Newbery

Last summer I made a goal to read all of the Newbery Award winning books. This week I accomplished that goal! If I were a more productive member of society I would write interesting things about the books I read, or rate them, or recommend the ones I liked. But alas, I just want to pat myself on the back and let everyone know I did it. Some of those books are doosies. As I read them I thought "Really? This won an award?" And some of them were actually good. Mostly I am just proud to have seen something through to the end. Being a mom is hardly the kind of work where you can see a big finished result (the things you clean always get dirty again, diapers always need to be changed, they always need to eat and nobody says 'good job Mommy' when you do it...). So I look at my list of 89 crossed off books and say to myself "Good job Mommy."

Vermont!

We went to Vermont today. Why? Because we can...

We went to the birthplace of Joseph Smith in South Royalton/Sharon. It was such a pretty day. With the kids we didn't get a chance to hear all of the history stuff from the tour guide but we got the gist. There is an obelisk monument (one foot for every year in his life). I loved that it had James 1:5 printed around it. There was also the door step and a marker for the hearthstone (the actual hearthstone is in the visitor's center) where the Smith's lived and bore Joseph. Pretty touching. Sterling is standing between the front door and hearth. Joseph was born right there. A little ways away on the property you could go see remnants of other family members' homes and the old Turnpike dating back to colonial America which ran through the 100 acre property. There was a stone bridge still standing since before 1804 that I thought was so cool.

We took a scenic road down to Woodstock. Gorgeous. I think there is another week or two before this part of the state peaks as far as foliage but I couldn't stop taking pictures and saying "This is so pretty!"

Next on our Vermont to do list was to see a covered bridge. The inside was the coolest. It was kinda dark for pictures plus there was a line of cars waiting to go across (you can only fit one car so you have to wait if someone is crossing in the opposite direction as you). But cool none the less.

Lastly we went to Sugarbush Farm. They make cheese and maple syrup. They had a room where you could sample them all (smart idea because once you taste it you want to BUY it!). They had a baby cow, two goats, a rabbit, and a handful of chickens to see too. Mesha and Griffin were in heaven. When I asked Mesha later if she liked Vermont and what her favorite part was she told me the chickens and the cow. They had a sugar house you could go look at. Very cool. Mesha touched an electric fence when we were not looking. She later told us about it but didn't cry or freak out when it happened so I am hoping it wasn't a very high voltage. The last thing we did on the farm was a "Maple Walk". It was a little trail through a part of the maple trees with little visual aids to show you how they tap the trees and stuff. Did you know that it takes 40-50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup? Crazy!

We had a lot of fun. I am so happy that we can go do things like this on a day trip. The world is a smaller place over here on the east coast (and speaking of a small world, we met a couple where the guy was from Spokane and the girl from Bellevue and they now live in Connecticut...small world...). Good day, good times.

Our New Place

I FINALLY got most of our house put together and felt like I could take pictures and not be ashamed. We are renting a duplex right up the street from our temporary housing. It is really close to Sterling's office. It is in a town called Glastonbury which is really family friendly and has lots of fun things to do in the fall, perfect timing! We will be here for at least 6 months and then we will see from there what we want to do as far as buying or continuing to rent.

The front, we are on the right. The sign is for the business in the back (we have no yard unfortunately) owned by our landlord. He grew up in this house.The kitchen.The "middle" room as I call it.The play room/TV room/living room.Griffin's room.Mesha's room.Our room. If the pictures aren't enough, you can watch this video tour.

Welcome Baby Cousins!

Welcome to our three new baby cousins! (For respect of privacy I won't include names or details) We are happy to have you here with us! We are excited to meet you someday.

For Laura and Amy (two of the biggest dorks I know...)

My poor little Griff tripped while running today and hit his head on the corner of a door frame. Griffin, door, get it? And now he has a nice little Harry Potter scar. Insert some silly spell chant here, Laura. Thanks Lu. All this reminds me that I need to find a doctor...

This was taken soon after the incident. I had to wrap his arms up in a blanket so I could put a butterfly closer thingy on it. It's not a deep cut but he hit his head so hard that the bump was HUGE and was pulling the cut open. Yuck. But it's nothing a little Barney couldn't fix.

And this was taken tonight after he pulled off the butterfly and band aid. The dried blood makes it look extra lightning bolt like. Insert another spell here please, Amy. Griffindor!

Family Fun Day At The DMV

Sterling and went in together to get our licences and to register our car. We took the kids with us. We were there for over 3 hours. During lunch. And nap time. I must admit, not the best planning on our part, but at least it's all over with now. And might I say that I hate dealing with snotty government workers. Apparently I am an idiot because I don't know that the term "paperwork" means my car's title and not the application to register the car. My bad. One day we will stop moving around and won't have to go the DMV so freaking much. Boo to you DMV people. Amongst all the "fun" there was an actual fun moment. We bought some snacks and drinks from the vending machines to distract the kids. They both wanted a sip of my "spicy juice" over and over even though this is the reaction we got every time.

Funny kids.

Moving and Electric Squirrels

We found a place to rent for 6 months in hopes of being able to continue to look for houses. We had our stuff delivered on Wednesday and my life has been an episode of "Hoarders" ever since. Unpacking has been complicated (it always is). We have run into all kinds of snags. We need another dresser since we have had another child since we last were on our own. Our box spring won't fit up the stairs so we have to find a split one, we need more shelving, and oh yeah we have two kids that need all kinds of attention. But it is coming together little by little. We are going on an Ikea trip tomorrow so that should help. I will do pictures and all that when I am no longer ashamed to do so (like I said, I feel like I am living on hoarders, little paths through lots of stuff...). Unpacking things that we put in boxes over a year and a half ago has been a real trip too. It feels so good to be on our own again and to use our own things. Instant self esteem you know.
To end this boring post I will spice it up a bit. This morning while we were still in bed we heard a loud bang and couldn't figure out what it was. Later we realized the power was out. Later still some guys came over to fix the power and pointed out what caused the problem. A squirrel decided he needed to eat our tasty looking power line. Boom. Goodbye squirrel. Sterling took a picture. Don't worry, I will not post it. It's disgusting. I hope some animal will come and take it off the front lawn already. I guess this is evolution at it's finest. Survival of the fittest (that doesn't include stupid squirrels).