April Fool's

Well, I didn't have much of an audience for April 1st this year. Travis stayed at work all night, Scout is in Philadelphia with the 5th grade (also known as "Philly without parents"), and Croz doesn't know what's going on. If he did, I think he would really enjoy April Fool's day. So that really only left me with one target: Calder. AKA Mr. Grumpy Pants.

I did the blue dye at the bottom of the cereal bowl trick, so when you pour the milk it starts turning blue. I thought it was awesome! He barely acknowledged it. Oh well--- at least he didn't start crying and screaming, "IT'S NOT MY BIRTHDAY ANYMORE!!!"

I also put one of Crosby's diapers in his lunch with his snack, and wrote April Fool's on it with a sharpie. When I was up at the school for Pizza Friday, I yelled, "Hey how was your SNACK?!" and I got the tiniest of smirks. I hope he brings that diaper home. They ain't cheap.

So that's the report from NY. I'm trying to come up with a great idea to do to Scout when I pick her up off the bus from Philly at 4 PM. Ezra suggested we all have water guns and spray her. It's already rain/snowing, so not a terrible idea. I'll let you know if I come up with anything good.


See the joy in his face? This kid really loves holidays and tricks. Snicker. Just like his Grampa, in so many ways!

One of the best days EVER

On our last trip to CO, Scout and I got to do the funnest thing ever. Nana had found a company that does Dog Sledding, and thought... "What 10 year old girl would enjoy an outing like that?!" So she bought us tickets and signed us up. Scout could barely contain herself all week... she just wanted to get up to the mountains and get on her dog sled.

There was a group of 8 of us, and we all took turns driving and riding in the sled. Whoever wasn't on the sled was pulled by a snowmobile on a little cart thing. We were with the nicest people, and one of the ladies took these pictures for us and emailed them to me after. My pictures are not nearly this good... taken with my iPhone while hanging off the back of a snowmobile!

One of the highlights was when I was the rider and we went around a curve, and suddenly I became aware that Scout had fallen off. I started yelling, "I've LOST MY DRIVER!!!" and was digging my heels into the snow to try and slow down the dogs. Luckily, they are super well-trained and as soon as the snowmobile stopped, they stopped. But I was picturing myself having to do some kind of Indian Jones move where I'd have to get into driving position on the sled to stop the dogs. All while wearing my sister's Sorel boots that weigh 10,000 pounds and are about 2 sizes too big.

All in all, it was such a great adventure. One we will remember for our whole lives! Next up, Iditarod.

Thanks Nana. You are the BEST!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Stratfords got crafty!

We blatently ripped this idea off of Design Mom from last year, and they came out so well (and were so easy!) we might do them every year from here on out.

The Scarf

I meant to do this post in December. But really, the fact that I got anything done in December, with all the Christmas madness, is remarkable. I spend January shoveling (post forthcoming). So I'm spending an icy Groundhog day doing what I should have done 2 months ago!

A year ago November, I was in a really bad place. My dad had just died. My youngest son was diagnosed as autistic (PDD-NOS) and I was barely surviving the constant feelings of stress, sadness, anxiety, grief... you can imagine. I wasn't functioning well.

I was talking to a lovely mom of one of Scout's friends, who has since become a dear friend of mine, and we were talking knitting. Barbara is an amazing knitter. Knitress? Whatever. She was wearing a very chic chevron striped scarf that was long and narrow and so cool. I admired it, and she encouraged me to knit one... even though I haven't knit much since my days as a Girl Scout, when I learned to knit for a badge.

She went one step further than encourage me... a few days later she dropped off a set needles, the pattern, and about 10 rows already knit to get me started. She suggested I could practice with her leftover yarn until I was ready to buy my own yarn. I was encouraged just enough to start, and found it soothing. I bought some yarn and on our long annual drive to DC for Thanksgiving, I was on my way... knitting a scarf that I planned to give my mom for Christmas that year. [Ironically my friend Barbara learned shortly after Thanksgiving that she had breast cancer, and she has spent the past year kicking its a**!].

Knitting that scarf took me a full year. I would work on it slowly, put it away for a month or so, pick it back up. It was hard. I made a ton of mistakes, and had to pull it out and reknit it. You get the point. I drug that thing all over the place with me. I finally finished it almost exactly 1 year later. Barbara blocked it for me and I mailed it out to my mom, 1 year late!

