This & That

Here is the Cuteness as promised!!!!

He said YES!!!! That's Dean I am referring to.  So we are the proud new owners of a very special kitty that the kids have named Mittens.  He has these GINORMOUS double paws.  It's super cute when he is playing and clomps around with them.

He has been great so far.  Betty Moo Puppy and Mittens are not loving each other yet, but there is less hissing than yesterday and Betty is being really really patient.  We have kept them separated for the most part.  We have only let kitten out of Jacob's room when Betty was in my room and today they sat and looked at each other in the doorway to Jacob's room.  I kept Betty Moo on a leash and kitty just sat and stared.  Enough about that.....here's what you really want to see :)

INTRODUCING..........Mittens Meece

LOOK AT THOSE PAWS....he is getting ready to pounce on the camera strap.

He has made himself right at home.  Lots of purring and snuggling already and play play playing.  He is very social.  I brought him into my room last night after the kids were asleep and Betty was in the living room and he just snuggled up right next to me hugging my arm with his pawsies.  Phew....I don't know what I would do with a kitty that didn't like to snuggle.

Off to enjoy my last hour before the kids are out of school and then I am heading into work tonight.

If you are wondering....this is not the ferel kitten that was outside.  We were not able to catch mamma and her baby unfortunately.  We did catch a totally different cat though...luckily we did not catch squirrels or raccoons or skunks. 

This little guy is from the MSPCA.  He was there with a sister.  I felt so bad separating them, but as I was adopting him, someone came and adopted his sister - it was just meant to be :) 

"It's the most wonderful time of the year"

I  LOVE that Staples or Office Max commercial that has the parents shopping for back to school supplies while this song is playing in the background.  I am so totally in love with my kids and I am so blessed that we had such a great summer, BUT it's time for them to go back to school.

I have been SUPER busy with some exciting stuff :)  I can't blog long because I have lots still to do to get the kiddos ready for tomorrow.

Just wanted to let my peeps know that I am not taking ANOTHER month long blog hiatus....I know you were getting a little bit worried.

Stay tuned for some fun stuff in the next few days hopefully some cute pics of cute stuff and maybe even a few crafty creations popping up.

BTW (that's blog talk for by the way - hi Dad) the kids DID hike Mt. Monadnock and had an awesome time.  I am so excited and PROUD of all of them for doing it - especially our fearless leader Julia. 

With such a short and failry boring blog post I will leave you with some Hot Pocket Love from Jim Gaffigan.....I think one of my favorite stand up comediens these days

kitty update

Still no sign of mamma and her kitten.  Not sure if we scared them away or something, but we will keep trying.

Right now I am home alone on a Sunday morning.  Dean has taken the kids to New Hampshire for the weekend.  They did Watercountry yesterday and today they are hiking Mt. Monadnock.  This will be Julia's first hike.  Dean is really going to put me to shame in the good parent department.  He needs to cut it out...I mean really.  My kids are so lucky to have him and they don't even know it yet.  Mother Nature's cruel trick.  You don't really know how great your parents are until you have some little one's of your own.

I am off to crop at the store today and work on my class sample for an AWESOME class coming up.

I have no pics to post for you because Dean of course had to take the camera so he can document his awesomeness.  So I will leave you with these pics from the last time that Dean and Jacob hiked Mt. Monadnock.

Have a great Sunday! 

ps....blog shout outs to grandma and grandpa for letting me use their truck so that I wouldn't be stranded this weekend....you guys are the best xoxox

Kitty Hunting

That sounds incredibly inhumane and awful, but it's true. 

Yesterday my kids just happened upon an adorable kitten just hanging out in the way back woodsy part of our yard.  Our yard abuts a marsh so it isn't too uncommon for wildlife to frolic down there.  But really, how often do you see a KITTEN??? I have seen squirrels, possums, raccoons, the occasional paralyze-you-with-fear-skunk and even some cats, but never a cute, cuddly kitten.

