A Touch of Chaos

Oh Phinney!

2012-01-14T17:25:00.000-05:00

At least it's his own bed and not mine.

Pooch torture

2012-01-07T09:59:00.001-05:00

We are amused. Phinney? Not so much.

In case you need a little help with your Thanksgiving plans

2011-11-19T11:50:00.001-05:00

Sometimes you just have to party!

2011-11-07T19:00:00.002-05:00

And we partied here...birthday partied to be specific, for my very good friend and neighbor. She and her husband helped me through this last difficult year and I'm so glad I was able to help her celebrate her birthday. Since I was expecting lots of people, I made two cakes. Behold!

The cake for the adults - chocolate interior:

The kiddie cake - vanilla confetti interior:

Little vultures circled the cakes and stripped them bare before they left. The sad remains? They still taste good.

Boo!

2011-10-31T21:40:00.000-04:00

We had pumpkins!

We had costumes. Frodo from "Lord of the Rings" with his loot.

The other costume required a peanut butter bribe.

And resulted in Count Dogula!

Count Dogula proved to be a bit of a thief.

Sam collected about three pounds of candy. Sugar buzz, here he comes!

A perfect fall project

2011-10-30T13:19:00.002-04:00

This reminds me of when I was a kid. We built a two-room fort in the backyard and slept out there. The boys fully expect to sleep outside but given that last night it sleeted, perhaps it won't be happening in the near future.

The materials are from a house being built on our street. They're building a net-zero green house and the walls are made of this material which is very nice for building since the panels stand up on their own so the boys can nail them together. They're very proud of their accomplishment so far and expect to make this a four room fort.

The hammers are flying.

Windows are apparently optional.

A door is not.

I've discovered it's best to not watch what they're doing too closely.

Prior to making the fort, they found another use for the building materials. I give you the Empire State Building with an airplane on top.

I love that they're doing this. It seems as though kids do very little of this sort of thing now with all the organized sports, after school care and such. They've been busy with this project all weekend long and Sam is so excited about it he wanted me to wake him up when I got up this morning...at 6am. I'm glad projects such as these still have the ability to keep kids enthralled.

Now, I'm hoping he doesn't decide he needs to run power to the fort. And that the city doesn't give me trouble about the lack of a building permit....

Cone of Shame

2011-10-14T08:12:00.002-04:00

My boy is a little less male than he was before.

Poor Phinney.

Clearing the cameras

2011-10-02T21:10:00.002-04:00

I have two cameras and haven't been downloading things on a regular basis. This rainy weekend allowed me a little unexpected computer time and I decided to be somewhat productive since several of you have given me trouble about my lack of posts over the summer.

Way back in April, Sam and I went to Long Island to visit some friends. We went to an aquarium and fed stingrays.

Contemplated giant calamari.

Acted silly.

Visited our fair lady.

Provided an unpaid promotional spot to one of America's purveyors of junk food.

Made a beach fashion statement.

Slaved away at a lighthouse.

Threatened Sam that if he wasn't good he'd go down with the anchor.

Changing directions entirely, we shipped Sam off to overnight camp. Check out his luxury digs. This picture shows 25% of the entire cabin which wasn't quite as spacious (or fuzzy) as it appears.

See? It's tiny!

Sam loved overnight camp and we thank Susan very much for making it possible.

We made our annual pilgrimage to Wisconsin. Stopped at Potawatami Park to relive my childhood. The rocks at "our" picnic area.

The fire tower that wasn't very accessible with a broken foot.

The Zippin Pippin at Bay Beach; modeled after Elvis Presley's favorite roller coaster.

Phinney looking cute in August.

Phinney with his stuffed friends. Finally the perfect use for Garfield.

Sam's first day of second grade! That really deserved a post of its own.

Phinney in September, still fond of Garfield.

And finally, Sam eating a popcorn cupcake.

Consider yourself up to date.

Poor Phinney

2011-10-02T20:00:00.002-04:00

Before!

During!

After!

He's probably thinking "The next thing you know she'll probably try to cut off my balls."

He'd be right.

I wasn't able to finish the cut completely because he'd lost patience and even peanut butter wasn't keeping him distracted. Sam took the fur and made little pillows with it. Yes, really.

By request

2011-09-30T12:37:00.003-04:00

No more foot bones! Foot is generally healed at this point.

Tonight is the Apple Festival at Sam's school so I had to make something to bring for the bake sale and cake walk so I made cupcakes, popcorn cupcakes! The "popcorn" is just cut mini marshallows; the wrappers are downloaded templates printed on a color printer. Time consuming, yes, but I'm guessing the kiddies will think they're fun.

Getting better all the time!

2011-08-01T05:29:00.000-04:00

My foot that is. I was told that it's healing much faster than they typically heal. My new film is on the left, the original break on the right. If you click on the picture and look very closely at the one on on the left you can see shadows around the break where new bone is forming. He told me that I'll be growing "a nice big wad of bone" there.

And the air cast is gone and I have a new fashion statement.

But I bagged the sock-like thing pretty much immediately and when a friend saw my new footwear he said "It looks like a Burlington shoe." I should have asked for two of them so I'd have a matched set of intentionally ugly sandals.

After I pulled off the air cast and examined my feet I noticed something I'd never noticed before. Why the heck are my ankles different sizes????

Posting that picture makes me realize that I probably should NOT be allowed to bring a camera to the doctors office.

An oldie and a goodie

2011-07-20T08:20:00.001-04:00

Just found this very cute picture from March of 2006. My how he's grown!

Boys in costume

2011-07-15T11:06:00.000-04:00

Sam in Vermont at Halloween:

John in Wisconsin at Christmas:

Too bad they can't be together to get into trouble. It does make me sad that Sam doesn't get to spend much time with any of his cousins.

Creatures of the water

2011-07-14T10:53:00.003-04:00

Dad too Sam fishing and they caught a bunch of little perch at a park we used to fish when we were kids. All too small for eating but it didn't matter to Sam; he was very excited to be able to pull in so many fish. They left because they ran out of worms.

Later I was helping my mom with some pictures and found these shots of the fish my Dad carved and painted.

The next day Sam and Dad headed out to go catch crayfish at another park we often frequented when we were young. Sam came back with a crayfish in a container he thinks should head back to VT with us. Not so sure that the TSA will allow that through security. In all honesty, I hope not!

But my Dad isn't the only one with an aquatic theme. As I went through the pictures I also came across this piece of wearable art my Mom made for my nephew.

Impressed? I am! I feel as though I should have an artistic hobby too but I'm still waiting for inspiration.

Oooh, more pictures!

2011-07-08T15:38:00.004-04:00

Good news:

My friends, neighbors, and family are AWESOME!

I have an air cast - I can take it off and wash my foot! Ahhhhhhh.

I have an excuse to sit around all the time.

It's not very painful

If I'm careful, I may not need surgery.

I was able to ask him why it often hurts near my big toe and apparently I've got some arthritis there. Does this mean I'm officially getting old! I don't feel old.

Bad news:

12-16 week recovery time!

2 weeks on crutches (they gave me trouble for hobbling around without them) with minimal movement.

It's my driving foot.

Here's what I did, over on the right:

A side view:

And a side by side comparison -- just a bit swollen and bruised with a strange protuberance way over on the right.

I was chastised for giving up on the crutches too quickly and I was also told that my temporary cast looked as though it belonged to a teenager. Is that a compliment on my activity level or are they telling me I'm a slob?

