Fall Traditions

Another year at the orchard! Last year was unseasonably warm and we were all sweating and somewhat uncomfortable, so this year Mama decided to even things out and leave the kids' jackets at home and let them freeze on an overcast and chilly day. But we all had a great time!




And last year's...

Hunter's Prehistoric Birthday Bash

Hunter's 4th Birthday was a perfect opportunity to throw him a really great party. We had never done anything party-like for him outside of the family dinner and cake routine. For his first birthday, we drove Mimi home and he had peach ice cream at her house, and I baked him a cake. For his second birthday, we were down at the shore and we had a little party at our house with Grammy and Pappy when we got home. For his third Birthday, I gave him a four month old sister and we went to Grammy's for dinner. You get the jist.

So for the fourth, and to celebrate going to a new school, we decided to throw him a dinosaur party and invite his new classmates along with his old friends. There was much talk of dinosaurs pre-party, and we studied his dino books at length. I had so much fun designing his invitation and planning the food, it reminded me of the old days when I was catering in college. We even made a recon trip out to Jimmy Johns and picked up the best hot dogs on the east coast, after doing some sampling and playing with the trains, of course.

On the big day, the farm was transformed to a prehistoric site! The dino bones I cooked, (really, I am still traumatized and will not discuss them at this time), looked great in the garden, the moon bounce was inflated (and much quieter than I thought it would be), and Heather was ready and decked out in her Dino saddle cover, (she was thrilled to be giving pony rides, ask her). I finally got to do the picture collages of Hunter that I've always wanted to do for a birthday, and I hung them around the old pin oak.

Mimi and Bunny were in attendance to help keep an eye on everyone, and Pappy George enjoyed himself in all of the excitement. The kids had a good time and it was fun for the parents to meet each other and enjoy the summer day!

These are just a few of the highlights of the day...

Pumpkin Pie

At school, Hunter takes a class called Stripes, it's an integral part of his school. This month he is learning about his Faith Stripe, and on parents night his teacher explained that Faith is laden in tradition, so talking about tradition with little one's can help them begin to identify Faith.

I thought about the traditions that I am trying to practice with our family. Some traditions are new one's, like taking Hunt and Beck to the town Halloween parade in homemade "Pairs" costumes. Some are old traditions; my mother used to hide the baby Jesus figurine from our creche in the drawer of the dresser where the bucolic scene rested year after year. Her theory was that Christmas was Jesus' Birthday so He should not make an appearance until Christmas morning. Now, I just need to remember whose turn it is to take out our baby Jesus for our creche scene that Mimi gave us.

This year I decided that our new tradition could be baking pumpkin pie from scratch. Hunter loves pumpkins, and I thought this would be a good way to get him to eat something with a more sophisticated flavor. They say if the kid is involved in the making of the food, they are more inclined to eat it. I wasn't holding my breath though, pumpkin pie was a bit outside of Hunter's current palate. I also thought it would be a good opportunity to show him that pumpkins, a lot of veggies for that matter, come from the vine before they end up on the table, they don't necessarily come from a can or the microwave.

Enough foolosiphizing!

Getting started, Hunter has a selection of pumpkins and a can of pumpkin, he said, "Just in case we need it"



Ready for the oven!




Mixing it up!



Finished Pie...



Hunter ate his whole piece, and declared it "Delicious"



Let Pie season begin!

Catching Up?

Meg says blogging every day is easier than sporadically since you don't feel as if you need to "catch up." Well, sheesh, that is how I feel a bit. Mostly I have been procrastinating and using a few excuses to take some time off. First, I totally killed my ProShot camera when I left it out in the rain the evening of Hunt's Big Birthday Bash. I am still wondering how exactly I let that happen. We were cleaning up and wandering around the property hanging out chatting, and I guess I just spaced it out. So I have yet to be able to replace it and take pictures, and it feels yucky. Hopefully soon I will be able to get a little something to tide me over, I have my eye on a pocket ProShot point and shoot, but alas, I am afraid even that won't happen for a while.

The other thing is that I have been stalling on starting another blog. Mostly since I am unsure of the best way to go about it. I have the idea and the name at this point, I think what is holding me up is the publishing. Obviously, there's a few different routes I can take, I just need to decide on one.

Hunt is just now finishing his first full week of Pre-K. That is a post all its own!

Blerghhhh

I haven't posted in so long. It's been a long few months. This is the summer I had the pleasure of taking lots of prednisone due to a loser doctor and my own forgetfulness.

Hunter is starting EA in 9 days.

