Orchard House

I finally took the tour of the Orchard House out in Concord. I've been to the grounds and the gift shop a million times, but always had small children in tow and a no-touch tour didn't sound like much fun. This time I left Calvin in charge of Cece and away we went with some friends! It was delightful. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside (I guess that's how they sell tours).

One of my favorite parts about the house is how uneven the floors were. I found it disarming and charming at the same time. Definitely a time-stamp of a time gone by when everyone built their own houses and nobody had Pinterest or Ask This Old House.

Picture courtesy of Al Gore's internet: This was my favorite room- May Alcott's (whom the character of Amy is based on- quite an accomplished artist)

Halibut Point State Park

Christmas Eve 2017

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Bûche de Noël

Calvin and I made a Bûche de Noël for his French class. We learned so much- first time rolling up a a baked good for both of us. He loved the idea of the meringue mushrooms, so I stayed up until midnight making them (long time in a low oven!). The gummy worms were his idea also.

Thanksgiving 2017

Dog sitting Cooper- always a dream come true for my kids

A Youth Tree- they're almost ripe

The next morning I went with Elisabeth and Ellen up to Milford, NH for breakfast and a bit of shopping.

Decking the tree, Fa la la la la

Preschool pics

Her school picture

Cece had preschool pictures today. They were shot indoors, so in order to match the other kids' outdoor school pictures, I took a few of her in the driveway on a little stool. The cloudy day suddenly allowed just enough filtered sun through and for a couple of minutes we had perfect picture lighting.