'Ick Days

"Lindsey, I 'ick"

Those were the first words out of Trey's mouth this morning, followed by other stuff, but do we really need to go there?

Poor kid.

You know it is bad when the two-year old with the most energy looks like this all day:


As they say....when it rains it pours!

Madison Sunset

The poetry of the earth is never dead. --John Keats

New Arrival

Here is the newest member of our "little" family!



She's three and a half months old.
Her name is Rosy.
She is the sister of Micah and Trey.

Someone told me yesterday that when my time comes I am going to be the coolest mother ever.

That made my day. Or week. Or month. Or year.

Here Fishy Fishy

New Hampshire on a gorgeous, sunny, winter afternoon. Got to love it!
One of the best ways to spend a Sunday afternoon? Ice fishing, of course!

Step by step guide:

#1, Drive your truck out onto the lake. You may also consider bringing your snowmobile, bob house, camper, etc. Whatever, uh, floats, your boat...figuratively of course!


#2, Set your traps. Now this may look and sound easy, but don't let it fool you. One must first use an auger to drill a very, very deep hole into the chosen and blessed small section of ice.


#3, Bait your trap with these little guys. Aren't they cute???


#4, Now the fun part...waiting around for your flags to pop up off your traps! You have to go back and check your traps every once in a while because fish can be very sneaky...they can get away with the bait without you even knowing...very sneaky, indeed. The dads usually get tagged with the responsibility of checking the traps, 'cause really, the kids are having way too much fun sliding on the ice!



#5, Enjoy the view!



#6, Your flag finally pops! Pull up your fish and hope it is a winner and not a bait-sized one...The small ones get used to bait bigger fish, sounds like a raw deal to me! Looks like Kloey got lucky!


#7, Pack your fish in snow to make him comfortable. Hope that he is big enough at 11" to place in the derby that you're fishing in.


#8, Be a good enough sport to let your big sister pester you about photos for her blog.

#9, Be home by dark. Mom's orders!

Heels, or butts as they have come to be known!

This is what I looked at all day long:


And you know what?

I loved EVERY minute of it.

It was the perfect warm, wintry day for horse-drawn wagon rides through downtown Tamworth.

I think that the 200+ people who I gave rides to thought so as well.



Lady and Brandi were so good. They didn't even complain about me getting their "good" side!

To The Little Girl

To the Little Girl who has already left her small hand print on my life,

May you know that you are loved by many and cared for by the best, no matter where you are.

May you be forever comforted by the fact that you were always wanted and never discarded.

May you grow and blossom into the beautiful girl you were created to be.

May you come to understand that you have two big brothers who love their "baby" like no other.

May you realize that even if we are not allowed the privilege to share life together, you will be prayed for...everyday.

May you be fortunate enough to know that you have Trey's nose and Micah's eyes.

May you learn that loving and being loved are two of the greatest joys on earth.

May you know that the first time I held you was when I decided I would love you forever, no matter what.

Blankie Brigade

Since December was born, she has had a blankie. It is green and white and shows a lot of wear in it's short two years of life.

The same Amish man that made December's blanket also made two more. One for Trey and one for Micah.

So the inevitable always happens whenever December is in the house...out come the blankies!

Micah: "Where is everyone! I'm comin' out!"

Micah: "December! I see you!"
Trey: "Micah, you're not going to be able to win all the girls over with that face, let me show you how it is done!"

Trey: "Coaching up the little brother is hard work!"

Confession

So, a blog is supposed to be a place to write about the good and the bad, right?

Well, I have a bad confession to make. I just had a hissy fit. Wow. I cannot believe I just admitted that on the world wide web....

Because I travel so much, a lot of stuff ends up in my car. You name it, I probably have it. And, well, I haven't really cleaned it out since last spring. Yeah. March 2009. Long time.

Now, it is important to note that this is not really my car. I am just privileged enough to be able to put gas in at and drive it.

Another notable fact is my standard of cleanliness. Let's just say that it is not very high.

Can you see where this is going?

Confession #1: I have a relatively short fuse.
Confession #2: I have a hard time when others point out what really needs to be done in my life, like say, I don't know...cleaning out my car. My methodology is that I'm a busy person and I'll get to it when I can, and, um, "when I can" usually never comes around.

To make a long story short there was an exchange of words, I got frustrated, another car left the driveway, and I stomped out, armed with trash bags, to clean my car, just to make a point.

My car is now clean. It took me a grand total of 15 minutes. I will spare you the details of some of the things I found. Dirty work clothes from last summer, eeewww. Yup. 'Nuf said. On the bright side, I also found more water bottles than I knew I had!

I certainly could have handled to situation better, but I am thankful for the chance to get it right the next time. But for now I get to enjoy a clean car:



Okay, so that's not my car and the only time it was ever that clean was when it was driven off the lot, but, hey, it is all about baby steps!

Decisions

Someone should have told me once upon a time that making decisions doesn't get any easier the older you get. My life has been feeling like layers of decisions lately, where to go to school, where to work, my future, what the heck I am going to do with my life, etc...the list goes on! Here's an update:

My entire application is in at UNH. Just waiting for a decision. Yea or nay.

My senior capstone photography exhibit is finally taking shape. It is going to blow people away.

I'm sitting on a pretty sweet job offer. It would put me in the agricultural field for awhile and here in NH. Close to home.

Decisions, decisions, decisions! You know what? I'm okay with the fact that decision making won't get any easier. I relish the challenge! Bring it on!

That's how I feel about that.

Squeaky Sneakers

18 years ago, I participated in a mom and me program called squeaky sneakers. I was the first. Now, all those years later, Micah and Trey get to go and I get to bring December! If there was an award for the longest running squeaky sneaker mom, my mother would get it! Here are some fun photos of our first couple of weeks, photo credit goes to myself and my brother Erik. You can also check out my mother's blog here, she has a similar post with her own photos! Ooh lala!

Lindsey

According to www.urbandictionary.com my name means:

n. A person that you can spend hours with or talking to and you never grow tired of. They are the only person that can make you truly laugh. These individuals tend to be extremely smart and have the most beautiful smiles. Their presence cause you great joy and their absence only sadness. You only want to make them as happy as possible because their happiness is all you care about. Although you would give anything if they were yours, it will never happen. There are several reasons that you can’t be together and all you can do is dream of a life with someone that you will never have. Example: “There goes my Lindsey.”

Interesting.