One week and counting!

Hola--I started this 2 weeks ago and I'm sending it anyway. Happy New Year in an hour :) :) :) But I'll get credit for posting this IN 2016!

Happy Sunday! Today is exactly 1 week before Christmas.  Are you ready? We love December, when we get cards from lots of people we don't see very often. We can catch up that way, and learn about highlights of their year. If we just get a photo, we can see how much their kids have changed, at least!

MUSIC PROGRAM. We had our nice Christmas program in church this morning. Actually I guess it's "one of two" Christmas programs. On Christmas Day, we'll have special messages about Christmas. Today's was the choir program, with lovely instrumental numbers and different groups of people, including the Primary children, singing beautiful Christmas songs. Many people travel for Christmas, and it may have diminished our choir to not very many people...I think that's why they had the musical Christmas program today. Anyway it was beautiful.

OVERNIGHT FLIGHT. David and Teresa came home on Friday! (And there was much rejoicing.) It was frigid when Frank picked them up at 5:40 in the morning. Teresa didn't even bring a coat, actually...and it was about 6 degrees!?!?!? It has since snowed, rained a LOT to melt that snow, and it was in the 50's today. Can't quite figure out that New England weather!

our raspberry bush out back right after it snowed

Their finals are done, though, and that feels good. They have some breathing time before next term starts.  BYU almost always gets 2 weeks off, and this year they get 3.

Kara has a normal schedule for another week. Seminary and high school go through Friday, for Pete's sake! Yes, Christmas Eve is their first day off! The stars aligned so that she only gets a week and a day off this time around. She goes back January 3. Bummer. And actually, I checked next year's school calendar and it's the same.

GAMES AND COSTUMES. Our friends the McDonalds had their annual Christmas party last night. White Elephant gift exchange, costume contest, and so much food you wouldn't believe it! Great chance to talk to some neat people. It's a highlight.

Frank and I have figured out the strategy for the White Elephant game. We EACH bring a gift, so we can BOTH open presents or steal the good ones from other people. The opened good gift can only be stolen twice, then it's frozen. So if we see something we like, Frank or I steal it from whoever has it (steal #1), then the other (Frank or I) steals it from each other: steal #2. We get the gift :) :) Sneaky, huh! Haha.

PUZZLE TIME. We have a Christmas puzzle that I really like...I pulled it out this afternoon. After 20 years of me taking photos of my kids, they don't usually go for the "smile" or for "natural-looking" photos. This is what I got. :/

Oh, and here's the fun thing Kara made for her teachers this year...hot chocolate snowmen, 3 jars stacked on top of each other like snowmen. marshmallows in one hot chocolate in another, and peppermint candies in the bottom. She finds things online and makes them. Very fun gifts!

Next post: January 2017! Love, Kari

December Fun and Some White Stuff

Hola and Happy December!

front yard lamp post

LITTLE BIT OF SNOW. We are starting out the month with a dusting of snow this morning! I took a couple of pictures. Just light snow, not too much today, but enough to tell you it's December :)

raspberry bush in backyard

CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST. We had a fun weekend, with a Christmas party/pancake breakfast at the church on Saturday morning. FIRST it was a challenging feat of spreading cords all around the whole gym and beyond, to accommodate all the griddles and waffle irons going. After tripping a few circuits, they did manage to do it!

There were amazing selections of different types of pancakes -- blueberry, coconut, even chocolate chip and mini MandM's. Also fancy types of waffles, with tons of toppings!

Then there was hot chocolate bar...you could add peppermint, candy bar bits, sprinkles...the table was full of options!

ELF spaghetti (Internet photo)

Of course, there was the 3-year-old who combined the food on the breakfast table with the chocolate bar ingredients...she brought back a pancake that looked like when ELF (movie) dressed up his spaghetti! There were sprinkles and candy AND syrup on top of her pancake. Her mother's gag reflexes kicked in, I think. She said, "We are not eating that..." The poor child was very distraught.

