Random update

One more... although since the posts load newest first, this does look like the first.  But it's not.

Anyway...  Here are some pictures Nathan has taken of the kids with a camera he borrowed from work, the Bandit Action Cam.  Oh yeah.


Charlie has been riding for a few months now, but here is proof.  we can't find a bike small enough for Elisabeth, so she is still on the toddler trike we got from our Winthrop neighbor when Charlie was a baby.

A rare moment where the boys aren't trying to kill each other, though they do have big sticks.  It's a game they invented. Joseph calls it Muggle Quiddich, but I don't see much correlation.

Is it just me, or does she look like she's falling off? And in other news...

The kids start school in two weeks.  Lil'Nathan starts high school, Mary goes into 7th, and Joseph is skipping 3rd and going right to 4th.  Charlie may be starting kindergarten if I can work our a 1/2 day option with his teacher--we already have principal approval.  I have been scouring LISTEN for binders and paper and all the other "B2S" necessities.  And also WalMart, when LISTEN fails me.

Mind you, not that LISTEN often fails me.  Quite the contrary.  It's often too generous!

We have been blueberry picking twice this year and are awaiting this weekend when we go get peaches from our VT farmer friends. :)  Blueberry-peach cobbler anyone? With fresh cream?  YUM!

And we have made our monthly (and sometimes more) trips to IceCream-4-U.  Lovely place.  Lovely.  This year everyone has been more adventurous with flavor choices.  Charlie's new favorite is S'mores and I've rediscovered Pistachio--which is the flavor that hooked me on ice cream as a kid.  (My dad brought home a 3 gallon tub of it from an ice cream truck that had broken down.  So he said, anyway.  I used to go down to the freezer with a bowl and help myself after school, for months.  Well, once I'd gotten over my prejudice of its being green and therefore gross. So glad I came to my senses.)

Where was I?  Oh, summer, right.  So Charlie took swim lessons the last three weeks of July.  Mary and Joseph have them these first three weeks of August.  My car now drives itself to swim lessons--even when it should be going to piano, which is why we've been late to piano two weeks in a row now!  Mary also started piano this summer.  We'll see if she feels she has the time to devote to once school starts, b/c she is very serious about her practicing.

We've been camping a few times, too.  Once in early July for birthday celebrations.  We camped near Franconia and while there visited Keepsake Quilting (not a wise financial decision) and Franconia Notch which was sooo beautiful!  The kids liked the campsite, but I'm not sure we'll go back to that one.  1am karaoke parties, despite a 10pm curfew are not much to my taste.   We (Nathan and I) prefer our local, quiet Storr's Pond, where we went a few weeks ago.  The older boys and Dad went on a 20 mi hike with the Scouts this past week.  (Joseph got to go b/c Dad was a leader on this one.  The other leader let the boys--ahem, older brother Nathan--that all families were welcome and there was to be no harassing of the much younger Joseph.)  They had a good time, and despite losing Joseph on the hike out (rangers were dispatched, but Dad found him first), it was a good experience for all.  And no ticks.  :)  We have a ward campout coming up at the end of the month, at Camp Joseph.  More s'mores!  And we have one more coming up in September, at the Highland Games.

At the end of July I had all my hair cut off.  Mary lost hers last week.  ("I love it!  I love it!"  Why didn't I do this sooner?")  Now I'm eyeing the mass of tangles that is usually Elisabeth.  But I can't bring myself to really do it.  She is so cute--this tiny little person with the long, long hair.  Stay tuned.  Half of me hopes that in all the scissor cutting she and Charlie do--and they have free access to scissors and cut our pictures daily--part of me hopes she'll try herself and then the decision will be out of my hands.  I'll probably regret writing that.

We went camping as a family in July to celebrate Elisabeth's and Nathan's birthdays.  On the way home we stopped at Franconia Notch.  How have I missed this all my life?  The pictures cannot do justice to its amazing beauty.  Even Lil'Nathan, who had a massive headache (and it was his birthday!) eventually enjoyed himself and said it was beautiful.

zoom in to see Charlie-the-ham

it really drove him crazy that he couldn't go off the trail and climb the rocks

just too much excitement for this new 3 yr old

It's been 5 months.  Is anyone even there, anymore?  Just in case someone is still checking (oh, you patient person!)... Feel free to skip to the pictures at the end.

