New Jersey Diaries

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-02T11:43:00.001-08:00

Because it's funny, that's why.

2010-11-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

before the cross-country move, alexander was worried about what we would do with his cactus. naturally, we took it along as a traveling companion and documented its cross-country journey.

stormy skies at a wyoming crossroads.

re-thinking this whole "balance a cactus on my head" thing.
the rolling hills of pennsylvania. this was one of the prettiest parts of the drive. also the raniest.

maybe somewhere in indiana? sadly, we didn't eat at the country fixin's restaurant.

ah, holiday inn express, how i love thee...that is until i realized i left my pillow here.

leaving iowa. thank goodness. onto nebraska...not much better.

we stopped for gas one million times.

iowa cornfields and sunny skies.
westward ho! driving into the sunset. and driving...and driving...

jakes's totally gonna get lucky tonight.

the pioneers loved their cacti and traditionally carried one in every handcart.

wait...is this the same picture of jake with the cactus getting gas? nope, it's different.

the cactus, feeling particularly parched, contemplates a refreshing dip in the pool.

cactus is here. (council bluffs historic site.)

i preferred the "holding the cactus on my head" thing.

First Day

2010-09-09T10:50:00.001-07:00

I had mixed feelings about the first day of school this year. We are so happy to be going back to University Heights, but thought we would be somewhere else...it's also kinda weird starting a new year of school in one place and knowing you will finish it somewhere else, but not knowing when that transition will happen.

Add that to the fact that my babies are now in fourth and first grade, and I have all the usual proud mama feelings mashed up with all the "where did the time go?" feelings. So, without further ado, here are the obligatory "FIRST DAY" photos:

Can't ever seem to catch this kid with a real smile anymore, but he put on his best fake one.

Hadley, on the other hand has to be restrained from "posing". Kind of a cutie, though, don't you think?

This one is a little better. LOVE the cool shirt grandma sent...she probably just thought it was a lovely beach scene, but if you look closely, the palm trees and surf boards (obscured by his hands) actually make a skull. Awesome!

Drat! Eyes closed, but a cute shot nonetheless. I dig the skinny black pants and she is in love with the denim top. If you look close, one of the top buttons is a peace sign. That was the clincher for her wanting to buy the shirt. She's leaning a little rock n'roll this year, and the new haircut accentuates that. She just looks so big! Seriously, when did that happen?

Birthday Girl

2010-08-22T16:23:00.001-07:00

Opening presents -- she caught onto this quickly!

Followed by dancing on the tabletop...

And more table-top twirls.
Sweet Ruby is the apple of our eye, so what's more fitting than an apple tree cake for her second birthday? She couldn't resist sneaking a bit of icing.

I can't believe my baby girl is two years old!

Love this face...sneaking an "apple".

Yes, have some!

of Birthdays, Beaches, and Babies getting Bigger, or "How We Spent Our Spring"

2010-04-26T11:31:00.001-07:00

After overhauling our kitchen, we kicked off our spring by celebrating Hadley's 6th (I can't belive it! SIX!) Birthday. We had a "Fancy Nancy" tea party and it was a big hit with the Kindergarten set. Hadley got a new haircut for the occasion -- short and sassy and oh so much easier for mom to style in the mornings! Here Hadley and Lucy strike a pose.

Here is a shot of the girls dressed in their fanciest ensembles (ensemble is a fancy word for outfit). They are making tissue paper wrist corsages. (another fancy word that means "flowers you wear")

Here is Hadley with her cake. We owe a big thanks to Grandma Connie and Grandma Nancy for sending invitations, favors, and decorations!

Ruby just keeps growing up despite us discouraging it. Here she is getting some paperwork done with daddy. I love that she has the cell phone handy. This photo is one you definitely want to click to enlarge in order to fully appreciate. Also note our pre-renovated kitchen.

We headed to the beach in Delaware for Spring Break and Easter (which also encompassed Xander's birthday). Thanks a million, Gardner Family! Ruby LOVED the beach and was much more of a "play in the water and run all over the beach" girl than her sister ever was at this age. Not as relaxing as I would have preferred, since I am a "sit on the beach under an umbrella with a book and a Diet Dr. Pepper" girl. The weather was fantastic, hitting 90 on two days!

Easter eggs got hidden while kids hit the beach. Note the soaking wet shorts and sandy feet. It was obviously an informal affair.

Ruby's eggs were hidden indoors, and we discovered the fun could go on and on as we re-hid the same eggs 2-3 times.
She had a lot of fun finding her own special eggs! Also -- more proof she is getting big -- piggies!

Hadley shows off an easter egg.
Xander's birthday started off with a walk on the beach. He found a ghost crab. Thanks to Lauren for the stash of birthday hats. We wore them for the beach walk, naturally.

Next, we headed to Ocean City, Maryland, for a round of Viking Golf.

Then out for ice cream. Love this face.

This face is pretty cute too.
Miss Ruby devoured her first-ever ice cream cone like a pro.

By the week's end, we were very, very, sad to leave. But still had another party to look forward to. What do you do for a 9-year-old boy's party? Pizza and video games, of course!

My attempt at a Mario world-ish cake.

Boys watching the action. They played 4-player Super Mario, rotating in and out everytime someone died. It got CRAZY. Luckily, Alan took them outside for impromptu baseball to burn off some of that energy!
The party crew.
And that about wraps it up. Happy now sisters and mom? :)

New Kitchen Reveal!

2010-03-27T15:37:00.001-07:00

I know i'm supposed to do the "befores" first, but i'm having issues with blogger, so i'm rebelling and going with the "afters". it's hard to take photos of the whole kitchen, because it's tiny. i was sitting on the opposite counter to get this shot.

you can see my new metal backsplash, "granitish" countertops, new sink and faucet, cute curtain, and built-in retro-style shelf. designed to look as though it has always been a part of the kitchen...it may be my favorite feature!

another view of the same area. look, everyone...no raw sheetrock edges and real cabinet doors above my microwave! another view of the cute shelf. alan rocked it completely! and i wouldn't be enjoying my lovely new space if it weren't for my dad, woodworking ninja! seriously people. when it became apparent that a table saw was a necessity for this project, my dad thought about it for 5 minutes and then said, "i think we can make a table saw." and you know what? he did! cool, right? more props to my daddy also for shedding blood over this kitchen with a wicked chisel cut to the finger. we bandaged it up, but for awhile, every time he hit the end of the chisel with the mallet (to trim the edges of the laminate) blood literally spurted out of the bandage. we had a lovely fan-shaped blood spatter pattern in one corner. we cleaned it up before CSI could see it.
view of my other work surface. i may have purchased some new canisters from target to complete the look. :)

and a refresher....the old kitchen....
lovely yellow laminate, oh my! and check out the linoleum! this photo is AFTER we painted the cabinets, which were a yellow-wash oak. it was a bit "death by yellow". i think the new kitchen is an improvement...how about you?

Halloween and Other Fun

2009-11-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

Hope you had a Happy Halloween!

Don't have a heart attack or anything like that, but the guilt of not posting finally got to me. That, and the fact that I couldn't leave Halloween photos unposted, just on principal, you know...it being our favorite holiday and all. Although I have to admit that we let things slide a bit this year. Alan and I both had last-minute thrown together costumes, our house went (nearly) unadorned, and we *gasp* failed to carve jack o' lanterns, although we put in some serious hours on decorated pumpkins for the school festival. So, on with the photos and commentary.

October was a busy month for us...here is some of what took place:

Hadley hosted a tea party for Rubes and I. Side benefit: Ruby got lessons on how to officially be a girl and she's definitely learned a lot.

Ruby LOVES to stir. She will do this for 10-30 minutes at a stretch. Just stirring a little cup with a plastic spoon. :)

Ruby also learned how to ham it up for the camera.

Alan busted out some awesome storage shelves for the basement. He also ripped out the hedge in front of our front porch, so you can officially see our house from the street. Weird. (Anybody wanna buy this sweet bike or exersaucer?)

Ruby became obsessed with "bookies" but will rarely let you read her one. This snuggle situation is extremely rare.

This, my friends, is the extent of our festive decor this Halloween.

Here's what I managed to dig out and stick in the trunk for trunk or treat. I like the vase of skulls and am thinking of displaying it year-round on my dining room table...opinions?

Ruby was not a fan of wearing her costume, but did ham it up majorly every time I pointed the camera in her direction. We have about 6 shots just like this snapped throughout the night.

Here is the family, minus one in front of our new car! We left Ruby in the car...how rude! Yes, we joined the throngs of mini-van owners and couldn't be happier. We admit it's the best solution for families with young kids.

Hadley was a Candy-Corn Witch...this also happens to be her favorite candy of all time. Weird, right? And check out this posing! (MYQ -- if you happen by some off chance to read this, think "I just threw up on Mike!")
Alexander, still obsessing about all things of the briny deep. We found the helmet online and made the belt from black duct tape. Add some sweats, and voila!

My lil Halloweenies, ready for the costume parade.

First Day of School & Other Stuff

2009-09-08T06:23:00.001-07:00

Both my big kids this morning, ready for the first day of school. They will both be gone all day long. I'm not sure whether to cry or rejoice!

Hadley, ready for Kindergarten!

I can't believe Xander is in Third Grade -- the boy is huge!

Cute moment I caught last week -- banana picnic on the kitchen floor. Xander was feeding Ruby cut-up bananas from the bowl.

The Kindergarten rest mat I sewed for Hadley. I think I felt like I needed to sew it myself to send a little love with her each day. It's two layers of fleece with a light batting in between. I'm LOVING the owls.

Ruby seemed to know the mat was for resting and kept crawling over and laying on it with this cute look on her face. "Look mom, aren't I adorable?"

Potato salad face. The girl likes to eat and will pretty much devour and thoroughly enjoy whatever you put in front of her.

preview: summer in utah

2009-09-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

the grotto in payson canyon.

sunset over grandpa's farm.

i'll get to the rest in due time.

Farm Fresh Eggs

2009-09-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

The best part is, they are from my own backyard chicken coop. Aren't they lovely?

Happy Birthday Ruby!

2009-08-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

we celebrated ruby's first birthday on saturday. a bold personality calls for a bold cake! we were so happy to be able to have mindi and her family join us to celebrate...it was so nice to have family around for ruby's special day! (of course there are NO photos though! how lame is that?)

ruby's favorite gift -- a toy camera from the simons. looks like shetakes after her daddy. do NOT try to take this away from her. she WILL use it as a weapon.

she wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but she knew it was something exciting.

"is that for me?"

aha! mindi's hand. proof she was here.

ruby wasn't so sure about the texture of the frosting on her hands, but a bite or two from a fork convinced her to dive right in.

there was plate-licking.

and searching for every last possible crumb. (i think i only wiped up about 3 or 4 from the tray)

cake: ruby is definitely a fan

iconic April fool's joke?

2009-04-01T07:04:00.000-07:00

conversation this morning between the kiddos and i:

me: you know, today is april fool's day.
hadley: (indignantly) and i don't even have a shake hands buzzer!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE

2009-03-24T13:29:00.003-07:00

post to follow with all the fun details and pictures from the party this weekend. here's the invite:

Happy Birthday Addi

2009-02-09T06:23:00.000-08:00

this morning, xander said: mom, if Addi were alive today, i would wish her a happy birthay.

so would i.

we love you and miss you addison! happy birthday! our thoughts are with all of you today.

xoxox

your sis and her fam

Easter Dresses

2009-01-25T17:34:00.000-08:00

at an outing to a local fabric shop with some friends, i was talked into purchasing fabric to make matching easter dresses for my daughters. i have NEVER sewed much of anything before, let alone dresses! however, the pattern seemed simple and i had plenty of support from seamstress friends (thanks cyd and marisa!), so i decided to give it a go.

i'm so pleased with the finished products and had so much fun making them! i think i might make a couple more for summer play dresses and may try lengthening the bodice pattern and making some cute summer tops.

the pattern is "claire" by portabellopixie (with slight alterations) and fabrics are from Sandi Henderson's "farmer's market" collection.

now, where's that free skirt pattern cyd mailed me?

in the past 6 weeks...

2009-01-19T13:17:00.000-08:00

we've been busy! here is a rundown of some of the highlights in no particular order (because i'm lazy) and in list form (because it's quick and easy).
in the past six weeks:

1. we witnessed snow in new jersey! better late than never, i always say and it's put me in a white christmas mood today-- hence the blupdate (i just invented that word. it means "blog update" in case you couldn't readily tell.) this is the current view out my window:

2. i celebrated my thirty-somethingth birthday. :)

3. i made the best cake ever for the 100th time (not really sure on the number, but it seems that way.) behold the toasty-coconutty goodness. (thanks jones family!)

4. i ate a LOT of said cake (another piece as a reward for blogging soon, i think) and a lot of chicken tikka masala (with loads of veggies tossed in) YUM!

5. i showed alan what this cake involves. pretended he was going to learn to make it so he can do the job next year.

6. hadley started preschool! look at the little cutie!

7. we took her first "official" first day of school photo -- she proudly tells everyone she goes "to a REAL school" (as opposed to the co-op we did with ward members last year)

8. i did a lot of grateful praying...SOMEONE pulled some strings to make this preschool thing happen.

9. i laid to rest my fears about her going from being home all day to full-day kindergarten in the fall...she'll be ready, since pirate preschool (yes, real name) is everyday.

10. i have turned into a full-time resident of my car, thanks to aforementioned daily trips to and from preschool.

11. i set a world's car-trip record a couple weeks back. it went a little something like this:

load up kids (hence referred to as LUK) drive alan to trainstation (woke up too late to bike it)

drive home

LUK drive X to school

drive home to get H's drawing she forgot that she HAS to give to miss susie

drive to H's ballet class

LUK drive home to change into yoga clothes
drive H to cricket's house so she can catch a ride to preschool with her
drive back to teach a yoga class

LUK (okay, just ruby)

drive home

LUK (again, just ruby)
go pick up H

drive home

LUK go pick up X

drive home

LUK go pick up alan

12. ruby has gotten even fatter and cuter than before (who knew it was possible)

13. ruby has gotten pretty good at playing in here: (santa brought it)

14. we took a mini and much-needed vacay to bethany beach (thanks gardeners! we needed it!)

15. alan turned into a shopping fiend at the outlets, leaving me to entertain the troops.

16. we found out that 75 cents makes a lot of fun and that the little merry-go-round packs a whallop of happy good times. :) check out the faces.

17. we ate yummy fish tacos at el dorado.

18. we promised the kids they could play mini-golf, but we all got sick on the warmest day and 6 of the 11 people at the beach house puked before we all made it home a day late.

19. alan and the kids played the coldest game of mini-golf ever after we all recovered. rubes and i stayed in the car.

20. pre-sickness, i snapped one of the only pics i've ever taken at the beach house. i get into total lazy relaxation mode and forget to take any. but here's benny, the peaceful shark...

21. we did a lot of laundry at the beach. more than should be allowed on "vacation".

22. we hosted a christmas-eve dinner and filled our little house to the brim. i think it's safe to say a good time was had by all.

23. we waited anxiously for santa....and for the official okay to come downstairs.

24. we decorated our new home for the holidays and hung our stockings by the chimney with care

25. i managed to snap a pre-christmas-morning-chaos shot...H had a new dollhouse under that huge red blanket you see at lower right...it took her a good 10 minutes to even notice it, and then only because her brother pointed it out.

26. ruby staged a full-scale revolt while we went out to eat...she made it clear she wanted solid foods and she wanted them NOW! check out the video clip HERE

27. i purchased fabric to begin making H and R THIS CUTE DRESS (sans apron) for easter.

28. hadley started reading "Bob Books". pretty easy, but still, pretty exciting.

29. we found out that xander grew 3 inches in 9 months. (and gained 10 pounds)

30. i accidentally deleted 2 pics i wanted to include in this post.