NYC reflection

JOB SEARCH. Frank has interviews in NYC today. The job would be in Waltham, just 2 towns over from us, so we're hoping. This is about his 4th round with this company, and would be an interesting opportunity for him. Crossing fingers!

NYC pigeons

He has also had a couple of phone interviews with other companies (in Boston and Cambridge, MA) and recruiters the last few days, and tomorrow.

We thought it would be really slow between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we have been happy to be wrong about that! It would be SO great to get a new job this month. (I know...just like we've said every month! Ha. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers :) )

PUZZLE TIME. We're re-discovering our games and puzzles. It's fun to just play a quick game as a 15-minute breather or part of date night sometimes. Here's a puzzle Frank pulled out yesterday. The Grand Canyon is so amazing!

Christmas 2005

summer 2016

YOUTH DANCE. Kara had an 'ugly sweater' dance at the church in Belmont (30 minutes away) last weekend. She took a sweater but I told her it wasn't ugly enough :) :) I didn't get a picture before she zipped out the door but here are some pics of all 3 kids, I've just been browsing through.

NEW AWNING. And, here's a picture of the awning we had put on, as the final piece of the hail damage renovation. It's just for shade in the summer, stretches out about 10 feet. (The old one was faded, kind of a puke green, and torn by the hail.)

Well I should probably get to my "Monday list." I have exceeded my allotted blog time! I just have so much fun with pictures, I could keep going and going.

Hope this week brings good things your way!

Love, Kari

Thanksgiving Weekend activities

Hola, and

HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEKEND!

Thanksgiving Day pies

PIE NIGHT. Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, we had our 7th annual "Pie Night." Everybody brings a pie, or something else if they don't care for pies. The idea is you should eat the best stuff first, of course, so we have our dessert on Wednesday night, before the big turkey dinner on Thursday. :) :)

TURKEY DAY. We had a relaxing Thanksgiving Day dinner with some fun families from church. 5 families came, and I believe we had 24 people (kids' ages ranged from 4 to 16yrs). The best part is only having to cook 2 dishes, and the rest is supplied by other people!

Afterwards we played games -- an oldie, "Catch Phrase," and a new one: Codenames. Then we ate some more food. Yep, lots of food.

WAY back in 4th grade,
Kara broker her leg...

DINNER CONVERSATION. For whatever reason, injuries came up as a topic (I know, around the dinner table, right?!?!) and Kara talked about when she broke her leg in the 4th grade. She also had this conversation with someone at school a couple of months ago. Back then, I sent her a picture of her xray, on her phone.  So, she even got to show everybody the xray of her broken leg...?!?!? Dinner was close to being over at that point, anyway. Bleh.

PEOPLE HERE. Another treat was having Angela here for the weekend! Here is a photo of her and Kara preparing our green bean casserole.


David and Teresa did not come home :(, but they'll be here for Christmas in a few weeks! Yippee! Although I think their "Yippee" will be more of an "I'm-So-Glad-Finals-Are-Over!!" type of thing, ha!

They each had Thanksgiving Dinner at different friends' houses. They took a mini-trip on Friday to Salt Lake City, to visit with cousins. Rachelle lives there now, and Sheree lives 1 3/4 hours north of SLC. She drove down with her family and they had a dinner together. Cool huh! Here's a picture Rachelle sent me, of the 4 cousins.

David, Rachelle, Sheree, Teresa

Angela, Kara + tree

DECORATING THE TREE. We took advantage of Angela being here, to decorate the Christmas tree. It's more fun with more people :)

We love taking out the ornaments Grandma Kay has given over the years. Some are musical, and we put the batteries in (we store the batteries separately between Christmases) and play the songs.

Journal gift from David

THANKSGIVING. About 6 weeks ago, I started a "Gratitude Journal" with this beautiful journal/ notebook David brought me back from Italy. Each day, I list 3 things I am thankful for. It may be a quick list, only a few words, or sometimes I end up writing a paragraph, describing the story behind my "thankful" thing. It has really helped me see how MANY wonderful blessings I have, family and friends being among the most important. We are so blessed.

