diapers and love

some big news!!

2010-08-16T14:09:00.002-04:00

So, we took a trip out to Utah about a month ago. We went to visit Peter's family and had a blast. Well, toward the end of our trip we got a phone call. It was from our adoption caseworker out here in Rhode Island. She had some news for us which took us completely by surprise! She told us that there was a birthmom out in Utah who wanted to meet us. She had chosen us as the family she wanted her baby to go to when he/she is born in December. We cried and hugged and I probably jumped up and down once or twice or three times. But we didn't tell Peter's family right away. We wanted to wait until we knew for sure we'd be able to meet her while we were out there. Once we had an appointment and things felt a bit more certain we told our families the exciting news.

We got to meet our wonderful birthmom a couple of days later, just 4 days before we would be flying home to Rhode Island! It turned out that our birthmom also wasn't going to be in Utah much longer, but would be going back to her hometown in another state in two days. We saw it as a miracle that we happened to be in the same place at the same time when she made her decision about us. She told us that she thought she might not get to meet us at all until the baby was born since we lived so far away, but when she found out we were in Utah at the time she couldn't believe it!

Our first visit with her was awesome. We loved her right away (just like we did with Sam's birthmom), which was really incredible! It was amazing to see how many similarities we have with her and her family. She wanted to meet us before making her final decision, so it was a bit nerve racking going into the visit. Once we sat and talked with her for a while though, it all felt so natural and it just felt good. After about 2 hours of talking with her and her mom and her aunts we all said goodbye, but planned another time to see eachother the next day for a picnic in a nearby park. This time they wanted us to bring Sam along so she could meet him, too.

The next day at the park our birthmom gave us something. In our first visit we somehow got on the topic of how nerdy hip-packs are. Peter piped up and defended them by saying how convenient they were and how he would wear one if he had one. At the park our birthmom gave us a hip-pack. Hilarious. We thought it was just a gag gift, but she told us to open it up. At first we didn't really understand what was in it, but then everyone in her family got their cameras out and it made me wonder what was going on.

So, here we are opening up the hip-pack and seeing what's inside:

Here's what is was:

Instantly we all started to cry and Sam just wondered what was going on. Peter and I each hugged her. For those of you who haven't ever known a birthmom then just trust me when I tell you that in that moment you feel like you are hugging an angel, and you are. It's difficult to describe, but we feel so much love for her and her family. They have just pulled us in like we are part of their family. Our birthmom told us that before she found a family she felt like her baby was homeless because she knew adoption was the right thing for her to do. Then, once she found us she said she feels like her baby now has a home and that everything will work out right. It brings us so much peace to know her and see her courage and strength. She really is an angel in our eyes.

I waited to make the big announcement here until we found out if she would be having a boy or a girl. We found out last week that we'll be bringing home a little brother for Sam! We are so excited! Now I feel like I can buckle down in all the little preparations that come with a new little baby. I love that part:)

Sam is super excited to be a big brother sometime around December 30th! I hope I'll be able to keep up with two boys!!! If they're both this cute and hilarious then I think I'll be all right.

block island trip

2010-06-23T15:52:00.007-04:00

We took the ferry over to Block Island on Saturday! So much fun. We took our bikes with us and enjoyed a very full day of biking, sight-seeing, swimming, and lounging in the sun! Read more about our day here. I'll be doing most of my blogging from my art blog from now on. Consolidating.

Uncle David came to visit us last weekend, too! We had a blast hanging out with him, having a picnic in Newport, watching the kite flyers at Brenton Point, and eating good food. Sam just loves to play with him and be with him wherever he is!

dapper sam

2010-05-31T21:56:00.003-04:00

I'm a thrift store kinda gal. Our local Salvation Army is ah-mazing. I discovered it shortly after we moved here almost 2 year ago. I scoped out all the nearby thrift stores and landed on this one as my favorite. First of all it's huge. I'm talking warehouse huge. There is a sea of clothing, shoes, bags, furniture, etc... For those of you who are skeptical of shopping at second hand shops, I feel sorry that you can't see this place. The people who work there really work hard and they keep it clean, organized, and easy to shop in. Sam and I like to visit. I get most of our clothes there. I love to find things I can bring home and alter a bit to work perfectly! Well, about a week ago we were perusing the merchandise and I saw this white shirt and grey vest in the boy's section. I instantly knew I should get it for Sam for church. He was very excited to put in on this Sunday while we were getting ready. I thought he looked pretty spiffy, and he was awful proud!

p.s. His cute tie and pants are also from good ol' S.A. Gotta love thrift stores!!

kayaking + making yogurt

2010-05-29T14:10:00.003-04:00

Today we went with some friends and their kids to the Barrington Beach. Peter wanted to use the kayak he's borrowing for the summer from a school friend. So, a bunch of us just planted ourselves on the beach all morning to let the kids go wild and play around in the water. Peter went out for a bit in the kayak with another friend who rented one for the day. Then I took a turn (it's a blast!!). By then Sam had warmed up to the idea of sitting in the boat. Peter took him out like this for almost a half and hour. Sam didn't want to get out!

Every time I came around to take pictures of Sammy in his big kayak he was so proud. Then he would wave and say "See ya later Mommy!" He was ready to just take off in that thing.

Post beach hair and smiles. There's nothing like a day at the beach to wear you out and make it really easy to get comfortable in some dry, warm clothes to take a nice long nap! Bonus! See that little mustache he's sporting?

I made us some strawberry yogurt when we got home. We are ready to put some strawberry plants in our garden (planting later today when Peter returns from his second kayaking excursion for the day), but the plants are already producing berries, so Sam gobbled up one nice juicy red one. Mmm...warm, juicy strawberries from the garden! Well, when we came back inside he insisted on eating more strawberries. I pulled out the ones in the fridge and whipped up some homemade strawberry yogurt.

3 big strawberries (blended in food processor till small pieces)
three big dollops of plain yogurt
1-2 teaspoons sugar

Delicious. I wish I had a picture to show you of how pretty it is too, but Sam and I practically licked the bowl clean.

a spencer family montage

2010-05-28T13:48:00.005-04:00

Last weekend we washed our car and truck. Sam was such a great helper. He was really scrubbing hard. One of his favorite things in the world is getting wet on a hot summer day, so he always has a blast when we do water activities (water the garden, wash the car, play in the kiddie pool, etc...). In fact, he carries around a squirt bottle in the house even so he can spray it on himself and in his mouth. Hilarious.

A couple of weeks ago one of our neighbors/friends gave Sam this little outfit. It's from Japan and is a little boy's kimono outfit. Her kids are also a quarter Japanese (like Sam), so she had this from her little boy who outgrew it. It's fun for Sam to share that heritage with our neighbors and their kids, they are our Japanese connection:)

He's got monkey feet.

Sam and I went to the Barrington Town Beach earlier this week in the evening. The day had been pretty warm, so it was nice to be outside when it was beginning to cool off a bit. There weren't very many people there, so we just laid out a blanket and Sam dug with his shovel and bucket, etc... Sam has decided that the beach is his new favorite place. He asks me every day if we are going to the beach. I love it, too, so we'll probably be spending lots of time there this summer!

Barrington Town Beach.

Sam literally rolls around in the sand now. It's like he's an animal who has been away from his home for a long time. He just rolls around and practically cuddles with the sand. It's so funny to watch!

yesterday's project + the beach

2010-05-20T13:01:00.003-04:00

The last time we visited my family (um, in March maybe?) my mom handed me a trash bag and told me to fill it up with whatever old fabric I wanted that she was going to donate. Now, when I lived at home as a teenager I shared a room with my mom's sewing machine and craft supplies, including the fabric. There was more than one occasion when I'd emerge from my room wearing some handmade thing I would call a shirt or a skirt, etc. My mom would inevitably be mad because I always used her fabric that was intended for something else. I just couldn't learn my lesson to ask first. I guess I was of the mentality that it was better to act first and ask for forgiveness later. She probably wouldn't have been so upset by it if I'd actually created something worth wearing:) Needless to say, when my mom said I could rifle through some of those same fabrics and take what I wanted, I got right to it.

I didn't have any specific projects at the time for any of it, but I certainly started to think of some. The pillow shams I'd made almost a year ago for my couch pillows were looking pretty shabby. They were made from a thin yellow cotton fabric and I just wasn't happy with them anymore. Not to mention Sam has had his grubby little hands all over them, leaving his mark all over the place:)

So, I pulled out some of that fabric yesterday to see if I could use any of it for new shams. I found a nice rough linen fabric, undyed. It looks and feels so substantial, like the material from an old grain sack. Beautiful! Then there was this beautiful deep mustard yellow fabric with cream colored flowers. I instantly knew it had to be pillows. So, I cut out pieces from the yellow fabric for one 12" x 12" pillow and for one 15" x 15" pillow. The reverse of the yellow fabric is the same cream color as the flowers, but with some of the yellow print visible through it. I decided to use the reverse side as the back of each pillow, to give some contrast to the finished pillows. Then I cut out the pieces for the beige pillow shams. I decided to take some of the selvedge edge to make little loopy tags in the corners of the pillows (just for that extra detail). I sewed them up quick (pillows are the best in that way!). The shams have an overlapping opening in the back to make it easy to put on and take off. I put the new shams over the pillow forms and stuffed the yellow pillows with cotton/poly fill.

Here's the final result:

I'm so happy with them. In love really! I've already had two people tell me they were surprised to know I didn't buy them at a store, but made them myself. I think it's the little tags that throws people off, so I'm glad I added that little touch. When Sam woke up from his nap he put his teddy bear against the pillows and stood back and said, "I wuv dem mommy". I'll take his compliments any day!

Yesterday, before the nap and sewing project, Sam and I had to run a couple of errands. I ended up all the way down on Aquidneck Island (Newport) to go to a store down there. Afterward we were so close to the beach that I decided we should just stop by for a few minutes to take some pictures. I am always looking for photos for painting ideas, and what better than windy, stormy beach weather?! Sam insisted on walking along the beach, and it was just the perfect temperature, so we walked for about 10 minutes or so.

This is where I live everyone:)

{Avo, I think you'd love to come see us!}

cape cod

2010-05-17T14:39:00.004-04:00

Sam on our own little "private" beach we found in Provincetown (on the end tip of Cape Cod). We drove around and found a parking space across the street from this tiny beach, and we were the only ones there for a couple of hours! We had a picnic, played in the water, built sandcastles, collected seashells, and explored. It was so relaxing and warm and perfect.

View of the rocks on our little beach.

View of an old wharf and coast guard station. This was a little to the left of our beach.

Me in front of Anne Packard's art gallery in Provincetown. I have admired her work ever since seeing it in a gallery in Newport, RI, so we had to make a point to visit while we were there. Seeing her paintings in person was really a great treat!

Race Point Lighthouse. This is just near Provincetown.

Race Point beach. We stopped here before heading back home. Sam was begging us to play in the sand one last time, so we stopped and soaked in some more sun and ocean views. Truly beautiful!

Me and Peter. When's Sam's older we'll have him take our picture:)

Sammy playing with the sand. He is headed toward becoming a beach bum I think:) He literally rolled in the sand and got it all in his hair, diaper, etc... And he hasn't stopped talking about it since. If only there wasn't that pesky problem of sunburns, right?!

Race Point beach, with the lighthouse off in the distance (super tiny in the photo). So picturesque. Where's my bathing suit?!?!?!

how sam eats apples

2010-05-13T16:29:00.003-04:00

He eats the skin side first, then maybe he'll eat the sweet juicy middle. But usually he'll hand that part over to me and grab another slice to eat the skin again. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around with kids? Haha!

Today we built a city. Sam was really serious about it. He said we were building a castle. Just ignore the opposite facing stripes. He doesn't seem to mind, so why should I? :)

Happy Mother's Day Yesterday!

2010-05-10T08:14:00.003-04:00

So, on Saturday Peter came home a bit earlier than usual from studying for all his finals. (Today is the last one! Hooray!) I hadn't been planning on it, but he offered for me to go out and do something on my own while he played with Sam. Maybe you know me well enough to know what I decided to do. There are really only two big places I would go to shop alone when given the chance. #1 Art supplies. #2 Thrift store shopping. I chose #2 this time since it's been a good two or three months since I bought anything from a thrift store! So, I went and got a few second hand J.Crew and Banana Republic pants, shirts, and a dress. I had a blast being able to roam around without little hands tugging on me:) When I got home Peter and Sam were playing outside. Sam saw me and immediately wriggled out of Peter's arms while yelling, "Flowers for mommy! Flowers for mommy". This was, of course, said with a Sam accent--something like "fwowoes a mommy". Peter started laughing and they came upstairs amidst Sam's frantic exclamations. Then, Peter said, "That's right Sam, flowers for mommy..." Sam came into the kitchen and looked around the room. Then he said, "Where flowers go?" Then he seemed to remember something and he said, "Flowers hiding!" Then he ran into his bedroom, opened his closet door, and pointed with great animation to the top shelf inside. Sure enough, there were my Mother's Day flowers "hiding" for Sunday.

It was really one of the funniest and cutest things ever. Sam insisted I get them down. Peter was just laughing the entire time. Well, I guess we've learned you can't get a two year old to keep a secret! For just about every birthday or mother's day Peter manages to surprise me with flowers before I even wake up. I am always wondering how he does it, because he must always get the flowers the day before and then hides them somewhere, but I never know it until the next day. He's sneaky. I think Sam could be my little connection to figuring out the secrets though!

Isn't my bouquet beautiful?!

sam's first garden

2010-05-07T14:16:00.006-04:00

He's such a trooper. He's with me on every project. From Home Depot to Lowes and back to Home Depot again. From Michael's to JoAnn's. From sawing wood outside to gluing it inside. Here he is in Wal-Mart trying on a spotlight lamp for size. Turns out it was a perfect fit, for Sam and for my easel set-up. Lucky us!

He's patient with me when I'm gung ho about making my own milk paint to paint second-hand display racks for our kitchen. (This was shortly after we moved in. $3 display rack from Salvation Army, $2 for milk, $0 for tiny amount of green and blue acrylic paint I had)

He humors me when I drive by a house with junk outside, then decide I better turn around for a closer look, then pop the trunk and cram things like this in the back. I've been wanting a play table for Sam for a while, and, hey, this was free. Just needed a little scrub outside and oila!

Well, I love projects. I've always got to be doing something! Even when I watch TV I rarely sit still for it. The only thing I am really good at sitting still for is if I'm engrossed in a book that I'm dying to finish or if I'm snuggled up next to Peter to watch a movie.

And, here's our next big project for the summer:

Our Kitchen Garden!

Sam and Peter and I have been out working in the garden lots this spring already. We weeded and took out as much of the trash, glass, and random pieces of rusty hardware we could find. Dirt seems to grow these things. That and rocks.

Anyway, Sam and I went out yesterday and tilled it really good. Okay, so I tilled it and Sam looked on while I sweated and worked:) He's a great supervisor. Our garden is something like 15' x 20' or so and I did it all by garden rake! Go me! After tilling up all the soil I stamped out some pathways. One down the middle of the garden and several paths branching off to the sides. I wanted to have enough for 7 or 8 rows for planting as well as a blocked in area for Sam's little garden.

Today we went out and dug in some of my winter compost from the garage (it's not all the way composted, but I figured it's close enough and will help the soil anyway).

Then I "built" this little blocked in area for Sam to have his own little garden. We planted this first. When we went to the nursery this week to pick up some plants, Sam picked out some white daisies. We planted those in his little garden along with some zucchini seeds, thyme seeds, and some other seed that I can't remember now. Then we put in a little oregano plant, too. He was so excited about helping.