Christmas Goodies

2008-12-19T10:30:00.000-08:00

things have been crazy busy around here lately, but my shopping is 99% finished so i thought i'd take a few minutes to post some highlights. (ruby-lovers be warned there is NO ruby is this post!)

i know what you're thinking..."how on earth did they travel back in time and snap this awesome shot of a megaraptor in action and live to tell about it?" truth is, it's just a diorama. shocking, right? it was part of xan's first major school project...a report (written and oral on a dinosaur and a diorama.) alan totally saved my bacon on this one and it was a "guy project" for the better part of a week.

the finished product...i have no idea what he's doing or pointing at. we honestly could not get a good shot of the kid with the diorama...as evidenced in the following photo.

granted, it was late. the boy was TIRED!

now onto the girl....today hadley had ballet class with a special performance at the end! if you scroll to the post below this one, you can link to the exciting video clips, but for now, here are some stunning still shots.

the girl is a ham, but a lovely one.

hads and miss maya...sooo cute in the tutus for today's performance.

this next shot is my fave...

because it looks just like this drawing hadley did for miss susie last week.

see what i mean? i have no idea why she wrote "hadley" across her head, but i guess it's as good a place as any. it serves an an artist's signature and a decorative element.

last weekend was the P2 Christmas party (that's our ward party...princeton 2nd). as is tradition in our ward, we had a special visitor.

love the look on the kids faces here. but it doesn't even compare to hadley's face in the next photo, which i captured just as santa made his grand entrance:

priceless!

we also made and delivered a few Christmas goodies this past week. here's what most of you are missing out on.

toffee, peppermint sticks, and gingersnaps. doesn't get much more Christmas-y than THAT! and the bags were tied up with a cute, red, green, and white cord that you can JUST make out in the background.

and finally, a sneak peek inside. just pretend you've just found one on your doorstep and are anxiously peering inside. the peppermints look so festive! no match for what k. lyman left on my porch this morning though....i think it contained about 12 different cookie varieties. one-upper! :) j/k it's fantastic. hope the kids get some.

one last note...one of my favorite parts of my blog is the funny names i give the photos as i'm sizing and saving them, so i know which is which when i upload them, and no one has ever commented on that aspect. maybe no one noticed. i think you have to click on the pic to enlarge it and then you will see it in the page header. anyone find a fave?

we love and miss all our family and friends that are not a part of P2. (we love you guys too, but don't miss you, per se...)

merry christmas!

sugar plum fairy

2008-12-19T10:03:00.000-08:00

hadley has been taking beginning ballet from miss susie since september. today, we enjoyed a mini-performance during class with 2 fabulous dances. the high squeaky voice you hear in the background is miss susie, who is dancing along with the girls and telling them each step...they were still all over the place, but soooo adorable.

www.dropshots.com/spyderette for both video clips

where did november go?

2008-12-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

where did december go, for that matter? here are some thanksgiving pics for your perusal. granted, they are late, but seriously, where did the month go?

this was our first thanksgiving all on our own. i really tried to go all out even though it was just the five of us. the turkey turned out beautifully. (thanks alton brown!)

soooo yummy.

alan gives it the thumbs up. it tasted as good as it looked.

the full menu: thanksgiving punch, mashed potatoes and balsamic gravy, honey glazed carrots, green beans, turkey (duh), apricot-pecan stuffing, and homemade rolls. actually, no, there was yummy fruit salad too! luckily simon's invited us for pie, so i was spared that much work at least. cooking this much food for 2 adults and 2 kids is kinda not worth it.

my plate, ready for me to dive in. i'm getting hungry just remembering. :)

ruby opted to just have milk. (shout out to lauren and fam for the CUTEST dress! thanks again!)

me and my handiwork. tiny kitchen, huge feast. i rocked it, if i do say so myself. the kids actually bowed to me and chanted, "all hail mom" so that was cool. still not sure if they rehearsed that with their daddy prior to dinner.

ruby just smiled and had thirdsies on her milk. i think she really got the feast day thing.

xan man, needing a haircut and digging in.

had, using a knife like nobody's business. who taught her? we have no idea.

our little thanksgiving table.

me working some stuffing magic in the still-a-work-in-progress kitchen.

and finally, to get you into the Christmas spirit, another conversation with hadley.

aunt mindi (on the phone): so, haddles, what do you want santa to bring you for christmas?

had: a barbie and the diamond castle doll

aunt mindi: wow, that sounds awesome! what else do you want?

had: uh, i don't know....i'll have to watch more commercials.

Would you be offended?

2008-12-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

Alan overheard this conversation at work between a marketing-type person on the phone (presumably with another marketing-type).

"Would it be offensive if someone was wearing Sushi Pajamas and that person was Japanese?"

"Yeah, me too, we'll change it."

(Alan informed me that the girl in question was Hawaiian.)

She drives a hard bargain

2008-12-11T07:20:00.000-08:00

On the way home from dropping of X at school this morning, Miss Hadley said she was going to sing me a song she wrote. She told me it was "kind of a marrying song" and that it was called "I won't be your bride". I went like this:

I won’t be your bride.
I won’t be your bride.

Will you be my bride if I give you twenty-five boxes of flowes?

I still won’t be your bride.
I still won’t be your bride.

halloween update/thankful for...

2008-11-04T08:44:00.001-08:00

happy november! before we get to the halloween stuff, i wanted to do a quick post of things i am so thankful for right now. with thanksgiving coming up, i thought it might be nice to do this every day, but i don't know if i can commit to that. i will, however, try to do it frequently throughout the month.

i am so thankful that i wake up to this each morning:

this is the view from our bedroom window. i'm thankful for a great yard and great house!

i'm thankful that ruby is pretty much like this all day long. she sleeps through the night most of the time and is generally a happy, content little bundle of love! (shout out to aaron & kristina for the cute halloween outfit!)

i'm thankful that i have these 3 to keep life interesting...and that they love each other...most of the time. :)

okay, on with halloween!

miss ruby was a fat little witch who pretty much slept through all the excitement. i actually changed her diaper and got her into this get-up without her waking up at all.

mitch was king triton to lucy's little mermaid, but she ditched the wig within about 5 houses. alan makes a lovely ariel, don't you think?

happy kids with buckets full of loot.

another view of the robo-boy. and in honor of flight of the conchords:

There are no more humans

Finally, robotic beings rule the world

The humans are dead

We used poisonous gases

And we poisoned their asses

The humans are dead (he's right they are dead)

The humans are dead (look at that one it's dead)

It had to be done (I'll just confirm that they're dead)

So that we could have fun (affirmative, I poked one, it was dead)

halloween slacker

2008-10-29T07:18:00.001-07:00

on friday, the kids and i all dressed up and went to our ward's "trunk or treat" activity. alan was out of town so getting myself and 3 kids there, all in costume, was quite a feat. however, my super-mom powers failed me miserably when i realized i had left the camera at home. :(

and there were some awesome photo-ops!

alexander's robot costume won 1 of 2 coveted prizes in the kid's costume category.

hadley lit up every time someone called her "snow white".

ruby looked adorable sleeping in her witchy-poo costume, complete with hat.

and i won 1 of 2 coveted prizes in the adult costume category. (uh, that's adult as in "grown-up", not as in "adult" ;) )

i had already taken off some of my jewerly and was about to lose the eyebrows when i decided i should snap a couple halloween self-portraits since i do it every year and will not be dressing up this friday. (so pathetic, i know)

i went as frieda kahlo

the real deal

lil me

and the mugshot.

updates and pics of the kids after halloween!

taggeed by my SIS

2008-10-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

10 years ago I was:
1. childless
2. living in the tiniest one bedroom apartment
3. blissfully happy
4. up for a late night (any time) outing to Bill & Nada's
5. super skinny

5 things on today's to do list:
1. wash all my sheets and duvet cover (ruby spit up)
2. take out the garbage
3. bathe 3 children
4. crochet a hat for ruby
5. eat yummy chicken tikka masala

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. pay off both my houses
2. share the money with a certain sis and brother
3. go to disneyland
4. go on a dream vacay to london, paris, and rome
5. save some for a rainy day

5 places I have lived:
1. salem
2. provo
3. salt lake city
4. springville
5. new freaking jersey

5 places I have worked:
1. sno shack
2. Nu Skin
3. Churchill Jr. High
4. DSW advertising
5. Franklin Covey

(added by me for seasonal flair)
5 things I have been for halloween:
1. some kind of a cat or something ;)
2. magenta
3. cleopatra
4. sally
5. frieda

i tag alan, marina, , aubrey, lori, marisa, and all my girls from P2. :)

ruby o' rama

2008-10-21T13:28:00.000-07:00

ruby has been growing (mostly wider) and learning important life skills like smiling.

she has a sweet hammock tub. i wish i had a sweet hammock tub. so does my dad. i don't think they come in king size.

this pic looks weird sideways, which is how it was taken, but even weirder upright.

i LOVE this photo...the stripey blankey...the lone didi (pacifier)...the calm sleeping baby with the wavey little hand...

another conundrum as to which way the photo should go.

grandpa and ruby both looking sleepy. grandpa worked a lot while he was here. ruby pooped and ate a lot. all of those things are exhausting.

another cutie with her grampie shot.
polka-dotty princess. shout out to jenn for the cute jammies! thanks jenn! (she looks extra cute and funny in this outfit with her round blue didi in her mouth. it adds another little turquoise circle to the mix)

gotta love the big baby stretch.
ruby's first attempt at a bottle (just in case we are lucky enough to ever go on a date, which i doubt) -- she doesn't care about the receptacle...as long as it's filled with the good stuff! (another shout out to jenn -- thanks jenn!) oh, just an fyi, she downed the whole bottle in about 5 minutes flat.

great shot of fat rolls. count them if you can.

happy bathtime baby.

and again.

smooches to all of you!

Baby Blessing

2008-10-21T13:09:00.001-07:00

in our church, it is customary to give the baby a name and a blessing in a semi-formal ordinance. it is usually held in the church building, but can be held elsewhere if you make prior arrangements, which we did. ruby was blessed at home on october, 5th surrounded by friends from our ward family and we were fortunate enough to have my parents be able to come as well.

ruby was happy to be the center of attention on her special day.

super happy.
most of the time.

she is wearing a vintage christening dress. :) my mother made it for me when i was a baby. she is also wearing a tiny gold ring that has been worn by me and all of my siblings and nieces and nephews. family tradition and all that. we were outside so we tied a ribbon on the ring to secure it on her finger, just in case. truth be told, her lil finger was so fat, i had a hard time getting the lil ring off. :)
another cute pic.
with proud grandparents. it was bright. everyone was squinty. :)

new family photo. and everyone looks pretty darn good. it was, overall, a lovely day. friends came from near and far. none of them got photographed for some odd reason. but we still love them anyway. i think the reason was that i was too busy stuffing my face with all the good food my mom made to snap any pics.

now for some fun:

i have no idea why this photo was taken, or what is going on exactly, but there seems to be a lot of backstory happening.
ditto. i don't know if i'm giving the thumbs up or using another finger to try to get something off her face. i just thought it was funny.

Fall into Autumn

2008-10-21T12:28:00.001-07:00

wow...it's been too long! a lot has been happening this fall and we've been busy:
adjusting to having a new baby
having houseguests
decorating for halloween
developing some bad habits
cooking yummy fall food
growing fatter (ruby)
exploring
not blogging

so, to kick of this official welcome to fall blog, i give you the first ever photos of our house (at least the outside) -- we realized there hadn't been one taken! i also realized it's kinda hard to get a good picture of the outside of the house.

picture from the driveway. look at all the fall lovelies.

front of the house. yeah, we know it needs a paint job...buttery yellow, perhaps? anyone have suggestions? we're open to ideas.

fall is when i start to love cooking again. here are a few of my favorite things in a cozy lil corner of my retro kitchen (left to right): baking supplies in canisters, tomatoes and tomatillos, acorn squash, red onions, butternut squash, kitchenaid, groovy old recipe box, red crockpot full of cafe rio barbacoa pork deliciousness, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies in jar. (oh, and a toaster.)

you're all invited for dinner anytime.

in my intro, i mentioned bad habits...namely that the two older kids keep coming into mom and dad's room EVERY SINGLE NIGHT (at least they did...it's getting a bit better -- knock on wood). here they both "couldn't sleep" and "weren't tired" so we directed them to our bed -- hadley first and xan about 15 minutes later. 5 minutes after that, we found this. both were subsequently transferred to their own sleeping quarters.

one of the best parts of october is halloween! the kids always beg for me to get out the decorations and then lose interest in helping after about 10 minutes. here are the results when done properly by an adult.

mantle. i love the dead flower arrangement and the spooky guy carrying a candle. i need a spooky picture to hang up, though. this one's not cutting it. but i do like the pile o' skulls. everyone needs a pile o' skulls.

little haunted house vignette that gets rearranged by busy little hands all day long. hadley made the moon and xan gathered all those great twigs for me.

i'm so excited to do seasonal displays in my corner china hutch! shelley gave me the cute plates.

turquoise table with cute dancing skeletons and 5 little pumpkins sitting in a line. these were a fun project to make...cut up a cardboard egg carton and glue the halves together then paint and add little leaves.
this fall ruby's cheeks have been getting fatter and fatter like a lil chipmunk storing walnuts in there. you can see in this picture that they are actually so heavy, she can't remain upright.

uh, this picture somehow got separated from the other halloween decor pics:

my desk. i like the bat lamp. it might be my favorite little halloween touch.

alan had a project or twenty going on this fall too. here are our new nightstands, shown BEFORE and AFTER. tres' chic, no? now if we can get around to the dresser our room will look like a grownup room. :) these are our first matching nightstands. 12 years later. nice.

the kids got all geared up to go "exploring" at sayen gardens with grandma and grandpa.
hadley's pink hat doubles as a "safari" hat and a "tea party" hat. nice!

spot the difference in this photo. you know, you just can't go exploring without rainboots, a hat, binoculars, and a bug box.
close(r) up of fall lovelies on front porch. also separated from halloween decor pics, but i'm too lazy to fix it. :)

that sums up our fall report, stay tuned for ruby-o-rama!

Obligatory First Day of School Pics (part one)

2008-09-06T13:54:00.001-07:00

xan (and mom) were pretty nervous for the first day of school this year. it was more than a new school year and a new class, new grade, etc...it was an entirely new school! he got up and ready really quickly and seemed excited. we had lots of time to pose for pics under the dogwood tree in the front yard.

and IN the dogwood tree in the front yard -- time for pictures of x being goofy

and of x being somewhat calm and sedate.

he chattered all the way to school, but as soon as we got to the school he clammed up. he was quiet as we walked to school (had to park a ways away since EVERYBODY was dropping off that day). he was even quieter as we got to his classroom door. now eyes are firmly looking at the ground. i held it together, and so did he -- i could tell he wanted to cry -- and to tell the truth, so did i. if he had cried even one tear, mom was gonna totally LOSE IT.

but, i told the teacher he was new to the school and she immediately made him feel better. (WHEW!)

after school, he was more than a little happy to see me waiting outside the door. when, on the drive home, i asked about how his first day was, he gave me two thumbs up (and two feet up as well) -- so i guess we're off to a great start!

by request (updates on the house)

2008-08-29T19:31:00.001-07:00

we've been asked a few times about the kitchen floor update -- specifically "have you gotten rid of that gold linoleum from hell yet?" and the answer is YES!

view from dining room, through kitchen, and into mudroom/nook/laundry area. next to go -- the yellow backsplash. it will be replaced by brushed aluminum looking metal. unfortunately, the yellow countertops have to wait. but i'm envisioning a granite-look laminate similar to this.

here is a view from laundry area into the kitchen...and YES that IS a new range with a microwave above it! woot! (okay, you can't actually SEE the microwave, but it's there) it was a belated mother's day gift from alan after he pulled out the old range and realized just how greasy and disgusting it really was. yes, it was so bad that even a man was not about to install a brand new microwave above it! thanks, babe!

view from laundry area into "mom's nook" aka "the time-out zone". time out for misbehaving kiddos and for tired mommies to take a load off. i need to finish crocheting my retro-inspired pillow cover (visible in gold linoleum pic) and i want to make an amy butler gumdrop pillow to prop my tired feet on.

alan has also been really busy in the yard...mainly hacking down dead/diseased/overgrown/poison-ivy infested trees with his manly chainsaw Pepe. (yes, it has a name and it is also the BEST father's day gift EVER.) he also found time to install a tire swing for the kiddos. every yard needs one. next project may be a treehouse -- we have sooo many trees! some of these pics may be on alan's blog, so apologies to the avid double-blog reader.

alan and the kids looking sassy and coy.

had takes a solo swing -- i wanted to show our "petite woods" that is part of our backyard. so far, it's off limits to the kiddos, but alan has plans to clear out all low-growing branches and poison ivy so it will be a groovy place to explore sometime in the future. incidentally, it also houses TWO sheds. one is falling down and will be demolished and hauled off. one is salvageable now that alan has felled the tree that was half-dead and leaning on the roof. he also cleared a nice sunny patch for a garden near it. (someday) :)

both monkeys on the swing...you can just see the screened porch in the background.

and one more -- this time you can see the porch and a bit more of the house and backyard. someday we will post a pic of the front of the house! crazy that we haven't taken one...we have a lot of work to do on the outside of the house and yard. my dream is to have our house featured on the HGTV show Curb Appeal. that would be awesome!

finally, pics of the comp-u-babe-dio (that's computer room, baby's room, and painting studio all rolled into one). props to g'ma S for the idea -- we stole it from her comp-u-sew-dio (same thing but with sewing rather than a baby)

here's where the two parts of the room meet up.

daddy's corner.
ruby's corner.

that's all folks! keep scrolling for yet ANOTHER entry featuring more miss ruby...(and including the cutest photo yet)

more of miss ruby (because we can't get enough!)

