Tuesday, June 30, 2009

crash & burn

Every morning I wake up & think about what I want to post. Every single morning. I draft it out in my head, I think of what pictures or videos I want to upload, I feel determined to update & keep the internet up on our life.

Fast foward to 8:30pm when I actually sit down, alone, in the quiet.

Posting all the sudden isn't so important. Thinking about nothing and sleep all the sudden are much more of a priority. I want to post about the ending of the gymnastics season, I have lots of videos to upload, I never even posted Audrey's birthday party, or other random things going on up here.

But I'm sleepy.

For now, I'll leave you with this picture.

I was getting ready for work Monday and heard screaming followed by "Don't worry Mommy, she's not bleeding"

This is what happens when boy throws match box car & it lands in girls face.

For the record, she had blood dripping down her face.

Photobucket

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Ark is almost complete

We've had at least two weeks of rain. Maybe it's been three weeks, I've lost track. But there was this one quick chance, two Saturday's ago.. It wasn't an hour, not even 1/2 hour, but a fleeting moment, when the sun actually came out. It was Warm, Bright and it felt Great! We came up with a plan of attack - YOU, clean & fill the pool while I scrounge up some bathing suits and towels. We'll meet back here in under 2 minutes.

I'm sure the water was freezing.

Dan even poured some super hot tap water in to take the edge off.

They lasted a whopping 8 minutes.


Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Monday, June 15, 2009

MISSING

You may not see me for a while. I got a new toy.

I need to spend the rest of my life figuring out all the fun details of it.

I need to catch up with the rest of the world

Photobucket

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Photo Sunday

What a rainy day. I can't say I don't welcome the rain tho. It's causing us to be productive inside which is something that's felt much neglected since our little flood. Our new beautiful washer & dryer was delivered yesterday, they're amazing! Laundry is fun. All the little buttons make fun sounds. I even caught myself trying to play Mary Had A Little Lamb while starting a load of wash earlier today. Now I wish they could just come up with a Folding machine!

We escaped last weekend to the mountains.
Started out as a great day, sun was shining, everyone was happy, ready for fun.
Photobucket

Photobucket
Jumping Rocks
Photobucket

Our tour guide
Photobucket

Love the scenery
Photobucket

Nathaniel was going down fast, Dan went in for the quick grab. PHEW
Photobucket

I love New Hampshire
Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket

Sharing a quiet moment together
Photobucket


Photobucket

Once a rock collector, always a rock collector
Photobucket

Our friend, Mr Snake
Photobucket

This is where it started to go downhill. He didn't want to walk anymore, she didn't want to ride.
It was about now where we both wondered WHY we didn't keep our double stroller!
Photobucket

The kids got yucky, We were hungry so we turned around for the car. On our way to a restaurant we drove by the former Old Man site.
Photobucket

Regardless of how nasty the afternoon turned into with whiny crying kids, It's a wonderful thing to turn around in the car, see two very sleepy kids doing this:
Photobucket

Monday, June 8, 2009

How far we've come

A year ago, we were put in a nasty situation where we had to leave the daycare we loved. Things were falling apart and it just wasn't the same cozy, safe feeling that we'd had when we started Nathaniel there the year prior. We made what we thought was a very difficult decision & put the kids into a daycare center that had a massive amount of kids, in a gigantic building, staffed with people that were complete strangers.

The beginning was so hard. I remember his first day so vividly. He cried & screamed & cried in his new room with a some unknown girl trying to console him. I cried & screamed (well not really) & cried outside his room in a spot he couldn't see me. The next day was Audrey's first day and my first day back to work. Those days were long, hard & very emotional.

Fast forward 12 months.

When Nathaniel started preschool last September, he couldn't do anything like this:

Photobucket

Or This:

Photobucket

He looks forward to going every day now. He has his little herd of friends and he talks about them all the time. They play outside several hours a day and do all kinds of activities, songs, crafts inside. He's thriving there.

Audrey is now in the 12-18 month old room. She has her own little clique of friends and they're adorable together. Not too long ago, they were all tiny infants lined up in swings together. Now they're all cruising around, eating real food, interacting together. It's been so much fun watching not only how she's grown but all the kids around her as well.

They're not always easy but today was a great drop off. Nathaniel was excited to show his buddy Jackson his new McQueen hat and new light up Batman sneakers. Audrey went right from my arms to her teacher to go play blocks with the other girls.

As I left them both playing, it was nice to let out the big breath and know that they are in such good hands. It sure makes my job a whole lot easier.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

2 Feet High & Rising

I have very vivid memories of sitting in my house as a kid, listening to an 8 track of Johnny Cash. My favorite song of his was and still is "How highs the water mama?" It's even on my playlist on my iPod.

Last weekend, we lived thru the rising waters as a water main burst into our basement. We instantly had 6 inches which very quickly climbed to 2 feet before water works showed up to shut off the water.

It was an amazing day, fireman going in & out of the house, cleaning companies, lots of phone calls, lots of hauling, lifting, moving things and trying to protect whatever we could from further damage.

My favorite part was even though our kitchen was now filled with water & mud, the firemen still took the time to wipe their feet before entering our home. Their mama's taught them right.

The bad part is, we lost a lot of things. The good part is, we'll get a lot of new stuff. The best part of the day was watching our teamwork as a family pull together. The hardest part of the day was watching Dan try to salvage whatever he could of his music equipment. He handled the whole scene extremely well, I was proud of him.

Nathaniel had a great time. His first reaction was to put on hat & gloves, just like the fireman. He walked around with tools and random vacuum parts, doing his fair share of clean up. At one point, I gave him a camera and he did a great job with his own photo documentation. I need to find a cord for that camera so I can retreive the pictures he took.

The pics below are ones I took for insurance purposes. We've had a wonderful claim experience. I highly recommend everyone take the time in the next few days to pull out your policies and review your limits and what items you do/do not have scheduled. It was a huge weight off our shoulders to know we were covered properly.



Did I mention that we had a birthday party in our house the next day? I'll get those pics up soon. I promise.