Ella's New Friend

We went to the Nightmare called Freeport, Maine, today. I went this morning dragging two unhappy little girls with me. Our goal was to find a duffle bag for me and a suitcase for Steve at the LL Bean Outlet Store. It was more of a nightmare then I could have ever imagined. I loath shopping. All shopping. Except maybe grocery shopping-that I can tolerate. We arrived into the main outlet area and already I could feel my shoulders and jaws tense. We parked where I thought we were near the outlet shop. So we started walking, and walking, and walking, and walking...until finally we ended up on the other side of LL Bean where there are huge new buildings being built and in desperation I stopped a woman with a green shirt one. "Please," I panted, trying to rope spazzy Molly in, "Please, tell me where the outlet store is!" "Okay," she responded all calm and non-plussed, "do you know where the entrance to the highway is?" My mouth dropped-back 5 miles the way we came into town. I DIDN'T EVEN NEED TO COME INTO TOWN! So already we had walked 10 minutes from the car. I won't bore you with anymore of this nightmare but let me tell you-it didn't get any better from there.
The good news-Ella's friend's dad called and said she could come over and play this afternoon. That lightened one little girl's day so all of our days were lightened.
This is a new friend from school. And I don't think I have heard Ella laugh as much as she did in the first 15 minutes together with her buddy. I think we will be seeing more of this little girl. I hope so, as much as I hope I see more of Ella's ears.

A lobstah

I forgot-the best kid craft project I have seen in a while. They had a lobstah project at Punkinfiddle today. Great use for paper towel rolls...you only need construction paper-pipe cleaners and something to poke holes in the paper towel roll for the legs and antennae.

So fun and so cute.

Molly was running all around making her lobstah fly. Or maybe it was swimming...yeah swimming.

Punkinfiddle 2007

We spent this beautiful day at Laudholm Farm's Annual Punkinfiddle. We introduced the Randalls to this quintessential Maine Day. With pumpkins, scarecrows, farm animals, sea creatures, horse rides, fiddle music, clam chowder, and traditional New England crafts being made we couldn't have had more fun. At lunchtime, we meet up with half of the Milne-Carlsons, which made Ella very happy to see her old friend, Lydia.

The line of scarecrows made by families...

I could not get this picture down to the bottom of the page-this was taken at home. Princess, our scarecrow, in her new home with some mums and pumpkins. And Molly with her camera face on.


The oxen were a huge hit. I would think it would suck to have your head locked in with someone else's.

The Nasons and Randalls working on our scarecrows.

The kids loving the scarecrows but not us taking a picture of them.

Petting and feeding the goats.

Check it out. Nice Boat. That one is for you, Dad.

Ella and her idol, Lydia. Poor Lydia...to be so adored...

Picking up Princess and bringing her home.

Princess The Scarecrow

Punkinfiddle 2006 and 2007

A friend called tonight to tell me she saw me on a video about Punkinfiddle.

HAHAHA!
I am at the end so you can either watch the whole thing or skip to the end. It is a nice little video though.

Tomorrow we are going to this year's event. YAHOO!

Today she is 5

The highlight of the day was moving the sticker from 4 to 5 years old in her classroom. She is no longer the only 4 year old in the class. Yippie! Ella had a great birthday and felt a ton of love from all corners of the country. Thanks for loving her!

"I love you Ella"

The cupcake decorator

Happy Birthday Girl!

Molly and her cake and the camera...

more party pics...

Ella had a fabulous birthday weekend. She was happy to know that her bud, Natalie, was going to spend the weekend with us. Yahoo! We decorated the house with "fabulous"decoration, we packed up the favor boxes, we got balloons, we made a cakes, Meme decorated it with the girls...we got dressed up. IT was an excellent day.

Didn't he remember days like these?

I had the worst day at work. But in the worst days, that is usually when we find the best in ourselves or others. Isn't that right? One of our h.s. kids committed suicide Sunday afternoon. I came in this morning and found out during a meeting with my Principal. I cried. For the rest of the day we all worked together, cried, supported, listened, made plans, heard things we didn't want to hear, envisioned things I hope I never have to see, and gave thanks for the beautiful things that exist in this world.
On my drive home today, I noticed for the first time that day that it was a beautiful day. Not just a beautiful day-a perfect day. The sky, the sun, the air... the Grateful Dead has a WHOLE channel on Sirius and I can't get enough of it lately. So I called Pete. My brother was getting lost in Kansas City, but we were still able to shoot the shit about the Dead and other good things. I stopped at the Farm to get our beautiful vegetables. Broccoli, carrots, leeks, grapes, tomatoes, eggplants, butternut squash-these gorgeous, delicious vegetables. And then I went home. HOME. That beautiful place-where my kids were running around with Jack and Natalie while the dads put wood in the back of Jay's truck. So peaceful and right. We ate pizza. I made cupcakes for Ella because 5 years ago that lovely bundle came into this world and she is going to celebrate with her class. Pink cupcakes. I snuggled my girls and am learning that Ella's new friend needs to go to the doctor's a lot and can't use foam-y soap so could I please get non-foamy soap for the class so that her friend can use it too or just get her her own soap. And I sat with my husband, and laughed as he fumbled through wrapping a present for Ella, and snuggled with ice cream to watch a favorite t.v. show. Through all of this the thought of this young man and his anger and sadness sneaks into my thoughts. And I know they will be floating around for a while. BUT I feel so lucky to be, in the meantime, surrounded by so much beauty.

Birthday Party!

Some pics to hold you over....

Happy Anniversary! or 10 Years Holy Crap!

10 years ago today I was nursing an uber-hangover. Looking through the world with bleary eyes-smelling faintly of last nights whiskey sours, wine, and beer. BUT it was worth it. 10 years ago yesterday my brother got married to a sweet, innocent, young woman from Iowa (I didn't know her well then-still sweet, maybe not so innocent). Their story is a one from a story book or at least a chick flick. If I have the story correct, Sarah worked in cardiac rehab in Florida, where our beloved, awesome grandfather went for therapy. My brother, at the time, lived in Florida, too. My grandfather, being who he was, kept hassling Sarah, being the pretty blonde that she was (and still is) to go on a date with my brother. Finally, not being able to resist his charm any longer and I think he had a flattering picture of my brother, Sarah consented to a date. Luckily for my brother, Sarah did not hold it against him that he drove a teal Eagle Talon (though I would have) and the rest is history. My grandfather was the best man at their wedding. And I think this story proves TWO things. My brother is the luckiest son of a bitch, I have ever known AND good things happen to good people.
Congratulations You TWO! You have done good. And we love you here in Maine.

Hysterical

Leave Bill Belichick Alone

We had a Mishka in our house.

My friend Tasha and her daughter, Marina-aka Mishka-little mouse in Russian-came for dinner last night. The girls always get excited when they come to visit. As you can see from pictures we tend to get a little "kid" wild. The costumes come out, the musical instruments come out-plays are performed, girls turn into MONSTERS, songs are sung. We love those Towers.

I wonder how many kids have had this done to them in our house? It is a Nason initiation, I think.

Mishka-such a cutie!

Molly is a princess!


Tasha-Such a good sport-initiator of fun.

Kindergarten Open House

We went to Ella's Open House tonight. She was a fabulous tour guide and even read a couple books to us. Fabulous night.