{this moment}

a photo~an extraordinary moment~no words~pause~savor~remember...

we had a beautiful day here yesterday. our sweet made a basket for us giving up some of her candy and some of her things she thought we'd enjoy. love her so much!

her favorite gift she found in her basket was her "young naturalist's notebook" from hearth song. this is out of print but is really a wonderful tool to encourage exploration and participation with nature.

we were invited out for two easter dinners. it's so great to drive with the windows open again!

we had some leftover asparagus, unbelievable but true. so this morning i made a poached egg and warmed up the asparagus in a little melted butter and fresh lemon juice. it was so delicious that we had it again for dinner with a glass of vegetable juice. we ate out on the new porch. lovely evening before a week of rain expected.

thursday night we took the kids to dinner and belly dancing

friday night we had my aunt over for homemade pizza friday and played some high stakes euchre check out the sweet breast cancer playing cards by bicycle.

the 1st day of spring was so wonderful.

we had beautiful weather here which was so excited especially since rain was predicted.

my daughter and her friend were out most of the day playing harry potter making potions and casting spells.

later they went to an egg hunt to celebrate the spring equinox, that is going to have its own post.

i was trilled to work in the yard. after the construction here last year we did not have much chance to work in the yard. we had some grass seed sprayed, but as you can see we are going to need more seed this year. we did have the whole back yard regraded last summer and a french drain installed so we don't have our typical lake in the back yet.

i'm on a search for good non-gmo popcorn. i found this amish grown red and blue popcorn. i thought it was really tasty a bit firmer popped (which i really like) and fewer hulls to get stuck in your teeth and throat. the yellow is the jarred non-gmo that you can find at the grocery store.

this is a shot of saturday evening a new egg laying bunny, guiness and harry potter 7.

here's my girl coloring and listening to harry potter while keeping warm on the floor vent, it was cooler here today. let's just say most of sunday was devoted to harry potter 7...we're so close to the end, in the last 100 pages.

It looked like we should rake this morning but it was so beautiful and what is Halloween without leaves to slosh through?

We had a really great day. We decided with all that we have been doing on the house that we should take the day off right after we took a trip to historic house parts annual tent sale. Sweetpea did not want to join us but that was the plan. In the end we did not get anything big for the house, we did find twist locks for the spice cupboards. Yippee!

But the real winner was helen. i have been casually looking for a manual typewriter for her for a while now and we found one there. she was beside herself. we came home and she typed her little heart out. daddy was very excited too. he spent a long time online trying to figure out what type it was and looking to order some fresh typewriter ribbon for her. so it is a royal 10 he thinks from 1935. we all love it whatever it is!

we also had not been to the movies in ages. we decided to surprise our girl so we blindfolded her and put her in the car. she kept peaking with just the bandanna on so i had to put my scarf over that too. this was fun. we took her to our favorite local independent theater, the little to see where the wild things are. i am sure that many of you have also heard that maybe not the best movie for smaller children. there were some intensely emotional scenes and some frightening scenes and some very sad scenes too. we all really enjoyed it. we think also not so great for younger kids we did have some discussions with our daughter after the movie to talk about all the emotional issues. i think she understood some and not others. i think that maybe she could relate to many of the emotions too. this was a very well done movie. i can't stop thinking about it 3 days later.

so this day did not seem to want to end. we had our neighborhood halloween parade then mexican buffet at our friends then finally trick or treating.

it was such a beautiful night here. it was a little crisp, clear and still. the moon was just perfect too. hope that you enjoy your day as much as we did.

here is our hermoine granger.

my paternal grandfather's family has been having an annual reunion since 1944.

for several years i worked on the family tree. my great-great-grandfather came to ny from germany in 1848. my great-grandfather really brought our family number up though with 12 out of 15 children that survived to have children of their own.

when i was a kid we had so many that would come to the picnic every year. many came from other states, it was really an event that they did not want to miss. it is really sad now there are just a few families that still come. the numbers of decedents is pretty amazing but the number in attendance is not. it is sad that to so many from my generation (not just my family) have moved away and extended family is not a high priority.

sweet pea really had a great time today climbing the sand hill and hiking with her second cousins who are close to her age. so fun for her.

we were invited to watch the rochester redwings play a game. the great treat was we were going to be watching it from 8 stories up!

we had so much fun. what a beautiful night. we began the birthday celebration for my dear mother-in-law. we even had an amazing show of fireworks.

by the time we left we were all very tired but had not had dinner so we stopped at a diner and had breakfast at 10:30 a first for sweet pea. she loved it.

literally creating a rainbow bridge with the kids.

and my sister

almost complete

the compost bin is next!

the morning started with my loves loving me. what could be better than that?

family and friends were stopping in all day to help around the yard, bring me wishes and gifts and enjoy my favorite birthday dinner since i was little. my mother made me her yummy tomato sauce with spaghetti. we ended up with 12 of us. it was a beautiful evening and we set up the tables in the garden and enjoyed. our fabulous neighbors let us cook the pasta in her kitchen (often difficult to keep the water boiling on the hot plate).

great news on the kitchen front today. tom stopped by with the electrician and the excavator. looks like we are getting closer to a solution to the water in our yard.

tom also brought over some slate samples for the counter. andrew and i are not yet in agreement on the color choice. i don't think this will be a problem.