we left for Salt Lake, the only thing anyone was worried about was that we weren't going to be "back in time for foliage!" I assured our friends and neighbors that we wouldn't miss foliage. Actually, the for the 2 autumns that we've lived here, the foliage has been pretty disappointing. The first one, David's parents flew all the way out here to see the leaves and all they got were not-quite turned trees and horrible rain storms. By the time the rain storms were done with the trees, the foliage was gone. Last fall, things were so dry that the foliage just sort of crinkled and fell off without changing too many colors. This year is by far the most beautiful that we've seen. My neighbor, Jeanne, called me over one day to stand on her porch and look back at my yard to appreciate how pretty it is (was.) That was really nice of her because I had no idea how many colors were in my yard. She told me that she wishes I could have a quaking aspen to remind me of mountain foliage, but, we looked it up on the internet and you have to have 4,000 feet of elevation to grow a quakie. Guess I'll have to stick with my maples. Things were just starting to get really interesting this week when the rain came again. Probably won't be much left of it by the time the storms blow through. Moral of the story - "FOLIAGE" is not all it's cracked up to be sometimes - especially when you have to rake the remains. It is beautiful though and we have thoroughly enjoyed our fall thus far. So far, our classic October activities have been:

*apple picking at the Shelburne Farm Orchards - yep, for you westerners, we go out into the orchards and pick our own apples.*Grace's pre-school pumpkin picking field trip - also go out into the farm field and pick your own pumpkin.

*Grace's pre-school friends costume party (Grace was the ONLY girl at the party not dressed as a princess. I'm proud of my little zebra.)
*the Littleton Ward Trunk-or-Treat
This year, Hattie really got the hang of putting treats into her bucket. She is a total candy-a-holic like her mommy and she was quite excited to have a bucket full. Grace would rather stand in the apple orchard and eat apples.
Check out flickr for all of the fun pics, and Happy Autumn!
Hopefully, pictures of Halloween will follow soon.

Tag, I'm it...

I owe my friend, Kara, a tag. She tagged me a long time ago, and I'm just getting around to it. Sorry about that. Ok, the tag is:

The Rules:

“Each person links to the person who tagged them. Then each person posts the rules before their list, then they list 8 things about themselves. At the end of the post, that person tags and links to 8 other people and then visits those peoples’ sites and comments letting them know that they have been tagged, and to come read the post, so they know what they have to do.”

8 things about me (that you don't already know? -ok, at least something I haven't blogged about before...)

1. I am a fanatic about U2 and in particular Bono. I have been since maybe 8th grade - sometime after Rattle and Hum was released. I remember hearing their music on tape on a boom box as we were rehearsing for a ward road show. I quickly loved Joshua Tree, and shortly thereafter, Achtung Baby changed my life. In high school, I would have given just about anything to have been able to see that show. Good things come to those who wait though - I did get to see them live at Popmart tour (not at their best) and again at the Elevation tour just after 9-11 (definitely at their best). I still get chills when I hear "Where the Streets Have No Name" start up. I also get a rush when I hear Bad, With or Without You, Elevation, and Beautiful Day. I am now a huge Bono "solo" fan. I so much admire him and all the work he is doing in the world to help people and to use his fame and fortune for positive change. Seriously, if you are a U2 or a Bono fan, you should read the book Bono, by Michka Assayas.

2. This goes with #1 - I love music of almost all kinds (everything except the rap/hip-hop thing that happened in the last 10 years). I am a closet 80's hard rock fan. Give me some Van Halen or Bon Jovi and turn me loose in my car. It's embarrassing. Grace won't let me sing. I also desperately miss going out dancing.

3. I really like fashion and I wish I could look more trendy, but I don't like buying fashionable clothes, and I don't like spending time to get ready. Every time I go shopping for clothes or shoes, I gravitate to black t-shirts, basic jeans, and FLAT shoes - usually of the clog type. I was telling David the other day that I went from "Doc's" (high school) to "Birkenstocks" (college) to "Crocs" (mommy shoes.) I think I had some decent shoes when I taught high school, but those years of dressing nice were short lived. I don't know why all my shoes end in "ocs", but they tend to be big and bulky and comfy rather than sleek or stylish, or heaven forbid, pointy. Seriously, I would break my neck in a pair of heels. I have to remind myself of this when I wish that Grace would dress more girly and well, brush her hair. Who does she have to look up to except me?! She needs to pay more attention to my sisters...

