Halloween 2020 Ideas

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays!  We go all out with decorations, we usually have a party and invite the girls' friends, we have our favorite Halloween movies that we watch throughout October -- from Boo to You, Winnie the Pooh to Hocus Pocus!  We make it a month-long celebration.  Fall is my favorite time of year, the house is cozy, the weather is cozy, it's the start of the holiday season.  Our little New England town sets 2 hours for trick-or-treating on Halloween -- usually 5:00 to 7:00pm.  We have the kids come early, we have pizza and munchies, then head out for trick-or-treating.  We have no sidewalks on our street, and our town basically has 2 big streets that kids trick-or-treat on.  One is around the corner from us and there are some houses that give out candy along the way.  The 2 main streets go ALL OUT.  I mean, haunted houses, fire pits out front, hot cider, donuts, hay bale mazes, ghosts that fly out from the top of someone's barn, one man even adjusts all of his shutters on his 2 story home to make it look haunted and he dresses as Dracula.  It's so much fun for the kids -- and adults!  

Things are a little up in the air, to say the least this year.  It would not be a surprise if towns did not have trick-or-treating.  Or, if parents decided it was just safer to skip it this year.  There certainly are safety measures that can be taken - wearing face masks, hand sanitizer after each house, kids opening bags for homeowners to drop candy into with no contact. 

 

Last year's brownies!

Our plan for this year is what I'm calling "Reverse Trick-or-Treating."  The girls are still going to get dressed up but instead of trick-or-treating in town, we are going to put together goody bags and drive to friends' and family and drop our treats off to them.  The girls are excited and it will be something fun and different to do.  And we are still decorating, we'll still carve pumpkins, we'll still watch our Halloween shows all month.  The girls want to reverse trick-or-treat and then come home and have the party foods we would usually have.  My youngest, an avid baker, wants to have a cookie decorating contest, and she wants to watch her first "scary" movie.  My eldest is on board with all of that but also wants to watch Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Good thing it's on a Saturday this year -- it's going to be a BUSY day!!

Whatever you do, try to make the best of these crazy times we are living in and try to make it festive for your kids but also yourself - these are stressful times - have some fun!

Back to School During a Pandemic

We are coming into my favorite time of year - fall!  I always feel a little sad that summer is ending and the kids will have to go back to school and we will have to get back into a more structured routine.  But then the nights get cooler, the leaves start to change a little, I remember all of my favorite fall decor that I get to put up, and the crockpot comes out of hiding.  All comfortable, wonderful things!  I don't mind a little structured routine - I always end up embracing it right around this time and we get excited about new school clothes, fresh school supplies, catching up with friends!  And then there is this year...

As most people did, we ended last school year remotely.  My eldest was home on a college break in March when Coronavirus hit.  Thankfully, she was home safe and sound and had been for 2 weeks, because she'd been going to school in Boston, MA which was HIT HARD.  To say the least!  The only difficulty was that a lot of her stuff was still at school, as she'd planned to finish up the school year there before transferring this year.  She was given a day and time to come and get her stuff and then she spent March-May finishing her freshman year of college in her bedroom.  While her sister finished 8th grade in her bedroom.  We were one of the lucky families, for sure -- I have heard a quote that aptly describes this whole situation.  "We are all in the same storm, but we are not in the same boat!"  Honestly, we have had our share of tough times - lost jobs, accidents, unexpected surgery, financial hardships - so I understand going through difficult times.  This time, we were somehow blessed -- my husband was considered an essential worker so he has continued to go out and work consistently.  I work out of my home office for a human service agency.  Initially I worried that I might not have a job during this time, but we support seniors living at home and we were able to shift some of what we do to continue to provide crucial services.  We also are lucky to have good internet in our rural area, quiet spaces for each of us to do our school or work without interruptions, and two girls who get along incredibly well even under stressful situations.  It got long and it got tiring but we trudged along, occasionally hopping in the car to just drive around and see something other than our house.  We managed, just as we have managed this summer which was not at all the summer we had planned or hoped for.  We still tried to have some fun when and where we could.

And now summer is over and school is starting.  My eldest is a sophomore, a transfer student at a new school.  She agonized for weeks (months?) and finally made the tough decision to cancel her housing assignment and do her classes remotely from home.  Most of her friends are back at their schools, but as we hear stories about this party, or that school switching to remote after 2 weeks, or how isolated some people are feeling because of the necessary safety precautions -- she knows she made the right choice for her.  Knowing that doesn't make it easier.  Although she's comfortable and safe and happy at home, she's missing socializing and meeting new friends, and remote classes are tough - professors with sketchy internet, trying to do group projects on Zoom, not having real face time with people - it will be a long semester, maybe year!  Week one of sophomore year is done and she looks at each class, assignment, test, as one step closer to hopefully having a more normal college experience next year and to reaching her future goals. 

