Memorial Day Weekend... Hello Summer!

The rest of the weekend after Football Saturday was nice and restful. The perfect way to welcome summer. If only the school calendar was cooperating. Not so much as we have 20 days left. Oh well. Still better than punching a clock in an office.

We did some work outside this weekend. I planted some marigolds in the window boxes. It is the only plant I seem to be able to keep alive in there. I would love to have big drapy plants cascading over the edges of the boxes but I have tried and killed them. I am just not that dedicated to gardening. I like how the window boxes make the house look, so I try to put something colorful in there when the summer hits. I also bought a hanging plant.

One of the positive aspects of the yard having the gynormous dirt pile in it is that we have been able to take out some nice-sized rocks with which we edged some of the gardens. Here is a peak:

The little duck family figurines are Chelsea's favorites. She used to talk to them last summer.

On Sunday night, John worked and I took the kids to get ice cream with some of my friends. They both ordered watermelon sherbet and refused to eat it once it arrived! It is a good thing those kids are cute!
Ice cream waster number 1.
Ice cream waster #2. They totally don't get that from ME! I ate every drop of my double scoop cookie dough waffle cone!
Chelsea was excited to see the "monster goats". I am not sure what makes them monsters, but she was ready to see them the minute we pulled in to the parking lot.
Here they are posing in front of the goat pen.
The goats were the big attraction (especially since the ice cream certainly was NOT!). Then Chelsea saw the cows. Everytime Chelsea would yell to them and they would keep doing the cow things they do. And Chelsea would get mad at them and stomp her feet! She was so mad.
Chelsea dressed for the event. No outfit is complete without the purple butterfly rainboots these days!
On the way home we spotted some of out neighbors playing whiffle ball. Travis was excited to join them! He hit the ball four times and wanted to play more. I didn't have the heart to make him come home because he was finally showing a little enthusiasm over the game of baseball.
Travis looks stunned that he made contact with the ball.
Here he is rounding second base!
The neighborhood whiffle ball game reminded me of being little and the huge whiffle ball games we used to have with my dad, his friend Jack, and all the neighborhood kids. We had this hilly back yard behind the apartement we were living in. But for whatever reason the neighborhood kids would congregate there a few times a summer for these huge games. We would run up the hill to first base and have to run down the hill to get to third. It was nice to be in that atmosphere again. The big boys went easy on the little kids, so they scored lots of homeruns! Travis came home happy and tired!
On Memorial Day morning Chelsea and I took a walk with her baby. She pushed her carriage around the block. As with so many of these sweet moments, it ended with her screaming and kicking when it was time to go in. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.
Travis and John decided to investigate the big hole. Travis wants it to be a moat! Very funny! They were pulling pavers and bricks out of the hole to try to salvage what they could. After all, those things cost money! Now we have just finished supper and have to start thinking about school tomorrow. BOOOOO! I guess I had better go help with the clean up...

Changes!

Things continue to change on a daily basis here at the Big Dig! The cement truck came on Friday! They poured the footings for the new foundation for the kitchen and the addition.
Chelsea donned her "Daisy Duke" look... the miniskirt and the rain boots while watching the truck work. Girl's got style!

Then it was off to Travis's school for the Memorial Day program. I was part of the committee doing the Memorial Day program at my own school, so I couldn't go. But John and Chelsea went. They sang "Proud to be an American" and signed the words as well! Travis was very excited that we were singing that at my program as well.
On Saturday morning John was playing in a football game. His department at the hospital (ER) was playing against another floor (Ortho) to raise money for a family whose mom died. It was the sister of one of the men in the ortho department. So off the field for the kids and me. I laughed a little when I saw that the name on John's shirt said "Gimpy". He does have bad knees, ankles and a rotator cuff. What business he has playing any sport is beyond me... but FOOTBALL???!!! I held my breath each time he was put in the game. And he loves to be active so it was nice to see him in his element. Softball is definitely more his speed, though. I think he has played in his last football game for a while, as when he woke up this morning, he could barely move. When I asked him what hurt, he said, "EVERYTHING!" Poor guy.
The kids kept busy by running around the track!
John in action.... He is the big white guy... #15.
John getting pushy!
John is standing on the sidelines (Gimpy) strategizing with his teammates!

