FISHING DERBY!!

Well the crossed fingers and prayers worked (mostly)! :)

Dan and Riley headed out to camp last night, they had a camp fire and "cracker barrel"! It was raining and pretty cold, so Dan and Riley were the only brave ones from his pack but they had a blast nonetheless!! Here was Riley this morning ready to fish!! Riley was excited to have breakfast with the other campers and was only mildly grumpy from lack of sleep! :)
I thought this was a great shot of the lake, they tried out three different spots before settling on a good one!
Riley was excited to get a couple bites, but unfortunately no fish were caught. After fishing for a couple hours Dan sadly got a call and so they had to pack up early and come home. So they missed the end, but got a great badge and are now ready for a nap!

So with Dan gone, a tired camper, a tired mama who was up until 11pm with two wide awake babes, and a rainy cold day we may just have a movie day!

Happy May Day!

My favorite? Hmmm.

My eyes love geranium.

My nose loves freesia.

~ Miriam Chaikin

A Conversation.

ME: My husband bought me your boiled wool sheep slippers about a year and a half ago, and I love them. But recently I have been surprised by the lack of uniformity in quality between the two slippers. I understand slippers do not last forever, that is not my issue. The issue is that while one slipper looks well loved but perfectly usable, the other is faded, a hole has worn in the toe and the little sheep is coming apart. My feet go the same places, and one has not been sun bathing while the other sat in the closet. I am sad at the lack of quality control, for the price I expected a product of better quality control. As much as I have loved these slippers, I am not sure I would gamble with your quality control again. I hope with this email you will find a way to ensure your customers with a quality product, for the long run!

Thank you for your time. Danna ******

THEM: Greetings, Thank you for contacting ********. We are very sorry to hear about the quality issue you have encountered with your slippers. It definitely is rather odd that these slippers are wearing unevenly. It is not an issue that I have encountered before. At *********, we want you to be satisfied with every purchase. We would be happy to replace this item for you or you may exchange it for a different item if you prefer. Please let us know how you would like to proceed. We will first need to locate your original order in our system before we can replace or exchange your item. Please also respond with your name and full address with zip code. We would be happy to send you a pre-paid label for the return of your item. Please let us know how you would like to receive that label. Fax, mail or e-mail? We look forward to your response. Sincerely, Chrissy

ME: Thank you for your very quick response, I am grateful for your company's desire to satisfy, and for your willingness to replace. Thank you, I would be happy to accept your offer. My husband ordered them so I believe it would be under his name, Daniel (or Dan) *****. Our address is; ******************. My name is Danna *******, email would be fine for sending the return mailing label. I looked on your website and unfortunately they are not offering the black sheep slippers any longer, and so if possible I would prefer the Boiled Wool Mules (# ****) in the bright pink.

Thank you for your service, I will be sure to share with others how happy I was with your service. Danna *****

THEM: Greetings, Thank you for your response. We would be happy to send item **** brite pink size * as your replacement. You can expect delivery by Friday via UPS express at our expense. I have requested that a UPS pre-paid label be emailed to you at this address as soon as possible. Please simply print out your return label and affix it to your return package. Please retain the UPS/RS tracking number for your records. Give the package to a UPS driver or drop it off at any UPS delivery or pickup address (such as Staples or The UPS Store). You will be credited for the item/s returned and recharged for the exchange item/s. If you do not have your packing slip, please just fill out a piece of paper with your order number and/or name and address and list the items your are returning. Order number ****** Item you are returning # **** If we may be of any further assistance to you please let us know.

Sincerely, Chrissy

**** added for security mesures, (or just a little bit of privacy).

~

And so what do we learn? Sometimes it is good to complain, I have been working hard to not complain. And now my almost constant "uniform" for the last year and a half are in a box ready to be dropped off, and on Friday I will have new slippers!! I am thinking maybe I should put them away for a nice treat when it gets really cold again. But I am not sure I can wait so long. :) (I am thankful it is so far away, I NEED the sun!!!)

Dinner & Awards!

Well during our ever boring lunch (PB&J again!!!), Riley came up with a "recipe" for dinner. So off we ran to the store for a couple things, but we mostly had everything!So here is the "Little House Dinner"!

A Hill of Grass - mashed potatoes turned green with cooked, purred greens

Trees - broccoli

A Field of Flowers - steamed carrots

The Little House - square crackers

Firewood - pretzel sticks

Blackberry Bushes - blackberries

Sand & Dirt Sprinkled on Top - salt & pepper

* All amounts according to your family! :)

It went over well! :)

And then...

... last night Riley had his Pack Meeting! Riley has been working and received his Geography belt loop & his TIGER BADGE!!! Yea!!!

This is Riley receiving his awards from his Den/Cub Master Gene.

