Snow in MID October!

...is TOO early! We were in the middle of enjoying 60 degree weather, and beautiful fall foliage, when out of nowhere we found ourselves in a snowglobe...

Christina took these priceless photos of Wesley feeling snowflakes fall on his hands....

My 1st 10K

I ran the Tufts 10K for Women on Columbus Day with over 8000 other participants- mostly runners, but some walkers as well. The route is a great one, starting at Boston Common, crossing the Charles River, running along the river on Memorial Drive, and then crossing back over to Beacon St.

For my first 10K race, I started out great and ultimately did O.K. I tried to focus on other things besides considering bladder suspension surgery after having to take a pit-stop 1/2 way through the race. Aside from my stop (SO frustrating!), I ran the whole race. Seeing Wayne and Thomas cheering me on for the last stretch put a smile on my face for that last quarter mile. So much of my life is focused on my kids; it's nice to work at a personal goal, go for it, and have the support of my family. They're pretty amazing.

PS...That evening, Wayne and I met up with his cousin, Stephen & his wife Michelle for a lobster roll and NE clam "chowda" at the Barking Crab on the Boston Wharf, and then a cannoli at Mike's Pastry in the bustling North End. We're so glad we got to visit while they were in town for the weekend! Needless to say, any calories lost during my 10K were quickly replaced...what's a diet anyway?!

Cousin time is Important!

We were so excited to have Wayne's brother, Matt, his wife, Heather and their two beautiful children, Mattie & Reddin come visit us recently. This was the first time we got to meet Reddin & we're in love! What a sweet baby. Grace, Caroline & Mattie played from morning until night & had a ball making more cousin memories.... jumping on beds, playing dress up, dolls, Wii bowling, and going on our daytime excursions....

We made our annual trek together to Tougas Farm for another 1/2 bushel of apples--- the Gala's & Honey Crisps were at their peak.

Monday we went to Dean Park for playground fun and fishing. Caroline begged to go to school, but I kept Grace home to play with Mattie. (When Grace went to school on Tuesday she told her teacher that she stayed home to play with her cousin and her teacher said, "I don't blame you. Cousin time is important.") Amen!

At Dean Park, Wesley caught his first fish, a delicious bass. We were impressed, however Wesley had a different reaction....

It was fun double dating to Chipotle, having Matthew share some of his pilot stories with the young men Wayne teaches at church, shopping with Heather, walking the halls at church with Reddin---(he's so light & so very sweet) & whipping up some ornaments & applique t's for Mattie & Reddin, & Wayne's "knock your socks off" Rocky Road ice-cream.

It was a great weekend and we hope to share our autumn with our FL family again next year!

Cousin time in dreamland....

Why I blog...

I love giving and receiving comments on blogs---sharing thoughts and support; keeping in touch that way.

And then there's the main reason.... last week I spent 3 consecutive days putting my first book together based on my blog.

I used Blurb and their BookSmart program. It felt GREAT organizing my 2008 blog posts and making this book for my family. I left out a few misc. posts, and focused on our family memories of '08. There's a sidebar on the left of BookSmart that links my iPhoto albums, my blog posts, and the imported photos or photos that I posted on my blog. I loved being able to easily add more photos, or better quality photos than the flickr photos I've used now and then. It was easy to edit the book, choose from lots of layouts, and create my own. For the last page I copy/pasted the '08 "quotables" from my right sidebar. I was amazed that in 3 days I pulled together an entire year (although the laundry sure piled up). I'm going to order one hard cover copy for Wayne and I and one softcover copy for the kids to thumb through whenever. As the kids get older and leave the nest, I'll order them their own hard cover copies of our family history, and they can order more copies themselves.

A major family Christmas gift and labor of love checked off my list!

xo,

Rebecca

Christmas ornaments in September

When I ended up pulling an all nighter last Christmas eve making ONE MORE Christmas gift for the little girls, I learned my lesson....I need to start creating for Christmas much earlier in the year.

I can check the annual personalized ornament of my to do list. I was inspired by the ABC blog ornaments my SIL, Shayla made last year (she got the idea HERE), however I don't have a set of ABC blocks and didn't want to buy 2 sets since we have kids with the same letter for their first name (each child's ABC block is their first initial). SO, I decided to make my own version. That said, obviously using ABC blocks cuts the time required by quite a bit since you eliminate the painting/sanding/sealing process.

OR you could use plain block like I did and still omit the painting step. Just cut the scrapbook paper and photo the same size as the block. Rather than stencil initials & ages, you could Mod Podge stickers or cut outs over scrapbook paper.

Christmas ABC block ornaments

Supplies (all can be found at Michael's Craft store):

2" unfinished wood blocks (or cut your own)

Acrylic paint, I chose lime green in the Craft Smart brand, and white

Mod Podge

paint brushes, one for paint and one for Mod Podge

alphabet stencil (optional- I freehanded the set I made for our kids)

mini screw eyes (found in wood crafts section)

scrapbook paper in various Christmas color patterns and colors, cut into squares just shy of 2" (as I made these I wondered if fabric scraps would work too...could be cute!)

a recent photograph of your child, cut to the same size as the scrapbook squares

sander

sealer

coordinating ribbon or string

Here's how I made my block ornaments:

1. Paint the blocks & sand them. Using primer first is an option if you're painting with a light color, want solid coverage, and don't want to paint several coats. Let dry completely.

2. Stencil the age of the child on one side & the first initial of the child on another side of the block. Let dry.

3. Mod Podge scrapbook squares to all of the other sides BUT ONE.

4. Mod Podge the photograph to the last side. Let dry.

5. Do a final sanding around corners and edges if you want.

6. Spray a coat or paint a coat of sealer on your blocks (optional). Let dry.

7. Screw in the mini screw eye to the top of the ornament.

8. Add ribbon or string to the hook and the ornament is ready to hang from the Christmas tree.

These were so inexpensive and easy to make, I made a bunch for friends and nieces and nephews who came to visit last weekend and those whom we'll see at Thanksgiving too. So if you get an early Christmas package from us (we draw names in our family), act surprised!

Clambake '09

The last couple days have been hard. Our stalwart van died. It's just a car, but we've had it since '01 and it took us on over 170K miles worth of memories. We're juggling the Honda Accord coupe while we try to figure out a replacement.

We've been planning on going to our former ward's annual clambake for months and Wayne was going to bike there, but we can't all fit in the Honda, SO.... being the thoughtful hub he is, Wayne opted to hold the fort with Wes and encouraged me to go up to the clambake and see a dear friend of mine from my mission, as well as friends from our former ward. Crane Beach is one of our favorite beaches in MA. Today the weather was the best we've had for a clambake in years, 60's and breezy, and the beach outing was good medicine for my attitude. Thanks, Wayne!

PS. On the long drive to Crane Beach we pointed out lots of familiar sites along the way. After several stories that started with, "Remember when...," Grace said, "Let's talk about good times we've had all the way there."

Hearing the kids lovingly recall good times, even the bloopers, makes all the effort to get some housework done, get our crew ready, pile in the car, compartmentalize some stress, and have a really nice time making yet more wonderful memories.