Again...is this normal

Miles and his costumes!  

I don't even know what this is, but I love his imagination.  He cracks me up with the combinations. Like does a spy really need roller blades?  I don't know if he was even dressing up as a spy, maybe he was an undercover rollerblader?

Want one?

Oh, what do those Peterson Children do on a Sunday?  Here's Caleigh and Elliot's solution...commercials!  I realize this might only be funny to Mike and I but, it's Hilarious.  

And it only took Elliot 5 takes to get it right!  They've been up their for hours though so there might have been a lot of rehearsal time.  

Miles

What can I say, this kid marches to the beat of his own drum.  

And yes those are headphones under neath his helmet.

Recital 2012

We look forward to this recital every year.  We always have a great time and the kids work so hard.  It's great for them to have a place to show off their talents.  This year we were especially grateful to have both sets of Grandparents here.  (I didn't get a photo of G and G Peterson). 

Elliot stayed entertained waiting for the recital to start by taking pictures or having her picture taken.  

Miles played- Carol of the Bells, Malaguena, and Ragtime Man

Caleigh- Tarantella, Scottish bagpipes, and Oh, Susanna    

Griffin- In the hall of the Mountain King and The greatest show on Earth

We will miss our piano teacher, Kathy.  She is so great and feels more like a friend than a teacher.  I feel so blessed to have found her 4 years ago and to have had her be a part of the kid's lives.  She gave all the children so much confidence and encouragement.  Thank you Kathy

Quilts from Grandma Marie

My Mom's been hard at work since she left last March working on these blankets for the kids.  It started with Caleigh's Owl fabric.  She found this cute owl fabric at Keepsake Fabric store that we went to last time my parents were here.  So my mom went home and started sewing.  The kids love her blankets.  She has been making them quilts since they were in the womb.  She loves to create the something cute and useful.  They are always so snugly and soft.  

A BIG quilt for a growing girl.

 Hugs for Grandma Marie

Not enough words!

Between 6 cameras, I just couldn't fit all the pictures from our fantastic weekend, but I wanted to get a few on here, so I can blog about how proud we are of our Mike!  This past weekend Mike graduated from UNH's doctorate program.  YOOOHOOO!!!!  Balloons, streamers....

We are so proud of Mike, he is amazing and deserves all the recognition he can get.  He has worked to hard these past 10 years at school and work and doing the "Dad" thing.  He is an amazing example to so many people and especially our children.  They will always know how important education is, and remember their Dad graduating.  

He looked so handsome in his robes, and unfortunately we couldn't talk him into wearing his glasses.  I know?  We were so blessed to have so much family in town to help us celebrate this wonderful event  Thanks Tom ,Frankie, Tracy, Jeff, Matt, and Mom and Dad. You totally made this weekend special. And thank you so much to our friends that help us Celebrate too.  

You can barely see him...but Mikes on the right side getting "hooded" We were all so busy trying to catch the "money shot" we forgot to cheer!  Sorry Mike  Woohoo, way to go...etc. 

Love this man.

The Dean's on the East Coast

Kata!!!!!!!!

Kata is my oldest friend and I just adore her.  So when she called a few weeks ago saying she was going to be in Boston for the Day I screamed, jumped up and down, and started scheming on how to get down to see her.  Not only Kata came, but her two oldest (she has 5) CJ and Savannah, and her newest babe, Clare.  Oh, why didn't I hold that baby more?  

We had so much fun talking, eating, sightseeing, and general mayhem.  Her kids are darling, and I wish my big kids could have come.  I just had Elliot to tag along.  In fact to keep Elliot busy I let her have my camera.  She got a few good ones, including this cute one of Kata and Savannah.  

We did so much walking and not one single complaint from her kiddos.  Seriously best kids ever.  The kids got a kick out of this macaroni sculpture.  Too bad we didn't see the sign to NOT CLIMB on it till after we put our kids up there and snapped a few shots.  Sorry macaroni sculpture-er, we didn't mean to disrespect your art, we were just enjoying it the best way we know how.

 


Fenway park was a hit with CJ and Elliot always loves a photo op.  Even little Clare became a Red Sox Fan.

Thanks guys for making it to our side of the country, I'll give you a squeaky-brake-tour anytime.  Love you!

Miles Acting Debut

Miles recently participated in his school's play, "Wonderland."  He played the part of the red lion.  He fought with the white unicorn and had a few lines.  The whole cast has been practicing for months now and had daily practices the final two weeks before the show.  Miles did so good, he was the only boy that you could actually hear!  (I wonder where he gets his loud voice from?)  

Miles shirt was ten sizes too big!  But here he is.  What I admire about Miles and this whole play experience is, Miles wanted to do this and commited to it.  None of his close friends wanted to participate but that didn't stop him from going for it.  He made a whole slew of new friends and had a great time.  He never complained about practices, and always reminded me when he had them.  He is so responsible like that.  It got a little overwhelming towards the end with daily practices, but he stuck in there, and felt great when it ended.