Coming up in a couple weeks is the big fishing derby, they camp out over a Friday night and then get up at 5AM to fish!! EEKK! We are hoping Dan will be in town for that, otherwise I am not sure he will be able to go, I don't think they will want to have the whole brood that comes with me!! So keep your fingers crossed and remember in your prayers that Dan will be home!! :)

And that is us today!!

EARTH DAY!!!

Ok so it is not technically until the 22 (Tuesday), but today was the big Earth Day Fair in Woodbury. It was tons of fun and Dan was even here this year to enjoy it!! So I created this little "button" in hopes that you all will steal it, put it on your blog, and then blog about your Earth Day activities! Don't forget to leave a comment here so we can all come and see it!

Here is a bit of our fun today!

Jake met a cute little piggy, he was so excited!
This was Riley's favorite activity last year and he was so excited to do it again this year!! I know he planted beets, and moon watermelon but I am not sure what else. It will be a SURPRISE!! :)

Here are a few of the goodies we came home with, we also got a tree seedling, a few granola bars already enjoyed, 4 finger puppets, and all the yummy food samples we ate!! :) Last year I did not take a bag, it was much more enjoyable not juggling a million things and 3 kids! :)

They had a coloring station where you could color Curious George pictures or a bag! It was a great project!!

Here is Riley's, he did his all on his own!
Here is Jake's, he was not so into coloring, but just wanted something to put his loot in! :)
Fern and Dan worked on this together, she was quite the Daddy's girl today (he was willing to carry her the whole time). But I did not get any pictures of her, she just basically gave everything "eyebrows"!! :)

So what are you doing to celebrate the beautiful world we live in??

All Tuckered Out!

Here is what Fern was up to after we got home yesterday, when I was posting in quiet solitude! She sleeps just like Dan does, I wonder if he slept like this when he was two!!

Sunny Fun!

We are still enjoying the quite unseasonable warm weather!! Yesterday it was 80 degrees F. at it's peek, today we were out but when we cam home around 3:30pm it was 87!!!!! April in New England is not suppose to be like this, but I'll take it!!Yesterday was so warm we pulled out the picnic table and had lunch outside! Riley decided he is too big to sit at the little table!! After this picture Fern went inside to "change pants", she came out with out any and happily wore her bathing suit cover up the rest of the day! :)
Here are our starts for the garden this year, the growing season is a bit shorter her than in Calif. and last year we did not plan ahead, this year we are hoping and praying for higher yields! Clock wise starting at the top, the ones not yet sprouted are celery, then mammoth sunflowers, the little bits are cantaloupe, and the big leaves are pumpkin! We are hoping to grow our own jack-o-lanterns, and have a few to share too!
I splurged on myself yesterday and bought violas! Aren't they pretty, I have two pots of them! :)

Since yesterday we spent nearly the whole day outside working in the yard, and since today was pay day (aka:shopping day) we headed up to Hartford to Whole Foods and then over to the Children's Museum! It is nice that they are across the street from each other, it makes the 4o min. drive well worth it!! :)

Fern's favorite is the 3 & under room, they have a great little kitchen! She was making us dinner!
She loved the little pot holders, just right for her hand. I think I will have to make her some!

I have a few more pictures but they will have to wait, I hurt my shoulder yesterday and I am going to use a little bit of my quiet time to lie down! Cherio!

UUGGGGGGHHHH!!!

Well can you guess what kind of bug I am taking a picture of in a bag AGAIN!?!?!?!?!?! Yes, it is a tick! UGH!!! I found it in Jake's hair line on the back of his neck this afternoon. UGH!! And then I had to get it out! UGH!! It was HUGE, and GROSS!!!!!! UGH!! Anyway Jake was freaking out that it was sucking his blood and so I pulled it out but was not sure if I had gotten the head out. So we went to the Dr. and she checked and said I got everything except a little speck of an antenna or something. UGH!!!!
Jake wanted to take the tick home to show dad so the Dr. put it in a bottle of some sort of poison, then into a pee bottle, and then in a sealed bag. :) So here is Jake with his tick, yea he is smiling, he got a sponge bob sticker too. :) No worries though, it was ether a wood or a dog tick, not a deer tick who carries lyme disease.
Here is another look at it, it is really hard to photograph a tick (especially when it is double bottled)!!
And then there is Fern, this is what she was doing while I made dinner. She ran with me down the hill to the grocery store because I was out of carrots, on the way back she dosed off, I woke her up took her in the house set her on the stairs, took off her shoes and jacket and then I went up to the kitchen. When I came back she was curled up kneeling on one stair, her head on the next fast asleep!! Then when I went to tell the boys dinner was ready this is what I found, I do not know if she fell over or woke up bit and layed down. She was quite asleep and woke up quite grumpy, and is now at 9:30pm quite awake! I took matters into my own hands yesterday and gave her a haircut, too bad you can not see it well. Next time!

What a day!!!

SUN!!!