Sam's job was to put a little pinch of fertilizer pellets in each hole I dug for each plant. He was so contientious about this and took his job very seriously. I would dig a hole, put some water in and then say, "food please." Then he would repeat it with "food please" and put in his pinch of fertilizer. Then, almost every time he would say, "where food come from?" I would say, "Where does food come from Sammy?" Then he would look up at me and say, "Seeds!" Followed by a big smile and a reminder that we needed to give the plant water. Such a good little gardener! We planted six tomato plants (three from our own seeds we started about 6 weeks ago), six lettuce plants, two pepper plants, one cucumber plant, one oregano plant, three basil plants, one thyme plant, and one cilantro plant. I've got about three or four rows left for more crops. I'm planning on carrots, sweet peas, yellow squash, zucchini, and one pumpkin plant! Our downstairs neighbor has strawberries to plant, so we'll have room for those, too!! I'm so excited for our harvest this year. What a fun summer project for our whole family.

just two things here...

2010-04-23T15:05:00.004-04:00

#1 Isn't Sam a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e ??!!

This was taken in Boston at Quincy Market (mmm mmm good) while Mopsy (my mom) was visiting last weekend. We had a great time playing with her, even though Sam was getting over a week long fever and double ear infection. No worries, all is well. He's doing great now! Poor kid has really had his fair share of sick days this winter/spring. Hopefully we've got smooth sailing ahead of us into the summer!

#2 This man I love, Peter, is going to be PUBLISHED!!

Yep, he's a part of law review here at Roger Williams University Law School (his school, fyi). Law review is basically the organization at each law school that puts together the annual/semi-annual law article publications. It's tough to get on law review. Out of over 60-70 applicants last spring Peter was chosen to be one of 20 in his class (2nd year students). People are chosen to be on law review based on an article they write in the week after their first year finals are completed. GPA also goes into the decision making process. Well, once on law review, there is a huge research paper/legal article that each member has to write. They are allowed to choose their own topic, but they only have a certain amount of time to write it. Only 5 articles are chosen for each publication, so the chances of getting picked aren't great. Peter opted to write his last semester, to get it done! He worked really hard on it, but ultimately decided not to stress too much about it being published in the annual law review publication. He just did his best!

Well, sweetie, I never doubted you for a moment! I had it in the back of my head all along, "It just seems like it'll happen. He'll come home one day and tell me his article was chosen." Exactly. Two days ago he came home to tell me that his article will be published in the national publication!! That means more work to tidy it up and get all his citations perfect, etc... Summer time committments... Did I mention that this article is over 30 pages long? Yeah, I actually read it. Ask me how much I understood... No, don't ask.

I'm so proud of him. This is a really huge accomplishment. After all, he is earning a doctorate degree right now, so I'm glad he'll have his very own article published to show for it. Can't wait to get my hands on that publication!!! Woohoo!!! Peter's just about famous I'd say.

my little dreamer

2010-04-08T19:09:00.002-04:00

We went to the beach today! It was great, and Sam had a good time except for the part about that sand. Yeah, about that... Well, I think he was a bit tired and it was pretty windy (welcome to Rhode Island). That probably didn't really help. To be perfectly honest, we had a little meltdown together after the beach. He was super duper grumpy about staying and then even grumpier about leaving. I told him we would go for a walk with the stroller after driving to a better walking place. I don't know what it is, but he just doesn't get the whole "not now, but soon" thing. Oh, wait, I forget he's only two sometimes!! Anyway, I pulled over to get out of the car and take a little mommy break for a minute. He took a baby break in the car. After that we kissed and made up. He was okay with driving to a better place after that.

Our better place was Ace Hardware. We got some hardware and went on our way. Sam was much happier this time around and almost fell asleep on the drive home, but I fed him crackers to keep him awake so he'd take a good nap at home. Naptime proved to be another messy meltdown type thing, but we got through that by cuddling on the rocking chair until he fell asleep. Then it was off to dreamland for Sam.

When I went in to get him up, do you what know the first thing he said to me was? "Dreams, mommy" with a smile on his face. I always ask him if he had any dreams and sometimes he says yes. He tells us he dreams of buses. Yesterday I actually explained to him what a dream was, that it's like watching shows in your sleep. So, it was so sweet and so interesting that he told me he dreamed during his nap.

I hope he has sweet dreams of places like this:

Taken on our drive home from the beach. Don't worry Peter dear, I pulled over to take the picture!

so, we celebrated easter...

2010-04-07T22:13:00.003-04:00

We put together a little Easter egg hunt for some friends and all our kids on Saturday. Well, I should say that Peter put it together. If you're ever wondering who comes up with anything service oriented or thoughtful or social just remember, it's Peter:) Sam loved finding the eggs. We kept taking them out of his bucket so he could "find" them again.

Putting eggs in the bucket. Oh the adventures of a two year old!

After the egg hunt we went over to the town beach with all the kiddies to play by the water (which by some standards is yucky) and on the playground (completely water logged from all the recent flooding). Good times.

Family photo. Why oh why can we not take family pictures with some normal faces?

Peter has introduced Sam to his shadow in recent weeks. Sam loves to point them out to us. "Mommy, a sadow" That's how he says shadow...sadow. Here Peter and Sam are trying to make interesting shadow poses. Even if the shadows aren't interesting, I sure think Peter and Sam are interesting.

Sam painting with his water colors. This is his usual set up, on the floor. He's really digging into that black there.

Happy Easter (late) to all of you! We hope you enjoyed family and friends and egg hunts, too:)

we're adopting again...someday!

2010-04-06T15:55:00.007-04:00

So, there's some big news for us to share with you!! A year ago we started paper-work with our adoption agency again to pursue the adoption of another child, our second child! A couple of weeks ago we received word that we'd been approved! Finally!

This means that we are on that fantastic waiting list with hundreds of other couples, but at least we're officially waiting now. With LDS Family Services (our adoption agency) we are provided with an online profile with a few different pages of information on us as a family, pictures, and a letter to birthparents who are looking at couples. We feel truly blessed to be at this point right now. Hey, after a year of paper-work it's nice to be done:)

{First family photo in our home, February 29, 2008}

With Sam everything moved so fast. We were approved after 8 months of wonderful paper-work. Then we got all settled in to wait for as long as it took...but we were amazed when we only waited for 2 months before being chosen by a wonderful birthmom. Sam's birthmom, Bonnie, came into our lives and things have never been the same since! Sam was born just 4 later. Now Sam is two and we feel like it's time to dive in again! I feel like we should still be excited to see things move fast, but I want to be prepared for whatever may happen, whether it's in 2 months or 2 years (please no!!). We trust that things will unfold as they should and that God's plan for us will be accomplished.

If you get the chance, please check out our new and developing adoption blog and our LDS Family Services online profile. If you don't feel awkward about passing this on to friends and family, we would really appreciate it. These days it is very common for adoptive couples and birthparents to be brought together through mutual aquaintances. We appreciate any support you have to offer! Thank you!

sam's new talents

2010-03-30T11:41:00.002-04:00

Talent #1: He's a photographer

Abstract #1

Abstract #2

Both of those photos were taken yesterday and they are both extreme close-ups of his stripey jammies. The way he has to grip the camera to be able to push the buttom kind of forces him to take photos of his clothing:) It's sweet how much he loves to do this though.

Talent #2: He's still an artist, but you already knew that....

The real #2 talent is that he wrote his first letter (besides "o") today without any help from me!
Can you guess what it is?

The letter "u"!! After he drew these he pointed to them and said, "u, mommy". I'm sooo proud of him! He absolutely loves letters. Let's hope that lasts at least until first grade, right?!

we went to maryland!

2010-03-22T13:18:00.003-04:00

This past weekend we drove down to MD to visit the fam! It was a great trip. We left on Thursday morning (it was Peter's spring break this week, so...) and it took us about 9 hours to get there. With little Sammy and his energy and need to move around we had to stop a few times:) Once we arrived we just had fun for the rest of the weekend. The weather was so beautiful so we spent a lot of time outside, walking, riding in the wagon to the park, finding caterpillars and making little glass jar houses for them, etc... You know, the usual spring-time activities!

We even found some time to play on Uncle John's drumset.

Here's us in our jammies before showers, combs, or breakfast even:)

Sam is rockin' out! Bonnie, you should be proud!

And here's the man of the hour, and the reason we came to Maryland this time around. My brother John has been working toward receiving the next step in his Priesthood in our church for the last little while. Last Sunday was the big day for him to become an Elder and to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. We made this trip especially for him, to support him and show him how much we love him!

So, congratulations John! We are sooo proud of you!

when the weather's nice

2010-03-08T20:36:00.003-05:00

Sam loves cats. He calls them "tats". He talks to all animals and insects like they are a friend. He stops, crouches to get on their level, waves and says "hi tat".

It's spring! The crocuses are shooting up in little green spikes! Sam stops to point these out to me.

Belcher's Cove. Aaah. I love the marshy-ness of this spot.

The sun in the eyes. It's a wonderful feeling!

Most likely these photos will become paintings at some point. I love the warm light. Come visit us so you can see it for yourself!

And for anyone interested who hasn't done so already, go enter to win my GIVEAWAY of an original painting!

this makes me want to fly...

2010-03-07T20:25:00.004-05:00

{mumford & sons / "winter winds"}

something in the sound makes me want to lift off the ground....

according to me....

2010-03-06T12:37:00.004-05:00

...today is the first day of spring! Wowee! The temperature here is well over 40 degrees and I'm soaking up all the sunshine and happiness! It feels so great.

I mean, just look at this deep blue sky and these sun-drenched apartments!

{this is our apartment, btw}

We went to the playground this morning to enjoy this first burst of warm weather we're having. Sam had a great time sliding, swinging, and playing in the sandbox. We even met a really nice family who also has an adopted little boy, so we chatted for a bit.

I made this hat with Sam a while back and then it got tucked away without him every having worn it. He colored the circles and I taped the thing together. Today he discovered it in a box and really wanted to try it on. So, we played with it for a while. That made him happy, as you can see.

Practically all he's eaten today is raisins.
Is that going to come back and haunt me later? Hmmm...

Dear Peter,

2010-03-05T21:43:00.003-05:00

Since you are out of town and can't see Sammy's smiling face everyday I figured I'd post some pics for you here every day:) So, for everyone else who wants to see Sammy, here you go!

playing with his new puzzle from Grandma and Grandpa Wells!

eating snacks in the car seat. he's the king of the backseat...

what a gem!

We miss you hon! But, we hope you are having loads of fun down south. Sam and I had a great day today.

We had breakfast, got dressed and ready to go, went grocery shopping, Sam had nap time without any sleeping (just some talking to himself in his crib), I painted a bit, we watched the ABC Blue's Clues show (for the zillionth time in the last week!), went over to Celeste's to make some dinner, came back here to finish making dinner, did bath time, did story time, and Sam went down at 8 pm. Now...I'm finishing up my computer time. Cutting myself off. Going to watch a movie. I *promise* I won't go to bed after 2 a.m. today:) I looooove you!

And, to everyone else, I love you, too, just not as much:)

I'm doing a GIVEAWAY!!

2010-03-04T15:27:00.003-05:00

For all you readers out there interested in obtaining a piece of original artwork, head on over to my painting blog, because I'm doing a GIVEAWAY!

Grasland (Meadow), 5 x 7, oil on canvas panel

This giveaway is open to anyone in the US (sorry to my wonderful international friends and readers!!). I'm a starving artist and can't afford to ship free artwork overseas just yet! Someday:)

Anyway, head on over to my painting blog to enter to win. The winner will be announced next Thursday, March 11th! Tell your friends, I'll only do the giveaway if I have at least 20 entries!

Sammy's 2 now!

2010-03-01T11:34:00.006-05:00

(a little shell by the water)

We celebrated Sam's second birthday on Saturday! It's official, so he's not lying anymore when he tells people he's two! We woke up Saturday morning and took Sam to the doctor for his two year check-up. It just happened that we scheduled it that way...we'll try not to do this in future years when he'll understand that his birthday is supposed to be a special day:) But, on the bright side, no shots!

After the doctor visit we drove down to the Bristol town center so Peter and Sam could catch the bus to Providence. Sam loves to ride on the bus, so we thought that would be a fun treat. I drove in the car to meet them there so we wouldn't have to take the bus back (he was definitely ready for a nap after his adventures!). After naps we had some dinner, and Sam helped me make his birthday cake and homemade ice cream. Neither turned out very good, but Sam didn't seem to notice that. Hey, it's got sugar and makes a chocolatey mess, what's not for a two year old to love? We had some neighbors and their kids come over to share some cake and ice cream, then it was off to bed for Sammy. His favorite parts about the day were riding the bus, getting a balloon I bought him after his bus ride, and hearing us sing "Happy Birthday" to him througout the day. He was beaming all day long!

Yesterday (Sunday) we decided to celebrate somemore. We drove down to Colt State Park in Bristol so I could take some pictures and so Sam and Peter could throw rocks and seashells into the water.

Relaxing by the foot bridge over the inlet at Colt State Park. This bridge is fifty-hundred years old according to Peter:) Well, it is old, but... It was really cold and windy outside. Peter let me wear his coat while I wandered around to get some pictures. Thank you sweetheart!!!

Opening some presents from Avo at the house after our excursions to the park.

Sam loves his new toys he got for his birthday this year!! Thanks everyone for thinking of Sam! We love you!

Reading the funnies...

2010-02-27T22:14:00.005-05:00

After a long day at the office, Sam likes to come home and relax with the paper. The New York Times Business Page is really interesting, and he has to stay caught up with the current affairs.

Don't try to have a conversation with this little man in the middle of his reading. He just answers you with, "Uh huh...", "Okay...", "Sure, whatever you say Mommy..." I have to wait for the right time to talk to him, when I know he's listening.

He reads the funny pages last, to get a good laugh in before facing the details of my monotonous day at home tending to household chores, etc...

This was Sam imitating his Dad, by the way:) But, Peter is really a much better listener than Sammy when he gets home from work. Peter sometimes picks up abandoned newspapers at the law school to read at home. It's our frugal way of keeping abreast of the news:)

More ugly bunnies

2010-02-16T11:35:00.001-05:00

I had some more sweaters lying around, just begging to be cut up and stitched into something new, like an ugly stuffed animal:) The grey one was finished yesterday, and the yellow striped one I did today. Sam helped:)

A heart on the bum. Every artist leaves a signature, right?

Sam calls them Baby, Mommy & Daddy, by size. It's a family of ugly bunnies:)

Sam's Laugh

2010-02-08T10:55:00.004-05:00

The other day I made a short video of Sam playing with his blocks. At one point he tried to do a summersault, but was too tired. Anway, later on Sam and I were watching the video on the computer and he just thought it was so funny that he couldn't do the summersault. He burst out laughing every time that part came up. We watched it over and over again, and everytime his laugh got more intense. I had to catch it on video, so here it is for you to enjoy!

So infectious!

My morning so far...

2010-02-05T10:08:00.004-05:00

We had our "lazy" breakfast, a banana strawberry milkshake. It's sooo yummy. One ripe banana, three to four small frozen strawberries, four chunks of ice, enough milk to cover it all and then some. Blend on high till all the ice is chopped. No extra sugar. So icy and refreshing. Sam drinks this down in like 2 minutes flat.

We've been really into building towers lately. Out of anything and everything. The tower topper here is a model sailboat we got at Michael's for a buck. It was fun to put together with Sam, and, as you can see he had a great time painting it:)

Then I took pictures of some of my paintings hanging on the walls. This is where I "store" my paintings until I sell them. Some pieces may end up living with me forever, which I'm perfectly fine with!

I do hope, however, that many of them will find their way onto other people's walls to brighten their day as it does mine!

So, good morning from my day to yours! Hope the sun is shining where you are!

Come see some art!

2010-02-02T15:38:00.002-05:00

"On The Line"

A C l o t h e s l i n e E x h i b i t

Gallery 10, LTD

1519 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, D.C.

February 3rd to February 27th

Opening Reception: February 5th, 6-8 p.m.

Regular Hours: Wednesday to Saturday, 11-5

I have two small paintings on loose canvas showing in this exhibit in Washington, D.C.! They are from the 4.5 x 5 inch paintings I completed a couple of weeks ago, which you can read about here. It's the first two cloudscape/field paintings that are posted. If you live near the D.C. area stop in to check out all the other work on display. I haven't been to this gallery, but it's a long standing art gallery in the area. All the works will be displayed on clothesline throughout the gallery, and no works measure greater than 8 x 10, so there should be a lot of wonderful art to view! If you go, let me know how it is!