2008-08-29T19:23:00.001-07:00

first (sponge) bath:

when we first lay her down on the kitchen countertop, she was NOT a happy camper.

all swaddled up getting her hair washed...she LOVES it, strangely enough and is calm and happy for the rest of her bathtime.
clean, happy baby, post-bath. smelling like johnson's cucumber melon lotion -- YUM! babylicious!

ruby sleeps most of the time still, so I was excited to get this photo of her all dolled up and awake after her bath. I think this might be my favorite pic so far...in fact, it's going up on the family photo ledge tomorrow!

after that first picture (above) she promptly fell asleep. baths, apparently, are exhausting.
ready for her closeup, whether she realizes it or not.

BABY MAKES 5!

2008-08-24T16:29:00.001-07:00

Introducing Miss Ruby!

Born: Friday, August 22 6:46 pm EST

Weight: 7 pounds 14 ounces

Length: 21 3/4"

Here's Ruby in her special hat her favorite nurse made just for her. Apparenty she developed quite a reputation because a new nurse came in our room this morning and said "Oh, so YOU'RE the one with the pretty hat Ruby!"

Here I am, bright and early Friday morning, happy to be about the business of getting the baby OUT of my belly!

Our chubby-cheeked little sweetie, moments after being born -- already tagged for ID.

Ruby is the BIGGEST of my 3 kids -- almost 8 pounds! (For reference, X was 7lbs 1oz and H was 6lbs 10oz). I can't believe this huge baby was in there!

Proud and happy daddy! We can tell you by the clock in the background that Ruby is less than an hour old in this photo.
Meeting mommy for the first time. I was amazed by the chubby cheeks (just like the ultrasound pic on Alan's blog ). Also, she actually has a good amount of hair!

Another pic of me and my girl.

The kids came over the next day, because after I was feeling okay and had some food, it was already after 9:30. They were SO excited to meet her -- wide-eyed and quiet like Christmas morning magic!
The best shot I could get of my family -- they were a bit wiggly and giggly by this point.
A proud and excited big brother.
A proud and thrilled big sister. (The nurse made them each special wristbands to wear when they came to visit. A pink one labeled "Big Sister" and a blue one labeled "Big Brother" -- I think you can see Xander's in this photo.

Me snuggling Ruby on Saturday afternoon. At this point, little miss still didn't have a name! It took us awhile this time -- sorry to all you impatiently waiting....and waiting...you weren't the only ones! Most of her hospital paperwork says "Baby Girl Peck". When they brought her in after dinner on Saturday she had a new "Ruby" namecard in her bassinette. In the middle of the night (4am) the nurse brought her in and told me they all loved her name and that she was crying and mad, and bright red -- they said "Ruby's got her red dress on!" She does turn a lovely shade of ruby red when she's really mad! :)

Sunday morning, ready to go home. Still love the diva fancy hat.

Snug and ready to roll.
One more cute pic of each kid with the new baby. They were SO excited when we came home. We could see Hadley's beaming face through the window where she was perched waiting for us. (Wonder how long she sat there?)
She's so happy to finally be "a big sister AND a little sister".

We are home and happy and doing well. We welcome all phone calls and visitors (give a call first).

Quick shout outs and thank-you's to Cyd and Jenn for lots of babysitting, to Liz for saving me from a mental breakdown, and to Lisa for being our first official visitor and welcoming committee! (The cookies were divine -- I have devoured far more than my share already -- YUM!)

why you haven't heard from me lately

2008-06-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

well, we went and did it...we bought a house! that makes us dual homeowners. kinda freaky, huh? i haven't posted for so long because finding, buying, moving and making the house livable was kind of a nightmare, to tell the truth. my mom (bless her!) came out (over mother's day of all times) and worked her guts out for 10 days. we had to paint EVERYTHING and are still not finished, but it does feel a lot more like home now that things are unpacked (mostly) and organized (mostly) and now that we have hot water and a dishwasher (long story).

so, i hesitantly present pics of the new digs -- i should have taken "before" pics, but trust me, there just wasn't a second to spare! also trust me when i say that it looks WAAAAAAY better than it did. (you can ask my mom). keep in mind we are not 100% and there are still a lot of odds and ends to do and some major stuff as well. for example, there are no pics of the master bedroom or office/nursery because they still need paiting and unpacking. all in good time.

here is x's room...needs window treatments and some other work still...anyone have a headboard to spare? i love the grass skirting as a bedskirt.

h's room, which is HUGE and will become the girls' (plural) room in a few month's time.
notice her "panicky" over the bed...very princess-like.

my little desk near the entryway...i keep track of bills, etc here in the desktop file and i've converted the main drawer into a charging station for ipod, phones, palm, etc.

the family room. we have a HUGE bow window, which still needs drapes. we need a big rug too and a smaller entertainment unit! (flat panel TV would rock!).

this is the "nook"/mudroom space by the back door. to the right you can go out to the garage or into a powder bath which has been completely gutted and is awaiting renovation. :) try to ignore the pictures piled on the floor and the floor itself. (isn't 70's gold linoleum the bomb?) -- the plan is for alan to replace the floor while i'm in utah for 4 weeks. (think black and white checkerboard -- anyone got mad photoshop skills they want to use to give me a mock-up?) good luck, sweetie!

family message center, mail bin, and recycling bins by the blue table, little cozy chair (groovy crocheted pillow in progress) and bookcases for me. (anyone know where i can get a little round ottoman?) to the right is the laundry room as well, and to the left, a coat closet and the door to our screened-in porch.

part of the kitchen...backsplash and countertops are not as yellow as they appear in the photo, although we have dreams of a brushed aluminum backsplash and charcoal granite-looking countertops someday. i LOVE this little counterspace because it is lower than a normal kitchen counter -- just right for the kids to help make cookies. and my kitchenaid tucks right into the corner (behind the fridge) -- all my baking ingredients are housed in the cannisters and cabinets above, so it's really convenient to bake.
another view of the kitchen -- look at the new dishwasher, mom!

built-in bookcase in the dining room -- the cabinets house the kid's dishes and their coloring and activity books.

dining room. i keep clearing off the top of the pie-safe only to have it collect clutter as we unpack more stuff! someday...
built-in hutch in the dining room, and one of my favorite things about the house!

view from the dining room into the kitchen -- remember the black and white checkerboard? it will extend through that whole area in and behind the kitchen. note the cute bee decals from my friend mary lynn! so cute!
thanks for visiting! bye!

i promised to "ketchup"! (part one)

2008-02-29T07:29:00.000-08:00

so FINALLY i am posting christmas pics. at this point, it's more to relieve my sense of guilt than for anyone else...except you mom...maybe this will give you something to do as you recover today!

here is the first glimpse of what awaits....

xander could hardly wait for anyone!

we convinced him to let hadley walk ahead of him, since she's littler. they are clearly excited! so is their daddy!

you can see we were up pretty early...we've never seen THIS before! sunrise? what's that?

this is after all the spoils and destruction, but you can see, christmas got a "double thumbs up"

hadley was feeling pretty fabulous in her snow white costume!

alexander was the most excited by his "deep sea book" -- here he is looking at it with alan.

who knew a plastic astronaut stocking stuffer could be so exciting?

hadley in her own little world...i think it's "princesslittlepetshopdolly world" to be exact. she visits there often.

the triumph of getting the ONE item he wanted the most!

who knew pez could be so exciting?

by far alan's favorite toy and a bathtime favorite all around. the shark rig!

the first thing hadley noticed was her kitchen. she played with it for over a half an hour before she even LOOKED at anything else. i love the expression on her face here!

the "marble roller" which has filled many a saturday and sunday (and my dining room). a favorite dad/kid activity.

there are more updates below, mom, so keep scrolling. i never said they were recent updates, but at least i'm all caught up!

i promised to "ketchup"! (part deux)

2008-02-29T07:16:00.001-08:00

on christmas eve, we thought it would be more fun (and feel more like christmas) to have some friends over for christmas eve dinner. the preparations took most of the day, but it turned out really nice! alan and our friend matt went to the church early and "borrowed" a large table and chairs. with kids, there were 14 of us!

here is the dining room....

kids were in the kitchen....not pictured is the "littlest table" for the two youngest ones. it was in the kitchen too. we could kind of keep an eye on them, but they definitely had their own party going on!
check out the food! yum!
after dinner, liz brought chimes -- a family christmas eve tradition -- and charts of christmas songs and plenty of spoons to chime with. it was a lot of fun and the timing on the songs was pretty funny, since we each had one (or two) chimes to be responsible for -- of course, the kids insisted on doing it themselves, making for some over-long pauses filled with whispered cues when their chime came up. this is liz, joshua, xander, and mason.

everyone concentrating: dan, josh, amanda, and joshua again. i think i did manage to get a photo of everyone, but i'll spare you...they are all more of the same. :)

I promised to "ketchup"! (part C)

2008-02-29T07:02:00.000-08:00

hey! nothing like thanksgiving pictures on leap day! woot! we are blessed enough to have family nearby (nearby being virginia...and more recently, Pennsylvania) and were invited by the Gardners to spend Thansgiving with them at their fantastic beach house in Delaware. (if you're counting along at home, that's 4 states involved here. kinda awesome, eh?)

without further ado, i present the photo that best sums up our holiday weekend.

here is xander and collin doing what they do best. (being hungry, waiting to be fed, and generally just being little boys) lauren and i DID have a stroke of genius and managed to keep them busy making about 16 place cards. they drew pictures and actually wrote everyone's name. it was sneaky on our parts because not only did it keep them occupied for the better part of an hour -- they were also learning, but don't tell them that.

the "little kids" had their very own table and were pretty pleased with themselves. they took their places a bit too soon and were beginning to get restless by the time we took this photo. despite the look on hadley's face, i think it was mitchy that fell asleep at the table during dinner.

the table, laid out for the feast. and what a feast it was! i have to say, we all teamed up to make a mean thanksgiving dinner and practically eliminated the need to cook for the rest of the weekend due to copious leftovers. unfortunately, these are all the photos i got, because my camera batteries died shortly thereafter. i realized later on the drive home that i could have used 2 AAs or even swiped some of the recharable AAs from my kid's leapsters. oh well.

the highlight of the weekend was lauren's "devils on horseback" -- alan and i still laugh about the name -- but boy, were they delish! i won't divulge the secret, but let's just say it involves scallops and bacon. yum!

sweet baby addi

2008-02-09T09:11:00.000-08:00

as usual, sis beat me to this, but i was planning to do it anyway.

today would be addison's 3rd birthday and i'm sure she would be ready to princess it up with the other girls. we love you and miss you addi. you will always have a special place in our hearts. we will not forget you! thank-you for being a fighter and waiting for us to meet you. you really are the tiniest, sweetest princess i have ever laid eyes on. we are watching out for your mommy and daddy and your crazy brother asher. thank-you for blessing our lives and for touching our hearts forever.

a whole lotta "ketchup"

2008-02-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

okay, okay, i admit it. i've MORE than slacked off lately. in fact, i've completely been MIA from the blogiverse since mid-december! it's definitely inexcusable. at least, it's inexcusible unless you have a very, very, very good reason for your lack of interest in blogging -- which i do....

keep scrolling.....

ta-da! crazy huh? and let me tell you, #3 is a doozey. i've been more sick, more nauseous (still no puking though, i am the dispeller of morning sickness), and more exhausted than i though humanly possible. we found out the good news on new year's day and i'm still trying to wrap my head around it. today i am officially 11 weeks, so the worst of it should be nearly behind me (until i hit those last few excruciating weeks, at least). so....without further ado, i will begin the long, slow process of "ketchup". :)

Is the neighbor's house on fire???

2007-12-16T15:57:00.000-08:00

one sunday evening last december, we we just finishing dinner when we heard a terrible racket of fire sirens and saw flashing red lights through the windows. they were definitely coming right into our court! we thought for sure that one of neighbor's houses was on fire and rushed outside to see what all the commotion was about. we were pleasantly surprised!

tonight, just after dinner, the same thing happened.

the fire trucks come first, sirens blaring, lights flashing, and decked out in colorful christmas lights. then come some of the firefighters, on foot, passing out candy canes. then you hear the music and the magical man of the hour makes his appearance! needless to say, the kids find it terribly exciting! alexander rushed out onto the rain-drenched sidewalk in stocking feet. hadley's socks were nowhere to be found, so alan carried her. by the time we came in, her little feet were pink and freezing!

5 random things...

2007-12-06T15:21:00.000-08:00

this is for pinkmilk...she tagged me! i haven't forgotten you, i've just been busy!
but first off, let me say that i've done this before: http://spyderette.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html

but i will do it again, for boredom's sake, and to brighten your dreary idahoian existence.

1. i LOVE the cure. (like anyone who knows me didn't know that.) but what you might not know is that i heart them in a freakish, obsessive, and downright disturbing way. i own all 23 albums. yes, that's right, 23! plus a few rarities, hard-to-find stuff, limited releases, and at least 3 concert bootlegs. robert smith's birthday is april 21, 1959, and i have tickets to see them at madison square garden in june.

2. i once met gwen stephani backstage after a gig in provo, utah at the geneva steelworker's hall. she was still with no doubt, and they rocked!

3. i can sing the entire score of "joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat". that's right! jealous?

4. i don't like chocolate that much. there, i said it! in fact, given the choice of a chocolately dessert amongst an array of others, i will NOT choose the chocolate every time. (does that even make any sense?)

5. i once did yoga in times square in new york and plan to again. and this random fact is a total cop-out if you read my previous random facts. :)

Sneaky McSneaker

2007-12-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

alan and i have been amazed at hadley's ability to sneak SILENTLY out of bed and into the hallway, downstairs, etc. tonight, i caught a glimpse of the sneakmaster in action. i was in alexander's room, listening while he did his reading and i saw her in the hallway, seeming to glide past his open door. a closer look revealed her secret:

she had placed two thin paperback books on the floor, planted one tiny foot on each book, and was slowly (and silently) sliding each foot foward, making steady, quiet progress toward the bookshelf in the hallway. i was agog and nearly fell out of bed/laughed out loud. amazing. how on EARTH she came up with that one is beyond me, but i sense an elaborate alarm system in our future, particularly when she reaches her teenage years.

put THIS in your pantry and, er...smoke it?

2007-11-18T07:04:00.000-08:00

honna, this is for you! go buy some for your food storage! it's sooooo yummy when cooked in the crockpot overnight! this tiny little can (28 oz) will feed a family of four 5 delicious breakfasts. if you can find it, try this recipe:

1 cup steel cut oats
2 cups water
2 cups milk
pat of butter
about 1/4 cup sugar, brown sugar, or honey
dash of salt

cook on low in the crockpot overnight. my crockpot cooks hot, so i have to set a timer (the kind you use for christmas lights) to come on at about 3 am. i make sure to stir it at around 7 or so. when you are ready to eat, dump in some frozen fruit of your choice, stir and cover for about 5 more minutes. i LOVE it with strawberries or peaches, but blueberries are good too. you might need to add a little more sugar. it can only be described as "creamy deliciousness" (thanks k, for the recipe).

this would also be good with dried apple slices and cinnamon added to the crockpot at night.

Crusher: crayfish de el DIABLO!

