Hartford OnStage 2018

Stampin' Up! hosted another OnStage event (this time in Hartford Connecticut). Hartford is about 1.5 hours away from me! I was able to attend and also was asked to be a presenter on stage. Whoa!  This was a fun, and a new experience for me. A little nerve-racking I must admt. I prepared projects and showed how to create them, along with tips on selling the products. It was a full room (maybe 600 - 800 people?) and a super fun experience. On top of all of that I got to see the NEW catalog and other fun new sneak peaks. I love Stampin' Up! (forever a fan) and it’s always super exciting to be around old friends and meet new ones. 

Skipping Spring, Zero to 70!

After two weeks of cancelled spring baseball games the season has finally started! Andrew pitched the first home game. It's always so exciting (and nerve-wracking for me) to watch him pitch. Win or loose. 

Our weather has been crazy. Temps in the low 20's and now 70 is on the horizon. I welcome the warmth but am missing spring. 

We had tree work done yesterday. We lost quite a few trees and had a fair amount of damage from the last storm. Our yard (and the town) looks like a disaster zone. The tree removal helped TONS! The yard is starting the shape up.

This week has been crazy with ball, Nic's play rehearsals (tech week) and soccer games and reffing for Ben. Better to be busy than not.  Looking forward to April break next week!

A visit from Grandma!

Look who came for a visit?!!! We were so excited to welcome my mom for a visit on her birthday weekend. It was a quick trip but we packed in a ton. We spent today at Brimfield flea market walking around, scoring a few unique finds and visiting. We saw the coast, attended various kids sports, and went out for a nice seafood dinner. We even fit in a little crafting. Thanks for a  lovely visit mom, come back soon!!!

First day of school 2017

School starts later here on the East Coast than in Utah.  Of course I had to take first day of school pictures ... the kids started just after Labor Day. We have a senior, a sophomore and a second-grader!!! These boys are awesome, we love them so much and are so proud of them. You boys are going to rock 2017-18 school year!

Ben - gearing up for the HS JV soccer team!

Yellow Door

It's really difficult to blog personal stuff anymore.  I'm fairly consistent with the crafty stuff but not so much on the home front. There are so many other social media platforms and Instagram is my go to.  I usually only share one or two photos on Instagram, and the older boys don't like me to post pictures of them at all. My Instagram feed looks like we only have one kid, a.k.a. Nicholas.

I figured I will share some more photos of my yellow door (shared in Instagram last week).  I recently painted our front door yellow and I love it! It wasn't hard to do. It took only 2 hours and made such a difference.  It looks so good in this forest full of green we live in.  I plan to paint both of our back doors this color as well. Just waiting for a rain free day.

 As usual my trusty model Nicholas was game to take pictures.

Yellow front door with awesome 9.99 yellow mums from Costco! Not yet in bloom.

Yellow mums are blooming!

Fun new place to play!

Outside the garage. I took old black pots and spray painted them teal.

Seven year old kids are awesome!

Yellow door filled in with flowers.

Brimfield! Another successful trip!

Lucky to have Brimfield antique market so close, it's only about an hour away. I had the opportunity to tagalong with Jessica and her sister Sarah and we made good progress. I found a few treasures and lots of fun pictures. Until next time! 

Utah in May

Chris had a work conference in Utah in early May and I got to tag along for a few days. The boys have school so they had to stay behind and spend some fun time with Grammy. Chris and I enjoyed visiting with family, celebrating Grandpa's 90th birthday, cousin soccer and birthday parties, planting flowers for grandma great, visiting with old and new friends and soaking up the sun. We cannot wait to go back. Hopefully this summer and certainly in early November.

Family day at the MFA

We are so lucky to live so close to a quality Museum. We spent a wonderful Sunday afternoon roaming around the MFA as a family and being inspired. Nicholas is a ham. Andrew and Ben are troopers.

Dirty dog

This dog loves to get dirty and it's so annoying. Good thing we've got Grammy around to help him get clean.  

Dear John

We are now proud tractor owners in an effort to figure out a way to mow this big lawn in a shorter amount of time. This bad boy will do the trick. Odd to be excited about a lawnmower but we are. Thanks a John Deere.

Revs game

The goal is to post more. I was reviewing our old blog and loved seeing little snippets of our life so my goal is to now try and post more for archiving sake. 

Goodbye Feb, hello March!