4. I am a total nerd. I love science and math. The way that a chemistry problem will work out with a perfect answer at the end gives me goose-bumps. I love lab reports that allow you to write (expect you to write) with passive voice and take yourself completely out of the writing. Here, I'll try it now: A blog is being written. Words are typed into the page. Magically - no one knows WHO is doing it all! Very cool.

5. I really like to read. As a kid, I couldn't read enough books. I could read well before kindergarten. At night, I use to read in bed with a flashlight well after my mom told me to go to bed. I gave up reading for fun sometime in high school when reading became a means to an end of getting a score on an AP test. In college I read nothing except text books. Some English teacher friends of mine got me reading again when I taught high school and now I'm in another book group here in New England. I seriously have no time to read (or blog) for that matter, but the small amount of time I take to read something good is such a great escape. It has to be good though - no time for anything that is really depressing, really sad, or really stupid. It has to be uplifting, really intriguing, and a page turner, or I fall asleep. This explains why sometimes I go to book group having only read half a book.

6. I have a serious addiction to chocolate. Seriously. (It's the only vice I have left - I gave up my Coke (a-cola) addiction a long time ago...)

7. I, like Kara, have ALWAYS had an extra job to make some extra cash. My resume of extra jobs on the side has included:
-veterinary technician
-car detailer
-office cleaning lady
-insurance photographer (took photos of houses for insurance company)
-math and chemistry tutor
-book keeper for a horse farm - this is my current extra job. My main job is of course being a stay-at-home mom.

8. I know some people will judge me for this, but I watch what I call the night time soaps! I DVR Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, and Grey's Anatomy. I would watch more shows, but it's all I can do to get caught up with these each week since David doesn't watch them and I have to find time when the kids aren't around AND when David isn't home to watch them. Hey it's better than those freaky reality shows the rest of you watch. Ya - I'm doin' the judging now...

9. You know what, I'm throwing in an extra. After reading this over, I thought of something that people don't really know, but that keeps coming up over and over in my life. Apparently, I am a really good letter writer (I know - you'd never know by reading my blog!) My letters have always gotten results. I wrote letters for the insurance company I worked for that were always complimented and attention given. I wrote letters when I was a high school teacher that always saw results. I write letters and newsletters for the horse barn here and I get lots of results with those too. My latest success was a form-letter e-mail I sent to the Massachusetts State Highway asking for a bridge near our house (currently under construction) to be re-designed so that it was 10 inches higher so that my neighbor could drive his boat underneath. Within 2 days, I got several e-mails back from Mass highway engineers saying that they would most definitely take my suggestion and re-do the bridge design. My neighbors can't get over it. They've been asking for the same thing for 7 years via letter, phone, and fax and have seen no results. Like I said - I seem to have a knack. I was just most happy that I could help my neighbors who have done so much for me. Really, I don't want to brag - I am more surprised than anyone when I get what I ask for from a letter I write. Maybe I need to write a letter to Santa...

Ok - there you go - 8 or 9 things about me in no particular order. None of them extremely important either. I blog about the important things already. I am not really defined by most of this, but it does contribute to who I am.

I tag, let's see...MELISSA. You need to blog sis, so I'm tagging you. I'm tagging my nephew EVAN as well. I keep waiting to see something new on both of your blogs! Also, some newcomers to the blogging family - I tag Molly J, Jen Z, and anyone else who wants to share :-) There, that's at least 8, right? I'm not goin' to your sites - you'll have to read my blog to know you've been tagged!

