The Autumn Air Was Fresh, by Rebecca R

I found this beautiful poem as I was sorting through piles and piles of school papers to determine which ones were worth keeping and which ones were going to the great big Hefty Flex garbage bag. She wrote it (all the way back) in the fall of 2nd grade. She is currently in the third trimester of her 3rd Grade year.

The autumn air was fresh.

Off in the distance I heard a leaf blower.

The autumn leaves blew in the air.

I took a deep breath and smelled… PIE!

The countryside looked beautiful.

I noticed a spider in the attic.

I felt wind blowing in my hair,

I wished I could play all day!

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Memory Lane: I love this picture!

This picture was taken 2 days before Alexander was born. The kids and our neighbors had a lemonade stand to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Here Rebecca and I are posing back to back. She is pregnant too! By the way, the kids raised over $350 and donated it all to the Red Cross!

Room With a View

This is the view from Alexander’s window, and like the seasons it is ever-changing. In this picture it’s the middle of May and our Dogwoods and the Crab Apple trees are in full bloom. When I sit in the rocker and look out the window I feel as though I am in a special tree house. You can still see the neighbors houses across the street. In Summertime, when the trees are a lush and green and full you can’t see much of anything and the kids and I like to pretend we are birds in a forest. In the fall the trees turn and once again you can see the street below busy with cars and neighbors walking their dogs and kids riding bikes or walking on the sidewalks. When the leaves have all fallen and the trees are bare you can look into the neighbors windows and see their silhouettes and the soft lights from their television sets. As the skies darken and Halloween approaches you can see the spooky decorations and the kids excitement and anticipation grow as they discuss which candy is their favorite and what their costumes will be. As the temperatures dip and the night sky darkens the houses across the way take on a magical, dream-like quality as they become enrobed in little white lights. We love it when Christmas is in the air and together Alexander and I will sit in the white rocking chair, singing Christmas songs looking out onto the houses below enrobed in their holiday bests.

A Peek into The Crazy Crowded House

My house was not always so crowded, nor was it so crazy. There was a time when children were in diapers and fairly quiet. There was a time when we thought this house would never be too small. There was a time we could actually get away from the children. None of these statements are true any more. The one constant is that despite it all I love my house, my home and I will miss it terribly. We have had many fond memories here, many of which I will post over the next few days and weeks. All my kids came home from the hospital to this house. We worked hard to to make our home what it is. We hope that the next family enjoys it as much as we have. They will be stopping by today, as a matter of fact, so that the little girls will be able to have a look at their new home. My kids are under strinct instruction to keep everything super tidy, at least until the afternoon. Following are some pictures of our home which appeared on the sales brochure.

The back deck…

a view of the swingset
Dining Room more of a French influence than a Connecticut Country charm

Our Living Room used most frequently in the wintertime for her fire place… used more and more these days as a Mommy Escape Room as No Kids Are Allowed!

Family Room which has been destroyed and devastated by the children… looks pretty good in this photograph though!

Downstairs bathroom that Don decided to renovate all by himself! He was so proud… only took him a year and a half to do it!

Office-Slash-Guest room… it’s usually a mess and piled high with bills from Banana Republic or JCrew or GapKids… No one dares to stay with us anymore so Rebecca is getting the bed!
Master bedroom. My sanctuary and probably the room I will miss the most.
Master Bath… too small, love the decor but will welcome a larger master bath.
Rebecca’s room. What more can I say, she is a girly girl!
Christopher’s room. He loves it and wants to replicate it at the New House… we will honor his wishes. Hopefully I can locate the extra airplanes for the walls!

Lastly, the nursery which no longer looks like this and has been transformed by PBK’s Fire Truck bedding and motif.

Thanks for looking! And my appologies for the convoluted way the pictures appear on the page… I can’t seem to correct them!

I M Da Bomb!

I win the Mother of The Year Award for today. I took my kids to Chuck E. Cheese’s! Yepperoo I did. Some of you have called me kind. Others have called me brave. One even said heroic! Since my kids are ending their (loooong) 2 week Spring break I thought I would end it with a bang since it has been busy for the parents but blah for the kids. Anyhoo, as I said I decided to do something nice. The best thing about private school spring breaks is that they do not fall when everyone else’s do. What does this mean? We had the entire Chuck E. Cheese’s to ourselves save for two toddlers. The kids ruled the roost and had so much fun. Alexander started off in the little kid section and he rode the mini carousel, a mini roller coaster, a horse and some cars. He climbed and ran and played todlder arcade games. Then he went over to the big kid side to hang out with Christopher and Rebecca and had his hand at Skee Ball (Duck!) more driving games, another roller coaster and just tried his hand at everything and had so much fun chasing and trying to keep up and emulate big brother and sister. They had a great day… I was, if only temporarily, a good mother and everyone was happy, if only temporarily!

We’ve got our House!!!

We put in a final-take-it-or-leave-it offer yesterday on House Number 1. We had only the slightest of hopes that we would get our foot in the door there. But our offer was better than none. While houses in this area are still extremely inflated they are taking a lot longer to sell. We were hoping that our ability to move in by May 1 might play to our benefit but we were not expecting any miracles. We also learned that House Number 2 could be empty by May 1. So either way we knew we would have a home.

Well, not too long ago we got a call from our realtor saying that the Owners of House Number 1 countered our take-it-or-leave-it offer by 4K. Without hesitation Don said yes! (They still got 95% of asking which is not too shabby.) We have a home… we’ve got our house! Break open the bubbly!

34 More Days in our Crazy Crowded House

Getting all packed up with no place to go!

We are still negotiations with the owners of House Number One and will keep doing so until we are no longer in our comfort zone. We did make a Take It Or Leave It Offer yesterday and really hope they do not send us on our way… we have a little wiggle room yet. As for House Number Two, it sits there waiting for a buyer. We know that we can get that house for the price we want. What we don’t know is if the owners can be out by May 1st and that is what we now need to work on… So at this point we will vacate the premises on April 30th and have yet to get ourselves a home. Fingers crossed everyone, please!

Take ‘Em or Leave ‘Em…

Three children ages 9,7 and 2 1/2 available for adoption * FREE of charge * Current owner will provide one-way transportation which may include, but is not limited to, airplane, train, boat, and/or automobile. If you wish to purchase your own airline, boat or train tickets you can expect to be fully reimbursed. If you wish to drive arrangements can be made for pick-up. Enjoy ’em, ’cause someone ought to!

Look Whose Blog I found!

Imagine my delight to learn that my childhood hero has her own blog! I spent many hours of many days pouring over her books and relating to each and every one of them. Sadly when my parents left Manhattan my book collection disappeared entirely. Luckily I have a little girl who likes to read and she just finished the series of Fudge books and the newer The Pain and The Great One. Together we read Otherwise Known as Sheila and the Great and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. What a trip down Memory Lane! I am thrilled, and Rebecca will be too when she finds out, that Ms. Blume is working on two more Pain and the Great One books! Check out Ms. Blume’s blog! http://www.judyblume.com/blog.php

My Trio of Trouble on Easter Mornning…