Thanksgiving

This year we did not travel for Thanksgiving. Our friends invited us over for dinner and I was so thankful not to have to cook the entire meal myself. This would have been especially stressful because we were set to close on the sale of our house and move into a new house the Monday after Thanksgiving. Here we are in December and our closing date has been changed multiple times. This is our third house to buy and I don't remember any of these problems and delays with the other two. I guess this is another test for my patience. It seems to me that most of my struggles are to teach me patience and humility, so I better hurry up and learn my lesson so we can finally close on this house!

Thanksgiving was wonderful and very delicious. There were several families gathered together and the kids had a great time playing. The food was wonderful and we had lots of choices for pie. The weather was gorgeous and the kids got some good outside time running around and playing football. Thank you again for including us in the fun. Our family has much to be thankful about!

lovely little Violet

 Yes, November in CT can be beautiful and you don't even need a jacket!

Ruby enjoying her dinner with her girlfriends.

Pie, my favorite part of Thanksgiving!

At the Mall

We recently went to VA to see Scott's family and celebrate his sister, Deanne's wedding. During our visit Scott took Sam and Owen to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing (one of the few places Scott hasn't visited in Washington D.C.)

At the same time, I went with Scott's sister to the Disney store with Ruby and Violet. This sounded like a much better trip for the girls and we could be home in time for naps. We were shocked to arrive home the exact same time as the boys. Instead of taking the metro, they drove to the city, found a parking spot right out front, visited the museum, walked to the mall to see the national monument, and were home before lunch.

Halloween Postponed

Halloween has been postponed until Monday, Nov. 5 due to storm Sandy. We readied ourselves for a week or more without power. Last year, during tropical storm Irene, we lost power for several days and all the news reports gauged Sandy to be much worse. We are so pleased to report that we made it through the storm without losing power. Our phone and internet were out, but not even for an entire day. Still, our area did receive damage. School has been cancelled the past three days and 80% of the town is out of power. For safety reasons Halloween is postponed.

Our kids have already had a chance to dress-up for our church annual Trunk-or-treat party. I was surprised at how many people I fooled, dressed up as "Grandma" to Violet's "Little Red Riding Hood". People either thought I really was an old lady, or they didn't realize it was me when I would say hello. (Scott wore a flannel shirt and was therefore "the woodcutter" from the story.) Ruby was scared of Sam's "zombie" costume and didn't want to be in the same room with him. Owen had a hard time deciding what to be, but finally settled on a rock star. His rock star of choice is the Lego minifigure rock star. Ruby also had many choices, but in the end she just wanted to wear her Tinkerbell dress-up.

Violet's first word

Violet is 18 months old now. She is so sweet, but she doesn't talk very much yet. Besides "mama" and "dada" I've been waiting for her first word.
-Sam loved the Wiggles when he was a baby and at a very early age he said, "Dorothy".
-Owen took a little while to start talking, but in the same week he learned to say, "cake, cookie and cracker".
-Ruby didn't have a first word, instead she would sing, "happy birthday to you."

A few weeks ago Violet said her first word. She is such a girl; her first word was "shoes". Now we are hearing new words all the time from her: "no", "uh oh", and "teeth".

Violet is wearing "Belle" high heels. She also likes necklaces and purses.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

When I was a little girl my parents had a beautiful handmade quilt on their bed that had been a wedding present. I cut a huge hole right in the middle of it! I was thinking of my mother's words, "you'll have a daughter just like you," when I saw Ruby yesterday morning.





 Ruby has had bangs since she was Violet's age. We have been trying to grow them out. Ruby does not like me to style her hair, so the in-between stage was really difficult. Her bangs were finally getting somewhere...dangling just below her nose. Yesterday, she decided she did not want bangs anymore and cut them off!






I took her today to the salon to get her hair cut by a professional. The stylist did her best to blend Ruby's short bangs with layers, but the only thing to do is wait for it to grow. I guess the best thing will be to buy more headbands with really big flowers.




I am especially annoyed because school pictures are on Monday and in two weeks we will be taking family pictures for Scott's sister's wedding.

Beautiful Fall day

The weather was gorgeous today, so we went on a family bike ride in East Hampton on a "rail trail."Of  course this was very exciting for Owen to ride bikes where a train used to run. The trees are just starting to change colors and the scenery was lovely. Before our bike ride, we stopped at one of the three remaining covered bridges in CT, Comstock Bridge. We walked down to the river to toss rocks, which is Violet's favorite thing to do. Sam was excited to find traces of "gold" in many of the rocks and he and Ruby brought a whole bunch home with them.

First Day of School

I'm so late with this, but here is a picture of the kids on the first day of school (all the way back in the end of August!) Sam is in 4th grade and Owen is in 2nd grade.This is Ruby's first year of preschool and she is loving it. She has the same teacher that both of the boys had.

