Monday, September 22, 2008

That's my boy!

A couple of things to add, very late at night, because I just don't want to forget.

First, Ben has figured out that he can take his tiny little A&W mug and push the water dispenser on the refrig and fill it up. So now I'm just wanting for when he figures out how to push the ice dispenser and dispenses ice all over the floor! (I'll be sure to keep the camera handy the next couple of days!)

Second, Ben opened the refrig all by himself tonight. He took out his quart of 2% milk, unscrewed the cap and proceeded to lift it up to his mouth and drink out of it ALL BY HIMSELF. IT WAS HILARIOUS! John and I couldn't stop laughing! (Unfortunately no picture, I was in the middle of doing dinner stuff with messy hands and the camera was not close by. Bummer!) This provides certain proof that this pure male trait is not learned but ingrained in their genes! All smiles aside though, I think I'm gonna have to find a lock for the refrig door!

Third, we affectionately call our cat Nerwin "Tard" (short for r*t*rd) because he really is lacking in the brain department. Anyway, John, Ben and I were outside this afternoon playing ball together. Nerwin was hanging around us looking for loving while we were running around after the ball, throwing and kicking it. Out of the blue, Ben picks up the ball, aims for Nerwin and says "throw to Tard". It took him saying it 3 times for us to understand exactly what he was staying and then John and I just burst out laughing. Like roll on the ground, laughing out loud! He really hears and picks up on EVERYTHING we say! It was just hysterical!

I wish I had a video of us playing together this afternoon. It was such a priceless half an hour spent together. Ben would run so fast and laugh so hard while I pretended to chase him that he could barely breathe. It was just such a great time together. I just never want to forget it!

Never a dull moment when Ben's around! Oh and that's just stuff that happened today!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Maine was Great!!

Maine was great! Too short and of course not nearly enough time to fit in all we wanted to do but none the less, Great! We managed to leave about 12:45 on Friday afternoon in the rain. Ben was too excited to eat lunch before we left but fell asleep anyway in the truck about 40 minutes into the ride. But then only slept about 30 minutes and woke up starving. So we stopped at the Purmort exit on I-89 in NH and got sandwiches at the Subway in the truck stop. Ben ate almost an entire 6" sub by himself! We headed out again but by the time we got onto Route 4 headed East Ben was antsy. Traffic was bad and slow. I think partly being a Friday afternoon and partly a Loudon race weekend. Thankfully we made it to Kittery and stopped at the Kittery Trading post. Ben and I did a little walking around while John spent the entire time in the gun section. After about an hour or so we headed out again and went straight to the hotel. We stayed here. I was very impressed! I love having a separate bedroom, a full kitchen and a small living room. We didn't spend much time there but it was still comfortable! It rained all afternoon and evening Friday. We did go down to the beach and take a short walk in the dark and rain after we checked in and as expected Ben didn't think much of it. After that we headed to the Maineiacs for a late dinner. It was ok. John had prime rib, I had the seafood bake and Ben had (of course) a "hambbaburger". Saturday morning we woke up to beautiful sunshine! I was so excited! So we ate a quick breakfast and headed right down to the beach.

Beautiful Wells Beach (looking to the South)
We even got a parking place right down by the beach. Ben was very unsure about the beach at first (as he is with anything new). He didn't want to take off his sandals. He didn't want to walk in the water. But after a little while of John and I walking barefoot on the sand and in the water he gave it a try. We took hundreds of photos! Here are some of my favorites!











And by the time we left about 2.5 to 3 hours later he was running and splashing and screaming and laughing. It was so much fun! He was soaked and covered from head to toe with sand! We ate lunch at the little take out place right on the beach and then we headed back to get changed and cleaned up. Then we headed up the interstate about 20 minutes to Scarborough where the new Cabela's Store is. John really wanted to go (I wanted to stay on the beach in the sun). But it ended up being worth the trip! The store had a huge display of stuff animals in the center of the store. They also had smaller ones around the store.