And my youngest - starting high school!  Cannot believe it...  We waited to see what the plan would be for this year, me silently hoping (for both girls, actually) that the school would decide to start totally remotely to be safe.  Again, we are blessed that our situation makes remote learning not a bad option.  But I get that not everyone is in the same boat in this storm -- I know families with 4 or more kids, I know families that don't have the best internet simply because of where they live in our rural area.  I know people who have to work out of the home and who have younger kids that would not be able to be on their own.  There are no easy, one size fits all answers in the middle of a pandemic.  Our school district worked hard to try to please as many people as possible keeping student safety at the forefront (from what I understand).  I appreciate that.  I would not want to work in education this year - not as an administrator, not as a teacher.  It is a tireless, thankless job for the most part this year -- at least, the people who are thankful are maybe not as vocal as the people who are not.  In our district we have an in-person option and a remote option.  For the in-person, they are splitting the students (at least at the high school - the plan was a 54 page document so I really only could get through what was relevant to us!) in half and alternating weeks either in-person one week and remote the next, or vice versa.  Then they are all remote from Thanksgiving break to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  So, really my girl would only be IN school for 20 days before going remote through the holidays.  But also, she's not technically "in" school...  She'll be in a tent for 3 out of 4 classes a day.  She REALLY wants to go and see her friends and I REALLY wanted her to stay home.  She finally won.  I think the plan the district has is about as safe as they can make it, provided that people follow it - doing the at home health screen, wear masks, etc.  Even this "in-person" option does not make it that easy on working parents, so I empathize with people's stress and frustration.  I also have friends that are teachers who have their own families and are panicked about working in-person and bringing something home to their loved ones.  Again, it is not an easy year, to say the least!  

I think the best thing that any of us can do right now, is to be as patient and as kind as we can be -- to everyone -- teachers, administrators, other parents, our children, and ourselves.  And kindness and patience is important in person, but it is also SO important on social media.  Regardless of the state of our "boat", this storm is affecting all of us in one way or another.  Be kind.

Trampoline

Back in March, we heard that my youngest's school year was switching to remote learning and all of her end of year activities were cancelled.  No 8th grade trip to Washington DC, band competition & trip to Six Flags, softball tryouts, end of year concert, 8th grade graduation, and likely the summer musical that she's enjoyed being in the past two summers.  We anticipated that a "bummer summer" was looming ahead with no visitors, no trips, no sleepovers with friends, no annual '80's party, no beloved cousins coming to stay and the town pool closed for the season.  I gathered the girls and we made a summer wish list and a summer to-do list -- all things that we thought we could still do, in spite of the pandemic sweeping the globe.  The top of the list for my youngest - something she's been asking for for ages - a trampoline!  I took some of the money that we were refunded from the Washington trip and I found a trampoline on Amazon - searched all around but in addition to a run on toilet paper and sanitizing wipes, TRAMPOLINES and actually KIDDIE POOLS were also pretty darn hard to find!  I placed an order for both items in April and they arrived around Memorial Day weekend!  The pool was not a big success, some fun was had but it was a hard summer to keep a kiddie pool going - a run of cool days led to little use and a need for a lot of scrubbing and chlorine shock - and with so little rainfall (we must be in a drought this summer!) it was hard to justify constantly emptying and filling the pool.  But the trampoline...  BIG hit!  My youngest is out there a ton (pictured above) and my eldest enjoys it too - to bounce on but also she has spent quite a bit of time just lying on it and reading this summer!  And my husband, the biggest kid of all, loves to jump on it!  Summer is winding down, this will be enjoyed into the fall and then we'll tackle how to store it this winter - yikes.  But much loved and used this summer - well worth it!

"Wall of Fame"

With all of this time spent at home, I have been in project mode!  Some cleaning and organizing, some de-cluttering, some makeovers...  While cleaning out my big storage closet and coming across high school band concert posters and play programs I got an idea -- why let them collect dust in the closet, why not hang them?  My two girls have been involved in a lot of things in school - bands, honors ensembles, plays, musicals, film fests, etc.  We are always proud of their hard work, effort and achievements so why not show them?  We have a staircase with bare walls and I have not known what to decorate that with.  We purchased very inexpensive black frames from Walmart and we used the Command strips to hang everything -- so my husband didn't have to hammer a ton of nails into the wall (he was thrilled!!)!  This is one of my favorite projects that we have done in the house - I love seeing it everyday and these important moments are on display to be remembered instead of cluttered in a closet.  But the best part of all is that the girls love seeing their hard work on display!

