aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh stress free that's for me!

Emily doing her Buddy the Elf impression.
Well Christmas is over, the tree is coming down, wrapping paper has been cleaned up and I was able to snap another cute picture of my children in their Christmas pajamas...although the boys have asked that next year they NOT wear matching ones. Signs of growing up my friends :) Today I ran to the store for a few things (non holiday related, cat food, toliet paper...boring stuff) and what did my eyes behold but VALENTINE DAY STUFF!!! we are just rolling right into the next holiday with guns a blazin'

Merry Christmas!

Happiest of Holidays to all from us here on Da Hill :) Now go eat something fudgy and yummy and damn the calories.

Merry Chick-mas!

I've got to get a life.

Ha-Cha-Cha it's time to make Bakalavah!

We are ready to roll here on Da Hill!! It's the yearly making of the Bakalavah...it's such a time consuming delicious pain in the butt! Kids have their assignments, one will butter while the others sprinkle and mom will layer! We will also be making peppermint bark and tins of Russian Tea as presents for teachers, bus drivers and the like.

Eggs! we have a surplus of eggs! I've been busy selling to various people who have been begging me to try a "real egg" and of course they are hooked.

It's only supposed to be in the teen temperatures next week...i'm thinking we will be seeing some snow very soon!

I suspect somethings up....the teenagers are being nice.

It's easy to tell what time of the year it is in my house as suddenly my children all morph into perfect angels who clear the dinner table, bring down their dirty laundry and offer to read to their little brother without Mom screaming like a banshee or threatening to move them out into the unheated/no plumbing goat shed. :) Yup, Christmas is coming up fast and furious and just like every other year the budget is stretched tight, so I'm dipping into my giant collection of "crafts I though were really cool" box that I have saved all year. This weekend my darling daughter Emily and I will be undertaking the tedious job of making Baklavah...which is a royal pain to make but comes out so wonderful. I make it once a year...and if you miss out you miss out! My Dad has already put his order in...he's no fool.

ho ho ho....

I love presents...no really I do I do!

And the Swap Joy keeps on coming! Ohhh and Ahhh here is my soap and cloth swap package...check out the cloth...it's a rooster! a little shout out to my hens from Knitterofhats from Arlington, VA! I wish I had smell-o-rama on my computer because I've been sniffing the soap all day, it smells divine! The big tree bar sparkles too...and anyone who knows me knows I luvs me some glitter! The little notebook is going right in my bag for my "mad mom" notes that I need to scribble down or else I forget everything! Now everyone go out there and join a crafty swap!

I love a good swap!

Look what I got in the mail today!!!!! ooooohhhhh ahhhhhhhh!!!! drool drool drool!!! Today my goodie box of joy and wonder arrived from GoMonkeyDesign (aka Leah!) from my Ravelry Secret Santa Swap! I was totally spoiled and am just in love with everything I received...check her out on Etsy as well...gorgeous stuff!

Eggs Eggs Eggs Everywhere!

So I was under the impression that when cold weather hits, hens slow down their egg production...mine seem to have it backwards and are laying like there is no tomorrow! It's great, trust me I'm not complaining but even my children who adore scrambled eggs are getting overwhelmed! Luckily I have lots of friends willing to take some off my hands! I thank the hens everyday and give them yummy treats! They are so funny with their big fluffy chicky butts!

It's a brisk 22 degrees here on Da Hill!

Hey!!! We are cold chickens...can we come in??? They were pecking at the front door with requests of electric blankets and hot chocolate.

Turkey Day is Upon Us!

Gobble Gobble Gobble y'all! It's that time of the year....Thanksgiving! Kind of a lost holiday since all you really hear about this time of the year is all the "holiday" sales that are going on at the stores. I don't think anyone really takes a minute to think of the Pilgrims and the veritable Hell they went through to settle in this country, but I digress and shall now get off my plymouth rock soapbox.

Our family tradition here is to NOT have the traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey and all the finxin's...mostly because it's a huge waste of my time since nobody really eats any of it. So why not just make stuff we DO like to eat! I know, crazy! Also, we do not under any circumstances get dressed up for this. It's a pajama day. End of story. We do watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade...or what we actually see of it since it's mostly commericals or stupid celebrities talking endlessly about the floats we can't see, the kids will decorate their ginerbread houses, watch a movie, make their wish lists. In years past the bowling alley in town has opened at 4pm and we have been known to go and bowl a few games....it's really fun...however you do have to get dressed, so it's up in the air as to if we go.

So while all you Pilgrim wannabees are eating your mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey and cranberries we here on Da Hill will be chowing down on some BBQ ribs, potato salad and probably some french fries. mmmmmmmmm.

