Finally finished!

I finally finished my week 4 digital scrapbook page for the J. Spraque Now we're rockin' with Photoshop class. Just in time for the Digi in Deep class to start on Monday. Here's a look at my page.



By the way, we've made about 205 gallons of syrup so far! Pretty good and the weather is looking good so far for next week!

Happy Easter!

Some pictures of Ben and I coloring eggs on Saturday nights








Easter Morning at our House



Hunting Eggs and Hanging out at Gramme and Grandpa's









It was a fun day and Ben really seemed to get into "hunting eggs" for a little while, until we got to the barn and he got distracted by the horses, playhouse and the swing. And I think it was the coldest, snowiest easter I can remember. Gramme and Grandpa have way more snow than we do in Middlebury. But believe it or not, the tulips and crocuses have pushed up through the ground! Spring is on the way!!

Sugaring Pictures

Just thought I'd share some cute pictures from sugaring the other day.













Krysta's boyfriend Eric firing




Yummy Syrup!


My Dad firing




Ben has been such a great little helper. On Tuesday, we were tapping at Horn's and Ben was helping tap by using the hammer to set the inserts with a little help from Daddy. Of course, I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures. But he was excited because it involved using a hammer and banging! He loves puddles and playing in the water. He brings his bucket into the tub every night to play. I hope to have more pictures as the season goes on.

Happy spring to all! Mother nature didn't get the memo here in VT though. The highs this weekend are 30 and 31 and teens at night. Brrrr! I'm definitely looking forward to some warmer weather!

Sugaring Time!

And that's a sign that spring is on the way...FINALLY! John boiled last night for the first time for 2008. He thought he made about 8 gallons but only boiled about half of the sap we had. He's over at the sugarhouse right now boiling again to clean up what's left from yesterday and what little has run today. We tapped all last weekend and had quite a crew on Sunday to help. Big thanks to my Dad, Larry, Peter and his son Gus.

So I looked before I started this post to see when the last time I posted was and it was the 17th of Feb.! Where has the last month gone! WOW! I know we've been busy but didn't realize that much time had gone by! I suppose the next month will be just as bad now that sugaring has started. Plus we have a super busy month coming up anyway. Can you believe Easter is a week away? Then Yonik, Margaret, Kayla and Jason are coming to VT for a visit the 28-30th. My dad's b-day on the 28th hen my 35th b-day and at the end of April we'll be hopefully heading to NJ for sort of a reunion with John's family. All of this on top of sugaring and getting geared up for excavating. I'd better hold on to my pants because we'll be flying!!

But I have thought about blogging a lot. I even started a list of things to write about. It has 10 things on it so far. I even started a post one day but haven't yet had a chance to finish it. Once sugaring is over maybe I can get back to my goal of a weekly post, even if it's a short one!

Anyway, I have got to go work on the painting upstairs in the master bedroom while Ben's sleeping plus the house is a mess and laundry needs to be done. So stop by and see us boiling if you're local!

Here are a couple of cute photos from this morning and yesterday to leave you with.





Oh and if you want to see some cute photos of Ben with his friend Gavin, check this blog out. (You may have to scroll down some)

McNulty Family

Later!

Pretty Girl

This story is the reason I started this blog. I want to get this story down in a scrapbook page to remember forever, but I don't have time right now so I'm hoping writing it down here will help me remember it. Then I hopefully I'll get a chance to scrapbook about it later.

So the other day we got a new Hanna Andersson catalog in the mail.



It was on the table in our "dining room" (ie common area) and Ben discovered it. He became infatuated with it. He would continually ask me to read it to him like a book.



Although we just skimmed through the pages looking at the pictures. Anyway, I started calling it the "pretty girl" book and soon he started saying "pretty girl" then he started trying to tickle her feet and laughing. Then after prompts he would try to kiss her and laugh. Like this



He would ask for the "pretty girl" book and "pretty girl book ah bed" translation read the pretty girl book on the bed. John started teasing him a little bit about having a girl friend and now when Ben says "pretty girl" he gets all giggly and silly. Just like he has a crush on the girl on the cover! It is absolutely the funniest and cutest thing I have ever seen! I tried to capture it with pictures the other day but I don't think they quite do it justice. It's kinda like the "had to be there" saying. This is the best I could get.



