Dansons in Delaware

Does this count?

2012-01-27T20:17:00.000-08:00

It didn't take long. This week I fell off the one sentence a day bandwagon. I just updated Wed-Friday and have no recollection of Mon/Tuesday. It was short lived, but at least it was lived.

I am not stopping. I am just stopping HERE on the blog. I've been doing double the work, posting both here and in my 280daily.com website that Katie (Yea!) suggested. Frankly, I prefer the 280 daily website - it reminds me and it is easier!

Today -

Michael: Mommy! I think I saw a dingo!

Mommy: Really? Do you know what a dingo is?

Michael: It's a really fast dog.

Mommy: Where did you learn that?

(While in my head hearing Elaine from Seinfeld say, "Maybe a DINGO ate your baby!")

Michael: Wild Kratts

I Love Wild Kratts. I wish it was a bumper sticker. If you have children preschool age, take a look at it on PBS Kids:

http://pbskids.org/wildkratts/

There's a cartoon portion of the program in the middle. However, it is sandwiched on either end by the Kratts brothers running around and introducing animal facts in real life. It is all quite enthralling! Michael continually tells me all sorts of new facts about animals that he learns from it!

Bed!

Wintry Mixes

2012-01-23T07:13:00.000-08:00

On Friday night, we received our first snow of the season - a wintry mix as deemed by Weather Channel.

While Brian was making our delicious breakfast, I asked Michael: "Do you want to go play with the snow on the deck?"

If Michael knew to say, "Heck yes I would!" I think he would have.

Then begins what I am going to call The Bacon Trilogy.

"Michael, would you like some bacon?"

"We'll feed it to you so you don't have to take your snow gloves off and come inside."

"Would you like some more?"

After breakfast, there was the sledding and the shoveling of the driveway.

I can assure you - that if anything REALLY bad happens to Michael on that sled - I am absolutely taking NO blame for this. I know the TWO people I will be thinking can live with it on their conscious.

And my sweeties:

We went inside for hot cocoa (and hot milk with honey and marshmallows on it for M). Michael told me, "Mommy, snow is THE BEST!"

Well, you can hang with your dad on that one because your mom is a tropical asian flower from Houston who busted her front tooth doing "winter sports" so I'm not as much of a fan as you are son.

01.22.12

2012-01-22T21:38:00.001-08:00

01.22.12

Volunteers for Liturgy of the Word came over today for a BBQ lunch. It was great! Had a great time talking to a volunteer named Michelle! She has 5 kids and her mom lives with her. She is super funny and talks a lot. I love it! I wonder if we'll be good friends one day...hmmm

Pictures from the first sledding of the year coming soon. I think. :)

Catch up!

2012-01-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

01.21.12

Woke up to our first snow last night! Michael ran into my room and said, "Mommy! It snowed!!!" The wintry mix was a bit tough to shovel (heavier than powdery snow), but Brian and I knocked our long driveway out in no time flat! Pictures to follow!

01.20.12

TGIF! Ran errands in Newark. We played Monopoly for family dinner/game night. Michael got shut out early and was acting like a butthead because he was SO very tired that we put him to bed pronto!

01.19.12

Brian came back from Pittsburgh early today! He was supposed to be in at 10pm, but got a flight out at NOON! So we got a quick peek at him around 2pm at home before he headed back into work. What a treat for him to be home at a normal hour instead of late at night!

For Brandi - and Whomever Else is Curious about Steak

2012-01-18T20:09:00.001-08:00

One of my most avid blog readers and commentors, Brandi, seemed quite impressed with our dinner of steak sauce and a red wine reduction.

In all honesty, it is super easy to make and Brian usually takes care of it - in about 15 minutes. Anyone can do it! It IS delicious!

Here's the recipe if anyone is interested. Because I'm not the pioneer woman and going to take pictures of me making it at every step:

2 Tb of a mixture of several kinds of peppercorns, or white peppercorns
2 to 2 1/2 lbs. steak 3/4 to 1 inch thick

A hot platter
Salt

1 Tb butter
2 Tb minced shallots or green onions
1/2 cup stock or canned beef bouillon
1/3 cup cognac
3 to 4 Tb softened butter
Sauteed or fried potatoes
Fresh water cress

Place the peppercorns in a big mixing bowl and crush them roughly with a pestle or the bottom of a bottle.

Dry the steaks on paper towels. Rub and press the crush peppercorns into both sides of the meat with your fingers and the palms of your hands. Cover with waxed paper. let stand for at least half an hour; two or 3 hours are even better, so the flavor of the pepper will penetrate the meat.

Sauté the steak in hot oil and butter as described in the preceding master recipe. Remove to a hot platter, season with salt, and keep warm for a moment while completing the sauce.

Pour the fat out of the skillet. Add the butter and shallots or green onions and cook slowly for a minute. Pour in the stock or bouillon and boil down rapidly over high heat while scraping up the coagulated cooking juices. Then add the cognac and boil rapidly for a minute or two more to evaporate its alcohol. Off heat, swirl in the butter and half-tablespoon at a time. Decorate the platter with the potatoes and water cress. Pour the sauce over the steak, and serve.

From:

http://cookingwithjulian.blogspot.com/2011/05/julia-childs-steak-au-poivre.html

Notes:

Where it says:

Sauté the steak in hot oil and butter as described in the preceding master recipe.

First, you heat the oil and butter together in the pan. You'll see the butter melt. And then you will start to see the butter bubbles subside. This is when you know your oil/butter is hot enough to ear the steaks. Important step and thing to notice.

Second, if you are afraid of cholesterol, you shouldn't try this recipe.

Thirdly, make it according to the recipe the first time to know what it is SUPPOSED to taste like. Afterwards, I take all sorts of shortcuts because I'm lazy. Like, I don't hand crush my own peppercorns. I just use a pepper mill. And if I'm super behind, I just marinate for 30 minutes or not at all. Of course, it's not as good. But if I'm hungry, I won't care.

Fourth, if you want to make a red wine reduction, you just substitute the cognac with red wine and reduce it to cook off the alcohol.

Hope that helps! Make the sweet potatoes in the microwave while the steak is cooking!

Jesus and Monopoly

2012-01-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

Michael created this at preschool this year:

Michael's latest thing is playing games. Lots of them. No surprise since he is in OUR family.

I was never a big fan of monopoly growing up, but Michael loves to play it now. In this picture, Michael took all my money. Yes, Michael, not Brian. I was playing, but my side of the board is now blank. I guess I am no Donald-Trump-Real-Estate-Mogul.

We did this for about 2 hours last Saturday. We meant to go to philly to touch something called the Liberty Bell. Instead, we stayed home and did this. We are so happy to be home!

Ignore my messy kitchen back there. In all honesty, that is "CLEAN" for my kitchen. :)

01.18.12

2012-01-18T19:56:00.000-08:00

01.18.12

Sometimes, I wish I would just shut my mouth at bible study. I'm not the most insightful person that ever existed. Skipped Michael's last day of basketball. He doesn't like it anyways. Instead, we stayed home and built an obstacle course that we timed his best time on.

01.17.12

2012-01-17T20:02:00.001-08:00

01.17.12

Only left the house today to deliver a meal to a friend whose husband has left indefinitely to stay with his friend on his couch. While she is pregnant with their 4th child. Makes me so thankful for my husband and hopeful my small meal is helpful to her.

01.16.12

2012-01-16T20:59:00.001-08:00

01.16.12

Today gets 2 because Michael said to me today,

"Mommy, I love you so much. You say yes a lot. You play fun games with me. You spend lots of time with me and I just have so much fun with you. I love being with you."

Seriously? Life does not get any better than this. Thank you, Michael, for a Mommy Pat on the Back. Love you and right back at you, my Le Chat Bebe.

01.16.12

2012-01-16T20:57:00.001-08:00

01.16.12

Day in bed with Michael. Got out to eat breakfast. Then right back into my bed to cuddle, read books, play with our new "toy," and MONOPOLY! Back downstairs for lunch. Finally got dressed. Made it out of the house at 4:30pm. Original target? 10:30am. OH WELL!

2012-01-15T22:13:00.001-08:00

01.15.12
We were so late today that we were late for late mass. Eek. Family impromptu run to dq tonight for ice cream after dinner. It was 20 deg outside.

$0.99 per lb

2012-01-14T20:48:00.001-08:00

I love buying a whole chicken because it goes on such super sale at $0.99 per lb and you get many meals out of it. I am blogging about it because this week, I made 3 meals out of one chicken. 3 meals out of $7 worth of meat!

I started with slow cooking the entire thing in my crock pot via this recipe:

http://thehappyhousewife.com/cooking/whole-chicken-in-a-crock-pot/

You will have to copy and paste that link because I do not know how to highlight on my new christmas toy.

The chicken came out very very moist but it tasted a bit too "chicken-y" to me. However, I am happy to overlook it considering how little effort it took to make it!

Then, I did what that link said and made chicken stock overnight in the same crock pot!

From "all this work," I did the following:

1. Crock pot chicken for dinner with quinoa and steamed squash.

2. Made chicken noodle soup in my le creuset with my delicious broth and a little bit of the leftover chicken.

3. Used the leftover shredded chicken in my favorite chicken enchilada recipe with Mexican rice and black beans.

I had to post about it because it was so easy and took very little work! If you are one that normally shies away from that whole chicken, I hope it encourages you to pick it up next time!

And if you like butter, go here:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roast-Chicken-with-Herb-Butter-Onions-and-Garlic-104597

After making that, a Costco chicken doesn't taste as good as it once did!

Bonnie nuit,

01.13.12 and 01.14.12

2012-01-14T15:02:00.000-08:00

01.13.12

Learned how to crochet today! Went to a "Working Moms Playdate," which does NOT mean we actually have a "job" per say. But it's a play date where the kids play together happily and us moms bring a little project we are working on! Fabulous! Michael met a new little friend named Olivia, who was really sweet, and I got my life organized for the year with my goals and whatever dates I needed to know (like Christina's wedding!).

01.14.12

I clogged a toilet, which Brian then used. That then overflowed. Who's to blame for that one? I have NEVER in my life caused a toilet to OVERFLOW completely ON MY OWN. I'm not the only one to blame. I probably should have told him. I didn't know he was going to use THAT toilet!

Next up - a post on how Michael ROMPED us on Monopoly.

A Sentence A Day

2012-01-12T21:19:00.001-08:00

I love Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project.

I read an article about her in the latest Good Housekeeping and she suggested starting a "One Sentence a Day" journal. I love it. Not overwhelming, and completely doable.

So doable, I've been writing about a paragraph a day. And I've kept up with it for about 13 days! I will post Day 1-12 here soon. Figure it might be a cute little book - one day!

So for today -

01.12.12
Started putting presents away - remarkably enough room for many things. Michael's games are out of control - not enough room for that, but we love playing games - so GONNA MAKE ROOM! Michael had a Wii playdate with Colin, which ended up at Margherita's for Pizza! SO SO SO very proud of my little guy who was well behaved, sat and ate his pizza quietly and on his bottom like an adult, and said: Please, Thank you, and was well mannered. My friend's 2 kids were bouncing off the wall and not listening at all to their mother. To their defense, they are part of 3 children households - and sometimes - that's just the way life is. It's not a bad reflection on their mother, it's just wild and crazy and totally normal. I rarely ever find 3 children households that are calm.

The shopaholic in me thinks I NEED this:

I don't like to tell my inner shopaholic "No." Ouch.

VOILA! Let's see how long this can last. Taking bets -

What date do YOU think will be the last day I actually do this?

I am going to give myself a little cushion. I may not post a sentence EVERYday. But my goal is to post at least once every 5 days with ALL 5 days covered in that post.

And please do not post: January 18th. It will hurt my feelings. And don't all post at once! HAHAH! Thank you for those who stuck with me while I have apparently given up on blogging!

Besancons DO make girls!!

2011-12-13T20:59:00.001-08:00

December 12th - Caroline Grace Besancon was born and we are one proud aunt/uncle/cousin!! Congratulations to John/Kelli/Quinn! You can read their story here:
http://everythingthatshines.blogspot.com/

Pictures will follow soon. I am honored and humbled that they asked me to take newborn portraits of Caroline. I.can't.wait. She was perfect by staying with mommy way past her due date so she will be 9 days old when I see her! Aunt P thanks you little Caroline!

Love,
P

H-O-L-i-D-a-Y!

2011-12-10T17:58:00.001-08:00

Today, we had a great Saturday. Had good friends over for brunch, then went to Janssen's Market from some pretty rockin' cheeses, then checked out the lights at the Longwood Gardens, and a yummy dinner.

The lights at Longwood, while pretty, were a bit anticlimactic. I am glad we are members and could just walk through and go home. The display wasn't very large and the parking was ridiculous. They kept making people park at this grass lot that was SUPER far away - while there were PLENTY PLENTY PLENTY of spots right by the entrance. The only reason I knew was because the previous weekend, I left at 5:00pm after a photo session and noticed the riff-raff those parking guards were doing.

Then, we grabbed some steaks and had ribeyes with a red wine reduction and sweet potatoes with blue cheese/carmelized onion/caramelized brussell sprout topping. It was delicious! Even with the brusel sprouts! Rounded out with amazing raw milk cheeses from Janssen's Market, which Michael loved!

That's it. Tomorrow is Liturgy of the Word with Children, which is going great! The kids are enjoying it and it is so wonderful to see it.

P

Michael is absolutely no good at Basketball,

2011-11-30T20:17:00.001-08:00

but we love him anyways.

Michael's Talking

2011-11-27T19:45:00.001-08:00

Last week, Michael had some real gems while livin' large in PA:

Bath time conversation with Mommy:

Michael: Mommy, you can give me hugs and kisses everyday until I go to college. Then, you can give me hugs and kisses when I come home to visit you.

**Then I started to cry because he was so sweet. And then I thought about how one day he would actually grow up and go to college and how I would really miss him and these days.**

Imagine:

At the mall. We ran into one of Brian's co-workers. Michael does his normal shy thing - hiding behind me the entire time. As we are leaving:

Michael: Daddy, does he wear that crazy hair to work everyday?

**Parents looking over our shoulder to make sure we were out of earshot range.**

Imagine:

Michael is in the car and a Pink Floyd song comes on.

Brian: "Ahh! Pink Floyd."

Michael: "Daddy, they don't got no thought control."

This is hilarious to us because Brian uses this saying all the time. I don't know where it's from. I don't even know what it means. But it seemed applicable to pink floyd at the time.

One day, I was lamenting to my parents about something I asked Brian to do that he didn't do and now we are having to deal with whatever he didn't do. Michael says to me,

"Mommy, if I were Daddy, I'd listen to you and do what you say."

And in my mind, I'm thinking - even if you are MICHAEL, you don't necessarily listen or do what I say! But thank you anyways for your support. :)

As I stated in my last post, he grew last night. Yes, last night. I had to loosen all the waistbands in his pants. Today, at lunch, Michael ate:

1 whole grilled cheese sandwich

1 bowl of soup

1/2 serving of lasagna

1 serving of broccoli

1 serving of apple

Which he finished. And then he asked me for another serving of lasagna and soup. OK-THEN.

That's it.

Quote

2011-11-27T19:31:00.000-08:00

I was on pinterest (shocker, I know) today - and I ran into this quote.

While it is something I think often, it really hit home for me today.

Today, I noticed all of Michael's pants/pajamas are high waters on him all of a sudden. I was looking at the back of his head and wondering when it got so big. Looked at him in the mirror and he's almost at my chest level. Granted, that's not too terribly difficult, but humor me.

I know kids do this a lot - you turn around and they outgrew everything - seems like overnight.

But I guess I really thought about this quote because I do not chronicle Michael's life to the minute like I used to. I do not chronicle our life like I used to. And I miss that. I am missing that because I do not want to be on my computer. I do not want to be on my computer because I associate it with work. I associate work as editing pictures. I take less pictures of my own family because I'm busy with my business.

Which makes me face the question - Do I actually like doing this (meaning photography) full time - professionally?

Hmmm...always thought that the answer was yes. That being a full time photographer was the ultimate goal.

However, I've had a busy couple of weeks - lots of images to proof and one more session coming up. And these busy couple of weeks have really made me look at photography more as WORK then as a pleasurable hobby.

I am really surprised by this. And am wondering what to do next...other than pay back the investment on my camera. :)

Don't get me wrong - I am not quitting. Nope. But just pondering what the next steps will be...

