Weekly Update

Rob---catch you next week

Carrie

Update.................After a round of strep throat for Hailey and 3 missed days at school, I get a call saying she got her finger hurt.  Her hand was behind the big heavy doors when someone knocked into it.  Her pinkie was smashed between the wall and the door :(  Not broken luckily but I got to see she left a mark on the wall, a legacy!!!  Poor kid's had a run of bad luck.  I feel like I'm grounded when I have sick kids!  But I dyed H
We finally got some snow!!!!  Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday :)  It was so nice to get out there and play in the snow.  I'm quite the princess about the cold.  But if there's snow, it's all good.  The kids made "snowcones" with strawberry syrup and maple syrup.  Chase is finally liking the snow!!!  He didn't want to come in.  I guess his leg span is a key factor, last year he couldn't walk in more than an inch :)  Kayla and Chase lasted hours longer then Hailey and Trent.  Trent lasts about a half an hour and says he's cold :(  He's OBSESSED with Super Mario Brothers!!!  I've taken to hiding the games for the wii.  It's bad!!!  Kayla went ice skating with a friend.  Her butt wasn't too sore :) 
 I got dolled up with my friends to go Styleweek Providence.  We picked Kurt up on the way and got to watch tons of beautiful anorexic girls work that runway!!  Good times.  As for me.....I started a pretty good workout routine.  I'm almost sore all the time :)  Sean's sit up app on his iphone is coming in handy for me too.  Two days into that, 141 sit ups later!!  Hailey's changeover to vegetarian has made us all eat a little bit better.  Not that we ate that bad to begin with, but it's easier when I HAVE to focus on healthy.  I've already lost a little hip, which is amazing to me.  I need to get a scale now to keep track of my progress.  I feel empowered!!!!!  Goals for the week:  continue my new lifestyle, get boys haircuts and get girls haircuts.       
Sorry, I'm a little picture happy  :) 

Kurt

What DID I do this week. I finished my shoes.

I started working again on my belt...

I've web doing a lot of photo uploading on the app INSTAGRAM....just a fun app to waste time and share art.

This week I really need to FINISH THAT BELT. I actually want to start separating things to be packed. And desperate clothes that I am actually going to wear.  Edit my stuff for my moving/travels. My lease is up end of Feb So the new chapter BEGINS!!

Kim

The sixth-grade Chinese New Year party was a hit.  I wasn't sure 11- and 12-year-olds would have fun playing games--no media.  I'm not sure they thought it would be fun either.  But it was!  It really was fun.  I served dim sum and had them start with playing the guess who game.  They ran a game of charades and then played a chopsticks game and then twister.  They laughed and talked a lot and ended with a somewhat silly game of poker.  Only three kids knew how to play sooo....not really very competitive.  Mission accomplished.  These kids DO have "people" even though middle school can make you feel alone.

I finished Masie Dobbs for book club and am wondering what there is to discuss...I'll have to work on some questions.  One of my goals this year is to read more and I've already finished 5 books in the new year.  I doubt I can keep it up at that rate but I LOVE to read when it's cold out.

Carrie has inspired me to do better at exercising.  I'm walking with Lori again so that's good.  Talk about cold though--who-eee.  It's been windy here.  Sucks.  I have the ongoing goal of filing and organizing papers--maybe a once-a-week commitment would help...we'll see.  Maybe Thursday...And I NEED to update the blog with Disney and birthday pictures. 

Weekly Update

Kim

I made the banner on my new Silhouette Cameo that I got for Christmas.  Perfect timing.  So much fun.

Rachel's party was the week's big event and took most of my time.  Things turned out mostly the way I'd hoped and she had a great time so that's the best part.  I had help from a young woman from church (who was Rachel's primary teacher last year) since I won her "party planning" services at the service auction in October.  She was very invested and helpful even if she didn't realize she was dealing with a bit of a party planner to begin with...it's always interesting working with someone who doesn't exactly get what you're thinking.  After my needless worrying, there were 13 guests at the party.  We served spaghetti and meatballs and played lots of games.  I love a good theme!  Our neighborhood has lots of really sweet kids.  It was impressively under control.  Nearly all the kids gave Rachel some kind of craft project as a gift.  It's cute that they know her so well.  She's been in heaven crafting it up.

Rachel is already thinking about next year's theme.  "Under the Sea" is her initial thought.  We'll see if I'm up for another home party by then.  Somehow this fall I managed to commit to a Little House on the Prairie party for Rachel when summer comes.  It will be fun to plan a party in the warm weather but I may not be able to face "Under the Sea" come January unless it's at a local pool...

This coming week I need to take down the decorations, return a bunch of borrowed stuff and gear up for the Chinese New Year party I'm hosting for Ben and his friends.  I'm trying to keep it low key but that's harder than it sounds.  I can get carried away.  I also need to get started on my book club novel, Maisie Dobbs. 

