Would You Like Fries With That?

Will that complete your order?!

Releasing the Monarch

Monarch Chrysalis

Dave and Syd found a number of monarch chrysalises hanging from the zebra grass next to the milk weed. This one was beginning to turn translucent - a sign that it's about to hatch. If you look closely, you can see the colors and details of its wings. I'm betting that tomorrow there will be just an empty shell hanging in its place...

Syd's Monarchs

A few years ago we planted some milk weed seeds we collected while hiking and the plants are now mature and attracting monarchs! Sydney spotted a good 9 or 10 caterpillars a couple of weeks ago, and raised two of them in her little bug house. She took care to bring them fresh milkweed leaves daily, and we watched them grow into HUGE caterpillars. One of the two chrysalises in her cage hatched today, and cooperated in letting us give it a nice farewell moment...Happy Trails!

Syd's New Bike

Last weekend we decided that Syd needed a new bike, so Dave took her to pick one out -- we've hit the Farmington River Trail with it a few times already - it's perfect because there are no cars, no hills, and no potholes...

Flamig Farm

Mary planned a little end-of-summer field trip for friends yesterday to Flamig Farm. Syd made sure to wear her backward EGGS t-shirt from camp. In attendance: Mary with Matthew, Nicholas and Thomas, Tammy with Alexa and Natalie, Suzanne with Josh and Jonathan, Kathy with Connor, and me with Sydney and Evan. We had lunch with the barn cats then headed to Mary's house for some backyard time. Thank you cruise director Mary!

Flamig Farm with friends!

Comments on Rice Cereal

When we visited the Dr. last Tuesday, she suggested that we could give Evan a little rice cereal any time now. He's not been sleeping through the night the way he used to, so I was thinking a little more substance would help him.

Last night, after spending (no joke) 4 or 5 hours filled with 20 or 30 work stoppages, I managed to get Syd's old high chair clean and in working condition. We so need a new one. At one point Sydney told me "Mom, you're getting very frustrated." After a few Tylenol and no dinner for anyone, we put Evan in the seat and gave it a try.

Syd was better than I was at getting the cereal in his mouth! She said she learned how to feed a baby from watching "The Incredibles."

We literally had to wring out Evan's bib - thank god I had bought some vinyl-backed ones - so who knows what really got into his mouth. Syd chose this package of bibs because of this "Tough Guy" bib. It was fun to feed him, even though he still woke up twice last night to eat!

Zzzzzzz.....

Evan's First Meal

August Garden

Sydney the Comedienne

Evan's Four Month Check-Up

The big man weighed in at 18 lbs. 6 oz. (90th percentile), and 27 1/4" tall - off the charts! He grew an impressive 3 1/4 inches in just 2 months! Crazy...I was expecting him to weigh more, but he's just perfectly in proportion. Yay Evan!!

Papillon performance at the Canton Public Library

Yet another cell phone photo - this past Monday we went to the "end of summer reading party" at the Canton Public Library. Harwinton had a strong showing at the event - probably 5 or 6 Harwintonian families in attendance! Miss Heather was our librarian here in town until last summer, and lots of folks have followed her and her wonderful programs over to Canton. Now we get the benefit of two libraries! I will definitely sign Evan up for Miss Heather's programs (as well as the ones here in town) so he gets to have the same awesome experiences that Syd did through her preschool years.

A bit of trivia: the Canton Library is housed in what used to be Canton Elementary School, where I attended 2nd and 3rd grade! I can remember quite clearly what the old layout used to look like...the gymnasium is now the children's room. Some of the original classrooms are now function rooms. It's been very nicely redone.

More trivia: when the Canton library moved from their old location in downtown Collinsville, I went to their "tag sale" and purchased 2 big old heavy wooden armchairs from the big table in the main room. They're at the top of the stairs in our house now...

Caution: Random Posts Below

Well beam me into the 21st century! I just discovered that I can post directly to the blog from my cell phone. Now that I can blog on the go, look out for more random posts! In the meantime, here are some photos that have been held captive in my cell phone for a few years...

;-)

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday aunt diane!

July 30, 2006

A day of "memorable parenting." Dave, do you recall this day on the beach in New Haven with my parents? Not that we need to be reminded of it, but I think I took this photo before all hell broke loose. And holy cow - look how skinny you were!!!