NYC: Nov 10-13

2011-11-14T06:52:00.000-08:00

We ran over to NYC for a quick weekend getaway for my birthday - ahem OUR birthday - present.

It's tough sharing a birthday week with your spouse when it's always been only YOUR birthday up until then. You would think after 12 years of knowing Brian that I'd get used to this!

One of the big reasons we went is because my super good friend Kim was going to meet us there!

We rented an apartment and spent 3 days exploring NYC with Kim and Jamie. It was so fun and went by way too quickly.

Thursday night - Nov 10

Brian's last meeting at work gets cancelled, which means he got home at 5:00pm! We threw our belongings in the car and high tailed it to Princeton Junction, grabbed the 7:14 train, and were at 34th - Penn Station by 8:36! WHOOP! I thought it was going to be 11:00pm before we made it to town!

Unfortunately, we then had to deal with the subway and that took us an additional 40 minutes before we made it to our super cute apartment in the Upper West Side (one block from Central Park), which reminded us of our apt in Paris. White walls, squeaky old parquet floors, and piping emanating heat everywhere.

After a quick reunion with the Kropka clan, we settled down for an evening of rest.

Friday - Nov 11

We started the day being lazy. Well, we did. Jamie and Kim both ran in Central Park in the AM! Around 10:00, we headed to the Amsterdam diner and had a great breakfast. Michael smeared 3 packets of jelly over his huge belgian waffle and proceeded to eat every last bite. Who is this kid?

Off to the American Museum of Natural History and planetarium. We saw lots of dinosaur bones and artifacts.

I thought Michael would have really enjoyed it, but he was being a putz most of this trip. Where is my enthusiastic and inquisitive traveler? It was replaced by a whiny, moody 5 year old who just wanted to play on my iphone.

** One day, I will rant and rave about how much i hate Wii's, iphones, ipads, gadgetry of modern society because it is an EVERYDAY battle with my boy to encourage him to play outside and do other things instead of sit glued to a screen all day. **

I digress.

We wandered around the crowded museum and ended up at the Planetarium for a show on stars where most of us fell asleep at one point or another. I think we gathered about 5 facts from the show all together. Michael told me it was boring.

After this, we headed to Central Park and walked around a third of it before we were frozen to the bone. It was a high of 51 and windy that day!

Michael demanded to be carried a majority of the time. I love the fall foliage in this picture:
With my photography/traveling buddy, Kim:
Obligatory Family Picture:
Jamie/Kim enjoying their weekend without kids:
Ahhh...nyc. I'm really starting to like this city. I really do love central park.

Back to the apt around 3:00pm for some down time. Early dinner at Haru Japanese place around the corner at 5:00pm. Michael loved his seafood udon noodles and slurped up a ton of his dinner.

Kropkas took off for a freezing bus ride over the brooklyn bridge to see NYC at night. We headed to Cafe Lalo for dessert after the resto!

I get to the front door - I look at the grating in front of the cafe - the warm, red interior - and I said, "This was in You've Got Mail."

AND I WAS RIGHT! I was so excited to go to this cafe for no reason and find out it was in a movie that I have watched enough times to recognize the place without a sign in front!

We had a really fun time in there. Michael ordered ($3) steamed milk which came in a milk shake glass, but he really loved his (free) water that came in a melamine snoopy cup. He ate up every last bit of his raspberry cheese cake while I moaned and groaned over my delightful amaretto tiramisu. Brian's cafe au lait was nothing to scoff at either! We played memory while waiting for our desserts!

After it all, we walked home with Michael, swinging him between us and remembering how we used to do this in the streets of Paris. That was fun.

And I loved having an eatery within walking distance and it being open and it being good and being able to go without driving 45 minutes to eat somewhere just decent. I am a city girl at heart while my boys are perfectly content in the country.

The Kropkas came home after we put Michael to bed and we hooked another friend onto the Bean Game. It's addictive.

Sat - Nov 12

MY BIRTHDAY!

We started out the day headed to chinatown to eat at a highly rated place called DOUGHNUT PLANT.

Let me just say, that PLANT should have been my first indication that this place was going to be terrible.

It.was.most.easily.the.worst.donut.I.have.ever.had.in.my.life.

And the saddest part was that it was HIGHLY rated in Yelp! 4.5 out of 5 stars by 800+ reviewers!!!!!

Off we went to meet the Kropkas at Battery Park where we waited nearly an hour and a half in line to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I think they were hoping to give us a real experience of what it must have felt like to be one of the huddled masses.

Lady Liberty with the NYC skyline - sorry for the extreme vignette in the image:

Michael being strong in the wind at the base of Lady Liberty:
Brian and I with the NYC skyline in the back!
We let Michael run around quite a bit since he was pretty amenable in the 1.5 hour line. Got some pictures of him being him:

We spent too much time in lines and at the Statue of Liberty and got only 45 minutes at Ellis Island. Wish I could have spent more time there. It was really neat and the exhibits and audio tour were really well done!

I just love that my ticket had the design of the "125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty" and my actual birthday on it!

After dark, we got on the subway and got off at Little Italy, which was ALIVE with activity! All the little shops were open so we peeked into some boutiques. We had an AMAZING dinner at Rubirosa, this Italian place recommended to us by a woman on the street. It was by far the best Italian food I have ever had. And I've been to Italy. But I am no Italian food aficionado so take that statement with a grain of salt.

Kim introduced us to Rice Balls, which involves rice, mixed with lots of cheeses, rolled in bread crumbs, and DEEP FRIED. She had me at Rice.

We then headed home with our stomachs full of delicious food. This is where we somehow got on the train which skipped all the stops near our apartment. Luckily, a new yorker overheard us laughing about it and told us how to get home.

The subway system was an ABSOLUTE nightmare! We don't consider ourselves to be old and out of date. We know how to use a subway system. We've done it in dozens of countries, some of which we don't even know the language. Some of which are not even in standard alphabetic letters! So for us to not be able to figure it out - all 4 of us - is ridiculous.

Home - Brian falls sleep on the couch at 9pm.

Sunday - Nov 13th

Kim's up and out early so she can get Italian pastries before her flight. Jamie looks up his travel itinerary on the computer 3 more times to make sure he understands how to get to the airport. And rightfully so.

We told him that it is nice that he formulated his hypothesis on how it was going to go down in the subway - and that testing it out will prove whether or not his hypothesis was correct. :)

Brian and I ran off to Chinatown for dimsum!!!! It was in a GIGANTIC banquet hall and so fun. Michael loved the dumplings and banh bao, and we had a great time. By the time we left, there was a line of about 100 people outside, waiting to get in. And the banquet hall seated 700-800 people, easily. So glad we got there early!

On the way out, Michael had to stop at the fish monger in Chinatown because they brought out 3 shallow styrofoam buckets with fish that were still flopping around. Yup, pretty fresh.

And a bucket of fresh eel slithering about. That was probably the highlight of Michael's trip. He told me he liked Chinatown, but the rest of NYC was no fun.

After this, trains back to Jersey. A visit to West Elm in Princeton. ANd back home by 5:30pm.

SUCCESS!

I asked Michael a series of questions about which he liked better: "Do you like school better or NYC?" "SCHOOL!"

Michael really hated NYC. Brian was grumpy about it most of the time as well. I thanked them for coming with me, but next time, I think I'll leave them both at home in the country.

I was glad to see a friend and wished I had more time to talk to her. We spent a lot of time taking care of Michael, especially since he whined about everything. Should have had parents come to take care of him THIS trip instead of the OBX! Michael loved the beach.

Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to get that down before I forgot. I think I forgot to blog/journal about my OBX trip. Usually, I hand write every night while on vacation because it is easy to forget. I am a bit out of practice.

Blog by Iphone Fire

2011-11-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

It's that time again! Blog by Iphone Fire!

On June 25th (yes, you read that right), we went to Kilby Creamery, which is nearby. They had an awesome playground:

We had their ice cream, but decided we still love Woodside the most as far as creameries go around here! Kilby creamery DOES deliver fresh milk though! That's exciting.

July 19th, we dog-sat Toby, our neighbor's dog. We were pretty smitten:
Definitely seeing a dog in our future.

On August 30, we went to "Rolly Slide Park." Here's the reason for it's name sake:
I love this slide. It's like a box conveyor belt slide thingy. I went down it once and it HURTS. I don't know why kids love it so, but they do!

September 3rd - Brian's out of town for our yearly tradition of going to Milburn Farms on Labor Day weekend for the opening of apple picking. Michael and I went anyways and had a great time:
September 16th - Michael and I run around Longwood. I loved these purple flowers leading to the gorgeous gazebo.

To illustrate one of my principles on how to get good kid portraits, I let Michael have a picture of his "binocular eyes" and let him see his picture:
After which, he is happy to do this for me:
There's these huge gorgeously trimmed shrubbery in the gardens, but you can actually climb inside them:
Michael loves that.

September 20th - Brian still out of town. Brian still of town = trip to Target for a "healthy" lunch:
I was going to get the salad. But when the cashier told me I had to go over to the refrigerated cabinets to get it, I opted for the fake cheesy nachos that she had to get for me behind the counter.

September 29th, our friend Tami/Ashton/Ryan got us into the Please Touch Museum for the day. LOVE that place:

Back at Longwood with my parents on Oct 18th. He wanted a picture with this sundial with this ghetto fabulous pose. He came up with THAT on his own:
VOILA! Blog by iphone fire done. Next installment in 3-6 months!

{P}

Bon W-E. And NIght Vision.

2011-11-07T07:16:00.000-08:00

Bon W-E is how the french say good weekend. Voila. French 101 for the day.

Anywho - we started Saturday AM by being late to soccer by about 10 minutes. EEK. Brian's coach. Our friends on the team told us that the other parents were speculating on why we were late.

Yes, everyone. The Besancons do run late from time to time.

Afterwards, we ran a quick errand all the way in Kennett for my ordering session on Sunday in the AM. Then, off for an afternoon playdate with some new friends of ours who are on the soccer team.

We had a fantastic time! Michael and their son played extremely well all together and we didn't hear about any fights until nearly 4 hours later. SWEEEEEET.

The wife is an engineer at Gore and the husband is a Biology AP/Chemistry teacher. It's so nice to meet other lady engineers. There's just an underlying thought process and personality current there which makes it so easy to relate. It also helped immensely that she was way into the Twilight Series, Hunger Games, and liked to shop.

Check, check, check. Her husband was sarcastic, funny, and liked to build fires - so that's a pretty good fit for us.

We stayed probably too long, but it was a good time. Hurried home, changed for our date, and dropped Michael off for "Kids Night Out" at his school. His school plans a night of crafts/activities/songs, etc! For $5, we get 2.5 hours of babysitting while we had a date night!

We ran off to a bar in Kennett to catch the A&M game, which of course wasn't on the TV. But we enjoyed some great beer, had some rillettes and crab nachos, and had a really nice date.

Then it was off to Lowes. Yes, a nice little Saturday we had planned there!

We picked Michael up from school and he was pretty pleased to get a sneak peek at the job board this week for school. He figured out he's in charge of the calendar this week and went on and on about how he was excited about it and that you get this bird pointer thingy. Hilarious.

Long Saturday.

Sunday, I had my ordering session in the AM, which ran much longer than expected resulting in me missing church. :(

I came home and had lunch with my awesome guys. Then ran off to Fair Hill Nature center for a "hike," Michael was all against a HIKE per say, but a walk would be fine.

Well, that walk/hike he was complaining about eventually gave way to excitement when he found a river that he could throw rocks into:

He hung out with Dad on the edge of rocks/banks while Mommy kept yelling, "Be careful! Slow down!" And taking pictures between warnings.
He had a great time! Then, we went back home. Brian chopped wood while Michael and I played Wii. Tough life, I know.

Then, we decided to cash in the Fair Hill Inn Sunday Supper for 2 meal that we won at the Silent Auction during Oktoberfest. And we took Michael with us. To a fine dining establishment.

We talked to him ahead of time about being well behaved and what that means in a nice restaurant. He was so good during the meal and it helped that we packed a "restaurant bag" to keep him entertained. He was quiet, well mannered, and drank water from a little wine/water glass. It was so cute, and we were so proud.

We asked him if he liked the food better than Applebees and he said, "I'll decide after dessert."

Too funny.

Michael is CONVINCED he has night vision. When he can see things in the dark by moonlight or street lamp or car headlights, he thinks that is his night vision. The other night, he was looking through his Mario Galaxy book and he said, "Mommy, my night vision is working just fine because I can see my Mario in this book."

So glad we stopped our conversation to hear THAT!

A Pumpkin Carvin'

2011-11-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

We've never done a jack-o-lantern before because well, Paris wasn't exactly a Halloween Spirit kind of place. Last year, we were too lazy I think.

This year, with the "snow," we were shut in anyways! So we grabbed our almost frozen and thick pumpkins to the slaughter:

Michael liked the slaughter.

He saw the librarian carve a pumpkin at his story hour so he knew how it was going to go down. No touching seeds and "slimey" stuff for him though!

Somehow, we are still in our pajamas.

After we finished, we ran into our powder room, turned out the lights, and took the pumpkin for a test drive:
See if you can find Michael's face:
That would be the toilet that our jack-o-lantern is sitting on.

Snow day activity - CHECK! Halloween decorations - CHECK!

Halloween came and went. I bought Michael a Darth Vader costume because that's what he wanted to be - and he has an awesome light saber that glows in the dark and has sound effects to match.

Well, I bought it in size 5-7 years old. Apparently, it was sized really for a 7 year old, which was about my height, if not taller.

I could have easily been darth vader this year for Halloween if I wanted.

So he decided to be Dash again.

With white socks.

The only day that I'm happy about my son's nut allergy is Halloween when I dig out all his candy with nuts in it and stuff my face with enough chocolate to make my face break out.

Love,

Cardinal Sin

2011-10-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

Cardinal Sin #1 after you buy your house: Looking at real estate in your area.

I stumbled upon 105 Chase Lane - and was immediately smitten:See those professional kitchen photos up there? That's because the kitchen in this house was featured in better homes and garden.

Yup, that's right. And this house is not a multi-million dollar house. This house would have been within our price range after negotiations.

Let's stare lovingly at that pro fridge:
And that gorgeous stove back there - with a pot filling nozzle (as shown in pic 1)
I love the decor - modern with clean lines. It's a bit too girlie for Brian I think - but I love it:
Yup, I'd just move in and put my furniture in there. No changes needed.
Love that neutral grey.
I'm not so sure about exposed brick. Haven't always been a fan - but I'm willing to overlook at it after seeing the kitchen. IN fact - with that specific kitchen, I'd just sleep on a sleeping back on the floor of the kitchen because it would be my favorite room in the house.
More exposed brick in the master bath? Interesting I suppose...
Love this vanity area. Ooh - la - la - imagining myself putting my makeup on there:
Another bathroom:
Back deck:
GRASS! GRASS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE!

"Phuong, you do not want this house because you would have been renting all this time and you would not have the great neighbors you do and you would not be settled and MIchael would not be settled. God wanted you where you are and you are happy!"

Repeat.

I love my house. I do. It's just decorated in a very traditional style with very traditional colors and that's just not my style anymore. Most of my furniture is pretty traditional because that's what I veer towards - but I really love more modern lines.

Here's my laundry list of things I"d do to this house if I won the lottery:

Rip up sandy colored wood floors and install dark herringbone pattern like in Paris:

Rip up the carpet on the stairs and 2nd level. Install dark hardwood throughout.

Refinish kitchen cabinets from light maple color to white.

Install backsplash in kitchen

Renovate powder room

Install built-ins on fireplace wall

Install built-in window seat in piano room with shelving along that wall.

Renovate master bath. All of it. Whole room needs to be gutted except for vanity and light fixture.

Paint Living room light blue (already purchased)

Paint Michael's room.

Refinish deck - install new railings.

What's realistic on my list?

Need plumber to fix my wobbly sink faucet in the kitchen that might be leaking water into my under sink area.
Heater needs yearly service.
Paint living room with paint already purchased.
Sell guest bed. (FYI: Our IKEA pull out couch is way more comfortable than our guest bed)
Move pull out couch to guest bedroom
Move computer/desk into guest room.
Convert guest room into a convertible office/guest bedroom.
Move main level couches and end tables to basement.
Sell rug on main level or move to basement with furniture.
Sew new curtains for piano room with fabric already purchased.
Move piano room curtains to my room where it coordinates.
Sew pillows for my bed with fabric already purchased.

