Showing posts with label Winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winter. Show all posts

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Blogging and Tapping Trees

I'm back!  As you know, I took a 2+ month hiatus from the blog.  There were many reasons for this little break.  One reason is that my camera hasn't been working properly, and taking photos is such a big passion of mine and a reason why I keep this blog in the first place.  Another reason was questioning whether or not I want to have a blog in the first place for all the world to see.  I mean, I love having an outlet for my writing and photography, but it is a little creepy to have my family displayed for all to see on the internet.  Yet another reason for my lack of blogging was that as the anniversary of my Dad's passing approached I just felt so overwhelmed with how to address it, what to write, how open and honest to be, thoughts of whether people are tired of reading about my sadness and his death etc... And so I remained silent and let the thoughts pile up and swirl around in my head and I know at some point this year I'll finally let it all spill out on these pages.

I also felt like I wanted to clarify why I blog in the first place.
I am not blogging with the hopes of gaining a following or becoming a "famous" blogger.  I have friends who have gone that direction and it's been really fun watching their readership grow and seeing their success, but I don't really want to have lots of strangers reading about my life.  My main reason for blogging is to keep a journal of our lives.  Scott and I will often sit on the couch at night and click back through old blog posts and it's amazing how many wonderful memories we have because of this blog.  I spent hours and hours creating a photobook of my blog with text and pictures and I only made it through the first nine months of the blog or so...definitely a continuing project for the next few years!  Despite the major amount of effort, I'm so thrilled to have this story of our lives for us to always remember. 

I've realized that for too long I was worrying about what my small readership of friends and family would think of me and my writing, but now I've just decided to approach this blog primarily as a family journal and personal outlet for me and if people want to read it that's fine with me, but if not...I'm not offended!  :)  So, despite the fact that certain things I write here might sound like bragging, that is not my intention at all.  I'm hoping to write a post soon about the fact that Camden is reading.  And I'm not writing this because I want all six people who read my blog to gush over my son; I'm writing it because I want to remember the details on when and how my oldest child learned to read and how proud we are of him.  Writing about the little things that make us laugh, the way Micah says, "be-cept" instead of "except", the new things Sadie is saying and doing, the ways I'm missing my Dad, the excitement of life...these are the things I want to remember and this is why I'm resurrecting this blog.  I'm not going to promise a certain number of posts a week or pressure myself to meet a certain standard, I'm just going to plug away when I have time so that we have a journal of memories!  Here's to yet another new beginning! 

We are currently enduring the longest and coldest winter I can remember.  Temperatures have been so cold that we've been cooped up inside since November - ugh.  Usually over spring break we help collect sap on campus, but since the sugaring season is a few weeks behind this year we had the opportunity to help tap the trees today!  It was such a fun experience for the kids and Dave was an amazing teacher - helping the kids search the trunk of each tree to find old tap holes from years past, teaching them how to identify a sugar maple, letting them help drill, giving them a chance to use the hammer on their own and hang the buckets.  It was a beautiful day that actually reached about 42 degrees and it was nice to be outside and feel the sunshine on our faces.  Many of our fellow faculty-family friends are vacationing in Florida right now, so it was a small crew of helpers but we had a blast!  One of the (few) perks of not traveling over spring break!

 These two are going to be in Kindergarten together next year! 
 Buddies...
 Look at that concentration...
 Love the pom-poms...




 It's easy to climb trees when the snow is 5 feet high!
 Camden and Dave on the move...
 My handsome husband!
 Daddy's work gloves!
 Team work!
Most of the trees didn't have any sap running when we tapped them, but the squeals of joy were pretty amazing when we saw one tree start dripping right away.  Everyone, even the adults, got a taste of that fresh sap.  I guess spring is coming after all...


Saturday, January 12, 2013

A Sleigh Ride to Remember

We shared a little Christmas adventure and went on a family sleigh ride just up the road from our house!  It was so much fun to snuggle in tight with our little family, Caren, Dave, Clara and my Mom.  There were moments when we feared for our life (my poor mother was a little nervous) as we went up hills and down hills through the woods in an old, creaking sleigh pulled by two horses, but overall we enjoyed the ride and had fun singing Jingle Bells with the kids.  It certainly was an adventure and one we won't soon forget. 
 Eeeeek!!!
"Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting tingling too. Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you."

Monday, March 5, 2012

A Wintery March

Well, now that it's March, winter has decided to arrive.  We had lots of wintery adventures this last week - Camden's first time on ice skates, watching a sled dog presentation up at the local college and playing on the foot of fresh snow that recently dumped on us.  Luckily, spring won't be too far away - it's supposed to be in the 50's this week!  I figured we needed to enjoy the snow while we had it!

We bought Camden his first big boy bike at the LL Bean outlet last weekend!  Gotta love the lifetime guarantee!
 Camden's first attempt at ice skating!  He was very nervous at first, but really figured it out pretty quickly! 
 He was pretty excited!
 Holding a hockey stick...no offense hockey playing/parenting friends, but I really hope my boys don't want to pick up this sport!
 We're pretty lucky to have this great rink right on campus!
 Watching the sled dogs...
 Nan joined us for the fun!
 Snow angel!
 Giving the dogs some treats...
 Yummy!
After a couple days of snow and clouds, the sun broke through on Saturday afternoon and the temperatures rose quickly.  It definitely called for some backyard fun...
 Camden had fun jumping off the sides of his snow fort...
 "Sleeping" in their "bed"...


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...