Hope your weekend was relaxing, or fun, or filling, or whatever you wanted it to be!

Love, Kari

Leaves, Soccer and Sweet Potatoes

Hola, Familia!

See if you can hear this song in your head...it's the Mamas and the Papas
"All the leaves are gone (all the leaves are gone)
And the sky is grey (and the sky is grey)
I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk)

On a winter's day (on a winter's day...)

I'd be safe and warm...if I was in L.A.
California Dreamin'...on such a winter's day..."

That song totally fits the mood today!  Yes! Cold and grey. We had a little rain last night, which we desperately need. The leaves on the trees are indeed brown or "mostly" gone, although there are some left on the tree out in the front yard. And the sky is grey.

BOYS SOCCER. Last night we went to watch our Boys High School soccer team. It was the State Finals, and we won!  Cool, huh! We have had a strong boys soccer team the last few years. 2 years ago the boys also took the state title. Teeny Tiny Wayland! We only have 14,000 people in this town. 850 at the high school. Anyway it was cool to watch :) :) :)

SWEET POTATOES. Frank came back from visiting his family in Virginia, and he brought me back some sweet potatoes, grown personally by Poppa Dave! Yessss! I love those. I baked some yesterday, and Kara and I had sweet potato for lunch.

Boston Temple

TEMPLE. Kara and I went to the temple in the morning, while Frank was on a scout campout. What a beautiful day it was! We got a nice lady to take our picture.

Kara, Kari squinting into the sun

SUPERMOON TUESDAY. It was a little cloudy on Supermoon night, but I still was able to get a few pictures. Big, bright and beautiful!

Hope your weekend has been great! Can't believe Thanksgiving is only 4 days away.

Have a great week! Kari

Supermoon with a little cloud cover

More Leaves and Musical Instruments

Hola, Familia!

FALLING LEAVES. I'm looking outside at the front yard, and we are now to the "raining leaves" stage of autumn. Sometimes you catch it where a breeze takes off a cloud of leaves and they just keep on fluttering, fluttering to the ground! The maple tree by the kitchen window is mostly orange and a little green. But those leaves just keep on coming!

All these falling leaves are happening AFTER Frank already spent 8 hours on the front and back yards during the week, raking up the WET leaves, after a rainy weekend. I gave my token piddly 1 hour, to help drag leaves back to the woods behind the house. That was Round One...

FOOD DRIVE. This morning Frank is out with the scouts, collecting canned goods for their annual food drive. It's cold, but not raining! Outside activities are SO much more fun when it's not freezing rain...?!?!?

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. I am finishing up the "instrument collection" we started a few months ago. Any used instruments, to be gathered for Fitchburg School District that is about an hour away from us. They don't have a huge music program. It's been neat to see people's generosity.

This happens to be MY saxophone, that I played
in middle school. Kara also played it in 6th grade!

Mostly I have gathered used instruments from people whose kids are out of the house, and they still have the instruments those children played in high school or middle school. One couple who donated a bunch of instruments have 4 kids, all in college or older, and this couple was getting ready to downsize and move. They brought over a drum set. Very cool!

Then she calls me again 2 weeks later. "We are to the attic stage of the house and we found another drumset I had forgotten about!" It was kind of funny. "My sister gave us her son's set to get my son started. Then when he decided to start his own band in high school, we bought him the set I already gave you."

So they donated 2 full drum sets! Those, plus 15 other donated instruments, have been sitting in our garage for a few months now. We plan to deliver them this week or next.

SOCCER. Kara has a few more soccer games to ref, I think today may be the last of her games.

OK, she's playing here,
not reffing, ha :)

THE EMPLOYMENT HUNT. The job search goes on...ups and downs, of course! Frank has had quite a few interviews (maybe 15?), that have gone nowhere. LAME. This week he'll talk to a few people (yes, interviews, yay) on Monday and Tuesday.