In January, right after Christmas break, Lil'Nathan, Mary, and Joseph started public school.  I offered it as an option to Lil'Nathan.  Joseph heard and pleaded to be able to go, too.  Mary said she wasn't interested.  About a week later, however, Mary said she wanted to go, too, which really surprised me.  As it turns out, she loves it the most.  Lil'Nathan is so-so, but overall happy with it.  Joseph, my most adamant "I-want-to-go-and-I-want-to-go-now!" (he used to ask weekly) is the one who told me two weeks into it, "You didn't tell me there would be so much sitting."  Um, yes I did.  I tried to talk him out of it, actually.  But once committed to go, they were committed to stay for the rest of the school year.  Mary and Lil'Nathan will keep going.  Joseph may decide to come home.

Eight days into his school career, Joseph broke his collar bone in PE.  Three weeks later, Mary broke her wrist, also in PE.  We are all watching Lil'Nathan and taking bets on what he's going to break and when.  He survived the Youth Winter Sledding Event yesterday, so I'm thinking his turn will come this week at either the school's winter carnival (sledding) or the Scout Klondike Derby.  I have a friend who said to me, "bring me the little kids when it's Lil'Nathan's turn, so you don't have to drag them around the hospital." See, I'm not the only one who thinks it's coming.  :)

And just so they weren't left out of the injury pool:  Elisabeth took a tumble off a stool in the kitchen on Wed, and took a pan of cooling brownies with her.  It shattered/exploded next to her and she had a few small cuts on her hand.  (See the pitiful photo below.)  Charlie put himself to bed on Fri at 5pm and woke up at 9 to throw up.  He's had a cooking fever ever since and has spent the past two days asleep, waking only for water and a hug or two.

LISTEN has been good to so far this year.  After one frustrating day trying to find Mary some jeans (the girl is picky! she tried on 23 pairs and we were there over an hour!) we went back the next week and hit the jackpot.  She got 2 perfect pair of jeans and 2 shirts.  But the golden prize was a practically brand new Zojirushi bread machine (exactly like ours) for... ready for this?... $2.75.  Yes.  YES!!  I saw it and grabbed it b/c the paddles on ours need to be replaced ($30 new), and it looked like it was in great shape.  When we got it home, we realized it couldn't possibly have been used more than a few times--it was spotless!  And it works perfectly.  I went back to LISTEN on Fri looking for a new brownie pan, but they didn't have any.  :(  I came home, instead, with a Warring-Pro Belgium Waffle Maker, the rotating kind.  This was $6 and it was brand new.  (Smelled that funny new-smell when we used it yesterday.)  Makes perfect waffles.  The kids are thrilled.

Joseph's birthday is on Tuesday.  He'll be 8.  He'll be baptized on Sunday, right after church.  But unlike Lil'Nathan's baptism, where GG and Gramma and Grampa were there, or Mary's, where GG made it, Joseph's will be without visitors.  You can blame the schools up here.  They scheduled winter break for the following week and that makes flights out of NH wicked expensive.  And he doesn't want to wait until the end of March when the tickets go back down.

In Dec I found out I was pregnant.  We had our first midwife appt. two weeks ago.  She found no heartbeat, and at 10+ weeks that was cause enough for an ultrasound.  They wouldn't let me see the ultrasound, but Nathan watched and said there was nothing in there.  The dr. and midwife suggested a D&C the next day, thinking it might be a molar pregnancy, but after they got the full ultrasound report and my bloodwork numbers, they said molar wasn't likely and I could wait it out.  I'm still waiting.  My body is showing no signs of letting go of this pregnancy.

For a while I was hopeful the first ultrasound might have been mistaken and was living accordingly.  But I had a long talk with my midwife and got a few more details (the gestational sac wasn't empty, but had an unformed mass--"a cyst-like mass") and now my high hopes are much lower.  Still, they are there, I guess, b/c I asked for another ultrasound and will get one on Tues afternoon. (My midwife seemed reluctant to order it, b/c she is convinced it's over.)  I did also call my Boston midwife and she concurred with me that another ultrasound is a good idea, just to be sure.  She also recommended another blood test. She told me, "I don't think this is going to end the way you want it to."

I know. 

I found out I was pregnant with Charlie the day Lil'Nathan was baptized.  I found out Elisabeth was coming the day Mary was baptized (also her birthday).  What will I find out on Joseph's birthday?  I'm having chocolate either way.

And as for other news... it's snowing.  That about sums up the past few weeks.  Snow.  Nice, light, super-easy-to-shovel snow.  Our neighbor said if he wins the lottery, he'll buy a snowblower and we can all share.  :)

Wanna see some pictures?