If you ever care to read or see more about my artwork, feel free to visit my painting blog or my Etsy shop. Love ya all!

JJ Heller

2010-02-01T09:04:00.004-05:00

Have you ever heard of her? She has a beautiful voice!

Peter's Beard & The Snowstorm

2010-01-28T13:54:00.003-05:00

Last night Peter informed me that he would be shaving his beard today, so we decided to document the beard in pictures.

Here was our first attempt. How did that little sabateur get involved?

Success! Isn't he oh so handsome? Mmm..............

This is what it looks like out my window right now. Surprised I was, to walk out from Sam's room after laying him down, to see the snow falling in big flakes all around! It's a regular light-weight blizzard, and I had no idea it was even coming over today:)

Sam can do a summersault

2010-01-27T09:03:00.002-05:00

We've practiced with Sam for a few months now, teaching him how to do summersaults, and this last weekend he finally did one all on his own. Now he loves to show us his new talent!

I'm oh so crafty

2010-01-25T12:21:00.003-05:00

I decided to make an ugly stuffed animal for posterity's sake. Well, truly I thought I was making a cute bunny rabbit with a cute pocket belly, but as you can see, it turned out to be Bandit Bunny With A Long Alien Neck. And I love it!

I had a few sweaters I was packing up to take to Salvation Army (S.A.), but I loved the materials so much I couldn't bear to toss them out. I racked my brain for ideas on what to do with old sweaters. I thought of transforming them into beautiful "new" sweaters for me to wear, but that idea was way too much work for me. Then I remembered a post on a blog called Found, Now Home where she made some cute bedtime story pillows with pockets. One of my sweaters had pockets in it, so I decided to make a stuffed bunny rabbit with a pocket belly.

As you can see from my initial front and back portions all pieced together, this bunny wasn't intended to be really ugly and odd shaped, but...strange things happen when you machine stitch loose sweater knits.

All pinned together for sewing! Sam helped each step of the way by handing me pieces of sweater, throwing scraps away, and sitting down to watch. He's such a big helper!

You already saw the finished product from the front. Here's a back view with a cute button tail!

We like our little ugly bunny rabbit. Sam calls his favorite stuffed teddy bear "Baby" and he lets me call this his "Baby Bunny", but I'm pretty sure he still prefers the teddy bear baby. It's okay, he definitely thinks the pocket is fun to put stuff in. Mostly it just sits in his portable potty we keep in the living room just to keep the big boy potty idea fresh in his mind.

The boy loves shoes!

2010-01-23T22:26:00.001-05:00

It was one of his first words. Shoes. He's got two pairs in his hands. What can I say? Don't you just want to love this little guy?!?!

Dinner Last Night

2010-01-23T12:39:00.005-05:00

Falafel!

It was really delicious. I was inspired after being invited over for dinner with some friends last week. They made falafel and I decided it was one of those things I'd need to learn how to make. Granted, this was my first attempt, and it certainly wasn't perfect, but it was super tasty even still. We stuffed store-bought pitas (from scratch next time!) with home-made falafel patties, lettuce, cucumbers, and home-made cucumber sauce.

Here's a recipe for ya! Give it a try!

Falafel:

1 can chick peas/garbanzo beans (15-20 oz), drained

1 small-medium onion, chopped

1/2 cup fresh parsley

3 cloves garlic

1 egg

3 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

couple pinches of cayenne pepper

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup dry bread crumbs

oil for frying

Directions: Mash chick peas in large bowl by hand. Grind onion, garlic and parsley in food processor until minced. Add minced mixture to chick peas and mash all together by hand (mincing the chick peas brings out too much water). In small bowl combine egg, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon juice, and baking powder. Stir egg mixture into chick pea mash along with olive oil. Mash together and add bread crumbs until it reaches the desired consistency good for frying (not sticky, but able to hold together well). Form 2 inch balls and flatten a bit into patties about 1/2 inch thick. Heat in 1 inch of oil over medium-high heat. Fry until light to medium brown on both sides. Don't burn!! Ewww! Put on paper towels and dab excess oil before serving.

Cucumber sauce:

4 large scoops of plain yoghurt (6 oz container)

1/2 cucumber peeled, seeded, and chopped small

1 tsp dried dill weed

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp mayo

Directions: Just blend it all in a blender or food processor until smooth. Yummy!

Serve it all together with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, sauce in fresh pitas!

Enjoy! My two men certainly did:)

Wanna see a block tower?

2010-01-21T14:25:00.005-05:00

Mr. Magnificent is at it again.

But, what goes up....

...must come down.

Classic squinty eyes!

And...on another note. I now have a Flikr photostream with my paintings. Care to check it out? Oh goody:) Click here.

When he's two...

2010-01-20T13:55:00.004-05:00

"When he's two..." That's what we find ourselves saying a lot lately. When he doesn't want to eat at the table, but would rather eat in front of a "show" we say, "When he's two we'll change that..." When we talk about how to curb his temper tantrums we say things like, "Well, when he's two we'll be more stern..." Well, folks, for all intents and purposes, this little booger is TWO! He says he's two, so it must be true:)

Here's another thing I plan to start when he turns two:

That's right folks, the potty training commences! He's shown some interest in the past, but after I brought home this potty seat all he wanted to do was sit on it (in his candy cane jammies I brought home at the same time...). He now officially says, "potty", "pee pee", and "poopy". And he points into the toilet to show us where it all ends up:) Smarty pants.

When he turns two I'll teach him how flour, water, vanilla extract, rice, salt and pepper DON'T actually make a tasty treat, no matter how much we told him it was yummy before:)

Down time...

2010-01-19T12:32:00.003-05:00

Here's what Sam does with his Daddy to relax.

Here's what he does with me...look at him coveting my chocolate!

Sam's words...

2010-01-18T12:03:00.002-05:00

Sam loves letters, words, reading, trying to write, etc... A long time ago, when Sam wasn't even 1 yet (sooo long ago) we started to read him little letter books that we had by Baby Einstein. First he was only interested for a few minutes, and then it was only to see the pictures. But we just kept reading them with him. It was only a few months later that he started to point to certain letters when we'd ask him to. His first letters were "O" and "S". Simple ones. Then he started to repeat them to us. We were pretty amazed when he started recognizing them and saying them aloud. He now knows almost all the letters of the alphabet and it's so great to see how excited he gets to point them out to us on t-shirts, cereal boxes, signs, etc... It still catches us off guard sometimes! Anyway, we practice reading with him a lot. I figured if he's able to recognize almost all the letters then he can start recognizing words, too. So, I've begun flash-cards for him. I have a stack going with words he can say (the above picture). He can say around 40 words now, so the pic is just a selection of a few:) Then I have another stack of words to practice. It's really fun. He likes it, but I think he likes it better when we write them out and practice that way. I have a little chalk board that I write letters and words on to practice with him. He thinks that is a blast.

So, here's to Sammy, our little 2 year old reader. Well, he says he's two anyway. He says I'm two, too, and Daddy's two, too.....two too, hehe. He'll be two years old in February, so watch out!

His sticker says "God is Love" and he pulled it off a card we had. He insisted on wearing it on his nose for hours, and he made us wear stickers on our noses, too. Funny kid.

A Christmas Review!

2010-01-11T16:54:00.005-05:00

Here's some more of our Christmas vacation through pictures:

Sam playing Chunks's piano

Sweeping and smiling:)

Beautiful boy!

The first of many photos of buildings. These are in Annapolis, one of the most beautiful cities in America!

Annapolis, across the street from the Naval Academy.

Downtown Annapolis.

Annapolis, again....

....and again.

Row houses in Washington, D.C. on New York Avenue.

Near the embassies in D.C.

Family photo while visiting the Ford Theatre where Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth.

Me and the Samster.

A very cool lamp in the theatre. I wouldn't mind having a few of these in a future hallway of mine someday!

The bed in the house where Abraham Lincoln was brought (across the street from the theatre). This is also where he died the day after he was shot.

The Dutch Embassy! Ik houd van Holland!

The South African Embassy, for Peter's sake:)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T20:29:00.001-05:00

I hope you all have had a fabulous Christmas today! We're celebrating here in MD with my family, and we're having a great time. Off to watch Nacho Libre with the fam now! Adios!

Sam's ER visit...

2009-12-23T09:23:00.006-05:00

Last night the whole family went out to dinner at the Fuji Japanese Hibachi Grill in Gambrills, MD. It was great, I got steak and shrimp. Sam really got into the food, which is good, considering his Japanese heritage:) I think the best part of the evening was watching Sam's face when the Hibachi chef played with fire. Sam's eyes got sooo big! I think we've got a little future Hibachi man.

After dinner we all drove over to the Washington D.C. Temple to see the Christmas lights, nativities, trees, etc... The visitor center there is so great, all decked out with poinsettias, Christmas trees, nativities from around the world, music, and loads of people. Peter and I were holding Sam's hands and running him around. He loves the feeling of his hair blowing in the wind while his feet are barely touching the ground--a little like the roadrunner. After a while of that we got tired, so we stopped, but Sam was anything but finished, so I took over with my brother Brent. As we were running with him Brent held him a bit too high and when we put him down he started to cry right away. I could tell that he was in pain, and I looked at his arm and thought it looked really limp. He wasn't moving it and he was really screaming. I grabbed him up and tried to look at his arm, to feel if it was dislocated somewhere. That was my first thought. I thought it might be since he couldn't seem to move it and it was just hanging at his side. I went to Peter and we went to the front desk to ask if there was a doctor at the visitor center.

We called a nurse friend of the family and she said it was probably his elbow being partially dislocated. She tried to walk me through fixing it, but I couldn't focus and I hated causing Sam pain, so I stopped touching his arm. We talked to a doctor at the visitor center and he said he thought it was his elbow, but being an ENT doctor he thought we should go to the emergency room to have them reset it. So, we were on our way.

By this point Sam was pretty out of it. Peter was holding him now, and Sam was holding his arm close to his body and was avoiding letting anyone or anything near it. I felt awful, and I could tell that Peter felt terrible, too. I gave him some Tylenol, and we turned on a video to distract him. We all drove to the ER, and were admitted within a few short minutes (a miracle in itself). The pediatrician there was so great. She heard the story from us, deduced it was most likely his elbow, and pulled his little arm into the right position to pop it back in place. He cried, but it wasn't any worse than how he'd been crying earlier. I took him to hold him afterward, and he just cried into my shoulder for a minute or so. Then Peter blew up a latex glove like a balloon and we got Sam to count the fingers, etc... After just a minute or two he was moving his hurt arm, so the we knew he was better. The doctor was satisfied, so we left within a few minutes after that. We were in and out of the ER in 30 minutes! It was amazing. I had said a short prayer asking that it go quickly, but the answer to that prayer still astounds me!

The whole drive home Sam was moving his arm perfectly, and he is like new this morning. We feel so blessed that things went so smoothly, that it wasn't anything worse than a partially dislocated elbow, and that we had my family all around us. Sam's first ER visit was anything but traumatic. He did great and I'm so proud of how brave he is. These kinds of things knit people together, too, and this morning I feel closer to my little family, more grateful for them, and happy as anything to have us all healthy and safe!

Our Christmas Snow Storm

2009-12-20T17:45:00.008-05:00

So, Sam and I drove down to Maryland last week with my sister-in-law Joy. Fun fun. 6 hours of driving and Sam did surprisingly well! Peter's plan was to arrive today, but he surprised us all by flying in on Friday night! I couldn't believe it! I was oh so happy to see my sweetheart, and it turned out to be a good thing he got here when he did because we got hit with the Blizzard of 2009 all night Friday, all day Saturday, and into the wee hours of the morning on Sunday. Wow!

On Saturday, just after putting Sam down for his nap we all got to talking about our brother Mark's tradition of running barefoot in the snow. Since dear Mark is somewhere at the bottom of the ocean (in a submarine of course) Brent decided it was his responsibility to carry on the tradition.

Here he is on his take off.....

And on his return from running around our entire cul-de-sac. Ouch!! He was in some pain afterward, and I immediately started some warm water in the tub for him to soak his feet in.

I casually (and only 1/4 seriously) suggested to Joy that we run through too. Boy was that a mistake. Once she committed I felt like I had to go along with it. I know myself well enough to know that I could possibly start swearing if my legs got cold enough, so I was a bit nervous about the experience. I had no real choice, however, because Joy grabbed my hand and we were off. I know, I look like Rocky with my towel around my shoulders.

I chose not to put the incriminating photos of me cutting back halfway around the cul-de-sac out of complete panic that I might not make it back alive. I had images flashing through my mind of falling down with frozen legs, my family watching from the porch unwilling to come out and save me. I had to survive:)

We got a little warm foot soak afterward....actually quite invigorating. Should I take this to the next level and do a polar bear plunge?

We all went out in the snow on Saturday and shoveled a little, played a little, etc...

I even got a little shoveling in.

Sam and Peter playing in the snow. This is Sam's first snowstorm he's been able to really play in, and he loves it! We got about 22 inches of snow in just 2 days. Crazy crazy!

Peter planted Sam in the snow, and it certainly made Sam happy!

Peter making a snow angel.

Eating snow.

Peter decided to fall in the snow with Sam, too.

Sam was a big fan of the snow, even in his face, under his gloves, and inside his shoes. Nothing made him flinch.

Mmm Mmm good. so delicious and nutricious!

Sam's first sled ride! One of my parent's neighbors was outside shoveling and overheard us say we wish we had a sled to pull Sam around in. So, he brought us a sled to borrow during our trip! So nice, eh?

Sam and Chunks. Sam is holding a flashlight, and he calls it his "O" because the light makes a big circle anywhere he points it. I'm not exactly sure what the expressions mean in this shot, but it's a great one. Kind of a classic Dad face, and a great deer-in-the-headlights face on Sam.

Mopsy and Chunks got this puzzle for Sammy and he got to unwrap it a couple of nights ago (he's getting a bit anxious about all the gifts under the tree). Here he is playing with his farm animal puzzle. He now does sounds for sheep (baaa), horse (basically spitting), cow (ooo), and kitty cat (moowow).

I think I'm doing the sound for this animal...that would explain my focused expression (i.e.: my turtle face)

Thanks for my puzzle Chunks!

Thanks Mopsy!!!

We're having a great time here. Sam is having some minor meltdowns, but I guess that's to be expected with so many things going on all the time, so many people around making way more noise than he's used to (welcome to my family), new stairs, rooms, furniture, RULES, and just constant randomness. Hopefully he'll really adjust well just in time for us to drive back to Rhode Island....

Merry Christmas everyone, and we'll post again when we've got some more pictures!

Have you had a personal victory today?

2009-12-07T11:52:00.007-05:00

1,000 Personal Victories Project

About 2 months ago I found myself lamenting to my husband on just about every level my little life operates on. I was crying fresh tears on top of old ones, going on and on about how hard things are, how I felt about myself, and how nobody out there really understands me. Wow, hopefully I'm not the only one who's been there before. I kinda don't think I am. I found myself on that vicious downward spiral of self pity and self loathing (the self destructive train ride to a dark dark place called depression and anxiety). Then my husband snapped me out of it with a simple observation. He said, "It sounds to me like you haven't had a personal victory in a long time." Whaaat? I had to stop and think about it for a second, but was able to respond, to my surprise, in a positive way. I went to bed that night thinking about those words, "personal victory."

I took some time in the weeks after to ponder on what a personal victory is for me. Not biting my nails. Yep. Not complaining. Yep. Spending time playing with Sam. Yep. Not being so darn selfish all the time. Yep, yep, and yep. Thinking about these things made me more aware of my need to turn the tables and find ways to learn to love myself as a woman, a wife, and a mother. Obviously we all need to know what our weaknesses are, and we need to confront them, but do we really need to dwell on them so much? Most of us, wives, mothers, women, spend waaay too much time worrying about what we aren't doing right and not nearly enough time congratulating ourselves for our best efforts! I'm THE biggest culprit of us all! Trust me!

