More garage photos

A little action at the end of last week on the garage.


Here's our big trench that was dug in the backyard for the beginnings of the new foundation. It's 3 to 4 feet deep.


Here is where all the stuff from our garage is currently residing, with a BIG thanks to Dad for helping Jim and me with this when they were visiting.


Our contractor has a clause in his contract that he is not liable for damages to either driveways or landscaping. I thought we'd escaped unscathed after the demo didn't damage anything, but that was before the truck came to pick up the dumpster full of old foundation rock. Nice big chunk out of the driveway now.


Here is the view from our driveway, looking back to where the garage used to stand. Note the driveway hole in the left part of the picture - it's directly outside my kitchen window so I get to see it all the time.


The old garage started right about where that yellow tape is appearing to cross the remaining porch area outside the gate. The new one had to get pushed back to be code compliant and will probably start about where that little bush/tree is growing on the other side of the fence. Only about 5 or 6 feet back, and it's going into what was essentially dead space in the back yard.

They poured some concrete in the trench today, so if it's not raining tomorrow I'll get a couple more shots.

Introducing Miss Ulysses S. Grant

Grace's teacher has her class do a "Living Presidents Museum" as one of the big projects every year. Each child chooses a President to research, then on Museum Day they show up in costume. Each child stands with head down with a sticker on his/her hand. When you press the sticker the "statue" comes to life and proceeds to tell you about the President. When done with the facts the "statue" returns to the "sleeping" position. It was VERY cute.

Grace chose Ulysses S. Grant because according to Jim he is a however-many greats grandad to her. I took a movie of her doing her speech, but it's hard to hear her with so many other Presidents talking in the room at the same time, but I'll keep my fingers crossed that it works.

Down goes the garage

A little excitement here today with the demo of the old garage. Our contractor discovered that the base of the structure was almost rotted through, and instead of collapsing into itself when being crushed, it started falling outward. He was a little concerned that he'd have to replace some fencing and deck posts, but I think everything is turning out okay. Apparently we are lucky it didn't collapse on us at some point - good thing we never parked the cars in it.


If you can see the tiny tree to the left of the garage, that is what kept us from taking out part of the neighbor's fence.



Too bad both kids are in school right now and only the dog is here to share the excitement with me (and hearing her repeated barking I bet she wishes she weren't here).

Sledding fun

We got about 4 inches of snow between last night and this morning. So we headed out this afternoon to try out sledding at a park across town (across town being relative in our tiny place - it takes maybe 10 minutes to get there, even with driving through downtown). Lots of fun - we thought we'd waited too late because you could see the grass sticking up through the snow. But the sledding was a nice step up from the smaller hill at the school across the street.


Alex and Jim ready to go down together.


Trudging up the hill again.


Sweet Gracie.


Alex won't smile with his teeth showing any more for some reason.




Best was toward the end when the kids started sledding together. This is them coming back up the hill. It's a little deceiving because I zoomed in on them as they were walking up, so you can't see how far the trip actually took. (NOTE: I reloaded a slightly smaller size video - maybe it will pull up easier).

What the kids like

First off, who knew the last post was #500 for this blog! I feel like I should have done something more than just dump pictures from my phone onto it.

I realized I could title just about every post "kids." Sometimes I veer off that topic, but since they are pretty much what my life revolves around these days I can get a little fixated on them.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what personalities my kids have developed and what they have discovered interests them. And much to my happiness both the kids have really developed a love of science. I sometimes have to defer to Jim in this area - science was the one subject in school I never really cared for. But Grace's main gift she asked Santa for this past Christmas was a microscope. She originally wanted a telescope until we convinced her that living in the most densely populated state in the union didn't allow for many dark skies at night.

Alex is on his second round of science enrichment classes at his school (they are once a week for about 6 weeks). And his two new favorite shows are Sid the Science Kid and the Magic School Bus, both of which teach kids about various science topics. Plus he will tell you he wants to be a "robot maker" when he grows up, which if he wants to hang on to that dream for the rest of his life that is totally fine with me.

As I mentioned, science was never my strong suit, but if my kids want to get into it then I'll be right there with them along for the ride.

So I don't go a full week between posts

Here's some pictures from the phone.


Alex and one of his best buddies Henry at gymnastics today. ("Mommy, look - I'm being a worm in the picture." - whatever!)


Alex attempting to practice his cartwheel. He will tell you he can do it, but really this is about as much air as he gets with it.