Peanut with her beloved "baby orngies."

Joseph, quiet.

King Charlie, on Christmas morning.  Thank you, GG.

Lil'Nathan, before he realized he wasn't making a funny face.  HA! Gotcha.  :)

Mary, hamming it up with her new cast.  She goes in on Wed to get the "real" one.  This was a temp b/c of the swelling.  I told her to get plain white and then paint it.  She gave me a "poor woman, you don't understand anything" look.

See, isn't this pitiful?

Brain Dump!

We bought an iPad.  Most of the money came from Nathan and Mary's most recent "brain study".  They donated their full earnings, I threw in my half, and we found a little extra hiding in the form of an old gift card.  We were planning on an iPad Mini, but found a better deal on a regular one.  It arrived in 2 days and the kids nearly died with joy.  Shame that Mom doesn't give them free access to it, isn't it?

The iPad arrived just a few days before our computer kaputzed.  We concluded the issue was a dead inverter. $9 later we had a new inverter and VIOLA!  I have my computer back.  The iPad is fun, but I don't like "typing" on it (I feel like Schroder from Peanuts) and when I "tap" I want it to do what I want, not bring up something random.  But I do like the Blocks game and the kids love Monster Physics ("Monster Fig-ets" according to Elisabeth) and "Bugs and Bubbles."  I will probably add a few more math apps and some history/geography games.  We really bought it for the kids for school.

Our garden has been producing well.  We've gotten several zucchini, lots and lots of tomatoes, a half dozen eggplants, two meals of chard, one meal of kale, and a yellow squash.  The kids claim they've had a lot of beans, but I've not seen any.  We have one pumpkin that may or may not make it, and two watermelons well on their way to yummy-ness.  There are at least a dozen or more peppers ripening now, dozens and dozens of tomatoes still on the vine, and more eggplants.  But the zucchini are done.  Squash borer worm.  Very effective (and ugly) little cuss.  I hate it.  Mary has been diligent about bug picking and has been able to keep cucumber beetles and squash bugs at bay with her soap water and quick fingers.  But that dang borer worm is beyond detection until it is too late--it's inside the base of the plant.  Second year it has destroyed an otherwise bounteous crop.  Such a beautiful plant it was, too.  Sigh.

All the flowers are still growing strong, though.  Please let me know if you want any marigold seed.  We are going to have it by the pound!

Mary has started oil painting.  I've introduced her to Bob Ross's Joy of Painting.  She was helpless against it.  Her first two paintings... she had so much fun we couldn't get her to stop for dinner!  She's just been using paper and only stopped b/c Charlie and Elisabeth somehow managed to go through our last 1/2 ream using markers and scissors.  No more paper, pause in the painting.

I'm blogging.  Nathan is putting away the dishes.  They've been in the dishwasher since Fri.

We went camping on Fri night and got home yesterday afternoon.  Funny.  I talked the kids out of swimming on Fri b/c we got there kind of late and I felt it was important to have a calm, relaxing evening.  So we sat by the fire,  cooked and ate dinner (all packed by Lil'Nathan), told stories, and then made s'mores until we ran out of grahm crackers.  (I forgot the camera,  but trust me.  Elisabeth really enjoyed her s'mores.)  The next morning we broke down camp and were at the pool as soon as it opened  (a little before, actually).  They only wanted to swim for about 2 hours and then they wanted to go home.  I wonder if the drone Daddy had at home needing to be built had anything to do with that.

For work Nathan is working on a project that involves a drone.  His team's first attempt didn't work out the way they wanted, so they decided to try again, building it themselves this time.  The parts and components arrived right before we left for camping Fri and he needed it built before work on Mon.  So, when we got home, they jumped right on it and before we left for wedding reception last night, they were finished.  The "brains" are at work, so they could put it all together, but couldn't fly it.

Lil'Nathan has spent a great deal of time camping in the past few weeks.  He admitted he's a little done with it.  He was at Scout Camp with his current troop the first week of July.  We went as a family on an overnight trip toward the end of July.  He joined his old troop for a week of Scout Camp two days after we got home.  Three days after he got home from that, he was off again for an overnighter with this troop.  The day after he got home from that, we were out again as a family for another night (this most recent trip).  We go again in two weeks, but as he has nothing scout related in the interim, perhaps he'll be more enthused, and less tired, when we get there.  "Where's Nathan?" has become a common question by Elisabeth.  Then she answers herself, "Oh, at scout camp."