All the above things can be achieved without spending money. I have a very warm colored house - and I prefer a very neutral, light, and airy house with pops of color. Little by little (meaning 5+ years from now and me needing to get a job) - our house will be what I am proud to display.

But for now, it's a place where we live and it's fine. But it's not my dream house. I am hoping one day we'll move to TX and I'll be in my dream house there.

Michael - Five Years Old

2011-10-26T07:56:00.001-07:00

Where do I begin to talk about My Michael at 5 years old?

We see our little guy, and we're so very proud God entrusted him to us to love, raise, and teach.

Why are we proud? Please indulge us as we brag about our little guy!

He is respectful and knows that name calling is not respectful, constructive, or "nice." When he's upset, you can tell. When he is frustrated, you can see this too. What I love? He tells me (in a slightly elevated voice, but not yelling), "Mommy I am frustrated because I want to play Wii all the time, but you will not let me."

I can handle that. I am proud that he can express his emotions and have a conversation with me about it. In a calm and rational manner.

He loves to talk to us. About his school. About kids picking fights with each other at school. About how he raises his hand "like this" in school and that all the kids are amazed. Seriously, he said that. He talks about how he wants to be an engineer just like his dad and go to Daddy's work with him. I am relishing all these moments to know him, and to establish early on that we have a deep friendship and respect that I hope he will carry with him throughout his life.

He loves soccer - and we love being soccer parents. It's so fun to watch him play and we don't know what he'll do with it, but we're having fun being supportive!

Of course - what post would be about Michael if we did not mention Wii? Kid is obsessed with Wii! Luckily, we grew up with Nintendo so we can play too.

He loves family time. He told me "We have fun as a family!" I am so thrilled to hear him say this! I know this may change in the future, but for now, I love this!

I am proud of his academics. He can add and subtract pretty well in his head. He can reason all the different ways to make the number 20. He is starting to sound out words. He is starting to recognize his sight words. He has great logic skills, playing games that are designated for age 12 and up. He loves mazes and has reasonable deduction abilities. If he wants to be an engineer like his dad when he grows up, these are skills he'll need. I hope that if this is really what he wants to be when he grows up, that I'll be able to help develop an engineering methodology of thinking early on for him so it is second nature instead of a learned skill. But we'll see!

He is a picky eater. Doesn't really care for it. He'll eat double servings of shepard's pie and chicken pot pie and pot roast and rice with Asian stuff. But most other things are not too popular for this character!

He is patient when you ask him to be. There might be a fair amount of whining before hand. However, all you have to say is, "This is a situation where you need to be patient and when I am done doing this, I will address what you need." Doesn't work every time, but enough for me to be happy!

He is a patient shopper. If you know me, this is key to our existence together! He finds something to entertain himself with (I usually try to go to places where I know they have books or toys) and lets me do my thing.

He loves Sukihana - the amazing teriyaki place in our mall. Yes, in the mall. Yes, amazing teriyaki. Yes, cheap. Seriously - it's awesome. And next to Chick-fil-A so it's always a tough decision at mealtime there.

He loves Cars2 right now, specifically Francesco.

He can dress himself and even pick out his clothes. In fact, most of the things he picks out, I would never think to put together, but it really works!

This ended up being a lot longer than I expected.

Five years into knowing this person - I am shocked to find a real person there. Not because I didn't expect him to be a person, but because I've known him when he was just a baby, eating and pooping. Now, I look at him and see this shining personality. A sweet soul - who I hope and pray sees even more delight in the world for the years to come.

McLovin'

2011-10-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

So I love Michael's school. This week, they covered the Water cycle, specifically condensation and evaporation. I found this on pinterest (my mental home) and a home schooling mom listed it under 1st grade. Michael's in PK-4.

Unfortunately, Michael was sick this week and missed Monday and Wednesday at school. I know it's just pre-school, but they expose him to so much when he's there. It makes me sad when he misses.

I was really glad to run into the pinterest post above. It's a song about the water cycle sung to She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain. We'll take a peek at this on the blog tomorrow and go over it! Along with going over the workbook pages he missed covering the letter E.

His preschool also attached this binder ring to his school tote. On this binder ring, they add one new sight word flash card a week. He's picking things up little by little on his ring - but I'm not quite sure he has extrapolated those words to real reading yet. Step by step I suppose! He's starting to sound things out, so that's great!

I have a Leapster toy I bought him 2 years ago, hoping it would help him to spell words, that he has not touched for 2 years. Now, he's spelling words (with the toy's guidance) and being very proud of himself for doing so! I'm hoping, praying, guiding, and encouraging to my little guy to help him along with his reading skills.

Math - that comes very natural to him. Imagine that.

Michael's 5th Birthday Party

2011-10-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

I must not want to go to bed!

Saturday, October 15th, we had a Harry Potter themed birthday party for Michael - complete with broomstick party favor bags:

And Quidditch:
Lots of playing in the leaves:

And of course, a Pinata:
Michael got it on the FIRST try. I even heard Abbey say to him, "Michael, you got it on the first try! That was - like amazing!"

After each pinata, would be the candy motivated scrum:
More running around. The kids were crazy. They played outside. They played Wii. They tracked half my yard in my house, but they ran off all that sugar we were feeding them!

Birthday cake time:

I got it from Costco. SO sue me. I was busy spray painting hula hoops gold! We lit the cake with trick candles that just kept relighting. It wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining if the kids didn't squeal with delight and surprise every time one would relight. It's so fun to be around kids!

I love kids' birthday parties - Michael's or not. I'm a sucker for them!

I even hung up a red sheet over my door, drew bricks on it, and cut a seam down the middle for the kids to run through. I forgot to take a picture of it though - it's tough to be a hostess AND a photographer AND a mother at the same time!

I hope MIchael loved it as much as we love getting to witness his little life unfold before our very eyes!

Hotel de Ville

2011-10-20T21:08:00.000-07:00

I love running into Paris pictures that are not particularly obvious, but strike a cord with me.

Eiffel Tower images - nope, they just don't do it for me. It wasn't MY Paris - so it's beautiful and great - but it doesn't make me take pause and reflect.

But this image did for a lot of reasons. First, it's the carousel at Hotel de Ville across from BHV. Second, we used to ride it every winter - it was a tradition. Go ice skating at Hotel de Ville - ride the carousel there. All free. Maybe not the ice skating - but it might have been!

So I recognize this carousel. I recognize that lantern. I recognize that street corner in the background.

Hmm...on second thought, the street is kinda close - and I don't remember that. So I may be wrong. Eh - whatever. Makes me still think about my memories there!

I know there are ex-expats that read my blog and I was wondering if any of you have moments like this in your everyday lives? Things that make you stop and think back to that really different life we used to lead? And inevitably - you think for a second - it would be great to go back.

And then you remember about the day you had to argue with the woman at Monoprix just to give you change because you wanted to pay with cash and not your debit card because there was no way the Boulangerie would take your 20 euro to pay for a 1 euro baguette. So Big Box Retailer NEEDED to give you that change. You held up everyone in line as you and the cashier had a staring contest to see who's will would win out.

It wasn't her. I needed my baguette gosh darn it.

Michael, Age 5

2011-10-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

Been seeing this idea on Pinterest, so I decided to do it too! It's not as cute as the blank wall ones I've seen, but I like it just fine for me!

More later on Michael!

Michael's First Family Portrait

2011-10-18T18:15:00.001-07:00

Done on Post it notes.

Michael is on the left.

Brian is in the middle with one eye.

I apparently am the massive Hair Woman.

He told me that he drew the arms to show that we were hugging each other.

Love.this.kid.to.bits!

My Mommy

2011-10-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

My mommy is just too cute! Took the family to Lytle's Corn Maze today - more images to come! From this and Michael's part-ay!

Love,

Organizing school work

2011-10-14T07:33:00.000-07:00

Just in time! Michael starts Kindergarten next year! DEFINITELY going to be doing this!!!

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2010/11/school-paperwork-storage.html

Another pinterest find! If you like any of the things I've been posting on pinterest - follow me! I'll e-mail you my info if you want it.

I guess I better get to cleaning my basement - aka - shove everything in a closet and hope it fits with the door shut.

How to sew lined curtains

2011-10-14T07:25:00.001-07:00

I've been looking for a book which explains how to sew lined curtains. I wanted it to have step by step directions, preferably with pictures illustrating each step because I am not a sewing maven extraordinaire.

I looked at my Pier1 curtains that I love - and in my mind's eye - I kind of figured it out already. However, my mind's eye can be wrong a lot of the times.

Luckily, Pinterest, my new best friend, pulled through. Found this thread today and it is absolutely genius:

http://www.houseofhepworths.com/2011/10/12/how-to-make-professional-lined-curtain-panels/

I am so happy and need to pull out my sewing machine TOUT DE SUITE.

Another thing I love about this thread is she covers how to make it look "faux pinch pleated." I have seen the instructions on how to sew pinch pleats and wasn't too keen about measuring things and figuring out the spacing while sewing and also needing extra widths of fabric which would then entail repeats and lining up the edges of said repeats. Take deep breath here.

So also in that link is how to make it look a bit like pinch pleats (from far away!)

I'm a fan! And can't wait to start on this pinterest project!

Photoshop

2011-10-13T12:45:00.000-07:00

It always amazes me what other applications I can use photoshop for. I love it for editing images and designing pieces for my clients. It's an obvious application!

But I needed to make a sign for 9 3/4 platform for our Harry Potter party this weekend. The blog I was reading said she painted a piece of wood and stuck stickers to it to make it look amazing.

I fully intended to do that.

And then I thought - it would be much cheaper just to make it on the computer and print it out on a sheet of paper.

SO I did it in Photoshop:

I love Photoshop because it lets me do what I want. Not like Microsoft Word, which thinks it knows better than you. I would have used Powerpoint if I did not have Photoshop. Powerpoint is such that you can move individual elements around if you like!

But knowing Photoshop, I whipped up this sign in less than 15 minutes and printed it out. For free!

CHECK AND CHECK!

What else is there to do - Harry Potter party wise?

Make 10 robes - iron on Hogwarts insignia and cut/hem openings
Make brick wall out of sheet for kids to run through
Brian needs to construct all the quidditch goals. Should just be nailing them into the sticks we already collected from the yard. I spent lots of yesterday spray painting and couldn't write normally for 1-2 hours after that.
Then, stick quidditch goals in the ground.

We have to do normal stuff like food prep, setting tables, etc - but for the most part, we are nearly there! I'm so glad my mom is here to watch Michael while I get stuff done!

Oo-la-la

2011-10-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

Great post on moneysavingmom about busy bins for kids everyday of the week. That way, it is organized and ready for them to play. Also has good ideas on what to put in the busy bins!

http://aprilemery.blogspot.com/2010/04/mammas-bag-of-tricks-quiet-time-bins.html

Le W.E.

2011-10-09T13:53:00.000-07:00

Am having a great weekend! Our Saturday was busy but filled with fun.

I woke up at 6am because I fell asleep at 10pm. I had roasted a chicken earlier in the week and wanted to have Asian noodle soup for breakfast. SO at 6:15am I started my stockpot for noodle soup with my leftover bones from the roasted chicken. Love getting multiple meals from one.

After my noodle soup, we had soccer! Michael did great and scored a good portion of our goals! In fact, his whole team is playing so well, and Brian is doing an amazing job coaching! They held their own even to a team which was playing REALLY unfairly (always played with one MORE player on the field than us - coach BLOCKING our kids from kicking the ball forward - ALL UNBELIEVABLE).

After this, ran over to Sacred Heart to setup my display for the Silent Auction at Oktoberfest.

Then off to Brian's coworkers house for a really civilized French lunch. I love dining with the French. They set the table well. They have appetizers and present them with finesse. The meal is just served to where you can ENJOY the food. The kids eat what we eat, not hotdogs and mac-n-cheese. Their kids aren't OBSESSED with Wii and the television. It was just so fun. What was even more interesting was that they are renting a house which we looked at to purchase. So when it came time for the house tour, we really didn't need it!

Hurried home. Called in a pizza order. Quickly washed my dishes. Quickly cleaned off my microwave that was so dirty that the food was starting to make friends with one another. Because you never know if your sitter is going to microwave something. Ran off to get said pizza and coke. Back at home. Meet the sitter ( super sweet girl who Michael IMMEDIATELY loved , which for my shy son is a miracle.). Meet neighbors to go up to Oktoberfest at the church.

Had a great time at the fundraiser and hanging out there! Catholics know how to put on a good Oktoberfest! Was pretty STOKED that my photography package was getting lots of bids!! So excited to be able to bring in money for the school!! My babysitter's mom was at the event so she updated me regularly about her daughter and Michael at home (so nice that her daughter was texting her mom!). Got to know her a little better too! Heard a lot of good things about the private Catholic high school we are considering sending Michael to if we are still here.

Went home. Drove the babysitter back home. Crashed.

Birthday Par-tay!

2011-10-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

I usually do not bring my camera to birthday parties - I like to eat, enjoy myself, and chit-chat, not worry about focus, exposure, and my shutter speed!

But this past weekend - Michael was invited to a birthday party where it was necessary to bring my camera!

First, there was a cute little critter scavenger hunt. Here's a grumpy Michael with his little jar of insects:

The real hit of the show came with this lady:
She was incredible! She brought all sorts of reptiles for the kids to hold including turtles, iguanas, and SNAKES.
Michael looking at the iguana:
Michael's initial reaction when the iguana came out:
When she brought out the 2nd biggest snake she had, the kids went BALLISTIC! They all ran away to their parents screaming!! Eventually curiousity reigned king and they all went back for a closer look.

Michael was not havin' any of the touchin' of the reptiles. He was happy to pet the turtles, but politely ran away and hid during the iguana and snakes. Can't say that I blame the guy!

He had so much fun at this birthday party! His friend's house is AWESOME. They have this amazing back yard with a little Amish built very fancy play house, a huge playset in the back, and lots of backyard toys with grass as far as the eye can see. Basically, what I always wanted and instead, I have a huge sloping backyard with a forest full of ticks.

She had lots of great food including a chick-fil-a tray of nuggets. DONE AND DONE!

Had to blog about it because it was seriously cool. We'll be doing this one year!

Lunch Ideas

2011-09-22T19:47:00.001-07:00

It's Michael's 2nd full week of school and I'm already OUT for lunch ideas. Found this blog on pinterest and I'm in love!

http://www.anotherlunch.com/

Mischievous Michael

2011-09-21T21:36:00.000-07:00

So Michael decided to pull the *cough * cough * I'm too sick to go to school today bit with me.

Yesterday, he had a stuffy nose. Woke up from 2am-3am from it. No fever.

Normally, I would have told him to get out of bed. But I was exhausted too from our previous day.

And he continued with the I don't feel well, my nose is stopped up, I'm really tired, please don't make me go to school.

WELL - OK. I'm tired too. You're just covering the letter B, which I know you know. And frankly, I wanted to hang out with him.

SO I did that. We ate breakfast, watched TV together, then we played Wii together, then we played games together, then he had "downtime," then he played on the computer, then we played some more Wii, then we ate dinner, then we did puzzles, math flash cards, his kid's sudoku game, workbook pages, listened to the Saggy Baggy Elephant on CD, then we danced on a stage in the living room, then we swept the living room, stayed up late to greet Dad at 9:45pm when he came home from Pittsburgh, read books.

I would say I felt bad about providing a bad example of not going to school - but we just had so much fun today. He's got the rest of his life to go to school! I've only got him home for just another year or so.

So I stayed home and cuddled with my little one and played with him and it was so much fun.

I love Michael's school by the way. He's been talking about how many syllables are in words. He's been loving the songs they sing and lately, we have to stay after lunch so he can finish listening to the stories they read to him after lunch. They attached a ring of flashcards with beginning sight words for reading. Luckily, they are the easy ones and Michael already knows them (I, a, the). We've been working on them so it's great to have the reinforcement. They gave him a great beginner's bible that HE.LOVES. We read the stories a lot and he can tell me the story of Adam and Eve already with the snake. I just hope that he continues to love school!

Just made me think that they do a lot with reading/letters/phonics at the school, which is GREAT because he really needs more exercises with this. Reading is not something that comes naturally to him.