Summer Garden

We tried our second garden this summer!  This was a trial and error year which was prompted by the Coronavirus global pandemic.  Back in April, supermarkets seemed to be clearing out - in addition to toilet paper, sanitizing supplies and even bread and baking supplies running out, locally we were low on things like eggs.  We know lots of people in our town that have chickens or ducks for eggs and I was deeply regretting not having our own chickens!  (Although, truthfully, I've heard some stories that make me think YIKES... the term "egg bound" springs to mind...)  But a conversation with my bestie about the value of being more self-sufficient got me motivated to start our first garden here!  And, with a long "pandemic summer" looming ahead of us I thought a summer garden would be a great project to keep the girls entertained.  (I was half right...)  My friend told me that seeds were also hard to come by this year, but we had a canister of (old) heirloom seeds that I had been holding on to for years.  We decided to build raised garden beds on the sunniest side of our house.  That side of the has a light layer of gravel on the ground (the former homeowner kept a camper over there) so this was an easy way to plant a garden without having to use a roto-tiller.  My husband built two simple wood framed boxes and we had a load of dirt delivered to fill them.  All of the time and effort to prep this year is done and next year will be a piece of cake!  We planted our seeds after doing some internet research about what each plant would need (amount of space, sun, etc.).  We also tried planting a few cut up potatoes with eyes, some green onions that we had used and started in a jar of water until roots had grown again.  

And we planted some already started mint and tomato plants.  The girls were able to watch the plants from their bedroom windows this summer which was fun for them and my eldest turned out to be quite the farmer!  The garden ended up being HER project this summer - her younger sister did a lot of cooking, which she enjoys, but she is not terribly interested in gardening.  But differences make life interesting!  Anyway, our old seeds were...too old.  But we got a few little potatoes, lots of mint, TONS of tomatoes, some basil...  All in all, not a bad harvest!  Of course our family farmer, happens to be a vegetarian who does not like tomatoes.  So I tried some new recipes that transformed tomatoes into things she would eat.  We tried fried green tomatoes which were delicious, Half Baked Harvest Easy Sheet Pan Tomato Herb Pizza which was a big hit (my husband liked it better than take-out!), roasted tomato pasta sauce, and tomorrow I will try my hand at fresh salsa.  We look forward to next year's garden, trying some new things (getting new seeds!) and learning from this year's experience.  

Picture Perfect

Middle School Concert

Let me start by saying I grew up in a Kodak family living in Kodak's original city - EVERYONE in my family, including myself, worked at Kodak at one time or another.  My dad was an engineer that designed and tested film.  After my dad retired from Kodak, he started a second career as a photographer.  We take a LOT of pictures in my family...  A lot.  And I LOVE pictures -- to me those are captured memories and when my memory is not as great as it once was, I will still have those photos for myself, for my girls, and someday for their children.

So here is the thing -- I love beautiful portraits of my girls!  I learned a lot from my dad being a photographer - I am much more aware of "busy-ness" in a picture and if I'm taking a portrait of my girls or helping them pick out an outfit for school picture day, I will encourage them to wear something that matches each other or at least goes nicely together.  I never want what they are wearing to take the focus away from their beautiful faces!  (They, btw, have completely different styles and so coordinating is sometimes a struggle...  But we manage!)  I also love taking pictures at events or on trips, etc., and I like to make sure that I have a nice background so you can see where we were but also see the girls (if they are in the picture).  I will wait until other people walk through so that I don't have a whole bunch of other people in the picture.

And over the years my girls have learned that I will wait for them to compose themselves so that I can get that beautiful portrait picture.  I remember years ago while trying to get the "perfect" picture for our Christmas card I said, "Here's the thing, this can take as little or as much time as you want -- the quicker you give me one nice smile, the quicker we can get a good picture and move on!"  I think I posted some of the outtakes of that photo shoot on here!

But in addition to learning what makes a "good" portrait or a "good" vacation photo, I've learned that some of the very BEST pictures are the candid ones!  My girls get each other laughing and they act goofy and I cherish those sometimes more than the actual picture that I was aiming for!  Those are the snapshots of life - not them frozen in a pose, prim and proper, but real glimpses of who they are and full of their personalities.  I love the camera function that allows me to hold the button down and just shoot continuously and see what I captured later!  And you know what?  I've started adding some of those to the photo cards we create for the holidays!  It's good to loosen up and let the kids be who they are - they'll have more fun, you'll get great photos and most importantly you'll make great memories!

"Don't hit your sister!"

Where Have I Been Lately?

My Girls on Concert & Science Fair Night!

Life has been pretty darn busy.  When we moved from NY to NH, and I went from working 35 hours a week outside of the house (and spending an additional hour commuting) to working 20 hours a week IN the home, I thought, "Oh hooray, I'll have more time to write on my blog!"  Yeah, right...  We've been here for almost 5 years now, and in the beginning, I volunteered for a lot of things because a) I was more of a stay-at-home mom now and when I worked away from home I missed out on helping at school, and b) it was a good way to meet people and make connections in our new town where we knew absolutely no one!  Those things kept me busy, got me involved in the community and most importantly in my kiddos lives!  And so, my blog was one of the things that got put on the back burner.  

