Back on schedule.

Today is the first day that everyone is back at work/school and although I really enjoyed the unstructured time with the family it is nice to get back on schedule. DJ was able to take off several days before and after Christmas, including my birthday which was a real treat. I only had to endure mild teasing this year from my Evil Sister In-Laws but I don't expect them to go so easy on me next year. Hopefully they will show some mercy since they themselves have already made the fabulous 40 mark. Now I just have to make sure that I do the fab. part and the forty part will take care of itself! :-)

The Holidays were enjoyable but quick lived in retrospect. Zoe cantored Christmas Eve mass and Violet was an angel in the pageant. After church we headed up to DJ's sisters house to celebrate with the Polish side of the family. Kids, kids everywhere... The cousins had fun playing with each other and doting on baby Julia. Some cute pictures of Gavin breaking bread with Julia and if I remember I will post them when Suzy forwards them. hint hint... Even though we arrived home late on Christmas Eve, it did not deter the kids from waking up early to see if Santa made an appearance. It was pretty funny because as most parents do we used the Santa is watching line on the kids for at least the last month in an attempt to encourage good behaviour. I think Marina was concerned that Santa might not show up because of her many warnings and transgressions during December. When she came downstairs she scanned the room and her stocking and with a satisfied look on her face she exclaimed " Well, that worked out well then. He came because I cleaned up yesterday" I think her take home message was that she could misbehave all month and do a quick makeup session and still get the goods.
We broke down and bought the wii for the family as the big present and each person received a game. Santa also brought a gift and filled the stockings. This year we tried something a little different and instead of opening presents and heading to my mother's house we stayed put and had my side of the family here for brunch. Everyone brought something (many things) to eat so we had plenty of food, so much so that I never ended up cooking the ham I had purchased to cook up for the evening meal. Later in the day we had friends over and snacked on all the leftovers and the kids had a chance to play with their friends.
DJ was skeptical at first about getting the wii when we are trying to go less plugged in but we are all having so much fun with it and are now considering getting rid of digital cable for a bit. Not a big deal for me but I think DJ will miss his sports coverage.

So far we have spent way too many hours on it but it is been a fun distraction during last weeks cold, snowy days. The favorite game is wii fit so far and everyone wants to weigh in and compete to get the top slot for the games. Sports resort is another popular one and DJ and the older two are fans of Mario smash bothers. So much so that DJ let them stay up until 1am competing the night before my birthday. Yikes!

New Years Eve was spent with friends in our home and Gavin was the only one who didn't make it to midnight. He was also the first one up in the morning but luckily we were able to convince him to snuggle with us in bed until almost 10am but he was not about to go back to sleep. I think that is the latest that we have slept in for many years. I don't think we left the house at all that day but we did manage to take down the tree and inside decorations. The outside will have to wait until it thaws out a little. New England has been totally frozen over.

For my birthday present I got a digital SLR camera that also takes HD video. It was a combined present from several people and I picked it out and ordered it myself after researching options and finding it on sale with two lenses included. It arrived yesterday so there has not been much of an opportunity to play with it yet. I am considering signing up for a class this spring in hopes of improving  my photoghraphy skills.  I am looking forward to seeing what it can do and with the addition of the 75-300mm zoom lens I should be able to get some awesome shots of the Fisher cats while still keeping my distance.

Is it New Year's yet?

