Out of space. Help!

So, guess what?
Blogger is telling me I am out of space and cannot upload any more photos unless I upgrade my account (for a nominal fee, of course).

This is sad to me. I'm just wondering, you fellow bloggers... has this happened to any of you?
Have you paid?
Or deleted pictures?
Or done something different??

Need some feedback here.

School's out, finally!

Samantha has been out of school for one whole week, as of today. WELCOME, SUMMER VACATION!!!

FINALLY!!

Here she is, with her two wonderful teachers, Mrs. Winter and Mrs. Cummings (and Mrs. Cummings' daughter, Emma, too)...

Seriously, I was soooo ready for us to start our summer break, and we have certainly enjoyed this first week of summer. But really, for someone who HAD to go to school all the way until the end of June, Samantha was a very happy girl. She loved kindergarten and really seemed to enjoy this school year. She made some good friends, and thrived in the school environment (as we all thought she would). 


The last day, she only went for 50 minutes -- just long enough to get a report card and say goodbye to all her friends. When I went to pick her up, I surprised myself by getting all teary and weepy as she ran out the school door, all excited to be done. I looked at my little six-year-old girl and wondered again where the time went and how she got to be so grown up so fast. I'm afraid to blink, or I might turn around and have a teen-ager, eh?


But for now, we're ready to BRING ON THE SUMMERTIME FUN!!! :)

Back-Blogging: Palmyra and The Falls

Before I can properly move on with my bloggering episodes, (and I do, indeed, plan to move on soon), I feel compelled to add a nice tribute to a very fun trip we took at the end of last summer. Timely? No. Worth a whole lot of writing at this point? Probably not. 

Nevertheless (aside: that may be the first time I"ve had occasion to use "nevertheless" on this entire blog, btw)... so anyway, nevertheless, I am putting up pictures of our trip to the far outreaches of northern New York: the LDS Church history site of Palmyra, and the nearby world-famous waterfall we all know as Niagara Falls (but some of us occasionally misspell it as Niagra -- please tell me it isn't just me??)

A little background about our trip, then a whole smattering of pictures for your enjoyment, kay? First, remember that hurricane that hit NY at the end of August last year? Well, yeah, our basement got flooded (really just our landlord's basement, since we don't officially have access even though we know where the key is), our road was closed, and our power was out for a couple of days. But we missed most of the drama, because we had already scheduled this little three-day weekend to Palmyra and Niagara. Perfect timing. 

And now for the pictures... Below: a welcome sign, to prove that, yes, we were really in Palmyra. And yes, Palmyra is right on the Erie Canal. That's right -- the famous Erie Canal that connects Lake Erie and the Mighty Hudson River, making a navigable route from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. There's a bit of trivia worth knowing up front, eh? The Erie runs right through the middle of Palmyra, fyi.

 Another little tidbit, for your curiosity? The Erie Canal was under construction during 1817 to 1825, and officially opened in 1825 (according to the all-reliable wikipedia.com). Interesting, in light of LDS church history dates and places, no?? I think so.

Oh, and you can ride a boat on the Erie, for not very much $$. We didn't, but it's definitely a possibility, in case you wondered. Looks like fun...

We stayed at a darling little cottage called "The White House." I place extra emphasis on darling, because it really was just that...

Living room (where Brian watched part of some basketball games, and did some work in the late hours of the evenings)...

Cute kitchen. I made us a chocolate cake and we ate the whole thing in the three days we were there. Slightly gluttonous, I know. But sooo good.

Bedroom, one of three...

You don't need the complete house tour, do you? I mean, there's lots more to see here besides just our cute house. So, moving on...

Just half a mile from our place, we visited the Smith Farm and home, where Joseph Smith, Jr. and his family lived when he had his first vision in the Sacred Grove. I've been there before; so has Brian. But this was a sweet time to bring the kids along to share some church history...

Inside the tiny Smiths' cabin...

Look how small our Natalie girl was!! And so very cute and cuddly! NO WAY would she sit still in an old stone sink and mug for the camera at THIS age and stage, but look at her back then, in the Smith's (replica) stone sink, little doll...

Heading into the Sacred Grove... That's me and the kids, little dots off in the distance. Brian was lagging behind, taking pictures of every antique artifact and sign. Just because he likes to do that kind of thing. ;)

It really is such a sweet, peaceful place. Reverent, in fact. In this grove of trees, Joseph Smith had a vision of God and Jesus Christ, when he was only 14 years old. It changed his life in a beautiful, miraculous way -- and millions of other lives, including mine.

The kids liked it... sort of. I don't think they got the full significance, but they liked the walk...

And the head rides...

