Tiny Tidbits that make up my life

True Love

2012-02-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

How wrong is it to seriously love a door?
I want to look at it all day and send it Valentines.
I know, I know it is dead wrong but I can't help myself.
I have thought/dreamed of a new door for almost as long as we have lived in this home but they are so stinkin expensive. But that didn't stop me from continually taking pictures of all the front doors I love. You should see the looks I have gotten from getting busted. I have to say it's a little embarrassing.
I originally wanted a dutch door but they are really hard to find used in decent condition. We even talked about sawing mine in half but it just seemed a little risky.
So when Tom gave this to me for Christmas I broke out in song(OK loud screams) because it is everything I have dreamed of and more. He just installed it last weekend so I am still giddy with it's shear beauty. I will take more pictures later but yesterday the lighting was stinky and my yard is wintry, dead and ugly. So for now you just get this sneak peak of my utter happiness.

Before: This was the only picture I could find with the 10 seconds I had and it is certainly not a bad front door. Normal people wouldn't even care or notice the difference but I have totally excepted the fact that I am so not normal.

After: Ta Da

We are in a serious fish bowl but we had zero privacy before because of all my front windows without blinds and the side windows on my front door. But for real unless you live on my cul de sac you don't go by my house. Well unless you wanted to take a picture of my front door.

Well I have to go now and stare at the new love of my life.

I am grateful for silly things that bring such happiness.

My Friend's Giveaway

2012-01-27T15:10:00.000-08:00

My friend Wendy Vansosen that I told you about at the end of my the last post is having a giveaway for an awesome printing lab called IPIX. So check out their products and Wendy's beautiful photography and enter to win 16x24 foam-mounted standout.

I am grateful for this giveaway! Have a great week-end....

Family Pictures/ Childbirth

2012-01-24T14:48:00.000-08:00

How completely heinous are getting family pictures taken?

Well maybe that's a huge generalization and whoever is reading this is thinking, "That's strange, I absolutely love getting family pictures taken."

But I dread them. I mean get sick and feel nauseated just thinking about them kind of dread.
I used to forget how bad it was from year to year--a little like childbirth but just like childbirth, if you have enough children you will eventually remember just how ghastly it is.
I have had enough family pictures to totally remember.

-I remember trying to get us all in matching outfits

-I remember worrying about the weather

-I remember me freaking out because in veritably we are running late no matter how early I get us started.

-OK I remember me freaking out just in general.
-And most of all I remember the bribes to get the other 4 people to cooperate and look super cute and smile normal and not to punch someone if they happen to be standing a little close to them because probably they will be.
And to make matters super fun this year Benjamin's zipper broke as we were all getting in the car. His boxers were hanging out of his fly and I am trying to calmly safety pin it shut.
See this is not a good time.
The problem is, like childbirth, I LOVE the result. I love, love, love my newborn baby and I love, though not quite as much, family pictures. I love walking down the picture hall in my house and seeing my family growing through the years. I love looking at their toddler curls morph into teenagers. I love the expressions and the colors. It is art and my children are the subjects.
So next December I will definitely remember all the hassles of taking a family picture. But the kiddos will have grown a little or a lot and someone will have their braces on or off and someone will have a crazy haircut and I will certainly want to remember all of that.

This is a sampling of what we were up against this year with Charlie.

This gets the favorite picture award this year

I am grateful for photography....It captures emotions and those irreplaceable moments in time.

As a side note my good friend Wendy Vansosen, who is a professional photographer is doing a series on what to do with those family pictures. She is having a guest blogger every day in January to help get those creative juices going and get those family pictures on the wall. So check it out because there are some really great ideas.

My Christmas Present

2012-01-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

My honey made my sign and gave it to me for Christmas and I couldn't be more pleased.

I almost lost out at the last minute too because the kiddos in my family were not happy that our home was not called "Hotel Call-ifornia." I get it. That is super cute and clever and they can call it that anytime but as for the official name the Mama's choice reigned supreme.

I am grateful for my home no matter where it is or what the name happens to be.

A Jump into 2012

2012-01-06T17:15:00.000-08:00

So I know that I have complained about January in the Past (remember this post haha?) http://lotsofcalls.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-dont-like-january.html However I feel so different this year. I had to wonder why... but I can tell you I noticed it when I was taking down my Christmas decorations on January 2. This is usually such a depressing task because as you recall my house is a fairy land of white lights. But go figure I didn't even care. I liked the empty canvas and it felt a little refreshing.

OK this doesn't sound like me.

I don't like change and I don't like January.

I usually like to have my feet firmly planted in the previous year. So why am I so willing to put my foot in 2012?

I contemplated 2011. I had so much to be grateful for but I have to be honest it was a particularly turbulent and bumpy year.

I thought about my family.

I thought about how they pulled me through those dark times and didn't know it.

That's how it is with family.

