our family happenings

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Shanda

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I picked 8 cups of raspberries the other day from the side of the road!! I made a raspberry ripple tea cake with some of them and froze the rest.

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The library book sale was a few days after I came back from my trip. Sarah was the only one who would agree go with me. But then, as we were browsing, Jacob called my cell phone. He had gotten home from work and wanted to join us at the library. It really blessed my heart to have my oldest and my youngest children with me at my favorite place in town. I ended up with a big box of books for myself and the kids and Jacob bought……ONE BOOK.

“Mom,” said Ethan and Tessa, “The sky is really cool we thought you might want to take a picture of it.” Another heart-blessing. Yes indeedy.

Then I turned around and took a photo of Grace and her friend who were right behind me enjoying the evening sky.

I took the children to the batting cages and mini golf. This is Grace, Caleb, and Sarah, with Dave and Seth in the background. David won the course out of all of them and Caleb came in last.

Seth got done with regular season Little League and then was picked for the All-Star team. After their wins, the coach treated them to ice cream downtown.

Rich and I relaxed on blankets under a pine tree. I had to get up to run up the hill to the house, to retrieve my camera with the zoom lens:

Because there was a big heron perched in the tall dead pine tree.

We took the kids to the little league fields for batting practice.

I love this photo of Seth so much.

We took them to a huge used bookstore about an hour from home. They were delighted with the cats.

We went out for ice cream that same day. (This was during the super hot days we had recently.)

Aren’t they just the dearest and cutest? Right behind Seth is Jacob’s girlfriend, Brittnee. I had braided all three girls’ hair in two french braids that morning before we left. (Jacob and Ethan didn’t come with us). And as you can see, Caleb is taller than Grace now.

One day at home Seth painted himself with mud.

And naturally had to swim in the pond to get clean again.

I had to run errands downtown and the kids played at the park. Aren’t they beautiful?

After their second-to-last game of the season, Seth was given a game ball for his good playing. We absolutely adore watching our boys play, and getting to know the other parents. I love how sports build community. In winning this game, the boys made it to the Championship game. They lost that one, but it had been the first time in about 10 years that our town made it that far for this age group.

Another photo to treasure and hold close to my heart of memories…….Seth loves his Dad so much, and Rich loves his little Scrapper/Tiger/Sethie.

Dear Jacob and Brittnee. They light up our family with joy.

MORE BERRIES from up the road!!! I remember this was on the 4th of July. I can remember that because I eventually had to laugh when I realized we were both wearing green when we should have been wearing red, white, or blue.

Seth did all the grilling on the 4th of July. (Just kidding).

Pretty Girlies. Sarah, Grace, Erinn, and Brittnee (their boyfriends were playing basketball on the driveway and they sat on the bench to watch).

That morning when my cat matched my coffee cup.

Relaxing with my girls. 🙂 We talked and flopped on the bed and looked at photos and baby books.

Seth finally got tired.

I made the boys match socks.

Later on that day, they found me in the laundry room to show me the turtle that Seth stepped on and found outside. Look at its claws!!

Sarah in a tree by the river at a baseball game.

I was watching the kids swim when the chickens came over to me to say hello.

My niece Abbie graduated from HS and I took this photo of Dave and my mom at her party.

My brother Nate and his wife are about to have a baby girl!!

On Sunday morning, Grace had Sarah put her hair in a braid.

When she was done, Grace had her do it over because she had accidentally left a chunk of hair out. So after she braided it over again, she realized she had left the chunk out AGAIN and started crying……..but Grace let it stay that way that time.

During Seth’s last baseball game that same afternoon.

Ethan went camping with his girlfriend’s family and Tessa sent me this photo of him.

Sarah’s raspberry teacake remains…..she had two pieces for breakfast.

Rich and I took Jacob and Michael downtown for ice cream and Jacob was going through the 1,000 items stuffed in his wallet. We were laughing and laughing but you can’t tell Rich was happy by this photo because he actually wasn’t that happy….he was in pain.

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Every single solitary photo in this post so far was taken with a heavy heart because we knew that Rich was going to have surgery soon for his neck. He has been living with a very damaged disc for several years and we finally decided to get it surgically repaired (replaced). We were all nervous and concerned for him but having him in pain all the time made us sad, too. He had the surgery on Tuesday of this week (just 2 days ago!!!) This was the waiting room where I sat and waited for him to be done.

