piles and piles

Last Wednesday I had workers in my house all day so I thought it would be a good laundry day. This is almost all of it. There were still two loads left to fold before I was totally finished. Before I started it was a pile about 6'x6'x3'. You might think that this is a good three weeks worth of laundry but it is actually about 5 days. I have to fold it on my bed so that it gets put away in order for me to go to bed. Otherwise it will be an unfolded mess hanging around for weeks. Laundry is the bane of my existence but at least I get to watch the Food Network while I fold. Ahh small pleasures.

Some Photos

Here are some of my favorite images from my last few portrait sessions:

This past summer I took pictures of a group of cousins who had a little "American Girl" playgroup. What a fun idea. I photographed the group and each of them separately with and without their dolls. The following four images are from that session.

Miss S. - there was not a bad photo of her. Talk about photogenic.

I totally love this red dress on Miss L. I usually don't go for red clothing in photos but this is really really cute.

The following two are from a session with good friends of mine who live across the country. They came to town and I was lucky enough to be able to photograph the kids. (There is one child that I didn't include in these because soon after we started the session he fell off a bench and had a bloody face.)

These sisters live in my neighborhood and I have to say that they always look so perfect. Especially their hair. Their mom should give "girl-hair" lessons.

Miss S. looking cute.

Miss S. being shy.

Miss T. -- I love the pigtails.

Miss H. looking very lovely.

A very grown up looking Miss A. Can you say model material?

seven years later

Here it is, the 7th anniversary of the September 11th tragedies. I have to say that I mostly don't think about what happened except on 9/11. It seems that my experience every year is just about the same. I wake up that day and remember that it is actually the 11th and immediately a somber feeling enters my body. As the day goes on there is stuff on tv remembering what happened and as I watch them I cry. My memories of that day will be forever etched in my mind so I guess I shouldn't be surprised at my reactions but I always am.

At that time we were living in Arlington, VA (a suburb of Washington, D.C.). Years earlier we lived in New York City and it is a place that holds a special place in my heart. This is my day on September 11, 2001.

For some reason Matt needed a ride to work in D.C. that day. We loaded up the triplets (18 months old) and I drove him into work. On my way from his office to my OB's office, where I had an appointment (I was pregnant with Jake), I heard on NPR that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I thought that was really strange that something like that could happen. I went to in to see the doctor for my check up. As I walked out from the exam room the receptionist was on the phone and she yelled out that the Pentagon had been hit. I was in shock and I couldn't believe it. As soon as I got back to the car I turned on the radio to see what was happening. Just as I pulled into our driveway at home they announced that the first tower had collapsed. I took all of the kids inside and immediately turned on the tv (which remained on for several days). From that point on my my day was a fog. I remember sitting in front of the television sobbing. My kids were still very young but old enough to know that I was sad and they were concerned about that. They kept giving me hugs and kisses to make me happy again.

I was worried about Matt at work in Downtown D.C. and tried to call him but I couldn't get through. That only made me more concerned about his safety. I am naturally a worrier and I expected the worst. At some point I heard an announcement that said that the State Department had been bombed (which was untrue and I think they were just announcing that it had been evacuated). I still couldn't get Matt on the phone and I didn't know where he was or if he was safe. After a while he got me on the phone and asked me if I could come get him at work because they were evacuating the city. I told him that I didn't think it was a good idea unsure that it would be safe. That wracked me with guilt because I felt like I was abandoning him. I continued to cry wondering how he was going to get home. My attention was glued to the tv as more and more information about that day came in. Eventually Matt made it home. I don't remember how long it took for him to get there or how he got there but I have never been so happy to see him walk through the front door. (Except for when he came home from the disastrous Denver trip.) After that point I have no real memories of that day. The sorrow continued for a long time and still does continue even to this day. For a long time I drove by the portion of the Pentagon that was damaged and every time I would cry.

I hope and pray that nothing like that happens in this country ever again. It is with gratitude to all of the public servants and military that helped us to recover from that tragedy and protects us from any future acts of terrorism. God bless America.

chaos, progress, and goodbye

For the entire four and a half years that we have owned our house I have wanted to remodel our kitchen. Not that it is a bad kitchen it is just oak and white. In fact when we moved in my sister-in-law dubbed this house "The House of Oak and White". All of the walls were white, the kitchen tile is white, all countertops are white, and ALL of the cabinets were made of oak. I have done away with some of the oak and white, but the part I have hated THE MOST, the kitchen floors and countertops have remained longer than expected.