Seasonal Trip to Utah

We just got back from Salt Lake last night. We stayed for 2 weeks and did all of our favorite things from visiting all the grandmas and grandpas many times, to playing with aunts, seeing a few old friends, going riding, to the zoo, shopping, and hanging out, getting our hair done by Aunt Jess, and our dentistry done with Uncle Randy. Grace and Hattie went to Little Gym with Sean and on an outing with Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Earl to Cabellas to see the animals there. We took the kids to Gardner Village in their Halloween costumes to try to get a cute picture with all the decorations there, but Hattie and Sean just run away from the camera, so we didn't do very well with that. I also went to dinner with all my college friends which is so nice to still be able to do.
This trip, Aunt Lis treated us to a week-end trip to Park City so that we could all be together for a few days and be able to do all the late night and early morning stuff together with the kids. It's hard when the babies go to bed at 8pm, so this way, we were together no matter the nap/sleep schedule. We stayed in this big townhouse right between main street and the Park City ski resort. As we looked through the guest book of the house, we felt pretty cool to see that Tom Hanks had stayed there during the Sundance Film Festival this year. We went on the alpine slides the first night there. I haven't been since I was a teenager. It was Grace's first time on a ski lift I think too. We took Sean which turned out to be a little dangerous because you couldn't strap him in and he tried to squirm out of Melissa's arms. We were so scared he was going to squirm right out of the lift chair, but luckily, he made it to the top WITH both shoes! We had a blast cruising down the mountain. Hattie was pretty mad she couldn't go, but after watching Sean, I am so glad I didn't try to take her. Grace and I spent a long time in the hot tub on the deck Friday night and watched the moon rise over Park City's main street. It was very nice.We did lots of shopping at the Park City outlets too. The weather was nice on Friday to do the slides and to go hot-tubbing at night, but on Saturday, it snowed a lot (I guess it snowed in the Salt Lake valley too.) Seeing snow for the first time of the season was actually kind of fun - even more fun that it melted and warmed up the next day.
Harriet is the opposite of Grace. She warms up to the Grandmas pretty fast, but is scared of the Grandpas. Luckily for my dad and Earl, she liked them a lot before we left. It made me glad that we stayed 2 weeks so that she could get to know everyone really well again. Grace LOVES her grandpas, but tolerates her grandmas. She does love them, but she likes to pretend that they are a bother to her. You know she loves them though, when she talks about them when they aren't around. One thing is for sure, Grandpas give the best horsey rides.
Also, for the first time, Sean decided that he likes us too. Up until now, he has only tolerated us at best. This time around, he had fun playing with the girls and even let me pick him up and smiled and laughed with me. That made me really happy. We don't take offense since he treats everyone but Melissa and Randy and my parents with the same scrutiny.

We were excited that we could be there (almost) for Aunt Christine's birthday. We threw a party for her on Thursday night and had fun giving her presents and getting her a cake. Happy Birthday tomorrow Christine!

The one other thing that took a lot of my time in Salt Lake was shopping for fabric to recover my dining room chairs. We inherited David's parents first dining room set. It is really nice and I like it a lot. It will be in the family for as long as it lasts, so we wanted to do a really nice job of getting the chairs recovered. Our neighbor who built and upholstered our kitchen nook is going to cover them for us, so I just had to find fabric. (easier said than done when shopping with kids which is why I did it in Salt Lake WITHOUT them!) After lots of looking and hemming and hawing, I found some that I think will be really nice and will hopefully last a long time. I am so excited to get this done!
We really stayed too busy to get very homesick, but Harriet did miss things. She kept trying to find daddy everywhere we went - hoping that he would catch up with us somewhere. She would see someone who looked like him and yell "da da! da da!" and then was crushed when they didn't give her the time of day. She also missed her doggies. She tried really hard to make friends with my mom's cats (and my sisters' too) and also with Jessica's new puppy. She was only returned with cat paw swats to the face and jumpy puppy paws to knock her down. She is use to throwing her body on top of Shadow and Velvet and petting them for minutes at a time without them even flinching. She was SO excited to get home to them last night and has spent lots of time giving her attention to them. Both girls were happy to have all of their toys back last night and were excited to go into their rooms that they had almost forgotten about.I will say that the airplane trip home was excruciatingly exhausting. We had a 1.5 hour delay to take off (after we were already in the plane on the runway) and then a 3.5 hour (shortened to 2.5 hour) layover in Minneapolis. By the time we got on the second plane, I didn't think I was going to make it except that we were at least on the vehicle that would physically take us to Boston and then maybe someone could carry us out of the plane to the car! Luckily, Hattie fell asleep on take-off and Grace shortly after, so I got to add an hour or so of sleep to the 45 minutes of sleep I got the night before.

Needless to say - I have done a lot of complaining today about being tired. I will try to stop complaining. I guess it's a small price to pay to travel that far with my kids to keep them close with family.

WHOA!

As Hattie says when she sees a big truck or something cool or something she can't believe her eyes, she says "WHOA!" That's what I have to say about the last week. I should probably break this up, but I'm not gonna.