Here is a team picture of John's team. They were the "Bone Crushers". The other team was called "Surgical Steel".
Here are both teams! The ortho guys won the trophy (which Travis is convinced is the Piston Cup from the movie CARS :).

John was met by his fan club at the end of the game.

Our family at the field. His team lost, but he said he had a blast. Better luck next year!

WE HAVE LOST CONTROL

I don't know what I was thinking would happen when we chose to put an addition on our house. But this is what I came home to this week. EEEEEK!

It is official: We have lost control of our lives. I look out my kitchen and see DIRT piled 8 feet high. Here is a play by play!
This is our deck the day before it was demolished. I made Travis and Chelsea pose one last time to remember what it looked like before everything started.
Here is a close up of my cuties.
The contractor showed up at 8:00 on Tuesday morning. By 8:45 this is what was left! Chelsea posed where the deck once stood.
I came home today to find that the excavators had been there. This was the scene in the back yard!

Travis and Chelsea stand as king and queen of the mountain (of dirt).
Here is the mound from another angle.
I think Travis thought that our backyard just became a whole lot cooler! He asked to ride his bike down the hill. He also wanted to know if it would be there next winter so he could go sledding...Dear God I hope NOT!
Travis decided to have a go at climbing the tree in the side yard.
Chelsea stuck to a tree her own size...the rhododendron bush.
Lots of cars slowed down when they went by our house. There goes the neighborhood! There goes my sanity! It is in the huge gaping hole under the kitchen. This is going to be interesting. Stay tuned!

Rock Lobster!!!!!

Well after a day of galavanting yesterday, I stuck pretty close to home today. My neighbors had invited the kids and me up for Chinese food and wine (just for me on the wine) last night. Then we stayed to watch a movie and came home right around 9:00. I got up at 7:30 with the kids this morning and John (who had been up a lot last night with Chelsea) went back to bed for a few hours. It started off as a lazy day. It was gray and cold in these parts. I had a hard time motivating myself but eventually I forced myself to get going!

I organized the 3-season porch, which is currently being used as storage until after construction is over. I have my homeshow stuff out there and a big drysink that I got second hand for only $20! Painting it will be one of my summer projects. I love my porch and the thought of it being unused all summer long was too much for me to bear. So I tried to contain the storage to only half of the porch so we could still sit on the love seat and read, etc.

Next on the list... the living room. I vacuumed and swept and dusted and tweaked the accessories. While I finished that, John vacuumed the rugs in the kitchen. I was pretty proud of the result:

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By the time we finished it was time to head over to my In-Laws' house. We had made plans to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday and Mother's Day today since we were gone most of the weekend last week. Mid-week we got a phone call saying that they were kicking off "summer" with lobsters tonight. Lobster is a major treat for my husband. His family loves their lobsters. I like it okay, but not enough to work for it. My brother in law Ian, the kids, and I had chicken (but I did accept a few bites of everyone's lobster once the de-shelling was complete.

Travis and Chelsea were perfectly content with their feast of chicken and corn. Chelsea thinks that all chicken should look like chicken nuggets, so she was ticked when it was actual chicken! Grandma BJ to the rescue with chicken nuggets!!!
Grandpa Ernie is the biggest lobster nut I have ever met. He loves it! He gets pretty messy so I took a "before picture" of him.
Here are Grandma Peg and Bonnie posing with our lobster buddies. This was before the lobsters were doled out.