My own personal turkey

9 years ago...the day before a Thanksgiving Holiday, I gave birth to my very own 9 pound Butterball Turkey! Hello Gavin!!! How the years have flown by! The most craziest, mind blowing, adorable, silly, sleepless years ever! But, given the choice I would go back and do it all over again!

Happiest of Birthday's little man, we love you tons!

Cody James....our own personal cowboy

Today Cody went on his first trail ride without his mother walking along side of him :) he and his trusty steed Mercedes hit the trail at Borderland State Park in Easton, MA...a most beautiful and family friendly place with miles of trails to hike, bike or walk your favorite 4 legged friend. They also have a very awesome disc golf course, I've never had the chance to play but I do like watching others, it seems fun! The air was crisp and the sun kept peeking out behind clouds. While he rode off into the sunset (well not really, it was the middle of the day but isn't that what cowboys do?) I parked my carcass on a nice bench in front of the stone "castle" and knitted and watched the birds at the feeders. It was a really nice day indeed.

I came, I froze, I peed in the woods.

This weekend I packed up the van, kissed 3 kids goodbye and headed to the woods with the 4th child. It was scout camping weekend and little did we know what an adventure it was going to be! Cody was super excited (seen pictured here with his fellow scout friends Jimmy and Sam..Cody is the kid in the middle sporting the "moose took" hat) and I was optomistic since this is my last camping trip before he makes the big move to Boy Scouts...where the mommies do NOT go camping (insert happy dance here). We decided to get some dinner on our own before heading down...which turned out to be a wise choice. So by the time we hit the camp ground it was PITCH BLACK and nobody quite seemed to know where our group was located. Cody and I carried our tent up and down the road for about 45 minutes before low and behold we found a couple of fellow scouts all set up, we put up our tent and got a good fire going. Life is good.

Or so we thought.......

I decide to head to the car for the last couple of items, and run into our big group a 1/2 mile down the road from my tent. uh oh...we got sent to the wrong place. It's now 8 pm, i'm exhausted, cold and irritated. They decide I must move my gear to their camp site...to which I said "NO" and stomped my foot and proceeded to burst into tears. I collected myself and used my smarts.."wait...I have double stuff oreo cookies and a whole lot of teeange boys at my disposal" so yes I bribed them with food and they hauled all my stuff down and set it back up!

Crisis averted.....but not really.

Somebody (a man!!! it was a man!!!) backed into a pipe and tore out the water main, we had no flushing toilets anywhere in the campground. It's now 9:30 and of course, I gotta "go" pretty bad. Thank goodness it was dark right...except the boys are all running around the woods playing the game Manhunt with flashlights...you never know when one will just pop up in front of you. I waited until 10 pm and then didn't care how many young men I will send into therapy from encountering me bare assed in the woods trying not to pee on my feet or get jabbed with a stick, I was going!

aaaaaahhhhhhhhh....relief.

30 degree sleeping weather, farting, snoring, food prepared by the boys (undercooked or just gross) mud, wind, and walking for hours from activity to activity. All forgotten, my son had a blast, made new friends, learned new skills, performed a skit in front of 300 other scouts/families and passed out cold in the car on the way home. Good times. I'm glad he asked me to go.

Cry no more Gavin...Mommy found you Mac and Cheese!

I'm giving a Shout Out to Amy's for coming up with a gluten free/dairy free mac and cheese that tastes fabulous and looks good too. I'd all but banned the other children from eating any Mac and Cheese product because watching Gavin cry at the dinner table because he couldn't have it near broke my heart. BUT NOW...oh he too can enjoy his favorite comfort food yet again without danger of belly aches or worse.

So Thanks Amy's....you rock!

i may never leave my bed again.

I got my new bedspread!!! whoooo hooo! took me forever to pick out a pattern, then of course they were always backordered/discontinued...oh the drama..but after months of waiting it arrived yesterday afternoon! Yes, it's heavy and wonderful for cold winter nights...which makes perfect sense why we have this weird week of hot weather (oh new england weather..damn you!!!) but ooooh it's so lovely to look at!

I'm a New England girl...I like the traditional colonial style :)

Happy Birthday to me.....

yup, it's my happy day. cake for breakfast, a little knitting, then well, that's about it. maybe the chickens will sing for me.

Mind gone...nope really this time....I need to be stopped!

No...I can't....I won't....I shant....no no no....must resist cuteness....must say NOOOOO! Dang, I didn't just clear out a huge area today next to the chicken coop.....shoot I didn't just go with the beloved to buy a big shed...half of which is meant for something small and cute to live in....UGH I did not just pick out the name Saffron....blah I did not just tell the male children who are leaping around with joy....what is my problem??? SERIOUSLY SOMEBODY SMACK ME!but did you see their precious little faces???

