And just to make you feel old...

Here is Jessica at about 1 month old. My file says this was taken on April 4, 2000.

First Day of School Pictures!

Jessica was so excited to get ready for school today! Today is her first day of first grade. Here is Jessica all ready to go.

Then the doorbell rang and it was "the boys!" When I opened the door they were all crowded around the doorstep and Ben, the oldest said. "We're here to pick up Jessie!"
I thought it was so sweet that they're all looking out for each other.

The whole gang, younger sibs included. Except Anna who was hanging onto my leg!

 

Rainy Days and Mondays...

Call for a little Mr. Potato Head! Anna posing with her creation.

This one was a group effort!

We're coming off a very busy, productive and above all - RAINY - weekend. Today our plan is to basically fold Mt. Washmore and get the heck outside when it is not raining. This week we are busy preparing to go back to school and I just started working on Fridays. The adgenda includes some new shoes for the girls and some spiffy duds for the first day of school. Jessie is quite the little fashonista and loves to try on clothes. We're also adjusting the girl's sleep schedules, and so far it's working. Last week Jessie was sleeping in until 8:30am, and today she was up by 8am, which is perfect. She'll catch the bus at 8:45am on Thursday for the first day of school. More pictures to come on Thursday!

 

Laura is in the house!

Introducing my guest blogger, LOL!!!

 

Playdate Antics

One more - nice face, Clara. Wes must've taught her that one. :)

Pizza, pleeeeeeease

Jessie hamming it up for the camera Julia waiting for her pizza
Can I get fries with that?
Mom, I don't want pizza - get me a cheeseburger (please)
From your friendly guest blogger, Laura!! Woohoo!!! Look at me, posting in Sue's blog. :)
I must use my powers for good instead of evil....

She'll want a cup of coffee...

Or a caramel macchiato! Yesterday I was sprung for the entire afternoon, and it was awesome! (Fantasy Football has it's perks, apparently). My first stop was to church - 11 mass - to attend (don't go often enough) and to register Jessie for CCD classes. After church I drove out to a canoe & kayak store to pick up their class schedule - then to Barnes & Noble (hence, the macchiato). I picked up 2 new books there and then went to AC Moore to get some yarn that was on sale. I am making one of these: http://www.modadea.com/patterns/LM0136.htm After the yarn fest I picked up some groceries and headed home. I honestly couldn't believe I'd been out from 11am-5pm all by myself. Usually when I'm given a chance to go out, I rush, or feel drawn to go back within an hour or two. And when I got home, the girls were glad to see me and it felt good.

Last night Jessie and I helped Chris in the basement (which felt very good, since he'd done me such a favor) and I started my new crochet project. I now have 3 things in progress: the poncho, a blanket for the family room, and a baby blanket for a friend who is expecting. I like variety, I guess. :)

Today was pretty busy, although I didn't really plan it that way! We had a make-up swim lesson for Jessie at 10:30am, did a quick pickup of the house, did lunch, cleaned the car, and then Jessie had a friend over for a few hours. Getting the car clean was step #1 to getting ready for school (it was a pit). Tomorow we have an appointment at 9:30am for Jessie and then I think we're headed out for some clothes for Jessica. Luckily, she doesn't need much for school, but it is tax-free week here and we might as well take advantage. (Where is Gramma when we really need her :::sob!::: )

The house is quiet (gotta love that school-year bedtime) and I have some crocheting to do, and then a new novel to sink into. Tommorow I'll post a bonafide update about the girls.

More wildlife on the screened-in porch

Nope, no more chipmunks! Just Penny slinking in after so shyly sitting on the steps. She loves the back porch - it's outdoors enough for Penny. I tried to catch her sitting, but she started walking towards me, and it ended up being a pretty nice picture. Usually I can't get that close with the camera. 

Girl's Night In

While Chris went to MA for the Fantasy Football Draft, us girls had ourselves a little party! Here's Anneliese all nice and wired (no nap) and laughing herself silly, and Jessie enjoying her post-pizza ice cream.

Saturday morning cartoons

I love Saturdays. The girls are always so happy to see that Chris is home and the mood is usually pretty light. This morning Anneliese was up bright and early and greeted me with my
glasses, "HI MOM!!! You need your glasses! SHHHHH!!!! DADDY'S SLEEPING!!!'