The thing that has really struck me has been how wonderful everyone has been. People have been pitching in to help me with all sorts of things and I have to admit as a very independent person, it's very difficult for me to accept that help. I'm always happy to help others but when I need help I still feel guilty about it and I'm hesitant to ask. I am so grateful to everyone who is giving me a helping hand; it's making this whole thing so much easier!

Cuteness overload

2011-07-08T11:44:00.003-04:00

Can't resist showing lots of pictures of Phinney!

Who could resist this face?

Someone can.

A fun toy for Phinney. He loves to fling it around and try to kill it. It's just a twisted up piece of fleece.

Eating is definitely one of his favorite past times.

Deceptively introspective looking. He's more like a toddler getting into everything in sight.

Dish towels provide endless entertainment. Amazing how hard it is for ME to change my habits to keep it out of his reach.

When he's tired, he and a rug are interchangeable.

Bonny still wonders how I could possibly do something like this to her!

Phinney doesn't care about her feelings because he's too busy planning his next move.

Boys and dogs? A perfect team.

Phinney is growing unbelievably fast. I think he's about two inches taller at the shoulder than he was when we got him three weeks ago. He's learned to sit and lie down. He's on his way to being housebroken. He (mostly) sleeps through the night unless you count 5:18am as middle of the night. He's hit that time exactly three nights but is usually within five minutes of it.

We're very happy to have him!

Holiday Preparations

2011-07-03T16:28:00.002-04:00

Apparently I needed a pre-holiday bang...a fall down the steps.

Fourth metatarsal, shattered. Temporary cast and crutches in place. Will know more after meeting with a specialist some time next week. Hoping to not need surgery.

It really doesn't LOOK that bad, right?

I just wish I could have seen the x-ray.

Maybe if I have to stay home and stay off my feet I'll spend more time posting and tell tales of Sam's first overnight camp (awesome! Three nights at Camp Abnaki thanks to his grandmother!) He loved it. His only problem was that he didn't get to do all the things he really wanted to do. He was proud that he was the only one in his group to catch a fish. Oh wait, there was one other thing he didn't like. They limited the kids to one s'more each. Poor kiddies. Six kids with sugar rushes in itty bitty cabins with two counselors. Sounds like fun!

I have been taking pictures of Phinney and he's growing like a weed. Maybe I'll get those uploaded and posted too.

I'm trying to think of this as an opportunity....,.

He's here! He's here!

2011-06-19T08:27:00.003-04:00

Our new addition has joined the family! We went there to pick him up. While still there, he chased Bonny around for a bit.

He said goodbye to his littermates Bruiser and Bruisette. His other two littermates have already been adopted.

Then he headed off on a whole new adventure.

A boy and his dog...perfect!

We couldn't be doodless!

2011-05-31T07:17:00.001-04:00

Bonny will be going home to her original family in July. I can't stand the idea of the house being empty and had been contemplating the possibility of going to the humane society and finding a dog to keep me company when she's gone.

Last week my former boss, Peter, came to the office for a colleague's retirement party and mentioned that he and his wife Donna have puppies at home and that if someone was interested they'd be ready in a couple of weeks. My ears perked up and when I asked him what kind of dogs they were he told me they were golden doodles! I told him I was interested. What timing! It's as though it was meant to be.

He emailed pictures. Deadly cute of course.

So I'm taking a big, big, step! When the puppies are ready in about two and a half weeks, Sammy and I will be proud parents of this little guy.

In theory, he's the calmest dog in the litter. His mom is a stately, calm, white standard poodle and his dad is a crazy, beautiful, smart as-a-box-of-rocks golden retriever . I'm hoping for reasonably intelligent and a personality much more similar to his mom's than his dad. Peter and Donna described him as the calmest of the puppies and although he wasn't named, he's now being called "Sam's puppy."

I'm thinking perhaps he's really going to be "Anne's puppy" but I do hope he bonds well with Sam. What 7 year old doesn't love a dog?

Especially one who will untie your shoes for you.

Isn't he darling?

Shhhhhh! Sam wants to keep it a secret from Ben until we bring him home.

And yes, I still love my inspiration! I'd take her in a minute if she were up for grabs. With or without the puppy.

It's a threepeat!

2011-05-30T20:12:00.002-04:00

YAM Scram year three! Success! And this year he ran twice the distance...a full mile instead of the half mile run of the previous years.

A very long mile for an injured boy.

It was tough.

Susan and I cheered him on.

The winner!

(Okay, we took this picture BEFORE the race but if I didn't tell you, would you know?)

The gathering

2011-04-04T19:47:00.003-04:00

Although Ben and I are parting ways, I still love his family. Check out these terrific women. From left to right, Susan's sister Mary, Susan, Sam, and Ben's sister Sarah. Sam decided it was time for fun photos! Self portrait. Nose portrait. Sarah strikes a pose. Susan tries to scare Sam away. It doesn't work.

Project - electricity

2011-03-25T19:57:00.001-04:00

Sam has been interested in building new inventions from whatever happens to be lying around. Electrical circuits? Fun, especially if it includes some sort of buzzer to drive me crazy.

Then there are the things that can be taken apart, for instance, an ancient boom box.

And all these parts? Become something new, all held together with duct tape.

Before and after

2011-03-23T06:46:00.000-04:00

Before

After

Pet lending service

2011-03-22T20:04:00.002-04:00

Take one friend who loves cats but isn't certain she can live with one due to allergies. Combine her with one really, really, fuzzy Lola.

Alas, one week in and it was apparent that allergic friend should not get a fuzzy kitty of her very own.

But during that week? Sam didn't notice Lola was gone....

What do you do on a sunny spring day in Vermont?

2011-03-22T19:42:00.002-04:00

What is it?

Any guesses?

Sugar on snow! For some reason it's paired with a donut and pickles but no one complains.

While spring is in the air, winter is still firmly entrenched.

But goat and sheep feeding? Seasonless.

Persistence!

2011-03-19T22:30:00.002-04:00

My boy, he is a persistent one and I mean that as a compliment.

I took Sam to Bolton for a beautiful day of spring skiing. He decided to snowboard instead of ski. He's taken just one lesson and he's practiced on a hill near our house but he hasn't done much snowboarding this year.

We started on the tow rope. Sam would start down the hill, fall, get up, start, fall, get up, start, fall....

I could tell he was frustrated; he slapped the ground, cried out in anger.

But he got up, and did it again and again and again.

He asked to try the lift, so we did. He managed it just fine. We went down a steeper section and he fell and got up and fell and got up.

By the end of the day he was snowboarding, slowly but in control, down blue trails with only a fall now and then.

He made me proud, not so much for his accomplishment, however impressive, but for his persistence.

Holy Moose Batman!

2011-03-15T08:45:00.002-04:00

Walking Sam to school through the shortcut through a little wooded area today we noticed some strange tracks in the snow. At first I thought it was a deer but they were just too big for that. It occurred to me that they could be moose, right here in town. They looked just like this though and based on size, if it is a moose, it's a small one.

Moose occasionally do hang out in Burlington so it's not impossible but it's disconcerting that it's right on school property. Several years ago one of the teachers at a different school allowed kids to go out a view a moose on school property during rutting season. Oops!

Honestly though? If it is a moose I REALLY want to see it!

Work work work

2011-02-07T19:57:00.003-05:00

We've been hit hard with snow. First it was 14" early last week. Saturday night and early Sunday morning we received an additional 10" of wet, heavy snow.

At any rate, Sam has discovered something wonderful about snow. It's an opportunity to make money! Yesterday we spent about 5 hours shoveling snow all told and during that time, Sam earned $24. He was very excited by this as he's trying to make a lot of money to go to Hawaii. I told him I'd match anything he earned or saved and he's now over $100. He's got his own bank account we can monitor his balance on-line.

