Traversing the Town

Take a walk with us through our neighborhood....

First, I want to point out that a minor miracle has occurred.  In storms past, our neighborhood is 19,381st (or so) on the priority list for snowplowing and usually gets plowed about 3 days after the snow is melted. 

 

(looking right from our driveway)

This storm, however, we had a guy with a snowplow attached to his pick-up truck go through our neighborhood every hour or so during the storm.  Since we know several people around town who haven't seen a plow at all yet, we figure that it was somebody in our neighborhood who decided he wanted to be able to leave the neighborhood before Easter and bought his own plow.  Whoever he is, he is my new hero!  

  

(looking left from our driveway)

Walking on a little further we found several evergreen trees that had split or had large branches broken off.  Thankfully, none of them looked like they caused any damage to property.   

  

A little further on here and you'll find the main entrance to our neighborhood.  Normally, we use it several times a day, but whenever there is snow or ice of any kind we completely avoid it.   It's a rather steep incline right into a busy street and they rarely, if ever, plow or treat it.   As per usual, it is still a hazard. 

  

Then a little later on, if you happened to notice some giggly girls dangerously traversing a large snow mountain at a busy intersection today, that would be us (except I was taking pictures instead of giggling) with no sidewalk to stand on.

Cami and her friends were feeling pretty tall after being able to touch the crosswalk thingy (does it have a name?) before crossing the street.  After tomorrow's growth spurt, er,  storm they probably won't even have to lift their arms to reach it. 

 

It was shortly after crossing the street that we discovered that the minor miracle mentioned earlier was more monumental than originally thought.  Our little street is actually plowed better than this major local thoroughfare.  

  

After a little grocery shopping where people had once again emptied the shelves of basic necessities (like eggs and bananas) we went home and greeted Ashton Kutcher who had made more than $300 in the last few days shoveling driveways with his friend.  

 

What's that you say?   You didn't know that I gave birth to Ashton Kutcher.

  Truth be told, I didn't really know that either, but when I logged onto facebook this week I found this photo as my son's profile picture.   I was quite impressed with the fabulous genetics I seemed to pass that way and then figured having an in in Hollywood these days may not be such a bad thing. ;)

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Pigs Flying By and Dropping a Rocky Road

Don't ask me how it's happened. Maybe it was the h1n1 germs causing delusions or something, but it's official now....
pigs were spotted flying right over our house this past Thursday and dropping us a little surprise.

I'm not pregnant, we're not moving, my Christmas shopping isn't already done, and my kids most certainly did not clean their rooms without being asked, sooooooooo it must be something REALLY stunning and unexpected.

Okay fine. I'll stop teasing and just tell you.

An alien briefly gained mind control over me and when I awoke I was greeted by...

Rocky the puggle.
He's got all his shots, he's already neutered, he's totally housebroken, he's playful and cuddly, and given to us completely free.

In my moment of alien control I was convinced that it was the best head start we were ever going to get at this whole dog ownership thing, which all my kids (namely Cami) have been so desperately eager to try....
We took him on as a trial of sorts, but I'm already getting a little nervous that he might be here to stay. Not only is he exceptionally cute and cuddly, but there are a few people who are already getting pretty attached.
Blasted aliens.

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Day 251--Back to School

This dark and dreary day started early with Glen getting Spencer off to his first day of high school. Since it was the only day before seminary started, Glen just drove him all the way in.

Shortly after that I took a rainy walk with Cami and Megan to the bus stop and dropped her off for her first day of middle school!


Almost an hour and a half later it was finally time to get Adam and Emma off to school!

If it weren't for the fact that Ellie was beside herself with boredom with all her favorite play mates suddenly off to school all day, it would have been a happy day for everyone all around!

Day 247--Anti-Spontaneity

Last night we learned that Spencer wouldn't have any football practice again until Tuesday, so we started hatching this idea that we would take a spontaneous trip out of town today just because we could. We hadn't been anywhere together as a family since our rainy trip to Hershey/Amish country in early summer and didn't think we would be able to because of Spencer's football that he's had since early August.

