A Great Photo Tribute to President Hinckley

I came across this lovely slideshow photo tribute of President Gordon B. Hinckley, the 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It's very touching...(click on the link below).

Gordon Bitner Hinckley 1910 - 2008

Adios Snow Day Snow Art!

Anneli was very upset yesterday because this was all that was left of her Snow Castle and her Snowman named "Pottio" (Great name I know, but she's been obsessed with the potty okay!) As you can see from this picture, our neighbors across the street have more snow than we do---the sun doesn't shine as well over there--I love being able to see all my front lawn without **SNOW**!

Trouble with a capital "T"!

Anneli with all her friends.

Anneli has definitely been Trouble since the day she was born---actually even before she was born!! She should really have had one of those little shirts that say, “Here comes Trouble!” Anyways on Monday I was busy catching up on things like Laundry, dishes etc. and Christopher and Anneli were playing on the computer in the office. I had run downstairs to do laundry and when I came up Christopher was trying to help Anneli get cleaned up—she was chewing on a Princess Pen and it had exploded all over her! Fun, fun, fun! Ink isn’t the easiest thing to get off skin. That evening, when Shaun got home, it looked like she had a faint bruise on her little nose! She definitely keeps us on our toes!!

Wadsworth Falls

On Sunday after church we always go to Memere and Pepere's house for lunch. Now that church is in the morning we have a full afternoon to spend time together! Today Pepere took us to Middlefield CT to Wadsworth Falls. It was a bit chilly and there were some light flurries but it was nice to get some fresh air. Fun family times together!

Our trip to New Hampshire!

On Saturday we packed a bunch of DVD’s and trekked up north to New Hampshire for Grande Memere’s 86th Birthday Celebration! It was fun, the kids got to play with their cousins Alexander, Elizabeth and Bryce. They are all growing up so fast!!! We also got to see Memere, her friend Jim, Aunt Amanda, Uncle Miles, Aunt Nicole, Uncle Jeff, Monica, Aunt Lisa, Uncle Andy, Aunt Becki and of course Grande Memere. Christopher really loved the mind boggling puzzle Grande Memere got for her Birthday. He’s still thinking about it this morning!! It was great to see you all!

Breakfast at the St. Lawrence House

Every morning like clockwork, Christopher wakes up and asks for Breakfast. His daily ritual is two or three bowls of Kelloggs Corn Flakes. Yes, I said Corn Flakes---he LOVES plain old Corn Flakes! What a crazy boy!! That totally beats out my favorite cereal…..Fruit Loops---oh, I mean Special K… :)

Anneli isn’t as healthy. She is not a big breakfast eater, unless we (usually Shaun on the weekends) make her favorite---Pancakes! Helping Shaun pour in the milk and stir the mix is a special time for her and then she sits down to eat them. She can pack away about 4 or 5 good size pancakes---where does her food go!

I don't want to turn into a Fish...

Christopher went off to school this afternoon and Anneli was resting quietly on the couch--or so I thought--as I was on the computer in the office finishing up a Newsletter for our women's organization at church. I went in the living room to check on her because I thought maybe she fell asleep. She came running over to me and said, "Mommy, I don't want to turn into a fish. I'm a people." I thought that was funny and told her that she didn't have to worry that she wasn't going to turn into a fish, that indeed she was a person. Well she insisted that she was going to turn into a fish because she ate some of Speedy's(our pet goldfish) fish food. Sure enough there was fish food everywhere and some traces of flakes on her face! IKKKK---I HATE the smell of the fish food!! Hopefully she doesn't turn into a fish---uh oh--I see Fish Lips!! :)

HELP--I'm HOOKED!

My name is Crystal and I'm addicted to SEWING!! I enjoy going into JoAnn Fabrics to rummage through the bright, vibrant, colorful fabrics and select the special ones to bring home for my next project—even if I don’t know what that is!! I know Dad, impulsive shopping--but it's fun!!

Last weekend Shaun took me to JoAnn’s and I bought a bunch of purple fabrics that I thought were sooooo pretty! I'm going to do some kind of Pretty Purple Patchwork Charm Quilt with those I think...I'm not 100% sure, I'm still trying to get Christopher's Mix-n-Match Patchwork rows stiched together--but the pretty purple fabrics were calling my name!