John and Travis joined the lovely ladies for the next picture. Can you see the drool running down John's chin???
John is in heaven with one of his favorite microbrewed beers and his lobster.
You can tell a lot about a man by his hands!
Ernie was what I would call a hoarder. He got every little itty bitty piece of meat out of his lobster before he ate any. And then he ate EVERYTHING! The green junk and everything. God help the soul who comes between Ernie and his lobster. It wouldn't be pretty!
This is another shot of Ernie gazing adoringly at his lobster meat! Love at first bite! But I am proud (and astonished) to say that even though Ernie is a man who LOVES his lobster, he gave me a piece of his. Then Ian pointed out that I was getting a lot of lobster meat off of other people's plates and doing none of the work. He blew my cover! Now I don't know if I will be able to get away with that next time. I just might have to get my own! What a nice day! I love days like this when I can make my own agena. It was a great way to end the weekend. Happy Birthday to Bonnie! Happy Almost-Summer to all! Won't be long until school is out and it will be summer for real!

Trav and the "Game Ball" and Brimfield

It was a sunny Saturday this morning when all of the daily adventures started. Travis had a game at 10:30 that I missed. Bad Mommy! I missed the game where he got 3 good hits because he batted righty instead of lefty (he is a lefty when he writes but appears to be more comfortable doing most other things righty... sorry to my husband who was really banking on him being a southpaw). He also made a few good plays in the field. At the end of the game he was given the game ball! Was I there? Nope! But he was thrilled with it anyways. I am hoping that now that he learns a little more about the workings of the game of baseball, he will be a little more enthusiastic about it!

So where was I while my son was meeting with baseball success???? I went to Brimfield Antique Fair and Flea Market (Less of a Flea Market and more of a Antique Show... pricey pricey pricey!) I went with my mom, my mother in law, and my husband's grandmother. There was so much to see! We had a lot of fun just poking around. I bought some little things here and there. I passed up a lot, also (John would have been proud). We have very little room left in out tiny house. We are remodeling soon so we will have a lot of revamping to do when it is over. But we will have to pack a lot away in the meantime. So big pieces were off limits at the fair this year. Instead, I concentrated on little gadgets and kitchen things. Here is a picture of my finds:
I have made cyber-friends with a woman in Pennsylvania and we have a trade going... she looks for blue graniteware and I look for white enamelware with red trim. I found a few pieces for her at Brimfield for good prices. I was not so lucky with the blue graniteware. The pieces I saw were either overpriced or a duplicate of what I already have. So I bypassed a few roasting pans. I did manage to get a pie plate and a sauce pan. My trading buddy just found some more pie plates and a basin where she lives so my collection is filling out nicely.

The thing I was the most excited about is this Norton stoneware crock. It says "Frank B. Norton, Worcester, Mass. on it. The man said the design was called a butterfly design. There are other kinds of Norton stoneware from Vermont. But I am particularly interested in the Worcester Norton Stoneware. My mom and my Mother in Law split the price of this for my birthday (which is not until July). They knew how important it was to me. I kind of felt queasy when they were paying. It was a great price for Norton Stoneware, but it was still a lot of money.
I like the Worcester Norton pieces because I live in a part of the city that is known as Norton Village. The houses in my neighborhood were built in the beginning of the 20th century for the immigrants that came to work at Norton Company, which was just down the hill. They let their employees buy these small houses for a song. Each house started with the same four room set up. Two bedrooms and a bath upstairs and a kitchen and living room downstairs. The original house is 800ish sq. ft. Most of the houses have had additions put on them. Our kitchen is one of the additions. Now we are adding on again. My house was built in 1918 (the last year when the Red Sox won the World Series before 2004). When we were looking at houses we took that as a sign.

My Gram L. also worked at Norton Company for many years. She was also born in 1918, just like our house. Another sign that this was OUR house! She passed away in 1997, and right after that I began dating my terrific husband. In 2004 we found the house. It was like she was up there guiding us to it!


I decided to use the crock to house some of my wooden rolling pins. I can't wait until construction is done and I can find a place to display this stuff appropriately. All in all it was a successful trip to Brimfield. I think we wore Grandma Peg out but we had fun. We got out of there as the dark clouds came rolling in.

