Love, Erika

Christmas Tree 2019

We got our tree this morning at Goffstown Lions Club before the snow starts. Dang trees are messy enough without dragging in all the snow too. Couldn't see what it looked like when we got it as it was all frozen shut, but it is now happily thawing and dripping and looking nice. 

2019 Christmas Card

Looking back in posts from years past, some of the ones I love the most are about the freaking awful experience of doing the Christmas card photos each year. Since I haven't blogged in four years now, I'm here to tell you that IT HAS NOT GOTTEN ANY BETTER. My family is the freaking worst.

The day before Halloween, there were still a few trees left with some pretty color, well, I exaggerate....... maybe one, and the weather was pretty decent so I kind of impulsively thought that I'd snag everybody right after school and we'd get it done. Like if I sprang it on them fast enough they wouldn't have time to stew about it and we could just avoid drama and do it. Nice thought, momma, but that's now how these people think.

I told Dave, "After school. Pictures. Backyard." and he starts arguing, and moaning and whining. I go to pick the kids up and as we pull into the driveway, I said, "Get dressed, we're doing pictures." Same reaction as Dave (where do they get this from?) Parker was salty as hell. He wasn't eating enough at lunch at that time, only salads, so he was generally a train wreck by the time I picked him up from school daily anyway. (We later had a talk about eating MORE at lunch and now he's in a much better mood at the end of the day)

Literally all I ask of these people is to sit on a log and look at the camera. To be honest I wasn't thrilled with it either. I'm fat, my stupid hair was a mess, and I later realized my leggings were entirely covered in cat hair and fuzz. Parker was in tears with red eyes. Drew just sat there being the Very Good Boy that he is, following directions (burst into tears just right after this photo). 

After I dismissed Parker and Dave, I was still able to get a few good ones of Drew in front of that gorgeous Japanese maple tree which was so incredibly vibrant. Little did anyone know Drew had also been crying just minutes before. I mean, these people are impossible. 

So a couple of weeks later I knew I had to do a re-take because it made me sad to think about sending out cards where where everybody was crying (not that it hasn't been done before!) and thank goodness for this blog to remind me of that fact. I took note of the things that I had possibly done wrong the previous time, which were:

1. not telling them in advance and springing it on them
2. doing it right after school when they were apparently "tired"
3. not allowing time for snacks and proper hydration, whatever the case was (eyerolls)

So for the re-takes I scheduled it in advance for 3:15 on a Saturday where everybody had time to prepare, and could have lots of snacks (God knows.......). I'd been watching the exact timing of the sun in the field next to our house, waiting for it to come down to the right place to backlight the tall dried grasses. Anyway, this one went much better. Still lots of griping but nobody cried.

With love, indeed.

Trick or Treating in the Village

Such a super night trick or treating in the village last night! The weather was awesome, 70 degrees and no rain. I can hardly remember a more pleasant night, so unusual. 👻🎃🧛‍♂️🧟‍♀️🦇🕷

2015 Christmas Card

I pretty much abandoned all hope of sending out Christmas cards this year. The dread of shooting a family photo just discourages me more and more every year. But because I bought the cute Charlie Brown stamps and I want to use them, dammit, today at 4:00 right when it was almost too dark and I had no plan whatsoever, I grabbed the kids and made them stand outside for a few pics, and even mistakenly had the camera on 1/25 shutter speed. Got a couple of barely usable ones and DONE.

Drew wore what he had worn to school, and I just had Parker change his shirt into something with some green tones. It's really nothing remotely close to a match, or even a similar ballpark, but I was hoping to get something greenish. Once I had the tones for the photo nailed down, I went looking on Etsy for some card templates and found a nice green & gold one that seemed to make the photo look like I had done it on purpose. :) 

Outtake:

They were bonking their heads together, and I let it continue because I was getting some real smiles and laughs, especially from Drew. He has this really weird fake smile for photos, so anything I could do to get a real smile was ok by me. Even slamming their heads together, and risking losing the pose I had them in. 

As you know, the making of the annual Christmas card is usually a stressful one for a variety of reasons. 

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NC Visit 2015: Day 2: Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo

 

May 3, 2015

What an amazing day! Waking up in North Carolina to Parker's 6th birthday was lovely, and he was very excited although his understanding of what would happen was a little cloudy. He was asking about cake, and presents, and having us sing to him. We explained we'd be getting a cupcake later on, and that presents would come on a different day. But today, we were going to the Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo! 