But regardless, isn't 21 months just a little too young for a girlfriend? I thought this afternoon it might be wearing off a little bit but then after we read stories at bedtime he insisted on bringing that catalog to bed with him. (He doesn't bring blankets or stuff animals to bed, he brings books! And other than trucks, I think they are his favorite things. I can't sit down without him bringing me a book he wants me to read. Which reminds me, next time I have to post about the doctor visit today and the nurse's comment to me about "his skills") I hope before it wears off completely and he forgets about the pretty girl, I can get it on video tape. But I won't get my hopes up. It seems every time I get the video camera out to record, he stops doing whatever it was that was so cute. But I will try because it would be so priceless! Here's one last shot of him all serious, studying the back of the catalog. I couldn't resist including it too.



So that's it for now. I have to get myself to bed. I just wanted to get this down on "paper" before I forgot. Lots to do this week. I'm planning on taking pictures of the before, during and after of my tiling project to post about on the blog. Lots to do and never enough hours in the day! The story of my life! See ya soon!

Lesson 3 Scrapbook Page & Basketball Photos

Another couple of weeks have gone by and it's hard to believe it's the 12th of February 2008 already. I finally managed to wrap up SEI year end files and mail them to the accountant yesterday. Whoohooo! I can cross something off by list! And the tile for the bathroom is ordered and should be here by Friday. I'm hoping to start tiling the Master Bath next week. So things are moving along...ever so slowly!

Ben has had pink eye twice and now is sporting a rash on the right side of his chest and under his arm. So we visited the doctor yesterday. We have no idea what's causing it and it doesn't seem to bother him. We are all about 99% over our cold ailments (although my left ear is still blocked!) so it's about time for it to start all over again!

Ben had his third haircut this morning and he did a really great job sitting for Mary. We all get our hair cut by Mary Paquette at Mary's Place in Middlebury. Mary has a little bird in her salon named Petri and Ben thinks he is just the neatest thing! Petri's cage sits on the floor and so Petri is right at Ben's eye level. I wish I had brought the camera with me this morning to get some photos of him staring at Petri! Next time. Anyway, his hair was getting pretty shaggy looking and John was calling Ben "Daddy's little Hippy" again. It's not too short but definitely looks much neater. I have to take some pictures when he gets up from nap and post them next time.

I finished up my week three digital scrapbooking layout for the class I'm taking last night. It took me awhile to finish it with everything that been going on. But I'm happy with how it turned out.


I love the photos in this layout. These are some of my all time favorite photos of John and Ben. I'm glad this class has given my an opportunity to scrap them. I start the fourth and final week this week. It's kinda of a bummer. It has been forcing me to take the time to do some scrapbooking. Maybe after I get the upstairs of the house done, I can make some more time to do it again. I also hope to take here next level class that start the end of March. It's called "digi in deep"

The weekend before last I made it to Katie's Saturday game at Castleton. They are having a great year this year so far. Krysta watched Ben and I was able to get a few good pictures of her. Here are a few of the best.



I can hear Ben stirring so that's it for this time around. Hopefully I'll be back to posting once a week again. Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Sick & Digital Scrapbooking

Well, so much for posting every week! But I had a good excuse for last week, everybody here was sick with a nasty cold. Last Tuesday, I felt miserable and I'm sure Ben was feeling the same. So we didn't do much. We are all better now, thankfully, with only mild runny noses left. Although, Ben woke up yesterday morning with pink eye. So he was home with me and of course no work done!

Last week, I also started something I've been wanting to do for a while and that is take one of Jessica Spraque's digital scrapbooking classes. You can check out her website and classes here if you are interested. I'm taking the "Now we're rockin'" intermediate class right now and just finished up my second assignment. It's a four week class with one assignment per week with challenges and daily emails. It is awesome! I love it. I just wish I had more time! The story of my life! Here are my first two assignments:


We had a fun weekend. Heather, Dave, Max, Mareta and Michael Oberheim came up for a short but sweet visit. It was loud and rambunctious but so fun to have everybody here and sleeping in one house. I am just so happy and excited to have space and room to do things like this finally. I love my new house! I got some great pictures of everybody sledding down the driveway on Sunday but haven't uploaded them to my computer so I'll have to post those on a later day. Ben was just thrilled with the "big" kids. He couldn't take his eyes off of them. He loved watching Max and Michael play with his trucks. I can't believe Michael is almost 5 and Max and Mareta are 7. Where does the time go! They have gotten so tall and are such little people now. I can remember seeing them as babies at Lake George their first summer.

I can hear Ben stirring from his nap so I have to get going. I'm sure there is more to say but it will have to wait until next time!