Okay, well actually, truth-be-told, Spencer was afraid of owls. (It's been his phobia for more than a year now, not sure why?) He wanted to leave the Grove, and told us the woods were "too spooky." Maybe in a few years we'll try again??

Samantha, standing at the base of the Hill Cumorah monument...

Looking up, at Angel Moroni on top of the monument...

Looking down from the top of the hill. Every July, the Hill Cumorah pageant is performed on this hill, and that grassy area in the distance is PACKED with crowds who come to see the show. Pretty cool...

The town hall. Er, I mean, the village hall. (There is a difference between a town and a village, according to New Englanders/New Yorkers. I have yet to figure out exactly what that difference is, but clearly the sign in my pic says "village hall," which means it is NOT a town hall.)

A cool picture inside the Grandon Store/Printing Press, where the first copy of the Book of Mormon was originally printed. I thought it was remarkable to see how many languages the Book is now printed in -- every book up there is in a different tongue...

The old-school type-set materials at the printing press. You can see Spencer was loving the tour...

Samantha got to help fold pages of the Book of Mormon as part of a demonstration...

Another village highlight was the darling little park on Main Street, complete with an old-school merry-go-round and metal slide. Brought back some memories and made me feel old when my kids asked for a demonstration of how to work the merry-go-round, since they've rarely ever seen one! ha!

Nearby, we also visited the Whitmer Family Farm, in Fayette, NY, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was officially organized on April 6, 1830...

Amazing, to think it was organized in this tiny cabin (replica) front room, with just a handful of people present to witness the occasion.

I remember visiting this place nearly a decade ago, when I was single, living in Boston. We went during the Pageant, and attended church at the beautiful LDS chapel that now sits adjacent to this farmhouse. It was PACKED to the farthest-back reaches of the cultural hall, with people standing in the isles. It was a testimony meeting, and people were sharing the simplest witnesses and experiences of their faith and their happiness in living the gospel of Jesus Christ. For me, it was a spiritually profound moment, to feel the magnificent strength of so many faithful members of this Church -- millions now-- who embrace this gospel and believe this testimony of Joseph Smith. 

(Aside: You may have noticed, this blog has not been very dedicated to my faith, thus far. But rest assured, my faith is very much a part of me, and is a very fulfilling part of my life, every day.)

Proof, that we were there, visiting this special place, with our kiddos...

Next stop. Anybody recognize this??
Absolutely amazing, breath-taking, wonderful, spectacular, and whatever else you'd like to call it. I love, love, love Niagara Falls!

And I love the memories I have associated with all these less-than-professional pictures of this world-famous destination...

 From the top, looking over. listening to the mighty roar, feeling the mist, and getting slightly squeamish, thinking of that one guy who went over in a barrel or something??...

The Superman bridge. Am I dating myself again? Please tell me you all remember when the little boy falls off that bridge and Superman saves him JUST in time?? Still gives me goosebumps. (Fictional goosebumps, of course.)

(Sad, small side-note about that bridge... we didn't remember our passports for this trip. So we didn't get to cross over the Superman bridge into Canada for the even-more-spectacular views of the Falls. Oh well, maybe next time?)

Next up, "us," at the top, with our "here we are at Niagara Falls" picture, even though you can't really see the Falls and Nat is obviously wondering why we're taking sooo many pictures in the bright sunshine.The kids' sunnies are the highlight, eh? :)...

 Oh my, what is this cuteness we have here??! Two of my favorites...

"I want to go on one of those boats," said Samantha. So we did. And it was totally worth it! Maid of the Mist, it's called. We got a little stuffed duck in a raincoat, and a postcard in their gift shop; we liked our ride that much...

 

Getting down to the boat was a bit of a height issue. I do not normally have an aversion to heights, but really, doesn't that look awfully far down there?? In a big column-structure thing built specifically to haul "boatloads" of people (pun intended, ha!) down the cliff to the Maid of the Mist?? Yeah, it made me squirm, just a bit. Guess I'm getting wimpy in my old age...

 Here we ARE, on the BOAT?!?! (taking a "I'm so excited to be on the boat" picture, for the purpose of one day blogging about this very important moment.)

 The kids loved it. Even Spencer (who, sadly, did not get his own photo op here, not sure why?)...

 They have baby ponchos. Sooo adorable!

 Nattie liked it. I mean, it's almost a baby dream-come-true... to be surrounded in crunchy, stiff, chewable plastic wrap for a few minutes? What's not to love? :)

View from the boat... Stunning. And so very loud. And wet. And memorable.

 It really was such a fun visit, and our kids still talk about it and remember it.

We want to go back again... maybe when we do, I'll blog about it a little more quickly? :)

Blogging break -- or not

So, I thought I'd take a blogging break for awhile. But well... I can't give it up. Thank you for those of you who reached out to me in my "proposed break" period. I really appreciate your support. And I've realized I need and love my virtual community.