I love that he's learning that in order to get money he has to work. And he's also learning that sometimes we do work even though we aren't going to receive anything in return -- we dug out our neighbor who is somewhere near 80 years old and she will NEVER thank us, ever!

We helped dig Beth out but she can tell her own sad tale in the comments.

We have 4"-8" in the forecast for tonight.

Transition

2011-01-21T08:09:00.001-05:00

Last night I went to a meeting of local artists with a friend. One of the women there showed her work, a series about transition because she is in the midst of a job change. Her work included seekers and a guide and it spoke to me because of my current situation with the divorce.

I spoke to her after the meeting and complimented her work. I mentioned that I was also in transition. She told me that her friend had told her than these difficult life changes are like being on a trapeze. You hang on to the trapeze for as long as possible but if you ever want to get across to the other trapeze, you've got to let go. And that moment of letting go is a moment of terror but if you don't let go, you either end up back where you started or you fall. If you hang on to both at the same time you get ripped apart. The goal is to get past that moment and move on.

Our new addition

2011-01-07T21:37:00.002-05:00

I've got a fluffy, cute, and very large temporary addition to the family. Meet Bonny.

She's very sweet but as you can see from the picture, she's still a little skeptical about being with us.

She follows me around and has managed to worm her way on to the couch to snuggle with me. I can't resist. She's a very sweet and somewhat timid dog.

Tonight we had people over for a family movie night. I made five batches of popcorn* and there were lots of kids. Bonnie was in popcorn heaven! She helped me clean up.

She'll be with us for six months and Sam is enjoying her very much.

*I was thinking it would be nice for all the kids to have their own bowl of popcorn but I don't have a bowl collection. It occurred to me that I could make containers out of paper and my friend had given me a Martha Stewart magazine so I used that and a couple of staples to make these.

It's a good thing.

Finally!

2010-12-31T09:14:00.000-05:00

A good picture.

A mystery

2010-12-30T20:32:00.005-05:00

Once upon a time not so very long ago Anne and Sam came home from work and discovered that there was no electricity in the mudroom. Feeling a tad concerned, they explored the house and discovered the following:

Electricity in the dining room but not the kitchen.
Electricity in the living room but not the stairwell and hallway.
Electricity in the bathroom and Sam's room but not the other two bedrooms
Electricity in the addition upstairs but none in the addition downstairs
Electricity in half the attic but not the other half.
No electricity in the basement. You know, where the FURNACE is located!

Anne tried all the breakers everywhere in the house. None had been flipped. On and off, on and off and still, no solution. There was no pattern to the outages that could be discerned.

Eventually the electric company was called and they made an evening visit. Ah ha! The problem was not in the house leading to a very large sense of relief as visions of calling an electrician on the off hours of a holiday week danced in Anne's head.

Sam put his Christmas camera to good use.

They're here!

The road is blocked. Oops! Sorry neighbors.

Equipment is hauled out.

And then, the really big excitement!

By about 9:00pm we had electricity! And heat!

Christmas!

2010-12-25T20:20:00.002-05:00

What do you know! Santa showed up! Apparently Sam was a good boy this year.

Santa brought Sam a toolbox with real tools! Santa seemed to know that Sam always took his mom's tools and she was a little tired of having them disappear. But not just tools. Santa brought Sam a selection of four different colors of duct tape! That should last a week or two.

Gram made Sam a fabulous sweater.

He wore it while excavating a dinosaur. The sweater can be washed. The kitchen may be covered in plaster dust for years to come.

Sam gave me an absolutely fabulous gift for Christmas. He made a calendar and I'm showing every single month because it's THAT awesome! I brought it to work so I can look at it when I need distraction from the grind and have already received compliments on it.

An all around lovely Christmas!

Whew, how much time has passed?

2010-12-23T17:26:00.003-05:00

This time of year everything has a tendency to get away from me and then I blink and the new year appears. Sam is VERY excited about Christmas and has added to his list; now he wants a remote control helicopter and a Star Wars Lego set that costs somewhere in the range of $130. Santa is already finished with his toy production for the year though so he may be out of luck.

Between the last post and this one, Sam turned seven! Oh my! I had a little sleepover party for him with just two of his good buddies. Is it bad to admit that it was a whole lot easier on me than last year's backwards party? Pizza, cake, movies, Nerf darts, and popcorn -- a little boy's dream!

Sam wanted man cake so that's what he got. He decorated it and told me that his cake had the chicken pox. Why had it never occurred to me to let him decorate his own cake before?

He also made birthday hats for everyone.

He huffed and puffed...

We also took a trip on the Polar Express with Susan and Sam's buddy Ronan, made Christmas cookies with Susan and Beth, decorated our Christmas tree, wrapped Christmas presents as a fundraiser for Vermont Cares, had Sam's seven year check up (51 1/2" tall, 64 lbs!) and brought goodies and food shelf foods to the school. We slid in a couple of parties, most recently a solstice party where we all made wishes on candles for the new year. I wished for great new beginnings and Sam wished for Star Wars Legos....

In the excitement of the season, much of the real meaning of Christmas can be lost so Susan sent Sam a book about the story of Christmas that she'd edited. We read it last night and afterward Sam asked "If Jesus is Jewish, why doesn't he celebrate Hanukkah?"

'tis the season

2010-11-30T19:25:00.002-05:00

And it's not even December!

Sam's letter to Santa:

Dere Santu Mi name is Sam I am so so glad that crismis is a holuday this yer I hop you bring me a ping poing tabl a bunch of ucshtenshing cord’s lap top 900000000000 galing tanc sel fon camru 1000$ and that is all I wont for crismis you’r the best.

Translation:

Dear Santa,

My name is Sam. I am so so glad that Christmas is a holiday this year. I hope you bring me a ping pong table, a bunch of extension cords, lap top, 900,000,000,000 gallon tank, cell phone, camera, $1,000 and that is all I want for Christmas. You're the best.

Yikes! I hope he's not too disappointed in Santa when he doesn't bring him all those things. And where exactly would you put a 900,000,000,000 gallon tank? He told me that he'll use the $1,000 to buy a cell phone and lap top. I told him that I'd never heard of Santa giving away money.

The advent calendar is filled and ready to go.

The season is upon us.

Oh Lola

2010-11-28T19:05:00.001-05:00

Please grow a brain. Are you unable to learn from experience?

Wow! Something good about divorce!

2010-11-28T14:07:00.003-05:00

So today the phone rang and rather than let it go to the machine for my normal screening, I asked Sam to answer it.

I heard Sam say "No, he's not here. My mom and dad got divorced and now he doesn't live here."

I grabbed the phone and asked if I could help. "No, I'll make a note that he's no longer at this number!"

Divorce as a telemarketing deterrent!

Cat toy?

2010-11-23T05:54:00.000-05:00

Really?

Prove it!

Baker Sam

2010-11-21T18:57:00.002-05:00

Baker Sam was baking a pie as fast as he can. He rolled it, and patted it and....

Wait! What is that? It's pie crust spread with butter, then sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, and at Sam's request, spruced up with sprinkles. Sprinkles are Sam's unique addition to this childhood favorite of mine. It's now a favorite of Sam's and since he's going to visit his Aunt Sarah, he wanted to make sure that she knew how to make them with any extra pie crust she might have.

The masterpiece, ready for the next step. And what might that be?

Rolling of course.

Then slicing.

Then baked in the oven with the excuse for making pie crust pinwheels, a chicken pot pie.