They had a big fish tank and one of those laser target shooting galleries.


You point the gun at the target and if you hit it the object moves and/or makes noise or shoots water at you. And Ben absolutely loved it! That's all he wanted to do is "push the guns Mom, push the guns!" Thankfully the salesman John was buying a rangefinder from gave us a handful of tokens for free. Anyway, by the time we got out of the store it was all foggy along the coast and looked like rain. Ben needed a nap so we took our time and drove the slow coastal route back to Wells. This photo was taken in Kennebunkport I think at Pier 77.

We arrive back at dinner time and stopped to eat at the Bull and Claw. I had a twin lobster dinner and John had steak and lobster. Ben had spaghetti and meatballs and I even got him to try a couple of small pieces of lobster. He wasn't crazy about it but he tried it! On Sunday morning, it was pouring rain again. I mean absolutely pouring. John had to pack the truck in the pouring rain. After we packed and checked out, we headed to the Hayloft for breakfast and then drove down to Perkins Cove. We were able to park right down in the Cove because of the rain. We walked across the bridge and around a couple of shops with our raincoats and umbrellas.




Then we headed south. I tried to find Nubble Light but missed the turn (I always have trouble finding it) and by the time I realized it, we were too far south to head back. It probably would have been hard to see it in the rain and fog anyway. On the way back home we stopped to see the Oberheim Family in Hopkinton, NH for a couple of hours. We also stopped briefly at Colby-Sawyer College to see Mom and Katie who were there for a soccer game. Then we stopped in West Lebanon to see my favorite big pet store and have dinner and then we finally headed home. I think we finally made it home about 8 pm. So it was fast and furious but a lot of fun and great to get away for a few days.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Photos: Katie Playing Soccer, Ben at the game & Rainbow at the Kaufmann's

I should be in bed but just finished emailing my sister Holly and got the urge to post and share these photos. These were all taken on Saturday Aug 30. Ben and I went down to Castleton to see Katie play in her first home soccer game. I got a couple of good ones of Katie playing but I know she won't like them!





I also got a couple of cute ones of Ben running around.




After the game we headed to Patty's and Larry's house in Shoreham for dinner and while we were there a pretty intense thunderstorm went through. Then this....




Awesome!! The pictures definitely don't do it justice.
Off to bed for me and onto Wells, ME tomorrow for a litte weekend getaway!

Remembering 9/11/01, Unusual Animal Sightings, Ben @ 28 months & 10 years

I hope everybody has a chance to take a moment today and remember all the innocent lives lost on 9/11/01. I can't believe it's been 7 years already. In a lot of ways it seems as if it were only yesterday. Please take a moment to remember the lives that were lost and their families. Also please take a moment to say a big "THANK YOU" and remember to support our troops serving our country and protecting the wonderful freedom we take for granted everyday.

A correction for my sister Holly. She is in the northern Indian Ocean, close to the Arabian Sea supporting our troops on the ground in Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom. She is amazing and I'm so proud of her! I love her and miss her so much! THANK YOU Holly! And to the whole crew and fleet of the USS Ronald Reagen, thanks for taking care of my precious sister and the wonderful freedom I enjoy everyday!

I have had the unique pleasure of seeming some really unusual animal sightings lately. Not uncommon but definitely not every day or every year for that matter! A few weeks ago after dropping Ben off at Tammy's I saw a fairly good size bear cross the road (Upper Plains Rd) and head into the woods just north of Kampersville. Yesterday morning on the way home at the intersection of Halladay and Three Mile Bridge Roads, I saw a weasel run across the road and then yesterday afternoon saw a bobcat on the steep part of the house driveway. He headed off into the woods toward the shop and then when I got home, I ran into Phil heading out down the driveway and he said they saw it when they came home laying on the dirt pile! Awesome! I just wish I had my camera handy in the car and right by my eye (yeah right!) all those times! I'll have to put it in the car with me for now on but then of course I won't see anything anymore!