Maybe it was a quick joke from Nicholas or that contagious laughter from Benjamin. It was that little voice from Ella asking to sit on my lap or Little Charlie cuddling on the coach with his Daddy.

And of course it was my Tom...my love,my rock.

It was all these insignificant moments. They gave me that little nudge to keep walking forward and never look back. Well, and that mountain I was climbing, my little family was simply going to push me right to the top. I still don't like change and 2012 promises lots of it, but I still have my family beside me. What joy it is to see this clean canvas laid out in front of me and not dread its uncertainty. So with that said I have both eyes looking forward, holding my families hands and jumping into 2012 and seriously, I can't wait!

Here are the highlights for the last month of the year.

OK first of all this day was hilarious.

It started out with the family wanting to head into San Fran but not really knowing what we wanted to do.

So Tom suggested buying a walking tour book of San Francisco.

Super fun idea and we were all on board.

Hmm what section of the city did we want to explore first. We decided to go with the mission district because well my honey loves all things Latino. so we took the mural tour of all these famous murals all around a 4 mile period around the mission. We highly recommend the tour, the Mexican lunch, (which happened to be voted best Vegetarian Burrito shop in the city. I will have you know it did not disappoint) the ice cream shop and last but not least the amazing art all over the alley ways. What I will tell you is the language your family will hear is extremely foul to say the least and 4 miles with 6 people will take a.l.l. d.a.y. There will be near collapses at the end but ice cream cures all problems and only leaves the good times in its wake.

This might look like regular ice cream. Looks can be deceiving and this is brown butter ice cream that is sooo good the first scoop. The second scoop you realize those delicious bits you thought were maybe crackers are really frozen bits of butter. Maybe I will get a different kind next time in lieu of the fact that I had butter on the roof of my mouth for a couple of hours after my ice cream was done. I know that's gross. I thought so too.

This is Tom's birthday but I accidentally deleted the picture of Tom and this is taking way to long and I don't want to download it again. whew! So Happy birthday to the love of my life!!

more psycho bunny

Christmas Eve

Everyone came over to celebrate with a raquelette dinner and the nativity.

Christmas

Note to self: Never bring out the bike after the Nintendo DS has been opened.

During the break we spent a couple of days with John and Ann and family in Carmel.
Heaven on earth I am telling you.

The first day my boys played golf at MP CC and the girls went to a spa. That left Charlie, Ella and I to spend the day by ourselves on the beach. To say that we enjoyed ourselves is quite the understatement. Given the surroundings, the weather and our little picnic it was a day to go down in the books.

New Years Eve

Day two was spent on the beach with everyone except John, Nicholas and Benjamin because they wanted to play the other MP CC course. However they joined us later and we soaked up every minute.

John and Ann headed home and

our family wandered the streets of Carmel which always transports me into a storybook where moss covered thatched roofs and Hansel and Gretel live.

We noticed the sun was going to set so we ran back down to the beach.

So I sat down and watched the sun melt into the ocean for its final curtain call on 2011. It's spectacular ending was a perfect mental beginning to jump feet first into 2012.

I am grateful for 2012 and all it's wondrous possibilities...I think I am ready for the ride. :)

Christmas Tree Evolution......

2011-12-22T14:04:00.001-08:00

The Christmas tree is magical.

I have always thought so, along with every other child that has ever sat endlessly below it.
My mom didn't just have one Christmas tree she had many and they were stunning. In fact she had a forest of about five unbelievably decorated trees for many years of my growing up and one in the kitchen and every bedroom. So when I think of Christmas past I picture me and my little sister Annabelle (my constant friend, sidekick that was often referred to as my shadow) in our jammies sitting for hours below those twinkling lights. Between the forest of trees and the presents, sitting under Christmas trees was our favorite December pastime.
We would hold, squeeze and shake each gift smiling endlessly making guesses about what was hidden beneath that Santa wrapping paper. Ahhh the anticipation nearly killed us but we never peeked not even one time.

Well I grew up like all little girls do and then I got married.

It was time for me to get my own tree. Oh how I wanted that tree to be beautiful. I missed my sidekick and I missed my Mom's beautiful trees. There was just one huge problem we had absolutely no money for ornaments. So my friend Michelle and I came up with an economical solution...dried oranges. It was actually quite beautiful and I knew this was a temporary solution until I got my own forest of beautiful trees just like my Mom's.
Just one problem my beautiful trees never came.
Not the trees and not the ornaments.
I ended up with a hodge podge of my growing up ornaments that my Mom had given us and all the homemade pictures from nursery or crocheted who knows what from school and the thingy that someone made at a Christmas party. It is seriously "a whatever you can stick on the branches" Christmas tree. The crazy thing about it is I absolutely love it. I watch my kids decorate it and I don't change one thing. ( Usually I would intervene on something like that.)
That tree represents everything that Christmas is and everything that is closest to my heart. It is memories of years gone by and the reminder that this very Christmas season will someday be a distant memory.
Now its 2011 and my own children sit below that tree for hours. I still ache for my little shadow to help me guess what each present holds but now as I watch my own kiddos sitting beside the tree it makes me so happy and it keeps a smile on my face just the same.