Truth is, I've been feeling like I spend too much time online lately... reading blogs, surfing fb, pretending to shop online but eventually emptying my cart because I don't want to become a "member", etc. And my house is trashed and my children love Netflix even more than I do. So, that was part of the reason I was going to take a bit of an internet break. In addition, I confess, I've been feeling a bit "low" lately. Turns out last week was one of Brian's WORST workweeks ever. (As in, he told me yesterday morning that he had billed more hours in the past week than almost any other week he's worked at the firm. ever.... and you know there have been some other rough weeks out there, right??)

Well, so, no wonder I'm feeling lonely and neglected and tired. Makes sense, eh? But instead of closing in and trying to sort all this frustration on my own, I will blog about it. Lucky you. :) And you will comment about it. Again, lucky you. :) :) It will be fun! I'll give you some tips... "Poor Kam! That sounds rough!" or "Wow! you're such a trooper and you handle it all so well." or... well, you get the idea? (and the smiles mean I'm kidding. sort of.)

Yes, I'm going to write, because truthfully, writing is something I really enjoy. And I need some things that I really enjoy right now. And I will try to be positive and ACT like enjoy it, kay? I actually do have lots of things I would like to blog about, surprised? I even considered taking the one-post-a-day-for-a-month pledge that some of my other friends have done. I've really liked reading their posts --- but I'm not quite that committed.

Instead, here's a list of things I want to write about, coming up soon...
-- Back-blog: Niagara Falls and Palmyra (can you believe I have last-fall pics of amazing places that I never put up?? I'm sure you're dying to see them.)
-- The emotional younger me, like mother like daughters.
-- Back-blog: our trip to Worcester, in March
-- Things I like in a 15-mile radius
--  Lovely weekend adventures
-- Temper tantrums, and what NOT to do
-- My Grandma -- almost 90 years of memories
-- Parks we love and why
-- What I think about parenting
-- Music and me

Sounds thrilling, doesn't it. Well, I'm giving it another go. Wish me luck!

The Latest, and some about blogging

It's been awhile, I know. And after midnight is the wrong time of night to write, I know. But here I am, and here is my blog, and you're going to get "the latest" while the clock keeps ticking.

Here goes...
-- Brian: Back to working long, crazy, unpredictable hours. Poor guy. And when he does that, I do things like staying up too late, watching cheesy Netflix, blogging in the middle of the night since that's the only way he can check in on me :) and working on Joy School stuff at the last possible minute because I am supposed to teach tomorrow. Back to Brian, though. He's such a good man. Hardly ever complains, and really, I hardly ever hear him say "I'm tired." (Can you believe that, from this guy who sometimes sleeps like 3-4 hours a night?? for weeks at a time?!) I guess I say it enough for us both. He's pretty worn and weary right now, but is hanging in there.

-- Samantha: Kindergarten picnic is on Friday. She is so excited she can hardly wait. She also has a birthday party for her good friend, Anna, and she's already made a homemade "Hello Kitty" hat to wear to it. Adorable. And since Natalie is such a "Kitty" fan, she made a construction paper Kitty to hang on Natalie's wall, too. Double adorable.

-- Spencer: Found a new word today... "bars." I made a bunch of bar cookies for a missionary meeting thing that we're helping with for church. He got samples of all my crumbly mess-ups, and now thinks "bars" are the best. I've been trying to get him to call them "cookie bars" because I think it would sound cute. But he's sticking with "bars." He also has been doing much better at sleeping through the night, hooray!! (And knock on wood, so he doesn't come prowling again tonight.)

-- Natalie: Still screaming out her assertiveness when she wants something, and starting to willfully refuse various foods I offer to her. I don't like this "food" stage so much... I feel like all my kids started really developing their own pallet around 1 1/2 to 2. Freedom to choose is great, I get it. But freedom to refuse is hard for a mom to accept. I want her to keep eating those veggies, and darn, I really wish she didn't know what strawberry milk or koolaid was... but she does know. hmmm...

-- Me: Busy week, it seems. Joy School, I mentioned. It's our last day, hooray! And then tomorrow, there's a missionary thing where we're feeding 70 elders and sisters, and I had to make lots of desserts (the peanut butter "bars" really are superb, if you ask me!).  On Sunday, our ward is doing a sort of open house sacrament meeting, with a group from our area called "Sacred Spaces." This means that we'll have about 30-40 extra people visiting our congregation to see what a Mormon service is like. I'm playing the piano for a musical number -- just found out tonight. Must practice. Also, I'm helping prepare a little "Linger Longer" with treats, for after the meeting. Also I'm wondering how all the children will do when we have sacrament meeting last this week for a change... at quarter to 3 p.m. hmm...