However, not much happens with Math. The only worksheet I have seen with math has just been one where he has to draw the line from the number on the left to the groupings of items on the right ( 2 to the picture with 2 frogs).

I wonder why that is? Anyone know? I have no formal education in early childhood education so I don't know.

Gone Fishin'

2011-09-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

To officially mark our foray into the wilderness and red-neck-dom here in The Middle of Nowhere, PA - we made a trip to the fishin' hole in our neighborhood!

That's right - in our neighborhood - just a walk down the street- where I'm sure lots of ticks live.

As much as I am mocking this Sunday activity for us - it was SUPER fun and highly rewarding.

Rewarding? Fishing? Yup, in our pond - LOTS of little fishes are very hungry. We'd cast the line and within SECONDS, we'd have bites. Within a minute, we would have a fish on the line.

I'm a fan of instant gratification. It's a wonder I made it anywhere in this world. :)

So - pictures galore.

Michael gettin' ready:

Reminds me a bit of Andy Griffith (Griffin?)

Dad helpin' son:

Casting a line - me standing far away - hoping I didn't get hooked in the mouth myself:

Proud of our 1st catch of the day:

We got that one through the eye. Couldn't get the hook off. Finally had to just CUT the hook off and toss the fish back. Yah, there's a fish swimmin' around with a HOOK in his eye in that pond now.

Fishin' ain't for the light-of-heart-city-girl-named-Phuong.

Next, we caught a catfish who was lost from Louisiana:

Poor guy didn't even get the worm.

Michael's hilarious face with the fish:

Brian, proud of his large catch of the day:

Nasty up close image of the worm that decided this fish's fate:

SUPER fun activity! We had NO idea there were fish in that pond!

**End official post - start photography talk **

I took my D50 instead of my new fancy D700 to the pond - good grief. Talk about frustrating! It's got a zoom lens, which my D700 does not have. That's why I brought it. All sorts of exposure blow outs/strange color casts/frustrating. So glad photoshop saved a lot of these images!

Pretty proud of myself - edited 12 images in about 30 minutes. That's a record for me! A little over 2 minutes an image! Depending on the image, I can take anywhere from 3 - 15 minutes an image!

Finally came up with a work flow which lends me to posting my images on Smugmug and posting on the blog. If you are interested, here it is:

LOVE Adobe bridge for organizing images. Thanks KK for introducing me to this!

1) Copy images from memory card, paste into appropriate month/year folder

2) Adobe Bridge - assign 3 stars for every image I want in my smugmug album.

3) Edit whatever images I want to edit. Assign the new edited images as 3 stars. Send the original unedited images to no rating and gone.

4) Select all 3 star images - Batch rename - A_Month Year _ 01 etc for the month. If in the middle of the month, start count on the next number, which Bridge should do automatically.

5) Upload to smugmug all 3 star images.

6) Go back and select 5 star images for "best of book" at the end of the year.

VOILA! And so we start catching up. Next up is OBX to go through this process!

2011-09-15T07:01:00.001-07:00

Sneak Peek

2011-09-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

Guess who's gettin' ready for his Harry Potter birthday party?

He's not looking too happy, but he's excited about it!

Le Week-end

2011-09-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, (9/10), Michael had his first soccer game.

Michael's hunger/drive/determination for the ball has waned since last year. He's still one of the fastest (if not THE fastest) kid out there.

He can run from the back of the pack all the way to the front of the pack where the kid is kicking the ball - pass that kid and the ball - and take the ball and turn it around.

This year, he decided that running up there was all he had to do. And then he'd kind of piddle around the ball. And then just kind of look at it. Like he forgot that you're supposed to take the ball away, kick it all the way to the other end. And score.

To his very competitive parents - we're just sitting there and seething inside and trying our best not to say anything about anything and be "THOSE PARENTS."

Well, Michael had a great time. And like last year - after the first practice - Brian goes home and assesses the team's strengths and weaknesses and develops drills that help address what needs to improve.

Michael - and the rest of the kids for that matter - really like the snack part of the whole soccer bit:

After that, we went to Giant and busted our budget by buying fish.

I am a big proponent of "eating my money" because if I'm gonna spend my money on something, I'd rather spend it on items which will 1) nourish my body in a positive way and 2)be joyful to taste and eat. Life's too short to eat plasticized food. But that's just me and my family. You and yours can do whatever you like and it is no matter to me! I don't judge anyone on that and frankly, I fall off the wagon all the time (as I write this post I am stuffing myself with Barnum animal crackers).

Then, we decided to be "active" and headed to Milburn to pick apples!
Michael hammed it up for the camera for just a hair of a second:
All little boys should have pictures of them doing this with their dads:
These kind of apples were good, but not as good as the orange honey apples! Didn't even know that kind existed! I love Michael's face in this picture:
They did a lot of eating off of the tree:
And I caught Michael through the bushes. This isn't a spectacular shot, but I am practicing trying new things. I liked 1) The composition - like I am peering through a bush and the bush in front of me is fuzzy but what I am looking at is now 2) the post processing in photoshop - I do like that kind of vintage-y sharp look.

What I do not like: Michael's not doing anything terribly interesting and his eyes are shut. But it does capture the idea of a little boy - hunting around an orchard - and delighting on what he finds.
After that - more rest and relaxtion and enjoyment of Brian being back home. Brian traveled nearly 3 weeks out of the last 4. It was really hard on all of us. However, the break does make the heart grow fonder.

After many years of marriage - it is true what they say - that you can take each other for granted. At least Brian and I tend to. We get shorter with one another and take the stresses of our daily lives out on each other because we are there.

After Brian's little trip(s), we come back together - so thankful to be together and have each other forever. It is always a nice feeling to know that if you had to do it all again, you know you would because that person still fascinates you and makes you laugh.

He Does What He Wants

2011-09-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

Michael could probably echo Pinocchio in saying, "I'm a real boy!" I am just amazed at how big he is getting.

My dad used to tell me that when we were babies, he would just look at us and wonder when we would ever grow up. Then, we grew up, and he looked at us and wondered how time could fly by so quickly.

I understand exactly what this means now.

Michael blew through this busy bag idea. I was hoping it would last longer than 2 minutes:

Pretty easy to do. Just get an old takeaway plastic container with a lid. Use a knife to cut an x in the top. Then give them a bunch of cheapo pompoms to shove through the hole. Michael kept saying, "Ow, ow, ow" - but he finished it nonetheless. Not gonna let a little pain keep him from gettin' those pompoms in there.

Michael had Christmas in August because Walgreens was having 75% off their summer clearance section. And the girl accidentally gave me 75% off the SALE price. So I went back for a 2nd round of stuff and by then she had asked her manager if it was 75% off the regular or sale - and she stood corrected. Should have been 75% off of REGULAR price.

Either way, here's the loot. I'll go into how much everything costed because it's too funny:

2 buckets of sidewalk chalk (12 pieces in each) - $0.25 each

500 water balloons with 2 hose attachments - $1.25

Slip 'n slide with big-ole-pool at the end - $5

Badminton set - $1.17

Ring Toss - $1.25

Bag of 3 bath toy boats - $0.75

BBQ Grill cleaning brush - $1

Playmate Igloo - $3.75 (Probably my biggest score!! Glad I got that on the 75% off sale price bunch!)

Freezer icepack - $0.75

Water Hose Snake - $2.50

Outdoor bowling set - $3.25

Cars sand toy set with backpack,pail, molds, sifter, shovel/etc - $2.50

Recently, Michael built a marble run - all by himself - following instructions in the manual WITH NO HELP from us:

And Michael can cut - all by himself. Looks like a pro huh?

It's a kindergarten skill - so I'm glad he mastered it. :)

Michael stays a bit later for preschool this year than last - which actually works out well because I get to touch base with his teacher every time! At normal pickup, you get your kid and you leave - not much said about the day. But with Michael's later pickup, I get to see his teacher in a more relaxed setting.

She told me today that Michael did his assessment test for the teachers to see what skill level he is. She said she was pretty impressed with Michael and that he knew a lot for his age!

Pretty proud mama I was!

If you pray, please pray for our friends Laura and Kril Cunningham. Kril is in the hospital because he had a seizure. The doctors think it is related to the severe sinus infection he has been fighting. Either way - it is a tough time for their family and any prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Love,

Milburn Apple Picking

2011-09-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun today! We went apple picking and bought about 14 lbs of apples. At $1.39 a lb for freshly picked apples, I went a bit overboard.

Then we walked to the sandpit and played there. I am so happy to have this HUGE clean sandpit with GREAT toys so close to my house. Reminds me so much of Paris and many playgrounds here do not have sandpits. Michael loves loves loves it.

Then, we fed the goats, of course. And there were little newbie goats which is always so cute.

After this, we play on the playground.

Then we attempted to have lunch, but thankfully for my wallet, it was closed.

Bought some baked goodies and one last batch of gorgeous peaches before calling it a day!

Thus is a standard farm visit for us! We just love it there! Michael loved the tractor ride and picking apples was super neat.

It's never too early to go to Disney

2011-09-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

After Paris, I was kind of under the impression that it's better to wait to go to Disney - when your kids can actually remember. I took Michael 2x when we lived in Paris to Euro-Disney and he didn't seem to remember it at all.

Then we had this conversation tonight:

Michael: Can you tell me about how I saw Christmas Goofy and how I was crabby, mommy?

Michael: Oh wait, I remember going to Disneyworld!

Me: You do?

Michael: Yes! I played with the Lightening McQueen car! (one of my only retail regrets - not buying him that RC lightening mcqueen car. Apparently it was important and only 40 euro at the time).

Michael: We rode the Peter Pan ride.

Me: Did you like it or think it was scary?

Michael: It was scary.

Me: That's right - you didn't like it.

Me: Do you remember riding the Buzz Light year ride?

Michael: No.

Me: Do you remember watching the old Mickey Mouse cartoons in the theater there?

Michael: No.

Michael: We rode the teacups!! It was so fun!

So you know what? They remember. He was 3. And I didn't make that photobook that year to tell him the stories - so he remembered all on his own.

He was 3. And he's nearly 5 now. I know for sure I didn't talk to him about the Lightening mcqueen car or the teacups. But that Peter pan memory may have been planted.

I hear a very loud cricket. And it probably is in my house.

It's 12:30am - and this is evidence on why I should not nap because I am really not tired, but I am tired of looking at the computer

First Day of School!

2011-08-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Irene put a damper on Michael's first day of school on Monday - so he went today for his first day of preschool.

He was pretty happy about the whole affair:

With Mommy:

With Daddy:

He reported the whole day to me during the whole walk from the class to the car and the whole ride home. He even told me that he wished he could be at school longer than last year.

I told him that he is already going longer this year than last! Did he want more?

Michael: "Yes! Oh, wait. Let me think about it."

So cute. So glad he's having a great time!

2011-08-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

My friend Mary wrote this on her blog recently about her thoughts after a vacation (without kids) in Norway.

I can completely relate:

"I came back with the certainty that things need to change. Childcare for Mazen. A job for me. Extra income for the family. I want to be a woman who has some self-esteem about who she is as a whole person, not just in her role as a mother to small children. I want to have the energy and the ability to bring beauty back into my daily life.

This trip, coming at the end of a particularly long, hard and stressful summer, has allowed me to see that my life is radically out of balance. I feel like I'm peripheral in my own life. It's time to make some changes, to move forward.

It's time to remember that if I choose to bring beauty into my life it doesn't need to be justified or explained. It's time to remember that I am an adult and I don't need to justify or explain myself to anyone. It's time to discover who I am now, having been living in a parallel world for the last five years.

Scary stuff."

I oscillate very often between feeling happy that I have the privilege to stay at home and hang out with Michael - and Mary's paragraphs above. Some days - I embrace my life of service without complaint. Some days - I think the above.

And I really don't know what to do at this time in my life. It's like a midlife crisis but without the car.
P

Because.It.Is.Ridiculous

2011-08-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

In One week:

Tuesday, 8/23: Earthquake struck pretty far south of us in VA.

Saturday, 8/27-8/28: Hurricane Irene ripped through the East Coast starting in the Carolinas.

I guess God felt my life was a bit too boring for my liking!

The earthquake was bizarre. We were outside the library and I was putting Michael in his carseat. I felt the ground shake back and forth, like I was in a crowded bouncy house. I thought it was just a train coming through (which I have N-E-V-E-R seen before on these railroad tracks right by the library). It stopped and I went on with my life. I paused to think - hey, it might be an earthquake.

And then I thought, "No, that's just reserved for Californians."

Luckily, Bill called me and said, "Hey, you OK?"
Me: "Yea, why?"
Bill: "Because an earthquake just hit VA"
Me: "Well, THAT explains a lot."

Then, the first hurricane to hit the upper east coast in I don't know how many years - decided to do it this weekend.

Brian was supposed to get in at 5:00pm from Pittsburgh on Friday. Only his flight was delayed to 10:30pm. I told him that he had BETTER get here before 8:00am otherwise, he'd be stuck in Pittsburgh because of the impending hurricane on Saturday afternoon. Luckily, Brian didn't have to rent a car at 11:00pm and he made it back to PA to whether the hurricane with us. WHEW.

Poor Michael - he had a basket case of a mother - and I was short and curt - as I can be when I am stressed out and going on very little sleep. He started to cry because I was using my "stressed out" tone with him, but then I told him what was going on. I explained that Mommy was really stressed out because now I had to do all the big outdoor things to secure the house for the storm and also get the neighbors boys to help me with the heavy stuff. I was really upset and I wanted to cry too (AND I DID in the car - but I wasn't about to admit that in front of him), but he really needed to calm down, be a big boy, and help. Because sometimes, we have to do that and be brave.

And he calmed down and understood. What a moment that was for me as a mother. Where did my little baby go?

To be honest - Brian's delay at the airport was just ONE of the stressors of that Friday. I am not going to go into the other ones - like my breaker tripping out the electricity in the garage/kitchen and my neighbor having to show me A)what that looks like and B) how to fix it since my fuse box is not correctly labeled - or having to reschedule my ordering session with a client because of Brian's schedule - or the fact that Brian was gone ALL week.

SO far, Hurricane Irene did not down any trees. I am waiting for the ground to firm up a bit more and a couple of sunny days to go by before I make the final verdict. But I am very thankful that God kept our family, our home, and our neighbors safe.

Got all ready for Michael's first day of school tomorrow - and it was cancelled.

VOILA. At least I am ready for the real first day of school!

And might I add - for all the forms for Michael's school - I am not going to go into how many times I had to write my name, Brian's name, Michael's name, address, and phone number.

I read something that said if you didn't want your kids to whine - to look in the mirror first. If I whine about stuff - he's going to too. So I have a lot of self-improvement to work on.

I'm oh-so-not-a-perfect-mom.

2011-08-24T20:09:00.001-07:00

I know there are the "perfect moms" out there. The ones who are always prepared, get everything right, and whose children (in addition to themselves) always look and behave oh-so-perfectly.

I'm just so not one of them.

Case - in - point.

Michael had what looked like a splinter. And it hurt him. So I told him I would have to try to grab it out. Before I even got the tweezers, Michael started shrieking. Like neighbors might call CPS on me shrieking. Let me remind you, I had not even gotten the device of torture, tweezers.

Once I had said device, the shrieking escalated.

Now - I usually am a patient person. But that patient mom has been worn thin for a variety of reasons: 1) Michael's been out of school and after 3 months - I'm about DONE with that. 2) I've got lots of deadlines this week and am already stressed out. 3) Brian's been traveling a lot and he was traveling during said period.

SO what does the perfect mommy do? Calms said screaming child down, pretends the tweezers are little crab pinchers trying to find shrimp in his little hand. Are there shrimp in there? I don't know! Let's see! And said child would happily let that perfect mommy dig in that little hand while he watched Open Season on TV.

What did I do?

Scream at him for making a fuss about absolutely nothing that has happened yet. Tell him he's being irrational. Remind him that if he doesn't want me to help fix the problem, he can't complain about it. Screaming vs. screaming. Manhandling him to get him to sit still so I could look. These were all things that did not go well.

He fell asleep from the exhaustion from crying and I got to dig around in his hand. No splinter to be found, but now he has a blister there.