What?

On October 28, 2006, Dave borrowed my phone. Where exactly WERE you??!! ;-P

Apple Picking at March Farms, 2006

Finally, a photo of this blog's namesake

Shortly after I took this photo Syd crashed into the bushes at the bottom of the yard. I hadn't yet taught her how to drag her feet to slow down the sled!!

Reluctant Subject With Rainbow

"Scram, You Old Goat!"

I think this is from Clark's Trading Post, circa August 2006!

"Something" on Ice from 2006!

This one's for you, Gramma!

Disney 2005

We know Syd's pretty, but I remember specifically being shocked at how beautiful she is when I saw her getting her face painted on this day at Disney World...

Sydney, Nicholas, and Matthew

Wow - I just realized that they're roughly half the age they are now in this photo...and on their way to 2nd grade! They had just started their 2nd year of preschool when this playground photo was taken.

Almost 3 Years Ago...

Harwinton Fair 2005

Syd right before her 4th birthday

From the lost files of my cell phone...

September 2005 - Syd was recovering from her black eye/stitches! Britt, do you remember THAT?

My Baby Shower Cake

My friends surprised me back in January with a wonderful baby shower! Mary B. made me this amazing cake - truly a masterpiece! The cake was a banana caramel cake from Maya Angelou's cookbook.

Culinary History

Syd eating Burger King nuggets! This is of note because for the last 4 1/2 years, she has eaten ONLY Perdue chicken nuggets - the refrigerated ones, not the frozen! Love the new haircut, BTW...

Evan at 4 Months

Evan and Daddy watching TV on the couch...and Evan in his new favorite spot in his jumpy seat!

Herkimer Diamonds

Sydney's been talking about "Herkimer Diamonds" since she saw the town of Herkimer, NY featured on a Travel Channel Show. We'd been planning to check it out during our summer vacation. We drove 3 1/2 hours to the giant hole in the ground that is the Herkimer Diamond mine, and we got lucky pretty quickly - I found a small but gorgeous stone! Once we figured out what a "good" rock looked like, we found lots of tiny ones, too. We even found some teeny tiny ones in the sand as we walked around.

Sydney got bored after an hour or so (how many hours can a six year old bang REALLY HARD ROCKS with a hammer?), but I could have stayed there all day. We brought a bucket of promising looking smaller rocks home to open at a later date. Next time Syd tells me she's bored I'm gonna give her a rock and a hammer and some safety glasses...

Herkimer diamonds are only found in the Herkimer, NY area, and come out of the ground looking like faceted diamonds. The one I found is very small, but it was so cool to see it just basically fall out of a hole in a rock I cracked open...

Camping 2008

Our Vacation So Far...

Here it is Thursday night, halfway through our week of festivities, and I am EXHAUSTED! We started off with a camping trip with the Cushmans (17 strong) down in Clinton. The kids had a blast, even though we got soaked on Saturday evening. Luckily, Dave and I decided not to rough it this time and rented a cabin that was equipped with a big front porch, a bathroom with shower, a little kitchen, and sleeping space for 6. Thank God we had a place to come in from the rain and to cook! We would definitely go the rental cabin or rental camper route again...maybe next summer. Evan wasn't phased by the chaos and confusion that camping brings, thank goodness. He just smiled through it, as usual!

We took a day to rest, then headed to Six Flags w/Syd's cousins on Tuesday. I hadn't been there since it was "Riverside Park" so that was kinda neat. I went on the kiddie roller coaster and I was done for the day. The three musketeers did quite a few rides, but I think they enjoyed the water park side just as much.

On Wednesday we headed up to Sturbridge, Mass. with Dave's two aunts and Syd's cousins. The kids did lots of swimming in the hotel pool, and we visited Old Sturbridge Village. I don't remember ever having gone there as a kid, so I was glad to get a chance to go. Considering it was "educational," Syd really seemed to enjoy it. Favorite barnyard animal? Carl the rooster.

The house is a shambles and we have wet towels everywhere, but I've vowed not to touch them until next Monday. This is our week to spend as a family, laundry be damned! :-)

Six Flags

Old Sturbridge Village...