Count 'em.

Hunter Golfing ScrapBlog

Fabulous, Darling...

Me: Hunter, you are just Fabulous.
Hunter: Mama, you are Fabulous, too.

Happy Anniversary to me, indeed.

Last Baby Bath

Bye blue tub, you have served us well.







Who would have thought that donating the baby tub would be just a little bit hard. My last baby in her last baby bath, *sigh*...

What's on the Menu

Rebecca is one year and 2 weeks old. Yikes. She can eat. A lot. So Far:

Avocado (a lot), mashed sweet potato and regular potato, peas, carrots, chicken, beef (a little), cheerios, yogurt, fish, pasta, asparagus, peaches, pears, oranges, banana, raisin bread, turkey, stuffing, French onion soup, cream of mushroom soup, butternut squash, pancakes, eggs, cheese, crackers, kiwi, and vitamin D milk. Oh and hotdogs once in a while. Not my favorite choice. But whatever. I can't wait to see what she is horking down next...



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Baby, uh, Toddler, Steps

Rebecca took three steps in a row today. Can you hear that? Yes, that. It's my heart breaking. I do not have a baby anymore.

With a little help from Daddy



Let's Go!

That. There. Was Unpleasant.

We drove from the farm at 8:30-something AM Friday all the way to somewhere until 8:30-something PM. With Hunt and Beck. Yeah. All-in-all it was uneventful; Beck doing the random at-will screeching to hear the sound of her own voice and remind us that she was all but done with the carseat, and Hunt playing with a new toy every few hours. I managed to chat with Meg for a while before the call dropped and we were back to the long road, which didn't allow for a stop to actually see Meg (insert high pitched Beck screeching...here). We called Mimi to check in and let her know of our awesome progress and we even stopped for a meal (note to self: just eat what was packed). Don't dismiss the big fun of the deplorable dump we spent the night in, which nearly did me in with the dirty yuck and overall ewww. Not to mention Beck screaming for a good 20 minutes before dropping off to sleep. But, it could have been worse...

On Saturday morning we drove another few hours until we reached the island. The room was not ready, of course, so we had a bit of a rough lunch at the clubhouse of the golfcourse, before we finally unpacked into our room and settled in. In, that is, to hot showers and baths and clean clothes, delish.

The boys got a walk in and the sandals were put to use in the ocean.


We have a lovely view thanks to Dada who likes to secure some nice scenery.



And we all managed to get some sleep in clean beds. I didn't even sanitize like a madwoman. Ahhh, vacation...

Cruise Control

No, not Tommy Cruise. Beck and I went shopping today for our impending trip on the road, and she discovered she was a bit peaked after Mama had perused many sale racks. So I reset her stroller seat to Recline and offered her the nuk nuk bottle. And she held it and nukked while Mama kept digging through those bargains. Then tonight during our bedtime routine, she held her bottle again, before being distracted by Big Daddy, who she kissed quite purposefully(?)tonight. So many milestones, so little time. My baby is in nuk nuk cruise control, I am at one time both tickled pink and heartbroken.

In Lieu of...

...the other post I am writing which has been snowed out, I offer pictures of the view. Stay warm, people.

Wordless Weekend

Bread with Beck

But there wasn't any Bread or Beck playing. It was U2 on WMMR in fact. Beck loves rocking out.



Beck and I made Cornstalk Bread from a recipe we found in the Gourmet magazine. The bread was easy to handle and smelled yummy. I sprayed it a lot with water while it baked to make it crusty like the French Baguette I used to have in Nantes. Of course it was deemed "Too Crusty" by the critics, although Beck enjoyed the teething quality of her piece.



So, per it's name, the bread is supposed to look like a cornstalk and the guests are to tear off their "corn." Hunter got a kick out of the tearing part, and the bread went well with the beer-braised beef chuck and gravy.



The blue pot in the background was my mother's. Unfortunately I dropped the lid in the move and the handle popped off. Also, the interior ceramic is failing, so I am thinking about getting a new one. I just can't figure out what color I want. Decisions, decisions...

Off to a Meeting

I love this picture of Rebecca in her quilted coat from Aunt Kay. She exudes this tiny sophisticated air and I expect her to hop up saying she is off to a fundraiser meeting. Instead she just says 'mamammmammmamamaaa' and chews on the coffee table. She's got a little way to go before Sophisticated is a choice word for her.

Now I just need to learn some photoshop so I can make this picture even better. I am determined to learn how to use PS, since all previous attempts have failed miserably. I can pick up any software pretty quickly, but the photoshop, it elludes me. Meh.