Michael was pretty traumatized. He couldn't look at me without crying. I had to apologize profusely for being a "Mean Mommy" because I certainly am not. I am not normally the parent that loses it. I am not normally the parent that screams at their kid. I'm not better than anyone else - as evidenced by this display. When I offered to go into time out because I had behaved poorly, my son said to me, "It's ok Mommy. Don't go into timeout. It's ok."

And the next day, he played with me like nothing ever happened.

Grace is not just something you read about in the bible. You can find it in your everyday life.

Gettin' it Down

2011-08-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

So I am tres behind when it comes to posting. We've had a busy month - The Parents came to visit, we had a vacation in the Outer Banks, NC (OBX), and I've had a couple of sessions. So I am really busy proofing, designing announcements, etc.

Plus - Liturgy of the Word with Children kicks off in about 3 weeks. And I'm the lead on that - so I'm stressin' out about that going off without a hitch. My church really needs it. My family really needs it! So I'm hoping the ministry is successful and reaches out to other families/children within the parish.

But I really want to post about Michael. Soon. I have some very random pictures - but all worth posting as it documents Michael - which I don't do as much anymore because things don't change as quickly as they used to!

However, before I do - I just have 2 memories I want to put down before I forget.

Saturday at dinner, for whatever reason, I just had a memory of taking Michael to the little park in front of Le Bon Marche after his gymnastics lessons in the 6th. We would play there and look at the fish in the tanks in the cosmetics department of Le Bon Marche. I shared it with my family at the table and Michael says to me,

"Mommy, we used to play ping pong in Paris."

Why, yes - we did. And Michael remembers. On his own. With no "memory planting" from me. It always shocks me what I think he SHOULD remember as opposed to what he actually DOES remember on his own. But then my mind wandered to all those afternoons I would take him to the park with our ping pong paddles, his head barely peeking over the concrete tables, and we would "play." I was just so very thankful for that period in our lives where all I did was hang out with him. And it made my heart happy to see that he remembered too - which I hope means that it made him happy too. It is interesting to think about his memories forming, even that early on. Oh how I wish I could take my little Michael to Paris now. The memories we would make...

The other thing is something I am really proud of Michael about - and I'm sure this will fade with time and really growing up. Michael has shown 2 instances where he does not fall to peer pressure.

The first: He was grounded from Wii. He went to play at our neighbor's house where all the kids were playing Wii, and he told them he couldn't because he was grounded from it. So he just watched. Then, he came home and told me this. I commended him for adhering to what I had said, even though everyone else was doing it. There will be many more instances where he has to choose between what everyone else is doing and what we say is "our way." I truly hope he continues on his path, but will love him regardless. All children eventually do something their parents don't necessarily agree with.

The second: While in the OBX, Brian told Michael to stay seated on the little seat in the pool. DO NOT GO ANYWHERE. And he did just that. Even though Mr. Scott told him - I'll take you around in the floaty and keep you safe. Don't worry.

Not working. "I'm not going anywhere. My Daddy told me to stay here."

So proud of my little guy who isn't so little anymore. It won't be long now before he's grown and gone - but until then - I sure am enjoying all these little bits of life that was so generously bestowed to me.

Love,
P

Jello Saves a Mom

2011-07-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

$1.25 box of Jello vanilla pudding = 20 minutes of Mommy free time and 20 minutes of post clean up.

oh yes, and Michael is happy to be "painting" with edible tasty paint.

Don't think he got messy enough:

I am not going to go into how many different spots I found vanilla pudding.
P

Oh How My (or rather My Husband's) Garden Grows

2011-07-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

Brian has been busy getting Lyme disease because of his latest hobby:
I ran around and took some pictures about a couple of weeks back (mid July-ish). Here are the starts of things.

Sweet sweet eggplant

I love the colors in nature:

What? You don't like sideways broccoli? Yea, I thought so.

Eat that raw, baby:

Arugula - my fav

Some kind of what ended up to be funny shaped yellow tomatoes:

I just love the atmosphere in this picture. I'm not done editing it, but I have an idea of what I need.

My sacrifices for my husband. Brian asked me to take some "good pictures" of his garden. So while he was away on business, I went out there to do just that.

Pretty proud of myself because I had to brave the elements to do this.

First, we ran into a snake. I, calmly, yelled "MICHAEL RUN TO THE RIGHT QUICK QUICK QUICK A SNAKE AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Nature - 1. Me - 0.

Then, the bloodiest mosquito bit me on the leg. It started something like this:
And quickly morphed into this:
It ended up about 2 inches wide.

Mosquitos love me. What can I say? I have very sweet blood. If you have me around you, you don't even have to put Off on yourself because the mosquitos will just bite me and leave you alone.

I want to think it's because I'm so terribly sweet. I know better.

Fruits of his labor. Now THAT my friend, is a nice sized zucchini:
Brian's forearm is not a good unit of measure for you? Perhaps you prefer a quark, or an iphone for reference:
Or a Michael length:
Or a Michael width:
More posts to come. I've finally decided to get back on the computer. Summer is over.

Love,

Gone Golfin'

2011-07-29T19:32:00.000-07:00

Brian had today off so we filled it with all sorts of fun nonsense after VBS ended today!

Brian wanted to take Michael to the driving range so off they went!

Here's Brian. I like this picture because Brian's body is in focus, but his swing is in motion and a bit blurry. I was trying to get this shot, but wish I had a cooler angle/composition:

I love all that farmland there as a backdrop for the driving range.

Something about this picture just makes me laugh. Can't put my finger on it:
Brian teaching Michael how to aim his putt. Michael wasn't too terribly interested until Brian sank an awesome putt from like 20 feet away. And so it already is beginning - Michael thinking his parents don't know anything.
Sand bunker practice:
And a picture for me. You know I'm gonna post something not too terribly normal to take:
It's been so fun being outside. Yesterday, we met Brian at the tennis courts and played all together after Brian finished his work tournament match. I am happy to spend outside time/playing time as a family. It promotes healthy living and promotes real quality time with one another.

And I'm a huge fan of that!

VBS has been so fun! My friend, Heather, has been posting pics/videos on her Facebook site.

Brian found out today he has Lyme disease. As my Thermo I prof, Dr. Hall, used to tell us: "Mother Nature - she's a B**T#"

I agree.

Data

2011-07-12T21:09:00.001-07:00

This is hilarious to me. My number of blog posts from the last 4 years:

2011 (65)
2010 (79)
2009 (166)
2008 (120)
2007 (158)

2010 was DEFINITELY a bit short on posts. 2011 is shaping up a bit better. I was a postin' FOOL in 2007-2009. Had a lot to say! Or rather - not much else to DO - so I actually had time to blog about my life!

Makes me think of 2 things:

I really do need to make a blog book. I've been wanting to do this, but 2007 ended up being 193 pages and costing around $250.
I just do not have as much time to blog as before. Having a house is a beast of burden!

I remember in Paris, all I wanted - was to own a home. And now that I have one, I really miss the days of renting! All my free time nowadays is utilized cleaning, tidying, painting, if not painting - then picking out paint samples, picking out fabric samples, googling how to fix a loose sink faucet, weeding, watering plants, organizing something, looking at new toilets/vanities for my powder room -picking out said paint for my new powder room -

THE LIST GOES ON AND ON.

So whatever free time I do have - is spoken for! Until I have my house all in line. You know how you move in somewhere - and it just doesn't feel like your place yet? Yeah - that's where I am in this house.

When we moved into our apt in Austin, I decorated in about 2-3 months. We had no money - but that was ok because I had a ton of time (newlywed and no job and all) - scoured garage sales, sewed a bunch of stuff and shopped sales. And I decorated our 2 bedroom, 2 bath apt in no time flat. Got a job - and on went our lives.

Then, we moved to Paris - and while I had no more free time (introducing MICHAEL!) - we were well taken care of by Uncle Air Liquide and I outfitted our apt within 2-3 months as well.

NOW - we are in our HOME - and it has been over a year - and it STILL is a work in progress. Something about the fact that I can do WHATEVER I want - paralyzes me for the whole affair. And the fact that now I have no time and little excess money (thank you PA Tax Man, my water softening tank breaking, replacing 2 windshields in one month, maintaining 2 cars, paying for out of network doctors who implied that they were in network, tuition for Michael - THAT list goes on and on as well).

SIGH. So I haven't blogged. Because I am busy taking care of my family - and taking care of my house. Somehow I thought I could start a business in all of that - but now is not the time with Michael being home for the summer. And me needing a new camera. And my house feeling like someone else's house.

Good grief. Am I being a whiny melodramatic drama queen tonight. Really should not have watched my chick flick of Made of Honor.

I'm done now.

iPhone Download Time!

2011-07-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

About once every quarter, my iphone makes it down to the depths of the basement. Known to Brian as "The Man Cave." Known to me as "The Meat Locker." It's pretty cold down in our basement.

And when this happens, we get the Blog - By Phone Pictures - Fire

Let's begin.

Leftover Picture from Strasburg. I did NOT feed this train any of my coins:

Michael and I playing chess while eating:

Michael wanted to get in the laundry bucket. Made me nostalgic for a similar picture I took of him in Paris when he was less than a year old. I tried to find it to post it here, but can't.

In June, we went and picked strawberries at Walnut Springs Farm. Here is the result of our efforts:

Tarte aux fraises - courtesy of Chocolate and Zucchini cookbook. One of my favorites.

This guy loves cheese even more than Brian. This was taken at -none other than- DUNKIN' Donuts:

Brian ran into this guy on our wood pile:

I would not have remained calm enough to take a picture of it. But I LOVE this one that Brian took. Such a nice contrast between the texture of the wood and the texture of the snake. And how the colors are definitely complimentary. I don't know - I just love this shot.

I DID GET ONE PICTURE FROM JULY 4th WEEKEND!

Our picnic blanket with the Gaglianos at Freedom Fest

Michael climbed on these bouncy houses suppled by : Date with a Tramp (see sign on image)

And Brian's latest harvest. Had to put that GLAD COSTCO sized Press 'n Seal box next to 'em so you could get the scale of these bad boys:

As my dad would say - Grown to about the size of a forearm.

AWESOME. I am off to take "good" pictures of Brian's garden. He has requested them. And then of Michael's hair cut.

And up next - videos of Brian and Michael re-enacting Wimbledon in our driveway.

Love,

July 4th

2011-07-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

Last year, I think I took about 400 fireworks pictures. This year? Big Fat Zero.

Like I said before, we had no plans for the weekend except to paint the bedroom! And we ended up:

Friday - Brian had off. He went to the dr for a physical exam (insurance gives us $500 just for doing this! ). We got painting supplies at Lowes and spent the rest of the day hanging out at home.

Saturday - BBQ at our place with the Gaglianos and then went to Freedom Fest at Nottingham State Park put on by Herr's Potato Chip Corporation (like Lays, but local). The fireworks were great, but the 45 minute wait for a shuttle back to our car afterwards was NOT. Luckily, there was no traffic and it's only a 20 minute drive back to our house.

Sunday - Our neighbors invited us over for some steamed crabs covered in Old Bay! DONE AND DONE! We had a great time hanging out with my neighbors and her family! Stayed until 11:00pm eating, playing games, roasting s'mores in their fire pit, and eating Rita's water ice.

Monday - had lunch/dinner at my friend, Tami's, house! We ate, hung out, and then drove over to the University of Delaware for another round of fireworks. She had these awesome glasses that make the fireworks look like a kaleidoscope. Pretty sweet!

Exhausted. Officially. With Monday actually being Tuesday - I was confused all week and didn't work out at all. I went in today and counted down nearly every single second of my ONE mile run. Stark contrast to my 2 mile run last Thursday before I stuffed my face full of food all weekend!

This week, nothing much happened. Saw Legends of the Guardian with Michael. The kids in the theater and Michael, ALL loved it. I thought it was the scariest animated owl movie I've ever seen. The owls had like armor and swords on their talons. It was like Braveheart meets animated owls.

Brian and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary on Wednesday! My friend Jamie come over and watched Michael for us so we could go to Fair Hill Inn for dinner. It was AWESOME!!! Best food I've had in America since we've been back!

Brian had amazing beef medallions (cooked to medium rare) - with truffled cauliflower puree. I had a roasted quail with roasted fig/peach AND an amazing crab cake that was somewhere between crab cake and crab souffle on a bed of giant couscous with apple. It was all to die for. Seriously. For dessert, I had this cherry clafoutis (one of my favorite French boulangerie items) that was the best I've ever had (and I used to live in France) - covered with creme anglaise. With a cherry/sherry ice cream. I nearly passed out.

That's it. Maybe pictures next time. I've been meaning to go out to Brian's garden with my 50mm and take some pictures of his efforts! And also been meaning to post some video of Brian playing with Michael in the driveway.

Love,

A whole lotta nothin'

2011-07-04T07:52:00.000-07:00

We get asked a lot from friends and family who are catching up with us - "What have y'all been up to?"

Which leads to a lot of - "Uhhh...nothin' much. Tending the garden. Playing lots of bean game. Hanging out at home."

There's the end of that conversation!

But seriously, this is all we are really doing. We are hanging out with friends in our neighborhood and eating from time to time. You know, spending the time to develop relationships and real friendships where we are. Especially since we have no close family around.

No other earth shattering news - which also leads to empty voids in the blog, which you can probably tell.

And sometimes I get the impression that I SHOULD be running around - going all sorts of different places and doing all sorts of things all the time so I have something to say.

But honestly, we are so perfectly content in our little country home in the middle of nowhere.

Do we indeed get out from time to time? Yes - and you can see the frequency in our blog. But it is NOWHERE near the pace we used to have in Paris. And I realized that we are SO very ok with that.

Why?

Well, we bought this house in the country because it reminds of our most relaxing and wonderful vacations in the countryside in France.

Which we associate with a whole lot of doing nothing, eating well, and occasionally seeing a site or two but not at a breakneck pace.

Because that's one of the things we learned while living in Europe, the ability to take things slowly, enjoy great food, and really relax. So we're not always concerned about the "things to do." And our house shows it!! We could really use a bit of fire under out butts to spruce things up! :)

I never realized how MUCH of a toll our lifestyle - day in and day out - really took on our family in Paris. I remember feeling so stressed, tired, and just over run most of the time. Asking me for a favor was like the end of the world. We were just exhausted traveling, buying groceries, speaking French, and raising a young'un ALL on our own with no family around.

So much so - that now, all we want to do is relax. That's it. Maybe in 5 years when we've recuperated from 3 years of living in Paris - we'll go back to that crazy lifestyle where we're running around.

But for now, we are happy to be at peace here in the country. Quietly living our existence.

Forgive me for being absent on our blog. There's just not much going on.

This weekend was a busy one though. We went into the weekend with NO plans except for me to finish painting my bedroom.

Instead, we filled all 3 days with friends, food, and fun. And my bedroom just has a coat of primer on it. That's it!

But we'll blog about our 4th of July weekend later. With no pictures as I am tired of my camera. I am so at -odds with it that I don't even want to take pictures.

Cape May, NJ: 6/17 - 6/18

2011-06-21T19:43:00.000-07:00

Our little family took a quick family vacation to Cape May, NJ - voted one of the top 10 beach destinations in the USA by Trip Advisor.

I'm not a beach person and am no expert on this subject, but we were willing to give it a go since it's only 2.5 hours from our place!

Cape May was everything a beach vacation should be. Not much to do, cute things to look at, and a lot of laying around on the beach!

There were lots of Victorian houses to look at! Here's a quick smattering:

Love the colors in this one:

Took all my effort not to just go through this gate and make myself at home here:

Tell me you thought, "Wedgewood," when you saw this house too:

And this is someone's porch. Does it look like Southern Living to you too?

We arrived by noon on Friday 6/17 and luckily no storms as the weather was predicting. It was sunny, partly cloudy, high of 81 with some winds. So while it was pleasant, it really wasn't swimmin' weather. We tried at the pool and gave up.

Got dressed and went to play putt putt, which was right outside of our MOTEL. Yes, motel, but it really wasn't bad! It wasn't fancy, but it was plenty spacious! We had a living area, a dining area, a kitchenette with stove/fridge/microwave/sink, and a separate bedroom! So it was plenty of room and right across the street from the beach.

After putt putt - we played Ticket to Ride, Brian's Father's Day gift which I did not hide very well (or at all for that matter) so he saw it before our trip!