That's the latest.
I should add pictures, huh? But I'm not because it's late and I haven't had the camera handy lately anyway. So, the other stuff on my mind is a "blah" feeling that comes and goes. It comes on stronger when I stay up too late and watch mindless television. (Drop Dead Diva, anyone ever wasted several hours on that one? funny, mindless, etc.) Where is my will power and discipline? Maybe I'm sending it to work with Brian?? Selfless of me, no? Anyway, in my state of "blah" I'm feeling the "blahness" of my blog rather acutely. Sorry, it's not the greatest reading material lately.

Actually, since I'm here, I guess I'll share... I think maybe I'm having a mini Blogger Identity Crisis. Is that possible? It's a self diagnosis, in case you wondered. I'm personally wondering if they have online counselors for such things? probably. I read a friend's comment today, where his friend accused him of writing a bleg (as in, "begging for comments on the blog.") I laughed out loud, and felt validated knowing I'm not the only one who wonders if anyone reads what I write. (And no, this isn't a bleg of my own, just a commentary, but you can feel free to comment if you feel so moved. ;) ) I guess, to better explain the identity crisis I'm feeling, I'll say that I've lately started wondering why it is that I write? Why have a blog, anyway?? I confess, I sometimes read the many famous mommy blogs (you know who they are -- cjane, nie-nie, design mom, nat the fat cat, ablogaboutlove -though technically they don't have kids yet). Well, I get blog intimidation, even though I'm sure that's not what they intend. (Aside: I'd never admit to blog intimidation before midnight, so aren't you feeling lucky I'm up tonight?)

I wonder to myself what it is that makes me blog?? 

I'm not getting any monetary payback, in case anyone wondered. too bad. And no companies send me free stuff and ask me to review their special products. again, too bad. I don't even have a real blog theme, you've probably noticed.

So why blog? Well, comments are nice -- thank you for those of you who do; they make me feel closer to you, the sense of community is nice, the fact that I'm able to share our daily details with my mom, and other family and friends who are thousands of miles away, is definitely a big factor. The journalish nature of being able to pour my heart out to cyberspace and let an unknown audience make sense of it is somewhat enticing. Being able to savor the moments of my kids and our day-to-day life "in the present tense" is important to me.

The truth is, often I'm standing at my kitchen sink doing dishes or making dinner, or driving down the road with my kiddos, and in my mind I'm having a little blog conversation -- thinking up a post and how I would write about some topic that interests me... "have you ever cut the top off a perfect green pepper and looked at how amazing it is from the inside? all those tiny seeds, arranged in symmetry," or "I crunched into an apple on my way home from the produce store this morning and experienced the absolutely perfect bite," or "will they ever grow out of this clumsy stage of falling all the time and hurting themselves and crying uncontrollably?" or... well, you get the idea. I'm thinking these things in my head, even kind of formulating them into how I'd put them on the blog. It's like I'm talking to someone, sharing the every-day moments, even though I'm not really blogging them; I feel like I have an audience, when I need one.

Am I the only one who does this? Please tell me I'm not. I even sometimes take pictures of kids and moments, and things, because I want to have them for blog material. Now, I know I'm not the only one who does that. (But maybe, again, I wouldn't admit this at a more appropriate hour?)

I don't have a real, defined reason for this blog. It's not like I've just realized this, or that I'm even going to make some "defined reasons" for the blog now. But, well... I'm admitting it here, for what it's worth. I know friends and family members who keep their blog especially for the sake of journaling their family's happenings. I like that, and I admire (and sometimes get close to coveting) their yearly blog-to-book journals on their shelves. In some ways, I guess that's what my blog is too. But it's something more, to me. Something different than just that.

Somehow, when I read other people's blogs, I like the idea of sort of being a fly on their wall, getting a peek at the insides of their life, their thoughts, their world. And it's very satisfying to me. And I like to think that when I blog, I'm allowing some of that "fly on the wall" observation for others, if they're interested. It's just a fascinating public, yet private, form of communication, to me. A glimpse... of... something??

My my, I'm waxing far too analytical, I can tell. Sleep deprivation, setting in. And truthfully, I logged back online tonight because I needed (and still need) to print more stuff for Joy School in the morning. Wish me luck, with four crazy kiddos on their last day of Joy School. (and yes, I'll take pictures with the specific purpose of possibly using them on this here blog in another post for your enjoyment).

A random ending to all my random thoughts about blogging. This is the end of my cyber introspection/naval-gazing. Hope you enjoyed it. Maybe next time someone should just remind me to go to sleep. :)