We started on Labor Day with a fun family trip into Boston. We went to the public "gahdens" and rode the famous Swan Boats. Harriet and Grace went wild over the birds in the pond. We spent some time walking around downtown Boston - anything to help us orient ourselves a bit more to the city. Every time I go down, I wish I knew where I was and where I was going! After the gardens, we went to dinner and then Hattie and I bugged out and went home while David took Grace to a Red Sox game. The game experience consisted mostly of eating a chocolate ice cream, watching a few innings (the least exciting of the innings of the game as he found out after getting home and having to hear about it from Jared!) and then calling us for a ride from the subway stop only minutes after we had gotten home and settled. Still, Grace got to see a baseball game with her daddy and ride the subway!We took a break on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday, we went to the barn for a horsey ride. Grace hadn't ridden since early this summer when Janie came. Also, Harriet is LOVING the barn and the ponies and seems to like riding even more than Grace does, so Tink earned her hay for the day by going round and round the ring with the two tiniest riders at Hybid. I told Rita I'm going to start a toddler riding class - diapers required, NO BINKIES! Grace is really quite great with her sister at the barn. I thought it would be a huge source of sibling rivalry to share the pony, but she is so helpful and shows Hattie how to do everything and lets her do it and leads Tink while Hattie rides. It is a great thing we can do together!

THEN, Grace started pre-school on Friday. It turned into somewhat of a "false-start" as we found out very late in the game that the first day of school was really only a parent open house and school didn't start until the following Monday. Grace was and is SO excited to go to school. She's wanted to go to school since she could say "I want to go to school." She loves raising her hand and learning and playing and figuring things out and doing new things. I am really excited for this year for her.

THEN, on Saturday, we made our pilgrimage to Carver, MA (Edaville Railroad) to go to the Day out with Thomas.

Grace is still obsessed with trains and tells us she will be a choo-choo train driver when she grows up. She frequently tells David that she's not going to college and tells me that she's not going to be a mom, but that she is going to drive TRAINS. I half believe her too! Edaville is pretty fun. Along with the Thomas activities, there are lots of "train" things to do and see and also some carnival rides and attractions. Still, it was a long, hot, sweaty day filled for parents filled with too many circular rides for me, and a nearly lost wallet. We made it home with our kids and wallets and cameras and accessories, so it was a successs in the end...THEN, on Sunday, I got called to be in the Relief Society presidency! Alrighty then!

THEN, today, was the ACTUAL first day of school. Grace went school shopping with me last month and chose her own school clothes. Today, she wore her favorite new outfit (pink camo) and got ready for school pretty painlessly. The teachers greet the kids at their cars and take them inside. Grace jumped out of the car to go with her teacher and didn't even look back. She was all over it. I pulled the knife out of my heart and drove away totally happy that she is so ready for school. Hattie was a little disturbed that we just left Grace on the side-walk, but she and I are going to have some good times together now that we have a little time to ourselves.Keep checking our flickr button for ALL the pictures!

I knew I was good lookin'

Despite my general disdain for the "celebrities" around us, my friend Bryan inspired me to do this one. I just don't want to hear from him about blog content anymore!

I have to say that George Clooney and David Beckam I can live with. Even Matt Dillion. I'm not so sure about Mark Hamil or Patrick Swayze (I couldn't bring myself to include him on the collage).

I also have to say that I would look pretty good as a woman.

French Bistro

In Grace's words, a French picnic! (are tuna fish sandwiches French?)
It's nice when your kids remind you to do things like eat lunch on the deck for no reason. :-)

(check flickr for other pics)

what they're doin' these days

Grace is (and likes):
*bossing Hattie around
*bossing ME around
*NOT brushing her hair
*being more reverent during prayers
*writing letters in the alphabet
*learning to spell
*reading everything from road signs to packages to books
*watching Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go!
*speaking Spanish (inspired by Dora and Diego)
*saying things correctly that she couldn't say before (this is sad)
*singing loudly with the car stereo
*listening to Gracie's Grooves, Cars soundtrack, Dixie Chicks, and the Primary songs
*favorite songs "Three Little Birds" - by Bob Marley, "Real Gone" - by Cheryl Crowe, "Life is a Highway" - by Rascal Flatts, and "The Long Way Around" by the Dixie Chicks. Oh - also "Wild Thing" - by X
*swinging on the swingset
*watering her garden
*eating salmon and clam chowder whenever she gets the chance
*favorite stuffed animals: Foxy (a fox), Bluis (a blue horse), Chloe (a paint horse), and her white polar bear she took from Grandma Barbara.
*favorite animals: horses and penguins
*favorite book: Halloween Opposites (we've read it every day since last Halloween)
*snuggling with purple B
*going to story time at the library
*going to Drumlin Farm
*visiting Tink at Hybid Farm (hasn't ridden since camp)
*going for walks to Erikson's Dairy