Dear Hunter,

The day before your Dad's birthday, January 22, he went to the post office, like he had so many times this month, looking for the letter. A letter we had talked about for years, before you were born even. A letter we were excited for, and also concerned about. We were excited for you and what you could discover. We were concerned if we were making the right choice for you, one of the most important choices, and one of the last we would be making without your input. A letter that, when it came, made us cry, and laugh, and feel proud of you like we had on so many other days before this one.

A letter that accepted you into the class of 2023.

We knew you were smart and gentle and funny. We knew you scored so well on your tests, and we knew you played kindly with the other children on your play date. We knew you loved it at the new school. One day you asked me when you would be 'done the regular school and go to the play school' where you had the play date and we had looked at the big whale on the wall. We knew you were excited by all of the computers you saw in the classrooms. We knew you were looking forward to frolicking on the scenic playground. And now we know that you will thrive, be happy, and make friendships to last a lifetime at this place.

Our sweet little man, you are getting so big, we love you so much.
I am so proud of you, my Huntie, be proud of yourself, too.
Love,
Mama and Daddy

Baby Hunter-4 months


6 months in your first golf shirt


Your First Day at the Last Daycare-1 year 2 months


At the Races-1 year 3 months


Down the Shore-2 years


Riding Lesson with Mama-2 years 2 months


Playing With Your Camera-3 years 5 months

Getting Ready

Beck had her 9 month check up on Tuesday and she is thriving! She weighs in at 20 lbs 10 ozs, although Mimi and I were sure it was much more. The other stats were a little lost on me given that I was at the doc's the day before with a wicked cold. 5 days later I am still not well, ugh. This terrible sore throat and cold is also putting a damper on Hunter's good news that we received yesterday in the mail. He has been offered a place in the class of 2023! We are so happy for him and proud of him! We didn't say too much to him since I think he will want to go to the New School tomorrow and he won't understand that he will need to wait a few months.

Anyway, Beck is cruising and getting ready to walk, and her babbling is consistent and wildly cute! She gets so excited when Hunter gets home from school, and cries when Daddy leaves the room, the doc says good object permanence, Daddy says she just loves him so much. She is still in a full swaddle at night, mostly because this cold is giving her a hard time, but also because the teeth have been menacing her a bit. She has two bottom and two top, and given they were so hard won you would think I would have the dates they came in, but I don't, so sue me. I'll be sure to note the next one.

For now those are the milestones for the little charmers, I am still trying to simply get over this cold. Oh, and the Eagles missed the superbowl again. Shocker.

Moving + Renting = Dislike

I dislike the word hate. But if I did hate something, it would be moving. Which I have just done again for the umpteenth time with Michael. And I think I dislike (read:hate) being a landlord and renting out the house. But I have finished moving out of a 5 bedroom and cleaned nearly the entire thing in less than 2 days. I am also now sick. Surprise!! I have not been reading or commenting on blogs or keeping up. Which would lead me to this...

I hate that Amalah mentioned my comment on her delicious spot on the interwebs, and I am just now finding out. Am loser.

Amy's is a great post about the little angels that help you through the long nights with little one's, and how we all come to the Never Doing that Again column. Please to go read Amalah and enjoy smushy pics of her kiddies, I am returning to regularly scheduled sickness.

A New Year

I have an irrational fear. That I like to say is not an irrational fear. I don't like to go out on New Year's Eve. More specifically, I don't want to be on the road on NYE with some 17 (or 47) year old who has been drinking and takes me out. 'Cause I would be the one that gets taken out. Just because.

So this year we all packed into the truck to drive Mimi home at mid afternoon. Dad drove in silence while the kids eventually nodded off and Mimi and I rehashed the news, again. The economy. Obama. Crime rates. Tragedy. And the cost of food. (Happy New Year!)

We reached Mimi's house and James' car was missing, so she exclaimed that a cup off tea and brandy was in store for her, and we bid her a good evening (she would be asleep by 8pm).

Then we headed back on the journey home, rehashing childhood stories, all the schools that Michael had been in over the years, the one school I had attended. Hunt woke up going on about being hungry, which is his favorite statement right now. I caught Michael eyeing the next McDonalds while we sat at a red light light, and he pulled in so we could all have a treat (mine of course being that I wouldn't have to come up with dinner upon our return).

When we got home the kids played like angels while we had some beers and watched cheesy movies and chatted. We decided it was a perfect New Year's.

Happy and peaceful new Year to Everyone.