And yum! Irresistible tender sweet goodies. That plate will be empty very very quickly!

We were Maine-iacs!

2010-11-21T18:44:00.002-05:00

Beth and I did a whirlwind trip to Maine. It was so fast I only remembered to take a couple of pictures. Look what was happening as we left Vermont!

That white stuff....what is it? Preparation for skiing, that's what it is!

We were treated to a wonderful meal at Beth's stepmother's place, wandered around strange and exotic places such as Bull Moose, Mardens, and Old Port. We yacked and gawked and had a tremendous time.

The only other pictures I took were Christmas decorations in Old Port. Enjoy!

If your grandmother happens to be an author

2010-11-17T21:05:00.002-05:00

You might be able to convince her to come and talk to your class.

And she might be having lots of fun!

Sam took these pictures and many many more while Susan visited his class to talk about, well, I'm not exactly sure. I think she talked about how you go about writing and publishing a book. Sam was so excited to have her there!

Patience little one!

2010-11-16T11:25:00.000-05:00

Last night Sam wanted me to do something for him when I was in the middle of something so I told him to hold his horses. I looked over at him and he had his arms out, bracing his body, and said "I'm holding my horses but they're really really strong!"

A word about the long blog silence

2010-11-11T09:18:00.000-05:00

Ben and I are divorcing. It’s been a long time coming and in the long run is probably the best thing for us to do. While this is obviously something that Sam doesn’t want, he is adjusting to the change and we’re working hard to make this transition as smooth for him as possible.

We’ve been receiving good support from friends and family for which I am very thankful. Still, it’s a difficult and anxiety-laden process so blogging hasn’t been very high on my priority list.

I’m hoping to get back to my normal sporadic posting schedule! Hold me to it. It’s not as though our personal drama changes the fact that Sam continues to grow and change.

Lookee here!

2010-11-11T08:12:00.001-05:00

See what's missing?

Halloween Boy

2010-10-31T08:14:00.003-04:00

Sam came up with his costume on his own.

And yes, he did trick or treat in his flippers!

No Halloween is complete without some goofy pumpkins. The "HR" stands for "Halloween Rocks!"

This is Mr. Four Eyes. Do not be tempted to think those are ears on the top of his head! Every pumpkin needs hands and feet, correct?

And to complete the fun, some fall and almost Halloween-themed cupcakes. Sam and I made these for the school apple festival and they were one of the first things selected for the cake walk. Bugs appeal to elementary school kids.

A Sam's eye view

2010-09-03T05:58:00.001-04:00

Dicovered in the camera

Poor Moosie:

Still life with 'taters:

First day of school

2010-09-02T20:08:00.002-04:00

Sam, completely uninterested in having his picture taken on his first day of first grade.

My baby is all knees, elbows, and flying feet!

First grade report: "The day was really short!"

I think that translates into awesome.

The downside of growing up

2010-08-25T06:47:00.003-04:00

Sam's always been pretty independent. He generally doesn't follow the crowd although he will stick his toes in every now and then. He's avoided the crazy "Star Wars" fad of (hopefully) last year. He wasted just $5 on Silly Bandz before he lost interest the same day.

Yesterday there was a development that made me sad. We were eating dinner and he took off his "Rawr Means I love You in Dinosaur" tee shirt, turned it inside out, and put it back on. When I asked him why he said the kids were teasing him about it although apparently teasing = reading the words out loud. Oh how I wish he wouldn't care about what anyone thinks! I would like him to be the person he wants to be, to enjoy the things he really enjoys, not the things he thinks he should enjoy. Hang on to your individuality sweet boy! That is what I want for you.

What Sam wants, the next iteration

2010-08-20T08:10:00.002-04:00

When we last "talked", Sam was saving money for a trip to Hawaii. While expensive, it's a goal I can get behind, something I'd enjoy. I can let my mind wander over the Hawaiian landscape and feel a little peace and happiness, no matter how unlikely the trip.

Alas, Hawaii has already been preempted -- by a HORSE!

Oh no. Sam went to visit the grandson of Susan's friend at her friend's farm and they've got horses. So big, such fun, so exciting!

Sam sees himself riding a horse to school. Giddy up dude! I'm trying to picture a paddock in our back yard and Sam mucking out a stall. I love the idea of Sam tying the horse to the schoolyard fence for the day.

But this one? Definitely not going to happen.

Hawaii-bound

2010-08-17T06:34:00.000-04:00

Sam has decided we're going to Hawaii! I've always wanted to go to Hawaii but alas, it's a very expensive place to visit.

Sam is undaunted by this news and decides that he will earn money to pay for the trip. First up is returning bottles. With a little help from Ben he was able to make a small contribution to the Hawaii-fund.

But that wasn't enough of course so my little entrepreneur decided he wanted to do the classic kid fund raising event, a lemonade stand! That, of course, required my assistance. Adorable! He spent at least 2 hours hawking his wares and made about $3.00 despite the wind blowing away his sign. I love my neighbors.

After he closed up shop we rode our bikes to the bank so he could deposit his funds. His Hawaii fund is now at $47.63.

Hawaii remains a tad elusive.

The progression

2010-08-16T06:24:00.002-04:00

Sam found a nice big feather. Ah ha! It must be made into a pen! I talked him out of making a quill pen and convinced him that if he used the insert of a ball-point pen he wouldn't need to carry around a bottle of ink. With a little hot glue, we made that feather into a wonderful feather pen.

But how can he carry his new feather pen around with him so when he is inspired with his next great idea he whip it out and jot it down? A hat of course! He must make a hat in which to carry the feather.

He designed the hat. I assisted with the cardboard engineering. The finished product!

The Mad Hatter! He wore his hat when we visited the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and he received many compliments and admiring nods.

How could you not love this hat?

Sammy the Spy

2010-08-15T06:09:00.004-04:00

When I was a kid I read the book "Harriet the Spy" over and over and over. I was fascinated by the idea of collecting information about other people. Apparently I passed that on to Sam as he's been interested in spy gear for awhile. He most recently added a periscope and night vision glasses to his collection. When his friends come over they sometimes play with the gear.

When Sam asked to use the camera, I didn't think much of it. He and his friend ran off giggling but returned the camera a little while lately saying they were spying. And who where they spying on? Me of course. Look at their thrilling discoveries.

A shot from the front porch. She is holding a suspicious red item.

Ooh, she set down this mysterious item. It must be part of a nefarious plot. Look at her hands! Look at her accomplice! They're obviously plotting something.

If we go inside perhaps we can get a good picture through the window. This is very suspicious! She must be burying something!

Now the mysterious red bin has moved to the front. Perhaps she's burying something there too.

Oh, see how sneaky she is? She's acting all casual, as though nothing is happening but look at that shifty-looking character in the truck. They must be in cahoots! This requires further investigation....

Surprise discovery

2010-08-04T15:04:00.003-04:00

When we bought our house, nearly every surface in the place had been painted, included many of the doors. We did lots of work on the house, including stripping woodwork, when we first bought the place but then I ran out of steam with seven doors still to be stripped. Beth told me about a place where I could take them to be stripped so I could avoid the toxicity of the chemicals, the mess, and the labor. Sam and I dropped the doors off today and look what was in front of the place.

Not only is Dino adorable on his own, but he reminds me of my Grandpa, who worked at a Sinclair station. He used to give us Dino Soap which we loved and my Mom hated because it stained the bathtub green.

Now Dino is a collectible and I'm just old. I wish I would have appreciated my grandparents more when they were alive.