I called the MSPCA.  They gave me some tips.  They have humane cat/critter traps.  They said catch both, bring them in and register them with the MSPCA and then you can adopt the cat that you just caught for $125.  That isn't too bad seeing that they take care of all the shots and the spaying or neutering of the cats. They better not give my kitty to anyone else!!!!!

I wouldn't be able to keep the mamma cat as Betty Moo Puppy would not like that too much.  I am pretty positive that the mama cat is the cat that she has been barking at through the window for like a year now, but I am sure she would like a new kitten and they would grow to love each other.

Wish us luck in our kitten/cat trapping.

FYI, even if I can't trap this cat, the floodgates are open and Dean has agreed that we can get a kitten as long as we get rid of our land line.  There were some seriously adorable kitties at the mspca today. I guess that means that you can reach me by cell phone only...i better go and get a car charger for my phone and maybe a spare battery??????? 

Off to the store to work on a project tonight at the BYOB.

Who Doesn't Like Cake???

Actually, I don't LOVE LOVEcake.  Unless of course it is Betty Crocker/Duncan Hines/or some form of a Homemade cake that is Vanilla flavor with Vanilla frosting.  Just in case you were in the throes of desperation wondering what kind of cake to make me to celebrate back to school. 

I spent at least half an hour this morning checking out this really funny website.

(which really impinged upon my get up early and get stuff done mantra)

Cakewrecks - When Professional Cakes Go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong.

I thought it would be funny to share one of my very own cakewrecks.  Now this isn't a totally fair cakewreck because it was not professionally made, but I thought it was worth posting for a good laugh.

So, here it is.  The bunny cake that I made for Jacob's 7th birthday .  The party had a magician hence the magic theme...OBVIOUSLY.

 

Happy Thursday!

A Weekend in Review

It's Sunday night.  The kids are in bed, the kitchen is clean from a yummy dinner and women's gymnastics are on the TV.  Things are good :)

Saturday started out early with a pretty serious housecleaning.  Dean took the kids to the Rail Trail in Dennis.  They rode their bikes down to Nickerson State Park and back.  That is about 23 miles.  Julia is still a training wheels kinda girl so she got to ride comfy cozy in the bike trailer thingy that Dean attaches to his bike.....this makes riding 23 miles MUCH easier....NOT!!!!

So during the big bike ride Julia decided that she would like to get out and run some of the way ????? are we related ????  She must have run at least two miles all together.  

Amazing photographer/super Dad Dean took this photo.  Not only did she run yesterday, but this morning Dean, Jacob & Julia all went running together down to the beach and back.  How cute is that?  If I weren't still sleeping at 6:00 am I would have TOTALLY taken a picture of the cuteness.  Her legs are a little sore today, but she is pretty proud of herself and so are we.

I worked today with Melissa who is back from her staycation.  She did some serious die-cutting.  I almost started calling her erin by mistake :) When I came home I went right back out (insert sarcastic tone here) to my favorite place in the world....the grocery store.  When I left I was $160 less rich but I did have the ingredients to make a tasty Shrimp and Shells with Pancetta & Peas.

Tomorrow is another busy day with the kids.  We are visiting family for the day while they are camping somewhere off-cape - not too sure where it is, but I am sure that I will figure it out.  I will not be leaving the directions up to my memere.  She gets lost driving pretty much everywhere.  I think she would be a great candidate for a GPS, except that when she used one in the past she thought it was wrong and didn't believe it when it said TURN RIGHT HERE.....hahahahaha  love you memere :)

Tomorrow will be a good day....I can feel it.....as long as I get up EARLY!!!!!

ps...i was just admiring my new banner and noticed that it *kinda* looks like my kids were either on their way to or just coming from a kegger.  That was NOT the case.  Those cups were FREE and they held innocent wild blueberries :)

 

Blog Makeover!