I searched for a picture of me and my little sister. No such luck but I found this beauty taken of all my sisters in 1982 in Canada.

My "anything goes" tree

I am grateful for little sisters and Christmas trees.

Christmas at Pear Cottage

2011-12-14T15:16:00.001-08:00

That's right I have named my home.

When I traveled to England, I noticed that all the quaint little cottages had names. It planted a seed in my brain. Then when we were in New England, many of their homes also had names out front.
Well that was it my home needed a name.
After all my home has housed my family for seven years and during that time has seen a million of our wonderful memories. So I began to stew and to think. Oh the pressure of the right name. I started out with familiar and wonderful names from England but surprisingly nothing felt just quite right. Then after probably a month of periodically saying names my honey just looks over at me and out of the blue says...Pear Cottage. We both knew that was it. You see my home lives on a very old pear orchard. In the early 60's when our home was built it went on that old pear orchard. They left many around the neighborhood including a beautiful tree in my backyard.
So that is it my home has a name and it felt just exactly right.
My honey hasn't made the sign out front yet but I can't wait to show you when he does.

In the meantime white lights, glitter, and boughs have temporarily transformed my home into a magical wonderland.

I am grateful for this time of year when everything reminds me of who I owe everything...Him. For unto us a Child is born and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

I am joining a Holiday Home tour at Jennifer Rizzo too.

Concord and Cambridge Massachussetts (Day 6)

2011-11-15T14:48:00.000-08:00

I have super exciting news. This is the last day of my trip so I am officially done blogging about it...Hallelujah! It is sooo time to talk about something/anything else.

But still I couldn't just leave this day out for this is the Walden pond. So peaceful, so beautiful that I thought I might want to live here. A simple life seemed within reach sitting on the banks of this lake.

This is the last picture I took with my camera. My cf cards were all full and I didn't have my brother in law Dan to save me with my constant photography mishaps. :) The result of this is two fold--
1. There are basically only pictures of me now because Tom was snapping with his iPhone
2. We don't have as many pictures. Now while I realize this is not a tragedy for the reader this is devastating to me.

After Walden Pond we visited Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and Author's Ridge. Could there be a better name for a cemetery than Sleepy Hollow....impossible.

I love, love, love "Little Women"

Literary greats Emerson, Thoreau and Hawthorn were buried here.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's house

I have three sisters.

My dad has always thought of us as his "Little Women."
We actually all fit the mold a tiny bit too.
Meg, Jo Beth and Amy as the March sisters and Angelin, Tiffany, Hilary and Annabelle as the Brown sisters.
Ang is a lot like Jo with a mind of her own and her strong will. Jo was described as having a hot temper. She was fiercely protective and did anything for her sisters.
Tiffany, I always thought she seemed like Beth. Beth was always so sick. Our Tiffy has had her share of illnesses right down to scarlet fever. Beth was always so sweet and loved her sisters dearly.
Annabelle and Amy are a perfect fit in a lot of ways. Besides both being the baby of the family they are both absolutely adorable. Both are proper and carry themselves so beautifully. Both were given a lot as youngsters and Amy is described as spoiled. But the difference is my Belle certainly never through the temper tantrums that Amy did. She's too darn responsible and wonderful.

I guess that makes me Meg. I don't feel like I am a Meg. I feel like I have traits of all the other sisters more than Meg. I sorta feel more like a Beth.
All I know is I feel like the luckiest sister in the world to be raised in a home with my best friends. I love them all beyond belief and will always be grateful that I have my own story to tell of Little Women.

Minute Man Historical Park

The North Bridge
This is the exact spot that the American revolution began and the famous "shot that was heard around the world."
Great men dared to dream of a country free of Britain's control. This is where they displayed their determination and the battle began.
They fought and died right here on this now beautiful and peaceful field.
Because of their sacrifice I enjoy the freedom that they could only dream of.
My heart was so full and all I could think to do was bow my head, say a prayer and whisper thank you...

It was not a accident that I wore red, white and blue. It was sooo planned. :)

Concord, Ma
There is a Concord about 15 minutes from my house and let's just say it is not a great place to live. So when we were heading for this Concord I was thinking it was going to be gross too. Why? I don't know...I just did.
So I think I was even more surprised by this wonderful, picturesque, adorable little town. Concord was home to some of the greatest minds in America in the nineteenth century. They actually called Concord the "American Athens." The entire area was also affectionately called "The flowering of New England."
Everything has been perfectly preserved here and I loved every single minute that we were in this town.