Fast forward to this past week, when my girls and I were eating dinner together two nights in a row while my husband had to work late, and my eldest pulled up my blog on her phone and started entertaining us with stories of when they were younger!  We laughed so hard at some of the stories - my 11-year-old briefly reverted back to a 2-year-old for 24 hours, repeating some of the cute things that she had heard that she had said 9 years prior...  But mostly we just really enjoyed having that record of our family.  The girls both told me that I should write the blog again and I said they should make a list of things they want me to catch up on and I will do my best!  If for no one else's entertainment than theirs -- and my mom who always read my blog posts!  (Love you, Mom!)

This reinvigoration for my blog is coming during one of my busiest times of the year - Pops Concert Raffle Time!  To catch up on what I / we are up to these days, I have an 11-year-old who is in middle school and is in band, jazz band and drama club.  I have a 17-year-old who is in high school and is in too many bands to name (I believe it's 5 at school and 1 community band in a neighboring town).  This year I have opted to drive them to school, instead of having them take the bus that arrives at 6:25am (if I drive we leave the house at 7!) and because they have so many after-school activities, I pick them up every day.  Our schools are about 7 minutes from our house and I am happy to be able to do this - it is a little extra time with them each day, an opportunity to make sure we all know the afternoon pick up schedule on the way to school, and an opportunity to hear about their days a little before we get home and have homework to do.  I still work from home, but I have a new job that I love - back in human services which is my favorite type of work!  In addition, I still work a few hours a week for my other virtual job, which helps them and also helps support all of the extra activities, lessons, school trips, proms...  I also (from year 1 here) still teach Sunday school at church during the year -- I am excited for next year when I will be back helping with my youngest daughter's class!  And I volunteer for End 68 Hours a couple of times a month and as I mentioned - it's Pops Concert Raffle Time - I am the committee of one for the big year-end raffle at the high school's end of year concert.  

I am super busy these days, but through all of this I get to spend a lot of time with my girls, I know a lot of their friends, their friends' parents, their teachers, and I definitely feel involved in our adopted community -- and I wouldn't change any of that!  (Although if anyone wants to help me make calls for raffle prize donations or help with writing Thank You cards at the end of May, let me know!  ;)

Movie Night Negotiations

It’s April Recess here and I’m listening to my girls negotiate for movie nights...  “I’ll watch a Harry Potter if you watch a Star Wars”. “Ok, but which Star Wars?”  “The Last Jedi - which Harry Potter?”  “The first one” “Nope - I just watched that in film class!” And on and on...  They found common ground on not watching Harry Potter Goblet of Fire — because no one cut their hair in that movie!

Third Time's a Charm

Sitting in the kitchen, chatting with my littlest girlie after school today and she tells me that she lost one of her favorite books at school.  She said one of her teachers helped her find it by saying, "Maybe it's over on the shelf over there."  My girl told me that while he said that, she looked over at the shelf, recognized her book and bookmark sticking out of it, and ran over to grab the book ad hug it!  She said then she ran out of the room (I believe to catch her bus).  I said, "Did you say thank you to your teacher?"  And she said, yes.  I said, "Did you?"  She said, yes.  I said, "Did you?"  And with a smile she said, "probably not!"  This has been a routine we have gone through since she was a toddler just learning to talk.  If I knew the answer to a question (which I usually do -- she thinks moms are magical and all-knowing -- that will likely change when she is a teenager), I would ask her, she would decline, I'd ask two more times and finally she would 'fess up to whatever it was!  (It used to be, "did you brush your teeth?" or "did you feed the dog...")  In my experience with her, it's usually forgetfulness on her part and the first two questions give her a few moments to gather her thoughts.  I find it cute because it reminds me of when she was a little, little girl!

Back to School Routine

Off to school on their first day!

I honestly do not know where the summer went this year!  It seems like I was just picking the girls up from their last day of school, and now they've been back to school a little over a week!!  The last week of their summer vacation, I was feeling like we didn't do enough, or we didn't do anything too exciting, or I worked too much (20 hours a week from home).  Also, with my "baby" leaving elementary school and moving up to 5th grade at the middle school, and my eldest entering 10th grade (!!) I was having the pangs of the rapid passage of time and how did this two little munchkins grow up so quickly?  A funny thing happened though on the first day of school - I had a distinct feeling of "there is nothing I can do about it now, today is a new day" and I have quickly gotten into the school routine again!  

But our routine has changed a lot this year!  My girls both ride the same bus - at the same time - last year the bus & driver made the route at 6:30am to pick my eldest up, and then did the route again to pick my youngest up at 8:00am!  This year, with one in middle school and one in high school, they are on the same bus, so my youngest and I are getting up at 5:45am every morning to make the 6:30 bus!  My eldest still gets up at 5:30am as she has the past few years, but now she has to share the bathroom with her little sister -- she is not thrilled about that!  Last year my older daughter had a routine of getting up, eating breakfast, relaxing for a few minutes whether back in bed or on the computer or on her iPod, then getting ready for school.  Her make-up routine involved mascara.  Over the summer, when her cousin and best friend came to visit for a week she was introduced to the larger world of make-up (tasteful, of course!) and so that takes a little more mirror time in the morning!  Last year, I would get up about 20 minutes before my daughter left on the bus -- she is more than capable of getting herself ready and out the door, but I wanted her to have some company in the morning and also wanted to make sure that she got on the bus safely.  

