Another weekend down....

Just cleaning things up here as another weekend winds down. I never seem to really tackle that to-do list like I had hoped. All in all it wasn't bad though, we had friends over for dinner tonight and everyone had a good time. Today marks 25 days before the big girls weekend trip to Disney! I am so excited to be going away with the ladies. We are going to have a blast. Leaving 5 husbands and 13 kids behind us, how can we not destress? Lots of fun planned, including dinner at the Japanese Steak house in Epcot and a luau at the Polynesian. I need to redeem myself there....I was pulled on stage when I was in 9th grade and just did not have a dancing bone in my body. I was horrified-mortally embarassed. Now that I am older, and will probably have a few drinks in me by that time of day, I think I will have a new appreciation for it.
Speaking of Disney, most of you know Paige is going in February with the dance studio, and is doing tons of fundraising. Her latest is a Yankee Candle one-great for those little Christmas presents and other things that come up. She gets to keep 40% of her sales, so she can really raise a significant amount. If you want to check out the catalog you can find it at www.yankeefundraising.com. It's the fall catalog. You can email me what you are interested in and send along a check made out to Allegro Dance Academy by October 13. Thanks in advance!
Well, there is my shameless plug. What we do for our daughters....

One last thought for tonight. Take pictures of your family. Be in lots of pictures with your family. It's important. It's not for you, so who cares how you look. It's for those children and grandchildren and great grandchildren that will someday look at those images and say "oh-I never knew auntie had grandmas eyes" or "look mom, you and grandpa have the same dimple". You don't want to wake up one day and not have the chance to take that picture. It all goes so quickly. So do it. Now. Before the chance escapes you forever.

Hope you enjoyed the weekend.
Kristin

Nothing to say.

Wow, I just realized it's been a whole week almost since I've written. And I'm not sure I have anything exciting to say. I didn't do anything I planned to do today, it just flew away. I have started a big shoot at the dance studio, so that was handled today. I am trying something different-uploading proofs and editing after they are purchased. I think it will save me TONS of time. I shot 4 classes today and they are already loaded, ready to go public when the whole thing is done.
Had family movie night tonight. Princess Diaries 2. It was cute. Katie and Paige liked it-Paige clapped when it was done.
Well, guess I had a little bit to say. Getting too late now to think so I'll have to catch you up tomorrow instead!
Kristin
PS-posted more Parlee Farms pictures in the family album on kkg.smugmug.com tonight. You know the password!

Fall is here!

I love the fall. Cool nights and warm days. I'll take it. Although it's so quiet, I really enjoy Maine this time of year. It honestly makes me want to climb mountains. So today we took a little family hike out to cascade falls, not too far from camp. It's a great little one miler, easy for the kids. I brought my camera and shot the falls while the girls ran around with Mark.

We had a great time outdoors-we are, after all, a bunch of treehuggers-right? After lunch we packed up and spent about an hour on the beach, which was surprisingly not cold! We ran around in bare feet and of course, I took more pictures! Here's a little sneak peak, these are supposed to be for Christmas cards, so you can't see more until the cards go out!




And Katie had some fun with Daddy-this is the old dog leash, still laying around at camp.

I am never going to leave my computer. I need to stop taking pictures-I'm going to be editing and saving for months trying to catch up! I have already filled my 160GB external hard drive. Maybe it's time to clean house.

Now off to prep for another week-make lunches, thaw something for dinner, check school work, etc, etc, etc. Then maybe sleep, if I decide I can afford that luxury!

Hope you all had a great weekend too! Despite the game today!

Kristin

Ahhh...Friday night-MARAGARITAS!

God bless Allegro. Tonight was movie night and we dropped the girls off in their PJs for 2 hours of adult time, uh, I mean, movie bliss! Peter Pan was the feature and we enjoyed a nice quiet dinner with our friends Jen and Jeff. Two blue moon margaritas later and I am one happy mom. With 2 very happy kids. Sleeping.


Busy weekend-we are off to camp for one of our last weekends in Maine. We love the family time but I am ready to enjoy home and batten down the hatches for winter. I love fall and the cool days and just hanging around the house. I have so many plans for making home more "ours". I hope this winter we are able to do just that. I've started keeping notes of all my ideas. Here's hoping they pan out! We are starting with the living room....


I had a very productive day at home today. Started working on Christmas gifts. Yeah, I know I'm early, but art takes time-you know? Here is a sneak peak-can you guess what I am making?




Even if you do guess I'm not telling! Ha ha!
Well, off to bedtime now....will be sitting at campfire tomorrow night, in our parkas probably...but enjoying each family minute together (roasted marshmallows and all-the family that eats together, stays together!). I'll say good bye to the beach for you...
Ciao.
Kristin

By Request.....

Ask and you shall recieve....photo credits to Susan Garland.

What do you think he'll do for his 45th?

Kristin

Can sit again-finally!

Sorry I've been away, but I have a good excuse. I haven't been able to sit since Wednesday morning! I don't know what I did, or how I did it, but man, did I destroy one of my hip muscles. Sorry-no visuals to add to this blog entry! Thankfully a few chiropractor visits, some nice e-stim and ice (oh-and some good old muscle relaxers!), and I am almost back to normal. I hate being that out of things. Feels like such a waste of time!
Today is just a rainy day-perfect for working on photo galleries, so I am off to do that soon. Gotta finish early so we can head to the Bowmans for the Pats game! The guacamole is made, and the turkey keilbasa will be soon too! I love football......
Go Pats!
Kristin

First Day of Dance!