One thing I love about America? You can bring nonsensical things, like this game, with you on vacations. We would have NEVER brought that on a European vacation because it would have taken up too much space and we didn't want to schlep it all over creation!

Walked the promenade. Dinner at a Mexican place. It was ok. We're not huge Mexican food fans.

Put Michael to bed and Brian and I stayed up playing Bohnanza and Ticket to Ride in our "dining room." I am all about multi rooms when traveling with kids! LOVE America!

Next day, we walked around, took pictures of houses, ate a cafe breakfast and just sat at the beach all day. Brian rented us an umbrella so we had some reprieve from the sun. I read a ton of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo while Brian and Michael played in the surf.

Skipped lunch. Had dinner at Louisa's - great fresh fish grilled. And delicious desserts! We ordered 3! They had panna cotta, which we love!

After a huge dinner, we headed back to our country in the PA. We always love coming home.

Parenting Splurp

2011-06-12T18:07:00.001-07:00

Read this in my weekly events for families newsletter that I get and I just loved it:

This mom will always have time to kiss a boo-boo. Otherwise, things tend to fall to the wayside. Things like car maintenance; phone surveys; organizing that rabbit-prolific pile of paper on my counter; finding my keys; setting the DVR; staying on top of what's really going on in Libya. Ditto for most of the other countries in the world. Things like remembering to buy vanilla; returning phone calls from my very best friends unless I'm behind the wheel; but I can never find my hands-free wire so there goes that. Things like sending cards on time; sending thank-you notes like, ever; and waiting for things to go on sale. Things like making it to the Lilly warehouse sale or the Boden warehouse sale or actually getting on line and buying things I like catalogues before they are out of stock in my preferred color and size. Things like who the Kardashians are and why they are newsworthy in the first place. Things like who is replacing Regis.

Boo-boos, however, are another story. Boo-boos and bedtime stories are my specialty. And I have to believe that there are plenty of other moms like me out there. Thank goodness.

My only discrepancy is that I DO wait for things to go on sale. :)

Jellystone Park: Quarryvile, PA

2011-06-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

We drove 30 minutes away, deep into Amish country, to "camp" in Jellystone Park in Quarryville, PA. Here's the website. Check it out. It's pretty sweet:

http://www.jellystonepa.com/

"Camp" belongs in parenthesis because it's not REAL camping where you are in the wilderness with no facilities. We used to camp this way when Brian was in grad school.

This was like a mini Splashtown with camping sites/cabins surrounding it. We could have opted for an air conditioned cabin with a flat screen TV, DVD player, refrigerator, and microwave.

But Brian told me, "We're not weak. Get the campsite for the tent."

We made hobo pies and camped Friday night. We probably had the minimalist's campsite. All we had up was a tent and 3 camping chairs.

It was pretty hot but we slept fine in our tents. Michael, LOVED it. Of course. In the morning, we were woken up at 6:00am by rain. After it finished 5 minutes later, we made breakfast and then played Ticket to Ride with the Irwins in their cabin.

After this, we played on the Jumping Pillow (chk out the website for pictures!). It's like a HUGE blow up pillow that is basically a trampoline. It had a sign, "Play at your Own Risk." Makes an anxious mother like myself a bit nervous!

But Michael played and had a great time!

Then, waterpark time. I.LOVE.WATERPARKS.

And this one had really fun slides, water guns, and water canons. It was awesome!

Mini golf, then lunch, then more waterpark time, and then dinner with the 2 homegroups we went with.

After dinner, we got set up go watch Yogi Bear on their outdoor movie screen, but lightning and thunder were starting to set in so that got cancelled.

Brian and I looked at each other and decided to quit while we were ahead. Packed up our tent and 3 camping chairs in the dark and went home! We paid for that last night's stay, but lightening storms really freak me out. Glad we did because it POURED when we got home!

Would you have packed up and stayed the last night because you paid for it? Or would you have high tailed it out of there?!?!

Then went to church and were glad we made it Pentecost Sunday! Ran into the Chans and Abbey came over for lunch and a round of the Bean game (Bohnanza!)

Busy weekend - but super fun.

Love,

Freezer Cooking

2011-06-06T11:18:00.000-07:00

Money Saving Mom likes to make a lot of meals all at once and freeze them for later. She does it efficiently so that she can make 3-4 meals worth of food in 1-2 hours and then freeze it.

I'm not such a big fan of freezing things because sometimes, it DOES taste a LITTLE different. But honestly, I'm always willing to try new things.

She posted about this woman who made 46 meals in 4 hours and froze it all. Incredible and ridiculous all at the same time. My kind of insanity:

http://aturtleslifeforme.blogspot.com/2011/06/freezer-meals-on-cheap.html

Michael's being INCREDIBLE today. He's listening when I am asking him to, patient with me when I need to get things done and no whining. He's getting 30 minutes of Zelda today as a reward! And he told me, "I'm going to take a long nap!"

O.M.G.

It's like the baby lottery (when they sleep for much longer than you expect for about a week). Except this is the preschoolers lottery and it might only last a day.

Strasburg

2011-06-02T17:55:00.000-07:00

We've been getting a lot of heat about visiting Strasburg, PA - what with its old trains and all:
And Amish and all:

First up, we rode the old Strasburg train - it's no TGV/ICE, but Michael liked it:

It was fun for like 15 minutes. But after 15 minutes of going 10 mph - we were wondering when the ride was going to be over. :)

In the mean time, I took some pictures, of course:

Michael is a HUGE fan of these self-powered trains:
Then, we popped over to the #2 attraction in Strasburg, according to tripadvisor. The Pennsylvania Railroad Museum:
Lots of trains indoors - some of which we could look in, some of which we could not. I'm not sure it was such a hit with us, but we can now say we saw it.

Michael was really interested in the miniature train display they had. So in reality, we should have taken him to the #4 attraction in Strasburg, the Choo Choo Barn. It's got LOTS of miniature train displays and I suggested taking Michael there next.

But Brian looked at me and said, "I think that sounds like a nice MOMMY and Michael activity." OK. It's right by the outlet mall. :)

Michael enjoyed Putt Putt golf the most in Strasburg, PA:

SO we could have just stayed nearby us and played putt putt. :)

That was what we did on Sunday during Memorial Day Weekend. We spent Saturday and Monday working around the house. It takes a lot of work to maintain our yard and Brian's garden!

What did you guys do for Memorial Day Weekend?

Some Nice Things About Michael

2011-05-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

To balance out my previous post about Michael's bad week, I am going to post a bit about what Michael IS doing right. Hope this doesn't come across as bragging!

It's so bizarre to look at the little person he is and wonder if he's going to end up ok. You never know what life experiences/people/pressures will come their way and change who you see now, as a child. All you can do is pray for them and do your best as a parent.

Michael can add and subtract. He can write his numbers. They're not perfect, but they are legible.
Michael cannot read - but he is starting to understand phonics and can recognize some words.
He can do most of the Pre-K going into Kindergarten workbooks and some of the Kindergarten workbooks. But no, we are not skipping him ahead. Brian and I were both older kids in our years and we liked it. And for those of you who know Michael - his social skills really do need another year in Preschool before advancing to real school.
Michael can almost play on beat at the piano and knows the value of whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes and can play them correctly when reading a song.
He is pretty decent at Super Mario Brothers, Mario Kart, and Hot Wheels Track Attack.
He wants Donkey Kong so so so so badly on Wii for his birthday.
He seems to need attention. A LOT.
He can play games designated for ages 6+ and up. He can play Carcassonne and that is designated for 10 years and up.
He plays chess and knows what each piece can do - and to be honest, I'm such a bad chess player that it won't be long before he's beating me.
He is not terribly social in large groups. Not surprising considering his parents.
He has started to make some friends and can play with other kids. So that's good!
No surprise - he loves Magnums
Michael loves to bowl.

I think that's enough for now. We are so very proud to see him learning, growing, and having fun. We love his zest for life, gaming, and doing things as a family. We hope that never changes.

Michael's Spring Sing

2011-05-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

Michael had his Spring Sing last Thursday. Here are the clips we came up with.

I'm sure his school was SO excited to have an Asian person do this for the program this year:

A clip to demonstrate his Besancon musical genius:

And for those who feel like they have a lot of stamina:

Michael wanted to post on the blog as well. Here is his take on the evening:

jfjlhjjodfohnfdjkkgvdfxlikbgbdhbnjggushgfhhdjkfhfjdcjjcjspojncidddddddddddoifjmvmkkfmdx

cmkjvojfiojjjjjjjjj

jjlfnjbkgkoffgjijjoidfjjifiohuifgdhughiugiufhdiughjjoijdivdfihgbskfhdoigjfiijgjihfjhbbfbhgdujdh

jfvvhgvghdvuhdgbfguugfgdhjgfgfugsggyudgsuydufyggfguggdgfysgdgyfytsggtydgfyytgfytdyggyfy

ttdtdytgjhfbbmndjfjhhvhjchhjhgfghumnmjjnvnkjdjbjhjdsgbhdhhsdhhszhsdtsgayughcgdgtdsthfd

dgyytfsftdftzhcvbuugxchgc8uszhiuddbuohfuhiuglikfgfgjinnvncinjggdnnfuibf hugbghuub njfhdbh

jdfjf8hudgfjxiocjidfhuchuhfhudifnndifhddgufguhbuyhiuhf

Love to all,

Bargains! Calling Digital Scrapbookers

2011-05-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

For those who knew me before Michael, you know I scrapbooked.

I thought I'd never go digital, but I am definitely there. I love photobooks (My Publisher specifically), and I love my pro lab's ultra slick fancyschmancy photo books and photo albums (yes, there is a big difference!).

BUT - the point of this post is to post a Bargain! This is the 2nd of my blog series, to post the bargains I come across. Not moneysavingmom style, but just every now and then!

If you are in the market for cool digital papers/album templates/etc, check out:

http://sassy-designs.net/shop

Right now, all of the items in the store are marked down to $1. AND, couple that with their birthday promotion code, you get 75% off your entire purchase.

So basically, I got about 95% off my purchase today. I paid $3.20 for a total retail value of well over $54.

This is a website that supplies digital papers mainly to photographers (for album/card design). However anyone can order. You just need Photoshop and knowledge on how to use it!

Bon soldes!

May Scripture Memory Verse

2011-05-19T11:52:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure if I can post bi-monthly on this, but I will try!

Romans 12:12, NIV

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."

Whew. I did it. Not only was it pretty parallel in structure, but the verse number and chapter number are exactly the same.

Until June!

Blog Series

2011-05-19T11:49:00.001-07:00

Money Saving Mom recently posted a series on improving your blog. One of the suggestions was changing up your blog posts. The same one after the same one gets dull. She suggested having different blog series that you post about helps!

So I'm starting with:

Scripture Memory Verse

At the retreat I went to back in the spring, one of the talks suggested memorizing scripture twice a month. On the 1st and 15th, pick one verse, and memorize it. I get reminders to do it.

So I thought, why not post it on my blog? Let's see how me, as an undisciplined person, can really do this!

Michael's Accountability Chart

2011-05-19T11:29:00.000-07:00

So Michael got 2 stickers/stars at school for good behavior. Kylee got 2 as well. I asked him if he behaved because he wanted to or because Kylee was behaving, and he told me HE wanted to behave - so I hope that's true!

YEA!

I wanted to share the accountability chart up there not because I feel like I am an amazing parent. That's far from the truth! But to share something that has worked for - oh, I don't know - 48 hours. :)

This chart developed from bottom to top. I started by using the bottom to preserve space on the board. Then, seeing how effective it was, I decided to keep going. I'll go into each in detail.

ADDRESSING DISOBEDIENCE

The last row of 3 square boxes are his "strikes" for the day. And "Wild Kratts" on the right is his "prize." It is his favorite show in PBS. He likes it more than Abbey. THAT'S saying somethin'.

Every time he is purposefully disobedient, is disrespectful to us (spitting/hitting/attitude), or argues with us about something we are not 'discussing' - he gets an X.

After 3 'X's (strikes), he's out. No Wild Kratts for the day.

ADDRESSING SCREEN TIME

The 2nd row of 4 square boxes represents his screen time. Each box represents 30 minutes. Every time he uses up 30 minutes of Wii/computer/TV, he gets a check. Once all 4 boxes are filled, do not ask me anymore for any Wii/computer/TV. You are done for the day.

POSITIVE INCENTIVES

The set of 8 square boxes represents workbook sheets completed. THIS I threw in for fun. I figured Michael loves to do workbooks so much that he should get a little treat for enjoying activities which foster learning and brain development.

I asked him how many workbook sheets he thinks he should finish to get a prize - and he yelled out "EIGHT!" Why, ok. I was thinking more like 5, but 8 is great.

This time, his prize is candy. But I told him the prize can change all the time. It could be going to get ice cream, or seeing a movie, or staying up an extra 30 minutes one night.

He can take as long as he like to fill up the squares. The longer he takes to fill out the squares, the longer he'll have to wait for his prize!

36 Days

Part of the fun initiative. 36 days until Cars 2 comes to theaters. We are doing a countdown!

WILL THIS WORK?

I have absolutely no idea. But I do know, this is a system that I, as a pretty undisciplined person, can keep up with. I've done it for 2 days now and it's working out well for me. I "reset" whatever squares need to reset in the morning with Michael.

Best part? We go through the day knowing what is expected of us, and the prizes/punishments are clearly spelled out.

I don't have to yell, feel upset and impatient, frustrated with my little 4 yr old and his attitude at times. I just ask him when we are nearing a bad place, "Michael, is this worth an X? Because you are on your way. It is your decision what you want to do."

So I thought I'd share in case anyone thought it might be useful. I'll give an update in a couple of weeks to see if it is!

Milburn Farms Egg Hunt

2011-05-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

Ne need to check to see if you are on page 1 of this blog. I AM that late in blogging this and you ARE on the most recent entry for today, May 18.

On April 21, one of the few sunny days we had before Easter, I took Michael to Milburn for an egg hunt. They did not disappoint:

Egg hunts every half hour for the first 4 hours of the day.

In the mean time, lots of Easter corn hole for Michael:

Then lineup for the whistle:
To pick up empty plastic eggs. Michael was pretty saddened that there were no treats in the eggs:

Inspecting loot:
Then, we played on the farm. We love playing on the farm! We fed goats; we made a colored sand scooby doo; we played in the sandbox for a long time.

**Which leads me to a rant. I miss sandboxes. MICHAEL misses sandboxes. There was always sandboxes at the parks in Paris (Square Rene Legall's was HUGE). Here, not so much.**

Then, Michael decided to try his hand at this:

Perfect.

Afterwards, Michael insisted on lunch in the freezing cold. He ordered himself a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup, which he gobbled all up.

It was a fun morning for us! After that, we met up for a playdate at Ashton/Ryan's house in Newark.

And where are the DC pictures?!?! I've edited about half of them. The other half, I am having trouble pinpointing exactly what I want them to look like. So I have a bit of photoshop block and that's why it's taking so long.

Slideshow

2011-05-18T11:55:00.001-07:00

Et voila - a slideshow from the Longwood Gardens when I took Michael a couple of weeks back!

Do not click on the icon for "enlarge to full screen." The resolution is absolutely awful and you can tell more of what is going on with the pictures on the smaller screened version of it:

BAAAAD Michael

2011-05-17T11:37:00.001-07:00

You know that angelic post of him that I just did. That is SO not what life has been like lately around here.

Just yesterday alone, Michael:

Threw his dinosaur at me when we got to McDonald's (at his request of course)
Hit his younger than him friend Ryan and caused him to cry.
Rammed a car into his older than him friend and caused him to cry.
Ran completely far away from me at the mall and I had to YELL at him to come back. I was THAT mom.
Came home and sprayed water all over his Dad while he was wearing his dry clean only work clothes.

This all coupled with the fact that he's been not listening to his teacher at school and was placed in time out for making "bad choices" with this new little girl he's been hanging out with named Kylee (which I have found out regularly does not get a sticker for being well behaved). Michael has not gotten a good sticker for good behavior the last 3 days he's been to school.

Reactions to above bullets:

Got back in the car and did not have lunch at McDonalds, but where I wanted to go.
Got put in time out for hitting.
Got put in time out for not being kind.
Had to hold my hand the rest of the time we were in the mall and could not run around with his friends if he could not behave himself, stay close, and listen. No freedom for you buddy.
Got sent to his room.