Cambridge Ma.
Harvard
Oh my heavens I have dreamed of seeing this University since....forever.
I kept looking at the students with their backpacks on and thinking,"Oh my gosh, for the rest of their life when someone asks them where they went to college they get to say...Oh I went to Harvard." I mean it is the ultimate. It's like the comedian Brian Reagan's bit about walking on the moon. Nobody can beat a story if you have walked on the moon and nobody can beat your university if you went to Harvard. I am talking immediate and total respect. How fun is that?
The history, the smart people, the town.
I love Harvard and I want to go there in another and very distant life.

We had absolutely no business going to this burger spot on Harvard Square whatsoever. It was way too late and we had to drive through rush hour traffic, drop our car off and shuttle it to the airport. But when we read that this restaurant had the "best burgers in America" well we couldn't resist and we just had to try them.
K that just made me laugh so hard because that totally reminded me of Elf when he sees the sign for the "best cup of coffee." That is so ridiculously funny I can hardly take it.
But back to the real story.
Well I shoved my veggie burger and 75 sweet potato fries in my mouth, taking about 5 minutes to enjoy my "best burger in America" and started sprinting to our car. The fun did not stop there and if there weren't all of 5 people in our terminal we would have surely missed our flight.
I was so sick by the time we took off that I never recovered.
Flight rule 101-- Never eat a burger, then get stressed out and have to run for days right before being cooped up in a plane. That is simply put, is not a mistake I will make again, even for the best burger in the world!

This is what eating too fast and flying for 6 hours looks like. Haha

I am grateful for all of it!

Newport Rhode Island (day 5)

2011-11-10T14:19:00.000-08:00

This is the day of rain.
It also happened to be our anniversary.
But seriously it was mostly the day of rain. Rain without even a teeny tiny break.
-So we ran in the rain
-we drove to Rhode Island in the rain
-we went to the Newport Mansions in the rain
-we explored the gardens in the rain
-we walked along the coast in the rain
-we ate in Newport at a tiki hut type restaurant in the rain.
-and finally drove back to Boston, yep you guessed it--in the rain.

The Vanderbilt summer cottage called the Breakers
A summer cottage...I mean seriously. That's fun.

Along the coast somewhere. Tom and that sky give off the illusion that it is not raining. I assure you that it most certainly was.

The back of the Marble House.
Another Vanderbilt cottage

This is the tiki hut called Salvation Cafe.
It was a perfect place to celebrate our twenty one years together. A little coastal retreat with red and white striped cushions all along the exterior. Red painted ceiling and walls with candles flickering on all the little tables. Oh sure the roof leaked but no matter I was sitting next to a wood burning stove eating the best butternut squash soup I have to this date and it all was so wonderfully cozy. Certainly a night to remember...

I am thankful for the twenty one years I have had with this man and to the many more to come. I am currently not that grateful for the rain.

Cape Cod (Day 4)

2011-11-08T12:47:00.000-08:00

K I can't believe I am seriously still blogging about this trip. I am just kinda done with it because it is taking far too long. But the deal is this between my snippets of time and my stupid computer I am just going to have to get over it and write a little something.

I loved Cape Cod.

I really did and the lighthouses were as much fun to see as the bridges. The beaches were stunning with the green grasses flowing in the coastal breeze. I could have sat on those beaches all day but we had darling houses and villages to ooh and awe at.

The first house I really fell in love with was a quaint little cape cod in Provo Ut. It was like 19 years ago and I guess that my love affair with real estate began right then and there. I would divert all my errands to circle around that home. The people living there probable thought some creepy person was stalking them-- but nope it was just me in l.o.v.e. with their house. I still do that BTW for a perfect little charmer. It lives up the street from me and it makes me happy to see it each and every day. Actually I do that for many special houses but that one especially. Maybe I will take a picture so that you all can enjoy its darlingness too. Any-who as we would drive through the towns in cape cod I would yell, "Look at that darling cape cod, look at that cape cod." Tom had to continually remind me that indeed we were in cape cod and thus all the darling cape cod style homes. Oh yea that's right. :)

I loved Cape Cod as much in real life as I did my dreams.

New Hampshire (Day 3)

2011-11-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

How beautifully the leaves grow old. How full of light and color their last days.
John Burroughs

Finally it was time to go see the colored leaves.
Evidently, Boston mid October is usually in its peak of fall. However it hasn't been cold enough to turn those leaves. So you might see a red of yellow tree here or there but basically they were still all green. :(

So we woke up and rented our car and immediately headed up to New Hampshire. We had been told over and over again that we needed to get to the White Mountain Forest and drive the Kancamagus Highway.