Wow, what a busy day for us! Katie started her day with a Mickey Mouse pancake from the diner with Papoo. Paige did not have school but we went to a Dr appt in the morning that took almost all of it-and she got her first taste of traffic. It was so bad she asked if we might be on tomorrow's news! After we got home and rested, it was time to pick up Katie and get to the studio for our classes. Both girls were very excited, but I think Katie was the most (she is so grown up now!). They looked lovely in their leotards and had a fantastic first day.

Paige started combo 2 today. She is taking ballet, tap and jazz all at once. She is very excited for jazz and I think she is going to pick up quickly. She wants to do everything on her own now-her own shoes, tights, ponytails. Growing up pretty fast. Miss Sarah is her teacher this year and I think Paige will learn a lot from her. Friday she will start Disney Dance classes with Miss Jen and then Musical Theater with Miss Mariclare.

I was especially proud of Katie, she did extremely well for her first day. What a difference from last year. I think she just wasn't ready then. Katie's teacher is Miss Mariclare-I know she will love her. On the way home Katie said she's nice, and Paige followed with yeah, she's rockin' nice! That is quite a compliment. When we got home Katie asked if she could dance around the house in her leotard, so of course she did until dinner. Another dancer has been born in the Garland family.

Afterwards, Auntie Carol came to babysit them so I could go to Hip Hop. I had a great first day too, all prepared to boogie down (sorry-no pictures for this momentous occasion). The recital gave me so much confidence that I could do this dance thing, but of course, we learned new steps and I felt a bit remedial again. Of course the difference this year is I know I can do it, I just need to practice. Last year I wasn't sure I had it in me! Yes, there are now 3 Allegro dancers in our family-can you tell we love it there? Wonder if Mark is going to squeeze in a class or two?

Back to work tomorrow, more of the grind. No HGTV tonight-too expensive, I sit there and plan renovation/decoration projects as the dollars fly out of my pocket...I think I will read the book my sister just lent me- eat, love, pray. So far it's really good and relaxing to get a few chapters in before bed.

Until next time-

Kristin

UGH!

It's 9:49 and Katie is on the chair watching HGTV with me. I guess that's all I really need to write to give you an idea of what today was like at the Garland house. It started out so well.
Starting dance tomorrow. Katie should be fun for that. Good luck Miss Mariclare! Let me introduce you to Katie's tired cranky alter ego. At least she is really excited for it!
TTFN.
Tired. Cranky. Mom.

Beautiful fall day

Zinnias at Parlee Farms


Today is so perfect out, cool and breezy, but sunny (and yes, I do have laundry hanging...). I love these crisp fall days. They definitely make me feel like getting outside and just enjoying the scenery. The girls got home around 11 today and since it was so nice, I thought a little hike would be fun. Paige had the great idea of going to Parlee Farm instead. So we packed a little lunch and went to the farm. We had our picnic first, then the girls ran around the hay maze-that was really fun for them. Especially Katie because she could do it and keep up with her big sister! She was even able to jump the gaps by the end, all by herself. Such a big girl.

Next it was time to feed the goats and sheep. Paige is old hat at this, but Katie was so funny. The goats were pushing each other to get to the food. Well Katie did not like that and would not feed the goats who were pushing! She kept trying to get the littler ones because she liked those better. I guess she can relate to them!

We ended our trip to the farm by doing some pick your own flowers. Katie really wanted a tractor ride, but it's only for apple picking. Next weekend maybe we can do that or some blueberry picking with daddy. What a great time for only $5!

Now it's time to relax a bit before dinner and get ready for the week ahead.

Until next time-

Kristin

All alone on a saturday night...

With Mark out of town, and the girls having a sleep over at Auntie's it's pretty quiet around here! What to do with all that great time? Organize the kids stuff, then scrapbook! I got 3 layouts done and actually caught up on Paige's dance book. I did a cover page, last year's recital and this years recital. Feels good to have one thing done and out of the way.

Now it's time to watch TV and get to bed. It is kinda lonely.

No exciting pictures to post today, so I'll just share this image from dance camps this summer. Dance starts again this week!

And the winner is......

Since hip hop starts again next week, I decided to go to the Nashua Camera Club meeting last night and throw a few images up for competition. I am not sure I will make more meetings this year, but it was really nice to see everyone and get into some great discussion about portrait lighting and other fascinating topics!


I never ever compete in nature-just don't have many images that really fit the category. But this summer I got a "right place at the right time" shot and so I put it out there. Despite the really great images in the category, I won first place! I am quite excited, as you can tell, because I just haven't been doing too well there lately. My other 2 images did just OK with 19 out of 30 points each, but were just one point away from the 3rd place winners.


Here is my winner-I called it "The Landing"





Hope you enjoyed it! I will be posting more on my website soon if you want to check it out-www.kkg.smugmug.com.
Kristin

It's September Already!?!

We had a very ordinary last "official day" of summer today. Mark had to leave very early for a long business trip to China, so it was just me and the girls. We worked a bit this morning then it was the resurrgence of the slip and slide! Katie of course loved it, but Paige mostly just wanted to lay on her towel and work on her suntan (when did she turn 16?).





One thing I've been doing lately is hanging our clothes out to dry. It's just one little thing I can do for the environment and for our pocketbooks! I felt like I was back in a time when, for most people anyway, they had lots of time and little money. Now I feel like we have more money to spend, but less time to get through the details in life. I've decided I'd rather have the time to hang my laundry than work so hard I can (or need to!) pay someone else to do it for me. I am sure many of you are rolling your eyes, but the simple life has to be easier, right?



And lastly for tonight, we learned this weekend that although Paige can certainly crank a wiffle ball into the road, Katie has some great hitting form. If she can just keep her skirt on, she just might be an athlete after all! She just set herself up like this with no direction at all. And she's lefty-big bonus there!



Hope you enjoyed the long weekend!
Kristin