Rob

Monday Archer and I stayed home; he had a total meltdown and I
couldn't send him into school like that.  He wound up getting some
sleep, and was a lot better afterwards.  Tuesday, McGuire stayed home
from school with Allison because he was feeling terrible.  Wednesday
everyone did their appropriate thing, until we left D&D.  Our

Friendly's was closed!?!  Apparently there was a rash of stores
closed, again, and this time our weekly meal-house was one of the
victims.  Friday night Archer had his friend Logan sleep over, but
Archer wound up puking on Saturday.  He was running a fever later in
the day, so he wound up napping on the couch with me while watching
some excellent playoff football.  Sunday he was still sick, so we
stayed at home and rested.  Monday, since Archer was feeling better,
McGuire wanted to have the Sweenys over.  They took turns playing
Dance Central 2, then watched Willow and finished with a little Rock
Band 3.  Poor McGuire caught whatever Archer had last night, and woke
up at 4:30 vomiting.  Hopefully next week will be posted on Sunday,
and have less bad stuff.

Kurt

Wow...what a week.  On Tuesday night I headed down to NYC to hang out with my good friend Taylor. He is an actor who I met while he was doing a deaf play in Hartford. Carries kids actually saw his play when it was touring.  We ate at an ALL macaroni and cheese restaurant. It's like/or is a chain restaurant and the place is shaped like a C (like macaroni)

Wednesday morning we went to THE NEW MUSEUM to see Carsten Höllers Exhibit. It was all about sensory deprivation

and changing the way you look and use the space around u.

The main attraction was a slide that was built through the ground just for the exhibit

and a shallow pool that one person at a time goes in to nude (there are walls).

I was most excited to see his life sized resin cast animals that are BRIGHTLY colored....

I had read about them in an art book that I got for christmas right before I heard about his exhibit!

I then got to do a NEW character at TEN31 that was more of a yoga/contortionists performance.

I'm the unicorn...on the left.
I have also been editing the film non-stop. There is a little "commercial" on my YouTube page now.

And all through this I started making some shoes

Carrie

So, I've been busy helping to plan my friend's jack and jill :) Sean's truck is all better.  I replaced our new computer that crashed. Replaced our dinosaur tv in our bedroom. Got new books and a calendar finally! And did all of that with gift cards so I hardly spent money!!! Love that :)  This week I'm going to take the boys to their favorite museum, and gear up for the fashion show on Sunday! I'm going to miss going to them in Providence since Kurt is moving on. :( Have dinner with friends of ours who has a little guy. Baby fix!!! My pilates is going well and the elliptical is still keeping me running!! Got to keep that up.  That's all for now.      xoxoxo.

Weekly Update

Kurt

Editing......editing...editing.

I had a fitting for a new costume at Ten31 productions

It's very cirque du soilel/acrobat style.

We will be wearing silver elk and unicorn masks
I also went to a David Bowie themed dance night. Tons of fun but no photos yet.  Ok. Gotta get back to editing. I only have two weeks

Carrie

This week I got a call from Trent's speech teacher telling me he's graduating the program :-)  I'm so happy with how far he's come!!!  He also is starting with sight words and learning to read.  Time flies!!  Trent is the ring bearer for my friends wedding in April and he is super excited.  Chase is potty training, on his terms of course.  He'll be 3 in April!! As long as he can run around bare butt he'll go on the potty and asks for a diaper sometimes.  If he's like Trent, he'll decide on day to stop wearing diapers and that'll be that! Kayla has come out of her cocoon lately.  The phone rings more for her then me!!  Another social butterfly. Hailey has been busy with friends, homework and newspaper club. She has 3 articles to do for the next middle school newspaper!  Oh and she is a vegetarian now.  Her love of animals is far greater then her love of steak!!!!  Phase???!!  Sean started his foreman job again.  Long days :-(  I helped plan Laura's  jack and jill with Laura and Heather.  On the way there our truck told me to shut the engine off, no oil pressure. Heather and I had to sit and let it cool down a few times.  Total of an hour and a half!!!!!!  Dad came and looked at it for me!!  The good thing is Sean has his work truck.  It just needs an oil change but wow, that sucked!!!!!  And our new computer crashed :-(.  Best buy is exchanging it for us today though :-) on a better note, I think I found a laundry system that will work for us!!  And I started pilates again.  Love pilates!!! 

This coming week........start selling girl scout cookies, stick with my 2 vigorous laundry days, continue pilates, get a massage.  Get truck done today, van done this week, get vegetarian cookbook.  PTA, bridesmaid meeting, get bridemaid dress.  I'm sure there's more in there too!!! This Is My Life :-D  !!!!!!!!