Now once again there was a leaf changing delay and we had to get pretty far North to see them. Tom and I being serious road warriors didn't care how far North we needed to get. We would have driven to Canada to see the splendor.
There was just a tiny problem. Come to find out the year that my fall dream fell into place was also the year that New England got a lot of rain. All this moisture does something to the tree. The leaves just turn yellow and fall off the branches. Soooo you don't have as much color as you normally do. Ugh!!
But to us it was just as breathtaking and beautiful as possible. Maybe the trees weren't as spectacular as other years but that is all relative. It was this crisp fall day with crunchy leaves under my feet. A feeling in the air I will never forget and this day goes into my books as a highlight.

Oh the New England windy roads, with majestic forest on either side, leading to yet another idyllic small town. A white church in the center with pumpkins everywhere and cornstalks crawling up each lamppost. It was something out of a storybook and I would just let out joyful screams.
People live here...this is their home...o.m.g.

Early on in the day we also discovered covered bridges.
I had heard of covered bridges. I mean I read " The Bridges of Madison County" but it took seeing them to make me want to jump up and down.
So we went bridge chasing!
Their history, their adorableness, their oldness and their beautiful streams and rivers that run under them. It lit a little fire under us and now we might have to go to Madison county just to see the bridges. Ha!

On our way...

Where I first fell in love with my first covered bridge.

See what I am saying!

unbelievable right?

Rain..whatever that is a stunning leaf.
I fell head over heals in love with this old beauty.

Isn't she something?

My love still trying to work. :)

This is the last bridge before day gave into night . It nearly broke my heart. I would of given anything for 6 more hours of the suns precious light.

Along the way the barns almost killed me.
We eventually started saying... stop at every church, bridge, barn or really just any dilapidated building. All of it is worthy of our time.

Thank you New Hampshire. You were everything I thought you would be...you were perfect!

Boston (Day 2)

2011-11-01T10:45:00.001-07:00

We spent the whole day exploring some of Boston's great neighborhoods.
Boston is a walking city and that is what we did....walked.

Beacon Hill and Back Bay were primarily where we explored the most but we ate dinner in downtown.
It was at a great seafood restaurant called the Barking Crab right on the riverfront.
Then at 9:50 sitting in the restaurant we thought Modern bakery was going to close at10:00 which happens to be in the North End so we ran.
I am talking the sprinting kind and the shedding of our jackets without slowing down kind of run.
You have never seen two people that serious about getting a canoli in your life.
To see us in our dead sprint you would think emergency which in essence it really was.
I am happy to report we made it-- and the canoli was so worth the side ache and heart burn.

Day 2

Public Garden

Holding the pizza box from the night before.
Everyone knows that pizza is even better the next day so we had a pizza picnic in the park.

The Green Monster

Newbury Street in the Back Bay
We spent a long time here. Huge long street with amazing high end designer boutiques all in the darling brownstone buildings. Cathedrals and cafes on the corners and all the hustle and bustle that comes with any wonderful neighborhood.

Copley Square where the Boston Marathon ends

This was the courtyard in the Boston public library
I fell in love with this sculpture.
To me the artist captured the complete joy of a mother and her precious baby.
The courtyard

I so wanted to be smart and study in this library. I pretended that I went to Harvard and I needed to study for my accounting class for my business major. It was super fun for like 10 minutes.

This street is called Acorn street.
They say it is the most photographed street in the US.
I am not sure that I believe this statement because when I was there I was the only one taking pictures.
I have yet to see Lombard street in San Francisco with less then 50 people snapping pictures.
So I am just not so sure that this can be true. However no matter because the street was stunning and Tom and I took 100 pictures of it so that might count for something.

I am thankful for another day of fun.

Boston (Day 1)

2011-10-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

And Yes... I said yes... I will Yes!
James Joyce

This I know and I don't know a lot...
after 21 years of marriage
4 children
7 moves in
3 different states
and all the billions of crazy, stressful, mad,wonderful, worried, sad, ecstatic, the tears, the belly laughs and all the upside down and right side up moments that have made up the last 2 decades together

I would jump up and down and scream yes all over again!!

Twenty four years ago the planets aligned and the heavens smiled down on me (OK don't worry I know what really happened Ang and Sue Ellen thought Tom needed a friend and I was new to Provo so they lined us up...but the heavens smiling down on me is how I picture it) and gave me the man that was to become my everything.

Fall was the season that I first met the love of my life. Fall was when I married the love of my life.

Where else could we celebrate the last 21 years of our life together then New England? I have been dreaming of going to Boston and seeing the foliage as long as I can remember. It just seemed to me that New England was my fall Mecca. I needed to be right there, with my Tom, celebrating fall in all of its wonderful glory.

My dream came true and we took the red eye flight to Boston on Friday October 14.
There are too many pictures and it takes about 5 min. to load 1 picture because my stinking computer is on its way out the door. Therefore I am just going to blog each day separately. So without further adieu:

Day 1
Boston
We walked the Boston trail.