Just before Thanksgiving rolled in I decided to make myself a Personal Victory Chart (referred to hereafter as a PVC). I named my quest: The 1,000 Personal Victories Project. It could really revolutionize...well...my life:) I hung up the chart on the wall leading from the kitchen to the bedrooms (an easy place to spot it!). I simply take the time each day to write at least one personal victory from that day. Sometimes I come up with a couple. What's great about it is that I find myself thinking about it throughout the day.

So far it has helped me to be much more positive and geared toward having personal victories. It has helped remind me that even with all my failings I am still succeeding at so many things. I try to put victories down that are important for my emotional and spiritual well being. So, some of the things I've written down are not things I've physically done that day; rather they are things I thought about or didn't think about, things I chose to say or things I chose not to say, and things I felt about myself and others. It is helping me in so many ways to look at myself as a woman who is getting my job done. What is my job? To be and do the best I can, to turn to God in gratitude, to turn to Him when I need Him, to love and serve my husband, and to love and nurture my son!

So, have you had a personal victory today? If you don't recognize them then maybe you need a kickstart like I did. Make a PVC today and hang it up somewhere where you'll see it often. Keep it up there until it's full (and write really small like I'm doing!). C'mon! It's the 1,000 Personal Victories Project!! Women Unite!!! Stop beating yourself up now! I mean it.

Hey, I should go on an infomercial with this great idea, don't you think?!

We're still alive!

2009-11-30T21:00:00.003-05:00

So, Peter's been telling me that we should probably post some pictures of Sam smiling, since most of the Halloween pictures make him look like a tortured child:)

So, here's some photos of our ultra happy boy!

That last one really makes me smile, too. Look at those dimpled, pinchable cheeks and bright eyes and perfect little teeth!

And, he's in LOVE with painting, color, anything he can make a mess with really:)

Sam's masterpieces. He's always so proud of these and pins them up on the fridge.

I should add that our little boy is becoming a genius (don't all parents think this about their children?). He is such a little talker, even though most of what he says is still indiscernable... He has an ever growing vocabulary however, and for all the words he can't say he sure can recognize his letters! He now can point to several different letters of the alphabet all on his own. In his repertoire: T, P, D, I, O, and last but definitely not least, S. He points out every "s" he sees these days. It's so adorable. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that we always say "S is for Sammy!" He probably thinks that every "s" he sees is his name. Hahaha funny!

Happy Late Thanksgiving!

Happy Christmas Season to you all!!!

Let the celebration begin!

Listen Up! We've got Halloween over here...

2009-11-05T11:51:00.004-05:00

Here's our family Halloween costumes...nothing fancy:

Sam was our little bee (who had no antennae or wings, poor little bee). I was a flower patch and Peter was the bee keeper. Ideas came directly from Joy:) Thanks Joyous!

The bee keeper keeping close tabs on the bee.

He liked Halloween, despite what these pictures might make you think. The whole idea behind collecting candy from people was all a bit too weird for him. He grabbed the first candy bar someone put into his jack-o-lantern bucket and held it the rest of the time while we trick-or-treated. He didn't like the idea of putting the candy in the bucket when he could very easily hold it:)

After trick-or-treating at the church and having a chili cook-off (where I won second place for my white chicken chili! woohoo!) we all went for a drive down to one of the beaches in Newport. There's a road there called Pergutory Road which leads to a deep crack between two rock cliffs down to the water called Pergutory Chasm. Peter has always begged for us to go there, so we did. It was pretty cool to walk out on the cliff edge. And the overcast day was perfect for taking a few good pictures of us there.

Me and Sam on the cliff edge looking out over the water.

A family photo:)

Panoramic photo collage of the view from the chasm cliffs. That's Second Beach on the left, and then out to the ocean we go!

It was all in all a great time! It was great to have Joy visiting for Halloween stuff, and my mom was also here for some of the week, on and off. It was great to have you guys here!! Thanks for loving Sam so much!

It's Autumn!

2009-10-28T20:42:00.008-04:00

About a week and a half ago we went pumpkin picking at a nearby farm. I just love Fall, when the leaves are crunching beneath your feet, the colors are so earthy and vibrant, the air is sweet and chilly, and the houses start to appear with smoking chimneys!! What a wonderful time of year full of anticipation and excitement! This year I made sure to imprint it on Peter's mind that I wanted to participate fully in Autumn. Well, this means a lot of things, not the least of which is going out to the farm to pick out your very own pumpkins from the field...

So, this is what we did, with Sam in tow. Okay, so it was really all about giving Sam the fun experience of walking around in search of perfectly round and tiny pumpkins to fall in love with and carry around. He did, of course, find several such orange gourds to love and carry around:)

We were with some friends of ours from Peter's school, so they took a family photo of us all. It's so rare that we get a picture with all three of us sitting still, so this was great! And we all look like we're really having a great time, which we were... We decided on three small pumpkins, for $1 each (it was nearing the end of their season), and loaded them in the cart...

...to take them back down the hill to our car. Sam loved riding in the cart up and down the hill. He smiled the whole time like he was on some sort of baby roller coaster. After getting the pumpkins put away we walked over to where the REAL baby roller coaster was. There was a four wheeler at the front of several cars made from old barrels and painted like cows. It was pretty cute, and the kids seemed like they had a ton of fun riding around the farm, up and down the little hills, etc. At first we thought Sam wouldn't be able to go since he's so small and it was kind of bumpy. They had little seatbelts, but I just knew Sam would get scared and try to climb out. So, the girl who was driving it kindly let me go and hold Sam on my lap. I'm not gonna lie to you, I was pretty darn excited:)

Sam is actually reaching out for Peter right now. He started to get a little worried about the whole thing just before we took off for the ride of our lives!

Sorry Sam! We're going! Before we left Peter kept asking the teenage girl driver if he could drive the "tractor". She just kind of laughed at him, not sure if he was serious or not (he wasn't really serious, but he definitely would have driven had she let him...oh Peter). But, as usual, she warmed right up to us because of Peter's charm and ease with people, and she started to tell us about how her dad let her drive their family tractor (a real tractor mind you) on a street other than the street they live on. She said she felt so cool because all the cars had to go around her because tractors go so much slower. I couldn't help but smile, but inwardly I was thinking, "Yeah, that would actually be kinda cool."

Sam wasn't happy about only going around once, so Peter had to take a turn with Sam, too. I was surprised by how bumpy and fun the cow train actually was. Sam's first roller coaster ride!

Then there were the hay bales. Sam had a blast running around on these, laying down on them, rolling around on them, and just generally getting his hill-billy on. I was so glad he actually kept his 2-sizes-too-big mittens on his hands. It was a really cold day!

Hello Mr. Cow. What big eyes you have. This cow's face reminds me of the face of a Jersey cow. I think Jersey cows are so beautiful with their big feminine eyes and long eye lashes. After our farm excursion we invited our friends back to our place for some homemade hot chocolate. Oh boy was that delicious! Open invitation here right now: If you live nearby you should come by for some homemade hot chocolate with Ghiradelli chocolate, whole milk and homemade whipped cream on top! It pretty much melts your winter time blues away. So, come over! Really!

A couple of days later we got out the paint and markers and decorated our pumpkins. Sam still points to them on a daily basis to say how proud he is of them. He did a great job with the squiggly red and blue lines all over the place. Happy Fall Y'all! Hehehe, that rhymes. I hope you are enjoying it wherever you may be. Go out in a coat and scarf and jump in some leaves. You'll really be glad you did.

My newest painting...

2009-10-23T11:41:00.004-04:00

I hardly ever post about one of the things I love most...

Painting!!

So, I thought I'd do a post about this hobby that has taken off into great new directions over the last year or so. When we adopted little Sammy I decided to put my paint brushes away until I knew what kind of time or desire I would have to paint again. I wanted to be able to devote all my time to him without looking over at empty canvases on the easel. I painted Sam a sailboat for his "nursery" in our one-bedroom apartment (his nursery was the cozy corner of our bedroom!) and then I packed up everything out of sight. I didn't mind not painting. I enjoyed those early days of motherhood and am glad I didn't have too many projects distracting me from Sammy!

When we moved to Rhode Island, Sam was about 5 months old. Our apartment was well equipped with plenty of space and natural light in almost every spare corner, what a blessing! We have windows that wrap nearly every single wall in our home--a true 1920's New England apartment! One side of our apartment even looks out over Belcher's Cove, a beautiful stretch of water connecting rivers that flow between our little town of Warren and the next town up, Barrington. We fell in love here, and I knew it was the perfect time for me to set up my easel again. I established myself in our living room annex overlooking our road, in a corner just opposite the computer desk. It was easy since it was all just part of the unpacking and furninshing of our new place.

Needless to say, I began painting when Sam would sleep. His sleeping schedule became much more routine once we got settled in here, so I was able to have snippets of time to myself again--how delicious!! I started painting some old scenes from my mission photos of Holland again--hence the name of my painting blog, Painting Dutch Fotos. Then I started painting what I saw all around me here, the old New England streets, architecture, seascapes, landscapes, etc... And I haven't stopped to breathe since then! Sometimes I wonder if I'll look back one day and say, "Wow, my most productive period of painting was when I was a young mom! Surprising!" Hopefully I'll continue to always have such fruitful painting experiences.

I started to post my artwork online at my Etsy shop last November, so about a year ago. At first I felt that I was having little success, but I understood the concept of waiting and building up interest, promoting, etc... So I just kept plugging away. I still saw painting as just a hobby that I would always love. Then I started to sell a painting here and there. When I began hearing about local art shows I started signing up. All summer and into the fall of this year I packed up my paintings, set up a display tent and showed my paintings at local festivals! I felt like I received a great reception from the people who came and saw and even purchased my paintings. So, I just keep going.

At any rate, I feel so blessed to be where I am today, having sold over 50 paintings in just one year's time! This last week I finished a painting of a sailboat. I posted it to my Etsy shop the next day and it sold within a couple of hours. I was shocked!! What a pleasant surprise. But, I also felt sad that I didn't really get to spend any time with my newest little painting. So, I decided to paint another sailboat, different than the first, but from the same reference photograph I had taken of some sailboats in Newport, Rhode Island (about 30 minutes away from us).

So, this newest sailboat is now available for sale in my Etsy shop. If you are interested in stopping in to see what I've been up to lately, please stop by my shop or my painting blog!

Solitude, 12 x 12 oil on board

available for purchase

Reasons why I love Providence...

2009-10-17T12:13:00.004-04:00

Reason #1

There's always a festival of some sort. In this case it was the Columbus Day party in Federal Hill, the Italian District...can you see the stripes on the road? We meandered through the crowds, obtained a balloon for Sam from some nice old ladies, browsed in some art galleries, and ate some delicious Jamaican food...in the Italian district...? Hey, it's the same Jamaican lady we see selling her yummy stuffed pastries at almost every festival we go to. We know we like it, so we buy it and enjoy!

Reason #2

Sam looks good in Providence.

Reason #3

There's always something there to amaze Sam and keep his attention!

Reason #4

A very cool monument to Roger Williams, the father of Rhode Island, which makes for some great photo opportunities and exploration!

Reason #5

See reason #4

Reason #6
When the sun starts to go down over Providence there are hundreds of towers, windows, steeples, and colonial rooftops to catch those last rays.

Extension of reason #6

Reason #7

It's such an easy city to be a family in. We always find new things to do and see. We always have fun when we're there. The people are so nice that when they see us struggling to get a picture of all three of us they offer to take it for us! Thanks Providencians....

Reason #8

Providence has Waterfire.

Reason #9

Sometimes Providence looks like Venice.

Reason #10

My boys are usually smiling in Providence, but especially they are smiling while we're waiting for the workers to light the bonfires for Waterfire and listening to atmospheric and moody music play over the loudspeakers...the anticipation until....

Reason #11

...the lights are lit and I feel like I'm transported back in time to another place. It felt like such an ancient ritual of some kind and it was actually really moving. I felt connected to the people all around me as we all experienced it together. It affected me deeply for reasons I can't really explain, and it made me fall in love forever with this city.

Reason #12

I think Sam's in love, too.

We are a Providence family. It's our city!

I took a home style quiz...

2009-10-16T08:47:00.005-04:00

And it was interesting to see what the verdict was... I think it's pretty close. I got the idea after reading my sister-in-law's blog. She had a link to the quiz...fun fun!

My result: Country Classic

You can take the quiz, too. Click here.

I'm 30 now...

2009-10-05T21:07:00.005-04:00

But before I get into that, let me get into this a little:

My goodness. Isn't he adorable? This is Sam celebrating my 30th birthday. Outside. With his dad. While I took a nap. Inside:)

Friday night, the night before Sam's big splash and my big day, Peter threw me a great big surprise birthday party! Can you believe it?! Mark and Joy (you know them by now...the bro and sis-in-law) came into town Friday night because we needed to take Joy to the airport the next morning. She made me get all dressed up and took me out for the evening...or so I thought anyway. We went to a consignment place up in Providence on Thayer Street. I got me a nice wool coat and Joy bought me a beautiful olive green dress. I'll post pics when I have pictures of me wearing these goodies. So, then we started off to go to dinner, but Joy had "forgotten" the directions, so we had to head back to the house to pick them up. I wondered about that little detour, but thought if there was going to be a surprise it would be at this mysterious restaurant we were going to.

Long story short. Everyone was packed into our apartment to wish me a happy 30th birthday! It was so great. I felt so blessed to have so many friends there. Truth be told, I was happiest to see my Peter and my little Sammy in the midst of the crowd, standing under the streamers, singing happy birthday to me. Sam was much more concerned with how he could get his hands on some cheese puffs than he was on wishing his mama a happy birthday, but that made him all the more charming at that moment. I love my family!! Being 30 is definitely worth it if I can keep them:)

Sam playing outside in the puddles that formed on my actual birthday, Saturday. I added this pic in here so you all could see our glorious apartment. We live on the second floor and we love it here.

The day after my birthday. These boys just can't stop celebrating. Okay, enough of this everything-revolves-around-my-birthday talk. We were just out for a walk around a farm in Bristol. The Mt. Hope Farm.

Sam.

Sam...again.

Me and Sam.

Sam saying hello to a rooster...

Then the rooster actually said hello back...really loudly. The first 2 times we were able to keep Sam happy by telling him the loud cockadoodledoo was just the rooster's way of saying hello. But the third crow did Sam in.

From mommy to camera man...

Safe in daddy's arms. He's keeping an eye on that rooster. Notice his little grip on Peter's shirt:)

Looking over his shoulder to make sure that rooster didn't follow us to the cow pens.

My cowboys.

What in the world is that?

Most of you know that Sam had surgery a few months back to correct his clogged tear duct. He had two surgeries--one unsuccessful and the second a success. The second surgery consisted of the surgeon placing a 1.25 inch long plastic tube into Sam's tear duct to hold it open so it wouldn't clog anymore. We went back to the doctor today to have that tube removed. We were surprised that general anesthetic and surgery were required to put the darn tube in place, but only a small set of tweezer-ish things were required to remove it. But, we were also very glad that it was so simple. I just held onto Sam and the doctor gripped the little footer thing you see there that was sticking barely out of his duct. It was kind of interesting to watch the little tube glide right out. Sam was so brave and just let me hold him close. He didn't squirm at all! Way to go little trooper!

We are confident that his eye is 100% better now!! We will always be grateful that Sam is such a healthy, strong little boy. And, he's such a happy guy, too.

So, I've been taking some pictures...

2009-09-29T08:36:00.005-04:00

I take lots of pictures. There was a time when I always got on Peter's case about stopping to take so many pictures all of the time, but then along came little Sammy. I became picture happy! Then, to make matters worse, we live in a picturesque part of the country (along with almost every other part of the country...) and I've got reference photos to collect for my painting obsession. I've got to support that habit.

Recently I've taken quite a few. I just went through a bunch yesterday and decided I may as well post some of them here for you all to see, too. Some of these may turn into paintings, so keep your eye out for that. Some of these are of Sam and Peter and me. My sweet family.

