Happy Anniversary to Us!

Twelve years ago today we were shivering outside the Washington DC Temple getting our pictures taken after getting sealed for time and all eternity. It was a sunny but freezing day in DC after an arctic wind blew into town. The next day we had our reception in Hampton, Virginia during an epic snow/icestorm that shut down the east coast for days.
Today we had a fun day celebrating our anniversary. Matthew surprised me with tickets to the Nutcracker in Boston. We stayed down there for a yummy dinner at Legal Seafood and a brisk walk in the snow. It was a nice way to celebrate 12 years of marriage.

Here's a picture of the stage right before the ballet was set to begin. I really enjoyed seeing the Nutcracker again. I can't wait to take Anna! 

My Dad

My dad is sick. He's got pneumonia, and they're worried about his heart, on top of lots of other health issues including a new hip and a broken femur. He is in the ICU in a hospital in Richmond Hill, just north of Toronto. I hate to think about him lying there with tubes going in and coming out of him. I know he hates it even more. He has always had a hard time sitting still for very long.
I'm not sure what to do at this point. We plan to visit after Christmas, but I wish I could be there for him now. To hold his hand and tell him to keep fighting to get better. He is a fighter. He's scrappy, always has been.
I'm not sure what else to say without sounding trite. I am a daddy's girl. I have always loved him, warts and all. He is a thoughtful, loving, giving father, who has always, always put his family first.
I am praying hard that he'll start climbing out of this downward spiral.

Fall, Football, and Foliage

We've taken a few jaunts down to Massachusetts the last few weekends. First to explore the historic landmarks at Lexington where Paul Revere warned the Minutemen about the British marching on Boston, then down to Soldier field in Cambridge to watch Harvard take on Columbia (Harvard won!), and then to Walden's Pond. Here are a few fall pictures...several of Matthew and I playing football with the kiddos.

Family Photo Event

We went with friends this morning to try and take pictures of our families. We took some of them and they took some of us. It was a little windy and cold and the boys were WILD as usual, but it was a beautiful spot and we got some nice shots. 

Sadly I don't think we got one family shot where everyone was looking at the camera, but we got close enough. Thanks Laura and Brandon!

He's In!

Matthew found out yesterday that he was accepted into the Master's in Management program at Harvard's Extension School. I'm so happy for him and thought I'd share the joy! To get in he had to take three classes -- accounting, finance and economics -- and get at least a B+ average, plus send in his resume, an essay, letters of recommendation etc. Because he has those three classes under his belt he's technically a 1/4 of the way through the degree already. He's taking two classes this semester as well. While I'm not always the most supportive of his studies (help me put the kids to bed and then you can finish your assignment) I am really proud of him and excited for him to be a master of management. I told him he'll have to use his new-found skills managing our kids. I'll let you know how that goes.

Here's a recent picture of Matthew, Thomas, Joey and Anna on top of Mount Major. The lake behind him and the kids is Lake Winnipesaukee.  We went on a hike there at the beginning of September. I'm sure it's even prettier now, now that the leaves are starting to turn.

  












Here's one of all of us on top of the mountain. It was so beautiful up there. It was a fun hike, though a little strenuous for me, which is why my cheeks are fuchsia. 

Finally, here's Isaac running a practice race for his 3K. He's run cross country for the last three years and has had some great coaches at his school. Isaac came in a respectable 23rd out of 93 kids, running a 8:05 mile. I think it's amazing that he's my kid and he can run at all!

End of Summer Fun

We did manage to cram a lot of fun into the last few days of summer. We all really enjoyed a ward camping trip to Camp Joseph in Sharon, Vermont. It is so beautiful there. It is really a great spot for camping. I stayed in a tiny little cabin with the four kids the first night. Matthew didn't come up until Friday, and I think it was really brave of me to go camping with the four kids alone. Needless to say, I took it easy. We had hot dogs for dinner, cold cereal for breakfast and pb&j for lunch. After Matthew arrived on Friday we went out for pizza and brought it back to our campsite. My type of camping ;)
The kids had so much fun. They fished, tubed down a river, climbed trees, made fires and ran all over the place. Matthew and I had fun too. It was a great couple of days. And the weather was perfect. Pleasant and warm during the day, but not too hot. Cool at night, just enough that you needed a sweater, but not freezing. And very few bugs.
The facilities at Camp Joseph are great. Showers, bathrooms, a lodge, tiny cabins, a wide manicured lawn, and great views. Really beautiful.