Now as you may or may not know I consider myself quite a scholar when it comes to English history. I am kidding only just a little bit. You see after all of our trips to England with the reading and the quizzing from my Dad, I call them miniature study a broads. But it has seriously been a spell since I reviewed my American History. So I actually found myself emotional thinking of my American heritage. I loved, loved the refresher course and being in the spot where so much happened took my emotions by surprise.
I love this country and so many of the remarkable men that founded this great nation stood where I stood.

Walking the trail...

Boston Latin School

Granary Burying Ground
I have always been fascinated with old cemeteries....who knows there is just something about them. The history, the stories, the people--a tad morbid I realize. I am used to seeing old tombstones in England but my America...now that was a first.

Benjamin Franklin Statue

Old South Meeting House
(Where the Boston massacre took place)

My love

Park Street Church

Bunker Hill
Talking on the phone with Julie...she had my kiddos. :)
As a typical Call side note: Benjamin had a sleepover with the scouts on Alcatraz. An amazing opportunity so I dropped him off at the church before I left for the airport. I thought all was well until he called me from Alcatraz and informed me that he had lost his bag holding everything. He was on the rock not only without a sleeping bag but a jacket of any kind. I knew he would freeze...I mean it's cold on Alcatraz all. the. time. He was going to be spending the night in a damp, cold cell with nothing. So I had to leave for Boston wondering what he was going to do. This phone call I talked to Benjamin and true to himself told me that it was the best time ever and he just slept on the cement and he wasn't cold at all. I mean seriously how much do I love that kid....

K one more story about Bunker Hill. There was a sign outside the monument stating you should be in good physical condition to climb the stairs blah blah blah. I don't mean to sound arrogant but I thought to myself, " I run every day how hard can it be?" So I start off running up the stairs. I start self talking because things are getting a little hard. Tom thinks I am talking to him and challenging him to a race. Now we both start to get competitive with each other and we are hauling it up the dang monument. Seriously I don't know if 350 stairs sounds like a lot but I am telling you that is a.l.o.t. By the time we got back down off of Bunker hill things were hairy. Our legs were cramped and I felt like mine might just give out beneath me. If we weren't laughing so hard we might have been crying. Needless to say Tom was as stiff the next day as he was when he just ran his marathon. I have nothing to compare it to except to say getting out of bed the next day was a major challenge. :)

USS Constitution

Apparently they play basketball here

King's Chapel Burying Ground

I realize that we have only been home from Italy for a month and I swore I would never have pizza that good again.
Regina Pizza however was pretty darn close. We met people in the never ending line that come here from New York. Now that is quite a commute for a good pie!

I have to put in another side note here.

October 15th is Nicholas 18th birthday.
When this opportunity came up we made our reservations after his Friday night high school football game but we knew we would be gone on his birthday the next day.. We talked to Nicholas about it and he insisted we go as long as we celebrated when we got back. Still you worry that you did the right thing....OK worry no more. When his Uncle John asked him if he felt at all bad that we weren't there he burst out laughing and replied," Are you kidding? This is the best present they could of given me." Alarming but true. Now whether this should hurt my feelings or not I am not sure but this is just Nicholas and I adore this side to him. My always independent and now 18 year old boy.
So here is how we celebrated 3,000 miles away from him. (Tom's idea and it was a hit) We made him a sign and took it all over Boston. All along the trail we would have people hold it or we would stick it on the monument and take a picture. It caused quite a ruckus and of course Tom found 200 strangers to talk to and become close friends with. Good times....then we sent the pictures home to Nicholas. For his birthday party we blew them all up and put them around the kitchen.
This is just a sampling.....

Good night Boston

I am grateful for a spot like Boston to explore.

An apple Kind of day

2011-10-12T20:54:00.000-07:00

Today was just the kind of day you were supposed to pick apples.
Their was just an ever so slight crisp feel in the air. It was subtle but I am sure it was there.
So I lit my pumpkin candle and went to find my two littles.
I found Ella riding her bike as fast as she could while Charlie tried desperately to catch her.
They happily changed their fun and picked me a basket of apples for my cobbler.
My house smelled of cinnamon, apples and pumpkin all afternoon.
I am telling you it was fall heaven.

I am grateful for apples and cinnamon.

I am so glad that God made little boys!

2011-10-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

Why God Made Little Boys

God made a world out of his dreams
Prairies and plains and wooded land.
Then paused and thought, I need someone to stand,
On top of the mountains, to conquer the seas,
Explore the plains and climb the trees.
Someone to start out small and grow
Sturdy and strong like a tree and so
He created boys, full of spirit and fun
To explore and conquer, to romp and run
With dirty faces, and banged up chins
With courageous hearts and boyish grins.
And when He had completed the task He'd begun,
He surely said, "That's a job well done."

Arthur E. Knight

When I found out that I was pregnant with my first little boy I was extremely puzzled and wondered to myself,
"How in the world can I be a mother to a boy?"