Another first

2010-07-21T16:07:00.002-04:00

Today, about 2:00 pm, Sam jumped off the high dive for the very first time. And then he did it again and again and even talked me into doing it too. It was the first time since I was a kid I do believe.

I forgot the joys of a nose full of water.

Rescued!

2010-07-18T14:39:00.002-04:00

No parakeet or finch here. All it took was one session of litterbox cleaning.

Q.E.D.

Save me.....

2010-07-16T21:18:00.002-04:00

Sam wants to get a parrot.

He wants it so badly that when I wouldn't drive him to go look at parrots, he decided we should take a bike ride. And when we went on the bike ride he said he wanted to go to BigChainPetStore which is way up in Williston, probably about 7 miles away. I agreed figuring that he wouldn't last long so we left home with the house keys, and our bikes. And I made him ride up the big hill on the road near our house thinking that would put the ride in perspective and make him change his mind. And damned if he didn't have it in him to get there and back! It was about 85 and humid, we were riding on sidewalks and roads for the majority of it, some along very busy roads. And we're in Vermont so of course there are hills.

I'm proud of him.

As far as the parrot goes, I told him he could get one if he saved up his money but he had to keep it in his room. We discovered that they're about $600 for the bird and another $100 for the cage so I'm hoping he loses interest before he saves that much money. No, we are NOT taking donations. Do you know that they can live up the 25 years?

After he realized how expensive they are, he decided that maybe he wanted one of the finches or parakeets -- these birds are about $20 and cages are about $35 which, unfortunately, he can save fairly easily. I told him that in order to be able to do that he'd have to take total responsibility for the cats, including the litter box, for 30 days without my reminding him to do so. I set the bar high.

And the next thing out of his mouth? "After I get a bird I really want just a little puppy."

He's back!

2010-07-16T21:11:00.002-04:00

And, as expected, he had an absolutely fabulous time in Woods Hole. When he walked in the door he gave me a huge hug and sat on my lap for a good long time; I needed that.

He spent nearly all day every day with his cousins and the other kids on the beach. Nick, his cousin, played camp counselor to all the younger kids and Sam loved it. There was an outing to the aquarium. He found the egg pod of a skate. He made sculptures with found items.

He told us tales of catching an eel, having it escape from the bucket, and putting it in a salt water tank in the kitchen with his starfish and minnow buddies (or dinner).

He has barnacle scratches on his feet from when he forgot his water shoes.

He wishes he could have stayed longer.

It was perfect.

My baby is gone!

2010-07-14T09:02:00.000-04:00

Both ways...he's growing up and he's not here! Ben's mom proposed taking Sam with her on a trip to Cape Cod to visit Ben's sister, her kids, and various extended family.

My first reaction was NO! Of course not! But I realized the fact that I wasn't ready for him to be off on his first parent-free adventure wasn't a good reason for keeping him home when he is clearly ready to take that step.

He was so excited he woke up at 5:30 am. Beth and I drove Susan and Sam to the bus station where I stole some much-needed cuddle time prior to departure.

I nearly cried as we drove off but I shook it off and decided to enjoy the freedom. We caught up with a friend, made a pilgrimage, admired the bears, assumed our rightful position as Queen, with protection of course.

Then off to somewhere I've never heard of before. Their motto "If we don't have it you don't need it." They mean it.

Do we need this?

And Sam? He's having a fabulous time collecting specimens on the beach, fishing with hot dog pieces as bait, swimming with the big kids, capturing eels and imprisoning them in a salt water tank on the kitchen table, collecting said eel when it escapes, feeding the eel many many minnows, and generally being very independent and happy. A perfect summer adventure.

Phyllis and Cindy Lou visit Beth

2010-07-13T20:57:00.004-04:00

There is an unexpected hazard in visiting Vermont. Beth has crazy internet friends. You never know where your picture may appear.

With cows no less.

Remember going to the beach?
I have more pictures, beach pictures. Would you like me to post them? Or shall I be prudent and reasonable?

Now, about our conversation....

Here chicky chicky chicky

2010-07-13T20:31:00.002-04:00

Friends are off to Paris for a month. Their three chickens, however, don't have passports and thus were required to stay home and be cared for by a parade of neighborhood children. They're very tolerant chickens and Sam happily assumed responsibility for a week provided he was guaranteed a minimum of six eggs.

No, I don't know why he needed at least six eggs.

Meet one of the hens. She's cute and tasty looking. I'm sure she has a name but I don't know what it is so I'll call her drumstick.

The daily routine was to feed them (the kids made sure they were VERY fed. There was no way they could have possibly eaten all the food the kids were giving them.), check their water supply and refill if necessary, and collect the eggs.

Sam really enjoyed checking for eggs.

But every day we looked at this. Chicken butt.

Let's name this hen Eggless because that's what she was. I didn't know if it was because she was hot since we had chicken duty over the heat wave here, or if she was broody. She never seemed to leave the nest boxes and she never seemed to lay any eggs. I requested technical assistance from Paris and learned that it very much sounded as though she was broody and one way to deal with that was to keep all the chickens from going into the nesting boxes at all. So, in case you ever need to deal with a broody hen, you now know the procedure - lock them out of their nests.

Sam couldn't leave the chickens without a little game of chase. Poor chickens; check out Sam's expression. The reddish brown hen is named, er, let's call her Cutlet. She and Drumstick were the only two laying and I'm not sure which of them laid this fine specimen.

The garden gets fancy

2010-07-08T20:12:00.002-04:00

Remember the garden? It's going to be on the Flynn Garden Tour! Well, not specifically our little garden experiment, more the yard of the people who host the garden. We're hoping our portion lives up to their yard although it's unlikely given that her garden is gorgeous and ours is a working garden.

Our lettuce, Sidney's backdrop.

Fava beans!

Shallots!

The first cucumber.

Rows of beans, beets, and assorted other vegetables.

Things are growing well despite the very hot weather.

But now there are accent pieces to set off the garden. The garden show pairs up gardeners with artists and our neighbor's artist is John Brickels. I've seen his work in one of the local galleries and found it fascinating but in the context of the garden, his work is stunning. Most of the sculptures are in the rocks. They blend in at first glance, the clay nearly the color of the rocks.

Once they've caught your eye, the whimsy and detail requires a closer look.

See how nicely it sets off our greens?

This twisty little guy in the front has no doors or windows. Inside looking in, outside looking out.

There are cars in the rocks!

An accident waiting to happen?

Or maybe an accident has already happened.

Flat tires! Sam asked the artist why they were flat and he told Sam "I'm just not very good at making tires."

They look as though they belong there and should stay forever. He wouldn't miss them, would he?

Fish fry

2010-07-08T19:49:00.002-04:00

Not in oil, in water. We're having a New England heat wave with temperatures over 90 degrees F and humid for what is now the forth or fifth day with more to come. I know those of you living further south of here are unsympathetic but there is one thing you need to keep in mind - we do NOT have air conditioning. Air conditioning is not standard in most Vermont houses.

I've been coping by doing physical labor only in the early mornings, riding my bike to work instead of walking, perfecting my sloth imitation when Sam leaves me alone, swimming in my neighbor's pool (even the water is 92 degrees F now!) when he doesn't, and generally moving as little as possible.

We're coping. But I hadn't considered that our overly extensive fish collection would need to be coddled through this heat wave. As the water in the tank nears 90 degrees F they look a tad listless and lazy. Unfortunately, I feel responsible for them and their comfort. The fish forums tell me that I'm not a responsible fish owner if I don't air condition the room with the tanks to keep them comfy. I don't air condition the rooms I'm in so I'm not doing it for the fish. I'm sorry, that's just the way it is. Instead, I've been perking them up by taking the lids off and running fans over the top of the tanks to increase cooling through evaporation. I've increased the air flow through the water because warmer water carries less oxygen. And now I've been making them their how ice packs.