2007-11-15T17:43:00.000-08:00

some of you may know that xander has an aquarium with fish and creatures from the Delaware & Raritan Canal, which runs near our house. among the creatures is a largeish crayfish that we named "crusher".

crusher and i have not had a good relationship. in fact, i think he's evil. he freaks me out and stares at me with his beady eyes whenever i'm near the tank. i have no problems with the other, smaller crayfish. just crusher.

it all started the first night we set up the aquarium. the next morning, crusher was MIA. he made an escape attempt the FIRST NIGHT! we found him under alexander's bed, and alan put him back in the tank. we opted to cover the gap left by the filter with tinfoil.

over the past few months, crusher has made several escape attempts. the foil, however, usually foils him (puns rule) and we find him INSIDE the filter housing. he gets thrashy and feisty too, when you open the cover and gives you a good scare.

recently, he has taken to "hanging out" on the filter pipe that goes down into the water. he just stays there forever, looking nonchalant, as if to say, "don't mind me...no escape plotting here, just hanging out." alan makes sure to push him off with a pencil and back into the water.

alan and i have both said that if we don't watch him closely, i"n five years we will either be working for him, or dead by his hand." (thank you for the great quote, 30 rock!)

yesterday morning, the first thing i noticed when i went into alexander's room, was that crusher was, once again, missing. we were running late and did a quick search -- we picked everything up gingerly off of the floor, pushed the bed to the other side of the room, peered under the dresser, inside the filter, everything we could in our limited time. then we closed alexander's door, and blocked the crack underneath with a beanbag. by the time alan got home, crusher stil had not turned up. it's an uneasy feeling having a creepy crayfish loose in one's home, believe me!

anyway, after an hour of searching for crusher last night in alexander's room, hadley's room, bathroom, laundry room, and pile of laundry on the floor of the upstairs landing, we started searching our room. we didn't see how he could have possibly made it that far, but began the search nonetheless.

the good news is that we DID end up finding him.

the evil thing had survived the fall from the tank and off of the dresser and walked a grand total of 40 FEET! to end up in the back of our walk in closet INSIDE a pair of my favorite shoes. i believe he was lying in wait just to give me the fright of my life when i put on those shoes. and i ALMOST wore them yesterday! eeeeeeeek! (shudder!) along the way he bypassed several good crayfish hiding places. it creeps me out that he chose MY shoes, waaaay in the back of the closet. in order to get there, he had to find his way out from underneath the dresser in alexander's room, out the door, bypass the pile of clean laundry, cross the entire length of the landing, squeeze UNDER our closed bedroom doors (eeeeew! ) MAKE A RIGHT TURN, followed by ANOTHER RIGHT in order to get to said shoe, which has about a 4" chunky heel (which means it took effort to climb up in there), only to curl up and DIE in MY SHOE!!!! (do you sense the creepiness?) i tell you, the thing was pure evil.

many thanks to alexander, who was all for exploring my closet in the first place only to be told repeatedly by alan and myself that "he wouldn't have gone that far". i gotta hand it to the kid -- he thinks like a crayfish. i almost didn't search the closet, but decided i didn't like the idea of a crayfish vanishing into the wilds of my home, so i took a flashlight and systematically peered into each and every shoe. i'm glad i did, or i would have had a very unpleasant surprise indeed.

alan removed him, cleaned out the inside of my shoe with a clorox wipe (at my insistence), and put him back in the tank. you see, last time we found him, though he APPEARED dead, he revived after an hour or two and was fine, although perhaps a bit more evil and more determined than he had previously been.

this morning, he was still most definitely dead, floating at the top of the tank. we scooped him out, dumped him in a trash bag (thank goodness it's garbage day) and said a few words: crusher, we'll miss you. you were a smart crayfish, and good at escaping." (i left out all the bits about being the crayfish of the devil spawned from hell itself -- i figured i could at least try to say something nice). alexander added "good-bye crusher, i'll miss you". it might be appropriate to end this tale with "rest in peace", but i say "good riddance to bad crayfish". i may never wear those shoes again.

Thanksgiving FHE in a Flash

2007-11-12T14:44:00.000-08:00

some of you know that i got the genius idea a few months back to have monthly FHE themes and plan lessons around those themes. i'm a little OCD and actually have a chart for the entire year with lessons planned. each monday, i consult the chart, print off any materials, and voila! instant FHE without pain or anguish. granted, most of these lessons are only about 15 minutes long, but with young kids, that's just long enough.

now that my little intro is out of the way, i'll get to the REAL reason for this post:

our FHE theme for november is "being thankful" (go figure, huh?) anyway, this is a fun activity to do with your family for thanksgiving no matter what your definition of family is and no matter your religion.

make up several slips of paper pre-printed with:
"I am thankful for:
To show my gratitude I will:"

sit down together and fill them out. fold them and place them in a basket on the dining room table. each night at dinner, each family member can choose a slip and perform the act of gratitude the following day. i think alan and i will each choose one and the kids can share one each day until we are out of slips. i made 9 slips.

one example to get you going:
i am thankful for food to eat.
to show my gratitude, i will help clean up after a meal.

OR
to show my gratitude, i will take some food to a friend or neighbor/ buy lunch for a friend, etc.

they should have some logical connection. have fun, and remember to count your blessings.
each night, you can report your act of gratitude before taking a new slip.

halloween part one

2007-10-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

okay julie, this is for you. nothing like guilt first thing in the morning! and get batgirl over here too!

last week for FHE, since alan had to work late, i decided to take the kids to a local farm/pumpkin patch/corn maze. (note: not NEARLY as cool as the one lindsey, jake, pat and kelli went to. #1 ours closes at 6. #2 no giant slide. #3 no slide of any kind or haunting ghoulies. #4 no corn to get down our pants.)

anyway, we entered the maze at about 4:30 determined to conquer. above is alexander showing the way. (never let a 6 year old lead the way through a corn maze) not that mom did any better.

there were 6 stations to find. each had a puzzle piece with a bit of the map on the back. we found #1, #2 (tee-hee, number two), #4, and #5. what a "co-in-din" (hadley's version of the word) that i was accompanying a 3 year old and 6 year old, but we couldn't find #3 or #6! not to mention that we found our way out without finding #6 -- multiple times! we kept going back in, determined to conquer, even using the puzzle map to walk through -- we could see which areas we were missing exploring, but still couldn't find even the areas, let alone the checkpoints! poor mindi called us twice only to be told that we were "conquering the maze". i'm so embarassed. we finally had to leave because it was getting dark and the farm was about to close. luckily we had no problem finding the exit repeatedly.

in the pumpkin patch, corn maze looming in the background. it was near this spot on the way back to the farm stand that hadley pointed to the ground and tugged my arm "look, mommy, a cell phone". we managed to find it's grateful owner back at the farm stand. there was no way she ever could have found it. we were off the path and it was discovered in the way that only a 3 year old can discover things. close to the ground, not paying attention, wandering off, etc.

hadley's little pumpkin, ready for the face to be carved. you will have to wait for the "after" shots.
carve o' rama. we were all a bit tired, since this was post corn-maze and KFC but pre-bedtime when it should have been post-bedtime.

and finally, some halloween shots pre-halloween! we travelled forward in time, then back just to bring you these photos in a timely manner. two whole days before halloween! (okay, there was a trunk or treat party). alan and i were among the handful of adults to dress up, and i've got to take a moment to say "step it up Princeton 2nd! this is halloween people! dress up already!"

that said, josh was as much or more dressed up as we were, and he wins the coveted spyderette's web costume award. it involved head-shaving, ya'll! (zach looks pretty cute too!) kristin CLAIMS she was there, but i still say she's making it all up.

josh looking creepy.
swampy with a hint of a smile. bonus points if you can identify what candy dad is sneaking in the background.

yowza! someone from P1 actually asked me if that was my real hair. yes. yes it is. and the eyelashes too. and i think i like this new makeup look for daytime.

swampy really enjoyed lurking around this tree for some reason...

halloween part deux

2007-10-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

cricket, because she was MIA in the farm photos and she just looks so darn cute.

a rare photograph of the elusive "swampy" the swamp creature. can you spot him?

girls just wanna have fun.
our decorated "trunk" (hatchback?). we literally did this in about 10 seconds by grabbing stuff we had out as decorations at home.

and we won a prize for "bootiful" decor! i'm so cheezin' it here.

family portrait a'la halloween.
lady liberty givin me some sass.
aren't we a charming couple? a litte pale maybe. guess we should get out more. notice the eyebrows on alan. monobrow works great for angry eyebrows. so do you get the connection here? alan is a butler, and i'm a maid. (can you name the particular maid that i am? maybe i should say "a domestic" instead.) i actually purchased a tray and white gloves for alan, which he left at home on accident. oh well.

the cutie pies. liberty and swampy. i think i might change their names permanently.

ooh, the angry eyebrows are really working well here!

everybody get swampy

2007-10-29T10:16:00.000-07:00

hey everybody, do the swamp-thing boogie! we went to a combined ward trunk-or-treat on saturday night and we all had a blast! there was dinner followed by games for the kids and wrapping up with trunk or treat and a fun couple from first ward who had disco music blaring. we danced and danced. my video of hadley dancing didn't turn out, but here is alexander, which is just as entertaining. we literally had to drag hadley away from the dance party.

sorry it's sideways! amy, did you figure out how to rotate these? it's upright when i view it at the source. hmmmm.

oh the places you'll go

2007-10-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

i've given up on trying to put blogger images in order. i can't figure it out unless i upload them one at a time, which, frankly, i'm not willing to do. consequently, these are all mixed up. deal with it and i will too.

hadley at the farm with the chickens. she wants to get some. thanks grandma and grandpa s. luckily, townhouse living will not accomidate chickens.

family portrait on liberty island. no, really. we're on liberty island, i swear.

the lovely lady herself. it is worth noting that hadley was so taken with lady liberty, that she wanted to be her for halloween. luckily, we procured a costume for a mere $12, plus torch. i will include photos in the next posting.

more at the farm. hadley's preschool class took a trip there. for those that don't know. her preschool class consists of herself and 4 other kids from the ward. the moms each decided to brave one 9-week term. mine begins in january (GULP). from left to right: joshua, buster (litte brother to cricket, who was not there that day), hazel, hadley, warren (little brother to hazel), and brianna.

"miss liz" and students.
shelley, this is for you: hadley frolics in the autumn mist. (okay, leaves, but still...)

oh, look, hadley got a big girl bed! yes, it IS a queen-size! all the better to serve as a guest room, my dears! doesn't that make you want to come and visit? just look at the luxurious pinkness of it all!

t-rex and friend. the natural history museum is amazing. we have been twice for a few hours each time and still have only seen about 1/3 of it. (but have seen the dinosaurs both times)

alexander compares his arm bone to the arm bone of a dinosaur.

the kids on the liberty ferry. ah, new york! what a view!

and once more...the grand lady herself. if you click to enlarge, you can just make out the itty, tiny people on the observation deck below her platform. we have not been able to get a time pass to enter the statue either time that we have been. maybe next time. alan says he only has one more liberty trip in him, so we had better make it a good one.

i've been a bad, bad, blogger; part 1

2007-10-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

once school started, things got crazy around here! i was subbing 2 yoga classes a week at the gym, teaching 2 of my own, and teaching 2 private sessions per week as well. between being at the gym tuesday through friday and shuttling hadley back and forth to preschool and trying to stay on top of the housework, blogging fell by the wayside. but i'm back, with updates going way back and keeping all 4 of my loyal readers up to date on the latest adventures in jersey. first, some highlights from our summer:

have you ever seen a more literal interpretation of "kiddie pool" -- there are 6 in or around the pool, one very tired girl in the foreground and 3 babies in their own pool off to the side. i love this picture, they are just having so much fun!

one of the cutie babies.
and another. for some reason, liam was MIA for this photoshoot.

here is hadley striking her best pirate pose for the treasure hunt grandpa and grandma put together for their scurvy gang of pirates. note the squinky eye. i guess her eye patch was in the shop that day.

aaaargh!
love the determined face in this picture. by gum, she's on a treasure-seeking mission!

ditto on sheer pirate determination. love the sliding down with swords. so un-PC.

this should have come first, but i was too lazy to change it around. i love my daddy's cute face in this photo. he's reading the first clue, thus initiating the treasure hunt. they actually had to DIG UP the treasure from an area near the garden. too funny!

we had so much fun with the cousins this summer and love an miss you all! not to mention grandmas and grandpas! love you!

i've been a bad, bad blogger; part 2

2007-10-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

more from our summer:

kids watching a spectacular fireworks display

aforementioned kids rapt faces

two beautiful twin princesses. their faces are priceless!

sophie looks so tickled to be dressed the same.
holding hands. careful, the cuteness is infectious!

alexander in salt lake.
hadley with great grandma. i think she popped in to visit grandma at least once a day. i love this photo. :)

soundtrack of my life?

2007-09-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

stolen from lindsey:
turn on your ipod (or itunes)...hit shuffle. list the songs in order of the following descriptions. kinda fun and interesting.

Opening Credits: In Between Days – The Cure ("In Between Days is the best Cure song ever and Capricorn doesn't want to hear otherwise" -- from a horoscope several years ago)

Waking Up: Rip Her to Shreds -- Blondie

First Day of School: Wake Up – Alanis Morissette

Falling in Love: Asleep – The Smiths (what are the odds? wake up and asleep? come ON!)

Fight Song: -- Baby Fratelli – The Fratellis

Breaking Up: -- Casual Match – Suzanne Vega

Prom: All Hail Me – Veruca Salt (I guess this in AFTER the breakup and I’m really bitter!? Maybe I came back to him and caught him with another woman. Hussy.)

Life: Bare -- The Cure “If you’ve got something left to say, you’ve got to say it now – anything but ‘stay’….” sounds more like breaking up to me. L

Mental Breakdown: The Last Day of Summer – The Cure (more sadness. no wonder i’m having a mental breakdown!)

Driving: London – The Smiths “Smoke lingers round your fingers, train, heave on to Euston…do you think you’ve made the right decision this time?” (with a driving, train-rhythm)

Flashback: The Kiss – The Cure (must be an angry flashback to prom)

Getting Back Together: Lonely -- Frente “I can’t get enough of your love, babe”

Wedding: Lolita – Suzanne Vega LOL! (can’t believe the hussy tried to ruin my wedding)

Birth of A Child: The Same Deep Water As You – The Cure (i actually listened to this album when x was born…but still, not the happiest birth song.)

Final Battle: Honest With Me – Bob Dylan “I’m stranded in the city that never sleeps…some of these women just give me the creeps” (more hussies, apparently)

End Credits: +810+ Clare Quilty (nice! it seems that though the movie is at an end, it seems that life holds much more in store)

travelling down
down the road
i see your face
in the mirror
and i see your face
in my mind
i feel your heart
it is beating
it beats with mine
travelling down the road

back to school

2007-09-13T13:33:00.000-07:00

so we are FINALLY getting back into the swing of things and we FINALLY started school last thursday (september 6), so i can FINALLY do some updates. i get overwhelmed at the thought, so i'm striving for short and sweet updates, but more frequently. we'll see how that goes...

hadley is so excited to be starting preschool! since it's so expensive around here, we opted for a co-op with a few other women from the ward. we are each taking a 9-week stint as teacher, so hopefully i can get through that come late january!

here is hadley, so excited on her first day of school. she's got her backpack on and is ready to go! she also will proudly tell you how to spell her name. she loves to trace "dotted" letters that mom draws and is working on writing it all by herself.

and here's alexander, beginning FIRST GRADE! can you believe it? alan and i can't. we think he's growing up much too quickly! just look at how big this kid is! he was a little apprehensive about starting 1st grade, because he loved kindergarten so much and couldn't imagine that 1st grade could compare. he also confided that he was worried about "all the quizzes" in first grade (what? lol!) but after a few days, he told me "i LOVE first grade!", so i guess things are going well. he is required to read every night and is really doing great with that. he amazes us!

and for the close-ups:

we are looking forward to a visit from g'ma and g'pa peck in early october and are still begging for thanksgiving visitors! anyone at all! we'll take you! we also added some fish, snails, and crayfish to our family via an aquarium, but i will post more about that soon.

we love and miss all our family and friends "back in utah". xoxox

The Hadley Show

2007-08-24T12:28:00.001-07:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Those kids can DANCE!

2007-08-24T11:55:00.001-07:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Jersey Fresh

2007-08-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

check it out! not only am i FINALLY back from utah, but i got all of the lovely food you see above for under $25! i've made a new discovery, and i have to say, i LOVE the trenton farmer's market. cheap delicious produce all right next to halo farms dairy. a half-gallon of milk there is $1.11 and bread (yes, even the yummy homemade sourdough you see above) is 99 cents! see, groceries CAN be exciting!

so, here's my loot (clockwise from top left): 1 loaf wheat bread, 2 loaves sourdough, 6 ears of corn, 2 pints of ice cream (chocolate with chocolate almonds and pistachio), 3 gallons of milk, 4 zucchini, 3 yellow squash, 2 tomatoes, a bunch of potatoes, 1/2 pound deli-sliced black forest ham (in the paper wrapping) 2 red and 2 yellow onions, a grundle of green beans, and a head of garlic.

not too shabby. the farmer's market makes shopping fun again. and, like their sign says, they're open all year! woot! come visit and i'll take you there. you'll love it. and if that doesn't float your boat, the window in halo farms that lets you watch the cartons being filled with milk and various juices whilst traveling on a conveyor belt will. that of the fact that ice cream is 2 for $4. it works for my kids every time.

i have downloaded all my utah photos and will be posting about my adventures in the beehive state soon. it was so good to see so many to you!
smooches and hugs and a boot to the head (you know if you deserve it)

girl talk

2007-06-17T19:27:00.001-07:00

this is just too funny not to post... hadley and lucy-- chillin at the block party. making a few phone calls, chatting it up, applying some sunscreen. they moved the chairs like this all on their own. i love these photos. caption contest! the winner will be declared to be the wittiest of them all and possibly win a sweet prize. :) oh, i highly recommend clicking on each image to see it larger.

there's more below folks, scroll down!