I had planned to get up earlier this year and help my little one get ready.  All summer she begged to have an alarm clock -- panicking about how would she wake up on her own at 5:00 (really 5:45, but she had 5 in her head) without an alarm clock?  I promised I would wake her, but she insisted, so I found a little white alarm clock with multi-colored numbers -- for $5.99 at Target!  Can't beat that!  We got that the week before school started and every night at bedtime she wanted to set it for "5:00" the next morning!  I convinced her that we could wait, no need to wake up so early when we didn't have to!  A few days before school we began getting her back to an earlier bedtime.  The first day of school, at 5:45am her alarm made the first "blip" of it's little song, and she bounced out of bed and shut it off, ready to start the day!  This summer, we cleaned out the clothes in both girls' closets and set them up with one of those hanging fabric shelves that has about 6 "pockets" (shelves).  My eldest is not quite using it the way I had in mind, but my youngest and I have gone through her clothes and picked out a week's worth of outfits at a time and we put one complete outfit in each "pocket."  In the morning, her alarm goes off, she gets up, opens her closet and takes out her outfit to get dressed!  This has been working WONDERFULLY for both her and me!  It saves both of us time in the morning!

I am not normally a morning person, but this past week in particular, I have found myself enjoying staying up (I really could go back to bed for a little bit if I wanted) and getting work done earlier, straightening things up around the house, etc.  Yesterday, I had pot roast in the crock pot at 6:00am, had made beds, done the dishes, folded some laundry, and put 4 hours of work in by 11:00am!  What a great feeling!!  I was lucky to find a part-time, 20 hour a week job as a virtual executive assistant, and so I am able to work from home which really is a blessing!  It can be a stressful job, in spite of the fact that I work at home and can work in my pj's if I want...  I am trying to better manage my time so that when the girls get home around 2:30pm, I am done with work and available to help with homework and hear about their day with no work distractions!  So far so good since school started last week!

What types of things do you do to help ease back into the school routine?

First of the Season!

First of the season!  Made homemade pumpkin pie for the family -- my littlest one's favorite (she's been asking for it all summer)!

First Day of School!

Holding up the "stop" sign!

Today is the first day of school!  (We start early here...)  My girls are off to 5th and 10th grades this year!  Where did the time go?  My youngest is now in the middle school, so Mommy will not be invited to help out in class any more!  (Sniff, sniff -- I really loved that!!)  And, they ride the bus together as the middle school and high school share the buses.  Of course, they have already stated they will not sit together -- they each have a friend they want to sit with.  Last year, I would wait in the driveway with my youngest and frequently walk her to the bus (our stop is at the end of our driveway).  This year, of course with her sharing the bus with her high school aged sister, I am watching from the door.  I did come out to take pictures of them on their first day, but it was suggested (by my eldest) that I not come too close.  My little one told me later that she would let me come within "hug distance" - bless her heart!

I hope this is the start of a wonderful year for both of them!

Mom-isms

My eldest came home from school and was excited to tell me about a conversation that took place in math class today.  A friend asked "How many times do I need to sing "Satisfied" from Hamilton before this class is over?" Another friend asked, "How long is that song?" 5 minutes.  "Then you need to sing it 7 times."  My daughter shared with them (likely as a "fun fact" as she says to us at home all of the time...) that when she was little her mother (me) would tell her how long things were in terms of a Disney show (something she could relate to).  How long until we get to Grandma's house?  "Two Hannah Montana's" or "Two Kim Possible's."  Her singing friend said, "My mom used to do that too!!"  My girl was then reminded me about her school trip to Washington DC last year, and how a friend of her's said, "I don't have to go to the bathroom, but I'm going to try before we leave, like my mother always tells me I should!"  And of course, my girl said, "My mom tells me that ALL the time too!!"  She told me, "You know, I think all moms think alike!"  

Hey, at least my girl must be listening to me and absorbing some of these "pearls of wisdom"!  ;)  

Growing So Fast!