I wish they'd just head for the basement like our very resourceful cats. Hurmph.

They're very lucky they're too small to be dinner.

How do you know someone is from Vermont?

2010-07-01T09:27:00.000-04:00

A friends mother was describing someone. "She looks like she's from Vermont."

How can you tell by looking?

"She was wearing big shoes!"*

*In case this doesn't make sense to you, consider that everyone in Vermont looks as though they'd have the ability to hike up a mountain at any time. This requires substantial footwear. I don't think most of the Dansko/Tivo/Keene etc. footwear seen on the street is really mountain appropriate but we're a tough people. Once I saw a barefoot man hiking up Camels Hump. We won't mention the beer in his hand. Those two things may be related....

Back from WI

2010-06-29T20:34:00.002-04:00

I could probably just do a ditto to my posts for previous WI visits. We do the same things each year although the cast of characters changes a bit. The pictures show how the kids have grown and how the activities have morphed as their skills grow.

A new addition this year. Meet Ringo. I kept thinking his name was Bingo but he traveled up from Chicago to join us.

Rub a dub dub four men in a....boat. The boat didn't survive -- it's now a bottomless boat.

Swimming. Brrrr.

When the swimming lost its appeal, a little chalk can be a nice change of pace.

When that lost its appeal it was on to finger knitting. My sister says that when we were kids I made a sweater for her for Christmas by sewing together finger knitting but I do NOT remember that so she must be making it up. It's a horrible idea.

So is this as Sam discovered about two minutes into his first attempt at sleeping on the cedar chest.

I put my cardboard engineering skills to work on stylish sunglasses which were first requested by my brother Brett aka Woogie to people who knew him as a kid. Yes, you can see through that gold stuff. That's the whole reason the sunglasses came into being.

What happens when you combine a mouse trap, little army guys, Grandpa, Sam, a stick, and some bad judgement? A whole lot of fun. I tried to take a picture of the flying men but the best I got was the trap in the air. That MAY be a flying guy up in the upper left hand corner but I can't vouch for that. They also gave multiples a try and yes, that works too, just in case you were planning to reenact this at home.

Gramdpa and Sam spent time by the water.

They also spent some time at a stocked pond. There were lots and lots of sunfish.
There were also bass but we lost two hooks before catching this dude...or dudette. Don't ask me. He survived to bite another day.

Silly faces.

Sweet face.

Mr Blue Eyes.

The wildlife sanctuary.

A few good storms.

But a unique WI highlight? A necessity? Something Quinn called "Those things that go squeak in your mouth when you chew them." They must be eaten on the day they were made or you're just wasting your time.

Fish morphing

2010-06-18T20:19:00.004-04:00

Last fall, Sam won the fish on the right, the fish that started it all.

But now, "Goldie" looks like this:

And no, the original fish didn't die and I didn't replace it with a different fish! Really!

A bet with myself

2010-06-18T20:06:00.002-04:00

We removed two dead elm trees from our backyard recently. I found that Ben became interested in yard work when it included a chain saw and avoided a bill that would have been well over $1,000.

Ben cut down the trees and cut things into generally managable lengths but I dealt with getting rid of all the branches, stacking, and clean up. The only thing left in the yard are the stumps and the stack of wood I made with the larger pieces Ben is planning to split. This is that stack today. Any bets on what the stack will look like when the snow flies?

Sam's thank you letter to his teacher

2010-06-16T11:13:00.005-04:00

Today is the last day of school and Sam spent some time this morning writing a note to his teacher -- on the computer no less. Here it is with his original spelling.

Der miss saunders you are the best cindugurdunin techr in the hl younuvrs thanc you for teching me haoow to read and ruet and spel and you tot me wut matter mens you tot me a baoot solids and licwoods I wish that I cood be yowr stootint for evevr

Translation:

Dear Miss Saunders,

You are the best kindergarten teacher in the whole universe. Thank you for teaching me how to read and write and spell and you taught me what matter means. You taught me about solids and liquids. I wish that I could be your student forever.

He signed it "From Sam."

Isn't that adorable? I'm sure she will appreciate his ability to "spel" and "ruet." I love his spelling of the word universe...

Enjoying it while I can

2010-06-15T21:12:00.002-04:00

One day soon the stuffed animal will be gone, the duckie blanket will be set aside, the novelty jammies will exit his life.

I'll miss them; he won't look back.

Scary tree tiger

2010-06-15T20:21:00.002-04:00

Face painting at school today. It's the last week of school.

The bathtub ended up with little chips of orange paint everywhere....

Oh what a difference a month makes

2010-06-15T20:10:00.002-04:00

Our friendly little street does things together. This week we had a pot luck for a former neighbor who was here for a quick visit...oh, it's a also a street with a lot of good cooks.

We've got a neighborhood garden we have named the "Adams Court Socialist Garden Experiment" and we've been working on it for more than a month now. Here it is on May 18.

Not much to see here. The lettuce has just started to come up and most things were still nestled snuggly in the compost enriched dirt. But we've got some lovely paths laid out.

But today! Today! It's beautiful! This is from a different angle but it's full of lush plants.

We've got squash and pumpkins, 40(!) tomato plants, pole beans, bush beans, one single soybean plant (we have no idea why the rest didn't come up). There are leaks and onions and scallions, beets, and many more things.

We are harvesting peas and lots and lots of spinach, chard, and lettuce.

Our potatoes are nearly shoulder high on Sam.

And we're enjoying the process. We get together on Sunday morning and plant, weed, chat, and watch the kids climbing on the rocks.

Now, if we could only use everything we grow....

Yard tour

2010-06-07T05:33:00.002-04:00

Ah yes, it's that time again, time to try to grow grass in our front yard and time to at least think about what we could potentially do with the back yard. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to writing this post when I first took the pictures a couple of weeks ago so now I can give you an update on recent changes.

I once again tried to seed the front yard. Success? Not so much. A limited amount of grass has appeared but it's very spotty. However, the smoke bushes I pruned very aggressively have made a huge comeback and are much larger than they were when I took this.

Let's take a little tour along the side of the house. I love this red bud tree even as I trim it so it doesn't rub up against the house. Alas, the flowers have since disappeared.

I redid this little walkway last year, added lots of shade loving plants. I've got hostas, bugloss, lungwort, and coral bells in there.

Moving along further toward the back, a bit more variety.

Unfortunately, then we run into the great white wasteland of our neighbor's garage. I've planted some bushes in there to try to cover it over the long term but now, it's just an overwhelming wall of whiteness. I'm trying to come up with something to shield the area a bit.

This year I enlarged and rearranged the bed nearest our garage. We've got our own overwhelming walls of whiteness. Sam and I made the trellises to try to break up the whiteness a bit and planted a clematis near one of them. I hope it gets huge and bushy. The plants have grown a lot in the last couple of weeks so they look better than they do here.

But I'm still trying to figure out what to do with our bowling alley back yard. This was taken from our upstairs back porch. That's Sam's sandbox with the white cover in the middle of the yard. On the right is the hole where he's trying to make a pond 3 feet deep. The neighbor kids claim to have found meteorite pieces in there! It's the source of much neighborhood mud, especially when they decide to add water. There are rocks popping up all over; it's a former quarry with some added topsoil. The house is on ledge.

