A Dozen Roses

Bryan brought home roses for me on our anniversary. A couple of days later, he complained that he hadn't seen pictures of them on my blog. So, I don't know if he got me roses because he really is a sweetie, or because he wanted everyone to think he's a sweetie. I thought I'd post pictures now so he'll be happy. Alison and CJ are taking naps, Merlyn and Berkleigh and Aleesa are playing nicely, and I just finished washing the dishes, so I have a minute while I procrastinate because I don't want to mop the floor.























The roses were beautiful, and very similar of the first ones Bryan ever sent me, on Valentine's Day ten years ago. This time he said eight were from him, for every year we've been married, and the other four were from each of the kids. He also brought me a nice card, and some Lindt chocolates. Roses and chocolate -- my two favorites!

Apologies

I apologize to everyone for the lack of posting last week. Bryan was working long hours, coming home after bedtime most nights (sometimes my bedtime!) and I was struggling with a migraine. Bryan finally brought me migraine medicine later in the week, which helped. Unfortunately for all of you guys, though, the abatement of the migraine coincided with the arrival of some beautiful yarn that I had ordered... I was obsessed and actually knitted an entire bag in three days. I started another one yesterday but am disciplining myself today for your sakes and won't let myself work on it until I blog.

Last weekend, as a lot of you know, was a busy weekend. Aunt Kelley and Jason came home for Bryan's cousin Andrew's wedding. I took tons of pictures of the weekends' activities, but couldn't find the camera this week (adding to my reasons for not posting). I assumed the camera had been left in Bryan's truck, and I kept forgetting to look for it there. On Thursday evening Faye came to stay with the boys so I could take Merlyn, Berkleigh, and Aleesa (one of my daycare kids and Merlyn's best friend) to the playground for a picnic dinner. My purse was in Bryan's truck so I met him at work to get it, and looked for the camera and it wasn't there. So I missed out on great photo ops at the playground with the girls. I finally found the camera Friday. I had seen it on my seraches but thought it was the video camera. It was a crazy week for me and I wasn't up to par, that's for sure.

For now, I will show you the pictures of Kelley's bag that I made herin time to give to her last Friday. I was worried that felting would shrink it too much, so I made it extra big, then had to spend a lot of time felting so it would shrink enough! Now I have developed a great pattern, so my last one was more proportional.



























Do I look like I'm going to flash the camera? The bag could have been made into a dress.








It's Berkleigh in a bag! She could use it as a sleeping bag, I guess.





















The finished project was really the perfect size. Notice how the pre-felted bag took up almost four tile squares, and after felting it was one square (each tile is almost 16 inches). Kelley liked her new bag, and the colors suit her perfectly (probably because she picked them out!). I have gotten my first order for a bag from a paying customer, so now maybe I can profit financially from my addiction. I'll just be happy if the proceeds can justify acquiring new yarn...

Bicyclists

The big sandy spot that Jerry leveled out near our new furnace makes for the perfect bike-riding spot for the kids. On Friday after all the daycare kids left, I brought a camp chair over to the edge of the sand and took pictures and knitted while the kids rode around.













Carter and Myles really zoom along on their bikes. They like going in circles and then looking at the patterns their wheels make on the sand.





Merlyn loves her new bike but at first the training wheels were too far down: when she got to a low spot, the back wheel didn't touch the ground and she'd be stalled even while pedaling like crazy. Myles got off his bike several times to give her a push to get moving again. What a good big brother!






















Berkleigh just straddles the bike and waddles around, like a Fred Flinstone motorcycle. She's a little daredevil, though, and tried to ride her bike down the drop off at the edge of the sand.



















Notice that the girls are in sleeveless dresses and the boys are wearing shorts and tank tops. It was in the 80s that day and we took full advantage of the sunshine.

Today's Our Anniversary

Bryan and I got married eight years ago today. I was going through the wedding pictures this morning and I went a little crazy with the scanner. You'll have to excuse the quality of some pictures since they were scanned. Too bad the age of digital cameras hadn't started eight years ago. Join me on a trip down memory lane...














One of my favorite pictures is of Bryan waiting for my dad
and me at the end of the aisle. When Myles saw this
picture this morning, he said, "Daddy is smiling." I told him
Bryan was very happy that day. I was pretty happy myself!









We walked into the church single and walked out as husband and wife.
Look how young we looked!



All of us looked young, I guess... Next to me are my sister Leigh, Bryan's sister Kelley, and my friends Marlene and Heidi. Next to Bryan are his friends Jay, Steve, and Pat, and my friend Ashe.

I love this picture of the father/daughter and mother/son dance. Notice how Bryan couldn't take his eyes off me!

Speaking of young, here are my brother and me, and Bryan and Kelley and all of their cousins who played a part in the wedding. Ezra (on my right) is now a junior in college. Kerri (behind me and Ezra) is the mother of two boys, and Andrew (in the back next to Bryan) is getting married on Saturday.







This picture is of everyone at the wedding who went to St. Lawrence University. If I hadn't gone to SLU, I'd never have become friends with Kelley and Bryan and I would never have met.



We spent our wedding night in Jerry's then unheated camp. Bryan lit candles and carried me up the ladder and through the door. It would be easier now that there's stairs and a porch, but Bryan probably couldn't carry me now anyway!

Our drive to our honeymoon was through the beautiful Adirondack Mountains.

We spent a week at the Cascade Cottage, which was such a nice honeymoon spot. We want to go back with the kids for our tenth anniversary, although it'd be more romantic without them!




















The Ausable River was right across from our cottage. We walked along it almost every day, and could hear it inside. One day we took a drive through the mountains after a light snowfall. The trees were so beautiful with the contrast between the snow and the bright leaves.
























Here we are standing on the shores of Heart Lake on our way back home. It's weird to look at my belly and think that Carter was already starting to develop in there and we didn't even know.



Our lives have changed a lot in the past eight years, and our family has definitely grown. I'm looking forward to many more memory-making years together. Thanks for joining me in my reminisces -- I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did!