We also had a fun day in Boston with our friends the Blanchettes. We went last year as well. It has become a birthday tradition for me. We went to Boston Common where we ate pizza and listened to some music, then the Boston Public Garden where we rode the swan boats. Then Jenn and I sent the men and children home so we could go shopping. Perfect!

Then it was time to send the kids back to school. Isaac is in 5th grade this year, Joey is in 1st grade and Thomas is in kindergarten. Anna is in a little preschool \that a friend of mine volunteered to do for some of the two year olds around here. Anna loves it. 

Joey getting on the bus for the first time:

The look on Anna's face as her brothers left was priceless. She was so sad!

Thomas on his first day of kindergarten. 

I started school too. So far, so good. Although I did have a student fall asleep in class today. Full on asleep. Oh well, I'm not taking it personally!

Summer Fun

I'm not sure why I'm writing this now, because I don't feel like blogging. But I'm not sure when I'll feel like blogging again, and I want to at least start to try to get some of our summer documented. It's been a busy couple of months. We started the summer tied mercilessly to Isaac's all-star baseball team's schedule. He had practices or games 5-6 days a week. Baseball overload. He enjoyed it though.
We also celebrated Thomas' 5th birthday with a Mad Scientist party. It was great! They made goop, Elephant's toothpaste, lava lamps, and other stuff I can't quite remember. The kids were completely engrossed in all of the experiments. I was amazed at how attentive they were.

I love this picture of Thomas. He really seemed to enjoy the party. He's such a funny kid, but I'm not really sure how else to describe him. He is his own man. Tonight I asked him to conduct the song I am a Child of God during Family Home Evening, but he asked it he could dance to it while we sang instead. Then he did a very interpretive dance to the song, very intense look on his face the whole time. Then told me several times what an awesome dancer he is. I love that kid! 

For Matthew's birthday on July 1st we had a BBQ with the Lott's and friends of Matthew's from work. It was a fun double-birthday party since it was Jon's birthday as well. I cooked up a storm! I made potato salad, and really yummy slow-cooked ribs, and a lemon coconut cake. I wish I had photo evidence.

By mid-July I'd had enough of baseball so I packed the three other kids up in the minivan and drove to Canada to visit my family there. It was a fun visit. Sadly, I didn't take my camera so I have no pictures of our adventures. The boys and I enjoyed spending time with family. Isaac joined us halfway through when he flew over to Buffalo from Boston all by himself! I wish I had a picture of him as he came off the plane to document it. The woman who sat next to him made a point of finding me to tell me what a nice kid he was. I was so relieved to see him safe and sound that I almost cried. But I didn't have time to do that, because I had to get back to my mom who was wandering around the terminal with my three other squirrelly kids. She survived, and so did they.

After a week and a half at home, which included a very fun day in Boston, Auntie Wendy and Kate joined us. Again no photos. Sigh. It was so fun to spend time with Wendy and to watch Kate play with her cousins. Anna and her mostly got along and called for each other frequently. There was some fighting, I'm not going to lie. Mostly because Anna stole everything Kate got her hands on.

A week later Ken joined us then we all drove down to Long Island (including a ferry ride from New London CT to Orient Point NY) then hopped a second ferry to Davis Point, which is a community on Fire Island. Fire Island is this very cool barrier island off the coast of Long Island. There are no cars except for emergency vehicles at Davis Point, and we didn't have Internet either, so it felt like we had really left the world behind. We were just steps away from a beautiful very quiet beach. We were there with friends the whole week, sharing a great beach house that had five bedrooms and a cool outdoor shower. The only sad part was a wicked cold I came down with my third day there, but besides that we had a really lovely time. We all got tanned (really!) as we spent hours and hours at the beach riding the surf and digging in the sand.

I didn't bring my camera (see a pattern here?) but luckily my friends Jill and Monica did, so I have some photos to document the second half of the trip.

Here's the gang that stayed in the house from Mon-Fri nights. Two other families - including Wendy and Ken - were there for the weekend. It was a fun group.

This is one of the kids walking down one of the boardwalks that connect all of the homes to the beaches that run along either side of the island and to the main dock. This is how Davis Point does roads.

