storm nemo

Such a funny name for a storm...but the Blizzard of 2013 was worthy of a name.

Friday, February 8th at 10am

Saturday, February 9th at 10am (and more coming!)

Friday, February 8th at 10am

Saturday, February 9th at 10am (and still snowing)

This is just after 24 hours of Blizzard 2013.

Soren building a fort in the driveway.

Niels is helping.

Anders hates the cold. This is his reaction after only 5 minutes outside. As Jim said, "His Viking ancestors would be disappointed."

The snow at our garage opening just before I discovered our snowblower was broken...again...but I broke it this time. Oops.

The stairs made a great sledding hill and the snow made it difficult to swing on the swings.

I love Soren's arm around AC in this pic.

My kind and thoughtful neighborly neighbors came over, without my asking, to clear my driveway and path. It made my day. I love my kind and thoughtful neighbors!!!!

My two favorite baby girls.

Anna Clara has got herself another playmate.

The cookies I made for my kind and thoughtful neighbors.

Exhausted after playing in the snow.

Oh yes. The pup. The day before the storm I drove an hour and a half to MA to the place where I bought JoiVie to pick up this lil 14 week old puppy. I couldn't handle the hole left in our home. And, coincidentally enough, when I called to find out if they had any pups, they had only one female Golden Retriever available -- on the very day I let JoiVie go. I picked her up the next day and I'm so very glad I did. She has helped keep my mind off the huge hole in my heart. She is  mellow, sweet, smart, loving and about as gorgeous as a pup can get (I love how red she is!). I told Jim he could name her since he hated the name JoiVie (too unmanly for him), so he chose "Lambeau" and the children approved. In case you don't know, Lambeau is from "Curly" Lambeau of Packer fame and the name of the Packers stadium. I love that it has the word "beau" in it -- French for "beautiful"-- in keeping with JoiVie's name origin (not that I'm French or have any French ancestry, but it truly is a beautiful language, and I kinda have a love for foreign languages). Just don't tell my manly Cheesehead hubby that.... *wink*

a fall day

This past Sunday was a gorgeous fall day. (Aren't those colors spectacular??!!) I had planned on spending it crossing off items from my daily "to do list". I have discovered that keeping a daily list is the only way I can get myself to get anything done these days. I have also learned that it is very difficult to motivate to do much when you are living in limbo; and by "limbo" I mean -- not knowing if and when we are going to sell our house, when we are going to move, missing my hubby and knowing he and my children are missing out on valuable time together...yada yada.....

Anyway...back to the gorgeous fall day..... I have seen pictures on Facebook and heard many families rave about going on hikes in the beautiful mountains of New Hampshire. I have been DYING to go with my kidlings on such a trip, but have felt that they are still a bit young for me to take them on my own...since my farm boy is usually, well, working on the farm on the weekends and now that he is working in Chicago, I really am alone...all the time...with four children under the age of 8....and, as fun as that sounds, it has been a bit intimidating to venture out into the wild with the four of them.

But I finally did it.

Oh boy, did I ever.

Apparently I haven't learned the valuable life lesson of starting slow and easy and THEN taking on the bigger stuff. Oh no. Oh no I haven't. I thought I was taking it slow by going somewhere within 15 minutes of my home. It's a place I had heard many people tell me about and have never been. It is called "Winnekeni Castle" and is a beautiful trail to a castle and around a pond and basin. Before I go on, I want to emphasize that I had never been there before. I also want to point out that hiking, walking and/or climbing mountains is just a bit addictive for me -- once I get started, it is very, very hard for me to turn around and go back...I NEED to keep going until I have reached a peak or gone a full circle without repeating any trails....

So now, having said that, here is a pictorial review of our walk in the woods on a gorgeous fall day:

 We started on our little walk and it seemed easy enough. With four little ones. And a dog. All by myself.

On such an absolutely gorgeous fall day.

Up we walked to the castle...which I never took a picture of because there was a Halloween party going on and it was covered with tacky Halloween decorations...sad, but true.

One of us wasn't very happy for most of the trip.

whoah is me!!!!