Here are some pictures of the two patchworks I'm working on for Anneli and Christopher. Anneli's princess patchwork piecing part (say that three times fast!) is finished and ready to be quilted. I just have to sew the 8 rows together and the border for Christophers patchwork. His fabrics were very random and bright--but he picked them out himself!

Sewing is a fun hobby and very rewarding to see when it's almost done! I can't wait to see the kids all wrapped up in them! Fun, fun, fun!!

What will I make next......

Warm Birthday Wishes

Happy 86th Birthday Grande Memere!
We hope you have a splendid day!
We look forward to seeing you on Saturday!
We love you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Birthday wishes also go out to Aunt Mary Ellen in New York!

We hope you have a great day!

Happy Birthday!!

SEW much fun!!

I got a new sewing machine for my birthday in May and I finally got it operating a few months ago with the help of my friend Jemima. She's been teaching me how to do patchwork! I have had such a blast! Thanks Jemima! I’m obsessed!

Today I put the border on a patchwork Disney Princess quilt for Anneli. I’m so excited! It really came out quite nice if I say so myself. Now all I have to do is machine quilt it and then it’ll be ready for Anneli to enjoy. Hopefully Shaun’s Aunt Becki will give me a hand with that! The patchwork piecing part was super easy and tons of fun. I am almost done assembling a patchwork for Christopher too. I bet you can’t guess what fabrics he picked out? Thomas the Train and Cars of course!

I’ll post pictures later…

Kindergarten Homework

Christopher loves Kindergarten. He adores his teacher, Mrs. Hooper, his friends and the fact that he can go off for a few hours without Anneli! Last week he got his third big project assignment. He was ecstatic—he is a crazy one--he LOVES homework!! The assignment was to decorate a shoe box for his Valentine Mailbox, write out his valentines and put them in special envelopes addressed to each of his friends in the class. He then had to address a self-addressed stamped envelope that he will mail home on his trip to the Post Office in February. He got the assignment last Tuesday and by Wednesday morning he was DONE! His box came out great and of course the Valentines were easy for him too—even though he has the LONGEST NAME---Christopher St. Lawrence….what were we thinking!???? Here's a picture of Christopher & Anneli hard at work making Valentine's.

They both enjoy crafts just like I do!

This is a picture of the Valentine that he made for his teacher, Mrs. Hooper!

Reminiscing---How I met my dear Husband...

To the left my friend Beth, K.T., me, and Darcy.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go out to dinner with Beth, an old College Friend of mine and two other friends of hers. When I say old College friend I mean OLD---she turned 30 on Saturday! Just kidding, Beth, I will only tease you until I turn "you know what" in May!! :) She is getting ready to jump on a plane Thursday to fly to Minnesota to meet a man she met off an internet dating site. Stay Safe & Good luck!!! It brought to mind how I met my happy, handsome, mystery internet man--THE_SAYNT--on her computer...

It was winter 1996, I was attending Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, commuting from Plainville twice a week. I was hanging out with some friends of mine from Band, Jackie and Meredith. We hung out at times in Meredith's apartment and there I met Beth, who is still a very good friend of mine today. Meredith really loved to lose herself on the internet (Beth's computer!) chatting with people all over the world. She chatted with some interesting people and we often read over her shoulder and laughed at some of the people she was chatting with. There was one night in particular when Jackie, Beth and I were getting ready to go out and Meredith called me over to the computer. She wanted me to talk to some "nice guy" on the computer! I had never really talked to anyone on there before. It was some college resort chatline type of thing--well anyways I remember his name--THE_SAYNT and I remember how he would type with smiley faces after almost everything he wrote and he liked to go dancing and he was almost done Engineering school in Milwaukee. :) I didn't really think anything of it because well I was casually dating a sweet trumpet player from band. Somehow (probably from Meredith) THE_SAYNT got my e-mail address and he e-mailed me a few times, since I never really went on this Resort thing to chat. I would write back to him sometimes but I never thought anything of it and I wrote very cauciously spelling my name differently so he wouldn't be able to "track me down." There were wackos out there! :)