Harriet is (and likes):
*walking all over the house and yard
*saying "eh, eh, eh!"
*saying da da!, WHOA!, and woof woof woof!
*trying to imitate animal sounds or talk to animals when she sees them
*giggling
*throwing temper tantrums
*climbing up the stairs
*bobbing her head to the music in the car or anywhere
*NOT watching TV - not a single shred, not a minute, no TV for Hattie!
*taking things apart
*fussing if anything is on her hands or feet - she wants it off!
*folding her arms before eating - she always reminds us to say a prayer
*brushing her own teeth
*brushing her own hair
*doing flips like a fish in the tub
*her pink fuzzy blanket. she cannot go to bed without it. I can't get it away from her long enough to wash it without a major crisis.
*SHOES SHOES SHOES!!! She wears her crocs at all times. She likes everyone else to have shoes on too. She loves taking shoes on and off. She loves wearing shoes that are too big for her.

Here's our little Amelda Marcos wearing Grace's "Aunt Em" shoes.

A Decade Later...

We've been having a stand-off, I think, to see who would write about this. Ok, I'll do it!

David and I had our 10th wedding anniversary last Tuesday, August 21st. It was the day after David got back from Utah. (absence, does make the heart grow fonder!)

Seriously, what the heck did we do with 10 years? Well, for starters:

*David spent, um, 7 of them in school.
*I spent 1 in school and 6 more teaching high school.
*David started his career in materials research at MIT Lincoln Lab.
*We spent 1.5 years in a rented apartment in downtown SLC, 6 years in a house we bought in South Salt Lake, and the last 2.5 years in a house we bought in Massachusetts. (does that add up to 10?)
*We got our dog, Velvet upon moving into our first house and our second dog, Shadow the next year.
*We have not traveled the world together, but we honeymooned in exotic Stanley, Idaho (seriously - exotic!), we have made road-trips to Southern Utah, Vegas, Lander, Wyoming, and Denver from Utah and a road-trip to Pittsburgh from Massachusetts. We flew to DC for a friend's wedding and to spend some time with my sister in Virginia. We have flown back and forth from Utah to Massachusetts. I spent July of 2001 in Kenya, and David has traveled on business here and there. Ok - really - we haven't really gone "anywhere". Maybe we'll save our world travel log for our Golden Anniversary and have finally made a trip to Brazil and to Europe. Who wants to travel these days anyway? (and, seriously, traveling with tiny kids is for the birds.)
*We have given up and taken up our favorite sports a number of times. I gave up my horse, but now work at a riding stable. David has given up back-packing (for now), but has taken up road cycling and commuting to work by bike.
*We have reproduced and now have 2 B-E-A-UTIFUL children. Grace is 4 and Harriet is 1. They are our lives now.

Our 10 year celebration started as we woke up in bed - together - separated by our 2 munchkins. After sleeping by himself in King size hotel bed for 2 weeks, 1/4 of a queen bed didn't quite feel the same for David, but he said that he would rather sleep with us than without us.

Since Grace was "in" on our gifts, we exchanged them in bed with the kids. Normally, we really don't do extravagant anniversary presents, but we decided that 10 years together deserved something a little extra special so we spent a little cash... David gave me a strand of salt-water pearls with matching earrings. He has promised me pearls the whole time we've been married, so that was a really nice surprise. I gave him a new watch. It's one of those new Citizen Eco-drive things. The face is a solar panel, so it doesn't have a battery and it's super thin and pretty cool. He has never had a really nice dress watch (I know - he would probably rather have the latest GPS sport watch), but now he can dress up in his suit and have a watch to wear with it.

David took a day off from work and so did I! He stayed home with the kids for the morning while I went to a spa and had a massage. VERY NICE. Then, I took Grace shopping for the afternoon. I know - doesn't sound too romantic yet, but after almost 3 weeks without any time to myself, it was a fantastic treat and after 3 weeks without the kids, he had a good time too.

For, let's see, maybe the 4th time since we moved here, we left the kids with a non-family member, our good friend Rita, and went OUT! We dressed up, put our new jewelry on, and went to dinner at our favorite local place, Scupper Jack's for a filet mignon dinner. What a great end to a fantastic day!

Oh - and sorry, no one took a picture of us all dolled up. Too bad too - we aren't too hard on the eyes, yet! That's ok we were probably still cuter when we got married. When I get a minute, I'll dig up a wedding picture and post it.