Random Stuff from the Garden State

2007-06-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all you awesome dads out there!
check it out! a blog for no apparent reason...no birthdays or guilt-inducing hate mail...just me, on a sunday, blogging! let's get into the pics!

this is a pic snapped at x's school carnival. check out h's cute pink seersucker jacket. shout out to jenn m for handing it down. :) avast mateys!

alexander and mrs. moss -- only 2 days of school left! hooray! but seriously, we will miss mrs. moss. look at what a cute kindergarten teacher she is! so adorable.

hadley at the kensington court block party. she actually shouted "no pictures" as she did this. who does she think she is anyway!? i feel like the papparazzi!

alexander playing a game at the kindergarten end-of-school party. check out the concentration. toungue out means he's really focused.

marisa, mitch (MITCHELL!), and lucy all tuckered out at the k-court block party. lucy looks just like her daddy. :)

alan got something in the mail in a huge box filled with packing peanuts. so naturally, the kids climbed right in:x actually got his boats from the upstairs tub and played away..

h used it as a human jack-in-the-box.

they were having a blast! look how cute they are, hadley is so excited!

more kids in a box...
here is alexander (with walking partner and hadley) on the "hawk walk" -- his school does this every year...it's a one-mile walk to raise money for various charities. this year it was for ronald mcdonald house in new brunswick. some of the ladies from alan's work sponsored him and he raised $25. go litte man! (and thanks, ladies!) hadley couldn't bear to just wave as he walked by...she had to join in the walking. it's really funny because she thinks she is part of his kindergarten class. and the kids and the teacher all love her. she cried when she couldn't go on the whole walk.

THIS is just cute and funny.

peace out, y'all! we'll catch you in utah beginning july 3rd! woot! xoxox

jerseyversary!

2007-05-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

in an (almost) unprecented move, i will blog twice in one day. (scroll down, you'll see it) may 16th was officially my jerseyversary! i was planning on blogging then, but you know how life gets busy. :) so, for you in no particular order i present "things that are different since moving to jersey"

1. my idea of what constitutes a "garden": (i literally find myself saying "let's go sit out in the garden" -- sad, but true. oh, and lindsey -- i HAVE a fuschia plant! )

aforementioned fuschia
bird bath i got at bird-in-hand

herb garden
2. "oh, that's what rain boots are for!" (seriously, you NEED rain boots here. okay, not HERE as in the photo, but here as in new jersey.) a few weeks ago it rained for about 3 days straight. the roads flooded. the schools closed. we had to find a really creative route to drive alan to the bus (bus wasn't running). in utah you see them and think "cute rain boots! why in the world would anyone buy them?" (rain boots, coincidentally, are also very, very handy to wear, for example, when you are still in your jammies but want to go outside to see why mom is taking pictures of the "garden")
(you can also wear them with a ballerina outfit or princess dress to go outside in a pinch)

3. i know the real meaning of “humidity”. when you walk out of your house after a rainstorm in the summer thinking it might have cooled things off a bit, only to realize that you have essentially walked out into what seems to be the climate of the deepest Amazonian jungle, but is, in fact, your front yard – THAT, my friends, is humidity.

4. i find myself referring to the beach as “the shore”. that’s just weird. but that’s new jersey. why not experience it for yourself? 60 seconds of tranquility. it's like a little zen escape in the middle of your hectic day. use it often and use it well. (oh, and you're welcome! :) )

that’s all i can think of today, folks. but check back -- i may come up with more! but for now, why not enjoy some recent photos? (and commentary, of course. i can't just NOT comment)

me being amish with janae in lancaster

amish scooters
(for kelli, jess, and possibly ryan -- wheel in the wheel in the wheel in the wheel in the way in the middle of the sky...) for the rest of you: ooh, pretty windmill.

cydney tries her hand at milking (and gets extremely grossed out in the process). jenn's back there too, but she's not showing her face!

and now, in the cutest picture category:

the look on his face is priceless!

hadley has now officially become a "fishergirl" and caught her first fish!

and finally:
look at my little mud puppies who fell in the mud! hadley's face is the best (click to enlarge).

I've Been TAGGED!

2007-05-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

i've been tagged by bluegirl to come up with 7 random things about myself (perhaps just what i need to light the ol' blogging fire). so, without further ado:

1. i LOVE dr. pepper and recently (sadly) switched over to diet...the weird thing about my dr. pepper love is that i HAVE to drink it out of a glass, with ICE. no drinking from the can or bottle and no drinking it if there is no ice around. the friday & saturday before mother's day, a bunch of women from our ward (i think around 30?) went on a mini-vacation to lancaster county, PA. i heart the sweet amish women running a sandwich shop at Bird In Hand for having ice cold cans of dr. pepper and ice for me! they also make a fantastic ham sandwich.

(okay, i need to interject here...i obviously can't just flat-out list 7 things, i go rambling off in several directions, so bear with me!)

2. i love cute little notebooks. i'm pretty sure i always have. i never know exactly what i am going to write in them, and they are seldom dedicated to one sole purpose, but i can never resist buying them. i confess that in the past 2 months i have bought at least 4! maybe someday i can come up with a relly good use for them...something purposeful and meaningful and lovely. i welcome all ideas and suggestions.

3. i have been craving those salted nut roll candybars...you know the ones -- bright red wrapper, salty peanutty goodness wrapped around a layer of caramel and yummy white something or other. they are nowhere to be found here in the garden state, so i would love someone to send me one! (nudge-nudge) yum.

4. i hate planning menus and grocery shopping (but love to cook, oddly)recently, however, 2 things have revolutionized the way i look at grocery shopping. seriously. my ipod (there is nothing better than grocery shopping at night with your own personal soundtrack) and reuseable grocery bags (it's so nice to load/carry in/unload just 4-5 bags rather than 20).

5. i have a thing for lowercase letters and parenthesis. (no, really!?) i just like the look of the lowercase letters...everything is so even and nice. and parenthesis? (come on, do i really need to answer this?) they provide such a nice aside for things that pop into my head but don't fit into the sentence per se.)

6. i will be participating in "mind over madness" -- a summer solstice celebration featuring mass yoga sessions in the middle of times square. i'm so excited! (still looking for a committed yoga buddy to go with me!)

7. the thing that drives me mad more than anything else, the thing i find the most insufferable, the thing that i can't STAND is -- having a stuffed-up nose. (kinda anti-climactic, huh?) seriously. i hate it. which leads me to number 7 1/2 on my list: i'm a hardcore nasal spray addict. shocking, isn't it. i'm a junkie. especially with these blasted new jersey allergens getting to me. the worst part? i don't even WANT to quit. so there.

so, continuting this hallowed blogiverse tradition, i hereby tag: sisters honna and linny, anonymous ruby, and menacing tourist. :) love you guys -- blog away.

Birthday Take Two! (make that six!)

2007-04-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Alexander!!

xan shows us just how big he is! six years old...i can hardly believe it! being the wanna-be intrepid deep sea explorer that he is, xander decided to see if he could throw me off my game by requesting an "anglerfish cake". um....okay....

here is the proud birthday boy with the aforementioned cake...i think i did pretty good, don't you? the teeth are white chocolate and the eye is a reese's peanut butter egg. :)

close up...before i realized my terrible mistake. i only put on 5 candles! we had to sing twice.

blow baby, blow! keeping with the deep sea theme, alexander chose to go to the aquarium for his birthday rather than have a "friend party". how cute is that? he wanted to have a "family fun day". oh, and just a funny little thing...we went during passover week, so there were hundreds of hasidic jews there with their big hats, long coats and beards. we were a small island of mormons in a sea of jews...LOL!

even though it was xander's day, hadley stole the show, as usual....here she is dancing at the aquarium.

alexander in the shark tunnel. it's really, really hard to take a good picture in the shark tunnel, by the way.

finally, a photo of me...and yes, that shark DID go on to eat the entire city of philadelphia that you see in the background...CHOMP CHOMP!!!

it's practially impossible to get a decent picture of me with the kids....which gets your vote? why not submit a caption?

photo #1

photo #2

as always i LOVE comments! it's the only way i can tell that anyone is reading this at all. so, come on all you shy readers...come out of your shell and say something already!

under THREAT of hate mail...

2007-04-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

i'm finally updating my blog! things have been crazy and fun and busy around here. we have celebrated 2 birthdays, had a week-long spring break, several illnesses, easter, first time fishing (and catching a fish!), and started soccer! we have a lot to catch up on, so i will do it in small batches...keep checking back, i hope to do at least 3-4 of these mini-posts today. so, without further ado....

Happy Birthday Hadley!!

here is the cute little birthday girl with her "ballerina cake". she looks so big in this picture, much bigger than 3! we kept the birthday low-key and had dinner in Princeton with the neighbors, Mitch (MITCHELL!) and Marisa and their cute little Lucy, who hadley told me is her "sister friend". so cute.

A close-up of the cake...yeah, it was a bit squished to begin with...this was the reject cake for the bake-off held in Relief Society. I had to bake the cake twice, since the first one fell in the middle, but i saved it in the freezer and used it for hadley's birthday cake. i was so glad to not have to bake it that day! oh, i won the bake-off, by the way...first prize in the "non-chocolate" category. the second time i have entered this recipe and won. yummy, yummy coconut cake!

hadley got kitchen play things for her birthday from us, because she likes to "help" me when i am cooking and be "chef hadley". here are alexander and lucy playing along with her. lucy and hadley both wore party dresses to dinner and were doted on, as usual.

when i saved this photo, i titled it "girlie giggles". look at that face!

helping me place the candles...see how she is pretending to do it along with me? is that princess aurora on the table? seriously sisters, thank-you for the princesses. they have all kinds of adventures. the other day they were all lined up with one in front and they were having sacrament meeting. she was talking about Jesus and trying to make lucy fold her arms and say amen. (lucy is jewish) it was kinda funny.

i LOVE this picture because it captures the true essence of hadley...the cuteness, the silliness, the exuberance! as i recall, she was shouting "cheese!" and flourishing something (her twisty straw?) for the picture. many thanks again to all of you who sent birthday surprises...it made not being in utah a little easier. between all of hadley's mail, easter packages, and alexander's mail, we got used to fun mail surprises and hadley started to cry the other day when there was nothing fun in the mail. we love you all! stay tuned....

Happy Birthday, Miss Hadley!!

2007-03-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

ever since hadley was a tiny baby she has been known as "miss hadley". the name developed spontaneously, and soon we were all calling her that. she is definitely a little lady and one with the personality that demands attention wherever we go. this week, we made the drive to rahway to alan's work and she was literally surrounded by a crowd of women! she's our little darling dolly! we love you, miss hadley!
hadley shows off some of her "ballet moves" which differ only slightly from her "princess moves", which she spent the better part of sacrament meeting demonstrating to baby tessa, who is about 7 months old. hadley wanted to make sure she learned princess moves from an early age. many thanks to grammie and grampy who sent the adorable ballerina ensemble! we had to promptly go outside to show lucy and marisa, and since it was a warm day, we also showed the neighbor from across the court, the next door neighbor, and a cute lady visiting from india with her new grandbaby. hadley knew she was adorable and everyone told her so! you can check out the video of her opening the gift and dancing here. if the image is sideways, click the ROTATE button on the right as the video plays. :)

thanks also go out to grandma connie who sent a fun box of goodies: books, a soft blanket, and girlie-colored play-doh! the pink and purple colors were a big hit! it is also going to go well with one of the gifts alan and i got for her...stay tuned for that!

here are the kids enjoying green eggs and ham (okay, bacon) in honor of dr. seuss's birthday earlier this month. alexander told me: "mom, i don't like the look of it", but they both loved the taste!

my two little snugglebugs cuddling on the couch and watching a video. they are usually really territorial about the couch, so this cuddling under the same blanket is rare!

we have been crazy busy lately, for some reason...easter almost snuck up on me and i am sad that we will be having easter dinner on our own this year. :( kinda bummed about missing the egg hunt too...looks like the easter bunny will be making his premiere appearance in our household this year. i've been shopping for candy and some small toys. i think the easter bunny might bring some rain boots. yes, you actually need rain boots here! i LOVE the rain here in the summer! there, i found something i like about new jersey! and you all said it couldn't be done....

will update again soon...promise! i got a new haircut and haddles will have more birthday loot to show off. sorry siddys, she's miss hadley to me. haddles just doesn't do it for me. xoxox

say what?

2007-03-07T07:13:00.000-08:00

hadley never ceases to amaze/amuse us with her crazy comments and witty words. some recent examples:

h: why did the dr. pepper cross the road?
me: i don't know. why?
h: because a fairy changed him into a frog

me: would you like to watch handy manny?
h: no, too fixable!
me: how about sesame street?
h: too playable

xox

Winter Break

2007-02-22T17:50:00.000-08:00

we have had a lot of time on our hands lately...some of you may have heard of the school closings and "terrible" storms in our area lately. my mom called me worried that I drive carefully, etc, etc. the truth of the matter is this...on valentine's day, our schools were closed! alan's work had a delayed opening at 10:30 am! we decided to drive him to the train station rather than making him ride the bus as usual. boy were we surprised at the 3" of snow! that's inches....not feet. luckily we had a valentine's surprise in store to bust the boredom (in the form of the cranium superfort -- photos pending.) the next day, alan's work had delayed opening again, as did alexander's school! the bus never showed to take him, so i drove him. school was scheduled to open at 10:30 and we arrived at about 10:25 only to wait in line for nearly 20 minutes with all the other parents dropping off. don't know what the deal with the busses was. the roads were clear and dry. i have no idea what the problem was, but due to road closures in our area, i arrived home at 11:15. alexander's bus brings him home at 11:50. what a wasted morning!
friday the 16th, schools had a scheduled day off for parent-teacher conferences, and remained closed monday for president's day and tuesday for a teacher prep day! we had a LOT of time on our hands. here's how we filled some of it....

hadley brought me the "doodle" a couple weeks ago and proudly said "i drew daddy!" sure enough, she did! looks just like him, don't you agree?

we have been spending a lot of time with lucy, the neighbor 2 doors down. she is sophie's age so they get along wonderfully. the other day, lucy and hadley were having a snack and hadley was telling lucy about her "brubber" asked me, "who's my sister?" when i told her she didn't have a sister, she was indignant, and said "sophie's my sister". "sophie is your cousin", i corrected her. she looked REALLY upset for a second and then said "lucy can be my sister. she is my sister friend." glad we got that settled. :)

alan had president's day off, so we braved the cold (but not too cold) and went into new york for the day. we visited the met and met our friend tom for dinner at chow fun. (walking to the restaurant, we passed another restaurant and alexander said "this place doesn't look very fun"). tom graciously put up with children climbing on him, chattering non-stop, and acting like robots. you're a great sport, tom!

we found a FREE family pass to the met online (you can't beat that!) so we splurged at the gift shop. hadley got a "degas ballerina doll" for a whopping $6 and alexander chose a harmonica for $5, which he informed me he will "practice every day until i'm as good as bob dylan." what an awesome kid!

we stopped for a snack at the met cafeteria and hadley's ballerina danced on daddy's head for about 10-15 minutes.

after that, the armor!

isnt' this just cool? there's a cooler photo of 3 of the 4 riding knights here.

i was fascinated by the jousting armor. it featured special plates that were screwed and/or bolted on to the regular armor, as you can see here. also notice the helmet. i have NO IDEA how they could see at all inside this thing. note the little lever that swings out on the right. it's for resting the lance on!
another view of the same knight. notice how the extra plate curves to better deflect the oncoming lance. and you can also see the little window that opens for them to talk. it has cute decorative punch-outs so they can breathe.

another set of jousting armor. i love the big bolts, especially the one on the face, which bolted the face guard onto the helmet. there are also screws around the neck, because the helmet was too heavy for them to hold their heads up...it had to be screwed to the breastplate. again, no idea how he sees, but this guy had a little string for someone to pull to open his talking hole. (probably not the technical term.) alexander went crazy for this stuff. hadley was bored and had to be taken elsewhere. i tried to get some pics of the little guy with the armor, but i ran into 2 problems. #1--low light and no flash allowed plus a moving 5 year old = blurry. #2--little guy was just a bit leary about standing too close to the knights, know what i mean? they are a bit too lifelike and slightly scary, even inside glass cases. :)

this is the actual field armor of henry VIII! henry the freaking 8th! how cool is that? huge guy, no? i'm a geek and just could NOT believe the met has a set of henry the VIII's armor. cool!

Love is in the air....