This was a great idea that Sara had, because it was the only day we could get together, and she knew that the rodeo was happening on that day. It was absolutely perfect, because I have never eaten anything from a food truck before! It features heavily on my bucket list, and has been something I was dying to do. In New Hampshire there just aren't that many food trucks, and they almost certainly are not where I ever am. So I'm way behind the times! The rest of the country has been consumed with the food truck trend, but of course things are slow to come to New England.  And how hard could it be?? REALLY?  You don't even need a building! Lame.

 What a journey to get there! Kelly picked us up at the house, and then we drove to Sara's house, and from there we drove again to Raleigh where we parked nearby in the Marriott underground parking garage. By the time we finally got there (around 2:00), the kids were starving in a bad way. I felt bad because it had been a legitimately long time since breakfast, and they were fading fast. 

We meandered through the masses of people trying to look at the food trucks to decide what lengthy line to get in, and they sprawled along a half-mile stretch of road. As we passed truck after truck, the kids were getting frantic, and Drew was in tears and he goes, "Can we start ordering food now????" So we found the Master Bacon truck which they liked the sound of, and we got in line, and split up with the rest of the group who all mostly went back to the start of the line. And we waited and waited and waited as they fought over the one and only pair of sunglasses we had. Finally we were up and I ordered 3 different things because I knew we'd never be able to wait in another line at another truck. This would have to be our only order! Luckily the food was great and HUGE.

Friend reunion at the Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo

NC Visit 2015: Day 1

Early in the morning we were awake and ready to go! Ready to hit the airport and get on our way to North Carolina! Wow, Parker and Drew look completely homeless in these pictures:

We had a 2 hour flight to Charlotte, which was an eternity to Parker and he kept incessantly asking if we were there yet and it was SOOOOOOOO LOOOOOOOOONG. They played iPad as much as they could, and I played Bejeweled on my phone. After we landed we had a decent layover which enabled us to have time for a nice lunch. I had carnitas tacos from Tequileria in the atrium, and it was quite good! We got Burger King for the boys (with chicken fries, of course) and they were kept happy with that. Afterwards, we caught our short 21 minute flight to Greensboro! 

We arrived on a beautiful & warm afternoon, and took in all the pretty sights, most notably that they have leaves on the trees!! It was such a sight for sore eyes. We haven't seen leaves since last October. Just beautiful. 

We found the perfect USA map at Beth Schmidt park to illustrate our journey:

We flew from NH to NC

 

 

We had a good time at the playground and let the boys blow off some steam, and then we went to Cookout for our first meal and had a huge blowout $42 Cookout supper! I was dying for a Cookout style burger with chili, slaw, onions, and mustard.  Drew had chicken tenders which he said were "delicious" which is saying a lot for him. Must have been those big ranch cups!

Parker of course had been talking about the milkshakes pretty much ever since we landed, and he let us know in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that he wanted a milkshake. He chose peanut butter for his flavor today. I had banana pudding.

The day wrapped up with a fancy bath in a fancy tub. They love this, and apparently still not too old to bathe together. 

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The fun continues during April Vacation week......  On Wednesday we headed down to Billerica, MA (a 1 hour drive) to meet up with Dave at the Cheesecake Factory at 11:30. He works about 15 minutes away, so it's easy for him to head over and have lunch with us there. 

Dave and I have eaten at the Cheesecake Factory before, in a previous lifetime. I swear we can't even remember when it was, but it would have to be a minimum of 10 years ago. We barely remember it. What we DID remember is that Dave got this GIGANTIC grilled cheese sandwich which was unbelievable in size. It is no longer on the menu, to his chagrin.

We had a nice meal, and Dave got a big "glamburger", Drew had pizza, and Parker ordered pasta off the kids' menu with alfredo sauce which was the weirdest request ever because that's just not something he would normally want. I didn't think he would like it, and I was right. Although it was plain, it was pretty good. 

I had no idea what to order, because the menu is like a catalog, and everything sounds so good. I ended up choosing something completely arbitrarily because I couldn't decide, and ordered CHICKEN BELLAGIO:  Crispy Coated Chicken Breast over Basil Pasta and Parmesan Cream Sauce Topped with Prosciutto and Arugula Salad.  It was delicious, but very salty.

Chicken Bellagio

Cheesecake Factory, Burlington MA

So after saying goodbye to Dad to return to work, we headed back up north home, and conveniently on the way was a new trampoline park that I wanted to visit that recently opened in Nashua. Originally I wasn't going to travel that far, but since we were already in MA it made since to stop on the way back home. It was fun!  It was also very crowded, since it was April vacation week, but Drew and Parker were so excited and had a really fun time. We'd definitely go back again. 

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