Well babe, Happy Anniversary! Love you! Add to this if you want :-)

Daddy's Home!

Well, we did it. We survived 18 days without David. The first week-end was by far the worst with so many things going wrong. After that, it was just a count-down until he got home. Once we got use to feeding the dogs early in the morning, taking out the trash (this is a pretty big chore here - including dragging the trash out for trash day - no nice big trash cans on wheels just outside your back door), mowing the lawn, picking up the mail, throwing away old food in the fridge, and organizing the tupperware cupboard (all of David's chores), we were pretty set.

I have to say though, that it got pretty tiring being the 24 hour entertainment committee. No one to walk through the door at 6pm to squeal "Hey!" at the girls and have a fresh set of hands for the evening. No one to stay home with the girls in the evening while I run out for a quick errand. In fact, 2 nights after David got home, I left Harriet in bed and Grace on the couch with David and went to the library, the pharmacy, and the paper store in a land-speed record of 30 minutes! This would have taken 90 minutes with the kids!

We didn't cook too many "tasty" dinners either, but we did eat well. We cooked for ourselves and we were invited to dinner 4 different times at friends' houses. Rita took care of us on Sundays which is by far my hardest day of the week.

Oh, and, yes, we did miss Daddy for more than just his tupperware (ok gladware) organizing skills. It was very nice to get him home. Hattie had been saying "Da! Da!" for days and days every time she saw his picture or his car. She really wondered what had happened to him.

Now it's our turn to travel! The girls in the house are leaving in about 3 weeks. If you live in Salt Lake, we'll be seeing you soon!

FRIENDS

Well it hasn't happened much in the last 5+ years, but tonight the stars and planets were aligned and I got together with Bryan and Jared for dinner and discussions in Park City. It was very enjoyable even if I know now not to talk up Guiliani or put down Obama. Politics aside, we had a very nice evening. It was one of those nights in Park City that really make me miss leaving in the Rocky Mountain west.

While I haven't done as good a job in keeping in touch with friends, I know that we will always have a connection. I think of the line at the end of Stand By Me when Richard Dreyfus is finishing typing up the story that has been related. I don't remember word for word what he says, but it is to the effect that "I had really good friends, do you ever have friends like those you had in youth?" That is how I feel. I was so lucky to have good friends through high school. And while life's changes have taken us separate ways, I believe that we all still consider each other friends. While that friendship has evolved over the years and while it will never be like it was in high school, I don't know that it is any less important in my life. While I have some nostalgia for the carefree days of high school friendship and more frequent interactions, it is still rewarding to interact and share my life with those who I love and call friend.

Day - whatever, what day is it anyway?

(this photo has nothing to do with anything, but it is much cuter than a picture of a flat tire or even a new lawnmower... read on...)

Well, it has been a long week without Daddy. I think he left last Thursday? Who knows - all we know is that it's been a while and the days have blurred together. That tends to happen when each day isn't separated by a block of sleeping time!

We did well for a couple of days, and then:
Problem #1 - Saturday morning, I decided to be ambitious and mow our 1/2 acre lot with the tiny push mower that we originally got to mow our little postage-stamp yard in Salt Lake. I have been telling David to get a new lawn mower since we moved in, but he has been too stubborn to do it. He also says he likes the cardio work-out that he gets mowing the lawn. I say, get the lawn mowed quicker and go for a bike ride!

Well, since Hattie only has about 90 minute naps, I don't have time to mow the whole thing before she wakes up. Still, I was willing to try it since we were starting to disappear out of sight from our growing grass. After about 10 minutes mowing then 20 minutes ripping my shoulder out trying to start it again, I called David and told him that even if HE didn't want a new mower, that I was going to buy one for MYSELF! (In between - I even called all the deacons in the ward to see if they would come and mow it for some spending money - apparently, they all have fun things to do on Saturday!) I got off the phone and called my mom to see what kind of mower they had. My dad, instinctively, was already on the hunt to figure out how to get a lawn mower delivered to my house that very day. He had no idea I had called, and I had no idea he was doing it.

Long story short - my sweet dad had a brand new lawnmower WITH oil and gas in it delivered to my driveway at 4:00 that afternoon. I have to say, I never thought I'd be so excited to get a freakin' lawnmower, but it was a beautiful sight (real nice, Clark) and especially nice that I didn't have to drag my kids around shopping for it and getting it home. I started 'er up and between a 10 minute session on Saturday and another 30 minute session on Monday, I got the lawn mowed in half the time or less than it takes David to do it with the other one. He can still get his cardio if he wants with the other one, this mower is MINE! Problem #1 solved - lawn mowed.