Just a quick note for my new Stampin' Up! Business. (I'm now officially a demonstrator, I have all my stuff!) Online ordering is now available. I put a link to the right for both my Stampin' Up! website and direct link to my online ordering page. You now can order anytime without hosting a workshop! But I'd still love to do a workshop in your home so give me a call or email me!

So Ben is officially 28 months now (as of the 9th) and he is communicating with us so well now. And his memory is just amazing! He just blows me away with what he remembers. Tuesday we were checking on the chickens and discovered another one died by getting caught by the neck in the space between the front of the laying boxes and the side. So John was up to help we figure out what we could do to fix it. Ben was helping by holding the tape measure (one of his favorite things to play with) and he started talking about going down and driving the excavator with the tape measure in it. So two days previously we had been down at the shop "driving" the big excavator and he discovered a tape measure down by the seat and now he remembers it and wants to go "drive" it again because it has a take measure in it. Ever time we drive by Rosie's he points it out and says he want to get dressed and go have "hambbaburgers, fries and applesauce" at Rosie's. One day several weeks ago, we stopped at the East Middlebury General Store and got popcorn and a Gatorade after dropping some mail off at the Post Office and now every time we go to the Post Office he asks me if we can go to the store and get a Gatorade. He just blows me away with how awesome his memory is! And of course mine is soooo terrible! He also has been saying some really cute things lately. He'll be searching for something and I'll say "Whatcha looking for?" and he'll say "Somesing" and I'll "Where is the something?" and he'll say "Somewhere". It's so cute! Another thing that he has been saying alot is "Oh Yeah" I'll say look at (fill in the blank)" and he'll say "Oh Yeah" with the last syllable really drawn out and in a very surprised drawn out sound. It is so cute and it really makes me smile! I got these cute pictures just the other morning. He thought it was hilarious that Nerwin was laying in his Bob the Builder puzzle box.





So tomorrow John and I will have been married 10 years! Happy Anniversary John! I love you more today then I could every express in words! To celebrate, we are all heading to Maine for the weekend. We hope to leave around midday tomorrow and we'll be back on Sunday night. I'll looking forward to a little time away with my boys! I'm excited to show Ben the ocean and the beach. I can't wait to see what he thinks. The weather forecast looks dismal but what else is new! Speaking of that, I can't wait for the first freeze! What! You say, Why? So the MOSQUITOES will go away!!! I'm so tired of feeding them!

So I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post about our weekend next week. But for now, I'm off to get work done and get ready for the weekend. The most blog entries I've ever posted in a month is 4 since I've started so I'm aiming for 5 this month! I'm on my way!

On other last quick thing to leave you with. My first card of completely all Stampin' Up stuff to share with you.


That's it for now! More next week! I hope :)!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

It's been a long time again... and I feel the worst about it for my sister Holly. She is some where out in the Pacific Ocean right now on the aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagen. She is probably my most frequent blog reader and one of the biggest reasons I started this adventure and I can't even get it done for her. Sorry Hol! I miss ya and love ya lots!

Anyway, I love reading other people blogs and just discovered the Google reader. It checks for updates on the blogs you read regularly and lets you know if there is a new post. So I only have to log into one page now to read my favorite blogs! And I know instantly which ones have an update! It is awesome and saving me a little time. Now if I could spend as much time on my own blog...

So I have a ton of pictures to share and a jillion (is that a word?) stories to tell but the one popping in my brain right now is of a mama deer and her fawn eating apples under the apple tree by the lawn. I happened to look out the kitchen window on the morning of Friday Aug. 29 and saw the two of them heading down to the apple tree at the edge of the driveway. So I grabbed my camera (of course) and headed out on the deck to capture some photos. Here a few of my favorites.






So that's it for now. Hopefully more really really soon!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

New Look!

So the time I should have been spending updating my blog over the last few days I've spent giving it a new look and creating a custom blog header! Wooohoo! I like it! Leave me comment and let me know what you think! More soon. I hope :)!