A Magical Evening

If you know me well you know I LOVE movies. And I'm having SO much fun introducing the kids to my favorites and experiencing new ones with them too! I have been waiting a long time for the night when I felt they were ready for E.T. Ruby might be a little young for a couple of the scary parts and there were a couple words that they know aren't words we say. And each family has their own comfort zones...but for me and my group we were READY.

They loved it. Ate it up..kissing each other on the cheeks in excitement when the bikes rose into the air at the end and tearing up when Eliot and ET said goodbye!

Spielberg. Wow. Timeless. Classic. Movie music at it's best....

Where were you when you saw this movie the first time? And don't comment if you've never seen it...just.go.rent/stream/buy it!

One More (holiday) Thing

Before memories of Christmas 2011 are completely blurs of the past, I have to document something funny. Ruby began learning more of the Christmas carols this year and could be caught singing portions of them all day long as she played. Here were a couple of my favorite lyric hiccups:


"Frosty the Snowman" - ...down to the village, with a corn dog in his hand...

"Deck the Halls" - ...tis the season to be jollies...(never fail every time it was jollies (plural)...cracked me up!)

"Go Tell it On the Mountain" - Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Chlist is born...(once again even after correction it was Chlist)


That little girl is a hoot I tell ya!

Ruby turns four!

Our baby girl is four! I guess I'm sad because I was either pregnant or postpartum her entire 3 year old existence and I think it went extra fast. Also, with babies on my mind I forgot to realize that my "Ruby baby" was growing up in front of my very eyes.

This year I'm going to do a 180 in my thinking. I'm going to try not to say, "she or he is getting so big" and "time is going too fast". Instead I am going to remember that they are actually really little still and I'm going to try and relish the baby in ALL four of them still. I'll probably mess up a lot and either try to grow them up too fast (in efforts to excell in school or help around the house etc) or feel sentimental when I see old pictures and videos etc, but I really am going to try and live in the moment more.

Precious moments like Ruby's first ballet performance in December and yesterday at her birthday party:

Christmas 2011 Gallery

I have this little unwritten rule that I have to finish my chores before I blog. You know the rest of the story, right? My chores are never done so I rarely give myself permission to write and show pictures. But Christmas was 2 weeks ago and Ruby's birthday was last week...so I am ignoring all else and documenting a few memories this morning.


We had a wonderful Christmas season - full of friends, family, food, advent activities and it just wouldn't have been complete without a kid throwing up all day on Christmas (Maisie). It went too fast and I have been reflecting on how we slow time to enjoy it even more. But I know that's everyone else's challenge this time of year too, so I find comfort that I'm just another mom in that club. At least I snapped a lot of pictures:

Once upon a time (before kids) my sister in law and I went on a trip to London and stayed up into the wee hours of the night dreaming and talking about our children-to-be. We envisioned them looking just like this:

The reality is that most of the time they look and act like this:

Of course we LOVE them BOTH ways:)

Henry was a trooper as he got passed around and had lots of interrupted sleep. Luckily since he's the fourth baby he's sorta used to "rollin" that way!

Grandma Pam always gets the kids and Becca and I new Christmas jammies - a tradition we heart! She always displays them in new and cute ways.


I laughed out loud when I saw this progression of pictures....Daphne gives her gift givers the best reactions. This one deserved it (a trip to the Embassy Suites and shopping at the mall with her Grandma Pam)

This is out of order, but we had a really fun time making gingerbread houses with the cousins the week BEFORE Christmas. Maisie won the prize for most attention to detail!

My cute sis-in-law Meghann, and sister Lesley!

The Absence of a Friend

I know sometimes it's hard enough to put yourself into someone else's heart when we are comparing human stories, so when it comes to animals it must be even harder. So I don't expect you to think long on this or shed a tear. But we lost our 11 1/2 year old dog this weekend.

We've had him since he was 7 weeks old so he's been a part of most of Mike's and my marriage. He lived with us in three different houses and was around for each of the kids' homecomings. And now every time I turn a corner or open a door I expect to see him or go to feed him and he's not there.

For a very sentimental person I don't have a lot of words, except that Gus will genuinely be missed. He had a kinder soul than most people I've met and a gentler way with kids than most adults I know too. Fortunately he had a great last 6 months - with a first and last trip to our family lake cabin, a summer spent at our parent's 85 acre property keeping my father in law company all the days long, a really memorable fall walk, and a recent outing to the beach.

Here's some of my favorite last pictures of him.