So we had the most beautiful weather today and thankfully we had planned a hike! So we headed over to Hop Brook and had some fun!! Here are our super excited hikers ready to go!!
Fern was so excited when I told her she could touch the water, she kept saying. "finger! water!" It was too cute!!
Two hands even!! I love her little hands!
Then Jake found us a path to go down, but Fern was hesitant...
...she needed her Daddy first!!

And that was our fun!
The End!!

Shinner!

So Fern had a bit of a spill yesterday when coming in from playing outside, I have already given her 3 doses of arnica and it still looks like this! Can you imagine what it might have looked like!!! Fern was not very interested in showing off her owie! :)
Here it is, I caught her by surprise, that is why she is looking a little weird. She fell right on the edge of the deck stair right onto her eye bone!! OWIE!!

Could it be???

Is Spring here? Well at least today it is, tomorrow, yea well maybe it will snow. Who knows! Here is Fern outside today, she found flowers! :) These are dried out bits left from the cone flowers last year, she also picked all of my crocuses coming up, yea! :)
Here is Fern poking our seedlings who were out sunning. Our Mammoth Sunflowers are already starting to show!! :)
Here is Fern smiling for the camera, do you see her toes? Yes she and Jake were out without shoes, it was a little chilly but they have no feelers so they were fine! :) This is Fern's new dress, we were down in Orange going to Trader Joe's and decided to check out the Goodwill. As I have said recently Fern is into dresses and we just did not have enough, so we scored a couple cute dresses, this one is from Lands End and looks like it was washed once! :)

So... Happy Spring... at least for today! :)

Conference Weekend!!

Well this is Conference weekend, that is when we enjoy watching General Conference where the prophet and other church leaders address us from Utah. It is enjoyable and I buy "oreos". MMMM!! We have also had Uncle Dave visiting this weekend (Dan's brother if you can not guess by the resemblance and the fact that I have no brothers). So here is a group shot from last night...
...and a "me too" shot too! The kids have really enjoyed having Dave here and there is often a tiff about who gets to sit next to Uncle Dave and who's bread he will butter first! :) Even Fern has gotten in on the action, this self proclaimed "mama's girl" refused to sit next to mama tonight at dinner but kept saying, "Dave, Me, sit!!". She is too cute even when she is overly demanding and barking orders! So Dave may have come here to have an enjoyable respit from life but all he got was, "Uncle Dave... Uncle Dave... Uncle Dave..." just insert any thing you can guess, read this book please, build this paper airplane please, watch me! Ya know the usual aboriginal crys heard though out this house hold!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Why am I posting at 11pm you ask?

Because my cute little bug is uninterested in going to bed!!! I now have her settled enough to sit and watch a show, but here is what she was up to about an hour ago! :)She has been insisting on wearing dresses for the last three days! Too cute!

Here is her racing! She got this bug for her first birthday from Grandpa M. and has enjoyed it, but she has always left it in her room (and carpet). This week Jake brought it in the kitchen (hard floor) and now Fern is having a blast on it!!

Good night... I hope soon! :)

Sad Day.

Three sad kids asking why I was sending our movie away!

I ordered Funny Face on Netflix for ME, it is one of my favorite movies of all times and I had not seen it in a while. So one night for dinner I decided to subject everyone and make them watch it... they LOVED it! We have had it for a couple weeks now and every time I have let them watch a movie they have asked to watch this one! Who knew Audry Hepburn and Fred Astaire could capture the attention of these crazy kids of mine! I have even heard Riley humming some of the tunes from the movie and he even broke out with a few "Bonjour Parie"! At least it is something I like hearing them sing!! :)

Au revoir! :)

Crafty-ness!

Well the crafty (and frugal giving) bug has hit this house in the last few months. Here are a few of our accomplishments! Here are some dish scrubies I crocheted with cotton yarn. These were birthday gifts for Mary last month. (See my pretty new ironing board cover underneath, I had had the last one for over 9 years!!)
This is a pot holder (also for Mary's birthday) that Riley made. He also made a few for Christmas gifts!
Here is Riley's birthday gift from Dan and I, I made the quiver and Dan made the "arrows" and fixed the bow. It helps alot during the Davey Crockett & Indian games! :)
Here is what the boys got for Valentines, I cut and sewed the fabric, Grandpa M. drew the maps and Dan "aged" them.
Here is what we made for Novella for Valentines, so she won't forget us!! This is the outside...
...and here is the inside, there is another couple pages of pictures. I used iron on computer paper to get the pictures on!
And here is a kitty I made for Novella for Christmas.
Look at the cute ribbon I used for the tail!

Also if you remember our crafty Christmas gifts for the kids! I have been making dish towel bibs again, and of course baby blankets. I have some wonderful fabric waiting on another project, but I need to find the "right" bias tape first. So I wait! :)
What have you been working on???