We are digging out, or better yet the sun is out and melting it all away.  Early February brought winter and tons of snow. I don't mind winter if there is snow.  Almost 20 inches over one weekend. We don't pay for a plow, instead we snowblow and shovel. Our long driveway can be completed in about 2 hours with the 4 of us. 

Among the routine of work, school and life we got out a bit. Below are a few pictures form the last 2 months. Details below each pic. 

Spring Attitash ski day! Nic was in lessons and Chris is not yet cleared to ski from his hip replacement. 1/2 day in 55 degree weather, second half of day in downpour. 

Dogs loving the snow, Scout more than Lucy. :) She tolerates it. 

Chris and I are both pros with snowblower. Chris even repaired it a couple of times. 

Inside shenanigans. 

Celebrated a birthday and the big V Day.

Bus stop. Here, kids are required to go to school in snow gear. They can go out for recess unless it's below 20.

Cold days as the snow melts away. Nic is a ham.

The start of College tours with Andrew. He successfully took the SAT. Lots of prep.

Day at the Museum of Fine Arts and surrounding city walk. Boston 2017.

Snow hikes with the dogs at Steel farm.

2016-2017 happy new year!

But first let's recap the last month of 2016 ... We decided, at the very last minute, to book flights to Utah for the Christmas holiday.  We were all super excited to go and see family and it was a wonderful jampacked trip. We packed very few clothes and lots of Christmas gifts. While in Utah we attended family dinners, skied Alta and Snow Basin, church, visits with grandma's and cousins, and the movies. We even snuck in food you can't get in Massachusetts a.k.a. Cafe Rio.

We came back mid week and still had plenty of holiday break here in Massachusetts. Leslie was kind enough to take the dogs for our impromptu trip. We drove up to retrieve the dogs and had a nice lunch and afternoon catching up with Leslie and Billy. 

For New Year's Eve, Chris and I headed into New York City to see Phish at Madison Square Garden. It was a 3-1/2 hour drive there. We waited in line and scored show posters and really enjoyed a nice long unique concert. After the show we headed to promptly home, another 3 1/2 hour drive back. New Year's eve drivers are nuts and we won't likely do that again.  Plus, all nighters are harder and harder to do, I like sleep . However in all and as expected, it was awesome!

Catching up! Hello

Wow! When I stop updating the personal blog I really do it well.

How about we catch up? October and Early November on the East Coast is my most favorite time of the year. The weather is perfect, the scenery is beautiful, the days are brighter and the bugs are pretty much nonexistent (except ticks). Nicholas had his first tick bite. We caught it before it burrowed completely and successfully removed it. So gross.

We purchased the most amazing leaf blower! It works like a dream and has so much power. It pushes the massive amounts of leaves back into the woods. No bagging is needed. This blower will even blow the acorns out of the grass like rolling marbles.

Halloween is a little different living in the woods. Not many Trick - or - Treaters are ready to brave the long walks and darkness.  We decided to drive to a local subdivision so Nic could hit the doors. He made out with just enough candy - his costume this year was Captain America. Andrew and Ben dressed as teenagers. So elusive there are no photos.

Andrew is taking a photoshop class at school for an art elective. He is learning the ropes. He created this cool graphic with Nic and the Avengers.

Thankfully I did a previous post about Andrew turning 17. He is driving, prepping for the SAT and has just successfully complete 20+ hours of certification to be a ski instructor at our local ski hill. As of yesterday he is officially employed.  Woohoo! 

Ben is totally enjoying High School and is immersed in school work, Latin and Chinese being his favorites. I'm not sure If I ever mentioned it but he made the freshman soccer team and had an awesome undefeated season. He is now playing Futsal and practicing weekly with a competition team. If you want to reach Ben, send him a snapchat.

We are still playing tourist over the weekends when we can. We've enjoyed a couple of long days in the city. Walking the Freedom Trail, exploring the North End, Ice Skating at Boston Common Frog Pond and a visit to the Aquarium. Boston is a great city for Pokemon hunting so Nicholas does not mind walking around.

I took a quick 3 day trip to New Jersey for Stampin' Up!'s OnStage convention. I drove down myself (about 4 hours) got lost in downtown New York along the way. I enjoyed seeing old friends and making new ones. I was selected to be one of the project display stampers for the event and created over 15 fun projects that highlight new products from the upcoming Occasions catalog. If  interested, you can see many of those on my creative blog.