And here he is after a very successful repair!! The doctor only had to replace one disc and it went “textbook perfect” in his own words. In order to replace the disc, the doctor had to make an incision on Rich’s neck in the front. Before the surgery, he marked the incision site with a purple marker and accidentaly marked Rich’s chin as well. This bothered the nurse and after I took the photo she scrubbed it off.

After a six hour recovery, he was cleared to go home!

This was taken yesterday by our daughter Grace. We went on a short walk. Rich already felt and looked like a new man. He is so happy after living with chronic neck/shoulder pain for two years.

We spent a lazy day, as Ethan was gone to Vermont to get Seth, David, and Caleb from wrestling camp (they were there from Sunday-Wednesday) My sister had Sarah for two days. So we watched TV, read books, and took naps together on the couch. It was marvelous.

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And an egg (dyed with berry juice).

After dinner last night they helped me pick another 6 cups!

Rich and the kids are waiting for me to finish this. We are going downtown to the coffee shop and the park. Rich has the rest of this week plus all next week to recover from surgery. He’s doing great and my heart is light and happy.

with rich

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Shanda

We were really rather silly last night at the baseball game. I guess being apart for 2 days and generally being over-exposed to little league baseball lately can do that to a couple. It was cold!! So he let me borrow his really nice jacket that he bought in “Norway” at Epcot in Disney. We did a little walking before the game started. It was just the two of us, no other children but Seth who was in the game. Seth had left his glove in the rain and had to borrow a glove which was too big for him. We got silly watching them play. Our team didn’t do very well and Seth struck out all but once. Rich says he needs another trip to the batting cages and I said, “Yes, lets go after church on Sunday, they have good food there.” And then he looked sad because he has another business trip coming up. And then as soon as he gets back I am leaving for 10 days on my trip to Alaska. But we sat together on the bleachers and leaned into one another and talked and laughed. We walked with our arms around each other trying to keep our legs going in the least awkward way. The bathroom doors were locked and I didn’t want to use an outdoor toilet (because too many little joyous boys use them *ahem*) so I ended up leaving an inning or two early (we had driven separately) and he walked me to the car and buckled me into my seat. I gave him back his jacket and drove home. Later on, we watched TV. We’ve been watching the original Star Trek series together and I almost always fall asleep before the ending.

outside & inside the house

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Shanda

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Grace and I found a Garden Center yesterday pretty close to home. It was big, exciting, and bright and full of ladies of all ages filling their carts to the brim with annuals, perennials, potting soil, pots, vegetable plants, fertilizer, tools, and mulch! I said, “I’m NOT going to get distracted by wanting alllllll the flowers!” and then I admit I did indeed became a tiny bit distracted which made her wander off to some flowering trees over in the quiet back corner while I made up my mind, eventually, to buy two huge RED hanging baskets and two RED watering cans planted with RED geraniums. They look wonderful against our YELLOW house. I now have the Memorial day//July 4th bunting up, too. Home Sweet Humble Home.

Meanwhile, inside the house:

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I also picked up this little cabinet from a (new-to-us) Thrift store.

It has become our Scrap/Art-booking cabinet.

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Grace promptly ran off to find some books to put on top of it. Mary Oliver poetry, a book I’m reading, a book she JUST finished, and one of her beloved Dictionaries. (She has a weakness).

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Inside the cabinet there are removable shelves for our books and papers.

My scrapbook is on top, then Grace’s and then Sarah’s. We each have one. We glue anything and everything inside of them. Someday I’ll take a few videos of them to share. Joanna does them with her girls, too, and when we’re together we love to spend time looking through each other’s books. We also mail each other papers to include in them, too.

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Again at the thrift store, I couldn’t resist this 1070’s child’s tablecloth with Raggedy Ann and Andy on it. Seeing it made Sarah remember that she had a Raggedy doll (which used to be Grace’s).

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Guess what? My Christmas Cactus is blooming again! It gives me great joy (rather like a christmas joy!) Two buds; one small and one just-about-to-open.

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Sherlock sleeps in his favorite bed all day long (he reminds us of a taco in a shell, so his new nickname is Taco-cat which is the same backward and forward, David told me).

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Parker was sleeping so soundly on my bedroom floor that I had to stop and check his breathing. He’s fine just really tired.