This is the most crazy but most fun filled time of the year and probably the only part of the winter that I enjoy. This year more than most though I have realized how hectic the season has become and how much more relaxing/ less stressful it would be to do less. I was shocked by the number of trips we had to make into the attic to retrieve all the decorations and am finding a conflict in our schedule more days than not. We have already decided that each child will get only three gifts under the tree this year including one from Santa and one being a joint family gift.  We picked names out of a hat for the kids and they will each give each other a special gift of something nice they will do for that person but they are still working on the ideas.  We are donating the gifts that they received from DJ's work holiday party. Of course they wanted to open them right then and there but have not asked about then since we decided to give them away.  The real eye opener for me was at the party last weekend one of the little cousins said to his mom that our playroom was better than the Target store. This was a real indication to me that they have way too much stuff and most of it goes unplayed with, only to be a constant source of material to be cleaned up. It is not that we buy them things often and almost never on a whim but just that having 4 kids and a large generous extended family makes the toys add up over the years. So one of my missions for this new year is to simplify things for all of us in both activities and in possessions that require our attention and care. For me this means continuing to purge closets, drawers and files and for the kids it will mean selecting favorite toys and both donating and tossing the remainder. I am also trying not to bring anything into the house that is not a consumable unless it is absolutely necessary. The kids are not totally on board yet but we will take baby steps. DJ grabbed a few library books about simplifying life with kids and there are tons of great ideas that I am going to start implementing. The other thing that we are working on curbing is TV time for DJ and the kids and computer time for mommy. (including recreational blogging) :-) My hope is that in making these steps we will be able to relax and enjoy our time together more and concentrate on some new outside interests.   One new fun thing that I am looking forward to learning this winter is ice fishing.  I found myself an all season fishing mentor and he is going to show me all the ropes or should I say lines this winter.  Should be fun,  I just need to break out the thermals and hope that I can take the cold!  I am also trying to put more time into a business idea that I have been tossing around for the last two years and that I finally have a workable game plan for. It is a long term project and I believe it will take several years to reach fruition but it should allow me to make my own hours and work in my field of interest. We shall see how it all works out but at the very least we will all have less to clean and more time in which to do it.


Happy Holidays to everyone and Best Wishes for a Great New Year!

We will eventually be getting our Christmas cards in the mail and my goal is to have them beat Santa's arrival. It might be a close call...

*I will add more pictures to this Holliday slideshow as time allows.

It's officially December

Our Christmas tree looks more chaotic each year.  Everyone wants to help and they all want to put their own special ornaments up and the traditional glass balls get left in the boxes.  Oh well, it still looks beautiful in a disorganized, random way!

Thanksgiving

We decided to spend the Thanksgiving holiday in Vermont and I think we may have the makings of a new tradition. We stayed in Newport a couple of years ago during Thanksgiving and that was enjoyable and the mansions were beautifully decorated but I think Vermont was even nicer. Things were hectic the previous week so we didn't end up leaving until Sunday and made the trip in an uneventful 6 hours. I was concerned at first that there might not be enough to do in the area this time of year and the kids would get restless. It turns out that there was so much to see and do that we could have easily spent an additional week there without skiing and still not have seen/done everything we wanted to. They had a great little water park and play zone at the resort and everyone was incredibly friendly. I was initially planning to go out for our Thanksgiving meal but once we were there and settled in, it just seemed like it would be more relaxing to cook in and spend the day at the resort. It was a little of an adventure in shopping to get the ingredients together for the Thanksgiving meal and it took a few stops at local stores to gather up all the fixings. As it turned out I forgot to buy sugar to make the cranberry sauce and didn't realize it until I was ready to make it. I had to improvise and use honey instead. The kids baulked at the idea at first but soon realized that it still was tasty and went as far as to ask me to prepare it that way next year. The one big downer about this trip was that DJ had a project due for work and ended up spending about 2 days on the laptop and phone in order to make the deadline. That left me to play lifeguard to the kids, which was no simple task when everyone wanted to be doing something different and they had no real lifeguards on duty. Personally, I think they should have someone on staff there at all times. I was shocked at how little some people watched their children in this potentially dangerous environment. The other bummer was that it was unseasonably warm when we arrived. This was perfect for hikes and sightseeing but not conducive to skiing. We will hit the slopes later in the season. We did get snow the day before we left that transformed the mountains and gave us a taste of the winter to come.

We arrived home with Christmas on our minds and in our ears from the holiday songs on the radio. We decided to pick out our Christmas tree early this year since the calendar was not looking friendly for the month of December. It has been trimmed and the house is decorated. Now it's time to add Christmas to the yard but we still have more leaves to rake.

Less than 24hrs on the job and Gavin has fixed our old elf on the shelf.

Raking leaves

An ongoing project!

Tale of the Shark the witch a pirate and a snow princess...

