Big Night 2013

Last night was our 3rd year to go on Big Night in Small Town, ME.  

 The weather conditions apparently fit:  in the 40's and enough rain to make the streets wet. The email was sent out at 12:40, but I didn't see it until after 5.  That's when I scrambled around to contact our friends (one family that I met at my first Big Night went to our church, and she invited me...needless to say, she is one of my favorite people!) to give them the heads-up.  Unfortunately, we never really know when Big Night is, because the conditions have to be 'just right'...

So after wrangling our family together, we dashed out the door to grab a quick bite at McDonalds and meet our friend there.  After a 'fast eat' we drove to the LEA...only to see no-one there.  UGH!  Through a quick email, I learned that I misread the email (sorry again Serena!) and plenty time to wait...

After a while, people started showing up and filling up the small LEA room.  We received our instructions and then...we were off!

I was skeptical because I didn't think that it had rained enough, but apparently, the LEA staff knows what they are doing!

So many Spring Peepers were found, a handful (pun intended?) of Salamanders, a slug (that B nearly stepped on in front of the LEA leader...), and a 4-toed salamander (told that they were rare but several have a ton in their home area).  A very fruitful night!

I helped cross 3 peepers (2 found by Cary and B--who ADORED the frogs!).  2 peepers apparently thought I was too sweet to let go, though, and one almost unwillingly came home with me because he jumped onto me and I couldn't find him...thankfully he jumped on my galoshes and not inside!

I also found a salamander on his way onto the road, so with the help of Nancy, I got him across.  Cary and B were too far ahead because I was hoping to get B to carry him over, but that's okay.  We'll have the chance to do it again!

On the way home, there were several peepers on the road, hopefully Cary avoided.  However, he slammed his foot on the brakes (not literally!) when he found this guy:

I got out of the car and told him that he was lucky that I knew what I was doing (ha!) and picked him up and carried him across the road to safety.  Though he had a great chance of making it across himself, it was not worth trying...he's so purdy!

The hardest part of last night was that my dad was not here to participate...however, he'll be here soon, and the weather looks perfect AGAIN, so we might be going out to save more peepers, frogs, and salamanders!!!

Brylee And The Case Of The Missing Monkey

For Christmas, Brylee got a recycled monkey from our Playgroup Christmas Exchange.  The thing is her favorite thing in the entire world!

So, one night we couldn't find George the Monkey (I should have named him Micky, Mike, Peter, or Davy...) and surprisingly, B slept through the night with another toy instead.  But of course, the next morning, he was the first thing she looked for.  So, the hunt began again...

He wasn't in the toy box, under the couches or beds.  He wasn't at Oma's and Opa's, or in the cars.  Then it dawned on me:  Brylee loves her racing turtle.  And to stuff random stuff in there, too.  So we checked there...

And YAY!!!  We found Curious George!

Thank goodness, because I don't know if we would  have been able to find another one of him!

Brylee Update

Yes!  She has grown!

Her favorite color:

Oh my how she loves this color!  Which makes it even more interesting because it's the same favorite color of her daddy, so now when they play games, they 'fight' over who has the yellow game piece.

Her favorite character?

(image found here)

On a daily basis, she loves to wear her Rapunzel dress.  And when it's on, she insists on being called "Rapunzel".

Her favorite movies currently?

She also loves Tangled, Alice In Wonderland, Shrek, and...of all things...

Her favorite food is pizza, macaroni and cheese, corn dogs, chicken nuggets, and tonight, she ate a great helping of spaghetti.  While she is a very picky eater, she is starting to get better and eating a lot more.  It's only taken 3 years to get her to start gaining some weight!

She loves to read, and right now she enjoys Dr. Seuss books, and her T and Poppy got her the HighLights magazine for the second year now.

We try to go to playgroup regularly with a great group of parents and kids.  We have been invited to a playdate at someone's house on a weekly basis, but unfortunately, they like to spend it outdoors, and we aren't snow/winter prepared, but now with the mud season coming up, we'll have some fun there as well.  We started going back to the library for story time there, and on Thursdays, we go to the local dance center where they let the little ones run around and dance and play with the gymnastics equipment.

She loves to play with balloons, most specifically, sitting on them.  Most Mylar balloons don't last more than a week for her because she abuses it to no end.  But still she loves them.

She is definitely still an ambidextrous little girl, which I'm sure makes my mom a very happy T.  Just what we need...another one of 'them'.  ;o)

There is so much stuff that I'm missing, but as I remember them, I will add posts.  It's amazing how fast she is growing, and how behind I have gotten.  I blame it on a number of things, but I will try to be better.

Breathe Deep...

(cover art concept by the talented Whitney Weber.  If anyone knows the model, please let me know so I can contact her for proper permission.)

Let's see...

The last time I wrote on this blog, it was June 15, 2012.  That was quite literally 7 months ago.  What has happened since then?

Well, I wrote before that I was doing a lot of writing, and about that time, I scrapped a large bit of what I had finished and re-vamped the characters, added settings, and just all around focused my spare time on it.  I created a goal:  to try to get published.

Today, I finished it in time to submit it to the Amazon.com publishing contest.  

Just a few minutes ago, I finished the submission form.

How do I feel?  Nervous, my heart racing, relieved...and a little hungry.  What?  I haven't eaten lunch yet!

So, now that I have some free time, what will I do?  Here's my list:

start working on Book #2

start other writing works

update the blog (7 months should prove to be interesting to catch up on...)

And of course, be a mom, wife, go to church for our weekly services and weekly AWANA meetings, visit friends, and TRY to keep in touch with the real world better.  Well...I guess that part fits into the blog...

But here is the first of many (I hope) posts coming up, catching everyone up on our little family, especially B. It's amazing how much she has grown in just 7 months...

Until then...I have to breathe in some fresh, cool Maine air.  :o)