Where does the time go?  My girls are growing up so fast!  My eldest is a freshman in high school -- college is closer than my husband and I want to think about!  And my "baby" is in 4th grade, going into Middle School next year!  Our girls are pretty tall and are constantly outgrowing their clothes or shoes.  Thankfully, our eldest has probably stopped growing (don't tell her I said that -- she is about 5'10" and desperately wants to make it to 6'! ;) -- she's been in the same shoe size for a few years now (hooray!!), not so for the little one.  Today, she came home from school and because the weather was colder than it has been (I thought we were in Spring now, folks!) we had her wear a zip-up hoodie over a long sleeved shirt, a tank top and jeans.  The hoodie seems to be bordering on being too tight now, so when she got home I said, "Is that hoodie getting too tight?"  Yes.  "Are we done with it?"  Yes.  So I say, "Here" and hold out my hand and she takes the hoodie off and hands it to me.  Then as I watch her tug the sleeves of her shirt down, I say, "Is that shirt getting too tight?"  Yes.  "Are we done with that too?"  And she says, "Yes, but don't say 'Here' because I still need to WEAR this tonight!!"  

This took place in the dining room and she was probably having a flashback to this weekend when we were getting ready to go outside for a little picnic and I took the opportunity to have her try on last year's summer stuff to see what still fits.  Her sister and I were in her bedroom with her and I had the front window shade pulled down so drivers-by wouldn't catch the show of her changing.  She had me and her sister in hysterics putting on crazy mismatched outfits.  We had piles of clothes for "wear it around the house", "wear it in public" and "give away."  At one point we settled on a pair or shorts to wear outside and I found a shirt for her to wear with them.  I must have thought she was a quick change artist, because I pulled the window shade up just when she's standing in the middle of her room, one arm up in the air putting on deodorant, no shirt!  Up goes the blind and she yells, "HEY!"  and ran behind me to hide.  Her sister was laughing hysterically -- mostly because I didn't pull the shade back down!  I was too busy apologizing and laughing -- it was a funny sight!  Good thing our house is set back from the road!!  Anyway, we got through the pile of last year's shorts -- have to work on sorting through last year's shirts next -- I feel like we just cleaned out her clothes and now we are back at it again!  

Don't get me started on shoes... 

At Last, Spring?

It was a beautiful day here in Southern NH, and while Daddy was working, the girls and I were feeling like we should be out enjoying the fresh air and sunshine!  What a lengthy process to get us out the door (into our own yard...).  First, we had to find appropriate warm weather clothing.  That took longer for my little girlie, because I thought this would be the perfect time to go through her piles of shorts from last summer to see which ones still fit!  Hilarity ensued, as it seems to, when my two girls and I spend any amount of time working on project together.  More on that in another post.  We finally found an outfit!

Now, lunch -- we'd decided on "munchy picnic-style" food for lunch.  I pulled out two plastic serving trays -- went searching for the one large one that I like to use for just such an occasion.  In the kitchen, no.  In the laundry room, no.  In the storage closet, no.  Then I remembered -- it's in the playroom with every large Lego creation my little girlie has made!  Moving on to find something else...  Got my trays, pulled out pita chips and hummus, pulled out dipping pretzels and fancy mustard, sliced up cheese, pulled out crackers, grapes, beverages...  Finally, we are ready to walk out the door!  We rearrange some furniture to allow everyone a seat near the food.  We sit, and start to eat, and enjoy the sunshine!

And two minutes pass...  And my girls are ready to go inside because there are bugs outside!  Oh the horror!  Seriously?  We've been prepping for over an hour and you give it two minutes!  Somehow we pushed through had a bite to eat and then we moved onto outdoor projects.  My husband is having back surgery soon and he must avoid any lifting for 4 - 6 weeks, so I told the girls we are going to have to pitch in more than usual.  They worked together to put out our pretty collection of painted garden stones, and I worked on trimming up my hydrangea and raking leaves leftover from the fall.  My little one pulled her bike out of the shed.  It was a fun and fairly productive day!  I was very happy that my girls were able to find their inner outdoorswomen and "tough it out" in spite of the bugs!  (Although, they both abandoned me when I moved out front to rake...  Baby steps!)

How are you enjoying the nice Spring weather?

Not a Fan of Thunder!

It's a gray day here in New Hampshire, the kids are off of school this week, and we are just hanging out at home today after a busy week!  Earlier we heard a loud rumbling of thunder and my littlest cutie closed her eyes and said, "Please let it be loud elephants...  Please let it be loud elephants!"  Not a fan of thunder, but so cute!  (It was not loud elephants, it was thunder -- but just one or two rumbles and then it passed, much to her relief!)

Re-Organizing a Child's Room

Here's the "After"

It is February recess here and we have friends traveling to Florida, friends traveling to Africa -- what exciting locale did we travel to?  My youngest daughter's bedroom!  Woo hoo!  ;)  I work part-time from home and still needed to get my hours in, and my husband had Mon & Tues off, so we had hoped to do some fun things while he was off.  Unfortunately, he got a 24-hour flu bug and we quarantined him away from the rest of us all day on Monday!  While he was in quarantine ;) I got a burst of Spring (overly optimistic at this point) cleaning energy, and talked the girls into tackling my youngest daughter's room! I had a flash the other night of a different furniture set up in her room that I thought might give her more space.  We moved here almost 3 years ago and her room was the first one painted and one of the first to be set up.  At the time, I thought I was arranging her furniture in the best way possible with the configuration of door, windows, closet.  It worked for a long time, but lately I've been feeling like it was getting cluttered and feeling tight.  