My current read; Grace and the boys listened to the audiobook when they were still homeschooling years ago and I remember how much they loved it. I was in the mood to try reading some Newbury Award books that I missed as a child, so I pulled this one off their shelves. I think of them as I read it.

I found this one just sitting on the couch. I’m guessing Grace is reading it because I mentioned that I wanted to go see Laura and Almanzo’s house next summer but that she probably wouldn’t want to go with me because “you never really read the books like I did as a child.” To which she became slightly offended and said yes she did too read them.

This morning Grace couldn’t find packing tape. I told her where to find it. She couldn’t find it. I went to check and found it promptly. Then she could not find her shoes. I bent over to look under the coffee table. “They’re right there under the coffee table.” “HOW DO YOU DO THAT?” She was impressed. “You’re like a MEDAL-DETECTOR of lost things!”

I felt really proud of myself. Someday when you’re a mom you’ll hone this skill, too, Grace.

HONE: refine or perfect (something) over a period of time.

mark twain house

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Shanda

Grace and I FINALLY, after all these years, went to the Mark Twain house in Hartford, CT. It was easy to find, there was nice parking, and it was a charming destination for a half day exploration. Grace has read several of Twain’s books and I read Volume 1 of his very large autobiography. What a character he was, and what a treat it is to enjoy his writings.

We did the “Living Tour” with a man who was pretending to be the butler. Indeed, he said he WAS the Butler. (5 dollars more per person). The house is heavily protected…..you may NOT sit on anything, you may NOT take ANY photos, also NO CELL PHONES, and you may NOT carry a pen in your hand. (pencils only). Because it was a living tour set in the year 1897 we were NOT permitted to ask any questions that didn’t have to do with that time period. By this time I was so nervous I said not a word.

The inside of the house was GORGEOUS. So lovely. I have no photos of it, though!

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Thank Goodness we could take all the photos we wanted, outside the house! And that was gorgeous, too.

Look at pretty Grace.

The tour ended in the basement where we were allowed to take photos again, ask any question we wanted, and touch things. I slowly thawed. There were photos and books on a long table and while there was a question and resulting discussion (involving math) about exactly how old Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was when he spent time in Europe, I took a couple photos.

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His daughters and their friends putting on a play.

Mark Twain’s Scrapbook!

My favorite rooms inside the house were the library, the nursery, and the conservatory. I could only get outside-looking-in photos of the conservatory. Incidentally, if you would like to see photos of the rooms you can do a quick google search and find them all. Check out the wallpaper in the guest room and master bedroom, it’s so elegant and whimsical.

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beautiful white lace curtains and the outside brick of the house

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THIS IS MY MOST FAVORITE PHOTO OF THE DAY; Of Grace in her skirt, by the flowerbed at the carriage house. Our tour guide made a point about how the family of Patrick McAleer, with seven children, lived upstairs in the carriage house back in the Clemens’ day. So Grace and I were intrigued, as that is the number of children in our family. We were glad we did not have to live in the upstairs of a carriage house.

Well, actually, I may have gotten the feeling that maybe Grace would have enjoyed it. 🙂

It was a wonderful house and beautiful morning.

We left and went to lunch at a place called Tangiers International, which was a Middle Eastern Market half a mile down the road. We shared an order of stuffed grape leaves. I had a lamb gyro for lunch and she had chicken curry. We bought a couple boxes of Turkish Delight on our way out. David had asked for some at Christmas time and I finally found some, 5 months later.

“I was born modest, but it didn’t last.” Mark Twain

the cats and I like to look out the window

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Shanda

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tuesday morning

Posted on April 24, 2018 by Shanda

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Good Morning!

The pie tasted even better this morning. I just ate a piece for breakfast. (more details on instagram). Sunlight is flooding, FLOODING into the room and it’s glorious. We’ve finally had warm springtime weather and I spent most of the afternoon yesterday outdoors. I was looking forward to blogging but as soon as the door slammed behind the children going to school after a long spring break and I was alone in the house for the first time in forever, what did I end up doing?

C L E A N I N G

I turned on the tv and cleaned away to my hearts content asking myself who I was and why and how did I turn into this woman delighting in cleaning when she was alone in her very own nest?

And then, I read my book which is just getting good and un-put-downable, went for a brisk walk, watched the busy birds, and baked a pie.

This morning when the door slammed I grabbed my computer to blog.