In December 1997 THE_SAYNT graduated from Milwaukee School of Engineering and moving back home to Maine and I was transfering to Utah State University in Logan, Utah like lots of other mormon girls my age looking for Prince Charming. Little did I know, I really didn't have to look too far...Finally when he was graduating I gave him my phone number and he--Shaun-- called me on Christmas Eve 1997. We talked for a little while before he was heading off to Christmas Eve Mass with his family. I don't remember much about our conversation except he was looking for work now that he graduated and that I was moving to Utah to find Prince Charming. I thought that would be it. My time in Utah was difficult to say the least. I realllllllly hated it! I totally missed my family, friends and New England! In February of 1998 my Pepe passed away and I flew home to be with my family. I think it was a little after that that I got a message on my answering machine from a Shaun from Virginia. Hmmm....Shaun from Virginia?? I didn't know a Shaun from Virginia...Come to find out it was Shaun from Maine--he had moved to the Washington, DC/Virginia area for his job and Valerie had given him my phone number in Utah! I called him and we talked a lot while I was there. I'm not sure how I felt about him at the time, but I would complain about guys and he was always there to listen. By the time I was due home in June he probably knew everything about me and what I was looking for in a guy and what I wasn't! My dad flew out to Utah just before Father's Day weekend and we drove home.

On Father's 1998 Shaun and I made plans to meet in person for the very first time. He was driving home from Maine to Virginia and was going to make a stop in Plainville at my home to meet me. It was crazy!! He came to the door and I remember Valerie saying, "Shaun's here--He drives a Grandpa car!" He sort of did--an old buick, really made out of metal, not plastic like my Hyundai Accent! I remember seeing him for the first time...it was strange I guess you could say seeing someone that you never saw before, but you KNOW him and he's not a stranger! I don't know it's hard to explain. He stayed a long time, visiting with me and having pizza with my family. It was nice...at that moment my mom knew that I liked him and I guess I knew it too. After that we talked almost every night on the phone. We tried to see each other at least once a month. He'd drive up here to Plainville or I'd fly down to Washington, DC/Virgina. Long distance is tough but it can work.

At some point--May 1999, his construction management job in Virginia was coming to an end and the branch was closing and he was going to have to transfer to either Dallas, Texas or Atlanta, Georgia. The company thought he was single and would just go. One weekend I remember distinctly, Shaun went down to Atlanta to try to find a place for him to live. I wasn't too keen on the Atlanta thing. For one it was a little far from Connecticut and I was a little disappointed because I totally LOVED the DC/Virginia area where he was living. While he was there I prayed that he wouldn't like Atlanta. My prayers were answered as the city was getting hit with tornados. He had never experienced this before and wasn't really a big fan. He called me and said he was coming home. He quit his job and moved back to New England. He was supposed to be going home to Maine, but he really didn't. He came to CT, stayed with my parents, found a job here in Farmington, got an apartment and then he proposed to me on December 19, 1999 and we were married on April 15, 2000.

Thanks Meredith for chatting online and thanks Beth for letting her use your computer to chat online! At the time we never thought she was online for a reason! :) If she wasn't online who knows if I would have ever met my best friend, my companion, my love...Shaun--THE_SAYNT!

:)SMILE:)

Snow Day!!

Christopher was soooo excited yesterday! We finally got SNOWMAN SNOW! This winter it seems all we got was icy snow or very light a fluffy snow, but yesterdays snow was perfect! We got the phone call from the school at 6:10am saying that SCHOOL WAS CANCELLED! YIPPEE! Luckily I was able to sleep in until about 8am or so--I had a major killer headache the night before. I woke up and quickly took a shower and out the door we went to build a SNOWMAN of course! Christopher had fun, but Anneli was such a Princess---she doesn't like the fact that snow is cold if you take your glove off. She did have fun though when Christopher and I built her a Snow Castle. She pretended that she was Sleeping Beauty and she informed Christopher he was the King. They had fun playing together yesterday and I couldn't wait until school today! YIPPEEE!

Thanks Soup Mem & Ray

Anneli went with Valerie and I one day last week to WestFarms Mall. It needed to be a quick trip but Anneli insisted going into the Disney Store and of course they were having their Semi-Annual Clearance Sale! Anneli totally LOVES that store. She is soooo into Disney Princess things! She had some Christmas Money from Soup Mem & Ray so I told her she could pick out something. She picked out two things. She picked out Mermaid Underwear and a Sleeping Beauty Plush doll.

It's fun to watch her with underwear--she LOVES them. She insists that everytime you go in the Potty that you have to change your underwear--whether they are soiled or not! We have been going through sooooo many pairs of underwear in a day just because!! At least she got to wear all her new underwear in a matter of hours!