Rob

Day late, which sucks; but I have a hard time getting these typed up
when the kids are buzzing around, wanting my attention, or just
refusing to sleep.  Archer finally gave up and went to bed at 1am, so
I didn't have a chance to get to this.  The week was a little meh,
overall.  Sunday we all slept in, since we were up late on New Year's
Eve - we had some friends over to play D&D.  It could well end up
being our family tradition.  I didn't see much football, you know,
with the lack of my television and all that, but I did watch one of
the later games on the tiny, 20 year old TV in my bedroom while I did
laundry.  Allison came over to spend some time with the kids, they
seemed to have fun.

Monday was the highlight of the week: Carrie and her kids came up,
bringing the Xmas gifts from Colorado.  The boys were appreciative of
the clothes, and even more so with the gift cards - they were quickly
turned into the new Mario Kart for the 3DS and a gaming headset.  The
flashing helicopter that Kim sent me was a big hit - almost literally
a few times.  I also was able to get some funds towards my new
receiver - once I do the research on what I want :P.  I nicked my
fingers for a split second with the rotor blades, not a good feeling,
but no blood drawn.  Later, McGuire walked into the path of a downed
chopper, and felt the blades against his ankle.  The big scary moment
was when Trent was looking at it on the counter, and Archer asked if
he could play with it for a second.  I told him not right now, which
he interpreted to mean "sure, grab it".  When he did, he bumped the
throttle, making the blades start spinning within about 6 inches of
Trent's eyes.  I was very much not pleased, and chewed Archer out over
it.  Near-blinding aside, it was a great visit, even without a fancy
TV to show off.   The rest of the week was work, school, homework,
insomnia and some sleep.  Booooring - sorry.

I take that back, a little.  Wednesday, my main complaint for the last
month finally got resolved.  On Tuesday, I asked Best Buy about
returning the TV, even if it had been "serviced", and since it was
still within 30 days, it was no problem.  I called the service center
on Wednesday morning, and after getting some flak for wanting to just
pick the TV back up, and informing them that Thursday was too long to
wait, I got hung up on... But the TV was put back together when I got
there, and I was able to get it back to Best Buy without a problem.
By bedtime, I had a replacement, fresh out of the box, hung on the
wall.  It is almost odd to not have something to complain about,
almost.  I put links in the last post, links to pictures of the living
room as I moved everything around, and a couple with the TV on the
wall.  I am attaching them this time.

Saturday was nice in that we literally didn't do anything.  I think
maybe one load of laundry got washed.

Kim

Jake at Cooper Mountain.  Enjoying the day.

I got Christmas totally put away with Dave's help. The kids went snowboarding/skiing with Dave, including Rachel.  She took lessons and had a GREAT day.  I got through a MASSIVE filing/To do pile while they were gone.  Did not practice poker.  Started to plan for Rachel's birthday party.  Cleaned the church bathrooms...seems like we did this not so long ago.  I thought it was only twice a year...hmmm.  Some people must not be pulling their weight.  Enjoyed a mellow schedule without much going on...just in time to receive the soccer training schedule.  It starts next week!  Phooey.  

Ben learning his S-turns in his new gear.  Looking good.

Rachel learning to "shred" as her brothers say.

Rachel was concerned about the red rental skis with her outfit.  Glad her instructor was a woman who understands such things and was able to commiserate.

This coming week will be crunch time for Rachel's Jungle Party.  The invitations are out and of course I'm worried no one will come...she invited her ENTIRE class of 19 kids and I'm worried about NOT having anyone here.  Why?  Who could say(a professional might be warranted here)...irrational, but true.  I always worry about that.

Should be fun preparing for the party.  I have big crafting plans.  We'll see what I can accomplish while still managing other mom duties.

Weekly Updates

Kim

On Christmas evening, Jake and I started to feel sick.  We didn't enjoy the delicious pork roast that Dave made...I threw up and then we felt cruddy the whole next day.  I did read the new book I got for Christmas though...Tuesday Ben and Rachel were feeling badly.  Wednesday it continued for Rach.  Thursday Dave started feeling poorly and by Friday night he was seriously not well.  Saturday night Sadie-dog had me up to let her out SEVEN times.  She NEVER does that.  This is the first time we have ALL been sick in the same week-including the dog.  Whew.  Glad there are not more of us.

Ben went skiing on Thursday with Evan and had a really great day.

Jake turned 16 and celebrated with a couple of his friends.   Can that be right?  I have a SIXTEEN year old!?!  He received a bunch of great gifts in spite of just raking it in for Christmas, but the gift that has my interest the most is the poker set.  We had a "friendly" game on New Year's where Jake killed us.  How does he know how to play Texas hold 'em so well? 

This week I will put away Christmas decorations.  Sterilize my whole house.  Make invitations for Rachel's birthday party.  Start making decorations for her jungle party.  Maybe brush up on my poker skills online...

Kurt

I'm on the set of a video shoot so this is short and sweet

 Trainwreck...