This is the largest coal operated electric plant in New England (I don't know if I put that all correctly, but you get the point). It's huge and the top of it is getting lost in the clouds!

A pretty scene somewhere along the water headed toward Taunton, Mass.

A line-up of trees along Rt. 6 in Connecticut (headed toward Avon, CT when I went to check out a gallery there a couple weeks ago...what a loooong drive).

Curve in the road. I like the way it feels like you're whipping around the bend at top speeds here.

A dizzying angle of a church tower on I-95 headed toward Providence (on the way home from Avon, CT).

Trying to fill his daddy's shoes. You've got a few years to go little buddy!

Playing with my first attempt at homemade play dough. It was great fun (and Sam didn't seem to mind the saltiness when he did some taste testing).

These pants are left overs from the early 80's and the Waite family. These most definitely belonged to one of my brothers at some point. Sam makes 'em look good:)

Yesterday, Peter came home from school at 1:00 in the afternoon!! What a treat!! We all cleaned up our house after a crazy weekend of family, art shows, church music concerts, and fun fun fun. Then we hopped in the car and headed over to Bristol to walk around and enjoy the beautiful weather. This is a restaurant that I always admire as we walk by, so I took a few pictures for memory's sake.

Some mums and ivy! These planter boxes are so common around town and I think they add so much to the feeling of autumn in the air!!

We had to stop at the boat dock to collect rocks and throw them into the water (Sam's favorite water activity besides swimming). We went out on the dock and the water was so choppy that the dock was bobbing all over the place. We felt like we were on a boat, and Sam thought it was pretty cool.

We decided it was the perfect weather for some hot chocolate from Dunkin Donuts. Sam was thereafter not very content to drink his plain water out of his water bottle, so I put some of the hot chocolate in his water to give him a taste. I'm pretty sure people thought I was pouring coffee into my child's sippy cup. Bad mommy! Ha! Sam decided it was the most delicious thing he's ever had. He told me so by crying profusely when it was all gone.

Peter always finds little dandelions or weed flowers for Sam to pick and give to me. It's something every mom wants to experience at some point (hopefully oneday it will be spontaneous and Sam's idea), so it always melts my heart when Sam walks up to me with a proud smile and a flower in his hand to give to me. Here's yesterday's dandelion.

My little man.

My family was in town...

2009-09-28T12:24:00.004-04:00

So, Saturday was my 3rd big art festival (in Providence again this time), and my parents came up from Maryland for a couple of days to be here. Mark and Joy (bro and sis-in-law) came over from Groton, CT, too, so we had a regular mini family reunion. I flatter myself by thinking they all came out for my art show, but really, we all know they came out for Sam.

After the show (which was a great big day of fun, freezing, and art that you can read all about here) we all came back to our place for a bit. Then we went to order some take out from our local Italian/Portuguese restaurant called Jack's. Okay, so every restaurant in Rhode Island is basically an Italian/Portuguese setup, but this one's really good and it's only two blocks away, perfect! Then, we just hung around the house waiting for our food to arrive. Mopsy and Chunks (aka Grandma and Grandpa) got a chance to just play around with Sammy!

Sam's really upset about having to sit still for a picture, but we're sure putting on a good act, aren't we?

I put this one in here, because, to be honest, I like this photo of me:) And it makes it doubley nice that Peter's smiling face is in it, as well as our awesome retro couch that I recently purchased for $30 used (and cleaned it thoroughly, no worries). Side story coming: Our first couch that I re-covered was oh so cute and kinda classy, too, but when it came to comfort it failed miserably as a couch. So, it got moved to the sun room to make room for this beauty, which is just the right size for a little person like myself. We like it, and Peter has agreed to put up with the florals. It's a mindset thing. If you just tell yourself that the florals are awesome, you start to believe it after a while.

Sammy and Chunks. You should hear Sam try to say Chunks. Pretty cute.

Snacker.

Our angel child... This is no camera trick. He really does shine:)

Sam eats BBQ topless...

2009-09-18T12:47:00.003-04:00

For anyone interested in Sam.....

.....read this.

Some wonderful things about my family

2009-09-15T08:38:00.002-04:00

Lately Sam has been growing up. You know the times...when your child just starts to do all sorts of new things and you feel like you just can't keep up. I just wanted to jot down a couple of wonderful things he is doing these days.

Just now we finished eating breakfast and I came in to the living room to write in my journal and read my scriptures, kind of hoping that Sam would just be happy to play with his toys. Wishful thinking, really. He came in and, after playing with a puzzle with me for a minute, decided he wanted to watch a show. I opened up the video drawer and gave him some choices. He immediatly grabbed hold of Thomas the Tank Engine, pointed to Thomas' face and grew a huge grin on his sweet little face. I took it from him and said I'd put it in. He then immediately turned and sat down on the carpet in front of the t.v., put his hands together in his lap and started to rock back and forth like he was getting all ready. It was so adorable! He really has fallen in love with making his own big boy choices (especially when it involves watching a video).

Sometimes I'll come into the living room from somewhere else and I'll see Sam sitting in there eating dry pasta out of the box, or an assortment of other possiblities. He has figured out how to reach up in the pantry, open the fridge, etc, so he knows how to get some of those snacks himself. Anything he can't open alone he'll bring to me to open. It's funny when it's a heavy jar of applesauce or a huge box of gold fish or something.

For anyone who cares to know, Sam is now a full-fledged English speaker. We were worried he'd speak some other language (one we would never understand), but fortunately for us he's picked up on English now:) Before he was even 1 he had said a couple of words, but he promptly put a stop to that once he realized how much fun we thought it was. Goodbye to the days of "Elmo" and "amen". His first real word came a couple of weeks ago. "Happy". And he says it a lot. He says it when he is really happy. It's so awesome! Here are a few of his other new words: juice, dada, mamamama (I get double lovin!), shoes, ride, outside, baby, cheese, and a few others I can't think of right now.

Here's one more wonderful thing about my family. This one's about Peter. If we ever want to watch a movie we have to trade the AAA batteries from one remote to the other (since we keep forgetting to buy some new ones). Every morning after an evening when we watched a movie I realize that the batteries have been traded back so I can turn on the television for cartoons or whatever else. He does these little thoughtful things so often. Another thing he often does is plug in my phone every night. I always forget to do this, but while I'm washing my face I'll sometimes see him go into my purse in the kitchen to fish it out so that I'll have a charged phone the next day. Maybe he doesn't think I notice, but I'm taking this opportunity to say thank you sweetie!

I have such a wonderful family. There are so many other little things I could mention. Well, here's one more. When we ask Sam to show us his smile, he puts on the biggest grin and squints his eyes. It's hilarious.

Do you ever read your blog...

2009-08-30T21:06:00.003-04:00

...just to see if you posted something new? Sometimes I'll go to check my blog, and somewhere in the back of my head I think I'll find something new here...funny. Like I'm checking to see if there's a new post or something that I don't know about. Then I feel all let down because it's the same old post staring back at me.... I guess that means it's time for something new, so, I'll get on top of that.

We survived Peter's first week back to law school classes! Peter survived. He even survived being called on first in his first class by one of the most demanding teachers at the school. If you know anything about being called on in class in law school you'll know it can be kind of intense and stressful. But Peter did a good job. He was asked to define "evidence" for the class. Then the teacher grilled him a bit to get him to think about it in different ways, etc... I'm just glad it's not me in his shoes, and I'm glad he goes out there and works so hard and is so confident to do well!

We've befriended a girl in our neighborhood. Her name is Tiffany and she rides her bike...a lot. I think I see her going up and down the street at least 3 or 4 different times a day. She lives nearby, and since we see her so often we've started talking to her. She's going to be a Sophmore this year...starting classes tomorrow. I was just called as the 1st counselor in the young women's program in our ward, so I've decided to invite Tiffany to come to our activities. Hopefully she'll be interested at some point. She is so nice and seems to be serious minded enough and mature enough to enjoy learning some spiritual things. Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Okydoky, Peter's off the phone now...so we can watch the rest of our movie...see ya!

Leave the flying to the experts...

2009-08-24T16:02:00.004-04:00

(from our window...Chicago in the distance)

We recently flew out to Utah to visit our family:

Peter's family had a big reunion/surprise 60th birthday party for their Dad, Sammy's grandpa! All the siblings flew/drove/sacrificed to be there:) We all had a great time and even managed to get this great picture with almost everyone smiling and looking at the camera! We were so grateful to be able to stay with Peter's folks for our entire 2 week visit. We know that they were exhausted by the end, but we want them to know how much fun we had!!!

Sam had a great time learning more about navigating steps on this trip. There were lots of steps inside and out while staying with Avo and Grandpa!

Peter obliged me when I asked him for a few minutes in front of the camera with Sam. Sam even obliged me! We had a lot of fun and I finally have a couple pictures I like with me and Sam both!

Sam's new found favorite past time is to sit in the sink and play with the faucet. This resulted in numerous changes of clothing each day, but it was mostly a lot of fun. Since we've been home it's become our daily challenge to persuade Sam to do other things instead:)

While we were in Utah we drove up to Logan (where Peter and I were married) to visit Bonnie and her family. We went swimming, where we learned of Sam's bravery in walking in water up to his chin and falling under without flinching. After the pool we had a BBQ with everyone and played in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard. The huge sandbox was a big hit with Sammers (and with Peter apparently!)

Our dear ol' Uncle Huck is the "ding-dong" uncle. He picks up the kids by their ankles and swings them like a bell, "ding dong". Sam actually had a blast with this and would rush right over to Huck whenever we'd say, "Sam, do you want a ding dong?"

We played with Sappo (my sister Sarah) a bunch of times, too. This particular occasion was at the duck pond on BYU's campus near where she lived this summer. Sam had a great time with Aunt Sappo, and I even got to spend some sister time with her doing some eating, shopping, movie watching, and especially talking!

The cousins on the Waite side of the family! We were so fortunate to see all the cousins on both sides of the family. My brother, Scott, lives in Salt Lake, so we got to see his kids, Drea and Jared, a couple of times. This time we were feeding stale Cheerios to the ducks near their apartment in Salt Lake. The other time we saw them was at a family BBQ with aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. After the BBQ we actually all had a sleepover at Grandma's (Nana's) house. They are getting sooo big and smart!

Here's the cousins on Peter's side of the family (the Spencer side). Here are Becca, Hannah, Sam, and Caleb. They are all soaking their feet in the reflecting pool at the Salt Lake Temple. We had so much fun with them all. This day we rode Trax (like the Metro) up to the city and walked around, had lunch, and played in the water. The kids had fun and really wore themselves out that day. We spent a week with them at Avo and Grandpa's house...too many fun things to tell about them all here, but it was a great week!

Smiling baby...

Our family in front of the Christus statue in the visitor's center on Temple Square in Salt Lake. This was a great experience for me. I felt so at peace while we walked around the center and looked at the pictures and heard the stories of Jesus' life again. It's not like I never hear or see those things here, but it made a big impact on me and left me with a peaceful, grateful feeling. I feel so blessed to know of my Savior, Jesus Christ!

Here's the Salt Lake Temple. What a beautiful day it was!

Our trip was so much fun. Minus the 3 times Sam threw up on the plane ride out to Utah, minus some of his fussy behavior from relative overload, and minus coordinating Sam's sleep schedule with all our playing around, we had a great time! It was really such a gift to see so much family in one 2 week period. We were so happy to see Avo, Grandpa, Unky Gabe, David, Josh, Noni, Nathan, Hannah, Becca, Caleb, the new one on the way, Sappo, Scott, Drea, Jared, Nana, Huck, MiMi, Grandma & Grandpa Spencer, etc....it was so great! I'd name everyone, but that list just gets longer the more people you put on it...you know.

The day after getting back I went out to our garden with Sammy to check on those tomato plants and zucchini plant and herbs. They are all growing like weeds, hooray! Here is the first harvest after getting home:

Tomato sandwich delight!

Why did I complain about the weather again....

2009-07-28T17:49:00.002-04:00

Man! It's almost 90 degrees in our apartment right now! So, tell me, why was I complaining when we had all that cool/cold and rainy weather up until just a couple of weeks ago? Well, I admit it is nice to see the sun, even if we do live on the second floor with no A/C. I've been spraying Sam with the spray bottle and keeping the fans close by all day long. Clothes really start sticking after a while, so Sam tends to go as close to naked as he can without running the risk of accidents:)

We will manage just fine! It's time to put in our window A/C unit. You think?

Well, a week from tomorrow we'll be boarding a plane and heading for Utah for 2 weeks! We are so excited about this trip. It's going to be a lot like going home. We get to see the mountains again, go hiking and maybe even camping, eat at Del Taco, see some good friends, enjoy the low levels of humidity, etc... But most of all we get to see our FAMILY!!! Yay!! We are so excited for everyone to see Sammy again! It's been a year for most of them now, and that's just too long!

So, I may or may not have a pre-trip post, but stay tuned for some definite post-trip pictures!

So, I built an easel...

2009-07-16T12:00:00.003-04:00

...for Sam!!!

I was buying art supplies today and remembered about my brilliant idea to build Sam his very own easel. He's been showing quite a lot of (unwelcome) attention to my easel lately. Don't get me wrong, I love that he notices and shows interest in art, but having him mess around with wet paintings on an easel is not my idea of a good time... So, I went to bed last night dreaming of Sam's easel. Then, today, after the art store, we stopped by Home Depot to pick up some materials. $20 later and here you have it! It's very basic and took me all of 10 minutes to hammer in some nails and screw in some hinges...

Apparently, however, a 12' long piece of 1" x 3" wood is actually only 11'10", because one of my 3' legs is a bit on the short side...hmm...I'll have to fix that later. But, Sam has already had a great time with this. His first easel picture is a lovely blue, yellow, and green squigly line mess. It's a masterpiece! I'll have to put on some chains to make sure it doesn't fall open, etc...he's rougher with it than I had anticipated:) The only down side to this oh-so-brilliant idea of mine is that he now loves the feeling of scribbling on wood. The walls have become a new target...yikes! I'm on the lookout....

We went to Wickford...

2009-07-13T11:03:00.004-04:00

On Saturday we packed up and drove over to Wickford (across the Bay) for an art festival. Well, this one wasn't for me to exhibit in, just one for us to wander around and look at. We had a great time. Wickford is one quaint, old, and awesome town. We really fell in love with it. We stopped for some hotdogs and hamburgers for lunch and Sam decided to wear his lunch on his face:

Then we saw the water at the end of the road and decided we better go check it out. Sam was certainly glad we did. Here is Sam's progression toward bathing bliss...

A fully clothed baby, playing in the sand with mom.

Still fully clothed, playing with dad and a really fat cat. Animals flock to this child:)

Pantless. See those white legs?

Playing in the water, getting some ideas for....

...nudity.

I decided the last step just wasn't appropriate for a blog, but you can guess where he went after this. He was in baby heaven. Naked, at the beach, in the water, splashing like crazy with his dad. Peter picked him up and swished him around in the water really fast, and Sam just laughed and laughed. Until we had to go. That wasn't the happiest of times, but he was over it and really glad to get in some dry clothes and be able to sleep in the car for almost 2 hours while we drove around exploring this marvelous state we live in. The Ocean State.

Mopsy and Chunks, this one is for you guys. We opened up the box and got out the trains and trucks and apron. These have been the source of endless joy for Sam! Thanks so much!!

_______________________________________

One more, VERY IMPORTANT thing to tell: Most of you know that Peter just completed his first year of law school (phew!). He worked very hard and was very dedicated to his studies. Sam and I are really proud of him, but we aren't the only ones who recognized his hard work! His first year grades were awesome to say the least. Each semester there are awards given to the student with the highest grade in any given course. It's called a CALI award. Peter received this award for his grade in the course called Contracts this last semester! He is the only student who received an A this semester in that class, and one of only 3 A's given all year in that class!

So, congratulations sweetheart on a well earned award! We are so proud of you!

Our evenings...