Thanks Soup Mem & Ray!

We love you both and miss you!!! Hope to see you soon!

My Lego Boys!

I bet Grande Memere can't guess what Christopher and Shaun picked out with the Toys-R-Us gift card she got Christopher!? LEGOS of course! He picked out a LEGO Ferrari F1 Truck. The two boys, Christopher & Shaun, came right home and begain constructing right away! It's fun to watch them both get so involved in LEGO construction!

A Bed for Sara

Anneli got a really cute "Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Doll for Christmas from Santa Claus. She named her Sara right away and has been such a good "Little Mommy" to her. When she first opened the doll on Christmas morning, she laughed when the doll called her "mama". Now she goes around the house telling us that she is a very good mama--which she is.

This past weekend she went to Toys-R-Us with a gift card from Grande Memere that she got for Christmas. Anneli went straight to the doll isle and found a little wooded cradle for Sara. She was so excited to buy something for Sara. It's cute to watch her rock and sing her baby to sleep and then she demands us to be quiet and not to wake Sara! It's fun to watch her "play house"!

Thanks Grande Memere for the Gift Card!

A Night out on the town

Shaun & I had the opporunity to attend a company party/fundraiser at the Mariott in Farmington on Saturday night. Mom, Dad and Valerie watched the kids that night and then we met them at church in the morning--THANKS!!! Valerie was kind enough to take our picture before we left. It's always nice to get all dressed up and go out with my best friend! :)

Ravishing Red!

Jess, this is for you--Here are the shoes and purse I bought with Valerie today....

what do you think?? I think they'll go nicely with my little black dress!

Sorry they aren't great pics, but I'm on my way out and I thought you'd want to see them!

Super Silly Sisters in South Carolina!

Happy Birthday COLE!

Happy Birthday COLE!

You are "5" today!!!

Lots of love is sent your way!!!!!

We love you and miss you!

Chocolate, a girls best friend!

I have heard the above quote many, many times. I have also heard first hand from ladies at church that Chocolate is definately one of the food groups. Honestly, I have never really been able to relate 100%--I'm not a big chocolate junky. Okay, maybe around "that time of month" I like to have a little taste...but I'm not going to die without it. However, I think my Anneli might agree with them...

Today, Anneli was getting hungry and she said she had to go to the Doctor as she showed me her belly. She tends to say that when her belly is growling due to hunger. Anyways, I was snacking on Fudge--yes Homemade Chocolate Fudge that Val made while we were in South Carolina. YUMMMY! Well, Anneli came over and I gave her a small piece. She finished that piece and said, "Oh Mommy I feel soooooo much better! I don't have to go to the doctor! I'm all better!" and she ate another piece! I better watch out for her!!!

He's Back!!

On Wednesday we went to West Warren, Massachusetts to visit with Aunt Di & Uncle Kenny, Laurie and Aunt Donna & Uncle Jim. Aunt Di and Uncle Kenny were in town for Christmas and they were heading back on Thursday to Nashville, TN. Anyways, we brought the kids and Anneli had to bring "Little Bushy Squirrel" with her that she got from Grandma & Grandpa Mansfield. Of course, he's been going EVERYWHERE with her since Christmas Eve. We were heading out to leave and he was in our bag, but when we got home he wasn't there! UGH! We had LOST "Little Bushy Squirrel!!!! UGH! We made our phone calles to Massachusetts and everyone searched and searched inside and out for Anneli's little friend. He was nowhere to be found...I even called the store that I thought Grandma Mansfield bought him but they were sold out. Thank God for the internet. We found him on Amazon.com, we ordered him by 12:30pm on Thursday, January 3rd, he was shipped from CA by 2:15pm and he made it here on Saturday, Janaury 5th! Hooray! I was so excited because poor Anneli has been going around the house, "Little Busy Squirrel, where are you!?" and looking EVERYWHERE! When we got him in the mail today we had to put an "A" on his tag and then we could give her the toy. She was sooooo happy to see her best friend return. "Little Bushy Squirrel you are the best squirrel ever." she said when she got him back and she kissed him!
Reunited with "Little Bushy Squirrel"!

A special thank you to Grandma & Grandpa Mansfield for a very special friend and a great book--The Busy Little Squirrel! We love the books by Nancy Tafuri!! They are so simple and fun for us to read together! THANKS!!!!