2023 is old news...The Big News Is That ETHAN IS 16!!!!!!!

Feels like the year is WAAAAAY further along than just a few months!  The kids and my parents enjoyed another fun filled New Years in Merrimac.  They played Chinese Checkers, Bananagrams and baked cookies.  I literally don't remember what Scott and I did!  Must have been mind blowing!  

I have been continuing to care for Evelyn and have also been working with a new client named Betty.  She's a spunky 93. I love this lady.   A month or so after I began caring for her in her home, she took a nasty fall and broke her hip.  Since then I have become a friend, and visit her while she is in the rehab/nursing home. We watch old "Carol Burnett" and "All In The Family" episodes while she teaches me to knit.  I'm hoping to resume employment with her in the future, but either way she is a wonderful new person to have in my life.

We got our first substantial snow on January 15th.  We were beginning to think we wouldn't have any!  Now we have been going from one storm to the next.  None of them have been too bad though...  I'm thrilled to be using my cross country skis.

Oh, and ETHAN IS 16!!!  Yup.  He had a long and drawn-out celebration.  The weekend before his actual b-day we traveled to mom and dads and combined Ethan and Meagan's birthdays.  It was a fabulous day with family.  Ethan was thrilled to get tickets to a Red Sox's game in June from his Uncle Jason and a trip to a bat making facility from Gampy for a custom bat!!  Baseball, baseball, baseball...

Fiona won a Gold Key award in the Scholastic art competition for the 4th year in a row!  This is a very big deal.  There will be a gallery opening at Maine College of Art this weekend where all gold and silver winners from across the state will have their work displayed.  We are all looking forward to seeing the show.  The awards banquet will be the following weekend.  It's nice to have things back in person.  The last few years winning the award was pretty lack-luster due to everything being online.

Kids baking cookies together at Gammy and Gampy's over New Year's.

Take a close look at this menu.  I found it at Morton's in a scrapbook his mother made from a vacation they took in 1938.  Most everything is UNDER a dollar! 

Love the last two lines!  Again, from the 1938 scrapbook.

I squeaked in ANOTHER tattoo.

On the back of my calf.

Each flower represents one of my oldest friends birth month.  Skull laughing is 'cause we plan on having a blast long after this life.

Our first real snow.

Taking a photo break from skiing.

Winter walk with my boys.

Fiona's Gold Key winning painting!

I just love these before and afters from my organizing jobs!

We had quite the cold snap a few weeks ago.

This was ice on the INSIDE of our bedroom window!

Trapped inside and cold, I baked LOTS of cookies.

Ethan and my dad listening to the bat maker.

A quick hike up a tiny "mountain".

Tiny mountain view.

From my solo hike around Mackworth Island.

I bought Evelyn this pink bear for Valentine's day.  This was how she fell asleep!

From my Valentine.

Fiona and Jacob on their way off to a date.

Ethan's b-day cake.

The dogs were helping...

He likes to be awakened with donuts on his real birthday.

Presents at home.  He was a happy boy.

It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas...

 December has been relatively calm...considering.  No major colds in the house (knock on wood).  My friend Mollie came for a few nights from Boston.  We had loads of fun just hanging out.  The kids had an unexpected day off from school early in the month.  There was an "active shooter" threat called into school.  This caused all kinds of confusion as the kids had only just arrived and were told to get back on the buses and they were promptly taken home!  I feel so bad for parents of young kids.  Mine were fine...and just made plans with friends for the day.  I just cant imagine living with this kind of thing.  Turned out the entire thing was a hoax.  

Thanksgiving came and went.  Mom and Dad were able to join us again.  We ate a delicious feast of roast chicken and all the fixings.  Then it was Bananagrams!  Gammy doesn't like to stop playing until she wins...so it gets a bit crazy.

The first week of December I took Fiona on two college tours.  The first was Montserrat in Beverly, MA and the second was to Mass Art in Boston.  Montserrat was "Meh".  Too small and the studio spaces were depressing...BUT we needed something to compare to Mass Art.  Then we all piled into the car on Friday (both kids missed school) and trot-trotted to Boston.  Mass Art is the place of dreams!  Fiona and I enjoyed the entire tour, while the boys wandered around other campuses on Huntington Ave.  This is Fiona's (and my) first choice.  That night we stayed at an airbnb in Cambridge.  What a treat.  Our dinner was at an amazing Tibetan restaurant a walk from the apartment.  Then the following day we walked to Faneuil Hall and selected our ornaments for the year.  A fabulous tradition!

AND LET'S NOT FORGET THE CAR PARADE!!!  A marvelous day as ever.  Joel and Marie were able to make it for the second year in a row.  All the kids did a fine job of throwing candy at small children through out the parade route.  Gampy's car was the star of the show.  Fiona, Ellie and Ethan also took care of decorating my parents tree and home for the holidays.  Another great tradition.

Mollie and Theo were fast friends.

I squeaked in a new tattoo!

What my sister and I say to my parents instead of goodbye.  Translates to: hug and kiss.

Fiona's friends and Ethan and his buddy after shooter threat canceled school.

Bananagrams at my parents.

I couldn't resist this before and after of a job I did this week.

Ahhh....After.

Thanksgiving table all set.

Boggle on the coffee table.  
(Fiona's favorite word game)

Fiona is missing because she had to work a tiny three hour shift...right smack in the middle of the feast!

She was back for Bananagrams.

First ever college tour!

Part of my commute to Evelyn's.

Waiting for Mass Art tour to begin.

Student studio spaces.  Mind blowing work.

ON THE TOUR!

View from the library.

Cool alleyway in Cambridge.

Tibetan food.  YUM.

Airbnb

Cool parents in Boston.

Ethan had some help selecting his ornament this year.

Just an average day at my parents.  Gampy...with his flosser in his mouth, out on front steps, shooting flies with a salt gun.

All ready for her close-up.

Fiona helping to style her brothers hair so he's photo ready.

Candid.

Doing their best Gampy impressions.

Driving by!

Mom, Dad, Joel and Marie

First try for awkward family photo.

Winner!

Working on painting with Evelyn.  She was soooooo good at it.