Home at last

It has been over eight years since our whole family has been back to the house where I grew up. My parents have come to visit us many times, and I have taken a few trips with the a baby or two, but my children don't remember much about Grandma and pa Park's house. It was wonderful to make some memories. I grew up next door to my cousins and my grandma. We got to visit with Great Grandma Park (my kids only living great grandparent), as well as almost all of my cousins and their families that I grew up next door to. Grandpa took the kids fishing. We also rode horses at the neighbors. 

Ruby riding a very gentle horse, Sadie.

Sam had the best time riding horses, and was the only one (besides Scott) to ride without the horse being lead.

Owen was a little nervous on the horse, but he did feed her some carrots later.

Ruby strikes a pose at the fishing pond. (she dressed herself)

Sam and his "hand-caught" fish

Wally's Wedding

We added Utah to our list of places to visit while we were out west, so that we could attend my brother's wedding. It was so wonderful to be there and welcome Shauna to our family. The kids got more time with cousins and all the cake they could eat! The weather was beautiful and so were the bride and groom. 

Ruby with her cousins Mira and Lily at the reception. Ruby finally got over her shyness and asked to hold the bouquet.

*During the wedding ceremony we were privileged to have Scott's sister watch all of our kids at her house. We took the kids to the reception that evening, but when we came to get them, Ruby had fallen asleep on the couch. All I could do was put her in the car and bring her pretty clothes with me. We changed her clothes and stuck a bow in her hair and called it good. I was hoping to be able to curl her hair and make her so pretty for the wedding, but I'm sure she needed the nap more.
 

More fun in Utah

While we were in Utah we stayed with Scott's sister and the kids had more cousins to play with. We also got to meet the fiance' of another one of Scott's sisters and visited with aunts and cousins on Scott's side.

We also went to Seven Peaks waterpark. We have a lot of home movies of baby Sam at Seven Peaks because we used to live down the street from the waterpark. The boys had so much fun and were tall enough to go down every slide! Ruby hates to get her face wet and she was angry with any kids splashing (that was difficult at the "splash" pad). I took her down one little slide, but I slipped at the bottom and Ruby and I both went under. She was really angry with me and wouldn't do anymore slides after that. Luckily she found some lost my little pony toys and played happily with them until it was time to leave. We never found their owners and a park worker said she should just keep them.

On the trip home Scott took the boys to the Goldenspike, where the transcontinental railroad was completed and East and West met.

I was nervous about all the flying, driving and staying at multiple locations, but the kids were fantastic travelers. Violet slept well every place we stayed. They all adjusted quickly to the three hour time difference. We had a great vacation and thank you to everyone that made it so!

Family Reunion

We recently returned from a big westward vacation. We flew to WA for a Park family reunion at a beach house in Ocean City. The weather was lovely (for Western WA) and we had a great time at the "other" ocean. I was so happy to spend time with my family and it was great to see how well the cousins played together.

 The beach house came with bikes and Scott enjoyed riding around in the surf. 

 Ruby with her cousin Lily. Thank goodness the beach house had a washer and dryer, because we bathed kids and did laundry every night!

 We made our own kites to fly...those are all Parks out there!

Even Violet liked kite flying! 

Owen the Sand Monster

Bathroom Remodel

We were so excited to start working on the bathroom, that we didn't take any before pictures. I found these online and I think they can give you an idea of what the before was. Our bathroom only had a shower (no tub), and like the picture shows, it was like showering in a cave. The sink was very similar, but smaller. Everything was blue and the tile on the floor was coming off. The whole bathroom is much smaller than what is pictured.  It is less than 6 feet squared.

We thought about expanding the bathroom, but decided that would be way too much work. So we did the best we could in our small space and I am extremely happy with it. Again, my husband proves to me that he can do anything. Scott did the entire makeover (I helped a little with painting and scrubbing the tile after grouting, as well as making most of the design choices). Besides just making it over, he also had to replace all the pipes in the walls and under the floors. The shower has a sliding door, which is great for a small space. We were especially excited about the toilet. The tank is actually in the wall and the seat lowers by itself (kids can't slam it!).

No bottoms on the sink

Ruby and I were at the library and she was using the potty. She looked up on the wall and noticed a "no smoking" sign. She looked at me and said, "Mommy, that sign means don't pee in the sink." I thought that was a really strange thing to say, so I asked her why and she said, "because that is a bottom sitting on the sink and we don't sit on the sink." I looked up at the sign and had to laugh. The smoke on the cigarette really does look like a bottom.

Family Photos

I am very happy with our latest family pictures. My friend Vi Twelves took them for us and did a great job. We were going to take them at Harkness Park because I wanted some beach pictures, but it was incredibly foggy that day. We ended up at this little historic site in Waterford next to the library and I think it made for a great background. The kids had lots of fun climbing trees and running around. I gave them candy and snacks after they were good for a few pictures, then they could run around until it was their turn again.It worked pretty well and the kids stayed happy and smiled for the pictures.