 The play had two showings so The kids and I went to the Friday night showing and Mike took Caleigh (yes she sat thru it twice) on Saturday for a little DAddy-daughter date.

Way to go Miles, you were a very convincing red lion.  I'm sorry you didn't get to keep your sword.  But at least you got to wear makeup!  Yes it's hard to take off.

Kickin' it Jersey style

Mike had an interview with Centenary College in Hackettstown, NJ this week.  Since the kids were on spring break we decided to all head down and make a trip of it.  Our first stop was in Connecticut at Yale University.  Yale houses the Peabody Museum.  A natural history museum, perfect for our little future paleontologist. 

 There were so many great exhibits.  Dino bones for Griff, a real mummy for Miles, gemstones for Caleigh and Elliot, and Mike and I loved it all.  The temporary exhibit right now is called "Big Food" and it's all about how much food we as Americans eat.  It was such a great tool for teaching our kids about serving sizes, how much sugar is in their drinks, and Mike hoped on a bike and showed the kids how long it took to burn off one carrot stick!

After Yale we headed towards Hackettstown getting in around dinners time. We enjoyed a nice, healthy, dinner and then got to bed early so Mike would be ready for his campus visit and series of interviews.  Centenary is a small private Methodist College (no were not Methodist, but that didn't seem to bother them) The campus is beautiful and feels more like an upscale private high school than college. 

While Mike did his interviews the kids and I drove a short distance across the NJ/PA border to Easton Pennsylvania.  Our destinations was the Crayola Experience. A four-story discover center/museum all dedicated to Crayola.  Writing on walls was heavily encouraged.  The kids had so much fun, we sat and colored, gathered crayons for our empty crayon boxes they gave us, drew on the floor with chalk, and watched a live demonstration about how crayons and markers are made.   

Everyone had a great time, and we could have stayed there all day!  We grabbed some quick lunch at subway and headed back to NJ to grab Mike and head home.



Mike said the interview went really well, and the area was rural feeling, but with all my favorite stores so...we'll see if they make an offer to Mike.  It would be a great option, and right now we are keeping all of our options open...

PicMonkey

Have you tried Picmonkey yet?  http://www.picmonkey.com/  seriously!  This is my favorite new website.  It's free for now...but I would totally pay money for these photo editing features.  We've only played with a few photos so far, but everyone in the family is lovin' it.  I'm sure there will be many more creation in our future...

Here's Griffin's first.  He laughed the whole time he was creating it... Hilarious.

Here's one I did of Griff and Buster for a frame in his room...So fun.

This was my guinea pig photo, so probably over done, but I LOVE the eye feature, you can tint the color of eyes and it just make these baby blues pop.

A visit from G and G Head

We had a nice quick visit from my parents.  Between school and the kid's schedule we were able to fit in some fun.  Mom and I wanted to hit a Keepsake Quilting fabric store.  It is one of the largest fabric stores in NH and it has tons of high quality fabric.  (we should have taken out a small loan before walking in...)  My sweet Mom let the girls pick out fabric and she even got some stuff for me.  We then went to lunch at a local  sandwich/pizza shop.  Our next stop was to hit the Wright Museum, a world war II Museum, but it was closed for the season.  Ooops.

 After a lazy day, their last day we headed to Concord, NH to the NH History Museum.  It had been a few years since we had been and my parents had never been to downtown Concord before.  The highlight of the Museum is the old time play store at the end.  Elliot had a great time and the other kids tried...but Elliot seemed to be boss.

Sorry Griff...

 Miles skipped playing in the stores and focused on solving a horseshoe and circle puzzle...it didn't go well.  But Mike told him he would pay Miles a dollar if I couldn't solve it in 30 seconds...sorry Miles, I'm really good at puzzles.

It is always so great to have family here.  My Mom and Dad are no exceptions, they are always willing to work around the house, My mom had the whole house clean and shiny before they left.  Love you guys.

Eight eyes are better than two

Griffin is a boy of many interest.  He loves sports, crafts, cooking, reading, music, school, writing, drawing, and any thing science. This kid loves to learn, and now he has a buddy to help him.  

Brutus, his stuffed dog, recently got glasses. Griffin loves his glasses and knew Brutus would love his too.  They make a great pair.  Griffin loves to give Brutus a turn looking through his microscope, and just hanging out.

It's so nice to have a buddy!

I did always want to marry a Doctor.

Okay, not really, but I am married to one now!  A Doctor of Rhetoric and Comp that is.  Mike defended his dissertation yesterday and it passed.  (or do I say they accepted it?  I don't know all the terminology).

The kids and I are so proud of Mike.  He has worked unbelievably hard these past 7 months to research and write his dissertation (all 210 pages of it).  He had a few professors admit they didn't think he could do it in such a short time, but he put his mind to it and got it done, (I knew he could do it all along).  We are so grateful for all the people who helped him along the way, and of course the complete support from family and friends.

Mike you rock, and I will gladly call you Doctor now.  And even though Elliot doesn't understand that the title "Doctor" can go to more than just a medical doctor, she knows that you "fix" papers and that's all that matters.