2007-02-13T12:54:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

click to enlarge photos

i have been a busy little valentine's day bee this week! first we made valentine magnet sets to send to utah. by "we" i mean the kids helped for about 5 minutes each and i did the rest.

i think they turned out really cute and will carry a little valentine love to our cousins, grandmas, and grandpas. the thinking behind this was that the kids can use these to hang their works of art on the fridge with style! it was hard to get a clear photo in my light-less home!

two tins, packed and ready to go, with valentine message enclosed.

here is a tin with the foamies confettii we packed in each tin. sorry utahns, if this is a spoiler!

class valentines. we made 25 of these in just a few minutes. i'm really pleased with how they turned out! i think they are adorable and festive. i will print off labels saying "happy valentine's day! from, Alexander" and stick them on the back. contemplating whether it's worth a trip to staples to get printable labels or whether i should just stick them with glue or double-stick tape.

another shot of the class valentine packets. in case anyone is wondering, all i did was get some mini cellophane bags from michael's (candy-making section, near the sucker sticks), bought some valentine candy in bulk (valentine m&m's, conversation hearts, juju hearts), scooped in a scant 1/4 cup candy, cut paper tops from 12" scrapbook paper (size is 4.25" x 3") -- i used a paper cutter, so it only took a few minutes -- then just folded the bags down, folded each card in half, and stapled in the center. the kids had fun helping with the folding, stapling, and filling bags. they were really easy and look like we put some effort into them, when it was very minimal. i think i will use the candy bag idea again for small gifts and treats.

for valentine's day, i wanted to surprise alan (and treat myself) to a romantic new bedroom restyling. i couldn't wait, so i did it yesterday. here is the BEFORE photo. scroll for the after, my blog program messed up the photo order and i'm too lazy to go back and fix everything!

keep scrolling....

this is a (bad) photo of the throw i received from the mormonchic craft swap i organized. i love it! it's double layers of fleece, so it's extra soft and warm, and i love the embroidery detail on the front. it's chocolate brown with tan on the reverse that matches the embroidery. it arrived yesterday, just as i was putting finishing touches on my new room and it fit in perfectly! i was so excited! (photo of it IN the room and in context are below).

AFTER: (TA-DA!)

i think it turned out really nice! i was worried because i got a bit here and a bit there and i was hoping it would all pull together nicely -- i think it did! the walls in our room are sort of a soft, sage green, but with the new bedding, they look more like a pale aqua, which looks great!

view of the room from the doorway...notice my new and improved chair? yes, it actually WAS black before, but thanks to a few safety pins and a cream-colored twin sheet set, it looks great and coordinates much more with the room. you can also see the throw in action -- since the chair is a make-do fix, i think the throw makes it look much more finished and detracts from the fact that it's just covered in sheets! the funny thing about this is that i didn't even know i HAD cream-colored twin sheets until i happened upon them in a box last week. i have NO IDEA where they came from, but boy was i glad i discovered them!

a closer view of the chair with the throw.

finally, some pictures of me wearing my new favorite piece of jewelry, which is the necklace alan got me for christmas! due to an unfortunate shipping mix-up, it was not in utah for christmas, so i had to wait clear until the 6th of january to recieve it! there is a close up (but not a good one) below.

the necklace is tumbled garnets, which are my birthstone. i love the tumbled rather than the cut, faceted type because they remind me of pomegranate seeds. the center stone is blue topaz, which is sentimental to me, because i wore my mom's blue topaz ring at my wedding for my "something blue". i LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

have yourself a great valentine's day, and kiss someone you love!

xoxox

Blue Bird of Happiness

2007-02-07T12:11:00.000-08:00

Alan gave this to me for my birthday! Isn't she lovely? This is the second version of Winter Witch that I own. This painting means a lot to me because it represents the struggles I have had this past year. Alan pointed out that the blue bird of happiness is flying TOWARDS her (I mistakenly thought it was flying away!). The bird has seen better days, but it's winging it's way back. :)

xoxox

Home for the Holidays (Part Two -- Finally!)

2007-01-24T11:40:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve. look at their little faces, bright with anticipation. thank goodness xander had stopped puking by then, (but just barely) poor guy. he had some chicken broth and said "this is the yummiest dinner i've ever had!" we were blessed and LUCKY that no one else got the evil jersey puking flu.

Christmas morning! alexander is obviously thrilled that santa did indeed bring him a "race car ramp". it took the better part of the morning for daddy to assemble it. but it was awesome...you might even say "wicked awesome".

hadley got a doll, "tammy". she also got those cool bottles that magically make it look like the baby is drinking it. in fact, she found these in her stocking before anything else and played with just the bottles alone for a good 10 minutes before she even realized there was more.

the completed "race car ramp with double loops". see? wicked awesome! the cars rev up and you wouldn't believe how amazingly fast they go! in this configuration (yet to be duplicated since arriving home), the cars race each other and the checkered flag spins to point to the winner, which is a nice feature, because they go so fast, sometimes you can't tell who is the winner!

a couple days later, we went to the new children's museum at gateway. it was a ton of fun for the kids and a great way to kill a few hours...or several...or all day and still have the kids crying and begging to stay as you drag them out to the car.

alexander in the construction zone.

hard hat hadley.
hangin' in the heli...sorry, i couldn't resist. the pull of alliteration was just TOO STRONG! i'm sure some of you understand, while others of you think i'm crazy. it's okay, i'm used to it. seriously, though, this was really cool...a full-sized helicopter on the roof (lifeflight) for them to play in. we had to kick two big kids out after about 30 minutes so our little un's could have a turn. where were their parents, i ask????

what alan would look like as a muppet...a girlie muppet. sooo adorable!

alexander's favorite exhibit, bar none, was the water exhibit. you just basically put ping pong balls in the water and they would flow down different paths. i couldn't get a good picture of him playing here, because he was having too much fun to even LOOK at me. notice his shirt. it got worse. he was here for at LEAST a solid hour. good thing that cute brown argyle sweater he had on earlier was "too hot" because he soaked this shirt as well as his undershirt. they DO have hand-dryers near the exhibit, but be smart and bring an extra shirt. :)

now onto hadley's favorite exhibit:

the whole time xander was in the water, hadley was shopping in the little grocery store. i LOVE this photo, the pursed lips, the wondering just where to begin, the look of needing to get down to business and get the shopping done! i've had that look myself many a time. she was very particular in her shopping, browsing all the aisles, picking up products and examining them. several items were inspected and returned to the shelves. she ended up with: lots of plastic strawberries (cleaned out the produce dept.), 2 donuts, and many, many slices of orange plastic cheese from the deli counter. this is funny because hadley is a cheese monster! i can't grate any without her asking for several tastes. she also can eat strawberries non-stop for days, and is much more of a sweet-tooth than alexander. hence, the donuts. she did have a big, plush flower, but reconsidered her budget, and returned it to the flower stand.

she unloaded all the groceries for the check-out girl (another little museum patron), who dutifully rang them all up. hadley then pretended to pay her, loaded it all back into her grocery bag, and was gone in a flash, clearly headed for a specific destination, which was a mystery to me. of course, i followed her at a safe distance. she was oblivious to me, lost in her own life and her own tiny agenda.

she arrived at the play house and put all her groceries away in the kitchen, then got her cooking supplies together and went to work. "making ice cream". she was still oblivious to me, and only left the house after much persuasion from me AND from grandpa. she could have played in that one place for hours! i highly recommend this museum, and also recommend that you just avoid the ogden playhouse museum. no comparison!

stay tuned for part 3, and possibly part 4, followed by birthday gift brag and organization showcase!

meanwhile, please show TOMMY his belated (but amusing) birthday wish, and enjoy a few moments of high culture, courtesy of hadley. it's easy, just click here.

Home for the Holidays (Part One)

2007-01-12T13:08:00.000-08:00

We survived the trip to Utah for Christmas, and although we have been home for less than a week, I already have people pestering me to update! The nerve! In my defense, I have been a busy, busy, girl this week. I shouldn't bore you with the details, but I will anyway. First of all, why am I using all these capital letters? that's more like it!

in the past week i have:
gone on a quickie trip to the grocery store to get by for 2 or 3 meals
taken down and put away all of the Christmas stuff (involved several trips up and down the world's steepest staircase and a ladder in the garage for the tree)
unpacked 6 suitcases!!! sorted and put away all the various STUFF we came home with
reorganized alexander's closet (that's where Christmas stuff goes)
reorganized hadley's closet (had to move some books from toy area, see below)
reorganized hallway "kid's craft and game cupboards" (literally took me ALL DAY yesterday beause it also involved organizing and moving some stuff from the main floor under-stairs area)
reorganized toy area
gone on a MAJOR shopping trip after planning the month's menu
reorganized pantry (to put away aforementioned groceries)
reorganized kid's bathroom cabinets
taken care of sick kids -- xander was home for 2 days with a fever, now hadley is sick. oh, and so is alan. trust me, just stay away from him when he takes high doses of cold medicine.
*SIGH*

so, i can' imagine WHY i haven't gotten off my lazy bum and blogged! oh, pictures pending.

now that you all know i HAVEN'T been slacking, without further ado, i present

CHRISTMAS 2006

here is xander at the ward Christmas party with a special guest. hadley couldn't attend that night because she had a fever, so we stayed home and did a craft project. i'm a little sad i don't have a photo of her with santa -- she would have been into it this year, but last year she was crying her eyes out.

alexander and lexie enjoy the program. isn't lexie a cutie! shout out to her for picking us up from the airport. (don't worry, she didn't drive, but WAS on the welcoming committee)

alexander and his drunk-looking daddy. rachel, what was IN that punch? LOL.

one of hadley's uh..."creations". we find stuff all over the house like this all the time. pillows, soup cans, candles (unlit, of course), coasters...you name it. she arranges them in these symmetrical vignettes. (ding-ding! 10-dollar word!)

a lot of you know that the day BEFORE our flight, i got a call from the school at 9:15 am saying that alexander threw up on the bus on the way to school. nice call to get. poor buddy is notorious for tossing his cookies! he is just PRONE to it. i called a pediatrician who is in our ward only to be told that i should expect it to last for 3-5 days! fun stuff going around.

he was a trooper! after a blessing and some sleep (but still sick as a puppy) he braved the trip sick. here is a shot of him at the philly airport. poor guy!

note the (weak) smile and the puke-bag clutched in his chubby little hand. he is showing off one of the sea-life finger puppets i surprised them with. (go ikea!) it was a LONG wait at the airport, because we arrived ridiculously early. 2 pm for a 5:30 pm flight. we got through security in 15 minutes flat and waited...and waited...little buddy threw up just once in the airport. (thank goodness for ziploc!) and twice on the plane (towards the end) after sleeping almost the entire way. whenever we asked how he was doing, he smiled and said "great!" even though he felt horrible. he didn't complain once! the closest he came was in the airport when alan snuck off to find some food -- he threw up and told me he wanted to go home. after that, he snuggled down in his moon blankie and slept almost until boarding.

here is miss hadley. i love this shot...it exemplifies her to a t! wild eyes, crazy hair (too busy playing) and holding up her finger like her brother did -- nevermind that it lacks a puppet! hers were playing in the windowsill the whole time! she was awesome on the plain, but wouldn't fall asleep until final approach, which left her REALLY cranky when we woke her up to de-plane. there were a few tense moments in the middle of the flight, but masking tape saved the day (thanks k! you rock!) yes, she literally played with masking tape for 45 minutes!

here is another airport shot. one thing that made me so happy this trip is that several people told me how much hadley looked like me, and no one has EVER told me that before. i think i can begin to see it in this photo.

when we arrived in utah i took many DEEP breaths of cold, DRY mountain air! i had been suffering with a cold here since october, and i think the drier air was key in finally getting rid of it! go utah! it was also SNOWING when we landed, so i was a happy camper. it was a nice ending to an incredibly long day.

stay tuned, more to come....

12 Days of Christmas!!

2006-12-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

Last night we got a fun surprise! Our doorbell rang and we found this beautiful gift basket on our doorstep. It is the 12 Days of Christmas, with a small gift and a story for last night and the next 11, ending on Christmas eve! We are so excited to open them all and see what is in store for us, and so touched that someone thought enough of our family to go to all this work!

Keeping Busy

2006-12-13T06:37:00.000-08:00

NINE MORE DAYS UNTIL WE FLY "HOME" FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!
I am excited and somtimes overwhelmed with the thought of all that I still need to accomplish before then, but we are keeping busy and having fun this December.

Here are the tins of magnets that are ready to be delivered to a few neighbors and friends in the ward. Each tin is wrapped in a paper band that is secured with one of the magnets. I love the way they turned out!

Here is the inside -- I couldn't get a great picture, because there is not enough light in our house to get a good close-up. This gives a general idea, though. I think the magnets turned out great! I made a set for myself because they were too cute not to keep some!

In the past week, I have also: crocheted a hat, 2 purses, and 2 scarves. Made cookies for an enrichment cookie exchange activity. Taught a mini-class on time-management for the same activity. Attended book club. Attended a holiday get-together at the home of some ward friends (appetizer in tow). Given Hadley a haircut (sooo cute). Gone visiting-teaching. Gone shopping for those last minute stocking stuffers & out to dinner with Alan. Began crocheting a surprise gift for each child (not sure if these will be finished before we leave!)

I still need to: Make 3 dozen rolls for the ward Christmas party on Saturday. Make a crocheted, felted purse for a gift exchange next week. Deliver the little magnet tins. Finish doing the laundry (does this ever really get "finished?"). Make a list, check it twice and pack, pack, pack! Run errands to the bank, Target, and Barnes & Noble. Re-charge the portable DVD player and get movies for the kids to take on the plane. Find some cute black jeans. Clean the bathrooms.

I'm sure there's more, but I need to refer to my master list...

Needless to say, we've all been exhausted! Here's a shot Alan snapped last Friday when I got home from teaching my weekly yoga class...

Nothing better than snuggle time on the couch! But, it could lead to this...

Come to think of it, I could use a nap about NOW! Mom, if you are reading this, all I want for Christmas is to sleep in for a day or two!

Finally, in the latest Peck Family news, Alan accepted a new job working as the web Art Director for Bare Necessities! (they sell underwear. :) ) We are so relieved to be able to have stable, predictable employment again! HOORAY! Thanks to everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers. We hope to see you all soon!

xoxox, candace

My munchkins!

2006-12-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

Here is Princess Hadley. She was wearing her pink princess dress all day, so we had to give her princess hair to match. She insisted on wearing it to the bus stop to pick up "brubber", so we added a purple sweater -- truly princess-like.

I finally managed to get a decent photo of the kids together. Yes, Hadley IS wearing the same sweater! Now I need to get busy on one for Alexander -- it's just that tiny things are easier and less time-consuming. :)

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2006-11-30T08:21:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS!!!

Everything seems a little happier and brighter once you put up the Christmas decorations! Here are mine, and more of an actual blog too, if you scroll to the next entry.

Our Christmas tree and village. Every year, we have to get out Thomas the Tank Engine and build him a Christmas track around the tree. If you look closely, or click to enlarge the photo, you can see Hadley's contribution to the decorating. We have all these little Chinese people that Connie sent from Hong Kong, and Hadley has them all in a line around the bottom perimeter of the tree. It's kind of cute, so I left it that way. Lately, she makes all this little arrangements or "installments" around the house of found objects. I will try to photograph some, but they don't last long. She's very particular about how she arranges things and has a nice sense of symmetry and balance.

The stockings (and film negatives) were hung by the chimmney with care. If it ever gets cold, I would LOVE a fire, but so far, no dice. Please, Santa, send some snow to New Jersey, the kids are quite concerned about it, especially Alexander, who keeps asking why it doesn't snow in New Jersey. He also wanted to know exactly what was going to happen with these stockings and us going to Utah for Christmas. I assured him we would take the stockings with us and Santa would fill them there. Then he was worried about where mom and dad's stockings are. I told him Grandma has some for us. Hear that, Grandma!? I like a pomegranate in the toe, and Alan prefers an orange. :)

Our front door -- decked out and waiting for our first Christmas card to attach to the ribbon. OH-- an example of Hadley's art installations was that, the other day, she took all the little magnetic letters and lined them all up vertically on the ribbon. But today she is carrying them all around in a basket along with wooden closepins and balls.

Here are the carolers -- Alexander was proud to participate in setting up the fragile display by handing me the lid for the top of the lightpost. He was so proud, and showed Alan when he got home. More below...I exceeded my photo limit!

Happy Holidays!