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Guess what play Sarah is going to see today? And guess who was making her laugh while I took her photo?

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*****

The Lord loves you not to-day, Christian, because of anything you are doing, or
being, or saying, or thinking, but he loves you still, because his great heart is full of
love, and it runneth over to you…….. Charles Spurgeon

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first violets & secret garden quote

Posted on April 18, 2018 by Shanda

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For all the February babies, including myself, my son and my friend ~Thia~

Mary did not ask any more questions. She looked at the red fire and listened to the wind “wutherin’.” It seemed to be “wutherin'” louder than ever.

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I wasn’t even looking for them yet. We’ve had almost entirely cold cold spring temperatures. These grew in a warmer spot, by the kitchen door. Oh it was such an encouraging moment to see these first deeply rich purple wild flowers. I bent right down in the rain to pick them, knowing that soon there will be hundreds and thousands of them.

At that moment a very good thing was happening to her. Four good things had happened to her, in fact, since she came to Misselthwaite Manor.

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She had felt as if she had understood a robin and that he had understood her;

she had run in the wind until her blood had grown warm;

she had been healthily hungry for the first time in her life;

and she had found out what it was to be sorry for some one.

~The Secret Garden

Sarah and I have been listening together and enjoying it very much. A beautiful book.

“I found them in a book last night, these withered violets.”

I ended up closing the first spring violets in-between pages of poetry given to me by my friend Marcia, years ago.

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fireworks to snow

Posted on April 6, 2018 by Shanda

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LAST FRIDAY we were in Florida smooching in front of a castle in Magic Kingdom,

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with four children waiting for us to stop so we could hurry up and get on the rides.

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At the end of the day last friday, we enjoyed watching sparkling fireworks filling the sky.

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THIS FRIDAY we are back home in Connecticut, with sparkling snowflakes filling the sky.

fireworks? snow in April? Both quite awe-inspiring and a little bit overwhelming.

cold feet

Posted on March 24, 2018 by Shanda

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I just got back from taking old cornmeal muffins to the chickens. I did what every other New Englander would do when it’s March 24, sunny, and 39 degrees. I threw on a jacket….and sandals.

Parker the Dog couldn’t get any closer to the hens because of his Hidden Dog Fence. He was very much longing for an old cornmeal muffin.

I have sent various children to the coop for the last three days and they all skipped back to the house cheerfully saying, “No eggs!” “None?” “No, they ate them!” “Did you check the barrel? They’ve been laying in the barrel lately.” “Yep, there weren’t any!”

Just to be sure, I also went in the coop. I found seven in the barrel and 3 each under two brooding hens.

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I put them into the same bag I had brought the muffins. By this time I was calling myself Stupid because my toes were turning pink and icy and I had sandy textured snow in my berki’s. There was a bit more darn snow than I had anticipated.

I kept my eyes on the warm dry dock as I slipped toward it, planning to warm my feet. Upon arrival, I kicked off my sandals to get rid of the snow and dry off. One of them slid right across the dock and….into the pond. Thank goodness for cork bottoms. While Parker stood on the bank and leaned across the water with his nose stretched out toward my shoe doing nothing, I also leaned over the edge of the dock stretched out my arm to retrieve it. “Stupid” I called myself. I tapped my shoes on the wood to get as much snow and water off before slipping them back on to walk back to the house, keeping in as many of the bare patches as I could. This must be why the children are always skipping into the house after they go to the coop.

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I washed my dishes and 13 eggs.

And put socks on.

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waiting for the bus

Posted on March 9, 2018 by Shanda

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They were ready for school a solid half hour before the bus was due to arrive and I did NOT want to listen/watch Phineas and Ferb so soon after waking up. I was mean mom, turned off the tv, and forced them to stand out on the porch so I could take advantage of the best background ever……gently falling white white snow…..

“Sarah, stand close to Seth, closer!, now, put your arm around him.”

Sarah calls this her “spring coat.”

Where is Seth’s coat?

“I don’t need it, Mom, I have a sweatshirt on.”

they had the giggles

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When you have kids close in age sometimes you sometimes get the impression that the children have a secret life together that you cannot understand. I had that feeling when we turned to go in the house to continue waiting for the bus. Seth and Sarah’s heads were together and they started dancing and singing just a little phrase; “I always look so good in white,” I was puzzled and asked where they learned the song.

“Phineas and Ferb,” they said at the same time.