Previously, when you entered the room, the bed was placed opposite the door, horizontally.  There was a small area to the right of that (where her bed is now) that was open floor space for her to play.  Recently I had a thought of, "I wonder if I can fit the bed in between the windows?"  I measured it out first -- ALWAYS a good idea before you start moving heavy furniture!!  It looked like it would fit and so we got started!  My eldest daughter, bless her heart, was up for helping Mom with the heavy lifting!  The worst thing to move was her little white dresser (right side of the picture).  It was awkward to move and HEAVY!  The carpets were also a pain to move!  Ideally, you would take everything out of the room, lay down the area rugs, and then bring the furniture back in.  But, there was no way that I was taking her bed apart -- that would have been a project in itself!  So, we moved as much stuff out as possible, leaving the bed (largest item) and the dresser (heaviest item).  We rolled the carpets up and moved the bed first -- piece of cake!  It is a beautiful, sturdy bed, but thankfully it is also super easy to move!!  Then we rolled out 1 area rug and vacuumed it thoroughly and then did the same with the second area rug (the rug is actually 2 identical area rugs that I bought at Target for $100 each.  We've had them since before she was born (she's 9) and I still love them!  Thankfully, so does my girlie!  She likes to try to play hopscotch on the squares...).  We slid one into place under the bed -- not too tricky, just had to lift up one corner of the bed.  Then the second rug...  In our first attempt, we had the HEAVY dresser on the wall to the left of the picture, facing the bed, and so all of the dresser legs had to be on the rug -- VERY difficult to maneuver!  We left it that way for the night, and in the morning I still did not love the way it looked and thankfully my husband was up and feeling better and he moved the dresser to where it is now.  That made a big difference!  

"Before"

The biggest change in the room was the bed -- just flipping it to the opposite side, I cannot even tell you how much larger her room looks now!  My "before" picture is from the first week we moved -- I think it looks roomier here due to a combo of the camera angle and the fact that over the past 3 years she's accumulated a lot more -- including a big toy box!  In addition to rearranging her furniture and giving her room a good Spring cleaning, we also took the opportunity to go through everything to de-clutter!  My eldest daughter was so helpful with this -- the 3 of us sat on the floor and started with the stuffed animals.  My youngest LOVES stuffed animals and they seem to multiply quickly in her room!  We went through all of her stuffed animals and made piles of things that we are keeping in her room, things that we want to keep in her "special box" as a keepsake, things that are broken and could be thrown away, and things that we don't need and we can give away to someone else.  We followed the same process with her closet, in particular with her box of dress up things!  With both groups of items, my eldest would hold something up and ask her little sister, "Do you need this?"  Immediately, "YES!"  And if it was something that was in good shape, we know that she loves it, have seen her wear or use it, we would put it in the "keep" pile.  There was a large number of items in both groups that my eldest and I knew right away could go in the trash or giveaway piles, but still, my little girlie's first answer was KEEP!  My eldest would then say, "Really?  You really need to keep (fill in the blank)?"  Yes!  "But I never even see you playing with it!" or, tease her gently, "Really?  You need to keep stuffed BAT?"  The 3 of us had lots of laughs during the process -- watching my eldest grab various crazy dress up items and put them on -- light up sunglasses, boa, you name it!  She reached in her little sister's toy box and then screamed when her hand laid on a stuffed rat!!  (Beanie Baby)  But at first glance she thought it was a real rat!  We laughed hysterically over that and it went right into the giveaway pile!  We got everything de-cluttered and organized and into place on the first day and by the end of the second day we also had everything re-hung on her walls,  

It was not a relaxing, tropical vacation, but we all felt like we had accomplished something, my girlie loves her "new" room, has a fresh start when school is back in session, and we all had a surprisingly fun time with lots of laughs!!  Now my eldest wants us to work on her room next!!

Make Time for Quality Time!

Every year I have the best intentions for what I think will make a special holiday season for myself and my family.  Newsflash -- nothing ever works out the way I plan!  This year, one of my big goals has been to try not to get too caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday and make sure that we are making time for quality time together.  For example, while I would love to get my gift wrapping done as soon as possible, I am choosing to NOT lock myself up in my room wrapping while my kids are downstairs playing.  (That happened last year...)  So I still have wrapping to do, BUT, I had fun yesterday afternoon baking with my littlest cutie pie!  And then last night, after dinner, we all sat down as a family to watch "A Christmas Story" which we watch once a year and we all find it entertaining (my little dolly relates to the boy who can't bend his arms because his mother has him so bundled with snow clothes to keep him warm!).  While we did that, my little one and I sat at the coffee table and colored in a Christmas coloring book that she found in her book case -- I always love to color, and we don't do it as often as we should!