Below are a few pictures from Halloween. We had a great time trick-or-treating and visiting with neighbors. I knew it was time to go home when Gavin started saying at each house we went to... Last one, this is the LAST one, OK? He was a tired little shark but did enjoyed the experience. Zoe was disappointed because her friend who was going to join us became ill and was not able to go out.
Pumpkin carving was fun and we kept them simple so the kids could help cut out the faces. Violet insisted on doing hers all by herself. Unfortunately, all it took was one wrong move and the pumpkin ended up with a cleft palate and it took much consoling for her to learn to except and embrace it (still was cute). The kids did a super job of picking out all the seeds and we feasted on them for two days. Violet even picked out her pumpkin especially for the abundant lines that it had in hopes to have it chock full of seeds.
We are closing in on the Holiday season and I am bound and determined to get this house in order with the FLYLADY flylady.net before Christmas. At least that is the intent but I will be happy to even just get rid of half the junk that we no longer need/want and get all the paperwork, drawers and closets organized. This may require me to stay away from the computer and put the cell phone out of commission for a spell.
Gavin made a smooth transition into his big boy toddler bed and mommy is almost ready to pack up the crib until the grand kids arrive YEARS from now. Marina has settled into her new twin bed and is enjoying her mermaid comforter. We are all looking forward to our upcoming vacation to the Green Mountains and are hoping for some good skiing weather and some time to unwind. Off to see what the fly lady has in store for me tomorrow!

Birthday Video

This is my interview with our 12, 7, 4 and 2 year old.  This was shot with only a flip camera and was put together quickly for birthday purposes.  There are two or three repeat clips because we did not have time to preview before rendering but the thoughts are still there... or NOT!  :-)

Happy Birthday Diege!

Happy Birthday Diege!   I hope you have been enjoying your special day.  Here is your present from the kids to you.  Hopefully you will find both the edited video and the full script (below) to be entertaining and that it will bring a smile to your face.  Now on to dinner... 

Daddy interview
questions + answers

1. What is something that dad always says to you?
Zoe: Daddy always says to… be nice to each other. And in the morning, because since we wake up at the same time he says have a good day at school and then I say have a good day at school, I mean work.
Violet: Good night (Mom: All that) No, hi. (Mom: When does he say that?) Um, when I come home, or when he comes home.
Marina: Um… clean up.
Gavin: Don’t know

2. What makes dad happy?
Zoe: Um, chips. Chips make my dad happy. Anything salty or spicy. And us! He likes baseball too! Yeah, next question.
Violet: Being nice. And doing chores, which I don’t like to do.
Marina: When you clean up.
Gavin: Daddy likes bakugans

3. What makes dad sad?
Zoe: What makes my dad sad is, when we fight as siblings. And when my mom is not happy. As my dad’s saying goes, happy wife, happy life (Mom: Smart man your dad is)
Violet: When I’m mean to my sisters or don’t do my chores. And when I don’t pay attention to him.
Marina: If you don’t clean up. When you don’t listen to him.(Mom: Do you listen to him?) Um yeah!
Gavin: Don’t know.

4. What does dad do to make you laugh?
Zoe: With his bad jokes. His “look. Oh and when, Violet and I are watching Hannah Montanah or something and they something like “Oh no, I can’t make it to the concert.” And my dad says,”Oh no, oh my gosh, they won’t make it to the concert! Whatever shall we do?” He loves to do running commentary on our shows.
Violet: I don’t know, tickle me?
Marina: When he acts like a clown. But, he never makes me laugh.
Gavin: Smiles

5. What was dad like as a kid?
Zoe: He was a young Polish lad.
Violet: I don’t know, I wasn’t there.
Marina: He didn’t have a ‘puter. He played games.
Gavin: Don’t know

6. How old is dad?
Zoe: 41. As of today 41.
Violet: I don’t know. 50. No sorry, 40 like 40 something. In the 40’s
Marina: 100!(Mom: Oh my goodness, he’s lookin’ pretty good for 100) 14! 15! Yeah! (Mom: Is that your final answer?) 100.
Gavin: 2!!!

7. How tall is your dad?
Zoe: My dad is 5 ft. 10 in. tall. Oh ba-bam!
Violet: I don’t know. I’m 4 ft so he has to be more. 5 ft. No sorry 10 ft.
Marina: Really tall.
Gavin: Bigger.

8. What is his favorite thing to do?
Zoe: Watch baseball, spend time with us and eat chips.
Violet: Um like go biking and have time with his family.
Marina: Eat. Go on the ‘puter. Watch tv. Watch the Red Sox. Goin hikin’.
Gavin: Don’t know.