At the very back of the yard is the compost area and some trees. We can now see our neighbor's house since they cleared out their back yard. The compost area is just filled with an invasive awful weed. I don't know the name but my Norwegian friend calls it "German kale." We'll never get rid of it unless the entire neighborhood works on it at the same time. Highly unlikely. It's impossible to get rid of!

Looking back at the house you get an idea of the size of the size of the yard. I'm well aware of it since it takes nearly an hour to mow that grass. We'd like to put a patio in and I'm debating...near the house for convenience and shade or further out to make the yard more interesting? Right now I'm opting for convenience but I'm not sure how large or what shape to make it. We've got to keep the pathways on either side of the house clear since that's the only access from the front yard to the back. The path between the house and the garage is extremely ugly and damp.

I'd love to have a beautifully landscaped back yard but I'm still waiting for inspiration. The depressing thing is that I found some pictures from before Sam was born and the addition was put up and the yard looked MUCH better way back then. I seem to be starting over.

Happiness is...

2010-06-06T17:20:00.002-04:00

A downed tree! The bigger the better. A downed maple in our neighbor's back yard? Total bliss.

A huge root ball, excellent for climbing and knocking dirt off the roots.*

Neighborhood jungle gym.

Adorable climbers.

*After the tree had been cut into parts and about 30 minutes after the last kid climbed down, the root ball slammed back into position. We were all thankful there were no kids up there at the time!

Scram boy

2010-06-06T17:03:00.003-04:00

There is a kids race associated with the Burlington City Marathon, the YAM SCRAM. Sam ran with his buddies last year but this year, we didn't connect with his friends before the race so he ran alone.

No real pre-race jitters for this boy!

See? No stress.

And no speeches this year either. I guess they learned their lesson last year.

Sam had his own cheering section.

He was determined. He ran hard. He ran fast. And unlike last year, I was able to find him in the crowd.

His medal.

He seemed to think it was equivalent to the medals the marathon runners were sporting for finishing the whole 26.2 miles in under 4 hours. Why burst his bubble?

Now he's got a medal collection.

Note: For the sake of consistency, Sam once again lost a read balloon to the sky. Perhaps this is the real YAM SCRAM tradition.

Sam's shopping list

2010-06-06T16:47:00.003-04:00

This is copy and paste:

Sams list
candey
stuftanumls
legows
spurclrs
cuymood fish
goldfish

He printed out four copies of the list, one for Ben, one for me, one for him and a spare just in case someone was wondering what to get for him.

I was able to read everything except the second from the last item; he translated it as "community fish." A guppy in the community tank died last week and he's hot to get a replacement. I don't, however, know if he's talking about goldfish crackers or a real goldfish for the last item but at least he spelled it correctly.

I've made a discovery

2010-05-24T17:24:00.000-04:00

When I get irritated about Sam fiddling with things and breaking them I can make myself feel better by looking at this.

Boy in a box

2010-05-18T21:20:00.000-04:00

And the box fell over.

And the boy cried.

Imagine that.

Young ambitious male seeking

2010-05-16T08:52:00.002-04:00

Young ambitious male seeking partner for fun and construction. Must have tools and know how to use them. Must have no opinions what so ever. Must take instruction well and perform miracles from insufficient materials.

In other words, Sam is trying to build a tree house and I won't help because I'm cruel and mean and don't love him etc etc etc. He can't seem to process that I won't help because I don't WANT him to have a tree house given that he has a tendency to fall or jump off things. Oh, and because he's determined to build it in our neighbor's tree instead of ours. He's determined though; he's hauled out tools and materials.

Oh, for silence or at least creativity

2010-05-08T14:49:00.002-04:00

Sam is enamoured of the words "butt" and "fart." Because I am cruel and because he won't stop saying them, I've instated a quarter rule - each time he says either of them, I'm 25 cents richer.

It's been very effective.

I'm a little richer and the word "pickle" has a whole new meaning (or two new meanings) in our house....

Consequences of Destructo-Boo

2010-05-08T14:42:00.003-04:00

Sam is often unintentionally destructive. If something, anything, is sitting anywhere within reach he will grab it, tweak it, fling it, and/or take it apart. We have recently lost two different toilet paper holders to the Destructo-Boo and in order to save the already slightly damaged third one, I removed it and put the toilet paper on the bathroom radiator.

Of course now he plays with the roll.

A recent conversation.

"Mommy? Mommy? We're out of toilet paper."

"Sam, there was a whole roll in there. Have you looked in the bathtub?"

"Oh yes! There it is."

We have AWESOME timing

2010-05-05T20:47:00.003-04:00

Or not. We went to New York City for the weekend. Sam's first trip there, at least the first trip he might remember since the last time he was there he looked like this.

We drove to Poughkeepsie, where Ben's Dad grew up, and caught a commuter train to Grand Central Station. Sam was very impressed with the tall buildings but what he really wanted to do was go to Central Park! Good thing our hotel was just a couple of blocks from there, on 7th and 57th. We were on the 24th floor--it's a long way down.

We immediately went to the park where Sam discovered the concrete playground. Perfect for a head-cracking good time! Must have immediate access.

Of course he couldn't limit the hazards to the playground as it's important to make sure to expand his horizons. Tree - check. Cliff - check. Road - check.

The next day I got up early while Ben and Sam wasted the morning snoozing away. I walked down to Times Square to see the sights. It's quiet at 6:30am on a Saturday morning even when there is a run/walk for ovarian cancer scheduled a short time later. Just think, in a little over twelve hours this is the scene of the attempted car bombing.

But after my quick swing through Times Square I headed back to the park where I was able to sit all by myself with a cup of coffee and a book. The weather was perfect and the park was filled with wealthy New Yorkers walking their dogs, runners, and bicyclists.

It occurred to me that things had changed drastically over the years. I remember going to NYC in the 80's and watching someone break into a car without knowing what I could do about it. The city was generally dirty, subways dangerous, and Times Square was filled with strip bars, homeless people, bad fast food restaurants and dirt. Now Times Square is filled with chain stores and Disney characters, shiny doo dads, tourists, and police officers - it feels a bit like a heartless corporate enterprise now. The old Times Square seemed more authentic. Where did those people and businesses go? I'm sure they just moved but we didn't run into them while we were there.

When I got back to the hotel, Sam was still in bed. By the time he and Ben were ready to go out for breakfast the run/walk event was in full swing so we ate our breakfast at a diner watching thousands and thousands of people go by -- more people than the entire population of Burlington.

Sam really really really really really wanted to go see the Statue of Liberty so we took the subway from Columbus Circle to Battery Park. Alas, being a sleepyhead means that there will be a 1.5 hour wait just to get ON a ferry and that we couldn't go into the statue when we got there anyway. We had to settle for this. and and

We meandered back through a Romanian street festival where Sam and Ben bought cheap wallets that Sam lost within 30 minutes. Then we went to the World Trade Center site. Time passes. Things change.

Next stop: Museum of Natural History. Here we discovered that on the moon, Sam weighs 9.6 lbs. At least it's slightly more than the day he was born. We saw snakes and lizards. and Sam and Ben took a bit of a break. But the highlight of the day for Sam were the dinosaur bones. They are impressive.

Then off to our next adventure...back at Central Park. We found the boats but did not ride. Instead, we headed to Central Park Zoo. It's small but very nice. The snow leopard was impressive. Sam decided to mark off each animal as he saw it and declared the sea lions his favorite. Alas, the zoo closed before he could visit children's zoo.

Dinner at the Carnegie Deli where Ben got a pastrami sandwich as big as his head and followed it up with an equally large slice of cheesecake. The Carnegie Deli has Chew and Swallow sized food, after the weather changed. Sam and his hamburger. I think he could sail away on that bun.