Anna hasn't quite figured out how to whisper yet. She proceeded to climb in the bed (via my ribcage) and snuggled in with bear, chattering away. After the 3rd or 4th kick/elbow I gave up on sleep (and threw Bear at Chris' head for "sleeping" through the pint-sized assault, lol). We did diaper duty and plodded down the hall to the kitchen. Anna was literally dancing by the time I poured her cereal - "Yaaaaaay!! Cereal!!!" It's impossible to be grumpy around someone who dances for fruit loops.

Jessie joined us shortly thereafter for her cereal, and then we were all treated to the sounds of Chris hanging drywall. More on that later, this is a family blog.

We headed over to Crescent Lake - apparently our town's best kept secret - and absolutely loved it. There are 3 trails - one that goes around the lake, one a sort of square in the woods, and another one that sort of follows the other one around the lake, but more towards to woods. And of course I forgot my camera - but that's okay, it's just a good excuse to go back again soon. The orchards are also nearby, so that would be a fun outing - picnic, hike, and apple picking. What's not to like?

Anna Banana

Weeellll....and I have to post about Anneliese, too. Here she is blowing bubbles at the pool. She was a little grumpy during lessons, so this is the best shot of her that I have. I try and keep bubbles handy, since Anneliese pretty much gets dragged to all of Jessica's activities. Jessie goes back to school on Aug. 31 and I am looking forward to spending more one on one time with Anna.

Swim Lessons

Look at my little fish!!! Jessie has made so much progress during her swim lessons! This was a 3 week course offered through our town's parks and rec. dept. She went 3 days a week and actually missed the entire middle week - and you'd never know it. Today she was swimming unassisted a bit and she's been jumping in without hesitation. I am so proud of her!

Jeezy Creezy

I've had it with the stupid chipmunks! They apparently think they have squatting rights here and it's beginning to irk me. We just got back from swim lessons, and I am about ready to open up the door to the screened in porch (which I like to leave open, hello?) and there's a freakin' chipmunk right in the middle of the porch. Both doors were latched, so I cannot figure out how the little bugger got in. And in my frenzy to get it off.my.porch. I have no clue if it got out.

Eewh - what if it had gotten into the HOUSE? Blech!!

Yeah, so now I know what a blog is for. A safe place to rant about chipmunks, among other things.

Bar Harbor, ME

We just returned from Bar Harbor, ME for Eric and Daniela's wedding. Bar Harbor, and Maine in general was amazing! We found the area to be breathtaking and are allready planning a trip to go back next summer. The main purpose of the trip was to attend the wedding, but we managed to squeeze in a tour of Acadia National Park, shopping, and some amazing meals. We stayed at the Acacia House on High Street and downtown (as well as the Cottage Street Bakery and their blueberry muffins) was all within walking distance. I was able to publish these pictures from Picasa directly to Blogger...hence the new blog thing. Not like I know how to blog, or really what in the heck a blog is. Just enjoy the pictures. :)

Don't we all clean up nice?

The ceremony was beautiful - truly an honor to attend. To top that off I had the pleasure of visiting with my SHS friends - and their families! (1st and 2nd photo) L-R: Dana, Geoff, Daniela, Eric, me, Jeff and Mark.

3rd photo: Molly Love and Max Jazz with their Dad.

Eric & Daniela's ceremony

Some pictures from the ceremony.
A little delay on the digital camera - hopefully the 35mm caught Daniela walking down the aisle!

My Latest Stampin' project

This is the inside of the album I made. I lined the envelopes with whisper white cardstock and randomly stamped in the colors previously noted. Each card was mounted on the SU cardstock with the corner punch.

The inside cover buckled and bubbled a little bit and caused a major freak-out at 3am Thursday morning. I used Bristol board covered with parchment. Next time I will use stiffer cardstock or something less layered. Or maybe not work until all hours of the night. Or both. Because freaking out disrupts what little creative process I have...

Cover to envelope mini-album

This is the book/glorified card I made to give to Eric and Daniela, along the canoe theme. I recieved about 5 cards back from people that contributed to the canoe, and thought this would be a cool way to present them The cover is a stamp from the Stampin' Place that I watercolored (SU! watercolor pencils), and the inside pockets contain individual cards contributors mailed to me. The leaf stamp is from the SU! Simply the Best set. For my SU! junkies - the inks and cardstock were from the SU! Earth Elements color family: ruby red, really rust, old olive, more mustard, close to coca, chocolate chip and whisper white. The corner punch is also SU! (thank you, Kelly!!)