I'm doomed. :)

Oh My Gooshnibs!!!

There is a reason why I love the knitting community so much, they are crazy fun! my swap partner from Ravelry's Dishcloth Swap went a little nutty this month...Lovely lovely Sue from Washington sent me a big old envelope full of goodies and why do you ask??? IT'S MY BIRTHDAY NEXT WEEK!!! oh I was spoiled for sure, a gorgeous brightly colored happy dishcloth, a most adorable knitted batty to decorate with and my favorite bit...the emergency mustache costume!!! I can't stop freaking my older kids out with it! it's awesome! Nice to know someone else out there has the same strange sense of humor as me....well that could be a little scarey at the same time.. Now pardon me while I drop off the teenage diva at dance while in cognito....much to her horror....mwwwwwwhahahahahahahaha!

I'm on a PB cup overload...intervention may be required

I need help...I admit it.Why oh Why is Halloween candy so darn delicious??

And Why oh Why does it go straight to my backside??

I need help, I am weak.

if somebody could please just remove it from my house I'd be very grateful indeed.

thanks :)

Boo!!! did i scare you?

We took a road trip to Salem, Massachusetts for some haunted history! Spooky, creepy and downright scarey stuff! Oh and I managed to find a Pirate Musuem which was very very cool! Yar!!!

Brendan and Cody and thier "ghoul friends" ha ha ha! oh oh I'm too funny (not)

This is EXACTLY where a bunch of teenagers belong! I bribed them with Ben & Jerry's ice cream to get this picture just to let you all know.

My favorite part was checking out the old burial ground...it was really cool.

5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate, the first one says "oh my it's getting late!"

It's October! Time for cooler weather and decorating for Halloween!! This weekend the kids and I went out to get our pumpkins (over 100 lbs worth of pumpkins to be exact) whoo hoo! had some stew going in the slow cooker, talked about costumes...mom wondered where she would find the time to create such costumes and then attempted to take a good xmas card picture...and they insisted on including the chickies. Now that was an experience I'm not rushing to re-create any time soon! ha ha ha!

Start your knitting...Let the swaps begin!

Oh joy of joys how I looooooooove a good knitting swap! I am already paired up for a .....a.....COFFEE SWAP! I know! how much fun! Oh to get a box of goodies all for my ownsies..well, i will share the coffee with the beloved, I think the coffee swaps are his favorite...being addicted to the stuff and all :) so my needles are flying and my thoughts are racing as to what I can put in my package that will be heading out to Wooten-On-Edge in the UK...get ready Sarah, you are about to be spoiled!