Grace takes a lunchtime enrichment class for the next few weeks where she is learning origami. Today she learned how to make these hats, which she promptly did for her brother and stuffed animal upon arriving home today.

Finally!

My amaryllis I purchased before Christmas has FINALLY bloomed. I picked it up on a whim at Target (in the Smith & Hawkin section) - it was on sale and had the cool galvanized pot.

We waited forever for it to get going. Jim was very skeptical that it would come to anything. But when it started sprouting it was amazing to see. It was growing from 1 to 1 1/2 inches each day. We measured it each night and announced how much taller it had gotten.


Big beautiful blooms here.


It got very tall. It measures 31 inches from the base of the pot to the top tip of the flower.


Yes, this is how I "staked" the plant. In my defense, I noticed right as we were going upstairs to bed that the plant was leaning precariously. Twine for recycling and scissors were handy. Problem solved.

More updates coming?

So I'm determined to try and do at LEAST one post a week - two if I'm lucky. I've been very lax in putting up the mundane details of our life, but I know some of you actually like reading about them (never mind the fact that those interested parties are all related to me!).

Today's post is about Alex. We have come to realize that we have a very shy boy on our hands. We really try to not say that in front of him, but he has heard it (either from us or his teachers) and now has his excuse for not doing anything new ("But Mom, I'm too SHY."). It started about two years ago. All of a sudden he got extra clingy when I dropped him off at school and no longer wanted to participate in swim class (I'd have to leave the room and wait in the car for class to be over). In addition to being shy, the boy is the most stubborn kid I've ever met. If he doesn't want to do something he will shut down - cross his arms over his chest, drop his head and just become unresponsive. He is horrible with change, which made the move up here and subsequent entry into a new preschool after almost a 6 month hiatus a nightmare.

With this in mind, I've been agonizing lately over whether to send him to the public kindergarten next year or pay for a year of private kinder at the school we are currently at (which he loves). On one hand I know staying at Wesley Hall would be wonderful for him, and there is at least one of his very good friends this year that will be in that class. On the other hand, the whole reason we sucked it up and moved to Westfield (versus a less-expensive neighboring town) was because the public schools are awesome. But due to crowding the town instigated last year the program where all the kindergarten students go to one school together, rather than at their respective elementary schools. Luckily the school is a half mile from our house, so it's easily walkable. But I worry about Alex dealing with a new school next fall and then ANOTHER new school the following year. And the chances that he will end up in a class with someone he knows (or even very many kids that will continue to our elementary school) are pretty slim - they have 7 morning classes and 7 afternoon ones, and from what I understand they don't try to group people at all.

But the big consideration of course is the money. His friends that are going to the public school are going to try to get morning classes so they can do enrichment programs at Wesley Hall in the afternoon. So if we stick with the private route we'd really need to see about doing full day kindergarten (to the tune of over $7K). Hard to stomach that when I'd been getting so excited about having NO MORE tuition payments (until college of course). And once again, we are paying outrageous Westfield property taxes already BECAUSE of the great school system. So I think for now I'm going to try for the public school with the afternoon classes at his current school (but I'll probably still put that deposit in on the private kindergarten just in case).

New hairdo

Before


During


Just the beginning of what ended up on the floor.


New hairdo. Doesn't she look great!

Christmas tree

Still playing catch up with the pictures. We continued our tradition started last year of going to cut our own tree (or pick our own tree and grab one of the young guys there to cut it down, though Jim does typically get it at least halfway cut before the guy shows up). I think it was just as cold as last year, but not quite as muddy. And we skipped the hot cocoa in favor of the roasted marshmallows.


Grace and I toast marshmallows. Little too hot and smokey for Alex to want to get close to. But Jim and I decided one of these fire pit things would be nice to have on the back deck once we expand it.


Grace enjoys her marshmallow. Alex decided he likes them "raw" better.


Alex posing in a ninja/superhero/Power Ranger stance for Jim.


This look means business. Especially with the menacing Spiderman gloves in the foreground.


Jim and Gracie on the hayride.


Me and my boy across from them. Once again, it was a very fun outing.

Cold!!!

Well, Christmas is upon us so I suppose I need to get some of these pictures off my computer and into cyberspace. I could divide them up into a couple of different posts, but I think I will just slap all 10 photos up here at once. Most are of our huge snowfall we got this past weekend, but three are just some recent holiday ones.


