This morning was absolutely wonderful. I spent it with Kirsten. After dropping her off at school I went to PHL to take some pictures of my new t-shirt. It was wicked cold out!
Kirsten Uhler
We did it! We made it to lucky number thirteen. I really hate to celebrate an institution for which I have so much disdain. However, any excuse to celebrate you and us is good enough for me.
I love you, Babe. You make my world go ’round. You’re sexy and smart and funny. You’re the best mom on the planet and a damn good lover.
You complete me. I look forward to the next year together, and I cherish the hours, minutes and seconds.
Cheers.
Kirsten earned a 4.0 GPA this semester. She worked her butt off and deserves some recognition. I am wicked proud of her!!
You go girl. I love you, Kir.
She also aced (100%) every category of the math portion of the Nurse Entrance Test (NET) and earned a composite score on the entire exam that puts her in the 96th percentile of the nation! Hooray!
I think she deserves lunch at Gilbert’s Chowder House, at least. ;)
This is our second Maine winter, and they’re so much better than Kansas winters. Kansas is windy, and the winters are colder with a lot more ice. We didn’t get decent snowfalls in Kansas either. I honestly don’t know why anyone complains about Maine winters. They’re very efficient about plowing the roads here. You see snowplows out on the roads even before the snow starts falling. Many people have plows mounted on the front of their own trucks.
We just had our first really good heavy snowfall. I love the snow. Everything looks so beautiful covered in a fresh white blanket. I also like how peaceful and quiet it is outside, as the soft snow absorbs the sounds.
[audio:let-it-snow-bing-crosby.mp3]
I took the photo on Kirsten's mug
Here’s a bit of goodness for you this beautiful Monday morning. Now you know the secret to Kirsten’s phenomenal gorgeousness and youth…product. :)
Happy Festibond, everybody.
Read more about the mug.
Jenna’s backpack has holes in the bottom through which even the largest object can apparently disappear. It was time for a new one. Kirsten and I drove to Freeport soon after the bus picked up the girls. It was a fun morning at one of our favorite stores. We purchased the new backpack at a significant discount at the Outlet Store. A kind woman, Gina, was nice enough to break with policy and cut out the old monogram. Otherwise, Jenna would have had to be known simply as “Kristi”. The hour we were told it would take to pick out the old monogram and stitch in “Jenna” only lasted fifteen minutes. Kirsten and I talked while we roamed around the L. L. Bean campus and played with the oh-so-innovative snowball makers.
Jenna loves her new backpack. She gave us huge hugs and thanked us profusely.
In the vestibule of the main store there was a large “replica” of Portland Head Light made out of gingerbread and other delicious-looking candies and sweets. They also had a backdrop for photography they do on Saturdays and Sundays. I had Kirsten pose in front of the winter scene. When the girls got home I showed them the image in the camera and told them we drove a long way to be in the snow. They were quite suprised. The looks on their faces were priceless. Skye was sure I had Photoshopped in the background until I reminded her the pictures were still in the camera. :)
Ok, so we didn’t watch the parade and we didn’t put together a jigsaw puzzle. And I cooked a modest traditional Thanksgiving feast…without the stuffing. What can I say, I was craving the after-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches and looking forward to the other usual leftovers we could eat for the entire next week. I admit that since I’ve been busy with school and work, I’ve kind of missed cooking. But mostly, I wanted to have the opportunity to spend quality time with each of the girls and have them cook with me.
Hayley loves corn and asked to help me with the corn casserole. She enjoyed chopping the onion with the food chopper until it made her “cry.” She also helped me make the pumpkin pie filling. I invited Jenna to help me make the potato-chive monkey bread rolls. She was fascinated when she saw how the dough had risen and I explained to her the process. Skye helped me with the pie crust and the mashed potatoes, which is a favorite of hers.
Hayley asked me last week whether we were going to shoot a turkey, buy a turkey, or just have chicken. She loves chicken. According to her, however, turkey does NOT taste just like chicken as I told her. Turkey is “kind of good and kind of gross.” The girls were a bit disgusted at first by the uncooked bird, especially when I animated it for them. Then they were intrigued by it and Skye wondered where all the organs were. She had studied the body systems last year in school. They were not particularly excited about eating the gravy when they discovered it actually came from the turkey drippings.
We all sat together in the evening to play Uno H2O. It’s the waterproof Uno card game. I don’t know why we purchased waterproof cards. Perhaps we could use them at the beach or the pool. All the girls were quick to understand the game and had no trouble playing independently. They got a little competitive, but there were no tears. Everyone really seemed to have a good time. I think it was a great day spent together.
I didn’t have to work Saturday, which is unusual. The rest of the day was pretty normal. We visited the bookstore and the library. Then we went to Target for some essentials we had been putting off. In the evening Kirsten made cookies. As usual, I stole some of the dough. After the girls went to bed Kirsten and I made a $5 repair to save a $100 blender. Aren’t we boring? We love us, though.
© 2012 The Danlers