I decided to take a different trail back from the castle...who wants to take the same trail back when there's another one that looked so appealing?? This trail brought us to another trail near the water...and what wee ones can resist walking by the water?

And what Golden Retriever can resist getting in that water? (I stupidly allowed Niels to take the leash for a bit...and she took her chance and ran for it!)

My pup stayed in the water a while...so it delayed our walk quite a bit...but these guys were amused.

Since we had been walking for quite some time, and they were all starting to complain about the length of the walk, we took a little rest here to play.

Anna Clara was especially tired apparently....

One of the few times Anders was smiling during the walk.

JoiVie was tuckered out as well. (I can't believe she is 13 years old....)

Anna Clara is constantly entertaining herself in one way or another....

There were so many pictures I wanted to take, but I so rarely had my hands free since I was usually either holding a hand...or two...or, by the end, carrying a crying child...or two.... I fully realized the extent of my walking/hiking/exploring addiction when, two hours after starting the hike, I had two crying toddlers, one whining girl and a wet, stinky, tired old dog -- and, I can't leave him out, a constantly helpful and easygoing 8 year old boy -- and I STILL wanted to take another trail around the basin for the final stretch...which turned out to be way longer than I expected -- and way more difficult as I tried to carry two very heavy, crying boys.

But, I have to admit, regardless of the crying and whining around me, I couldn't help but thoroughly soak in the stunning beauty, appreciate the little hands in mine, the fresh air, and, best of all, a day off from my "to do list" to simply enjoy my five (dog included of course!) favorite little joys in the entire world. And what a beautiful world it is....

spring is springing

Mr. Incredible is again in his element and creating beauty all around our home....

He was NOT happy when he discovered a deer had invaded his precious tulip display he was so looking forward to. He had planted them with Anna Clara last fall and he was very excited about them as he had proudly told me, "we're going to have a looooot of tulips out front this year!"

But, unfortunately one morning he walked into the kitchen extremely dejected and angry and said the deer had eaten all the tulips. I couldn't believe it...but, alas, it was true.... They ate them all up before we could even get a glimpse of their glorious spring beauty. The distinct hoof prints gave them away. Dang deer.

The other smaller circle with daffodils fared a bit better....

I never took a picture with all the daffodils in full bloom, but you get the idea.

A few tulips did escape the deer's destruction.

The deer never made it over to the mailbox, so those tulips were untouched and our mailwoman must love all of their welcoming bright petals.

Every year, my farm boy simply must add to the garden...whether it's more space to grow more food, another type of food (a couple years ago he planted 900 mushrooms...long story....but it was QUITE the ordeal to plant them, lemme tell you) or, like this year, a new home for the wildlife. He bought himself a big ole Purple Martin treehouse. I had never heard of such a thing, but my farm boy got it in his head to have one, so, well, now we do. And I absolutely love seeing it right outside my kitchen window. Now we just have to hope some Martins choose it for their home.

 The house has to be a minimum of 10-15 feet high and 40 feet from the house and trees.

Have a happy spring everyone!

a spring moment

It has been so rainy and yucky outside for what seems like months (but really only a week), and I've been so overwhelmingly busy with who knows what (lots of doctor and vet appointments for one...), I had to take a moment to share some of the beauty that grows in my yard...to remind myself that it truly is spring....







(I usually don't like to 'doctor' my photos in any way, but this tulip -- the purple one in the center -- seemed to call out, "Look at me!" and that shout-out wasn't as 'loud' in the photo, so I helped out a bit.)


(Can't you just smell these??)


These beauties are glorifying my yard because of this man...

...who works very hard to take care of it...


...and who is now planting for our summer and fall harvest....


We've already enjoyed some of the yummy asparagus.


Oh how I hope we will see the sun again soon so we can do more of this....

...and less of this....

(typical moment for my boys...Niels letting it all out and Anders just hangin' out)

...and please oh please MUCH more of this....

Sun...where did you go? We sure miss you. Not much sun outside makes for not as many sunny faces inside.

However, I do want to thank you rain for feeding those beautiful flowers and making a nice bath for my birds....