YESSSSSSS!!!!!!!! I finally did it.  After many attempts and failures I finally have a new blog banner!  I love it.  It makes me feel refreshed :) hmmmmm...maybe it will even tempt me to blog more.  You never know! 

Anyone know what to do with a mopey nine year old that just sits around the house and complains that he is bored and there is absolutely nothing to do??????  (besides locking him in a closet) grrrrrrrrrr. It's one of those days when I have to get some stuff done at home and the kids are up in arms that we aren't "doing" anything.  oh well.....i am off to get some crafty projects done and maybe throw some kids outside for the rest of the day ;)

Back from Vacation!!!!

Well.....okay, I have been back for a while now, but have only now had the time (or patience) to sit here and post all my pics and tell you all about our amazing trip.

I have sat at my computer about 15 times in the last week to try and edit and upload my vacation pics and my computer has not wanted to agree with me.  Tonight SUCCESS!!!!!! It must be my karma today because I actually cooked dinner for the whole family and we sat down and ate together at the dinner table.  That is not a frequent occurrence these days.  Summer is so hectic and our schedules haven't been meshing and really, who wants to cook in the summer....when you are so tired from spending the day at the beach ;)

I have added a new album with some great pics from our trip.  We spent a weekend tooling around Northern New Hampshire and the Freeport , Maine area and then we headed up to the camp (remember - that is Maine-speak for cottage on a lake) on Mt. Desert Island.  My Aunt, Uncle and cousin joined us on Monday and we all had a GREAT time.  Here are some of my favorite pics.

Day one we drove up to North Conway and hit Storyland.  What a great little amusement park.  Not so huge that you feel overwhelmed and big enough that even the older kids could have some fun!  The food was reasonably priced and the park was super clean.

Jacob did have a bit of a panic attack when he learned that Storyland was the surprise destination after riding in the car for 4.5 hours.  The front looked a little babyish.  He thought that Dean was dropping me and Julia off and the boys were going to go and do something different.  As you can see, crisis was averted and he had a great time!  Thank you Auntie Carol for the free tix!!!!!!!!

Then there was the Desert of Maine.  This was a little bitTOTALLY bizarre.  We thought that when they said a 1/2 hour tour it did not mean that we would drive in the little trailer for two minutes .... stop...listen to a tour guide talk for 15 minutes.....drive for another 2 mins ...... stop.......listen to tour guide again for 8 minutes ...walk up a hill.....take a pic.....and drive 3 minutes back to "base camp" This pic really shows the whole thing......certainly not 300 acres worth of "Desert" if you ask me.  We laughed at the ridiculousness of it all and they laughed at us as they pocketed $30 of our money!

YES......this is a picture of an American Bald Eagle.  This bird was perched on a tree right outside our camp on Tuesday morning.  My Uncle is a SERIOUS birder and so is Jacob.  You can only imagine the excitement that ensued as we watched this Eagle hunt on the lake all day.  AMAZING!!!!

Here is our view of the lake from the screened in porch.  This camp is so peaceful and quiet.  It is probably one of my favorite places EVER.  Which amazes Dean.  It seems to be the antithesis of what I like, but for some reason this place has captured a part of my heart.

This AMAZING catch by Jacob has ensured that the camp will always hold a special place in his heart too.  I am pretty sure that he will now be a fisherman for life!  This small mouth bass was 21 inches long.  I think the best part was when Jacob said "I caught that with a nine dollar kmart pole!".

All in all it was a great vacation!  We caught up on being a family together and had a ton of fun with my aunt and her family.  It is back to life as usual around here.  Dean has already been to Philadelphia and back for work.  The kids are going a little stir crazy again and I have been working a lot.  Tonight, I am going to finish a really cute calendar for a class at the store and then I will DEFINITELY be watching Project Runway.

Thanks for being patient with all my lame-o blogging.  Really...my computer and typepad/photo uploading/anything too complex really don't agree with each other.   Hooray for full post with no crashing or really really really long pauses :)