It goes to Eleven

"It" being The Boy. At this point I would insert a photo which he painstakingly posed of him blowing out the 3 candles that we could find in the drawer, but since we couldn't find either digital camera the photos are on FILM. That I have to have DEVELOPED. When do you think that might happen?? Anyhow, he chose steak for dinner and homemade chocolate cake with homemade frosting. Both excellent choices I must say....

And why is it always windiest on trash days? We've already lost one trash can to the wind. Today I retrieved one from two doors down and the other from the cornfield down the street. And I keep hearing random things hit the house

The Husband is settling into his new job and apparently enjoying it (despite the commute). Especially the part where he gets to tell them what they've been doing wrong. He is their official "Linux Guy" and is trying to make our home a Windows-free Zone, much to my protestations. I use it on our "Kitchen Laptop" willingly, but mine needs to have XP to run some specialty software.

TOMORROW...9pm...ABC...LOST season premiere!

Still recouperating

...but we survived Christmas. Happily, one of our brothers-in-law made Christmas Dinner and my family came over to my in-law's house, so all we had to do was get there. We were all pretty beat from being at all 3 Christmas Eve services. During the 3rd service Younger Daughter leaned over and whispered, "it's boring to hear the same sermon 3 times!". On our way out the pastor congratulated us for completing "the Moravian Trifecta" :-)

We left the festivities quickly Christmas night when younger daughter presented with a sore throat and fever (it wasn't strep as feared). Then after we got home I was sure we were headed for the ER when Wilma accidentally ripped out one of The Husband's contacts with her paw (he's fine as well).

New Year's Eve was quiet - just hanging out at home with games and movies and favorite holiday snacks. And I was more than ready to have school start today! There was much less sniping and bickering in the house today!

In the days leading up to the Big Day I made dozens of bars of soap, 4 jars of sugar scrub, tub truffles and homemade pepperoni - plus labels for all of them. I neglected to photograph most of them, but here's the soap:
That's the lovely and nicely staged photo that The Boy took for me. Here's the one that I took:





Christmas cards are still not all out. At the 11th hour I ordered 1-hour photo cards from Walmart. About a dozen actually got mailed in time.... Every year I swear that I'll start things sooner and yet every year I don't. Maybe 2008 will be the year I get it together.... Miracles do happen!

We did finally get a Christmas tree the Saturday before Christmas (which was also Jenny's first day as a newlywed! love you, J!). We had to go to 4 tree farms to find one open - and unlike NJ nobody seems to sell cut trees from the Kmart parking lot. When we did find one we put the kids to work:





And a few Christmas Eve photos:
Bell Choir (Older Daughter on far left)


Blurry Jr. Choir photo
Younger Daughter 3rd from left



And a dark Christmas morning photo:

Welcome Schoeneckians!

Here's the video that Jim mentioned in choir practice - Team Lachey on "Clash of the Choirs" singing "Flight of the Bumblebee"

(If the video won't load, click the 'play' triangle and it should come up)

Ice, Ice Baby

Blogger won't let me upload pictures again.Grrr

We're finally melting. Many are churches were closed last Sunday due to ice (some for the 2nd week in a row), and school had a 2-hr delay on Monday. Since our driveway is gravel it doesn't take kindly to ice, so my poor minivan has been frozen in all week. It was so slippery that we took the Jeep 4-wheeling across the lawn and parked right outside the back door. I have to admit that it is quite convenient for unloading groceries!

So my Christmas lights never made it up this year, thanks mainly to weather :o( At least we got the wreath on the garage. Heck, we haven't even gotten a tree yet! We finally headed out on Wednesday afternoon and the two tree farms we went to were closed! A week before Christmas! The kids really want to go cut one down, but I'm thinking that if it's going to get put up before Dec. 26th we just need to go get a pre-cut one asap.

Christmas is creeping in on me. Shopping is done (thanks Amazon.com!) but I still have handmade stuff to complete...and a tree to buy and decorate. The Husband is getting sick again - and is supposed to sing a solo on Christmas Eve. At least all of the kids extra activities are done, except for one more choir practice after church on Sunday.

Gotta go get to work!

12 Days of Christmas

Yes, we made it home

Our trip to Maine was uneventful (fortunately) and the kids actually behaved in the back seat. It helped that we borrowed my sister's dvd system so 2 of the kids had video monitors in front of them and the third sat in the middle reading. We got a really late start going up (as in lunchtime instead of pre-dawn), but we made good time until 5 miles form the house. The traffic on Route 3 ground to a halt (all 3 cars) and we were detoured. The phrase "you can't get there from here" definitely applies. The fireman who was directing "traffic" had us going way out of our way. So dad went out to check on things from his end and found us a shorter way. A car and tractor trailer had collided (no injuries) and the truck's cargo was all over the road.

We got home to a yard full of wet leaves - our two maple trees finally dropped their leaves all at once. So I waited a few days for things to dry out so I could go mulch everything with the lawnmower. Then it snowed again on Sunday (lots of area churches cancelled services) and Monday morning we had ice. I may need to give in and find the rake.