On another note, my brother Scott will be happy to know that my son and his buddy from up the street found a baby squirrel that they became quite fond of watching. Travis decided to name him Scott! Anyone who knows kids understands that this is a high form of praise if a child names something after you. He was trying to get him to come out by saying, "Here Scott! Come here, Scott!" The fun we have on a Friday night!

Tomorrow my main goal is to straighten up the house. It is a pig sty! It will be nice to hang out at home!
Hope everyone else enjoys the weekend as much as I am!

A Mother's Day Update

Happy Mother's Day everyone! It has been a nutty few days here in Massachusetts! On Thursday Travis was in his kindergarten show based on the "Alpha Friends". He made an excellent Iggy Iguana! Here are some highlights:
Here he is in full Iguana regalia! He must have caught sight of John while he was taking his picture because he has a silly smile on his face.
Travis had to get up with another child in kindergarten and do a dance to the Iggy Iguana song. He did it beautifully and I received several comments that he should be on MTV. He was so cute. He is the iguana on the right!
For his class number they did a little dance with partners and sang a song about words that rhyme.
He was so funny during the whole-group finale. They must have practiced with the kids for hours because they all seemed to know what they were doing.

On Saturday it was off to New Jersey for my niece's birthday. Sweet Caroline turned two years old. I haven't seen her since Christmas and she seems so much more grown up! I just can't believe it. She is so darn cute. She is very petite, like my sister-in-law. She is also a serious little girl. I see a lot of my brother in her. She seems to like things very clean. She and Chelsea got reacquainted quickly and they played with their babies together. Chelsea calls her "Sweet Caroline". I think she thinks that is her actual name. We tried to get her to sing to her but had no luck! Travis played a little bit, but seemed to like hanging out with the big boys better.
Here is Caroline enjoying her cupcake! She loved every lick of that frosting. We sang to her 3 times and after each time she would hold up her finger and say "One more time!" We were happy to oblige. She is going to be a big sister in a few months. My sister-in-law is one of those people who is truly beautiful during pregnancy. She has the belly bump and looks like she isn't pregnant at all from the back. Her family is so kind to let us invade their home once a year for Caroline's birthday. It is so nice to be able to catch up with them in New Jersey. Much closer than DC. They are so welcoming and warm.

We drove home (4 hours) last night. Today I got to sleep in because it is Mother's Day. Poor John drove down and back with the four of us and my mom and grandmother. The man needs a rest! He tried to nap this afternoon but the kids didn't let him. He also got a timely visit from the Jehovah's Witnesses just as he was falling asleep. Poor guy. I am still exhausted! I can't imagine how tired he must be. He is making us a special Mother's Day dinner. I got some gifts, too. I got a lighthouse for the garden and a pocket book. Travis also made me a picture frame in school. I am planning on bringing it work to display at my computer desk. John surprised me and made all of the arrangements for us to go away for a romantic night at a Bed and Breakfast at Cape Cod at the end of the month. We have never done this since we have had kids. John was in nursing school for so long and then Chelsea was just a baby and we didn't have the money. I am so excited. He even made plans with my mom to take the kids. I am one Happy Mom!

Another treat... I had made an exchange with a fellow blogger (Leslie) and had sent her a white and red enamelware bowl I had found in a thrift shop. In exchange she sent me these star blocks. There is a larger block with our last name on it, too. I was so happy to get my special package. She threw in an extra goody... the little black penny rug (I think that is what they are called). I have enclosed a picture of my new treasures. I love them and couldn't be more thrilled with the trade. She did an excellent job. Thank you Leslie from Pennsylvania!!!
We are actually working on another trade. I had found a white enamel colander with red trim and she had found some blue graniteware pie plates. I visit her blog often and love the stuff she makes!!!

So Happy Mother's Day to all the moms in my life! Hope it is full of love and contentment! I am blessed to be surrounded by strong, confident, wonderful mothers and grandmothers (ESPECIALLY MY OWN). They have taught me well. Thank you!