2009-07-10T10:42:00.006-04:00

Sam has got us on a regular routine of going out for evening walks. Peter is always highly motivated to participate and I am on and off about the whole thing. Don't get me wrong, I love to be outside and spend time with my boys, but sometimes at the end of the day I just want to sit and do nothing... I'm usually convinced (coerced?) to come along, and then I usually wonder why I didn't want to come in the first place. We always have little adventures, and it does feel good to be out and breathe the fresh air!

When Peter has his late class on Wednesday nights (now a thing of the past...yay!) I try to work up my motivation to get Sam out for the walk all alone. It's a lot of fun for us to just stroll around the neighborhood together. This last Wednesday evening after Sam's bath I got him in the baby carriage (i.e.: stroller in New England speak) and headed off for the town center here in Warren. It was a beautiful overcast evening with spectacular, brooding clouds...the best kind! Here's our walk...

Belcher's Cove, the view from our apartment...zoomed in a bit. We feel so lucky to live so close to the water. This cove has been the inspiration for a few paintings already, click here and here. I'm sure it will be the source of future works as well! This photo in fact looks like a great reference, don't you think?

Then we turned the corner and headed up on Market street toward the town center. Here's the view facing the old church at the end of the street. That church is built on the site of the original Brown University...old old old, by American standards anyway:)

Here's Sam playing on the town building steps. There was no one around, after hours, so we just played on the steps for a while and I did a baby photo shoot...I'll spare you ALL the pictures. There were a lot.

Gritty closeup. He's got the most expressive faces this kid!

He does have hair, despite what it might look like:) Our little toehead. (p.s. I looked up the spelling and I think that's right). Shortly after our little playtime on the steps it began to pour rain. Yes, I was about a 10 minute walk from home and we were soaked through by the time we made it back. Sam loved every minute of it, and I didn't think it was so bad myself. It's fun to get caught in the rain every now and then.

Yesterday we were fortunately able to go for our evening walk as a family. Peter is more ambitious than I am and he decided we would drive down to Portsmouth on the island (Aquidneck Island...where Newport is) and explore some different beaches he had discovered on the map. Side note: Peter is having a love affair with maps right now...oh, wait, that's been going on for ages now...

We drove for a bit and then got out to explore this beach here:

I actually forget the name, but it's right next to Teddy's Beach, which is the first one we looked at on our drive. On the other side of the street there was a little shack called Flo's Clamshack. We got three clam cakes and all shared until we decided to give the rest to the seagulls. That's a favorite pasttime of Sam's. It was a nice little treat.

Here's our little beach bum. Really truly, Sam was running full speed into the water. You can just barely see Peter's foot following closely behind, ready to snatch Sam from the water. I mean, can you blame us, he'd already had his bath...he'll have plenty of opportunities to make beach messes this summer!

The beach.

The sunset at the beach.

And so the nightly ritual of walks continues...these walks turn into some great adventures!

Happy Belated 4th!

2009-07-08T09:47:00.002-04:00

Mark and Joy were here with us for the 4th of July. Peter had grand ambitions to get up early and reserve a spot on some grass for the Bristol 4th of July Parade (it's the longest running parade in the nation--sometime in the 1700s). I was a party pooper and pretty much put my foot down about anybody getting up at 4 a.m. to reserve a parade spot. Sam woke up early and then was ready for a nap right around the time we were planning to leave for the parade, which started about 10:30. Anyway, we let Sam sleep and he woke up just in time for us to get down to Bristol to see quite a bit of the parade...lucky us!

Sam really did enjoy the parade. This face might not be too convincing, but Sam's developed a very expressive personality and loves to put on this concerned face quite a bit these days:)

This pic is for Sam's Avo (Peter's mom). She sent Sam these great bear slippers about a week ago and Sam has insisted on wearing them every day, even when his feet get all hot and sweaty. He's wearing them right now in fact. If one of them falls off he brings it to us for us to put it back on. Very cute. So, thanks Avo!

Happy Father's Day Peter!!

2009-06-22T19:00:00.003-04:00

Pretty sure I can't come up with anything better to give you as a Father's Day gift!! Here he is, cute and munchalicious...

Daddy and Sammy, playing outside on Father's Day. Sam wanted Peter to have the best day ever, so he let Peter play outside with him for a couple of hours:)

Best Buds...

We had Mark & Joy here over the weekend, so they got to spend Father's Day with us, too! It was so much fun to have them here and we can't wait for them to be sooo close to us in Groton, CT for the next year or so! We're going to take advantage of it and try to see them and be seen by them AMAP (as much as possible)! We love love love them and hope they are getting their lives squared away for the big move!

Good luck you two!
______________________________________

I just want to say here for all the world to see that I feel so blessed and *special* to have Peter for a husband and as Sam's daddy. He is so generous, non-complaining, patient, long-suffering, gentle, and loving! He spoils Sam too much, and me for that matter:) He really shows such love to us both and I only hope to deserve him in my life!

Happy 2nd Father's Day Peter!

The festival story...

2009-06-15T20:51:00.003-04:00

Saturday was the Providence Art Festival. What a good time! My parents came up from Maryland and my brother and his wife came down from Upstate NY for the event. They all stayed at our house, which was such a blast. Plus, the amount of help they gave during the festival was unbelievable. I don't think it would've been such a fun day without them all there with us! I like to think they came for my art show, but we all know they actually came to see this guy:

I mean Sam, not the bird. Although the story of that bird is quite interesting. Would you like to hear it?

So, Sam played near this iron fence for a lot of the day, and at one point this bird just perched there and sat next to Sam for around 5 minutes or so. We were all so amazed by it. Sam petted it, poked it a little, touched it's beak, and even it's eye once. We kept thinking it would fly away each time, but it just sat there and let Sam smile and laugh and play with him. We were making him be gentle, although he's pretty gentle on his own, too. We wondered if it was injured, but we realized later that it was perhaps just still a baby, because it could fly, it just wasn't really that good at it yet. Eventually it did fly away and Sam went on with life. It was so cool though. I even touched it a couple of times and could feel it's little heart beating so fast. Birds are so fragile and delicate. It was a miraculous couple of minutes for us all!

If you want to read more about the art festival, be my guest!

Another surgery tomorrow

2009-06-10T21:14:00.005-04:00

Bummer. Poor little Sam! He's so patient and good about it all. As many of you know, Sam has a clogged tear duct, common enough, but his won't go away on it's own. He had one surgery about a month ago to probe the duct and open it up. It improved quite a bit, but his eye still gets runny and gunky, so we have decided with our ophthalmologist (it took me 3 tries to spell that right:)) to go ahead and do another surgery. This time he will put in a tiny tube that will hold the duct open for a few months, giving it time to clear up and open up. Then, the tube is removed in the doctor's office. Apparently these doctors are really good at what they do and they can remove the tube super fast by distracting the child for a split second. Wow, I'm amazed.

Anyway, the surgery is tomorrow morning. We'll be heading to Hasbro Children's Hospital at about 6:30 a.m., so the surgery should be done before lunch! Then we can relax the rest of the day! We are praying that everything will go well. We're sure it will.

This is where we live...

2009-06-10T20:30:00.003-04:00

...are you jealous?

Yes, Warren, Rhode Island is beautiful (from across the river in Barrington!) at sunset! You see those two church steeples near the middle of the picture? Well, if you just go straight walking passed those churches you'll basically hit our apartment after about a half mile. So, we don't live right on the water you see here, but we do live right by Belcher's Cove, also a beautiful sunset view!

Last week we had some wonderful guests come and stay with us. Bonnie (Sam's birthmom), her husband, Jacob, and her brother Habb all came to visit us, catch up with Sammy, and see the sights nearby. It was a week filled with lots of driving, talking, shopping, eating, and relaxing (surprisingly enough). We did the Boston thing, even a trolley tour.

This was one of the stops and we had to get out for pictures and to buy some baseball hats. So, now my brothers can stop giving Peter a hard time for ever suggesting that they all go to Yankee Stadium before it was torn down. Peter is making up for his mistake, okay?! Okay...

Here's a perfect view of Boston from across the Charles River (at least I'm pretty sure it's the Charles...correct me if I'm wrong). The sky, skyline, and sailboats really make this look so picturesque, wouldn't you agree?

We had lunch/dinner at Quincy Market (my my. so many places to choose from in there). There were some begging pigeons and we had some oyster crackers left over so we let Sam have some fun. He was laughing and chasing these birds all over the place. It's so fun to see how genuinely new and exciting this was for him.

Not too far from this park we had stopped to change Sam's dipper and put on his jammies. After he was all changed he was playing in the grass. There were some squirrels playing close by and Sam loved them. He was walking right over to them, and being the human friendly rodents that they are one of them started to hop right up to Sam. He got close enough for Sam to almost touch before I rescued Sam from a possible rabies bite! Yikes! Sam was sooo mad at me for a few minutes. How could I?

But, as you can see, the damage was not permanent and he was eating up the attention and fun at the next park we came to. This is Sam's "I'm-crazy-with-happiness" stance.

Out on one of our early morning walks (we're still doing it by the way...almost every day!). Sometimes I give him my cell phone if he won't be entertained by anything else. This day the cell phone provided some interesting forms of entertainment for Sammy.

We spent about an hour one afternoon at Easton's Beach in Newport. I took Bonnie and Jacob there to walk around, eat at Panera Bread (they are true converts now!), and to see the mighty Atlantic Ocean! Sam thought the sand was awesome. I can't wait to take him back on a slightly warmer day when he can get as dirty as he wants until he's too tired to think straight anymore! Bring on the sand!

Mommy and Sammy playing at the beach!

Another long day. We ate at an Ethiopian restaurant in Cambridge, then drove up to Salem to see the town. Peter and I had been to Salem before, but we spent most of our time near the water, reading up on the history of the shipping industry of colonial times. This time we did the Witch Museum (my suggestion: do not go to the witch museum...it's not a museum, more like a diorama with wax figurines and some minor history about witches...no artifacts or museum like stuff to be found!). Not worth the money you pay. Then we just walked around for a bit before heading home. Sam was having a blast just walking with Peter and Habb. They were swinging him a lot, but this shot was so sweet...just walking along...

We had a great time with them all here! Thanks so much for coming you guys! We hope you had fun!

He fits in the cupboard...

2009-06-01T13:39:00.002-04:00

The other day I told Sam to get ready to go for a ride (we were going to the store), so he faithfully went over and got his hat, etc... He knows what it means to be going out and he gets really excited! Anyway, I went into our room to put on my shoes and when I came out I couldn't see Sam anywhere. He wasn't over by the door waiting like he usually is. He wasn't making a mess in the bathroom. He wasn't trying to open all the drawers in my craft room. He wasn't playing with his real toys either. Then I heard some noises coming from the cupboard. I looked inside and there was Sam, tucked up inside where he couldn't be seen. It was so funny.
I got his attention and he looked at me like it was the most normal thing in the world to be sitting in the cupboard checking out the pots and pans. Well, at least he wasn't really lost, right?

Sweet cuteness!

Sunny days are here again!

2009-05-20T22:45:00.003-04:00

Here is Sam, with his little cold and runny eye...poor kid. He woke up this morning at 5:30 crying with his face down in his crib...just moaning and groaning. He had a runny nose and we could just tell he felt terrible. After letting him rest and watch part of a movie he was ready for some juice and breakfast. He seemed to be feeling much better after that. After his morning nap he woke up the same as he did this morning. Miserable. Anyway, I ended up giving him some tylenol and orajel for his teeth (in case that's what's causing the moaning and groaning). That seemed to help a little bit. This picture is a good one to see his little weeping eye (his left, your right). Update on that: he's having surgery again in June to have a tube put in, which will then be removed a few months later after his duct has the chance to open up. We really hope this time does the trick!

Peter had to stay up at school late today (even though he's finished with finals!! Yay!! Go, Peter!! You made it through your first year of law school!!). He's working on an article that he needs to turn in by this weekend, so he's got a couple of busy days with that. Sam and I went on our morning walk this morning, and then we just bummed around the house all day. Sammy had some bouts with being really fussy and clingy and tired, and I decided to enjoy taking care of him in his distress. There's something so endearing about a child who isn't feeling well and just needs loves and care. This evening, after dinner, Sam was restless, so we went for another walk. We walked to a more rural part of our town. There are some farms along a road about a 5 minute walk from our apartment, so we went there. The sky was beautiful!

And the farms are looking so fresh and green and alive. I didn't alter the colors on these pics at all! The sun was lower (it was about 6:00 pm) and was hitting everything just right. Some painting inspiration!

And we stopped by a little park on our walk back toward home. Sam had fun on the swings, as usual! It was nice to see him smiling and enjoying himself even when he's feeling a bit sick. Now it's late and I need to go to bed...so, I'm off!

Furniture update...

2009-05-18T12:51:00.002-04:00

Some of you may remember how I posted about this beauty last fall:

I had grand intentions of stripping it, sanding it, and repainting it to use it in our apartment. Well, that all required me to go out to the garage in freezing cold temperatures, so needless to say, I didn't get to it right away. But, spring is here and I took the chance to get out there and finish the project. Last fall I got all the way through sawing (the bottom drawer strip), stripping and sanding it, but I only recently got to the painting part:)

I decided to go for white and planned to put it in Sam's room for some extra storage space. I kept it a little rough and kept the paint thin to allow some wood and imperfections to show through. I like furniture with character:) Since the bottom drawer was missing I sawed off the front strip to make some room for large storage bins. The top drawer was also missing knobs, so I bought some for a buck a piece that matched the other knobs except for the color. It gives it a worn, antique feel. I really like it and am happy that I stopped to put that seeminly trashed, but free, dresser in the truck that day last fall! You can't beat free. And when it ends up working out so well, you can't beat that either!

Our computer died and lives again!

2009-05-11T16:49:00.003-04:00

So, our computer woes were not over apparently... About a month ago our computer just started to go crazy, so we took it to the doctor and found out we had icky things like viruses and trojan horses on our computer...who knew?! Anyway, they told us it was fixed, we brought our good ol' computer home, and those pesky viruses CAME BACK! Well, turns out that the "doctors" took off our anti-virus protection on accident, leaving us really exposed to the world of unkind computer diseases. They were going to charge us again to do what they should've done the first time around. You all know that Peter is the nice guy, the reasonable guy, the one who is calm in a crisis. But, he's married to me, the lady who really likes to get her own way. I really didn't want to pay for the same work twice, so I pulled out every card I had when I went to pick up the computer. Nothing was making this guy budge, so I got out my last card, which was the my-husband-is-in-law-school-we-live-off-student-loans-we-have-a-child-we-are-renting card. It worked! I only payed half price:)

Anyway, it wasn't about being right and them being wrong, it was the fact that...well...I guess it was about that. We were right and they were wrong. That's that.

So, folks, it looks like our computer is going to be okay. They've got us all protected now (so we think), and she's never run faster it seems! Yay!

Sam's first trip to...

2009-05-06T21:57:00.004-04:00

THE ZOO

Sam and I drove to Springfield, MA to meet up with Joy (sister-in-law/aunt) for a day of fun. Mark and Joy live in Saratoga Springs, NY while Mark is working away his life in the Navy and Joy is putting up with it:) Well, anyway, the distance between us is less than 4 hours so I decided it was time to get together. We picked a central location and googled things to do there. We ended up with the zoo idea. Sam and I were really excited.

I won't go into all the details of how I printed off the wrong directions, ended up in front of someone's house instead of at the zoo, called Peter for help, got his voicemail, called my Dad for help, got help, and made it to the zoo only 40 minutes later than planned:) Yeah, I'll spare you those details.

Anyway, we finally met up with the ever patient Joy (us Waite's, we've got a way of making people wait...hmmm...). After that we headed off first to.....

...Friendly's for some lunch before going into the zoo. Sam ate some of his food and would've had all of his chocolate milkshake if I didn't cut him off. Look at the determination.

Then it was back to the zoo to see if we could brighten Sam's day even further with some animal antics...

The zoo/park was great. It wasn't a big zoo. In fact, the enclosures felt a little bit more like something you might see in your crazy neighbor's backyard, you know, the kind of neighbor who owns strange exotic animals... My favorite was the wolves. They are so big and beautiful. I honestly don't think I'd ever seen a live wolf before that.