The Husband is sick with a major cold or something. He's been sleeping on the couch so that I don't get it and it's bad enough that he claims that he's actually going to call the doctor tomorrow! Shock and awe!

I've been keeping busy trying to get ready for Christmas and doing some crafty stuff that I've been wanting to try. Yesterday I made my first batch of cold process soap. The hardest part was actually finding pure Lye - since it's used in the manufacture of meth it's difficult to come by locally. You can buy it online but since I didn't know if I'd enjoy soapmaking I didn't want to buy 5 lbs of it (I only needed 4 oz.). I finally tracked some down at a little hardware store. I'd take some pictures of the result but I can't find the camera...and I need it because it has our Christmas Card photo on it. Sighhh.

"Flurries"

Baby's First Snowfall








Can you find the 3 pumpkins in this picture? (Hint: they're on a tree stump)


For two years in a row I have ordered Bittersweet Vine seeds and for two years I have been unsuccessful at getting them to sprout. Plus you need both male and female plants in order to get the berries to set, so I finally decided that next spring I would order a pair of plants ($40 plus shipping). Guess what I just found out in the apple tree while taking pictures?




Going to Maine for Thanksgiving. Three kids and one dog in the Jeep. Pray for my sanity.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Someone...

...says he found this picture in the dictionary under "cute". In my dictionary it's under "whiny wolf in cute sheep's clothing".

Some random photos from my camera card

Younger daughter's 8th b'day party - she chose pumpkin pie as her cake



At a Scranton Yankees game



An August hailstorm gave us golfball-sized hail. This is the view from the livingroom window:




Jeeping with the top down:




The tags I made for the 3rd grade's Halloween treat bags:

Really cool website

I recently discovered that my camera holds pictures dating back to the Middle Ages (ok, that's an exaggeration...back to the Reagan Administration). So until I find my usb doohicky (the rabbit ate my camera dock), go edify yourself at this website

Freerice.com donates 10 grains of rice (via the UN) for every vocabulary word that you get right. My vocab rating hovers around 40.

Well hi!

I didn't realize that it'd been so long since I've been here. It's been mainly out of laziness (and some business). We got through the beginning of school and the girl's birthdays (now 13 and 8) and now we're ramping up for Halloween/Thanksgiving and Christmas. Plus we've been getting more involved in our new church - older daughter is in confirmation class, which is quite active with classes and activities and mentors and service projects, plus youth group. We just started choirs (senior, junior and bell choir) this past week (once sports was over).

I just found out that one of my favorite musicals is being remade by Tim Burton and Johnny Depp (no, it's not The Sound of Music, but THAT would be interesting). One would think that someone who counts Sweeney Todd as one of her favorite musicals would like Halloween more than I do..... (Yep, I'm still costumeless for Saturday's party)

Pray for us

We are now officially the parents of a teenage girl!

Guess what wii finally found?

(Yes, he still loves his Jeep.)

Today The Husband took The Boy to spend some saved money on GameCube games at EB Games. You see, last Christmas we promised the kids that we would get a Wii as soon as they became more available (figuring Feb/March). Well we searched for months and in the meantime our GameCube played its last game. So last week we finally gave in and bought a new GameCube to tide us over until the next century or Nintendo got its act together, whichever came first. Naturally, when they walked into EB Games there was a lone Wii awaiting them. It had been promised to a customer who left to get cash after his card was declined, but since he had been gone an hour they let us have it. So Hubs and the younger two are currently unwrapping and pluging in and reading instructions. I made supper but I doubt anybody will be eating for awhile.

In other news, Statler, the world's biggest Collie (my sister's dog) just left after spending a week with us. He spent most of the time sitting next to the rabbit cage staring at Neo and salivating. We kept repeating the mantra of the week: "Bunnies are friends, not food". Neo is currently happily running around the house after not being allowed out all week.

The smile has not yet left his face...

Picked it up on Tuesday and he's giving me a rash about not yet blogging the arrival.

I no longer have to the plantive wail of "I want my Jeep...". Now I am continually asked: "is it gonna rain tomorrw?".

Vacation Part 2

We took two day trips while we were in Maine. Papa and Grandma came with us to Fort Knox and the Penobscot Narrows Observatory (atop the Penobscot Narrows Bridge).

Here's the Younger overlooking the town of Bucksport from the Fort grounds:

Inside the Fort:


I neglected to take many pictures because we had a "tour time" for the observatory and felt a little rushed. As it turned out all you do is show up at the observatory and an attendant puts you on the elevator and tells you a few facts about the bridge, so it's not like we would have missed our chance if we were 15 minutes later.

Below are two views of the bridge - one from below and one from the observatory. You will see that there are actually two bridges - the old bridge is on the left and will be taken down when the state gets around to it. The new one is "cable-stayed bridge" (which I had never heard of) and on this particular bridge the cables run down the middle with traffic on either side. The observatory at the top is the highest public bridge observatory in the world.