9. What does your dad do when you’re not around?
Zoe: Work and watches tv.(Mom: You don’t think he parties?) Isn’t watching tv a party?
Violet: Work. Or watch some tv.
Marina: Go to work. He’s at work and we’re at home.
Gavin: Don’t know.

10. If your dad becomes famous what will it be for?
Zoe: Winning “Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader” shows or something.(Mom: Let’s encourage him to do that then)Yeah.
Violet: Hmm, I don’t know. Oh, I KNOW!!! Uh, maybe like you know, being the best dad.
Marina: Money, ‘cause he has a lot of money.
Gavin: Don’t know.

11. What is your dad really good at?
Zoe: Math. Yup, math.
Violet: Being the best dad. Work. Being nice um putting us to bed and saying goodnight
Marina: Um, holdin’ stuff that’s really heavy.
Gavin: Don’t know.

12. What is your dad not good at?
Zoe: Cooking real meals. When my mom went to Florida for 4 days we had pasta, then pasta, then leftover pasta and cereal. And then the last night we went out to McDonalds.
Violet: Being bad. Shaving his own hair. Like you always have to shave it. I don’t know, ok. Can we just go onto the next question?
Marina: Picking up stuff that’s more heavier. Like the stairs and the house.
Gavin: Don’t know

13. What does your dad do for a job?
Zoe: He is an accountant. And in the winter he is a tax personer.
Violet: Go to a water company.
Marina: I don’t know. He has no job. Taking care of his kids. It’s yours too. Oh wait, he counts money.
Gavin: Makes applesauce.

14. What is your dad’s favorite food?
Zoe: Chips.
Violet: Blueberries. Yeah, I think he likes blueberries.
Marina: All kinds of food. Chicken.
Gavin: Pretzels.

15. What makes your dad proud?
Zoe: When I do good in school and/or if something good happens at work.
Violet: When I do my chores.
Marina: If we clean up.
Gavin: Don’t know.

16. If your dad was a cartoon character, who would he be?
Zoe: Mario from Mario and Luigi. Doot doo doot. (Mom:Why?) Because…he has brown hair. (Mom: Anything else?) I don’t know. Wait, no! He’d be Luigi because he is tall, and has brown hair, and likes green. That’s why.
Violet: I don’t know. Maybe someone in Star Wars. Oh, oh Anakin…Skywalker. Like a jedi.
Marina: Um a farm…er. ‘Cause everybody is a character. ‘Cause I want him to be a farmer ‘cause I want to see animals.
Gavin: Little Einstein

17. What do you and your dad do together?
Zoe: Math homework together. Well, actually he does it for me. (Mom: WHAT?) No. Sometimes, he will do the problem and then he will ask, ”Do you understand now?” And I will be like,”Yeah… no. But thanks for doing the work.”
Violet: Go to the movies.
Marina: I like to make towers and he looks at them. I like to read with him too!
Gavin: Don’t know.

18. How are you and your dad alike?
Zoe: We both have brown hair. And we are both tall. (Mom: You’re not tall) HEY! (Mom: Hey, don’t kick your mother.)
Violet: I like Polish and he’s Polish.
Marina: We’re not the same.
Gavin: Don’t know

19. How are you and your dad different?
Zoe: My dad likes math and I… I don’t. I like healthy stuff and he likes beets. I don’t like beets.(Mom: Beets aren’t healthy? He likes tofu) Tofu is just pointless.
Violet: He’s a boy and I’m a girl. And we’re different in a lot of ways. Like, he doesn’t have blonde hair, I do. He doesn’t have blue eyes, I do. So, we have like different DNA’s. I don’t like scary movies and he does. And I don’t like James Bond but I used to.
Marina: He has black hair and I have blonde hair.
Gavin: Don’t know

20. How do you know dad loves you?
Zoe: I just know. And ‘cause he tells me. And I know.
Violet: ‘Cause he’s nice.
Marina: ‘Cause I say I love you daddy and he says I love you too!
Gavin: They don’t love me. Mommy love me. Yeah, daddy loves me.