Well I am happy to say that the white floor tile is no longer! It is gone!!! Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the color white or white tile as long as it is not in my house. I am a horrible housekeeper and I absolutely can't (or won't) clean as much as needed to keep it looking nice.

As for the kitchen remodel, it is going strong. We are living in total chaos. There is dust all over the house from the tile removal (thank you Ric who loaned us his awesome pneumatic chisel), half of our kitchen is inside (the sink and microwave) and the other half outside (the table and refrigerator). We are making progress though, the rebuilt island is finished, the arched doorway is almost done, the countertops will be installed next week, and the cabinet and wall painting will start soon. After all that then the floors will go in and then we will be done! I have always said that I can do anything as long as I know it will end. Even though a kitchen remodel is not fun and is hard on everyone, it will end eventually.

Goodbye white tile, I will not miss you! Here are some photos.

Tile half gone. The rocks half way down the photo is busted up cement. It was 3"deep under the tile.

The tile is gone!

The enlarged island. It will be painted black and it will have a seating area at the end. I'm excited about that.

The enlarged doorway waiting for the arch to be built.

Our dining room table out on the patio. We are luck to have had good weather lately.

Kate standing by our new refrigerator on the patio. It is full so anyone that wants some string cheese, mustard, or ice cream -- come on by.

Kate's campfire that she built. I just thought it was cute. Her brothers demolished it soon after I took this picture.

Scones (the utah kind)

My family has a bunch of great traditions that have been carried on from generation to generation. One of those is the making and eating of scones. These scones as you will see in the pictures to follow are NOT the english type which are baked and go well with coffee. These are tasty pillows of deep fried goodness and they go well with lots of other not-so-good for you food like butter and little smokies (or little weenies as Jake likes to say).

This is the homemade dough that my dad starts making the night before.

This is the transformation of the dough into the SCONE. I wish I had pictures of the teddy bear ones that my dad made for the kids. They loved them.

Dad at work in the kitchen. A familiar sight.

Cookin' up the li'l smokies.

The meal. This is how we eat our scones: Grab a hotter than hot scone. Put it on your styrofoam plate as fast as you can so that you don't burn your fingers. Lay down a slab of butter next to it on the plate. Pour some homemade maple syrup into a pyrex bowl. Serve up a few pieces of fruit and then a few li'l smokies. Tear off a piece of scone and dip it into the butter and then into the syrup. Then you can take a big bite of fried heaven. I know I know it is so unhealthy but we only eat these on a few holidays a year.

Claire Baby C. we love her so much! All of my kids flock to play with her.

Thank you Dad for carrying on such a fabulous tradition. Hopefully I can learn how to make the dough and carry on this tradition for a long time.

Go Titans!

Last Saturday was Matthew's first official little league football game. We played Skyline (Olympus' long-time rival at all levels) and weren't really sure what to expect. Our team is comprised of almost all first-year players. It think there is only one boy that has played football before. Boy was I impressed. Not only did the boys know what they were doing out there but we won 21-0! Matthew did a great job and I was so proud of him. He is such a mellow kid that I doubted that he would actually tackle anyone but he did a great job on defense. He also had a couple of catches and had good runs. Hopefully our season will continue on this positive note. Good job Matthew and thanks to all of our coaches, Larry, Matt, Dave, Josh, and Steve.

back to school already?

Today was two things -- First, it was Anne's birthday. Happy Birthday to my beloved sister Anne. We love you. Thank you for being one of three people who read this blog.

Second, today was the first day of school. I think all of us were ready for school to start. The kids were because they finally got to see their friends (unfortunately it is not because of their never ending love for learning) and me because it is my first day since June that I did not argue with/yell at my kids or vice versa for most of the day.

Actually I didn't think that I was going to be sad when I sent Jake off to 1st grade but I was. He seemed so big with his big boy backpack walking into the school without me or Matt. I did tear up a little bit and then I was over it.

Here they all are this morning before they headed out to school.

The two 1st graders. Jake and D.