We headed off about 5 days ago for a trip back to Virginia to see friends and family.  Wanting to be efficient, I figured we would do some college tours on our trip.

• Adventure #1-let your 17-year-old son pick the colleges he wants to see and schedule the tours
• Problem #1-see above: it seems that he has all the information on where and when we are supposed to be places….great for him but I am the one driving to these places.  Helps if I can also be informed.  Why does college have to cost 50K each year? Can they not do an adequate job for, say….25K?  I feel like I was adequately educated for much less than 50K!!!!

• Adventure #2-think you might just possibly squeeze two college tours in ONE day
• Problem #2-NOT happening!   Not only is this a timing challenge; it is incredibly exhausting!

• Adventure #3- use the vast amounts of time you are traveling on the interstates as an opportunity to get some highway mileage under your teenager’s belt
• Problem #3-you want to return home to see your family…not in a casket.  Resume your role as driver!

• Adventure #4-5 colleges in 3 days
• Problem #4-5 colleges in 3 days!

have to get back to maps, stats and trip planning….more detail to come….

In my defense, I could already see the writing on the wall about how our summer was going to be…and I DID NOT  LIKE IT!  I am all about improvement, goals and accountability and so…..I will make the kids learn to love that too!  Very warden-esque, I know!

I’ll keep you posted on how things go.

Besides the usual:make your bed, clean your room, put your laundry away (which quite honestly seem like breathing and eating…they just need to be done everyday!)  I told the kids that each day there would be a “for the family” job.  This would/could/might be something like: weed the garden, scrub the porch, vacuum the house, or other fun things I think of.  The clincher on this one is: when I assign the job, if you complain or utter a groan….you do all your siblings jobs for that day as well!  That should scare them into silence!

So, there you have it….

Summer FUN 2011 at our house!

and just for more fun, I wanted to post the first day of school picture and the last day of school picture of the three younger ones:

Fall 2010

Summer 2011

It was a great birthday, if I dare say so myself! Same lemon cake I have made for 23 years which he says is almost as good as the one his mom makes.  This year I decided he would not even recognize the awesomeness of his lemon cake…..disguised as a CASTLE! Actually, I didn’t have a bundt pan (mine is still in my stored life in Virginia..which is where more than half of my life is) so I borrowed a neighbors’. Her pan turned out to be unusable (enough said) so she generously offered me her CASTLE bundt pan. I wavered a bit but then thought….what man doesn’t want to be King of the Castle?

So there you have it…Dan got a Castle Cake….not a Princess Castle Cake….a King of the Castle-kind of cake!!

Please notice the “lovely” moat around the castle!  Doesn’t he look thrilled to be the King?

and finally, the dorky photo of the whole family:

This Thursday,  I am soooo very thankful for the awesome weather we have been experiencing:

This is absolute perfection!  Sunny, breezy and 80!  I think it might be a tad warmer than that but I’m not arguing with my car!

This weather means the sprinkler is going, the old “woody” is out of the garage and we aren’t wearing fleece!  A banner day in Maine. This kind of day can make one forget about the FEET of snow that fell on us, the back-breaking shoveling and freezing morning….at least for a bit.

It is a BEAUTIFUL day today….and for that I am thankful!

PS….i know i have to change the banner on my blog to June…i am really behind!

Let’s all remember to say thank you to those who have served our country, defend our constitution and especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

Have a very happy memorial day!

This week is so very easy for me to tell you what I am thankful for, my husband:

this is Dan in serious “car driving” mode…usually he is a lot funnier!

Here’s “party”  Dan on my birthday!

(photo graciously taken by one of the kids)

Here is why I am so Thankful this Thursday:

I am headed ot Virgnia to help out at our store while my sister attends her son’s West Point Graduation.  While I am gone (for 5 measly days) Dan will have to contend with the following:

• 8 lacrosse games
• 3 soccer tryouts
• church
• 4 dinners
• 2 school mornings to include: lunch-making, wardrobe malfunctions, sports equipment, field trips and library books

and then the other crazy stuff that happens when you leave town!  He hasn’t complained once, he is excited that I am getting a “break” from the routine, and he is ready to face the challenge! Dare I say, I think he is even excited!