A bunch of gender bender performers get together

The House of Cach video shoot

More to follow.

I've got a lot to do this week...editing video...I'm also seeing the current exhibit at the new museum in NYC. Check it out online

Rob

It's been a nice, relaxing couple of weeks.  I feel like I can't tell
what day it is, with the kids off from school and minimal work during
the break.  I has also been largely uneventful, in a good way.  We did
the usual Christmas thing, no reason for divorce to change any of
that.  We wound up taking two cars to Carrie's for Xmas Eve, which let
me and the boys stay there way too late.  There was some concern that
we wouldn't get home in time for Santa to get the gifts to the right
place, but we made it with 15 minutes to spare.   Christmas morning
was an exercise in torture for the boys, I wouldn't let them go into
the living room until Allison came over, so we wound up hanging out in
my bed for 20 minutes until she could get here. Archer was
off-the-charts happy to get Skylanders for the PS3, McGuire was
psyched to get an automatic Nerf gun.  The rest of the gift-giving was
nice, lots of little gifts for the boys, I got a Dunkin Donuts card
from Allison, and got her an hour massage.  We packed up the kids and
headed up to Maine to see Allison's parents.  The kids got their usual
complement of snack foods and a giant jar of pickles, plus a great
collection of science  kits.  Those will go nicely for some long
weekends.  The rest of the week was sleeping in late, staying up late,
video games and tv.

I had an "exciting" Wednesday,   dropped off my TV to get it fixed,
and took my car in for repairs.  My brand new TV? oh, one of the
boards is broken, making the picture screwed up? That's no problem, I
will just call warranty services - they even refer me to a local
repair place. Oh, by the way, 42" TVs are carry-in service only,
whatever. Drop the TV off on Wednesday, they try their best to rush
it, so I can pick it up without having to lose time at work. Thanks!

As it was getting late on Wednesday, I call them up to ask about it.
Oh, maybe have it back by Friday? If not then, Monday. I ask why I
wasn't told that this was likely to be a one-week thing, and the guy
got that offended tone. I didn't say it, but Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday are six days, and a week is still
seven days, right? So if it takes 6 days to do this, isn't a week a
good estimate? Grouchy old repair tech tells me that the problem is
one of two boards, and once he knows which, he can order it. If it is
in stock, they will order Thursday, and get it in on Friday.  My car
came back to me in time for Encounters, 1400 dollars later, but my
Check Engine light was finally off, for the first time in almost a
year.

I hear nothing about the TV on Thursday, so I hope for good news.
Meanwhile, I went in to work for Thursday and Friday.  Of course, my
check engine light turns back on on the way home...

Friday, I call the TV place, Scratch Monday, Tuesday... That's fine
right? The part was in stock, and it arrived on Friday. He will work
on putting it in Friday, and it can be picked up on Tuesday, since
Monday is the holiday. I am so, so furious right now. I get to spend
my commute home probably being on hold with Panasonic telling them
that their product is crap, and they should do at least a little bit
of work to ensure that customers aren't buying broken goods.

Saturday was good, though.  I ran some D&D in the morning, the Lair
Assault program, and managed to not kill any characters, but got close
enough to scare them all.  Then we went home, got the house cleaned up
and had the Sweenys over and Ethan to play a long D&D adventure in
what is shaping up to be a new New Years tradition here.  We saved an
Oriental town from losing their virtues while fighting off the Five
Deadly Shadows, in an old-school Kung-Fu adventure.

Allison came over and spent a good chunk of Sunday with the kids,
spending time with them while I worked on laundry and watched the last
week of the 2011 NFL season.  Quite a few exciting games, and the
playoffs were finally set, so the next few weeks should prove to be
very interesting.

That's all I have for the week, hope everyone else had a good one.

Carrie

Carrie's "New" Van

My last one was lost is cyberspace!!! Anyway, Christmas was awesome!!  Best one I've had since I was little.  Everyone was so happy this year and I'm feeling like the luckiest person on earth lately.  Kurt even stayed the night and hung out all day!!  I helped a friend in need of a Christmas miracle.  It felt so good to pass along some cheer.  We bought a 1969 VW bus!!!  I'm in love with her!!!  Sean's been working on fixing her up a little everyday.  I'm reading like a mad woman!!  Read 6 books this week.  I can't stop!!  Just picked up more from Rob to last me this week.  New Years Eve was fun.  My friend and her family came over.  She has 4 kids as well.  Nerf war, just dance and lots of screaming and duct tape crafts happened. This week is back to school.  Wish we got to do more on vacation, but three of the four kids got sick at some point over the week so we were grounded.  Sean goes back to his foreman job this week as well.  Hope to get the house a little more organized this week.  New windows and doors are going in super soon.  Need everything in it's place first!!!  And must read!!!!!!  :-)