This was our trip to Santa this year. It was at a local nursery I like going to - we were getting the wreath for the front door. We had success in that Alex actually got near, spoke to Santa and shook his hand, but as you can see he wouldn't get in a picture unless I was in it too (my hands are gripping Alex's shoulders in an attempt to move him closer into the picture).


This is our attempt to put the reindeer horns we got for Lucy on her head. They were on there briefly until one big head shake made them dangle under her neck.


My sweet boy in his new sweater that makes him look like a ski pro.

Now on to the snow pictures from yesterday.


Our house on Sunday morning. I wish the Christmas lights had been on for the picture - it would have looked really nice. You can see the little light-up lollipop snowmen to the right of the steps. I bought those at Alex's request the day I felt so sorry for him for having to be part of the gymnastics carpool with five 2nd grade girls crammed in the car with him.


The snow on the top of the trash cans shows how deep it was. Jim measured between 6 and 8 inches.


Everyone had to get bundled up and out in the snow before we even had breakfast. This picture is taken in our driveway before Jim borrowed the snow blower from the neighbor to clear it out. I think our own snow blower will be on the list to Santa this year.


Who can resist snow angels in this powdery stuff?


You can see that neither kid could resist it. Except Alex has to work on getting OUT of the snow angel - he always needed a helping hand up (guess that happens when you look like the Michelin Man when you are bundled up for the weather).


The kids making some sort of snow tunnel in the back yard.


My sweet girl who LOVED playing outside in the snow. She and Jim stayed longer across the street sledding at the school than Alex and I did. In fact, I think she only came back because Jim pegged her with a snowball that went down the front of her sweater. A frozen tummy can be remedied by a mug of hot chocolate!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sadly, it has been just about a month since I've posted. So I'll start off with some Thanksgiving pictures. We had a quiet (well, with no cousins to keep the kids occupied I suppose it wasn't actually "quiet") Thanksgiving with just the four of us. I now have lots of turkey to freeze, and at least half a pumpkin pie to throw away, otherwise I'll find by the end of the weekend that I have eaten an entire one by myself which just isn't right.

We made some crafts early in the day. Played some games. Watched some TV. Cooked and ate a lot of food. The pictures are a little fuzzy because the light was low.

For one of Grace's crafts she traced each of our hands, cut them out and had us write things on them we are thankful for. If you look close on the thumb for Alex's hand you might be able to see that he is thankful for his new sheets - the robot ones Grandma and Paw Paw sent him. He also reiterated that thanks at the dinner table that night. He REALLY likes those sheets.


Alex's hand turkey he made. Instead of drawing the additional parts of the turkey, as you can see he wanted to cut them out and tape them on. He's really into using scissors these days (and possibly dispensing tape too).


Our Thanksgiving crafts that came home from school this week. I especially like Alex's paper bag turkey and Grace's paper bag fall tree (next to the turkey).


Our little family Thanksgiving feast. The pan of rolls in the front were handmade by Grace and myself that day - her first time to help me with any sort of yeast bread. I think she really enjoyed making them, and she's a surprisingly good kneader.


Sweet Alex, probably avoiding looking at the turkey because he said it looked "gross," both when raw and cooked.


Sweet no-front-teeth Gracie Lu.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!

Fun times for our first Halloween in New Jersey. Even though our town mostly goes out in the mid-afternoon to trick or treat (kind of weird). We had a few kids come later, but they were mostly older kids. Just as well - the rain hit by about 6pm, so we missed most of it except for a few sprinkles.

Festivities started on Friday with the annual Halloween parade at Tamaques Elementary. The kids get to head home for lunch to put on their costumes. After lunch they have a parade around the horseshoe that connects the school to our street, with class parties following afterward.


Alex (aka The Beast from X-Men) waits with two of his friends/classmates for the parade to begin.


Grace in the parade as Hermione (or HAM-ione?) from Harry Potter.


Our toothless wizard.


Grace's entire class. The teachers all dressed as "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." Mrs. Riley had her dog there for the parade, which all the kids loved.


I had to put a picture of this costume on here. It's Paris Hilton. As portrayed by a 5th grade boy. Sadly, he walked better in those high heels than I would have.


Today for trick or treating we first hit the streets with some of our friends. Alex had already taken his mask off because the running from one house to the next for two blocks can make you sweat. We kept telling the kids they could walk, but they wouldn't listen to us.


And here's my little wizard and superhero ready to hit the streets in our neighborhood for some treats.

Happy Halloween everyone!