Connecting the Dots

Wyatt and Zach Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia

Good Morning New Hampshire Originally uploaded by kjda. Downtown… KJ Dell’Antonia

Good Morning New Hampshire Originally uploaded by kjda. At our house. KJ Dell’Antonia

Deceptively simple Originally uploaded by kjda. Thank you, Martha Stewart. This looked easy… And it wasn’t exactly hard, but I wouldn’t call it easy, either! KJ Dell’Antonia

Spider eats damsel Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia

Haircuts! Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia

Because we are all about healthy lunches here. Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia

Building towers at Lou’s Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia

Pumpkin carving! Originally uploaded by kjda. Lily carved the whole face of two little pumpkins slowly, stubbornedly, determinedly (clearly I went to Lolly Lolly for my adverbs today!) with her little green pumpkin saw. Wyatt at least sat and tried to take the insides out of his, and we did the face together. Sam had a friend over and although they carved, he couldn’t focus, so we saved Some for the weekend.

Bet that got your attention! Not really snow, but flakes, this morning, and some sticking to the trees at the top of the mountain. The kids went outside, wearing light jackets, but insisting on hats and mittens–and danced around excitedly–never mind that the snow was about 1/10 of the rain that was falling. It’s Krypto’s first snow, Sam said. Krypto was just happy to be out with them. Sam played soccer for an hour today, in pretty cold weather, running […]

My fingers are crossed for you about the house. I mean, somebody has to sell houses…Somebody has to be credit-worthy, right? I am glad Dad enjoyed the tale of the flooded stove. That was just par for the course, really. It wasn’t even an unusual day. Today’s big highlight was the purchase of two new laundry baskets. We lost a laundry basket sometime last year. I do not see how tt is possible–no one does–but there it is, it is […]

I was glad you liked the kids singing. They were so pleased with themselves. And Sam really liked playing his piano into the phone to you. I don’t think that had ever occurred to him before. It was almost like you were here! Rob got everyone into pajamas tonight by sheer force of personality, since he can’t really manhandle them. I find that as exhausting as just sitting on them and doing it myself. Having him able to do it […]

I was a little bit venting and a little bit just trying to share a little more about my day when I wrote last night than I feel like I usually do. I kind of almost forgot that epistolary conversation is a two-way street! I didn’t get a response from Mom. Lily and I took a walk together today, during Sam’s soccer practice. I think she just needs a regular reminder that Sam’s needs don’t trump hers. Wyatt gets it […]

Hi– I’m feeling frustrated tonight–turned a piece in to a new editor and definitely did not hit the ball out of the park. It’s not that it needs revising–of course it needs revising, we’ve never worked together before–it’s that when I reread it, even I can see that it needs revising. I got so caught up in the word count that I seem to have taken out all of the content. Ugh. But I am a professional, and I will […]

Sam the Reader Originally uploaded by kjda. Hi mom! I am sitting at the library with Sam. He finished his homework in no time and has been reading for 35 minutes. Of course, the minute I wrote that he started humming. Still, pretty good for somebody who wouldn’t have read at all a month ago. He is out with me because tonight is the Nordic team ski sale, and he needs new skis. Since we have Holly tonight, he gets […]

Wyatt’s daily dose of melamine Originally uploaded by kjda. Read the ingredients: milk powder, check! KJ Dell’Antonia

Big girl bed! Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

New bed! Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Wyatt found a Sharpie. Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Tunnbridge Worlds Fair Originally uploaded by kjda. If only you could see the rain… KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

I Like Rain Originally uploaded by kjda. Especially thunderstorms. Always have. I can remember starting a new school on a stormy day and knowing I would be “on”, that this one would be good, and it was. Thunderstorms fill me with energy. I want to do things, things I have been meaning to do, a Facebook page, a game with Sam, everything. Of course writing this, I am procrastinating the work I actually NEED to do…

At the top of Holts Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

An audience Originally uploaded by kjda. At the dentist! KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

I’m having a bit of a getaway–Rob had meetings at Stowe for two nights and I am playing taglong. NO obligations, no dinners even, just a place to hang out, swim, bike a bit and write a bit. All good. So why did I wake up at five this morning worried about forts? Specifically, one fort, the “biggest fort ever”, subject of much pride and joy and where Sam, Lily and Wyatt–and their long-suffering, game for anything, best-babysitter-ever Holly apparently […]

Vermont is just so…cheesy. Originally uploaded by kjda. It’s like living On the side of the Ben and Jerry’s carton. KJ Dell’Antonia

I just hope this isn’t one of things that seem like a good idea at the time, I said to the woman at the spa as I settled on to the table. She didn’t really get me, so I explained. My face doesn’t like facials. It turns red. Oh, you won’t turn red. she said. She got the box–this is a facial involving stuff that comes in a box–and started reading from it. You might turn white. Or yellow, but […]

Worth it. Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia When biking in unknown parts of Vermont, it is best to remember that Vermonters do not use the word “Hill” in road names lightly. As in, Trapp Hill Road. THey don’t use it in a pretty, suburban midwestern isn’t the idea of rolling hills just so pretty kind of way. No, they use it because there is a big, trucks changing gears bear-came-over-it kind of, yanno, hill, and that’s what the road […]

Lily and Wyatt at Fratello’s Originally uploaded by kjda. The funny thing is that It was Wyatt’s idea. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Wyatt at the pool Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

At EAA Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Lily’s day has come, and she’s taking it better than I would have expected. Here’s the background: Once upon a time, when Sam wasbut a wee lad of three and in nursery school, he failed to put his boots and coat on, or to sit in his cubby and put his boots and coat on, or some dreadful transgression of that nature. Sam, I declared sternly, if you don’t go do whatever it is I want you to do right […]

I have, in a moment of, I don’t know, competitiveness, or craziness, or something, signed up for a Triathalon. OK, a mini triathalon. An 8.5 mountain bike ride, a 2 mile trail run and a .5 mile swim. I LOVE mountain biking, and these are really nice, wide trails, or where they are single track it’s more grassy tire track than real single track. It’s just that I can’t really swim, because I have this thing about water, and how […]

Big fun at the Norwich Fair Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

50 miles! Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Perfect haircuts Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Wyatt’s newly short hair Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

A summer tea party Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

"is this the ting-iest?" Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Meet krypto the superdog. Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

New puppy! Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Who needs a water park Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

The cake Originally uploaded by kjda. Hasn’t collapsed…yet KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Before the wedding Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Lily’s spring concert Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

After! Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Before Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

I told Lily and Sam a story tonight in which Wyatt flew out the wondow and they flew after him, because of course he’s too little to fly alone… Lily loved it. Kept talking about it all through bedtime. He fly! In story, he fly! Yes, in the story. Story. Yes, it was a story. Sam not fly. i not fly. Wyatt not fly. But she got kind of a speculative gleam in her eye at that last sentence, and […]

I told Lily and Sam a story tonight in which Wyatt flew out the wondow and they flew after him, because of course he’s too little to fly alone… Lily loved it. Kept talking about it all through bedtime. He fly! In story, he fly! Yes, in the story. Story. Yes, it was a story. Sam not fly. i not fly. Wyatt not fly. But she got kind of a speculative gleam in her eye at that last sentence, and […]

Lily’s Spring Concert rehearsal Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Apparently lily has been taking pictures Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)