While we were eating we heard lots of sirens but we didn't think much of it. The next morning we heard about the attempted car bombing and put two and two together. We were about 12 blocks down from the bomb site.

The next day Sam asked me to wake him up early so he could go to the park too. Later we had brunch with friends and walked back to Grand Central Station through Times Square. Sam enjoyed the crass commercialism. He spent his own money buying an m&m dispenser...and now seems disappointed that we don't share his goal of keeping it full.

Then back through Bryant Park, just to show how he's grown since his first visit. Ah, what's six years here or there?

We'll be back, we didn't have nearly enough time to do the things we wanted to do. I wonder if anyone would be interested in a NYC/Burlington house swap for a week in the summer?

An office of his own

2010-04-23T13:57:00.003-04:00

Ben has an office, I have an office. Sam decided he needed an office. He searched far and wide and found...his closet!

Desk - check
Chair - check
Snack table - check
Artwork - check
Misc. odds and ends - check

Better an office than a monster storage area.

Oops!

2010-04-23T13:52:00.003-04:00

I have a tendency to toss things Sam's made so we don't end up dying in an avalanche of cardboard, foil, clay, and pipe cleaners. It just bit me in the butt though...I accidentally threw away his robot project foil-covered crocs.

They are crocs though; I'm not sure that's a big loss. Besides, he just got new shoes to replace the ones he'd worn so long his toes pushed holes in the end of the shoe.

Oh, the places he's been

2010-04-22T20:10:00.002-04:00

In a case

In a hot air balloon

The hard way

2010-04-22T06:18:00.002-04:00

The school nurse called me at work. I groaned; she must be used to that reaction. She told me that Sam had come to her in the afternoon saying his stomach hurt. She said he didn't have a fever and seemed to be acting normally but that he'd been there twice and that he wasn't typically a kid who showed up in the office. She put Sam on the line and I asked him how he felt and of course he felt awful, even when I told him that if he came home he'd have to rest, that he wouldn't be able to play or watch TV.

I ended up rearranging both my and Ben's schedule so I could pick him up against my better judgement. He seemed fine, his teacher said he'd been fine all day and he happily rode his bike home. I set him up in his bedroom with a bowl in case he was sick, talked about how sorry I was that he was sick. Mentioned that it was too bad he was sick because there were probably frogs down at the frog pond.

Suddenly he felt great! He wanted to go see the frogs. But no, it's too bad you were sick because even if you're feeling better now we can't go anywhere because it's important to get your rest so you feel better tomorrow and so you don't get even sicker.

I needed earplugs after that.

"You don't know how I feel!" Actually kid, I know you're feeling very angry. But despite that, I know you're not going to go to the frog pond after your miraculous recovery.

I made him stay in his room a bit. I wouldn't let him watch TV. I wouldn't play with him or assist him in his various projects because I was busy doing other work. I wouldn't make paper airplanes with him.

Those earplugs? I really really needed them then.

I was able to escape to go to the dentist. It's odd when going to the dentist seems like a good thing. Ben was able to watch him and by the time I got home he was much calmer.

I hope this lesson will not need to be repeated.

Finally! Sam skis!

2010-04-10T00:14:00.001-04:00

It's very hard to ski while filming.

The favored playdate activity

2010-04-09T16:08:00.002-04:00

Can you guess? A clue:

And look, it worked!

Dumb kitty.

Cake decorating class

2010-04-09T11:10:00.003-04:00

Beth and I took a cake decorating classes years ago. Our teacher took it very seriously. Us? Not so much. The teacher was always glaring at us as we giggled our way through the rather ridiculous exercises.

We had to buy crazy plastic clown heads for the class which seemed, well, like a way for them to sell the stupid things because I can't figure out why anyone would ever buy them otherwise. My version: (It was close to Alisa's birthday, she just wasn't 40 yet.)

That same day Beth made this classic cake. I don't know why McD's didn't offer to use it in their advertising.

It was nearing Halloween so we decided to make cakes in honor of the holiday. Beth made a scary one with the clown heads and a bear/pig.

Mine looks as though Halloween barfed up a cake.

No class is complete without a "final." The stakes were, well, honestly, very very low. And we lived down to them. Our goal was to incorporate roses and sweetpeas into the cake.

My design was a tribute to my friend Lisa in MI.

Beth's was flowery showpiece.

The class finals, compiled.

Mo and Faux Mo

2010-04-09T11:04:00.000-04:00

Compare and contrast

2010-04-09T10:39:00.003-04:00

This is my nephew Lukas holding babies. Should we read anything into the expression on his face with each of these?

His baby cousin Sam.

His little sister Abbie.

Another one of his identities

2010-04-07T21:53:00.001-04:00

Do you recognize the man on the right?

2010-04-07T10:48:00.000-04:00

With big hair and leather pants?

Meet Archie

2010-03-31T11:23:00.002-04:00

Ben's latest acquisition of obsolete technology that brings him great joy.

(No, the flames are not original. "Archie" is named after the Archie and Jughead cartoons because of the flames on the cars.)

Sam, at work

2010-03-30T20:03:00.002-04:00

Sam is always making things.

Here is what he's been working on today.

Things to do in Vermont, by Sam.

But in case you weren't clear on that.

He made sure of it.

Priorities

2010-03-30T19:58:00.001-04:00

Not this:

I have no idea how long that was there.

Laugh before lecture

2010-03-30T07:51:00.004-04:00

I know it's bad form to laugh first but I just couldn't help it.

The finished product

2010-03-30T07:51:00.001-04:00

Too bad this picture doesn't show the shoes. They're his crocks, covered with foil, but then the foil wouldn't stay on so he put tape over the whole shoe. They now look like wooden shoes. Notice the "crown" on the top? I guess he's king robot.

Distracted lately

2010-03-28T20:14:00.002-04:00

What have we been doing? Well, between getting all the permits current and up to date and refinancing our mortgage, we've been doing a little skiing and lazing. Oh, and construction.

Robot construction to be more accurate.

We went to check out the lambs at Shelburne Farms. There were adorable lamb piles everywhere.

They were being protected by a llama who took her job very seriously.

I know just how she feels.

Chicken catching.

Baleful goat watching.

And of course there is goofing.

Creative scrabble.

And the theme of the month?

Why oh why must everything be about butts? Maybe the Easter bunny should bring him a butt or two.

Exciting first

2010-03-14T22:34:00.002-04:00

Sam's been bringing home lists of words that he's supposed to sound out. He read the list to me in about 30 seconds flat. He's been working on writing things phonetically for awhile and I was enjoying his new found writing ability (and the notes, the very amusing notes).

Yesterday I went to the library and it occurred to me that he might be able to read a simple book so I picked up some very easy readers for him. On the way home he read one of the books! And then he read three more. Today we had to go back to the library to get a whole new set of books.

It's so exciting to see him take this step. It seems both huge and sudden. And he seems completely nonplussed by the whole thing.

While you're waiting for pictures of downhill skiing

2010-03-11T18:12:00.003-05:00

Here are a couple of pictures taken while Sam was cross country skiing...and building a snow fort.

A great honor

2010-03-11T17:05:00.002-05:00

Sam's artwork is on display at City Hall! His work was chosen to represent his school and there will be a recognition ceremony on Mar. 17 at 5:45 for anyone who would like to come.

He was embarrassed to be honored and wouldn't tell me what had been picked for display so I had to go see it for myself.

Isn't it cute? I must say I like it much better than his sword swallower.