Problem #2 - David's great little 10 year old Subaru has had a leaky tire for a while. Never bad and the air lasts a week or so. BUT, Sunday morning on our way out the door for church, Grace says "uh-oh Mommy - look at Daddy's car!" The tire was flat as a pancake with the car resting on the rim. I left for church in my car and didn't worry about it until we got home. Then, I filled it with air to get it off the rim and 3 hours later it was flat again. Well, I'm not filling this thing with air every 3 hours until David gets home. My home teachers are all out of town. I have no way to get a car into a service shop (can't drive that one anyway.) I'm not going to jack it up myself to change the tire and risk having a car fall on me when I'm home with 2 little kids. So, Monday morning, I did what anyone who worked at State Farm Insurance for 15 years would do. I called a tow truck and had a guy with a VERY cool cordless power lug wrench put the donut on it in about 5 minutes and charged it to my insurance. Now, his poor car is sitting in the driveway waiting for a kind soul to take the other tire and fix it. Maybe we'll do it - maybe we won't :-) Problem #2 solved - car off the ground.

Problem #3 - Hattie ran a 103 temperature for 3 days and then broke out in bumps on the 4th day - Wednesday. Thought for sure it was a reaction to chicken pox or measles vaccine from the week before. Nope, she's had roseola. Oh, that's why no sleepy between calendar days. She woke up this morning fever free, almost rash free, and willing to NOT be held by me.
Problem #3 solved - Hattie all better.
Off to Drumlin Farm! (look at flickr for the more photos!) Today was a WELCOME change in every way. Happy kids, beautiful pretty New England summer day, perfect weather, fairly clean house, working equipment, and my car is even clean (thanks Grace!) I think I might live through the week-end, but this Saturday better start better than the last.

Ok dude, we CAN take care of things on our own, but we really don't WANT to, so we DO miss you. It's way more fun to make you help with this stuff! (of course, we'd miss you even if we didn't need you to help...)

Day 1 without Daddy

It is much different to be away from Daddy when we are the ones left at home rather than the ones traveling and surrounded by family. We took David to the airport about 24 hours ago, and this is how we've spent the last day without him:

- went out to dinner last night at Grace's favorite restaurant (NOT McDONALD'S) because, well, who's going to cook for the next 17 days?
no one around to request a home-made "something tasty."
Grace drank her clam chowder with a straw! The kid loves the stuff!

- went over to a pond made by a dam in the Assabet River to see some ducks. Harriet wanted me to let go of her so she could throw her body into the water after them. Grace waded, a little more cautiously, into the water to look at the fish and see the ducks up close.

- as we're driving home at 7:15 - on our way to watch the Simpsons at 7:30, Grace says "I am really starting to miss Daddy."

- came home to bathe kids separately - no one here to get Grace out of the tub while I put Hattie to bed

- went to bed at midnight in a large, empty, well, let's face it, comfy bed.

- woke up at 5:45 am to feed our dogs, (Harriet saw David's car in the driveway and said "da da!" and waved bye-bye.) then, go over to our friends', the Doty's to feed their dogs, and then drove to the barn at 7:20 with kids in tow to teach a riding lesson

- came home at 9am long enough to give Hattie a nap and do some stinky dishes (all glasses and cups!)

- went back to the Doty's for a doggie play-date with kids and dogs in tow. Dogs threw up in the back of the car - lovely.

- came home to clean dog vomit out of the car. When I ran out of paper towels and discovered a spare roll placed by my dear husband under the kitchen sink (instead of having to go to the basement for another), I had a true " 'Til Death" moment. If you watch that show - it's the toilet paper pyramid moment. David will know what I'm talking about. Ok - I miss you!

- now I'm blogging in mid-afternoon while Grace watches movies and Hattie sleeps - it's 95 degrees outside with lots of humidity. Not going anywhere else today - now, what's for dinner? I'm sure it won't be tasty.

I know I won't be blogging every day, but there's your first installment of how much we miss you babe.

Pittsburgh Chapmans

David's brother, Brian and his wife Wendy and their family came to our house for the first time this week. They finally got a chance to meet Harriet and we got a chance to get to know them again. We were great friends when we all lived in Salt Lake, but since both of our families have moved, we haven't done such a good job in keeping up with their lives.