21. Where is your dad’s favorite place to go?
Zoe: Fenway.
Violet: I don’t know, home. What I don’t know, I’m not him.
Marina: Um carnival, he brings me to carnivals. Yeah, ‘cause he brings me to it. That’s my favorite place. Daddy’s favorite place is Disney World and everyplace.
Gavin: I ‘da know. Church!

Apple Picking

Almost Autumn

It is starting to feel a lot like fall. The leaves on the trees are just beginning to change around here. The fairs have begun and halloween costumes have been chosen. Zoe has even decided to go trick-or-treating this year. We have started to settle into our fall schedule and I am looking forward to a 4 day Disney vacation with a couple of my friends next week and a trip to Smugglers Notch Resort in VT with the family in a few months. We are hoping to do a little skiing if the weather cooperates. I used to love to ski but it is something I have not done in years because it seemed like I was either pregnant or nursing a newborn for the past decade. Time for pumpkin and apple picking and my least favorite project... Switching out everyones seasonal clothes. It just adds to the laundering fun.

Mystic Aquarium, Once is Never Enough!

Snapshots of Summer

Magnificent Maine

Splish Splash

Splish Splash... Marina learns to swim and Gavin is trying his darndest!

Acadia National Park, Maine 2009

Zoe singing "The Climb"

Summer is sweet but all too short!

Where is global warming when you need it? This has been one of the coldest spring/ early summers in my memory. Things have been incredibly busy here with the kids activities, DJ's work, summer sports and his recent involvement in a local volunteer group and a few projects that I have been working on. I don't have much time to keep the blog up to date but I still am having fun with my photography and will be able to document the children's year when things slow down. The journal books will have to wait until winter to be put together though. I am so far behind as it is! We are looking forward to spending some time with the extended family on vacation on Mount Desert Island and the older kids are signed up for a week of ocean camp. I am going to try and hold onto summer for as long as I can this year or at least until I am begging for school to start up again. What I should be posting pictures of is the piles of laundry to be folded and put away along with the dust bunnies to be vacuumed, the many trips to the grocery store with kids in tow, the tank with salt creep toppling over the side with it's windows that are growing huge colonies of coralline algae needing to be scraped. That would make a more realistic view of our daily life with four kids, two cats, and a tank full of fish and not enough time in the day. Did I mention the laundry?

Docent days

Horseshoe crabs rule the beach.

CRABBY CONCLUSION:
The census is almost over for this year and we tagged close to 600 crabs. I am ready to get caught up on my sleep! The hardest night was when I did a sweep of the local beaches for scouting purposes and didn't get home until close to 5am and Gavin was up and ready to go by 7am. I was quite the crab that day.
Gavin joined me in the backpack a few times to help when the other kids were in school. Both Zoe and Violet came out with me on occasion during the daytime surveys and Zoe got her picture in the paper from one of those days. Violet was dissapointed that only her leg was in the picture but was in a publication earlier for a bird walk so she made peace with it. We had a film maker scheduled to come out to make an episode for Expedition New England but they had to cancel for this year due to the heavy rains during the peak of the season. Unfortunately though we were still out there in the cold rain. :-) I am looking forward to next year and to see how many recaptures we find.
I added a few more pictures below.

The Limulus census is underway and I am excited about all the local interest in the project. I have been contacted by both the middle school and girl scouts and have heard that the High School is interested in getting involved too. They are very interesting organisms with such great economic and ecological importance. Our group has had a slow start with the first full moon but the new moon promises to be full of action. Here are some pics from the first three nights/mornings. So far the toughest survey time was at 1:39am but we had a group of 5 people and we all managed to save the crabbiness for the crabs.

Happy 1st Birthday Annie!

I can't believe Annie is already a one year old but Kim and Will had her party so it must be true! The kids were lucky because several chicks had hatched on mothers day so the kids got a chance to see and hold them. Violet managed not to drop one this year but I can't say that the poor chick Marina held had the same fortune. They asked us if we wanted to bring one home but I really didn't think there was enough meat on it yet to bother. Plus it is just more fun to go and visit them and let Uncle Will and Aunt Kim keep up with their daily care. I did enough chicken coop care as a child and I have enough (more then enough) to care for with the two cats. I have been negligent and have not brought them to Kim yet for their annual check-up and shots. It is on my to-do list though, right after the laundry.