Our second day trip was down to Freeport to visit LL Bean and a Stamping Store that I found online, as well as to see a friend in Topsham. It rained the day that we planned to go and we figured that it would be great since Freeport is a walking town so it should be empty, right? So we headed out and planned to go south and work our way up - off to the stamp store. We couldn't find it. I later learned from another stamp store owner that the one in Freeport had been out of business for 2 years. OK, then off to Bean. First the Clearance Store which was a ZOO. If they were giving away stuff I still wouldn't have stood in the checkout line. So we'll head to the Retail Store. Wrong again. The entire town was nearly gridlock and we couldn't find a parking space within a mile of Bean. So we promised the kids that we would either return another day or stop on our way home.

So we drove 15 minutes or so up to Topsham to visit our former Interim Pastor at his new church, and on the way back home stopped for milkshakes and a quick trip in to a Goodwill Store where I bought Montel Williams' recent book about his experience with MS. He writes likes he speaks - intense and repetitive, but interesting, with lots of expert opinions backing him up.

Anyway - more later

Vacation, Part 1

We had planned to leave Saturday morning around 3am. Unfortunately that Friday I was useless - so tired that all I could do was lay on the couch and direct the kids. When The Husband got home from work (and ran all of the errands that I had been unable to do) he and the kids finished packing inside, then went out to pack the van (mostly in the dark). Around 9pm a huge storm blew up and we lost power for a few hours, so we decided to finish packing at daybreak and didn't actually leave until 8am. We later learned that a neighbor's house was hit by lightning and had the electric panel and many appliances fried.

I managed to sleep in the car (miraculous, since I NEVER sleep in the car) for much of the trip, but I'm told that it wasn't a pleasant drive. LOTS of traffic and when we were in northern Massachusettes I saw something that I've never seen in my van before:

Yes, we really were travelling NE but we were sitting in the gas station parking lot at the time of the photo...

We finally arrived but I was in such a fog that I barely remember that day -- I even skipped church on Sunday morning. Dad commented that I would do anything to avoid hearing him preach. Darn! He figured it out! Yep, that's why I purposely contracted an incurable neurological disease

Home!

Yes, we're still alive. We returned Monday afternoon from Maine - 3 kids and 3 dogs in a Minivan for 9 hours is less than fun, but we all survived (and the puppies all behaved themselves). We're still recuperating but we're getting back into the swing of things. The Husband stopped in yesterday at the Jeep dealership and found out, much to his exceeding joy, that his 2008 Red Rock Rubicon Unlimited is on a train in NJ and scheduled for delivery next Wed/Th.

Younger daughter had soccer last night and The Boy started Fall Ball tonight, so I guess we're officially home again. I'll post some Vacation stories with pics tomorrow so stay tuned :o)

12 days til school starts!!

Younger daughter is fearless around the horses. I had never been to the barn before the day of the horse show and I couldn't believe her. She treats them like big dogs.

Here's cousin S with Abby


And Older Daughter's very first competition:


Poco has some new jewelry to wear

Home for awhle

Busy few weeks! We went with The Husband's family on our annual trek to Knoebels Amusement Park and a long weekend of camping. We went too close to July 4th this year so it was much more crowded than usual. Hopefully next year it'll be a little later.

We had to take all 3 dogs with us since our usual dog sitters were on vacation, and I'm happy to report that everyone was very well-behaved, including Shadow, the car-ride-hating, obnoxious-barking sheltie. When we went to the park we left the shelties back at the campground with Grandpa and took Wilma. She was wonderful at the park but she decided that she didn't want to go on the Antique Cars with her former roommate, Hayden (my SIL's Lab). So younger daughter drove the car with her two aunts and Hayden. (Unfortunately I didn't get a picture).

The kids have been going to "Receation" at the park every morning last week and this coming week. The park has a really nice pool and on really hot days they get to swim. There's also a mini-golf course and a real, working carousel. I don't think they've been on the carousel except when we went to the town's anniversary celebration last month but they do get to play mini golf. It's been a nice break in the middle of the summer to give them something different to do and give me a few hours break every day.

Thursday The Husband had to go into NYC for yet another medical procedure. In typical Columbia Presbyterian fashion they called me in after 2 hours only to tell me that they hadn't started yet. Anyhow, everything is well for the time being.

Yesterday Older Daughter participated in her very first Horse Show. She and her 3 cousins all did very well. She won 5th place in one of the two events that she did, but several of the riders in those divisions were either professional or had been riding for many years. Apparently the rule for her division is that either the rider or the horse has to have been showing for fewer than two years. Dumb. I'll post pics tomorrow since I'm completely wiped out today from all the sun (major sunburn even though I was in the shade most of the day)

This week we're trying to fit in a viewing of "Order of the Phoenix" before Friday night when Hubs will take the older two to Barnes & Noble for the LAST of the Harry Potter book release parties. That night I'll be taking younger daughter to see the Scranton Yankees game since we have tickets and she and I haven't had a chance to go yet.

So we have a few quiet weeks before heading up to Maine in early August. And I think the minute that we get home The Boy starts "Fall Ball", so I plan to enjoy a few weeks of baseball-free evenings.

SOMEONE lost some weight recently...

...about three ounces of metal, to be precise!