We were most surprised by how much Alec has grown up since we last saw him (2 years ago at their house at a family reunion.) He went from little boy to teen-ager quite quickly. He is probably embarrassed that we use to think of him as a little boy. I use to tend him along with his little sister Clare when they were tiny. We've never lived near Jeremiah, so this was also our first opportunity to get to know him really well.

All said and done, they were great house guests! The kids were awesome and their new puppy, Argos, was very entertaining and cute. We thoroughly enjoyed having them here and hope that we can see them more often now that we are re-acquainted. Since they are the only relatives within "driving" distance, we have little excuse. (however, I use "driving distance" lightly as it took them about 14 hours to drive to our house - not an afternoon ride in the car...) We still can't believe that Jane and family drove as far as they did to get here either. Ok, I guess I should say that the MITCHELL definition of driving distance is 8 hours or less. The CHAPMAN definition tends to stretch a little further!

Although they were only here a couple of days, we packed quite a bit in and they did some family outings as well. My favorite was probably candle-pin bowling with them along with a little walk to Erikson's Dairy for lunch.

I think Grace is hungry for family. She has been thrilled with her cousin time this summer. She's been able to spend lots of quality time with many of them and was SO SAD to see them go. So, this is my "call" out to the family to help us do a better job of knowing what is going on in your lives in our long-distance relationships.

Thank you, though, to everyone who made such big efforts to come and see us this summer. We have very much enjoyed the revolving door of company that we have had for the past 8 weeks (well really, for the past several months) and we're sad that we have the house to ourselves now for a long while.

stuff we're doin'

First, I have to start with the pictures I took before church on Sunday. The girls are just too darling in their dresses outside.


Last night we went candle-pin bowling for family home evening. It's a lot different from regular bowling. You get to bowl 3 times a frame and it's a lot harder to make the pins knock each other down. David won with 81, then me with 64 and I think Grace had a 45. At the very end, we figured out how to do it a lot better, so hopefully our scores will break 100 the next time. Being from Lander, Wyoming, it is shameful to have a score less than 100! I haven't been bowling for ages. I avoid it because I get "bowler's butt." Maybe you don't understand bowler's butt, but basically, your left "cheek" hurts like heck the next day from swinging your weight to it all night. I thought I was safe with candle-pin because the balls are much lighter and you don't have to throw them so hard... not so... I can't walk today. David calls me his BBB - bowler's butt babe. Seriously though, my hip hurts. It doesn't help that both Grace and Harriet burrowed a hole in it when I was pregnant. I'm going to have to start bowling with the under-hand straddle technique! (and no, I'm not throwing Hattie down the lane here...)
Grace had an absolute blast. It was her first time bowling. She bowled a pretty good game too (gutter guards on.) She also had a great time at the arcade. I forgot how much I love an arcade. I could play skee-ball all night. Hattie had a pretty good time too. She wanted to pick up the bowling balls and toss them herself. We had to keep her away from the fast-rolling bowling balls coming up the tracks though.

Today, Grace went to her second swimming lesson of the summer. She LOVES the water and loves learning how to do new things. She is getting much braver and much better about using her water skills. I hope she can actually swim a few strokes on her own soon so I don't have to worry about her so much in the water. Now, we're prepping for more company - the last of the summer. Where did summer go? It's almost over and I'm just getting started!

A night at Fenway

Well it has been a week since we took the whole family with Jared and Tara to catch a Red Sox game. It was Harriet's first game and Grace was enjoying her second Fenway action. Unfortunately we didn't have enough tickets that were together, so Jared and I took one for the team and sat in the seats under the infield grandstand. It was rough being so close to hear the ball hit the mitt, but someone had to do it. Meanwhile the womenfolk were out enjoying a nice summer night in the right field.

Eventually in the sixth inning we were able to consolidate at our seats in the infield. Grace enjoyed cheering for the Blue Jays and egging on her daddy, but I know she really is a Red Sox fan. I can say that both of my girls know how to charm the crowd.



Harriet was having a great time for the first few innings. After that though all I can really say is that Harriet outlasted Julian Tavarez. Unfortunately the Red Sox lost which means Jared and I are 0-2 watching the Red Sox together. Despite the loss, it was fun. Fenway really is a fun ball park and I can't wait for our next game on Labor Day. If only I could see someone besides the Blue Jays.



The next night Jared and Tara returned to see a Red Sox victory. So at least they were able to see a victory.