We spent most of the last week dealing with plumbers.  The downstairs toilet went out (think shooting water and leaky seals) last Sat.  We had a plumber Mon who told us to go buy a new toilet and he'd install it. So we went off to Home Depot.  Instead he found himself in the hospital for a week and his partner came by and installed it Tues.  But he was overworked (taking his partners jobs in addition to his own) and left a leaky valve.  Another plumber came by Wed to fix that and take care of a few other things the others didn't have time to fix for us.  I'm still awaiting the bill (gulp), but it's a lovely toilet.  :)

I subbed for Joseph's primary class last week.  He was most disappointed.  "They said they'd get good substitutes!" he complained.  Well, I guess I  did something right, b/c that night he said, "That was the best primary class I've ever had."  Cool.  No candy.  Just brought some silks and had them act out scripture stories.

Lil'Nathan has been appointed Troop Web Master.  He got an email address and is in charge of making/keeping the troop blog.  A very happy man.

Joseph is sailing through his piano lessons.  We just got him a metronome to help him keep time.  Now he needs to work on keeping his hands in one spot and not jumping all over the place.  He loves his lessons and is really enjoying learning new things about music.  I asked him to tell me what he's learning and got, "No, you wouldn't understand."

Last night after the wedding reception, we were driving away when Charlie suddenly yelled from the backseat, "Oh, no, stop!  I just stole a plate!"  He'd left with a half dozen potato chips on a "fancy" plastic plate.

Elisabeth has given up naps.  But not the need for them.  If she crashes any time after 4 (which she is want to do since she won't sleep earlier) she is up until 11.  She sits next to us downstairs and reads and re-reads piles of board books.  Then she hits her wall and says, "I'm ti-wed," and folds over on my lap and goes out.  So cute.

All of our school books for this year have begun to trickle in.  I think most of them are here.  Histories and sciences for Nathan and Mary.  A lit curriculum for both of them to share.  New language/vocab for everyone.  Art book for Mary.  I still have to get something for Charlie, new penny whistles for Dad (if you know where Charlie left his other ones, please let us know, we can't find them anywhere!!), and of course we need more paper.  Then we'll be ready for school.

Summer reading... This year I decided to take an idea from a friend of mine.  So, the kids read what they want, write a report--one sentence per year of age--and get paid a penny per page.  So, Mary is writing 10 sentence reports and Nathan is writing 13 sentence reports (up from 12, earlier this summer, much to his dismay) and they are racking up the pennies.  (And I won't let Lil'Nathan read whatever he wants, he is also undergoing a "mind cleanse" and I'm carefully watching how much "snarky teenage, stupid grownups" stuff he is reading--ahem, none--and he has to read something with value. I get to determine what that means.  Oh, the power!)  Mary is at $68.55,  Lil'Nathan is at $51.  (Scout camps, you know.)  Mary is saving for a Bob Ross kit.  Lil'Nathan is hoping to buy a soldering iron and some stuff for his drone.

Did you know he bought a drone of his own?  It has a camera.  He also got two batteries for it.  Good thing, b/c when it was just 3 days old, he landed it in the fish tank.  Drone survived.  Battery, not so much.  In saving it from the water damage, he also accidentally discombobulated the camera unit.  Hence the soldering iron.

Lil'Nathan started a blog of his own with his new email account.  That means Mary will be taking over their joint blog.  Watch for changes coming soon.

I've bored you long enough.  And not a single picture to make up for it.  Ah, well.  Next time.

Nasty hot day + water hose + tools + PVC + 2 trips to Home Depot = lots of fun!

 

 And in no time, it's ready to go!  (We made it tall.)

 Don't look too sure, do they?


But maybe it's just her brother.

Oh, well.

And a shot of Nathan before he could make a face...

And just so you know we still have Joseph...

 Love those pig-tails!

 

In this house, if you can't find it, it's probably in a laundry basket.

If you are sick of hearing about the garden, skip this post...

We are going to make this look like a wishing well.  Or maybe we'll just plant it with flowers.  (It's hiding the top of the propane tank.)

Serenity Garden with the birdhouse.

Looking from the other direction.

A rock box, instead of a sand box.  Why?  We have cats in the neighborhood.  'nuff said.

Current view of garden.

Closer.

I told Mary these beets would never survive.  She is delighted that I was proven wrong.

See my better scarecrow?  (Mary asks that you pay no attention to her in this photo, please.)

A peek inside our largest zucchini.  Now we just need some bees.

He's grown.  Must be all that good NH air.

My favorite flowers.