Thank you Dan…more than I can ever express for being a great Dad, wonderful husband and all-around terrific guy! I am lucky to have met you….on that fateful hayride!

guess what, I made it….

off to my home-away-from-my current-home….Virginia. I have missed you so…..

Proms today are VERY different from Proms back in our day!

Really, I can’t say better or worse…just different. Easiest, and first observation, is that the girls going to prom are 25 years old (well, not really but they LOOK LIKE IT!).

• No more long flowing dresses like ball gowns.
• Lots more glitz and glamor.
• Girls spend the better part of the day doing hair & make-up, some even go the professional route!
• Flowers don’t seem to be as important. I seem to remember really caring what mine looked like.
• LIMOUSINES…which I guess I can understand this part of it. The kids travel together and safely so it makes sense

Also, I think each school might do things a bit differently as well. Here in Cape Elizabeth, kids form large groups based on friendships and dates. These groups organize their own transportation which seems to mean limos for the most part, although I did hear that one group was getting a trolley and I think that is awesome!  Then, some very brave and wonderful parents host all these children for dinner before going to prom.  In our case, they also invited the parents of these children  to come for pictures, hors d’oeuvres and then dinner once the kids all headed off for the evening. That was very thoughtful.

Things that seemed to be missing from this new Prom (which is a good thing):

• alcohol
• hotel parties
• all night post-prom parties
• and some other unmentionables!

The whole event seemed to be very controlled and managed, whether by parents or by the school, without lots of leeway. While, initially, I wasn’t too keen on the idea of the pre-prom dinner party hosted by parents….I have completely changed my mind!  I think it was a wonderful opportunity to meet the other parents, spend time with the kids, and an opportunity for siblings to see the older kids all dressed up.  Since we are the newbies in town, it was a blessing for us.  We don’t know many of the parents of Mac’s friends because teenager’s parents don’t mix as much at the younger children’s parents do.

It was a fun night for us, definitely a fun night for Mac and I hope for all the kids as well. Here are some photos that captured the night:

I am really going to miss her! She was like a ray of sunshine in the cold dark winter. Bummer for me…she will be happy when she goes though. I know that so I will try to be happy for her.

Finally, it is Prom this weekend!  Information is sketchy on the pictures taking opportunities…so funny how every town does Prom differently. I will post some pictures (I hope) and fill you in all about it on Monday.

happy friday-

If you stop to think of that…it is almost mind-blowing…the rights and privileges we enjoy.  I have to say, pretty much whatever you want…you can have. If you have ever lived in (or even visitied)  another country, especially a country without many of the the rights and privileges for its citizens we enjoy, you understand what I am trying to say.

We live in a FREE COUNTRY…we are the lucky ones. Have you ever thought, “I wonder what my life would be like if I were ‘me’ but if i were born in China, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia”?  I actually have thought of this and  I know that I am so damn lucky to be a citizen of the United States; I am grateful everyday.

I work to instill this feeling in my children…I hope they know how lucky they are.  I also hope they realize that this freedom comes at a cost…we all have a responsibility to contribute positively to maintaining, and even improving, the freedoms we all enjoy. Remember the old song, “Freedom Isn’t Free”? I sang this song in my little 6th grade Catholic school and I can still remember getting the ‘goose bumps’ when I was singing…knowing how passionately I felt about this.

I know…it’s hokey but somehow I remember how catchy it was and how I walked around the house humming the tune. I do, however,  remember our school version being WAAAYYY better than this but at least you get the idea.

Honestly, there are very few things in the world that making me smile like seeing the stars and stripes flapping in the wind. Our old house had a flagpole in the yard and I sure do miss it.

Happy Thankful Thursday!

While at this luncheon, I had some pretty great revelations:

• The women in my “new” town are very nice. They gather to celebrate each other and to raise each other up!  I love that.
• I love how healthy everyone is here. The women eat (which isn’t always the case in some places), they enjoy the food and they choose wisely.
• There is a genuine interest and concern for what you are doing and what your kids are up to. I love that they even care about me….i am the NEW girl….why even care??!!
• I officially feel old…no more babies in my future…that I am sure of.
• I dress like caca!  I have NO fashion sense and I need a total makeover!  I have spent all winter bundled up in fleece…head to toe! Not a good look….now that it is spring….i am still in cords and looking a bit haggard from the winter. Anyone up for a makeover project????