Today was the official middle school and high school orientation day. Spence and Cami took the bus to their schools, rotated around to their respective classes, and got to reconnect with old friends. The bus dropped them both off at the elementary school, where I had walked the mile or so and let the kids run and play on the playground before taking them all home.

While there at the playground Cami started getting wind of the idea that we would go on a last minute trip out of town today. Rather than being ecstatic as we thought she would be...

she was SO ANNOYED with us. Her, Megan, and Mikhaela had been hatching out all these fun ideas that they were going to do tonight at Marissa's party and she was so completely irritated that we were going to take her away from all that.

Glen was able to get off early enough so we jumped in the car to go finish what we started in Hershey in June. We never did get to go to HersheyPark since the weather was too horrible and we thought it would be a fun way to end the summer. Cami still was NOT happy with us in the slightest when we left, but I think she's coming around now with the anticipation.

We checked the weather before leaving and it's supposed to be 81 degrees and sunny tomorrow!

Too bad we didn't get the memo that Emma was going to come down with a fever before we even hit Frederick. We assume it's the same bug that took down Ellie earlier this week, but we're hoping to keep the vomiting far away....knock on wood.

Ack! Toting around a sick eight-year-old does NOT sound like a fun day. Sure hope she fits in the stroller....

Day 240---Driving is for the Dogs

Today's pictures are a pretty random assortment:

One of Cami's best friends helps take care of dogs for others. Cami is insanely jealous by this and takes every opportunity possible to "help" Megan out in her responsibilities.


I don't know how my kids have such a sixth sense, but seemingly every time Megan and her brother walk by our house with their little brood of doggies, my kids know it and beeline it out the door to pet and play with them.


This is a feather that Adam found when we walked Ellie to Rachel's birthday party this morning. He was really excited by how big it was and the fact that it had the cool stripes. We thought that maybe it came from an owl or other large bird.


Finally, although we did walk to Rachel's house, most of our time lately has been spent in the car. Between the 20 miles or so each day to take Spencer back and forth to football practice, Cami's middle school "summer institute", and Cami's babysitting job ...we've been averaging A LOT of miles each day this week. I, for one, am already sick of the chauffeuring, but imagine that it will get a lot worse before it gets better.

Day 236--Adopted?

Today was the first day of middle school orientation. They spend the week getting to know people, learning to open lockers, and exploring the school. Cami's friends showed up at our house bright and early so they could "primp" together.


And although this picture was actually taken last night, I thought it significant enough to share it here...

She's ironing. Jeans. I don't iron anything and she's ironing jeans. Whose child is she anyway?

Play Dates: Then and Now

Play dates when they're four:

Princess dresses, tiaras, dolls, and fighting over who gets to be the mom when they play house.

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Play dates when they're twelve:

Straightening each other's hair, trying on each other's new school clothes,

manicures, applying make-up to each other, and ogling over Zac Efron.

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Both of them pretending to be older, but somehow the 12-year-old version seems a little too realistic to me and scares the living daylights out of me. While Ellie and her friends look fancy and cute all dressed up in their princess clothes, Cami and her friends just look beautiful. I can't imagine the day is too far away when little frog princes really do come knocking on our door. AAAAAGH!

Disclaimer: While it may appear that I have kids old enough to go to middle school and high school, it's merely all an illusion. I am still a young mom with young kids. Got it?

Day 168--Bye bye Elementary School!

For whatever reason, elementary school graduation is a really big deal here in Virginia. The graduates all dress up in their finest, have a really long, boring ceremony, then go off to party at Outback Steakhouse. There was a whole lot of silliness going on there at Outback today, mostly involving the boys teasing the girls and the girls reacting dramatically to it. Oh yay, I can't wait for the next 6 years or so.

Day 127--Rockin' Out at the Air & Space Museum

Leave it to Cami and her friends to find a way to dance at the Air & Space Museum. Luckily I had my camera handy to capture the moment!