2006-11-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hadley, eating in "the restaurant". When we have dinner guests over, we always have to move this little table downstairs to accomidate our smaller guests. If I don't get it moved back upstairs, we play restaurant at lunchtime. Alexander and Hadley are demanding and sometimes downright rude customers, yelling "waitress" to me as I'm in the kitchen preparing their food. Luckily, right now we have a plethora of leftovers on the "menu" -- 2 kinds of soups plus the makings for a full Thanksgiving dinner, or turkey sandwiches, and cake or ice cream for dessert! In this particular photo, Hadley is having her 2nd breakfast of Jam Toast and peaches.

Alan spent most of Thanksgiving weekend painting. Here is the pomegranate painting I requested with a touch of Alan thrown in for good measure. I hope he finishes it soon, because it will mean I get to eat a pomegranate that he uses for reference. They are my favorite treat, and what's more, the kids don't like them!

More paintings in what I am calling "The Blue Series", for obvious reasons. I have dibs on the Winter Witch (the girl with antlers) -- she is crying in this picture, which seemed appropriate for the year we've had, and the Blue Bird of Happiness is winging it's way TOWARD her as Alan pointed out...I had mistakenly thought it was flying AWAY from her, but it looks like good things are in store after all. :)
This is our one and only Thanksgivng Day picture, sadly. My camera was in my bag while I helped with the meal and cleanup, but I was able to snap this one of Hadley's pumpkin pie face just after dessert. Girl loves her pumpkin pie, and a photo-op! There are no pics of Xander in this post! Hadley is around more, holds still, and most importantly, hams it up for the camera.

Another picture of Hadley, who put on my lipstick one morning while Alan was on the phone...she told him, "Now I look like a Mommy!" Note the unwashed cinnamon toast face. Lovely.

Cranberry sauce simmering on the stove. The color was sooo pretty I had to take a photo.

Carmelized Butternut Squash. This was my contribution for Thanksgiving dinner. Again, pretty, so I had to document their glazey deliciousness! OH, and I also took homemade rolls, which received rave reviews.

22 Days till we come "home" for the holidays! (But who's counting?)

xoxox

candace

Today's Blog is Brought to You By Artichoke Chicken

2006-11-14T06:39:00.000-08:00

mmmmmm! doesn't that look yummy? don't you want to come and visit and eat some? or at least call or email to request the recipe and/or praise my culinary skills? you know you do! come on, how long is it going to take to leave a little comment or type up a quick email? pretty please? pretty please with sauteed artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes on top?

xox

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T13:51:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite picture of the batch. We went to a halloween party last night, so we all got dressed up. I think only about 5 other adults were in costume. Lame. Shelley -- this pic makes me think of Lost Skeleton ROWR! BTW, my dad watched it and loved it!
I have some sort of glowing orb of ancient power, but I misplaced it at the party. Oh well. (Insert another Lost Skeleton reference here) "Mut-i-late, Mu-tant, hmmmm, I wonder....Oh well."

Alan looks a little drunk, but I promise he's just drunk on LOVE, baby! Like my new make-up? I'm thinking of doing it like this all the time....to the grocery store, to teach yoga....to church....if I do, I think I'd better wear the wig as well.

Hadley is sprawled out on the carpet, it reminds me of that "pressed fairy" art!

Here are the two tricksters! Alexander is Dash Incredible. Don't even think of calling him "Mr. Incredible", he takes great offense! Hadley is always a total ham whenever I break out the camera. Maybe we could get her a modelling gig...
The amazing DASH! He can run circles through the living room at lightening speed. That's a toy frog perched on his pects. He had a whole line-up, but only one stayed balanced for the photo.

Here are somep ics from Alexander's halloween program at school. they sang a ton of spooky halloween songs. You can hear some snippets and see him in action if you go here.

Ilove this photo! You can see that Xander is a little enamored with Arshi, who had the cutest costume as an Indian princess (dots, not feathers). Click on the photo for a bigger version to get the full effect.

Alexander gives me the thumbs up as he parades around the Kindergarten circle with the other classes. This was one of the cutest things I have ever seen!

Here is a class picture, I posted this mainly so that you can see Mrs. Moss, who is dressed as a pirate, complete with beard, eyepatch, and parrot! So cute!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I would LOVE photos of your halloween ghouls, email me and as always, comments earn you major brownie points!

xoxox

Fun With Leaves

2006-10-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

some leaf art collages we made a week or two ago. the kids loved it and it kept them busy for upwards of an hour! amazing! alexander's is the blue, mine is green, and of course, hadley's is pink!

the artists with their works. click to enlarge, their faces are really cute in this picture. i think they were looking at their daddy, who had his "ticket" (a leaf) to see their art in the "gallery". they thought it was so much fun to hang them in the gallery and for us to come see them. it's time to rotate them out now, though. the leaves are all crinkly and not so pretty anymore.

alexander was inspired one evening while i was cooking dinner. this totally reminds me of a documentary we watched about an artist who works completely with items found in nature...it was amazing, but the name of the artist and the documentary escape me right now. anybody know? i highly recommend it...it's incredible!

the face is priceless here too! he's on his way out for more leaves!

the artist at work...he was so sad when dinner was ready, because he wanted it to go all the way to the dining table by the time i had it ready. unfortunately, he only made it about to the far end of the couch. i didn't have the heart to clean it up. alan did it after the kids were in bed.

hopefully i will be updating more frequently now, and for anyone interested, i am posting all my crochet work at DaisyChain, so as not to bore everyone! Lindsey -- I would love a picture of the carseat blanket i made for you. forgot to snap one. you can sort of see it in the leaf trail photo of xander by the door. i will be selling crocheted items at a store near you soon! literally, in provo! i am making a few clutch bags for beccy's new boutique. more details when i have them, or maybe Lori can fill us in!

xoxox

2006-10-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

halloween is in the air! but i just can't seem to get into the spirit of things this year. :(

Dump-truck Sweater

2006-10-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

This is a baby sweater I just completed for the neighbor's new baby boy! If you click to enlarge, I think you can see the cute dumptruck buttons!

Completed Projects. Batgirl Gift Spoiler! WARNING!!!

2006-10-01T11:48:00.000-07:00

Here are the projects I've been working on this weekend.

I finished the sweater for Hadley, all except the buttons. Looks like I'm destined for JoAnn's tomorrow. It buttons all the way down the left side with 6 buttons. Hadley chose the yarn herself, and I was a bit leary about it, but it turned out beautifully. It is mostly purple with varigated colors of aqua, pink, and magenta. The trim is from my yarn stash. It's bright purple/magenta and very fuzzy and soft.

Next is the handbag I did for Batgirl. I confess that I want one for myself now. But as my best friend pointed out, "well, for one thing, you're 33." Yeah, THANKS A LOT!!! :) But seriously, I think I might make one anyway. I think it's super cute. And now that I know the basics of crocheting an image I have all sorts of great ideas.

Isn't it cute!? I call it the skele-purse! Hopefully, I can mail it tomorrow or the next day. Here's another view, to show the size a bit better. Oh, and I don't really have a hunchback, as it appears in the photo below.

Whoo-hoo! I love it. Morning session of conference left me with half a baby sweater completed for the neighbor who gave Alan a ride to the train station every day. She had a baby boy about 2 weeks ago. His sweater is olive green with pumpkin-colored trim and is the same basic design as Hadley's. I think I can finish it during afternoon session. All except for those pesky buttons.

xoxox

Halloween Song

2006-09-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

Hadley sings about a haunted house here! (with a little help from mom). Updates soon.
xoxox

Tangled up in Brown?

2006-09-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Lately i've been on a crochet bender of sorts!

Here is a picture Alan took...I wasn't really sitting in the dark like that, but he made me close the blinds for the sake of the photo! Hadley was being a "kitty" and had strewn my yarn all the way into the hallway.
Clutch handbag I made for my cousin's birthday. Man, I wanna keep it for myself!

And the lining! It's the best part, I think. :) I am also currently working on and/or planning on starting 1. gift for my sister's baby 2. poncho for hadley 3. blanket/throw for my sofa 4. hat for Alan 5. Xander wants a sweater...haven't actually purchased yarn yet 6. surprise for my sisters and sis-in-laws 7. surprise for batgirl

Something at Last -- Hey, we were busy!

2006-09-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

We really have been busy. Promise. Just take a look for yourself!

We went to the beach...Hadley enjoyed the picnic the most. Mmmmm...rice pudding! Thanks for the yummy recipe sister Mindi! We love it!

When not eating, Hadley really, really likes to dig...and fill up this bucket. And dump, and dig, and fill....and so on.

Alexander was a bit more of an active beach participant...when the tide washes out your castle and moat, SIT IN IT! Here's a story of me and how dumb I can really be. Alan says it ranks right up there with the bald eagle/kite story... if you click to enlarge the picture, you can spot some clear blobs on the sand to Alexander's right and up...I thought that someone dumped their ice on the sand and asked where all the ice was coming from...turns out they are pieces of jellyfish. I found that out the hard way, when I touched one with my toe. *shudder* Alan laughed for a long time. He may still be laughing.

I love this photo of my little bathing beauty. She finally dared walk onto the sand and play! I also love the fat guy in the background. Priceless.

90% of Alexander's beach time was spent filling a bucket with water, carrying it to the sand, and dumping it out. Don't ask...I have no idea. :)

Alan, of course, started a sand sculpture. Yes, it IS a robot. How did you guess?

Soon the kids joined in the fun...even kids that didn't belong to us. This little boy tried later to steal Hadley's chopstick. She was using it to poke the sand. She stood her ground and the boy retreated in shame. I helped on the robot too....the shell eyes were my idea. And I made most of the head and one arm. I'm so talented. Unfortch...everyone was having too much fun to take any pics of mom. Sorry, Jake, I know you were really hoping for one.

Sand robot almost complete. Just missing one leg. :)

This is just to show off how amazingly cute Hadley is getting. Check out the curls!

Being cute all the time is tiring. Except when mom wants you to nap or go to bed...then it's wild and crazy party time. There is singing and laughing coming from her room at night for hours!

Bums. They were "watching the tornado". A favorite after-bath pastime for my kids. I raced to get the camera when I came back with towels and saw this.

A family photo! Alexander needed to take one to school today, so a neighbor snapped this for us. Thanks Carmen! And now...the moment we've all been waiting for...

The first day of school! Note the fish nametag, color-coded by teacher, and the yellow bus number band on his arm.

Alexander and Kevin waiting for the bus. Kevin lives in our court and is in Alexander's class! So is a cute little boy from up the street a ways...Noah. Mom is relieved that he will have friends close by, because there are no kids his age in the ward. Alexander is the only mormon in his school!

Finally, he arrived home safely. :) Note the added paraphenalia...on the right a bus sticker with his bus number on it (even though it is on his name tag and wristband) AND on the left another sticker denoting that he is a kindergartener, thus needing extra help. Tiff, doesn't this put your mind at ease? NO WAY he was getting on the wrong bus! :)

I saved the best for last...I found a way to post short video clips! Let me know how it works. Our speakers died, so I hope there is sound!

Love you all, and I promise to update more consistently from now on! xoxox

bathroom: improvement?

2006-08-08T10:41:00.000-07:00

so, here is the moment you have all been waiting for! the repainting/de-pooping of the powder bath! this, of course, is the BEFORE picture. you can note the lovely, metallic-copper faux poops meticulously sponged everywhere in the bathroom. yes, even under the vanity and i found one near the floor behind the toilet! the artist was truly amazing in their commitment and thououghness. also, don't forget about the black and gold border around the ceiling, which should have really been photographed in detail so you could see all it's splendor. :) without further ado, i present, the AFTER! (scroll down)

ta-da! truly an incredible transformation, if i do say so myself. i really should have my own show on HGTV or Discovery channel, don't you think? and all it took was 3 applications of wallpaper stripper, about an hour and a half of taping, 3 coats of primer on the poops and 2 coats over the entire walls, plus a heavy coat of green paint. now, rather than an abhorrance and embarassment, my powder bath is a serene spa-like retreat. if only it were bigger i would spend lots of time there. it's quite relaxing and serene. :) why not schedule your reservation today and experience it for yourself!?

if it's not one thing...

2006-08-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

let's start off today's entry with some pics of the kids for all you grandparents and cousins out there! here is hadley looking cute in her 4th of july dress.

what is it with kids and spaghetti? i cut it into small pieces in the food processor before serving and they still somehow manage to get it all over their faces.

alexander post-spaghetti. if you enlarge the picture, you can see the grubby little fingerprints all over the stainless countertop. i have to clean it constantly. if they just look at it, it gets smudged. stainless steel seemed like a good idea at the time....i'm just glad i have somewhere for them to sit in the kitchen instead of worrying about them spilling on the white carpet 3 times a day.
close-up of hadley spaghetti-face. she ate 3 bowls of similar size. i kid you not.

see? most of it even managed to go in her mouth and be swallowed. :)

now that kid cuteness is out of the way, let the real blog begin! boy have we been busy lately! our latest project was painting our kitchen, which we did this past saturday. it's amazing, the transformation a coat of paint (or 2 coats of primer and some paint in our case) can make! the best realization came as we began masking everything off -- our kitchen was the exact shade of blue as that painter's tape you buy. nice, eh? it took 2 coats of primer (3 in the corners) and one thick coat of apple green to cover the blue. it is more than a 100% improvement. i was going to wait for the before and afters until we got the new stove and microwave, but what the heck, here they are!

BEFORE

DURING: her i have managed one coat of primer. look how much blue is still shining through. also, see how happy i am to be getting rid of aforementioned blue?

obligatory fake painting shot. but the happiness is real.

here's alan doing some painting kung-fu! i love this photo! isn't he looking svelte? just between us, i think he's lost a bit of weight. ;) he looks awesome. oh, in this photo you can also see just how closely the old paint color matches the painter's tape. on the wall behind him, the blue to the right of the white stripe (next to the yellow) is tape. the blue to the left of it is all paint, baby!

AFTER!!!! (do you hear the angelic choir singing "allelujah!"? oh, also, not shown here is the cluttery free-standing pantry you can see in the bottom right of the before pic. alan attatched the doors for me and it makes an incredible difference to the overall clean feeling of the kitchen.

another angle...next to go is the hideous double-oven monstrosity. i will go from 11" of clearance above the burners to a whopping 19 1/2 "! awesome!

it is soooo much brighter in there, it's really incredible and it makes me so much happier to be in there cooking....and i'm in there cooking a LOT so that has been great.

it took us pretty much all day saturday with a few hours off for a bbq at a ward member's house complete with mentos and diet coke fountains for the kids. some of you reading this probably think it's a travesty to waste all that diet coke, but it was good fun for everyone. what we didn't anticipate was the kids choosing to frolic in the diet coke fountain, but what are hoses for, right?

i have to give major kudos to alan for putting on the final coat of paint late saturday night when i was just too tired to do it. i admit, when he started cutting in the green, i was a little panicked. it looked flourescent. i just stayed out of the room and read him the lesson for ctr 8 he had to sub the next morning. come morning, the color had dried to a much more doable shade, although i think i will darken it down a bit in the dining room. next project is the faux poop powder bath...

on top of all that, i have been getting frequent migraines again for the first time in years. i miss my minda! i could so use a massage right now! i've also been trying to get a yoga teaching job. i for sure will be teaching at hamilton fitness center sometime, though i don't know when or how often, or rate of pay...etc. i attended a yoga class at a studio and talked with the owner about the possibility of teaching. she wants me to come in and teach a class so she can observe me, which is fine, but still makes me nervous. as for her class, i hadn't practiced in literally months (at least not power -- i've been more of a restore girl when i get a chance at home) and she certified with baron -- so i was worried i would spend the majority of the class in child's pose...turns out, i did fine. the only time i couldn't stay with the class was when my hands were sliding off my mat from sweating and humidity. one of melinda's classes would kick this woman's butt! she did do a TON of sun salutations, but she didn't hold the poses too long and her ab series was a cakewalk compared to d'ana or melinda. not that anyone reading this knows what i'm talking about or cares, but she didn't even use uddiyana bandha, and as far as i can tell, never does. she did say to "exhale and draw in the belly", but it's hardly the same thing, so i'm wondering in my "interview" class whether or not i should reference it or not...melinda? opinions? i'm thinking it best to just bypass it in the instruction and if i get hired, introduce it then.