Now with 3 boys all of my own I wonder to myself,
"How in the world will I ever live in a house without little boys?"

Little boys with all their mischief and wonder have found a place in my heart that is reserved just for them.
Oh they are naughty and wonderful and stinky and loving and curious and busy and messy and loud. But when they climb up on my lap and wrap their little arms around my neck... they are perfect and that place in my heart almost floods over with love.

Now even though all little boys are similar--- of course they're temperaments are not all the same. I sorta thought they were because my first 2 are out of a similar mold. "All boy" is maybe the easiest and quickest way to describe them. Charlie... well not so much. He is quieter, reserved and doesn't like risk. Uhmm let me give an example to drive the point home. My other boys were riding their bikes off of ramps at half his age hollering and yelling the whole way. Where as Charlie does not even ride a bike... period. Not even with training wheels. Way too scary after he rode down the driveway going along at a worms pace, hit the curb and wiped out. All because Tom was just sure that this was a skill that he need to know immediately. Needless to say the carnage that followed was not pretty and we are sure that he won't even look at a bike for another year.
So this little guy is happy exploring close to his Mama and getting his face dirty if she is close by to clean it. Which is fine by me because I know that soon enough he will branch out and be standing on his own mountains.

So this last little boy of mine turned five years old and all I can say is pure joy... (well most of the time.) He just wanted to head to the beach for a day of digging and playing in the unlimited sand.
So that is just we did.
A perfect way to celebrate being a little boy.

Birthday pancakes

Jared Miller spent a week with us

Happy birthday to my five year old boy. Please, please stay little forever......

Is fall here yet?

2011-09-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ~Albert Camus

I love fall.
I love everything about it.
I can't remember if I have always loved it or because everything that is wonderful in my life happened in the fall.
Either way I get a little spring in my step when I feel it coming on.

It has been a crazy month and I am ready for all the smells and coziness that fall will surely bring.
Unfortunately mother nature is not cooperating at all.
We have had unbelievably warm weather and if my kids were not in school I would think it was summer. Therefore I took matters into my own hands and brought fall into my house. I omitted most of the Halloween fun to put up in a couple of weeks. This is fall decorating phase 1 and I have to admit... it alone has given me a serious spring in my step! :)

So any who that is all for now. I am off to finish my meatloaf dinner (don't be fooled this is no ordinary meatloaf) and german chocolate birthday cake for one of my favorite fall blessings.

I am linking up to the mantel party at The lettered cottage and fall door party at Southern hospitality. Sorry I can't figure out how to get that badge on there.

A King and his Four Princesses

2011-09-18T20:53:00.001-07:00

“You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”
Samuel Johnson

This quote continually floats around London.
My Dad actually told it to me before I had heard it anywhere else, but then it was out there and I have heard it dozens of times since. I guess that is pretty fitting because my Dad never gets tired of London and if you know him, at 80 years old, he is nowhere near tired of life. We (my sisters and dad) are fairly convinced that London is the center of our little world and we are nowhere near being done with exploring our town. There are millions of tiny reasons for this that I can't really put into words.
So much of it is just moments and feelings.
I reflect on our time in this incredible city and I realize I will never tire of life.

These are just a few of the reasons in no particular order that I will never ever tire of London....

#1
Palaces
How can you not love a city that has so many palaces in it? Buckingham palace and Kensington to name a few. I know I am a way too old but I can't help myself...I still want to be a princess and London is like a city out of a fairytale.

#2
English people
I love the English people. They seem so prim and proper at first but their undertone is hilarious and can sometimes be a little irreverent. They make me laugh and they are oh so kind. Over the years we have met so many wonderful people but our favorite Englishmen continue to be Peter and Debbie.

#3
The theater
The theater is always a highlight for me and I get goosebumps just thinking of London's west end. We have seen so many amazing shows and this year was no exception.

I had seen this in London last year with Tom but I wanted to see it with my Dad and sisters this year. Holy cow it was a hard watch....amazing but hard. It takes place during WW 1 in France and it is about a little boy who will do anything for his horse. That includes joining the military and going to battle to bring his horse safely home. So difficult to see but truly beautiful as they use life size puppets for the horses. A must see if you can handle difficult scenes depicting war.#5
Stunning streets
Their are so many darling places to explore. At every turn there is another little street made of cobblestone and picturesque buildings.

#6
Phone Booths
I mean seriously I would love any place that keeps these phone booths for no other reason except they have always been there and well they are super cute. When was the last time you used a phone booth instead of your cell phone? But the English people respect their history right down to these little beauties and they have fought hard to keep them despite their upkeep and rising costs.

#7
Marks and Spencer
Is it really too hard of a concept to have a neighborhood market this brilliant in the USA? This is our spot for all things quick and delicious. Aisles of ready made salads, sandwiches, yogurt and baked goodies. My personal favorite is the pearl pasta salad with fresh veggies. It is seriously just that good.