Chris and I are lucky that Andrew and Benjamin are such great sitters. We've enjoyed a couple of really fun date nights.

Thanksgiving was wonderful and intimate. I made the entire meal (2nd year in a row Chris!). Food was delicious and not to hard to prepare.  Leslie came down an stayed and introduced me to the Gilmore Girls. I had never seen it before and now I am a huge fan. I love Netflix!

Chris and I did a little black Friday shopping, on Friday! No stores are open here on Thursday which is super nice. The parking lots were virtually empty. It was so weird.

The house is all decorated and we are ready for Christmas. I've been making caramels left and right. The shopping is done. Cards are mailed. We are basically enjoying a low key December. Our Elf, Elfy, has been making daily appearances. Some days he is more creative than others. Hopefully more to come if I can get my act together. Happy Holidays!

Happy #17 Andrew!!!

The beautiful child that made me a mom has just turned seventeen! How the time has flown ...  Andrew is such an amazing, smart, handsome, kind, generous, athletic and funny young man (just to name a few of his awesome traits). He is a hard worker, great big brother and caring son.

I am so lucky to be your mom and I love you so much. I hope you have a wonderful Birthday kiddo.

Look at these shrimpy parents!

Wedding weekend & Labor day fun

We had the great pleasure of attending the wedding of Abby and Sam Conger over labor day. CONGRATULATIONS!!! For those that aren't familiar, Abby is Chris' cousin, daughter of Renetta & Alan. 

What a gorgeous wedding it was. I'll describe it as biker chic. The decor, cake, flowers, and scenery were picture perfect. I snapped a few phone photos to help us remember this special day.

The wedding took place in Jackson, NH over labor day. We decided to make a full weekend of it and packed in a trip to Storyland, a family photo shoot, golf, antiquing and a few nice meals out. What a nice way to end the summer.

Abby & Sam Conger #conger2016

Chris' family: Leslie, Megan, Renetta & Kim.

Us!

Nina w/ Leslie & Me with Holly

Reception happenings from table 2.

Nic and his killer dance moves.

Scenes from Jackson & the Eagle Mountain House in Jackson.

A Day at Storyland. Andrew was there, just not pictured.

2016 Family photoshoot.

1st day of school 2016 & Look who's driving?!

The kids started back to school last week. Another year! 1st grade, HS Freshman, HS Junior. The dogs somehow made it into the pictures also. They love the boys.

Ben wasn't into having his 1st day of school picture. His expression matches the business Scout is taking car of in the background! LOL.

Nic is ready for 1st grade! Full of energy and excitement.

Junior year for Andrew, fun times ahead. Can you say SAT?!! Yep! Andrew has his license and can legally drive on the road! It's official. We are so excited and proud of him reaching this next great life milestone. Congratulations kiddo!

Summer happenings 2016

So behind on posting. I'm gonna photo dump the last two months! June & July flew by. We packed those months full.  

hip replacement

utah vacay

vt vacay

5 phish shows

beach

home improvement

Celebrating 6!

Nicholas is six! Time is turning and passing by so quickly. We held a outdoor sprinkler birthday party him. Nic invited his entire kindergarten class and we ended up with 16 little kiddos. It was a crazy blast and I think the kids had a good time. I wasn't able to take many photos, my phone is totally dead, let's just say a water accident. I was able to take a few photos with my loaner phone and I scraped together these photos from Ben's and Chris' phones.

We purchased a blow up water slide (figured we use it all summer) and provided the kids with squirt guns and let them at it. They played and played. Andrew and Ben helped supervise and keep the mayhem at a minimum.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICHOLAS! We sure love you.

May happenings

I guess we had too much happening in May for me to blog. So many highlights, here we go:

1. Chris graduated from Pepperdine and now is a Dr.  Chris and I flew to LA for his graduation and then had a quick layover in Salt Lake City where we got to see the Utah family.

2. Nicholas turned six.

3.  Yardwork and we are enjoying much better weather.

4. Nicholas is a great poser. Always posing when the cameras out.

5. Baseball 3 to 4 times a week for Andrew.

6. Ben spent the better half of the month recovering from a concussion from a kick to the head during a soccer game. He even missed a week of school.

7. I took a quick trip to New York for work and got to catch up with some old Stampin' up! friends.