Here's our other "road" - miles and miles of beautiful beach.

Here's Anna on the spiral staircase in the house. It was a great house. Nothing fancy, but it had a nice open layout and enough rooms/beds/futons to fit us all!

Here are Grace, Thomas and Owen with the non-stinging jellyfish that took me a little while to get used to. On Thursday there were whole colonies of these round, clear jellies washing up on the beach and swimming in the water. You got used to them.

Matthew and I enjoying a rare moment when one of us wasn't standing guard over the kids in the water.

The girls. Jill, Monica and I. I love these ladies.

Jill and I floating on rafts in the beautiful water. It was warm and calm that day, so I finally felt brave enough to really swim in the waves.

Matthew sending Thomas for a ride on a wave on the raft. Matthew spent a lot of time helping the boys learn to boogie board on the waves. They had so much fun with their dad. I boogie boarded too. I only got flipped off a couple of times.

Joey buried in sand. We did spend a lot of time washing sand off ourselves and the children. A lot of time. But it was all worth it!

So much fun. Now back to reality. Well, almost. We're going camping this weekend in Vermont with our ward. Maybe I'll remember to bring the camera!

Birthdays and End of the School Year

This week we celebrated two birthdays. Isaac turned 10 on June 13th and Anna turns 2 today. I'm not sure what to say about them without sounding trite. Isaac was born in American Fork, Utah, while Anna was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, representing our long trek from West to East. (Joey was born in Wyoming and Thomas New York.) Isaac is entering this really interesting phase in his life. He is really starting to discover what interests him. He loves math and reading, and sports. Especially sports, and especially baseball. His team the Orioles is 2-0 in the city playoffs, and he was just selected for the All-Star team, which means our baseball season will stretch until the end of the summer. He reads voraciously, mostly fiction. We have arguments about him reading at every meal and late into the night. I seem to remember getting in trouble for that myself. He has a good group of friends here, but still misses and talks about his New York friends, and his Wyoming friends for that matter.  But this doesn't really sum him up, does it? He is interesting and opinionated, and sometimes tender. He is sensitive and hates to see anyone else in pain. He's maturing and growing up way too fast.

I've said a few times how much Anna and Isaac are alike. She shares his strong opinions and sensitivity. She is also curious and tender. She likes to make us laugh with her antics. She loves, loves her brothers. But she also knows when to run for mommy or daddy. She has really changed in the last little while. She has so much language now, and can mostly tell me what she wants, or doesn't want. She talks to her babies, rubs them on the back and asks, 'you ok? you ok?' She is finally starting to venture away from my side more. She'll play for brief stretches on her own and will mostly go to other people, although at this moment she's sitting beside me trying to get my attention.

Sometimes being a mom is hard for me, but I love my kids. I'm amazed by them and grateful to get to watch them blossom and bloom.

This is Isaac playing with my friend's little girl. He can be very sweet.

This is Anna wearing the new dress that her Auntie Michelle made. Isn't it/she cute? The dress and matching hair accessory got rave reviews at Anna's birthday party on Friday.

We're also winding down our various school years here. Thomas finished his preschool year at the Children's Winter Garden. He and his classmates put on a very cute graduation program. He loved his teachers Mrs. Hogan and Mrs. Nest. He also made some good friends. 

Thomas also finished his Fun School year, which was our name for the mommy-taught preschool I did with three friends this year. We held school once a week, and we had a great time learning about all kinds of things. My favorite day was when I got the letter G so we learned all about government. I printed out President Obama coloring pages. I had so much fun. Here's Thomas with his Fun School friends on graduation day. 

Joey finished Kindergarten on Friday. His class also put on a very cute program for parents. I haven't gotten those pictures off the camera yet, but I will. Joey loved his teacher Mrs. Skogsholm. She really went the extra mile for the kids in her class. She encouraged Joey to try enrichment activities and made sure he was being challenged. He really had a great year. Joey also just finished playing soccer. He's a good little soccer player, but says he wants to play baseball next spring.

Isaac's last day of fourth grade is tomorrow. His teacher this year, Mrs. Miller, was also really great. I really feel so blessed that my children have had loving, supportive teachers this year who really seem to love teaching and love their students. 

Finally, if you haven't stopped reading this very long post already, here are just some random cute pictures of Anna and her friend and Thomas playing t-ball.