We were supposed to go see Rio today at the movies, but after his behavior at school, that was cancelled. And I told him there would be no Wii, no computer games, no TV until he went back to having good behavior at school and getting a sticker on his chart for doing so.

SIGH.

All this is definitely in correlation to 2 things: 1) Lack of sleep - he's been going to bed some nights at 10pm (You can thank Brian for that) and he hasn't been getting regular naps (you can thank Mom for that). 2) Increase in "screen" time - I've been a bit lax about TV/Computer games on weekdays.

All this definitely compounds to the behavior above. And while it is no excuse for it, we still discipline regardless.

Which brings me back to having to raise an accountable person now. And teaching him to choose his friends correctly. He asked to have Kylee over today and I said, most certainly not. And that he should be a good influence and example by behaving and not partaking in disobeying.

He had a stern lecture over all of this. I realize at 4.5, it seems a bit young, but I remember my parents being strict and hard on me - with high expectations of my behavior, manners, and school. I remember getting lectures about not "losing face" and making them look badly or embarrassing them. I remember getting into big trouble in public and having to come home and get on my knees and apologize for my disappointing behavior. And do I look back at that with disdain? Absolutely not. I look back at that and am glad my parents made me accountable and instilled a precedent for acceptable behavior.

I instill the same in Michael and if that's being "hard-assed," then so be it. Do I still love on him? Absolutely. Do I still spend time with him doing things he enjoys? Yes! I'm not taking away family fun time activities (games/etc) - I am taking away activities that aren't that beneficial to begin with and apparently are attributing to his poor behavior.

SIGH.

Longwood Gardens - Again

2011-05-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

I am intending to put up a slideshow of the Longwood Gardens in the spring. Until I get it all together, I've been proofing. Here's the latest:

My little guy is just not so little any more!

Love,

Grocery Shopping and Hallmark

2011-05-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

Money Saving Mom always posts her grocery shopping finds every week along with how much she spent on it. I decided to do the same this weekend since I got to go grocery shopping without Michael today:

TOTAL: 55.80

I'm sure in Texas, I would have netted a lot more for $55.80, but for up here in the NE - it's not a bad showing there! If you are wondering what is on the list:

Bananas

Rhubarb

Mushrooms

2 lbs of Strawberries

Apples

Kiwi

Blueberries

Mediterranean Olives

2 packages of hotdogs

A sunday paper

2 mayonnaises

1 swanson beef broth

skimpy butter (splurge, not on sale but Michael wants to make cookies today so there it is)

Dozen eggs (could have bought 2 dozen eggs for the price of that 1, but the ones on sale were out and we needed eggs for said cookies)

Bag of steamfresh mixed vegetables

Bag of steamfresh brown/wild rice with broccoli/carrots

24 frigo cheese sticks

2 roaster chickens (each 7 lbs)

12 pack of apple juice

2 packs of Materne squeezable applesauces (French and one of Michael's favorites)

Hallmark is next to my grocery store, so I popped in there.

I bought this game for Michael - an African animal quiz game along with a whole tube full of little African animals to play around with on the ground:
I also purchased 1 card to celebrate 1st communion, 1 small gift sac, Melissa and Doug's wooden fruit cutting tray, 5 Christian themed cards of various sentiments (birthday/sympathy/friendship), and a set of 10 thank you cards.

Grand total? $22 - AFTER taxes. Retail cost: $62

I was pretty proud of my deal finding. Brian thought that NO money should have been spent in the first place. Party pooper.

Target has some great grocery deals for my area this week. Milk at $2.96 (astronomically cheap for here - my milk normally costs me $4 a gallon). Plus some great $5 gift card deals, which when partnered with coupons basically ends up with some pretty great deals on personal care items. You can pretty much bet, I pay between $0.00 to $1 for each of our toiletries. Free for suave branded stuff - $1 for Aveeno/fancier brand stuff.

I don't think I have talked about how much I love couponing. It is really fun getting great deals on items I actually used. Like this week, I'll be getting 3 rolls of scotch tape for free at Walgreens when I partner printed coupons from 3M with the Walgreen coupons this week.

Money Saving Mom has changed my life and my spending habits and reintroduced to me the fact that I can get great deals on stuff and save a ton of money. :)

All - to buy paint for our rooms, nightstands, plants for the outside/etc. Oh yes - to pay for all the grownup things we need - like our water neutralization tank that busted. NICE.

How much are basic items in your area? Like a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, 1 avocado, 2 lbs of strawberries, cost of bananas per lb. Let's see who answers this question!!!

Love,

I heart Longwood Gardens

2011-05-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

I'm a big 'ole fan of the Longwood Gardens:

Spring is amazing there!

Pictures with No People

2011-05-10T17:37:00.000-07:00

All of these pictures were taken on my deck - it gets a lot of use in the fall/spring times!

First up, Mother's Day! I had a great one! Went to church, had their brunch, was driven to Sephora to get face stuff I needed, then to Everything but the Kitchen Sink (closed, HRMPH), then Gateway nursery, then home to play baseball, piddle, organize myself for the week, then Brian made me this for dinner:

I'm a steak girl. It was DELICIOUS. Michael ate all of his sweet potatoes and squashes but he did not get filet mignon.

Next up, just pictures of things around my deck. I did a major rearrange today - because it is gorgeous outside and our deck/house needs some sprucing up.

Planted these guys myself! I love to garden florals. Absolutely shocking to me.

Planted these petunias too! Got the combo idea from Gateway garden center last weekend!

Spring has definitely sprung at the Besancon house!

Love,

Still Chugging Away

2011-05-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

It takes a long time for me to proof things. First, there's the finding of the time to sit down at the computer. Michael's been taking 45 minute naps as of late = no time to proof then. But the real reason is because I'm pretty lazy. Oh yes, and I've been busy with this resale I'm helping to organize that is happening this Saturday.

But yes, still chugging away.

Michael at the Lincoln Memorial

Before the Family Picture

2011-04-28T07:16:00.000-07:00

We always see the "good" family pictures on blogs. Here's what happened before our family picture at Camden Yards.

Mommy: "Michael, I am DONE asking nicely. Get over here for a picture."

Michael in his Head: "FiNE. I will come over there but I won't smile AND I'm going to put my mitt over my face."

Nilda's Easter Egg Hunt!

2011-04-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we went to a post Easter - Easter Egg hunt! It was originally supposed to happen before Easter, but it got rained out. This one was perfect:

Her backyard was amazing! Flat and full of grass. My favorite.

The kids had a great time playing in all the space and on all the toys.

Here's Michael helping Ms. Nilda distribute the eggs:
After the egg hunt, there was a bunny hop potato sack race:
And after that, water balloon time. Which then turned into: How many kids can you fit in a 10' diameter plastic pool:
Michael and I had a fantastic time and were thankful we were invited!

Still more posts - I guess we've been busy!

31 Days to Clean

2011-04-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

For those who know me - I am not a "domestic diva." I hate to clean and can't say I am terribly good at it!

Well, here is a lady willing to help me.

Sarah Mae has written a book called: 31 Days to Clean

And she's giving a copy of her ebook for FREE if you post about it on your blog! So I am! I can't wait to see the tips she has to help people like me. Money Saving Mom posted about it and she's usually legit in her recommendations!

If you are interested in getting a free copy yourself, click on this link:

http://www.likeawarmcupofcoffee.com/home/2011/04/free-copy-of-31-days-to-clean/

You have until midnight!

Plumpton Park Zoo

2011-04-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

On Monday, April 25, we met our friends (Tami - with Ashton/Ryan) at Plumpton Park Zoo to check it out. It was - different.

I think it was more of a farm than a zoo - however they had some of the big animals too. Here's a quick rundown:

Black bear
Tiger
Various fast small cats.
Giraffe
Zebras.
Donkeys
Over half a dozen peacocks which roamed freely on top of cages and all over the "zoo"
bison
Cool chickens that look like they have wigs of hair. I didn't take a picture of it and can't even find a picture on google images! But they look like those chickens in cartoons/storybooks that have this huge mop of colored hair and you can't even see their eyes. SO funny!
One smallish monkey
An owl
Lots of bamboo
Some kind of small deer
Cattle (somehow this made the zoo??)
Llamas
Camel
Vocal turkeys

So seriously - it was built like a farm. With wire and wood and the paths were kind of muddy. But they had such a good variety of animals. I'm not sure they were in the best pens available and I'm sure PETA would have a field day at this zoo, but for how small it was, it sure did have a lot to look at and smell.

Some pictures from my phone:

Feeding the donkey with hay:

Michael has been dying to see a giraffe for months. Here he is with Ashton:

Ryan, Ashton's brother, gets in the picture too. Both Ryan and the giraffe did not cooperate:

It was hot. And by hot, I mean in the upper 70's and lower 80's! We packed a picnic and they had a great picnic area/park. The boys had a great time taking a bite of lunch and running to climb up something! Tami and I had a good time chatting it up!

It was a great way to spend a Monday out!

Ranger Baseball in Baltimore, MD

2011-04-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

While I was away at my Christian Women's retreat, Brian planned us a vacation to Baltimore, MD! It was a fantastic idea. A great way to see the Bowmans (probably the last time before their move back to the big T-X) and also see a Rangers Ball game at Camden Yards against the Orioles!

Both families had sports activities in the AM on Sat 4/9 (Michael's first t-ball game) so we met in Baltimore in the afternoon. We started at the Maryland Science Center, which was great!

Charlie/Michael playing at the water display.

FACT: You are nothing as a children's museum in the USA if you don't have a water area:

Parents hanging out while children engage in independent play:
What Michael thinks of modern art, his playground:
After the Science center, we walked the Inner Harbor and our little guys made mischief of one kind and then another:
Dinner at Pizzeria Uno and then back to the hotel!

We had a pretty full day what with the t-ball, excitement about Baltimore leading to a non-nap, Science Center, eating out - Michael was a bit of a mess.

We checked into our hotel. I started arranging our stuff and turned around to find this:
Guess he was a little tired. Not too tired for pool time though! He went swimming with Charlie and the dads until 10pm. It is not a joke when you read that the vacation for kids is really the hotel pool.

We got adjoining hotel rooms, put the kids to bed in one room, and stayed up playing games in the other! I love AMERICA! It was a big slumber party and super fun!

Next day, breakfast at Caribou coffee after a "scenic" walk through downtown Baltimore. Then, off to see the Rangers play ball!
I love ball parks. So vintage americana - which I love for some reason:

Michael enjoyed his first foot long hotdog and foray into ball park food:
Best picture I could get of father and son after the game! Sorry!

And a picture of Michael's rug burn:
He was running too fast and lost control, fell, and skidded on his face. The "wound" in real life was a lot worse looking than in this picture! Poor kid. Only MY son would be the one to hurt himself while running in a hotel hallway.

We had a great time and were glad to spend some time with good friends from back home!

Can you tell which post had the most pictures to edit? Yea - the last post I am behind on! :)

Love,

YIPPEE!

2011-04-27T11:00:00.001-07:00

So I've been staring at my baby grand piano wishing and hoping that one of two things would happen:

1) I'd get a spare moment when I could play and Michael wouldn't be banging on the keyboard next to me or yanking my arm down. This is rare as that would require Michael sleeping, at which point - I would not be practicing piano.

2) Michael would be interested in learning to play it.

He's had a passing interest and really only likes certain "lessons." I was feeling pretty dejected about the whole thing because I feel like the piano is wasting away.

Dramatic? Who? Me?

Today - Michael blew me away because he not only asked for a lesson - but he "played" a whole song. Not a real song. Like kid's memory of Mary had a little lamb.

But he flipped to a lesson that covered the value of a whole note. And he learned that in about 1/2 a second. Then, I covered a half note and a quarter note - and he learned that in about another half a second. Then I showed him a set of "measures," which in this preschool book - each measure is a section of a train. Each measure had different combinations of rhythms in it - quarter notes/half notes/whole notes.

And Michael played it. Right the first time. Values and everything. No melody though as it was always the same note, just at different values so kids could learn the values of each type of note.

We had the metronome going and while he wasn't exactly on the beat (Besancon in him coming through ) - he was pretty correct most of the time.

My son is sightreading!

I was so very impressed. He learned it so quickly and he was playing. And he got up and said, I'm going to practice that so I can show Daddy tonight!

Pretty happy for my little boy. When he wants to learn something - he's ON IT.

Now - reading - that's a different story. THAT has been like pulling teeth.

I'm not a mother to push things - when he's ready and interested - I'll be ready and waiting - because that's the best part about being a stay at home mom. I'm there. And I'll be ready to teach him/show him the next thing he wants to learn!

Until he starts asking me about moments diagrams in Civil engineering. THAT I have no idea about. I'll be refering him to his grandpa and his dad.

Yea - that's assuming he's going into a science or math field.

What? I'm asian aren't I?!?!

2011-04-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

Knocking out all my "easy" posts - in a semi-backwards fashion. Now onto some posts where I actually have to edit some pictures! But before I do, just some ballpark pics I'm playing with:

I'd LOVE to do a session at a ballpark one day! That would be TOO fun. But a smaller ballpark, not one that has like 4 decks. I loved this Orioles stadium - small enough to be intimate, but large enough to feel grand.

Please Touch Museum - Philadelphia

2011-04-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

I took Michael to the Please Touch Museum (Children's Museum - just for clarification) - in Philly one day.

It is very far away and incredibly challenging for an Asian person like me to navigate. Let's just say once you get downtown, there are 1.5 lanes that Philly-pians think are 2 lanes and they drive like they're in freakin' Korea - all at the same time while stuck behind a tram and trying to drive while your tires are in the tram track grooves.

Nope, not my speciality.

BUT - it was SO worth it! Michael LOVED LOVED the museum.

In the craft/play room:

On the indoor carousel:
On the Big Piano - by the same maker as the one in Big/FAO Schwartz - except this one is a bit broken:
That blur is Michael in the huge water section:
And probably the most popular was this crane that dug up a balloon ball pit:

He had a fantastic time! So much to do - indoor food shopping/etc. He went CRAZY in the children's super market. All my pictures of him there were super blurry there because he was so fast. You would have thought he was on the Price Is Right or something. He cracked me up though because he went to the "fish case" and cleaned it out. I think he had about 20 kilo of trout in his cart.

Glad we went - but with gas at $4.14 a gallon, it's gonna be a splurge/treat kind of day! I want to get a membership pretty badly because it's pretty steep just to go for one visit ($41 for both of us after parking/carousel tickets/admission!). It's only $125 a year for membership up to 4 people. However, since it is so far away - I'm taking pause.

First Tee-Ball Game

2011-04-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

On April 9th, Michael had his first t-ball game and Brian was of course, coach:

Thankfully, another boy in Michael's preschool class is on the team too and his dad is assistant coach - although he's so good he might as well be head coach! Brian's just glad for the help!

Michael definitely enjoyed it, however, I do not think it is as natural to him as soccer!

Here's Michael's first at bat:

Running towards 2nd base:
Hopping on it:
And on 3rd base next to dad:
It was really funny because all the outfielders just wanted to get the ball. Which led to a lot of this:

That would be a lot of outfielders all at the ball. I think we had one person on base at this time. And the other coach kept saying, "Hey guys, we are all on the same team!"

Brian said our t-ball team has a real hunger for the ball. While our soccer team was pretty content just standing around. So it would have been nice to have had our t-ball team for soccer and our soccer team for t-ball. That would have worked out perfectly!

Michael had fun, which was all that mattered! Our last game was in the cold and rain and pretty miserable. But our team actually scored a bonafide out! Yea! Progress!

Ticks

2011-04-24T13:50:00.001-07:00

Michael got his first tick. Despite our best efforts, the tick's head is still embedded in his skin. Off to call the dr tomorrow to see what to do next. Gonna pray that tick was not carrying Lyme disease and hasn't been embedded in there for more than 1-2 days. We didn't give Michael a bath yesterday (or the night before) so we haven't done any tick checks! We haven't been outside much at all except for today so I am really seriously hoping that the tick found its way there today!

Way to go on Easter!
P

Le Printemps est arrive!

2011-04-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

Dans mon jardin:

My favorite image from the DC trip.

2011-04-20T09:38:00.001-07:00

Percy's Piglets

2011-04-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

This picture cracks me up every time. He's shovin' his face full of Percy's Piglets, pig shaped fruit snacks from England.