Sam loved the donkeys and cows because he could get close to them and they kept tickling his fingers when he grabbed the fence. This smile was one of many while we stood by their enclosure.

There were these very impressive monkeys (I don't remember what they are called, do you Joy?). I think you could just call them Rock-Star Monkeys if you want to. They had some really awesome hair with really intense faces. There are so many amazing animals in the world that I've never even heard of or seen before! It's good to be reminded of how diverse the world is that we live in!

Me and Sam by some pretty bushes.

Joy and Sam on the train. That's right, there was a cool train. But, if you go to this zoo, be warned: You cannot take your stroller on the train. I learned the hard way by being scolded by the "conductor" for trying to put my neatly folded up stroller in the bench where we were sitting. Oh no, you can't do that. There is no shortage of space, but you CANNOT take the stroller. And, when he tells you to leave it behind and that it won't get stolen you just do it, because you're kind of nervous and don't want to keep making a scene. Then, you'll be happy to realize it's still there when you return. Whew!

Sneaker sneak...he's peeking out at you.

Sam had a great time at the zoo. Afterward we all just sat on the grass in the park and talked and watched Sam romp around in the very green grass. It was pretty warm, so I let him go pantless. Those little white legs could use some sun, right? It was fun to take him to the zoo, even if he was more interested in watching the people than the animals. Hey, I certainly had fun watching the animals...and seeing Joy, too! Sam had so much fun and it was great to see how much he loved spending time with Joy. It makes me happy to realize how quickly he warmed up to her and wanted to play with her!

Thanks Joy! We had a blast!

Handsome boy!

Our excursion to central Massachusetts...

2009-05-02T21:57:00.008-04:00

I'll be back later to tell all about the little trip Sam and I took to see Joy (my awesome sister-in-law) and the fun we had at the zoo....

Cutie-pie pumpkin eye...

2009-04-30T11:01:00.007-04:00

When your son is this adorable it's tough to be mad for long, but don't be fooled by the innocent grin! This little boy already knows how to push my buttons! It probably didn't help that I was super tired today. By the end of the day, when I was trying to give him dinner, he just wouldn't have anything to do with it, throwing his food on the floor, making eye contact and screaming as loud as he could, pouting, crying, and generally acting like it was the end of his baby world... Peter probably just would've laughed it off and done something reasonable like picked him up and played with him. I just stared back at him and told him who was the boss. Power struggles, they've begun! Oh goody! But, we were saved by Peter. He came home just in time before Sam and I decided never to speak to each other again. Then we ate dinner all together, like a respectable family, and Sam participated and ate:) Peter took him out for a bike ride while I stayed home to keep sanity flowing... In the end we were buddies once again, and tomorrow is a new day and we'll have a ton of fun together as we always do.

This cute kid is getting so big! Here he's looking like a toddler already, and he's just over 1 year old! We were gearing up for a big bike ride last weekend, which we had so much fun on. Sam especially enjoyed his view from our "new" bike trailer:

We got it off Craigslist ($10), a steal! We take the bikes out almost once a day lately. Mostly it's for our after-bath-bike-ride with Sam to help him relax and be ready for bed. Being outside really soothes him, and it's such a part of his routine now that he actually goes and gets his hat to let us know it's time to go out. He even says "outside" now!

Our little boy is growing up! Here's a video of some of his first steps. He has begun to take little timid steps and it's so much fun to watch him and help him. In the beginning of the video he's a little wobbly (kind of looks a little drunk), but he works it out and puts on a good show!

Enjoy!

Our new 1 hour walk...

2009-04-27T08:52:00.003-04:00

Folks, it's gonna be every day, every morning this spring/summer. Sam and I ate breakfast this morning and then headed out the door to do our morning walk. I wish I could send the sound and sights and smells of spring in New England through the blog ducts to you, but you'll just have to imagine it for yourself! Sam loves to be outside and I'm dying for exertion, so we're a happy pair out there. We walk as far as we can for a half an hour on the bike path, then we turn around and walk back...works out to about an hour (okay, so I'm the one walking and Sam just points out all the animals and flowers as we go by). It felt so good.

I've always said that fall is my favorite season, but that might all be changing here. I think I've always just missed the spring as it came and went so quickly, but here it comes on so slowly, taking its time to work its way into our appreciation. And then one day you look outside and everything is in bloom, and the birds are singing happy songs, and the sun is wrapping warm arms around everything. It's really a paradise.

Paradise ends, unfortunately, with the sweltering heat in our upstairs apartment. We'll be working out the window/blind system over then next couple of weeks I'm sure. Open windows all night, then closed by 8 a.m. with blinds closed to keep the heat out, too. It got up to 89 degrees in here yesterday! Yikes!

Peter finally caught up with me:)

2009-04-26T21:50:00.004-04:00

Meaning, he's finally 29 now, too. So, we're both in our prime, right? On the verge of the big three-oh. His birthday was pretty uneventful. When we came home from church we were all hot and tired (it was in the 80's today--woohoo). Sam was sort of in a zombie-like state and we decided it was time for some food, drink, and sleep. But before naptime I wanted to start Peter's birthday dinner. Some Thai Peanut Curry. Once that was done it was down to bed for us all for a couple of hours. Nice.

Ahh, nothing quite like a Sunday afternoon nap. We invited a friend over for dinner and all left right after for a missionary concert over in Warwick. It was beautiful.

Side note here: I realized again how grateful I am for a testimony of Jesus Christ, because it casts out fear. "If God be for us, who can a be against us?" Romans 8:31. I really believe this!

Anyway, Peter had asked for chocolate chip cookies for his birthday instead of a cake. They never happened, so we were all very glad to see that the dessert after the concert was a table of seemingly endless chocolate chip cookies...we sort of gorged and tried to keep Sam from turning into Cookie Monster...even though Cookie Monster is my favorite Sesame Street character.

Now we are enjoying the rest of our evening while I'm over here on our computer and he's cozied up watching funny Bill Cosby clips on his laptop...quality time...

Peter's pretty laid back about birthday celebrations for him, but he better watch out, 'cause next year I'm gonna PLAN something.... :)

Dashing off to bed...

2009-04-25T22:55:00.008-04:00

...via the blog :)

So, Peter and I just got home from a much needed date night! Happy day! A great friend came and sat with Sam while we headed out to Boston to the temple. Wonderful, spiritual experience. We couldn't decide on what we wanted to eat afterward, so we opted for a walk in Arlington Center where we could peruse the merchandise, you know... Checkin' out menus, wondering if we wanted an appetizer, a meal, or a dessert...choices choices. We finally just decided to share a small cup of Oreo ice cream and a chicken sandwich from a local place called Krazy Karry's for a couple of krazy kustomers. Mmm Mmm good. We did, however, realize half way through devouring our sandwich that it was not the bacon ranch one we had ordered...too late. It was still good.

Switching gears fast. Hold on.

I sometimes get a strong feeling of urgency about the world we live in today. So much of what is good is called bad and so much that is bad is called good. I won't go into a lot of specifics right now, but lately I've been quite concerned by a lot of what I hear on the news or read in the media. Tonight I felt that again. It's a feeling I don't always know what to do with, but one that doesn't really go away altogether. I tend to be an extreme person, seeing things in black and white. I'm a fatalist...it's all or nothing with me. Peter is my saving grace, helping me to strike a positive balance and helping me to see all sides of an issue. He helps me to hold off judgement long enough to make sure I'm not being too impulsive. I want to be more like him. So, I don't want to be too quick to say the sky is falling on the world. But, it doesn't mean I don't want to say it sometimes:)

Stay tuned if you're interested in my comentary on the state of the world because really I have more to say about this, but my eyes are drooping and that long bike ride in the sun today is catching up with me...I've got to get some sleep before our busy Sunday, and our wonderful birthday celebration for none other than...

Peter!

Happy 29th Tomorrow!

I looked out my window and what did I see....

2009-04-24T08:42:00.008-04:00

...popcorn popping on the apricot trees!

Yay! Does this mean that Spring is really here for good?! I've been noticing the buds on the trees and the early Spring flowers around, but to see those blossoming white trees, all furry with life, it just made my heart smile:) Today is supposed to get up into the lower 70's. It's a park day for us!

Spring in New England comes a little later...or maybe they actually just have a real Spring, as opposed to some other places who go straight from winter to summer (like Utah). I've just thought for so long that Spring should be warmer, but I guess real Spring is a bit chilly and rainy and cold while it warms up to Summer...now I know.

____________________________________________________

So, Sam had his surgery almost 2 weeks ago now, right....well, his eye is a little bit better, but not completely. We called his doctor/surgeon about a week after the surgery and she said it probably wasn't completely successful. She wants to see him again in a few weeks, so we'll be going in for another checkup mid-May. The next step (in the case that his eye doesn't clear up by then) is to have him go back in for another surgery to insert a tube into his tear duct. Man! We are bummed. We feel bad to put Sam through another surgery. These procedures are normally so successful, so we are a bit disappointed, but we want to get it right. We are hoping and praying that his eye will clear up on its own before that time (there's a chance!). His eye is a lot better, but every now and then he'll still get the teary eye and that solitary tear dripping down his cheek. So, we'll see what the doc says in May. We'll keep you all posted.

On another note, about Sam, he now says "Mama". Warms my heart....

When will the rain end...

2009-04-21T11:02:00.000-04:00

...and the beach weather begin?

He's getting close...

2009-04-20T13:47:00.004-04:00

All that learning and growing is making Sam tired:) I took this the other day after his surgery (when he took a 3 hour nap!). I was checking on him to be sure everything was okay since he doesn't normally sleep that long. He didn't even budge, so I decided to take a picture. That woke him up for a brief instant, but it was back to sleep for him for another 45 minutes or so.

We had a fun day with some friends at the park! Sam loved the swings. He was wearing my hat since we don't have a good sun hat for Sam yet (only wooly beanies, too hot!). Obviously it's rather large, but that doesn't seem to stop him.

Weeeee....down the slide! This was a big hit with Sam. If it's hard to see because of the glare from Peter's shirt, don't worry, we all notice it:) He had gone up to Massachusetts that morning to pick up a bike trailor from a Craigslist ad. While on his drive he drove through Spencer, Mass. and noticed they were celebrating Spencer Pride Day. So, obviously, he stopped in to see what it was all about. It was being held inside a local church where Peter talked with some nice old ladies who explained that everyone was already out doing a service project to clean up the town. They had some fluorescent t-shirts for people to wear. When Peter explained about the name thing they all just gave him one for the fun of it. He was determined to wear it all day long even though it really did make him look like he was glowing...that's my Peter:)

The tube tunnel. Sam liked this once he realized it wasn't going to eat him. We had to do a little coaxing...

I had to crawl through a few times to lead the way. Fortunately I'm still the size of a toddler and I didn't get stuck.

Sam is the captain of everything.

The sliding champ! His little toothy grin just makes me smile:) Go on, admit it, it makes you smile, too!

Dinner tonight...

2009-04-16T09:09:00.005-04:00

I just can't wait!

Click on photos to visit websites and see recipes and ideas!

I had a whole bunch of celery that I bought thinking I would use it last week in my cabbage dish, but I forgot about it....so, I was thinking about what to make with it all (I knew I'd never eat it all raw). I remembered my old roommate, Margo, and how she used to make this delicious celery soup. I looked up a couple of recipes and have decided to make some cream of celery soup tonight! I'm very excited as it sounds so delicious and light. The weather is warming up, so a nice light soup sounds just about right today!

To go with it I'm going to make some crispy potato wedges:

And some crunchy, melty grilled cheese sandwiches:

Peter, hurry home tonight from your meeting! You won't want to miss this!

Sam's big surgery day!

2009-04-15T13:58:00.005-04:00

We checked in at the Hasbro Children's Hospital this morning at 8 a.m. (well, a little later than that...I made Peter take the wrong exit...I think they actually moved the exit, yeah, that's what happened:) ) After checking in we all got some very cool bracelets. Sam ignored his at first, but then tried to gnaw it off later.

In the waiting area there was a guy doing "magic tricks" for the kids. There were about 3 or 4 other kids waiting to go in for surgery prep, too. Sam sat there and watched with big eyes. The guy gave him one of his handkerchiefs to hold. Sam liked that.

When some of the kids got called back and only one little boy was left, Sam decided it was okay to crawl around. Here he is standing up, clutching his little ball, mesmerized by the magic show. I really thought it was neat for that guy (Marvin) to come and entertain the kids while they were waiting for something potentially really scary for them. It really calmed some them all down and helped them relax and focus on something else for a while. Even for Sam being so young we could tell he felt some apprehension being in the hospital with people paying so much attention to him and putting bracelets on him and weighing him and proding him. Plus, he couldn't have anything to eat or drink this morning, so he was a bit fussy, too. So, this helped Sam smile a bit. Thank you Marvin!

After we went back and changed Sam into his hospital jammies the batteries in our camera died, so I don't have photos of that (we took some with our phones, but...). Sam looked pretty cute. His jammies were green (his favorite color...wink wink Bonnie). He had little yellow fuzzy socks they gave him to wear, too. They had us come back to a playroom after we had changed him, etc... That's where we waited to talk to the anesthesiologist and our surgeon before going back to the operating room. Sam had a lot of fun in there just playing with another little boy who was there to get tubes in his ears. It was a great set-up for the kids. I got a gown and cap for my head so I could go back and hold him while they put him under anesthesia. Anyway, after meeting with all our fabulous doctors Peter gave Sam a big kiss and I took him back to the OR. I pointed out all the lights for Sam to look at (he loves lights these days).

They had me hold him in my lap, giving him a bear hug across his arms so he wouldn't pull the mask off his face. Then they placed a mask over his mouth and nose with gas in it to sedate him. They do that before putting in the IV for little children. He hated it. As I was holding him he just started to really squirm and cry, scream into the mask. I had to hold him pretty tight and they just helped him keep the mask on so he would breathe in the gas. They said, "This is normal Mom..." That made me feel better. I just started to hum some of the lullabyes we always sing to him. I tried to help him relax a bit. It only took about a minute before he stopped crying and fell asleep. They helped me to lay him on the hospital bed. He was so little on that table! His face was a little angel face, so relaxed. He had little tears running down his cheeks. I started to cry a bit, but those doctors know what they are doing. They said, "Okay, Mom, you can give him a little kiss on his cheek and we'll walk you out to the waiting area." I kissed Sam and told him I loved him, then they walked me out. It was really hard for me to see him lying there, but I knew everything would be fine. I went in and sat next to Peter. I told him about what happened and I cried some more. Sam is such a sweet boy. He just makes me love him more all the time!

I felt like we had only been waiting for 10 minutes when our doctor came in and told us it was all done. She said Sam did great and was still sleeping! We went back right away, and when we walked in to the recovery this is the sweet scene we saw: (our nurse gave us new batteries!!)

Here's the shot of his little arm all bandaged up with the IV. When he did wake up he was very disoriented for a couple of minutes and twisted all around in my arms. He was certainly a little dopey and confused about what was going on. Peter said, "Well, the last thing he remembers is fighting to get that gas mask off, so he probably woke up still fighting it..." Yeah. Poor little guy. I think he was bugged by the stuff attached to him, too. Later he just thought this IV was interesting. The little red light on his thumb kept his attention, too. I think he thought it was all kind of cool.

The only thing that calmed him down after he woke up was when the nurse brought him a bottle of apple juice. Funny, since we just got him all weaned from his bottle. Not to mention that this was his first experience with juice in his bottle. We always just put juice in sippy cups (I guess it's because we didn't give him juice until he was almost a year old). So this was a double treat for our little guy. We didn't mind though. It helped him relax and that's what we wanted.

He's been marked.... They had to mark his eye so they wouldn't do the operation on the wrong one. You just can't be too careful. I think they asked us some of the same questions about 10 times today, but we didn't mind.