Our town does a lot of fun things this time of year and sadly, we seemed to miss most of them this year!  I was sick the day the town did their annual tree lighting, and we were out of town celebrating an early Christmas with family when the town had caroling, hay rides with Santa, a holiday tree festival and activities for the kids.  But, the weekend before that we took a drive up North to meet my aunt and to go to a Holiday Stroll!  The girls and I went and it was fun to see the live nativity scene, the lights and our favorite -- a tiny horse!  So adorable!!  Lots of people there, so my little one opted not to see Santa, but we were all glad that we made the trip to spend some time with our aunt and just to enjoy a nice night of Christmas music and Christmas lights and holiday cheer!

It's good to stop and remind ourselves that the season is not about the gift giving, and that long after the kids have forgotten what is under the tree, hopefully they will still remember the special times shared with loved ones!

    

Remembering Our Year Through Christmas Ornaments

One of my favorite ways to remember fun and important times in our lives is to collect Christmas ornaments for our family's Christmas tree.  This is always something that I keep in mind when we do something special as a family or go on a vacation -- my favorite souvenir, aside from the pictures that I take, is a Christmas ornament to add to our collection!  Sometimes, it is easy to find a ready-made Christmas ornament in a gift shop, for example, this year our family went with the Girl Scout troop on the famous Cog Railway up Mount Washington.  In the gift shop, much to my delight, they were selling these cute little replica cog railway ornaments -- perfect!  When I got home, I took my trusty black marker and wrote the date on the bottom and wrote that we went with the GS troop and my daughter's friend.  What a cute addition to the tree, and a nice memory when we hang it on the tree!

Another fun day trip that we took this year, was with my aunts, uncle, and my cousin's kids and we took a lobster boat out to the Isle of Shoals!  This was another great day that I wanted to make sure to remember, and for as small a place as it is, they had a gift shop -- no Christmas ornaments, but they did have these cute little replica lobster buoys in different colors and with different numbers.  I picked this one because it had a "9" on it -- the exact number of people in our family that went on the trip that day!  Again, when I got home, I took my marker and wrote everyone's name on the back along with the date of our trip.  I think it is so adorable and it will always remind me of all of the lobster buoys we saw in the water as we headed out to the islands!

After the girls got out of school in June this year, we were fortunate to take a trip to California for a family wedding.  While we were there, we surprised the girls with a day trip to Disneyland!  We had taken them to Walt Disney World in Florida twice when they were younger, but our little one was 2 the last time we went and she has no memories of the trips.  We were so thrilled to be able to take the girls to Disneyland and our little one now fondly remembers it as one of the best days of her life!  Money was tight on that trip -- as was space, with how expensive it is to bring luggage with you on a plane these days!!  So, I used my spending money on souvenirs for the kids but when my dad and stepmother were asking me what I would like for Christmas this year, a Disneyland ornament popped in my head immediately!  And they were the perfect ones to ask for it, because they went with us that day!  We celebrated Christmas with them last week and this Mickey & Minnie ornament was one of my favorite gifts!

The girls and I helped our Girl Scout troop decorate a tree for our town's Festival of Holiday Trees and we had a theme of "Winter Wonderland."  This adorable hat is one of the ones we made for the GS tree and now it has a nice home on our family tree!  Our tree is also filled with handmade ornaments that the girls have made over the years, which makes it even more special to me!

We have another new ornament on our tree, to commemorate another important event in our life this year -- this beautiful ornament was given to us by my aunt and it comes from the hospice organization that cared for my beloved Gram in her last days this past October.  It is a beautiful ornament to remember a beautiful life.

Your "memory" ornaments can be anything -- handmade, store-bought, etc. -- whatever they are, try to keep your tree in mind throughout the year.  You and your children will cherish the memories of times spent together and it makes such a nice tradition to get to reminisce while you are decorating your Christmas tree!

Christmas Card Photo Outtakes

We have made it a tradition to send a photo card out as our annual Christmas card.  Some years I get a great idea and a great photo and I get the cards ordered and out early to mid-December.  Some years, we are lucky to get it all together before Christmas!  This was one of those years...  We have had no snow here and for some reason it has left me less than inspired for the Christmas card picture -- which is funny, because we almost never do an outdoor photo, so what does it matter if we have snow or not?  Anyway, last night I finally got a burst of energy and had the girls put something mildly holiday-ish on (red sweater, "Smile it's a snow day shirt", Santa hats) and set them up by the tree to get some pictures.  Here are some of the outtakes -- I did get some good ones and ordered the card online last night, so we're getting there!!

Nothing like a little holiday wrestling match for the Christmas card!

I was trying something -- did not look as good in reality!  And my eldest daughter looks like "Elf on a Shelf" here!

 Hope you have better luck with your cards!  :)