My house is not perfect, but that's just fine.

You know, my house is not perfect, (who's is???) but there are some really nice parts of it.   Half the time it's a disaster, but we still have friends over.  If I waited for my house to be perfect before we had anyone over, our friends would still be waiting 8 years later.  When they come over and use the pool with us in the summer, they would need to pee outside because I wouldn't be able to let them in.  They could use a tree.  We actually do have plenty of those…but we're not like that.  You're welcome.  

 Sure there is dust and our rugs could use another go with the vacuum right now, but some rooms have really good natural light!  And I really love my fireplace mantel we had done a few years ago.  Yes, our bathrooms are still original 1950s brown and pink tile (really???), but they're clean (usually) and only 2 of the 4 sides of our house have new cedar siding and you can't use our front door steps because they're breaking, use the side porch!  It's way nicer and more inviting anyway.  Plus our dog is always ready to attack our guests from that door.  In a nice way. Ahem.

My house will never be important enough to be in a magazine, and I'm OK with that.  It is important enough to have my friends and family in it though, and that makes it way better in my opinion.

Yes, that is a piece of green sea glass there…

See? Pink tiles.  I wasn't lying.  Great light though...

So, if you are one of those (and you know who you are!!!!) that doesn't think your house will measure up, just stop.  Have your friends over anyway!  They are your friends.  What are they gonna do?  Bite you?  They don't care what your house looks like.  They just want to be WITH YOU.

***If you do have a magazine worthy house, that is AWESOME, and I really want to see it, but I'm not talking to you.  I'm talking to the regular peeps who might be a little shy about their digs.  So, when can I come over?

Winter Recess

Wednesday morning of winter recess we drove up to North Conway, NH.  My sister in law rented a condo and invited us to stay with them.  The kids had a blast and I think it was one of our best family vacations to date.  Maybe it's because of the age that they're at that just makes things easier.

Thursday we all went skiing at Black Mountain.  Well, the 8 of them went while I stayed in the lodge surrounded by my books--heaven!!!!

My kids, my nieces and nephew all absolutely LOVE skiing, and my 2 are already looking forward to next year because they will be getting poles.  Up to now they have been skiing without them and they can't wait to get their hands on some.

The Friday was sleeting so skiing was out of the question.  Instead, my brother in law suggested hiking at Diana's Bath.  I was skeptical because I have never hiked in snow before, but we packed up, the kids wore their snow pants, and we hiked.

We were not disappointed.  A beautiful sight awaited us,  

Friday night we drove home--it took 5 hours--Boston traffic--I don't want to talk about it! But Peter & the kids drove back up to NH, this time to Pat's Peak in Henniker, to snow tube with the Boy Scouts on Saturday. I had to work, so I missed that fun.

Waiting for the bus this morning

Sunrise this morning: 

A quiet morning waiting for the bus.

Cody waits too.  She loves the snow.

School tomorrow??  Doubt it.  9 inches are coming.

Quesadilla lunch via Pioneer Woman

This morning I saw a quesadilla recipe on Pioneer Woman's blog & I knew I would be eating it for lunch today.

I changed a couple of things:  I used Fontina cheese & mozzarella because I just wasn't feeling the cheddar. Yes, I do have cheddar in the house. I also mixed some mushrooms with the jalapeños.

So, so good.  Easy to make.  Delicious.  And careful how much jalapeño you add.  My sinuses are clear now.  Best decongestant ever.

Catch up! What we've done since the last post...

 On Thanksgiving we celebrated my 40th birthday since it would actually be the next day.
I can't believe I'm 40, but so far so good.  I can't think of anything I don't like about it…yet.

It was the first time I have done an Advent calendar for the kids.  They loved it!  It was a lot of work, but I think it was worth it.  I used things like chocolate, gum, Silly Putty, a Peanut Christmas DVD, window markers, Legos, other candy.  Stuff like that.

The 4th grade held a Christmas concert….they were excellent…

Joseph and his Robotics Team, named the Blizzard Wizards, competed against a ton of other schools.  It was a very stressful day.  They worked so hard for weeks and weeks.  Who knew robotics could be so stressful?  His team didn't do so great but they learned some good lessons.  All those smart young minds in one room.  Those kids are going to change our world.   

Olivia was in her dance school's (Dance Workshop of Hanover) rendition of the Nutcracker.  It was for 2 days and her first performance was on her 8th birthday.  She'll never forget that birthday.  

The performance was a hit!  This is Olivia and all the "Polichenelles" with "Ms. Ginger" (Julian Mendoza--her dance teacher's husband).  These kids worked so hard for months!  Born performers.

Miss Olivia turned 8 years old.  Her friend Lucas S. brings her flowers every year.  He was born on the same day.  In the room next door to us.  No joke.  Friends for life.  South Shore Hospital had a very good day on December 14, 2005.

I volunteered in Olivia's class.  (olivia & her teacher)

Next day I volunteered in Joseph's class.  (joseph & his teacher)  He's wearing the hat the class made as a winter project.

Christmas Eve Santa visited the cousins  house like he does every year…

Christmas morning about 6am.  Waaaaay too early, but not for these guys…

A week later we rang in the new year with some amazing friends.  Here's Cody all dressed up.

We prayed for a friend who is in Heaven now.

And this boy turned 10.  Double digits!!!!!  He got a snow day on his birthday, how lucky is that?  He's never had school on his birthday.  Ha!