Then he'll go to Williamsburg and northern Virginia for almost a week. He gets to see family! David and Diane will be in Williamsburg, so he'll start there. Then he can help drive the 3 of them up to Dana's. Pam will visit too! It's so nice to get the siblings together occasionally.

Blog time is up! Have a great weekend and week.
Love, Kari

Leaves, Donuts and More Leaves

Hello, All!

AUTUMN LEAVES. I think fall is falling...the front yard has enough leaves that Frank can't mow the grass. We need to rake. (David and Teresa are probably getting a little sad and emotional in Utah, eyes tearing up some, because they won't be able to participate in our annual raking ritual this year...)

Kara finished up her last week of soccer, so that is kind of a bummer. It's a good group to play soccer with! Now maybe she can get her homework started BEFORE 8 p.m. each night, and get a little more sleep? It's a nice goal, anyway :)

Besides some rain that we are in desperate need of, nothing earth-shattering this week. Frank had a couple of interviews and conversations with recruiters. That always feels better than "just" networking and researching companies for hours and hours. Which he is still doing anyway. We slowly plod along in the job search.

DONUTS FOR SALE. Kara organized the junior class Krispy Kreme fundraiser, where they sell boxes of doughnuts at the soccer fields, and the town dump. The Wayland Town Dump is a tradition here in Massachusetts. Everybody in town takes their trash and recycle stuff to the dump every Saturday. It's a social event!

There is also a table there where people leave used items, and others can pick up their used bikes, skates, kids toys, books...you name it! Kind of a "used item swap."

(WE just have someone come get our trash each week. But a lot of other people go to the dump on Saturdays.)

Cool mushroom in the front yard:
it's as big as a PLATE! :)

Anyway, all that explanation was so you know that to sell donuts at the town dump, is actually a good idea on a Saturday morning. LOTS of people come by.

FALL FOLIAGE. I'm including some fall pics I took a couple of weeks ago. Frank was coming home just as the sun was going down. He called me, and said "if you're not outside taking pictures right now, you're missing out!" It was a beautiful afternoon with some great colors.

My self-imposed blog time is up! Have a great week!

Love, Kari

Wet Leaves and Listening to Books

Hello, All--

It's been a week of sunny weather, clouds, downpour, clouds, and now sunshine again!

SCOUTING. Frank took the scouts on a campout, Friday/Saturday.  (Do you want to GUESS which part of the weather hit during the campout??)

Yes, they camped in tents, during the only 24-hour period of the week that gave us over an inch of rain. Ugh! He planned for it, and told the scouts about what they could do to prep for rain. "At least" the temperatures stayed above freezing! Freezing temps would have been ultra-miserable.

During their overnight rainstorm, the temperatures stayed in the 60's. Still soggy wet, but not FREEZING wet. Tolerable. This is camping in New England.

DRIVING THE VAN. Kara has enjoyed the freedom, I believe, of being able to drive all by herself, to seminary and school, on small errands and to soccer practice. She would probably love to drive a vehicle "cooler" than the minivan. But the 14-year-old blue minivan is what we have for her. 130,000 miles so far :) :) :)

FALL COLORS. Leaves are beautiful around town! Here are a couple of pics I took a few days ago.

(Also the header -- photo at the top of the blog -- that yellow-leaf tree is next to a church, a couple of miles from our house.) After this weekend's heavy rains and wind, many trees are showing bare limbs.


BOOKS ON CD. I love libraries. I think Benjamin Franklin was a genius for thinking them up! If you are looking for books to listen to as you drive around...this month I listened to:
1) Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner,
2) The Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck, and
3) The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg

Hope your week has gone well!
Kari

New Driver and New Siding

Hello, All!-- (click on the pics for enlargement! Especially the house pics at the end :) )

TEST DAY. We now have another driver in the family! Kara took her Road Test early Saturday morning...and passed, Ding-Ding-Ding! She can drive herself places, and family members only, for the next 6 months.