They had us wait in the recovery area for about an hour. Then the IV came out and we got some blood on us all...fun fun. Then we got him all changed and dressed for success in his own jammies for the ride home. He was doing great. I sat with him in the back seat on the ride home. He was getting back to his old self, smiling and pointing out every little thing along the road. That's our Sam! When we got home and set him down to crawl around he was still a little dopey. He fell over from sitting one time. So, we had to keep our eye on him. He had a little bit of a diaper disaster shortly after being back, so we got him in the bath, which he thought was very cool...in the middle of the day.

As you all can see, Sam is just fine. Hopefully his eye will be all better now! We're supposed to give it a couple of weeks to be sure it's all cleared up. Then we'll know for sure.

[These glasses have nothing to do with his eyes...they're just his favorite broken daddy object to play with.]

So, that's the update. Thanks for your prayers and thoughts! It's so appreciated! Even though this was a very minor surgery it was still a big deal to us around here. We're happy everything went so well.

Tomorrow is a big day...

2009-04-14T11:00:00.005-04:00

Many of you know that Sam was born with a couple of clogged tear ducts. His right eye cleared up in a couple of months, but his left eye hasn't ever opened up on its own. Our pediatrician referred us to a pediatric ophthalmologist (an eye doctor for kids). We had that appointment about 2 months ago where they determined that his duct was still clogged. If you want to read about why this even matters click here. We want to get it taken care of for him before he gets much older. His eye is always watering and people always think he has been crying because he often has a solitary tear running down his cheek. Poor kid.

At any rate, to clear the duct he has to have a very minor surgery. He's having this surgery tomorrow at the Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence. It's a terrific hospital where these surgeries are done every day (it's a very common procedure). He will be put completely under general anesthesia. We'll be with him while he falls asleep and then the surgery lasts between 20 to 60 minutes. Basically his ophthalmologist will place a small tube/wire into his tear duct and probe through the duct to open it up. It's very non-invasive and quick. The success rate is pretty high, so hopefully this will be the only time he needs it done! We wanted to post about it here just to let friends and family know about it. Your prayers that it will go smoothly are greatly appreciated! Obviously Sam isn't nervous about it, but I have to admit that I'm a bit uptight about having our little boy in the hospital for any reason at all. The doctor has told us that most children are up and playing within a couple of hours of this surgery, so that makes me feel a bit better!
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This is the view from our apartment windows, overlooking Belcher's Cove. Literally, the water is across the street from our apartment! It's hard to see it here because it's so dark, but the water is right behind that little white house. The sunset was especially lovely the other night when I took this picture from our house.

Sam has a fun way of communicating with me and telling me he's my little pal. He sticks his hand way out and points his chubby finger at me. Then I point mine back at him and we lean in until they touch. He squishes up his whole face and smiles showing all of his 5 teeth every time! Oh, I actually noticed one of his back teeth poking through as I brushed his teeth last night, so I guess we're up to 6 teeth now:)
The above picture was taken about a week and a half ago...when I still had some hair left. The picture below I took today just to show you all my new look. It's gone, it's all gone. I've been here before and swore I'd never be back, but here I am again. So, I've got boy hair, but, man, don't I make it look good:)

Some little tidbits of updates on our Sam:

*He walks while holding onto our hands now

*He has become a blankey baby...takes it with him everywhere

*He is completely weaned off his b-o-t-t-l-e !!! It's been one week and counting!

*He loves to read books and can point out objects we ask him about in his favorites

*He can climb up on little chairs to look out the window (yikes! he's a boy!)

*He says "tree" "ride" "outside" "light" "Elmo" "banana" "oh no" "uh oh" "bath" "window" (all in Sam-speak of course)

*He has learned the art of throwing temper-tantrums already

*He is the easiest baby when it comes to nap-time and bed-time. We are always amazed...

*He knows where to get his hat to go outside. He goes over and puts it on top of his head, that's how we know he's ready to go out.

*He loves to throw anything into the trash can

*When he's playing with our cell phones we tell him to say "hello" and he puts the phone to his ear and starts talking...he gets really into it with voice inflections and long stories...very cute!

Some tidbits of updates on our lives:

*Peter is about to finish up his 2nd semester and 1st entire year of law school!!! Yay!! Go Peter!!

*He has an internship and 2 research assistantships lined up for the summer!

*He'll be taking one (maybe 2) summer classes...bah...

*Our adorable birthmom, her husband, and her brother will be coming for a visit and staying with us for a week at the end of May, beginning of June! We can't wait!

*I'm going to start watching a little girl (Kaitlyn) one day a week for a few hours while her mom goes back to work very part-time

*I'm still painting, although as the weather has gotten nicer I've been less inclined to be inside painting....hmmm...Sam, maybe you could sleep a bit more?

*I'm working every day to organize our third bedroom for our guests coming in a little over a month!!

We hope you all had a great Easter!

Computers have nine lives...

2009-04-10T20:55:00.003-04:00

Who knew? Hey, you find out something new every day. We took the computer in a couple of days ago and I joyfully paid the $200 and brought it home today. It feels good to be back...

The other day Sam and I were playing in the sun room when he decided to go back in the house and close the door. He was trying to lock me out I'm sure, but then he realized how fun it was to play at the window in the door. I was lucky enough to have the camera in there with me, so I captured a few of his funny little faces. For your enjoyment, of course:)

What a little elf, right?

Here's Sam wearing Peter's beanie again. He finds Peter's hats lying around and tries to put them on his head. He'll wear it all day, even while he's eating sometimes... When he remembers he's wearing it he pats his head and says, "Dadadada..."

The other night we were out for our evening walk (after Sam's bath, the walk is part of his bedtime routine, seriously...) when we saw this black cat. We've seen her a few times, and she's extremely friendly. Side note: I'm always a little weirded out by cats that are too friendly. It just doesn't seem right to me for some reason. Strange perhaps, but true. Anyway, Sam loves cats and dogs and squirrels, so we stopped to play. That made Sam pretty happy:)

The same night. The lighting was perfect with the glowing sunset over the cove by our house. We usually walk over and stand on our neighbor's dock out on the water. Sometimes we see swans or geese. Sometimes we just look at the skyline of Warren with the silhouettes of church steeples and rooftops. This night we let Sam crawl around in the grass in his white jammies. Hmmm...but he sure did love it. I had to draw the line when he started to crawl through mud. Oh well. Good thing I'm a thrift store kinda gal otherwise I'd probably care a whole lot more about his clothes.

Peter's semester is coming to a close so soon! His last day of classes is in just a couple more weeks. That means the long and dreaded finals are coming up, too. Those finals always make for some long days and nights for us all, but it's only a couple of weeks of that and then we've got the summer to enjoy. Obviously there's the internships and research assistantships and *stuff*, but truly it will be nice to have that break from constant classes every day. I'm proud of him though. This law school stuff isn't always easy:)

Our computer is dying...

2009-04-06T20:54:00.003-04:00

Today I told Peter, "I feel a sense of loss. I feel like I'm completely cut off from everyone!" What was I talking about? The fact that our computer is dying... I haven't been able to check my email or post to my blogs or even access our photos for the past 2 days! Aaaahhhh..... I have been surprised by how this has affected me. I feel like I'm too attached to my internet:) My computer is my address book, my phone book, my map, my lifeline to long distance family and friends, my outlet, my business, my haircut idea source....etc... The scariest thing about a possible virus on our computer is actually that we could lose our pictures. All of our pictures of sweet Sammy! I'm praying that we'll be able to save them! We tried tonight to save them to a jump drive, but that won't even open up on our computer. Everything just freezes after a few minutes and we can't access any of our stuff.... I admit that I'm highly concerned, but I'm also trying to remember that we can always get another computer. I have hope! We can always start over again. But, I am bound and determined to save at least our photos. Please wish us luck!

Being without internet or computer access stinks, but it also reminds me that my life will not end if I suddenly lose my internet connection. What I really don't want to lose is my connection to Peter and Sam. That's the most important thing. We'll be working on the glitches, but until it's all fixed I won't be posting photos here....I'll see what I can do!

The new haircut...

2009-04-01T11:55:00.003-04:00

So, I did it. I had a little survey here a while back, and from that and my own thoughts I decided to keep it long. But, I know myself (and Peter knows me even better) and I knew it wouldn't be long before it all came off. That's just how I've been since high school. I am too interested in the change. Every time I cut it I say "I'm just a short hair girl." And then when it's long I say "I think I'm going to keep it long forever now..." Well, I guess I am now saying, "I'm sure it'll be long again, but I like it short right now." We'll see if it goes any shorter than this. It has been before, so don't be surprised if when you see me it's even shorter...

Here's some side and back views for you all...

Yesterday we took Sam out to play in the grass before dinner was ready. He had a great time crawling all over the place with Peter. Sam ventured off into the wet dirt a few times, almost bumping into a thorny rose bush a couple of times. We rescued him, fortunately.

He's getting close everyone! Stay tuned...

A day at the beach...

2009-03-28T23:00:00.003-04:00

Here is the beach in the Sachuest Wildlife Refuge in Middletown, RI (about 20 minutes from our house). Photograph courtesy of.....

....this guy:

He insisted on taking a picture, and he didn't do too bad a job, right? It was a beautiful day, and there was a guided nature hike at noon, and it was free! The weather was great, not too much Rhode Island wind to beat us up, and the sand on the beach was really warm. I even took my shoes off and went barefoot. Sam got a kick out of being outside and getting the whole day to play with his dad. That's just a treat for him (and for me).

When we sat him in the sand to play he had to do a little bit of experimenting to be sure it was safe. The first few times he stuck his hands in the sand he shook them out to get the sand off. It was pretty funny to watch. But, before long he was trying to shovel whole fist fulls of it into his mouth. He figured out on his own how gross it was... We realized that the nature hike was mostly for avid birders (people who carry around binoculars and have very in depth conversations about birds...maybe someday I'll really get a kick out of it, too, who knows...). We decided to do our own guided nature hike down to the beach to play. Sam didn't protest at all.

He loved to crawl all over the sand and shells and rocks. He even built a rock tower and then took it down again. He topped the tower off with dried seaweed, a very artistic touch.

Oh, and did I mention that I cut my hair? There will probably be more pictures of that in the future too...it's sort of a bob, but really layered in the back. I like to think of it as a slightly 20's hairstyle...maybe?

Even after a long, hard day...

2009-03-27T20:35:00.005-04:00

Peter came home and I was in a state of absolute NEED yesterday! By the time he arrived it seemed like I was about to drop down dead. Sam was actually more or less a perfect angel...and I hadn't been frustrated all day long...and I've been feeling really positive and optomistic lately...and, well, the day really wasn't all that bad. But for whatever reason, I was having a day.

I bit my tongue for about 10 minutes after Peter got home, so he wouldn't feel like I was attacking him. But then it all just came spilling out.

I'm so tired for some reason. It wasn't even a bad day. Well, I did leave Sam's milk thermos in my cart at Salvation Army today. I was all the way on the other side of town once I realized it. Well, I drove all the way back to SA to see if I could find it. It did cost $20 you know... Anyway, no luck. They said they'd call if it turns up. It won't. Then, for whatever reason, Sam is in a fussy mood lately. I think he's teething or just going through a growth spurt, or getting bugged that he can't walk yet. Anyway, he's been great, but I'm sooo tired for some reason. Oh, yeah, and this morning the shower curtain fell over the edge of the tub and spilled a flood of water on the bathroom floor....

You get the picture. It was like I decided at the end of the day that all that stuff = bad day. So, poor Peter just tried to make the best of it all. He said, "How about you go for a drive and pick up some food." I didn't even hesitate and was out the door within 2 minutes. McDonald's here I come... I immediately went to turn on the radio, but stopped myself. No, this was going to be a meditative and calming excursion. So, I settled in with just my thoughts, and by the time I was half way between our apartment and a fast food heart attack I realized that my anxiety stemmed from forgetting my priorities. This is often the case.

Peter and Sam are the two most important people in my life. I realized on that drive that, despite what else happens in the course of a day, as long as I've done all I can to love them and be a part of their lives it's a success! So what if certain things didn't get done. So what if I have to buy another $20 thermos. So what if I have to air dry our bathroom rug in the stairwell for 2 days. These things really pale in comparison to all I have in Peter and Sam.

So, it turned out to be a not so bad day after all. And, for those of you who are wondering, no, my McDonald's food wasn't great. {Anyone who lives in Utah who's reading this, Del Taco is the only fast food place we could eat at and not feel gross afterward...it's the truth! Oh how I miss Del Taco and their fish tacos and Del Classic Chicken Burritos....mmm mmm good.}

Dreamer...

2009-03-25T11:10:00.004-04:00

{ Van Gogh's 'Wheat Fields and Threatening Sky' }

I often have the strangest, most vivid dreams at night. I wake up and tell them to Peter and he always wonders where my mind comes up with these things. I have to wonder sometimes, too.

Last night I had an interesting dream....

I had been commissioned to work on a project by a committee that worked for the FBI. This committee worked as a PR consulting group and as a financial advisory committee for the FBI. They realized that the FBI was a low level candy operation, meaning, there were very few offices within the FBI that offered candy to its employees or to the public. This was bad PR for the FBI so this committee had contracted with me to help them fix this problem. The leader of this committee was Mrs. N (a real friend of mine) and she told me about a woman named Angelica Francis who was highly respected by the FBI and normally could convince them to do whatever she thought was best. Mrs. N told me that I'd have to go into the central FBI office in their main headquarters and explain my relationship with Angelica Francis to them so that they would let me paint borders on their walls. The reason I was being commissioned to paint borders is because the candy vendors wouldn't commit to donating their candy to be used in the FBI offices unless they were spruced up a bit.

So, on the appointed day I went to the main headquarters. I left Sam asleep in his crib at our house, thinking this project would go quickly. I hadn't really thought it through all the way from beginning to end and didn't know what to expect. I got to the building and ended up wandering up and down long corridors looking for the central office. I didn't want to ask for directions because that would raise suspicion that I wasn't supposed to be there. Finally, after an hour, I found it and went in. I had my orders in my hand and I walked right up to the front desk and told the woman there that Mrs. N had sent me to paint their office that day. I expressed the urgency of the situation. The candy vendors were coming to inspect that day, so I had to work quickly. That meant that everyone would have to leave the office for a few hours. She took my orders and looked over them. "You say Mrs. N sent you? What are your credentials?" I told her that I knew a woman who was in charge of these kinds of operations. The woman said, "Well, what's her name?" I completely spaced her name and knew that I wasn't sounding very convincing, so I stumbled and said, "Oh, it's so silly...I am such good friends with her, too...her name is....umm...oh, yes, Angelica...uh..." The woman asked, "Angelica what?" I smiled and glanced down at a paper on her desk where I saw her last name written down. "Angelica Francis... how silly to forget that, Francis is my husband's middle name" I tried to laugh it off.

The woman said, "Very well, but you realize you will not be compensated for this service, correct." I looked down and said, "Oh, right..." But, Mrs. N had promised me that I'd be paid. So, a moment later I said, "But Mrs. N assured me I would be compensated for this work. I am not volunteering..." The woman said, "Well, I'll have to check with Betsy first..." She went through a door in the back of the office. I waited and realized that Sam might be waking up by now. I went out of the office to call my neighbor, Mrs. B (my real neighbor) to see if she could check on Sam for me. But Mrs. B didn't pick up the phone, so I went back in, knowing I had to get home soon. The woman came back in and said, "Besty agrees with me that there will be no compensation..." I argued, saying, "Mrs. N promised me. I have a son sleeping at home alone and if I am not going to be paid then I can't do this. That means the work will not get done..."

____________________________

Later, I was sitting in a giant theater with Peter. He had the paper with all the financial information for the projects the FBI was working on at the time. A man came and sat beside me. He started to ask lots of questions and I could tell he was a reporter trying to get a good story. I knew it would be devastating if he got the information about the FBI pouring money into upgrading their fascilities in order to attract candy sellers, so I tried to brush him off. He kept looking over at the paper Peter was holding. It had lots of financial information on it, so I whispered to Peter to put it away...

Strange dream, huh? What do you think this says about me? Well, perhaps more importantly, what does this say about the FBI? Hmmmm...