Michael loves loves gummy candy.

MOPS Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

Last Monday, April 11, Michael went hunting for eggs in a field out by our MOPS church.

Here's Michael's before picture - with an empty Easter basket and a field full of chocolate/sticker filled plastic:

My friend's daughter really wanted to be in the picture.

They said, "Ready, set, go" and the kids were already on the field by "set":

Michael had an awesome time.

As judged by his loot:

This picture might be better:
Afterwards, we had a picnic at a nearby park and played outside since the weather was beautiful. Fun Monday. Also the Monday where I couldn't get my car inspected because I had no idea where my registration was or what it looked like.

Turns out it was a rectangular piece of paper that looks like a check that had been laying on my island for 2-3 weeks getting grease stains and water spilled on it.

Yup, that would be my registration.

Also, did you know a cracked windshield fails inspection? Somehow in the Besancon household, we have had to pay for 2 windshields to be replaced in the last 2 months. YEA US!

Michael's Dr Visit

2011-04-19T06:13:00.000-07:00

Everything looks good so far for Michael! He is a healthy boy!

He is about 38.5 lbs and is 53% for that. He has gained 3.5-4 lbs since last year.

He is about 3 feet 8 inches tall and is 79% for that. He grew 4 inches this last year.

Glad he's got Brian's height and not mine.

He has 20-30 vision. I took the test next to him to see what my vision was. I think I'll still be going to my grown up vision screen too though. :)

He hid from the doctor underneath the exam bench and popped out eventually when he got tired of crouching.

And he got a chicken pox booster shot. He said he wanted to sit in the chair by himself instead of in my lap. Right before the nurse got the shot in, he tore his hand out and ran away - but she caught him like a slippery fish and gave him the shot. He looked at me with big weepy eyes and said, "Mommy that hurt me!"

After about 10 minutes of feeling like he could not use that arm, he was fine. I think the promise of 20 gummy bears when we got home helped!

Check!

Sister Visit = Fully stocked Kitchen

2011-04-19T06:01:00.000-07:00

My sister arrived last Thursday and we bought food the entire time she was here. Good thing she left on Sunday!! :)

I seriously looked at my kitchen Sunday and thought - "I need to have a party."

I love having a fellow foodie in my sister. We have a great time eating and buying food. Definitely got that from our parents!

Although - her purchase of a Costco size container of cheezey puffs "for Michael" would allude to the fact that we are, in fact, not terribly discerning.

So Suzanne arrived on Thursday and we went shopping for her to get some new clothes. Because this is what sisters do. And she took me to Sephora to teach me what makeup and a skincare regimen is and how I really should be using it. If it were not for my sister, I would have no idea what to put on my face.

On Friday, she came with me to MOPS and homegroup and was a tremendous help. In between, we attacked Trader Joe's and Old Navy. Then everyone in the house fell asleep by 10:30pm except me.

Saturday, we stood in the cold and rain at Michael's t-ball game and then sat inside to warm up and dry off. Somehow, we found the will to go to Marshalls Home Goods.

There is a reason I never go to Marshalls Home Goods. And it is reserved for special visits from my parents or sister. It falls into the same category as Costco. There's tons of great stuff that I kind of need and love for pretty good prices.

Kind of need. But not REALLY need right?

Anyways, I went to town in there. In the middle of our shopping trip, a BAD storm rolled in and the lights in Marshalls went completely out. I'm standing in the dark with my cart full of stuff. Hoping the lights come back on so I can buy my stuff.

THAT is a shopaholic!

But it was a super successful Marshalls shopping trip - I got some great wall art to base my master bedroom design scheme/color scheme off of - replaced a non-stick pan that is starting to chip and the handle is wobbly - bought a small bath mat for the guest room because there is not one when you first step out of the bath tub - got some sippy cups with a straw in it (Michael's favorite) - found some Easter cupcake decorations (perfect for the island display this weekend) - almost picked up a lamp.

This is why I don't go to Marshalls on a regular basis.

Then we met Brian at the Chipotle in Newark where I got a parking ticket because my meter expired. I deserved it since my sister was urging me the whole time to feed the meter and we kept thinking - WHAT parking police office is going to be out in that monsoon?!?!

Apparently there was one. And he got me after my meter was expired for only 5 minutes.

Then, Michael said we should go bowling! So we did! And we had such fun!! He has such great suggestions lately for things to do. And it makes my heart happy because he must have learned that we need to "do things" together as a family and to "explore" our world.

Sunday morning, we went to church while Suzanne packed and then we took her to DC and sat in some pretty horrendous traffic, which made us an hour late. Pretty embarrased about that.

THEN, it was our Annapolis, MD entry below.

Annapolis, MD

2011-04-18T21:41:00.001-07:00

This Sunday, we dropped my sister off in Washington DC to meet her friend (more on my sister's visit later!) and left tout-de-suite.

Why you ask?

Because it was gorgeous weather and The Mall was a madhouse. Parking was non-existent as there was some kind of race plus DC challenge event going on plus standard milling on the mall because it is a pretty day.

On a whim, we saw a sign for Annapolis, and we went for it.

We have decided we are very spontaneous. By which we mean - doing things unprepared. Thank God for the invention of smartphones. I'd still be lost deep in PA somewhere without it.

So we went to Annapolis and it was beautiful:

We stopped at the Visitor's Center to get our bearings and started walking around. Here's B and Michael with the State building in the back (I think):

There was a festivus for the rest of us going on. Here's a picture of me - next to a guy with a Nikon D700 on his shoulder. I wanted to reach out and touch it, but thought better of it when I saw him:
That's the closest I'm coming to that camera for a while. *sniff*

A more appropriate picture of me without the Nikon D700 in it.
Can you tell what I am obsessed with lately?

At a festival, there must be a booth with animals apparently. Here's this cute cuddly owl:
And a red snake that Michael really liked:
We walked along Main Street and along the festival street and that's about all we had time for. Here's a back alley view of the State House:
We did not get to see our nation's Naval academy, but we did get to ride a water taxi at Michael's request:
He loved it! We rode it to a restaurant called The Boatyard - which had surprisingly little seafood. However, we ordered one out of the 2 fish dishes and it was seriously amazing. Best fish I've had in a while!

We walked back across the drawbridge and caught the sun setting on the Chesapeake Bay:
Got in the car, and drove the 1.67 hours back to PA.

It was a really nice detour and a fun adventure for us. We really love to travel so it was really fun to explore a new place!

This was easy to post about because 1) I took the pics with my iphone so I don't really feel the need to edit them. 2) the post is short. 3) I just downloaded my pictures from my phone.

More posts later! All out of order. I'm sure.

Better late than never!

Off to bed. My eyes are tired after making birth announcements for a client for 2.5 hours and then doing this.

Love,

Will I ever blog again?

2011-04-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

I don't know!

Just really quickly - because I don't want to forget.

Michael and I were at Trader Joe's with my sister last Friday. We were in a pretty narrow aisle and I was waiting for this really huge woman to pick out what she wanted from the shelf.

It is worth saying I had to wait because she took up the width of the display I was looking at and half the width of the aisle so we were all trying to maneuver around her.

I was pretty proud of myself to be patient and not make a big stink about having to wait. I was really thinking and hoping to myself that this lady was trying to eat healthier food by coming to Trader Joe's and really was familiarizing herself with the products.

So I didn't make a fuss.

But that's not the point to this story.

She goes on her way and moves to the next display over. And right as she passes, Michael says to me in a very loud voice:

"MOMMY! Did you see that REALLY fat woman right there?"

Well, that really fat woman was just about 4 steps in front of my cart and I was mortified.

All I could say was, "Michael, that really was not a nice thing to say about someone."

And I looked back and wished I had made it more of a teaching moment. To talk to him about how God made everyone different and He loves us all. And to call someone "fat" is not a nice thing to say about one of God's creations.

Sigh. New lessons learned on parenting. All the time. In the beginning, it was just making sure they didn't hurt themselves and feed them. Now - onto the hard character building stuff.

As you can see, my list of blog posts I need to do is growing longer. I will be back soon. I just need to finish another set of birth announcements for another client!

Love,

Five Free Scholastic Books

2011-04-13T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Money saving mom alerted us to an opportunity to get 5 free scholastic books. Just click on this link:

http://www.scholastic.com/kumon/learnandearn/

You have to do workbook stuff! Neat!

Proofing

2011-04-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

Yes - I still need to blog about the Please Touch Museum. Yes - I still need to blog about our visit with the parents in DC/PA. Now, I also need to blog about our fun weekend with the Bowmans in Baltimore.

I am proofing the pictures from DC. One a day I think. Which should put me into May when I'll actually have it done.

A part of me is joking, a part of me is not!

But I just took this photoshop mentoring class and I'm trying to use some new techniques, try some new looks - just to see if it fits!

Here's a before and after processing that I just want to post.

BEFORE

AFTER

Can anyone tell the difference but me? Which one do you like better? The Before or After? The Before picture is a bit duller in color. The After picture is a bit more contrasty.

More later. Until then, I'm working on like a million things. And I need to blog about how I had a very "MONDAY" kind of "monday."

Retreat

2011-04-06T20:26:00.001-07:00

So last weekend, I left the boys at home for extended 'MAN TIME' and drove off with my friend to a Ladies Retreat for the church where I attend bible study/homegroup/etc.

We drove deep into Amish country to faraway Lancaster! All of an hour away.

It was a great weekend! The weather was gorgeous! And I had a fantastic time recharging as a woman, mother, wife, and friend.

What was the point of this retreat? What did we do? Well, I was trying to explaining it to a friend and came up with:

The retreat was a chance to have real and full conversations with friends, meet new people, and get to know anyone you wanted to know a little better.
Worship - however that involved a lot of singing with contemporary Christian music. And apart from Breakaway music from A&M one year, I really prefer traditional hymns. No surprise I am Catholic huh? :)
Listening to the featured speaker speak on biblical verses and their applications to our lives as women, mothers, friends, and wives.
Eat.
Talk.
Listen.
Play Games.
Relax.
Repeat.

We.Talked.All.Weekend.LONG. Yup, that's a ladies' retreat! :)

I met a lot of my neighbors!! Ok - maybe 4 of my nearby neighbors go to this church and 3 were at the retreat. Two of my other neighbors go to my Catholic church. What a blessing to be surrounded by so many Christian families, all less than a quarter mile away! It makes me feel less alone out here in the wilderness that is my home.

One talk I really liked centered on worshiping false idols, which sometimes serve as blinders to what is really the issue at the heart of some arguments:

Idol of comfort
Idol of success
Idol of appreciation
Idol of respect
Sadly, I can't remember the 5th.

But to embellish briefly:

Idol of comfort - wanting to do what WE want when WE want instead of helping others when they need help. For example - like when I do not want to get Michael his snack because I'm comfortably sitting on the couch doing nothing. Yea - like that! :)
Idol of success - pretty self explanatory. Especially in our culture.
Idol of appreciation - Wanting to be openly appreciated for our actions instead of giving of ourselves without expectation of recognition.
Idol of respect - she gave a great example of kids giving attitude and our first reaction is to send them to their discipline for being disrespectful instead of seeing what is the root cause of the disrespect in the first place. Since we are dealing with this now a bit - this was a real eye opener for me.

This all probably makes no sense as I wrote it, but I swear the speaker was much more effective at conveying all this than I am! It just helped me to see how I can better give of myself and see God's model for all of that.

All this with meals thrown in that I didn't have to cook or clean up for. And uninterrupted grownup conversation. And a quick pop over to the outlet malls in Lancaster (why do the Amish get this?!?!). WOW - what a luxury the whole weekend was!

I had a wonderful time.

Brian and Michael went ice skating on Saturday and then to see Hop. Michael fell asleep in the car on the way home at 5:45pm and then continued sleeping on until 7am the next day. LUCKY BRIAN!!! :) He must have worn him out ice skating!

On Sunday, they worked on the yard and it looked beautiful when I got dropped off!

I am a blessed woman. Really and truly am.

Proud

2011-04-01T12:28:00.001-07:00

I'm so proud of an old friend of mine from Paris, who published a very interesting article on some differences between France and America. Check it out:

http://www.incultureparent.com/2011/03/behind-the-times/

She was one of the first moms I met in Paris. I met her at our local park, she was speaking English to her son, and I screamed out in sheer desperation, "YOU SPEAK ENGLISH!"

And thus we became friends. And this is not far from how I still make friends, even in America. I kid.

Seriously: she's a great writer, insightful person, and the editor of the magazine for the Anglophone mom's group in Paris. I can't wait to see her writing career as it develops.

Cross-Eyed

2011-03-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

On the days I have to proof pictures, I nearly go blind staring at the computer.

But at the end of the day, I just wanted to play a bit - so I played with my fav picture from DC:

I'm not sure this is the best edit, but I just wanted to fiddle.

I know that picture above is far from anyone else's favorite, but it's what I like to take. And photography is subjective so if you don't like it, I'm going to be ok with that. Because I might not like something you like! :)

And honestly, there was a picture I was REALLY trying to take, but it just didn't happen. Maybe another year. I wanted a picture of him in the middle of THIS:

THAT was the money shot I was trying to take. The angle just leads you into the picture and it would have been great if Michael was standing right there in the middle of that. I've been working on pulling out more on my composition. I usually crop in tight, but I want to push myself to do different things.

My Michael has been extra funny the last couple of days.

I showed him a picture of Brian holding his old dog from Arlington, a black poodle named BoBo Palace (at least to Brian). And I asked Michael, "What's Daddy holding?" And Michael said, "A blanket!"

And tonight, while we were driving home from McDonalds for his school fundraiser, Brian asked Michael in French, "Do you want to go home?" And Michael said, "CHECK!" Then, we arrived home, he said, "Game Over!"

What is going on in that head of his?

Apparently it is opening day in baseball. Brian watched 2 pitches, took care of Michael, and fell asleep in his bed next to him.

It is interesting how as Michael grows up, I still see little glimpses of the baby I once knew. Lately, he's been waking up about 45 minutes into his nap and wants to be held for the rest of his nap. And I am a sucker so I do it. But he used to do this as a baby, and I look down now and can't believe that in place of the little 5-6 month old baby, I'm holding a 4.5 year old boy. And I'm happy to do it because before I know it, he'll be gone and grown.

Dansons in Delaware

Does this count?

Wintry Mixes

01.22.12

Catch up!

For Brandi - and Whomever Else is Curious about Steak

Jesus and Monopoly

01.18.12

01.17.12

01.16.12

01.16.12

$0.99 per lb

01.13.12 and 01.14.12

A Sentence A Day

Besancons DO make girls!!

H-O-L-i-D-a-Y!

Michael is absolutely no good at Basketball,

Michael's Talking

Quote

NYC: Nov 10-13

Blog by Iphone Fire

Bon W-E. And NIght Vision.

A Pumpkin Carvin'

Cardinal Sin

Michael - Five Years Old

McLovin'

Michael's 5th Birthday Party

Hotel de Ville

Michael, Age 5

Michael's First Family Portrait

My Mommy

Organizing school work

How to sew lined curtains

Photoshop

Oo-la-la

Le W.E.

Birthday Par-tay!

Lunch Ideas

Mischievous Michael

Gone Fishin'

Sneak Peek

Le Week-end

He Does What He Wants

Milburn Apple Picking

It's never too early to go to Disney

First Day of School!

Because.It.Is.Ridiculous

I'm oh-so-not-a-perfect-mom.

Gettin' it Down

Jello Saves a Mom

Oh How My (or rather My Husband's) Garden Grows

Gone Golfin'

Data

iPhone Download Time!

July 4th

A whole lotta nothin'

Cape May, NJ: 6/17 - 6/18

Parenting Splurp

Jellystone Park: Quarryvile, PA

Freezer Cooking

Strasburg

Some Nice Things About Michael

Michael's Spring Sing

Bargains! Calling Digital Scrapbookers

May Scripture Memory Verse

Blog Series

Michael's Accountability Chart

Milburn Farms Egg Hunt

Slideshow

BAAAAD Michael

Longwood Gardens - Again

Grocery Shopping and Hallmark

I *heart* Longwood Gardens

Pictures with No People

Still Chugging Away

Before the Family Picture

Nilda's Easter Egg Hunt!

31 Days to Clean

Plumpton Park Zoo

Ranger Baseball in Baltimore, MD

I heart Longwood Gardens