I still had two half skeins of the very expensive yarn left, so I decided to knit another one. I could not believe how much easier it was the 2nd time. I got nearly 1/4 finished by the end of Thanksgiving break, only to discover that it was impossible to buy more of the yarn in the same colors, so I pulled it out and started a new pattern.

The thing is, I couldn't get past the parallels to the scarf and my own life. Last year was so hard. And getting through it seemed to take forever. I made mistakes; I had to do things differently and start over a few times. But as this new year begins, I'm realizing that this year is going to be like the 2nd scarf. A lot easier. Not easy by a long shot, but easier than the year before. I know what I'm doing now... or know MORE of what I'm doing. I'm slowly but surely figuring out Crosby... and he is making slow but steady progress. I miss my dad like crazy, but I am able to remember him now without constantly thinking about the painful end he endured. I was so worried about my mom and how she would cope... she has surpassed all our expectations in the many ways she has navigated this year. She is a rock. I'm so thankful that last year is finished (and the scarf is finished too!) and am hoping this year will be better for us all.

And I'm proud of myself for finishing the scarf!

It's the most wonderful time...of the year

Oh Halloween, how I love you.

We had our ward Halloween party last night. I spent all afternoon masterminding different costumes that might work with my current physique. Several of my ideas included painting and exposing my belly, but I couldn't figure out a way to do that without simultaneously exposing the back fat that is helping everything stay balanced around here. I finally gave up after trying on about 20 shirts, none of which fit - and went with the one that did. Dave's soccer jersey. Yes, I was a soccer player...possibly the lamest costume in the history of the world. I promise to come up with something better for Sunday. And yet, I still won funniest costume at the party which leads me to believe two things:

1. There was very little costume competition
2. No matter what I'm wearing, I look funny.

I do find it ironic that literally the only picture we've taken of this pregnancy I happen to be dressed as a soccer player. I really need to get a less ridiculous shot for the picture montage I will make of baby girl's birth story.


And as long as we are looking at this picture, I would like to draw your attention to the girl in blue sitting behind me. I know, I know. It would be a lot easier to see her if I wasn't quite so wide. Anyway, she is actually pregnant...and only about 3 weeks behind me. I know what you are thinking. "But she doesn't really look pregnant..." TELL ME ABOUT IT! When she tells people she is 31 weeks pregnant I know it shouldn't feel like an insult directed at me...but...

Pictures of the rest of the fam in costume coming soon.

Sunday style

Upon picking up Oz from nursery today, this was what awaited me. Apparently he had a blow out, so Trav had to take off his pants.

Nothing goes better with Blundstone boots than a diaper! and very chunky thighs. Mmmmm.

Apple picking...in the backyard

We have an apple tree in our backyard. Our first year in this house we got zero apples due to a late frost. This year there were so many apples growing I was dreaming of homemade apple sauce, apple cider, apple pie, apple butter, apple crisp & apple jam. Little did I know there were others in the hood who had their eyes on our apples also.


At the end of the season (today, as proclaimed by Dave) we picked 35 good apples off the tree, and we think we got maybe 1% of the apples. So, we estimate the rest of the apple harvest was divided as follows:

2% or 70 apples went to "the kids." Brig and his friends liked to pick the apples, throw the apples, roll the apples down the slide, you get the idea. For some reason the hundreds of apples laying in the grass held no appeal. They insisted on doing their own picking.

16% or 420 apples went to worms. So many apples looked nearly perfect from the outside but had that little black spot indicating some creature had inhabited this apple for a time. Argh.

85% or 2975 apples went to the most obnoxious gang in the hood, the squirrels. Have I mentioned how much I hate squirrels? Perched on the highest tree branch they would pick an apple, eat a bite, and drop it in our yard. Pick a new apple, eat a bite, and drop it in our yard. While Brig was playing in the backyard I would pick up the ruined apples and throw them at the squirrels. I never even got close enough to make them flinch. After hucking about 100 apples over the course of the summer it occurred to me my neighbor might not be a big fan of me throwing apples directly into his backyard.

Well, the apples are fantastic. They are crisp, sweet, and organic. I'll be lucky to get 1 apple pie and a few apple slices. Next year I'm going to be a little more defensive about protecting my crop. That's right, some squirrels are going to die.