Chick Road Trip

~~~~ Brendan with his main chick Yolk-0 ~~~~

Sitting at work yesterday (i'm manning the office while the secretary is on vacation, usually I am not sitting at all but chasing kids) I was chatting with another teacher when my friend Heather (and also a teacher) bursts in and starts quickly telling me about the lesson they are doing on farms....all the fun stuff and activities she has planned followed with "so can you bring a chicken to work tomorrow" Now there's something you don't get asked everyday. So I'm running home from work on Weds to grab one of the smaller girls (probably Fajita or possibly Yolk-0...definatly not Marsala as she is a brat) so that the preschool crowd can oooh and aaaahhh and observe the wonders of a chicken...I did warn Heather, they poop...and it's usually without warning, she has Lysol wipes on standby!

I really don't care what you eat....seriously.

So this story starts out with me going to the gynocologist....a most unpleasant and horrific event for any woman...I mean really who in their right minds gets happy about this? I like my Doc but well, it's unpleasant. So anyway, after being there forever I decide..."I'm getting a Frappe..caramel frappe because they are so darn yummy"

This was my decision, I wanted one, I'm getting one. end of story.

So in I go...order that bad boy and do a little happy dance (in my head) while my nice little order taker whips it up...oh yes I'll have whipped cream of course! As I turn to leave I run into an aquaintence getting lunch for herself. We exchange hellos and pleasantries, and then she launches into this very detailed reason of why she was there getting lunch and how she hasn't eaten all day and she has been really good about what she eats and so on and so forth as I stand there sucking down my frappe (it was melting, what could i do) listening to this woman justify her eating of her lunch.....ok.......i nodded in the appropriate places and tried not to make a weird face when brain freeze set in and it all ended with her large sized order being placed in front of her. We said our goodbyes and off I went. it wasn't until i started driving home that i wondered, who was she trying to convince about what she ate. Did I give her the impression I was judging her meal? I mean given the place where we were I wasn't expecting her to get a salad (although they do have nice salads and if you are a gluten free goddess like yours truley sometimes that is the only choice) Or was this her way of convincing herself that it was ok for her to eat it? Do they have less calories if you explain your purpose of eating them? I felt bad in a way that she felt that she had to do this. Are we so guilty about everything we do? sigh....i just sucked bottom of my frappe...and I can't say I feel very guilty at all. I made the choice, it's what I wanted, end of story.

yummy goodness........brain freeze.....mmmmm yummy goodness

Barn Buddies

These gloves have nothing to do with the barn...but i knitted them and am darn proud of how they came out...i guess i'll wear them to the barn...that's the connection!

Cody gets to ride Mercedes...she is sweet as sweet can be :). And to the right is Gallahad listening to Gavin read a Thomas the Tank Engine book outloud...he may be a giant horse but he is such a softie!

Gavin and Pokey...Best Friends Forever (BFF's)

Happy Things!

Aside from the obvious, family, friends, the fact my jeans still fit my butt (yes!) these are a few of the little things that make me happy these days....it's subject to change depending on the time of year and amount of chocolate in the house at any given time.

decorating for Halloween...i know it's a little early...it's so much fun!

When a knitting project comes out just the way you want it to! whhooo hoo!

Really Yummy Cookies that me and Gavin can eat...props to Jo-Sef company for these tasty little gluten free/casein free/dairy free/ egg free delights! xx00!

My snazzy new red teapot...it's like ferrari red...favorite tea behind it.

this is more me.

Ok, this represents me that much more :) keeping calm and whipped up a pair of fingerless gloves!

when life hands you lemons..trade them in for limes and make margaritas!

I saw this saying on a water bottle of all things
yesterday, and why I didn't immediatly buy the darn thing I have no idea. I have decided to adopt this saying as my new mantra....and this is why.

so as you may know my youngest cherub has some pretty kick ass medical issues. I thought I had things pretty well under control and was pleased with the progress he was making and getting him to sleep through the night. I had taken him for blood work to test for allergies upon the request of his chiropracter (whom, we love love love) thinking "he 's not allergic to food, heck we never saw any signs of it"

whoa baby was I wrong! No Dairy! No Peanuts! No Casein! No Gluten (ok that we had already taken care of no big surprise) No Lamb! (not an issue!) No Cheese of any kind! No Wheat! No Beef! No Alfalfa (really?) No Spelt! No Yogurt!

I'm floored, and baffled as to what this kid is going to eat. Autistic kids are usually challanging in the food department...but this puts a whole new spin on things. So this morning he started off his day with a lovely hot millet cereal with real maple syrup and almond milk..if anything his colon will be sparkly.

So here I am, back to label reading and research square one. Somebody say a little something for me 'cause I'm going to need it!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year :)

Ahhhhhhhh Back to School Time! Tomorrow morning at this
exact time I will be waving to my smiling, happy, skipping with glee down the driveway children.
~~~~~Whoa, rewind...smiling? happy? ummm I think NOT! ~~~~~

Ok, I'll be waving to my sullen, pouting, sleepy eyed, grumbling children who will be dragging themselves down the driveway to wait for the bus. phew, that's more like it!

It's been a great summer, but all good things must come to an end. I have one starting High School, one in middle school, one who will rule the school as a 5th grader, and the youngest will be in 2nd grade...sigh.

I have knitting projects all lined up and ready to go, house needs a good scrubbing, and a lunch date with Diva Deb. Soon enough my phone will be ringing with substitute teaching calls.

bye summer, hello fall!

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!

At 6 am tomorrow morning, 3 fabulous Divas will start their journey to parts unknown (ok, it's North Conway, New Hampshire...but that sounds less dramatic) to spend 2 days without their children, without their husbands and without a care in the world, their mission..to relax, decompress after a long sticky summer and clear their minds of mac and cheese and dirty socks. The Diva 3 will enjoy a concert by Natalie McMaster, dinner, min golf, and ice cream for lunch. ahhhhhh. Now if I can just survive the 3rd rainy day in a row with crazed cabin fevered children I'm all set :) Later!

I'm going back to school...and I hope I get a "Bee"

for many years now i have been facinated with the hobby of beekeeping, but of course it seemed like such a huge project I certainly did not want to jump in without any kind of guidance! So this winter I will be enrolling myself in Bee University! It's a 6 week course that gives you the ins and outs of keeping bees...i'm so excited! The bee population is dwindling, i can vouch for that noticing a lack of bees in my backyard...and my backyard is a bee buffet with all the flowers and plants I have! It may not make a huge difference, but i feel that my little effort could help...plus, fresh honey! beeswax for soap and candles (which of course i'll have to learn to make...another course maybe?)