*sigh* in other news, hadley would NOT go to sleep last night and i was up with her until 2 AM! of course, she then got up before 8, despite being sick today. her and xander and alan all have sore throats and the kids both have a low-grade fever. hadley has a hoarse little voice and a cough, but other that, they both seem fine. we've been watching tv and playing little people all morning, though we did manage baths for them. i still need one. :)

the ward here is amazing and we are always getting invited to something or another. this week, i'm hosting a crochet class at our house -- it will be only the 3rd time i've had anyone over. i hope to finish the bathroom re-paint before then so i don't have to give everyone the "we didn't do that in there, it was like that when we moved in" disclaimer. the class is thursday and i am expecting about 7-8 from the ward plus 2 women from our court who want to learn. friday, i think we are heading to rochester for a mini family vacation-- shelley, i will call you about this tonight! :)

so, that's that! busy, busy, and more busy. but that keeps us from being too homesick. as always, comments are appreciated and show me you love us. *wink* emails and phone calls are fantastic and mail is a nice surprise. oh, and double-click photos to enlarge, as always. love you all! xoxox

candace

Upstairs Tour

2006-07-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

So, this isn't exactly upstairs...but, you may want to take note of the tool-free fireplace hearth (as of today...I'm sooo lazy.) We have also moved the bedroom loveseat in front of the fireplace to make a little sitting room area. The slipcover is only about 1/3 of the way fitted to the sofa, and is inside out, but still an improvement! Up next, I plan to bring in our one lonesome patio chair from the back, and sew pillows for it and for the loveseat, make some large, kid-friendly floor pillows, get a bookcase endtable from Ikea, and paint the dark, dark wall a cheery apple green. Paint will probably happen first.

Next stop, the master bath...no, I didn't actually plan it that way, but I think I mentioned earlier that these don't always show up in the order I post them...here is my bathtub, tucked in a little corner, window above it...shower is to the right...makes it easy at bathtime. Usually the kids play in the tub while Alan showers.

More master bath...Here is the vanity and cabinets! The only real (and by real, I mean made of wood) cabinets in the house! If not for this space, I would have NO linen closet/medicine storage whatsoever, so I LOVES my vanity! Also, note the luxurious gold-plated fixtures and mirror. Why yes, that IS the Ensign on the countertop. I was reviewing my VT message as I curled my hair...so efficient!

Ahhh, winter witch. Yes, we actually have a wall large enough to hang her on! The painting is 8 feet wide by 4 feet tall. The ceilings in the bedroom are vaulted, so this is a really big wall. And that's my yoga mat on the floor beneath the painting. My thinking was that if it was rolled out permanently, I would guilt myself into practicing several times a week. It sort of works...I feel really guilty for not using it. The little hallway to the right leads to a walk-in closet on the right and the bathroom on the left. The door you see is another smaller closet.

Here is a real view of the master bedroom taken as you enter the room. We have double doors coming into the room, which is lovely, barring the fact that there are no locks on the doors. There are locks on the kid's rooms however...and we are considering reversing the knobs, so they can't lock us out. Then we could lock them in...this idea is sounding better and better! Actually, they haven't even realized there are locks, so at the moment, it's a non-issue.

View from our bedroom into the hallway/playroom. Yes, the hallway is that wide. I don't really understand it myself, but it's a great place for the kids to play, the toys stay organized, and most importantly, the kid's rooms and closets stay relatively clean. The bathroom is to the right and the two rooms at the end of the hall are Alexander's and Hadley's, respectively. The little cabinet at the end of the hallway contains paper, crayons, coloring books and take-to-church toys.

Here's a better view of the play area in action...um, that doesn't really make sense. I guess "in use" is the way of phrasing it. By the way, this photo is totally staged. :) But, we did find Hadley sitting in that very spot, reading, just as she is here one night when we thought she was asleep in our bed. I think I have an actual photo of that, which I will post next week...See mom? Do you get the idea now? It works so great!

Here are the kids playing on the landing between the stairs. I think I mentioned before that these are literally the STEEPEST STAIRS EVER. The kids go down them by sliding down on their bellies, feet first. It is ridiculously fast! They are like little otters or something. Someone in my ward told me about a way to post little videos online taken with my digital camera, so I will find out specifics and try to get some otter footage!

That's all folks! Actually, no, there is more in the next post...keep scrolling and remember you can click on colored links for more information and click on the photos for a bigger version.

ONE LAST THING: your COMMENTS are appreciated more than you will know and are the only real way I have of knowing that you are reading this at all! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE COMMENT! EVEN IF IT'S SILLY OR JUST A LINE OR TWO. I LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU! xoxox

Upstairs Tour Part 2

2006-07-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

Here is Alexander showing off the cool envelope he decorated to put game pieces for tonight's FHE game in. It's a fun game using stairs to illustrate how right choices move us in one direction, while wrong choices move us in another. Hope it goes over well. Anyone interested can get the lesson online.

Before we moved, Alan had too much time on his hands and painted custom switchplates for both kid's rooms. Cute, huh?

Alexander's room, featuting his little reading corner and his cute superhero picture of Jesus that Joey (Alan's friend) painted for him. His closet takes up the entire wall to the left...2 of the 3 sections of it are filled with Christmas decorations, etc. So far has obeyed the off-limits rule. (Knock on wood!)

Here is another view of Alexander's room...a better vview. Look, he has a window and everything! He loves watching the squirrels in the pine trees outside, and the birds too. His space curtains are still the coolest thing I've ever made. :)

Kids bathroom. Pretty exciting, eh? It's actually kind of sage green and the yellow curtain really brightens it up in there. Much brighter than in the photo anyway. But the lightswitch is wired to the loudest fan ever. So annoying. Notice Hadley's potty chart there on the mirror. She's currently in a state of potty rebellion. I think I need to take a hardcore approach and stay at home with her in underwear or naked for a week. White carpet and hardcore potty training don't mix, though.

Here is Hadley proudly showing off her room. The big pink flower on the wall is a lamp. So cute! Today, over by her door, I hung her coatrack low and put her dress-ups on the pegs, hung a low mirror, and included a basket to hold her purse, high heels, necklaces, etc. She's really getting into this dress-up thing...I will post pictures of her in full princess garb soon.

Hadley's custom painted lightswitch. Since Alan had to paint her room before we arrived, she got the full treatment with outlet covers too. Her entire room was once the color of the butterflies on this switchplate. Seriously.

View 2 of Hadley's room. She was so excited when we hung up her robot girl painting.

streets of philadelphia

2006-07-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

a few pics of philadelphia. i wish i could have taken more, but wrangling kids in urban areas and snapping pics at every opportunity don't mix. for example, i really, really wanted some pictures of the old cobblestone streets, but again...kids. click on any photo to enlarge.

i saved the best for first. does that really make sense? the funny thing about this pic is that i just now (6:15 pmm) added it. earlier when i posted, i couldn't get this photo into photoshop to size it. when i tried i got an error message: this application does not support processing of unauthorized currency images. tee-hee! photoshop read this image as a potential attempt at counterfeiting, alan and all.

close-up of the top of the tomb of the unknown soldier.

paving stone at the beginning of the walkway up to the tomb.

full view of the tomb of the unknown soldier in washington square park. it's a beautiful park, but so sad to think that thousands of unidentified soldiers are buried there along with countless unknown african americans as well.

eternal flame. pretty cool.

this made me laugh in spite of the solemn mood. touching fire will cause injury? really? you sure? OUCH!

alexander in front of a torpedo. WATCH OUT, LITTLE BOY!

around dinner time, hadley suffered a mental/emotional breakdown. long day+no nap=sadley.

alexander chillin in front of the US mint. no cameras were allowed inside. (duh) so we all had to go in shifts. after we all re-grouped, we discussed our favorite part, and strangely, we all had the same favorite! we all loved watching the shiny, shiny penny blanks in the hopper. they shimmered like pirate treasure. it was way cool. :) speaking of shiny, shiny pennies, we received some as change at the local CVS when we bought a map. i think they were freshly minted in philly and sent directly there. they made for perfect squished pennies for alexander's growing collection.
i have no idea what this is, but isn't it cool? the courtyard around it was paved in old cobblestones that looked like smooth river rocks. we definitely need to go back to philadelphia and see ALL the sights.

this is pretty much the view for the entire drive to philly. we google mapped our directions and it took about an hour. on the way home, we decided to wing it and made it home in about 35 minutes! secret ninja way home rocks!

don't forget to read yet another new entry below!!! we miss you. yes, all of you. :)

xoxox

why i'm at home 99% of the time

2006-07-07T10:52:00.000-07:00

so, today we got off to a late start...we spent the day in philadelphia with vacationing friends yesterday. someday it will be us on vacation. i keep holding onto that hope...us--on vacation--the whole thing just sounds so foreign, but i digress. anyway, the kids were exhausted this morning and poor little hadley didn't even get up until 11:45! so, we knocked out breakfast and lunch with one fell swoop and i thought, "hey, since we don't have to be back for lunch, we can go run all those errands that have been piling up!" so, i quickly got the kids ready and loaded them into the car with all of our stuff. here is (was) the itnerary:

1. get gas
2. post office to mail mindi's baby gift and parking ticket we got in philly yesterday. (that's a whole 'nother story...and i'll tell you! it was 8 pm, parking meters. NO sign posted anywhere about the meter hours. NO info on the meter itself. and as we drove looking for a space i noticed one thing in common on all the meters. they were ALL expired. so we figure, okay, it's 8 pm, obviously we don't need to pay to park at this hour. guess we were wrong. but it was only 20 bucks and our friends sprung for dinner, so oh well.)
3. car wash (had to print directions off of mapquest, because it was the only car was listed in the phone book that is self-service. all the rest are full-serve luxury car washes.
4. library

so, we set off to get gas which involves driving 5-6 miles NORTH on route 1 to find a good price on gas. (despite the fact that we are ultimately heading south). you see, the farther south we go, the higher prices get. oh, and there are no gas stations near the stores, etc. they are all along route 1. generally, i can go up to the next exit at which there are 3 gas stations, usually all different prices.
i kid you not, once on that corner, the prices varied by more than 10 cents a gallon! but i find upon arrival that stations 1 & 2 are sporting the same high price today and station 3, for some reason, has no prices displayed. so i continue on. another thing about driving route 1 is that you can't see a gas station coming because of all the trees and there are no signs, and you can't make any left turns, so unless you know exactly where one is, you're screwed. you just wave to it as you pass and check out the price. and aside from that one corner, there aren't that many, so you can drive several miles without seeing one. anyway, finally i see one in time to get off route 1 but the price sign is completely behind the trees AND i find that after i have exited, there is a barrier in the road so i can't even turn left into the gas station.
i drive up the road helplessly, gas tank DANGEROUSLY low, and am met with a solid barrier all the way up the road for about a mile or two, so i can't turn around. finally there is a light, but with a prominent NO U TURN sign. i make a left and turn around in someone's driveway. as i'm doing this, alexander coughs violently. "are you okay?" i ask. he shakes his head "no". "are you gonna throw up?" i ask, because if you know alexander at all, you know he is the pukingest kid ever. he shakes his head "no". "you sure?" "yes." so i finish turning around and PUKE! all over himself. nice. and we are 5-6 miles from home with NO GAS. so i tell him repeatedly all the way back to the gas station that he needs to tell me in a LOUD voice if he is going to throw up. if he even thinks he might possibly throw up, to TELL ME ASAP!
when we get to the gas station, it has 12 pumps. 6 of them are blocked off. we wait in line for the next car, which btw, takes FOREVER. so long, i have time to get out and clean xander off as best as i can with baby wipes and still have to wait about 5 minutes. then, i pull in and wait about 5 more minutes for the guy to even come take my card. remember, you can't pump your own gas here. it is so ANNOYING.

revised plan:

1. get gas CHECK
2. go home change alexander's clothes, clean up puke (he tells me he feels fine)
3. post office
4. car wash
5. library

once we get home, and i have him stripped down, he tells me he is NOT fine and thinks he might throw up again. anyone who knows him knows that this should be taken seriously. so right now, he is being forced to lay on a bed of towels in the hallway next to the bathroom door, just in case. maybe we can go to the post office later. maybe i'll take a nice leisurely trip to the car wash by myself later. (the luxury of self-service is that i can go whenever i want to -- new jersey hasn't caught onto that yet.) now, he is crying and telling me he's starving! or as he puts it "mom, i'm hungry to death, i really am." sorry buddy. rule #1 of puking is do not feed the puker until you're sure the puking has stopped.

5 amusing (possibly) observations about NJ

2006-06-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

1. almost everyone here drives a bmw or mercedes. the exception is at church where there is the usual rash of mini-vans and suvs. luxury baby, luxury. (speaking of luxury, just keep that word in mind...alan and i have a few observations on the subject for a future post.)

2. self-serve? are you joking? -- some of you may be aware that in new jersey it is against the law for you to pump your own gas. yes, there is an attendant who pumps it for you. and i haven't been able to find a self-service car wash in my drivings around, but it is my quest. i refuse to pay 20 bucks for a "luxurious" full-service car wash. besides, i would rather vacuum up my own life cereal, goldfish, ritz-cracker, cheerio, rasin, chicken nugget crumb combo thank-you very much. how embarassing for someone else to witness the state of my back-seat, monkey habitat though it may be. those are my monkeys darnit! and no one else should be subjected to their messes. speaking of messes, i'm quite sure that at least 5 or 6 of my neighbors have housekeepers. how would it be?

3. the perfect summer accesory for hip princetonians? the umbrella. seriously, just carry one everywhere. but not into the princeton university art museum. backpacks, strollers, and naughty children and toddlers are fine, but you MUST leave the umbrella outside on the coat rack. why? i haven't the slightest idea, but i tell you the guard looked quite alarmed when i strolled in with *GASP* an umbrella in the side-pocket of my backpack. (cool museum, by the way -- we saw works by reubens, modigliani, klee, candinski, monet, van gogh, burne-jones, andy warhol, and someone whom alan claims is one of grandma swenson's favorites, but we can't spell his name...starts with a "b". grandma?

4. as in 4th of july! the only fireworks nearby i can find a listing for is as follows: "4th of July Fireworks: Friday, July 30th, 9:00 pm; Princeton University fields next to football stadium. HUH? okay....i honestly cannot find any listing of anything else even remotely 4th of july related. but we ARE going to a waffle breakfast at a ward member's house in hamilton that morning. after that, i guess it's just a regular day. that pretty much sucks. *sigh* but seriously, fireworks on the 30th for the 4th?

5. i've been checking into summer recreation programs for alexander -- soccer, swimming, etc. as it turns out, most of these types of things are through the YMCA, which charges a membership fee of $100 a month! yikes! no YMCA for this famiy. the other programs i can find are all more like a summer camp type program, so you basically pay an arm and a leg to get rid of your kids for 5 or 6 hours a day. hmmm...might not be so bad some days. but seriously, i guess the pool here sounds like great recreation if it ever stops raining. :)

10th Anniversary ~ Big Apple

2006-06-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

We begin our journey at the Princeton train station...Alan is dreaming about all the adventures we will have together in the city...:) From Princeton Station, we took Dinky to Princeton Junction where we boarded the Northeast Corridor line which took us right into NYC Penn Station in a little over an hour.

Central Park was one of our first stops. I like to spend some time there every time i'm in New York because you can wander forever and keep seeing new things and places. I just liked this image, the ornate carving and the mossy wall. Central Park has such a wonderful history and is so much a part of New York City. But, as I have no control over the order in which these photos post, lets jump to the Statue of Liberty! (We'll come back to Central Park later, promise)

Here she is! Isn't she magnificent? I was honestly a bit overcome at the first sight of her from the ferry...she is amazing and beautiful. My only regret is that the museum in the base was CLOSED that day, so we weren't able to go inside...

Another view -- the two of us this time...

The famous LOVE sculptue by Robert Indiana stands on 56th & 6th Ave...coincidentally just a few steps away from the very posh restaurant we dined in...TOWN. A bit pricey, but a lovely atmosphere and delicious food! It's nice to splurge occasionally, and this will hold us over for a long time!

Isn't this photo awesome? The sun, the kiss, the statue? And you know what else? It was totally, 100% staged...uh, I mean CANDID! We had to take it ourselves, you know, by doing the hold the camera out thingy? It took several tries to get both us and the statue in the shot. But we didn't mind having to do it over and over again... ;)

Alan on Bethesda Terrace in Central Park...

And here is the Angel of the Waters Fountain. Sculptor: Emma Stebbins (1815-1882)Date: 1868; Placed in Park: 1873. Yes it's a touristy spot, but it's also beautiful.

And me on the terrace. Note the similarity to the one of Alan above...the master plan is to photoshop them together so we can have a picture of the two of us. It was here that we had our first crazy guy sighting of the day, I believe. And what trip to New York would be complete without a crazy guy sighting? This one happens to have his own website...

John Lennon memorial, located in Strawberry Fields. Imagine all the people....visiting the Pecks! You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope some day you'll join us, and we will be as one....oh no, I hope John Lennon isn't rolling over in his grave. But seriously, look at all the cool stuff you're missing out on. As if the Harry Potter cupbord isn't enough!

xoxox
until next week. Remember to comment and to click for larger images. We also welcome emails, packages, letters, and phone calls. :)