We did have to finagle the timing, since the PSAT was scheduled at the high school for that same morning.
She got up bright and early and was FIRST in line. Starting at 6:30 a.m., she drove around with the driving school people for maybe 20 or 25 minutes. Then at 7 or so, she took the test. Awesome. Congratulations, Kara!! :) :) :)

She went from there, directly over to the high school to check in for the PSAT at 7:30 a.m. It worked, whew!

They all run across the field together, at the end of the game:
Kara is on the far right

SOCCER. Here are some pics of Kara playing soccer. I may have mentioned before, for home games they wear white, and for away games they wear black. Soccer cleats come in some amazing colors these days! Last year she wore these neon orange Nike cleats. This year she's wearing bright blue ones.

They had a game last night, and it was action-packed and the girls played really well. We didn't win...but it was a really good game, 0-1.

HOME IMPROVEMENTS. The before/after pics I wanted to show, are of our house. We have been in Massachusetts for 8 years 2 1/2 months now...we are approaching our ninth winter. (And yes, I'm counting. No use pretending I'm not.)

Over the course of those years, we have worked lots, and PAID to have lots of work done to this 1950 house in every room. This includes:

Cleaning out and making livable a nasty, old garage.
Full remodel of kitchen and bathrooms.
Painting. Almost everywhere.
Building a closet and hallway.
Building front porch steps.
Changing lighting.
Adding lighting.
Adding ceiling fans.
Changing all doors to 6-panel.
New front door.
Changing from oil heating to gas heating.
Adding heat/ac units to 2 separate rooms.
Adding French drains to the garage, and replacing drywall and flooring in the basement (remember our awful flooding year? I do.)
Widening the driveway.
Adding a heat zone upstairs where the MBR is.
New fireplace.
New slider doors out to the deck.
Stone steps down the front/side yard of the house.

This is my off-the-top-of-my-head list! If we went back and really looked, the list would be twice or 3 times that long. This is the backstory for the following...

LOTS OF HAIL. SO. Last August (2015) there was a quick hailstorm in Wayland. 15 minutes tops. It zipped on through, really weird. I posted pics in the blog then...here is Frank holding some hail, and you can see it in the yard.

Well, we had damage to the roof of the car, so in the next few months we had that fixed.

All of a sudden, though, there were roofers coming to the door every few days. "Can we do an estimate on your roof for hail damage? You might get some insurance money for a new roof!" Nah, nah, we didn't believe them so we brushed them off.

Then for some reason we decided to let them go up and look. They thought we could get a new roof, paid for by insurance. "I see dings on your siding, too. Why don't we see if you can get new siding?"

The roof company made their estimate and then the insurance guy came out. Guess what, both agreed that we could get a new roof AND siding! Wow, cool!

FRONT PORCH OVERHANG. Then we said "Well if you're taking off the roof and siding, we should actually get an overhang built over the front porch. We've always wanted that, and this is perfect timing for it."

Well. Things always take longer than you think they will. Estimates, carpenter appointments, blueprints, permits. Getting on the calendar. Things got pushed out and pushed out, so then it was December, then April...then June, then August again (2 months ago).

But it's done now. 1 year and 2 months after the storm, we have a new roof, new siding, overhang over the front porch, and a new awning over the deck! (I didn't take a picture of the awning but it looks TONS better than the old one...it was in bad shape, hammered even more by the hail.)

BEFORE: 2008

I'll include a before picture, when we bought the house. FYI, "before" is a scanned photo of the Realtor's packet, and I did not take it...it is a little grainy and so of course it will not be as clear as the "after" pictures! But here they are.

AFTER: 2016

I have typed a lot more than I planned -- hope you're still awake! The leaves are changing now, and it's a beautiful drive around town, to church or to school.

Have a great week!
Love, Kari