#8
The tube
OK I love the London tube. It's not stinky or dirty and it makes so much sense that someone suffering from half a brain could get around. I mean it is color coded for crying out loud! We have spent hours down in the tunnels below London and I know I am home when I hear in an English accent, " You are on the piccidilly line heading towards cockfosters."

#9
Our flats
This was the view out of our flat this year. I love every year where we stay but this year took the cake. It was right by Leicester square and Trafalgar was a stones throw from that. With the royal wedding it was all too perfect of a spot. It was located on the west end so the shows were in our backyard as well. I also loved our "Mary Poppins" view of the rooftops with the rows of chimneys and cathedrals in the distance.

#10
Celebrity sightings
In London we see movie stars every year as well. What? You don't recognize this years high profile sighting? Well we certainly did and we laughed and created quite a scene taking this picture of.... dang it I can't remember his name. Tiff what is his name again? I can only remember his show "Queer eye for the straight guy." Super ridiculously funny!!

#11
Shopping, shopping and more shopping.
Don't worry we are sight seeing along the way. This little jewel was new for us this year. Right up the street from our flat and it was stunning...matching maxis to prove it.

With much sentimental value I post this shot.
The hours spent looking for the "mothership" and shopping in here would easily add up to 15 hours this trip alone. Take note of the hat in the above shot and yes it is from accessorize. Side note for the sissies --when I was just in Rome I ran into our store and I am a little embarrassed to admit it but... I cried. I cried because I missed you all so much my heart actually hurt. I was not supposed to be in that store in Rome but in London with my sissies. You all know exactly what I mean.

#12
The English language
The English have great sayings and that is all I have to say about that.

#13
The food
I know this might be confusing for people that have been to a typical British pub but I am telling you we know our spots and we know them well. Oh how we loved our Patisserie this year. We know exactly where to find great places to eat and we will recommend them.. just let us know your itinerary.

#14
The parks

#15
The flowers
This would only be on our list for this year, for you see we are usually in England in March when there are gale type winds and torrential rains. We are bundled up in our gear that could withstand arctic temperatures. We can hardly wait to get into a museum or relax at the Church of England's daily Evensong. The weather was just so darn pleasant we didn't know what to do with ourselves. I don't think I have one picture with me in my green coat. Now that is confusing!

This picture sums it up Tiff. :)

#16
UK flag.
As a side note these were taken the day before the wedding on the mall where they drove to Buckingham palace.

#17
Trafalgar square
This seems to be one of those spots that we just seem to end up. It is kind of like the center of London for us. We love the National gallery and just sitting on the steps eating Marks and Spencer. Something about Charing Cross station being across the street and Lord Nelson looking down at us. It just is one of our loved spots.

We actually went to Handel's Messiah this year at St Martin's on the field across the street from Trafalgar. It was a candlelit performance and goes down in history as just simply one of those perfect times when you can't get your head around it all. So much beauty all around me in setting and music...it will forever be a highlight.

#18
The river Thames
My Dad loves all rivers and the Thames is no exception. We walk beside it, cross its bridges, talk about its beauty and boat down it. This year we boated all the way down to Greenwich. I don't think this would make Ang's and Belle's list as a repeat for they wanted to barf the whole time but me and Tiff loved it. :)

#19
Lord Nelson
This represents the constant quizzing from my dad. He loves all things English history and that goes for Lord Nelson himself. After all our trips to England he expects us to know our history as well. We really do try. Along the way as we slowly make our way across London's streets my dad will test our knowledge to find out if ---

A. We have been listening...at all.
B. To make sure that all of his money spent on us is going towards something...anything at all.

Because we love our Dad so much we really want to answer these questions correctly. We encourage and are so proud of each other if one of us comes up with the right answer. Even though we are smart ...we are, we may not get the answer that he is desperately looking for. It is then that we get called "ninnies and dumb clucks." Oh but we try so hard.

#20
The real reason that I will never tire of London is because of who I am with.

This is it...this is why I can't get enough of this city. Maybe I would hold dear to my heart any city like Toledo or Pittsburgh if I had the memories. OK maybe not, but the point is I love these people. I cherish every snippet of time that I get to spend with them and yes it just happens to be in the greatest city in the world.

So the next pictures are doing what we do best.... wandering, talking and laughing our full heads off. As long as these people are wandering and laughing beside me I will be happy anywhere.

I love you and miss you all terribly. Thanks for making me laugh so hard I seriously had sore abs weeks after I got home.

Thank you Dad for letting me fall in love with England all over again. I will be forever grateful.

For those of you still interested in buying our book about England it is coming. We are still doing our research. If you can't remember why we are writing a book you can get caught up by clicking this blog post here.

I am grateful for all things family.