Just as a side note, I wanted to mention that today was the easiest field trip chaperoning job EVER.

Cami + 3 best friends=No Stress Whatsoever!

Scientific Thoughts

It's that time of year again!

The time to buy tri-fold boards and start feeding your plants chocolate milk. The time to clear the library shelves of anything that remotely relates to your topic. A time to renew your friendship with that lady down the street who majored in bio-chemical engineering.

It's the science fair. The time to crawl under a table and hide out until its all over.

I usually try to steer Cami towards picking a child of a scientist as her partner, minimizing my involvement to an occasional pizza splurge, but this year Cami insisted on having her best friend be her partner instead. Imagine the nerve!

Since sitting in the back seat wasn't going to be an option this year, I tried to steer them toward some kind of useful project, like "Which mopping method is most effective?" or "Which steel wool cleans ovens the best?".

When those ideas didn't fly I offered the idea, "What reaction will I get if I say 'Yes, M'am' after everything my mom says?" . I thought I had a winner there, but she merely rolled her eyes and said something about me being weird.

After ruling out compost heaps, time machines, and anything to do with mice a decision was finally made:

Purpose: What will happen to your teeth if you soak them in various liquids for unnaturally long periods of time?

Results:
Water: go ahead
Milk: slight discoloration, but otherwise okay
Lemonade: your teeth will shrink and discolor slightly
Diet Coke: is the devil's drink


Sorry to gross you out, but I am compelled by my sense of duty to inform you that if you were to take a swig of Diet Coke and swish it around in your mouth for the next 48 hours your teeth will look just like this:

By the way, the judge's loved it.




Stay tuned tomorrow for more on science fair projects...

Day 89--Getting Bored?

For the first time since starting this Project 365, I'm starting to feel really stretched by it. It seems like my pictures are all the same and most of days are a lot like the one before and the one after it, and there's not all that much interesting going on. Sorry if it's a bore; I'll try to plan some really exciting outings soon. Since it's Monday, our house was filled to the brim with friends all afternoon, so yet again here's a picture of some of them jumping on the trampoline on a beautiful Spring day.

Day 68--Love thy Neighbor

Sadly I have to admit that we don't wash our car very often. However with all the driving around to the airports, funeral, viewing, etc. we had to do during Sunday/Monday's snowstorm we ended up with our car just caked with salt and chemicals. It was too grimy even for our low standards...so I set aside my laziness just long enough to send the kids out to wash it off.

When our neighbor saw me shooting pictures of the kids in process, he asked me [seriously]...

"It's been so long since your car was clean that you're taking a picture of the occasion?"

Uh, yeah. He's been scratched from our Christmas cookie list.

Day 58--Twins!

Twin day at school.

Now that Cami's actually gone on shopping trips with her friends, it's not quite as hard to find someone to be identical twins with.

Free Dance Lessons!

I was having such a grumpy day, when I looked at on my back porch and saw this: Cami and her friend Megan dancing wildly on our picnic table.

Megan got a little self-conscious when I pulled out the camera.


But not my Cami...
she kept going and going...
and going!

Anyone want dance lessons? If nothing else it's sure to make you smile. :)

Day 43--Sweet Dance Moves!

So I hadn't taken a single picture all day (too grumpy and too busy), when I looked outside on our back deck and saw this sight:

Cami and her friend Megan totally dancing and waving on top of our picnic table. Their friend who lives two doors down was dancing on her table as well.

At least it worked for a good picture [and a smile].

When's My Day Off?

• I'm totally done with spending half a day scraping off our car!

• I never want to ice skate down our front steps ever again.

• I've discovered that having the kids out of school 9 out of the past 12 days is officially over my limit.

• And I'm so done with driving on slippery, untreated roads with a whole bunch of idiots who have no idea how to drive in the snow.

Please don't let school be canceled tomorrow!Please don't let school be canceled tomorrow!Please don't let school be canceled tomorrow!Please don't let school be canceled tomorrow!Please don't let school be canceled tomorrow!Please don't let school be canceled tomorrow!...