Santa visit

I took Cameron to see the mall Santa today. We'd already done the whole Santa thing at her schools breakfast with Santa earlier this month but I needed a do-over. Turns out the only thing she asked him for (Barbie & the Diamond Castle playset) isn't available for under $250 anywhere! Being the good mother that I am, I carefully brainwashed her in to thinking she needed to ask him for something else. Luckily for me, she decided that what she really wants is an Easy Bake Oven. Joy of joys! I have that already carefully stashed in my secret hiding place! I love it when things go my way! ha ha.

Anyway, this year they were handing out photos care of Shutterfly on a little thumb drive. For $32 I got a jpg of her picture and a $25 shutterfly gift card. Wow cool. I can print out the picture at Walmart and make coffee mugs at shutterfly for free! Sweeeeet!

Beautiful Jordan

I picked up Jordan's senior pictures today. I opted to get the photo CD so I could get more poses and have the .jpgs to play with. Here are a few of the shots.

Kindergarten picture

I got Cameron's pictures while I was at the school working in the library today. This was taken on her 6th birthday. We argued a bit about the dress she was wearing (I wanted her to wear something else) but all & all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out .

Does this look like a blink to you?

She says she was just blinking.
I say most people don't blink with their eyes shut quite so tightly
Either way, it's clear she's having fun.

New class!

I signed up for a digital scrapbooking class over at www.jessicasprague.com. I was unsure if I wanted to take the class as I'd been muddling around with Photoshop Elements for a few years now and I was afraid the class wouldn't teach me much. Now that I'm up & running with my brand spanking new copy of CS3, (THANKS TOM!) the class couldn't have been better timed. It's really helping me learn the differences and some tricks I didn't know about in CS3. And that's only day 1! My love afair with CS3 continues to grow...

Meet the newest member of our family!!

That's right, it's official! The paperwork was signed by a judge on September 3rd and Jordan legally became Dave's daughter. How cool is that?!? We are all very happy and Jordan is busy changing all of her records and documents to reflect her change of parentage. I was very touched by the gesture when Dave suggested it a few months ago. I mean, we've felt like a family the whole time, Jordan has called Dave "dad" since the day we got married - but it was always there, the subtle difference in that he was not her official father, and her name didn't match the rest of ours. Now it does and she couldn't be more pleased, but underneath the name is where the real significance lies. To Jordan, it's a father who actually wants her. It brings tears to my eyes every time I think of it. I'm very happy for her.

I'm in love

I downloaded photoshop CS3 today. I only have the 30 day trial but wowzer. If I had an extra $600 laying around, this puppy would be mine! It's not so much that I can't do some of these things with my copy of Elements but it's just so much easier with CS3. I took a mediocre picture of Jordan and turned it in to a photo that I really love.


before

after
Nice, huh?

Funny!

A friend from high school sent me this. What can I say... It cracked me up.

1st day of school

Today is Cameron's first day of Kindergarten & Jordan's first day of Senior year. As Jordan pointed out, it's the first and only time they'll be on the same school schedule. Unfortunately, Cam and I were on our way out the door to meet the bus just as Jordan was getting in the shower, so there's no picture of the two of them together.





Amazingly enough, I didn't cry as the bus pulled away! I walked home & made sure Jordan had confirmed her ride arrangements for school, made fun of her because her hair was wet still and promised I wouldn't take pictures of her getting in to her friend Tyler's truck. She did pose with schedule in hand for a couple of shots for me though. Good girl that she is.

It's lobster time!

Saturday morning was spent doing some last minute grocery shopping and preparing all the side dishes and setting up for the big feast. Around 1:00 the guests started to arrive for the annual clam/lobster bake. In my humble opinion, there's nothing better than quahogs and Maine lobster steamed to perfection and drenched in butter. They were favorites of mine as a kid and remain so today.














For the most part it was the usual crowd of people this year. Sadly Dave's grandmother was unable to make the trip (she's 93) nor was his uncle Jerry as well as some other family members. However those that did make it enjoyed a beautiful day with great friends and great food.




The day wouldn't be complete without a trip to the beach - which is just down the street! It was extreme low tide when we got there, the girls were jumping from rock to rock.









Cameron went in for a dip while Jordan did what most 17 year old girls do, and talked to her boyfriend on the phone.









Our time with Dave's family was short this year. Only one full day with them really. I missed having time to walk on the beach & to take my usual 15o million pictures of the girls. I have had some really great shots of them playing on the rocks over the years. I wanted to take some more using my new camera but just ran out of time. The sad thing is, with Jordan starting college next fall, I'm not sure what the future holds for us either...



One thing is for certain though, the weekend is all about family & friends. Time to take a break and have some fun with those that mean the most to us.

Heading out...

Friday morning was every bit as wonderful as the day before. I had my coffee out on the deck and enjoyed the tranquility until the rest of the household started to stir. Unfortunately this day was a short one. Cameron & I had time for a trip out in the canoe (this time she sat in front!) and then it was back to the business of cleaning & packing as we had to be in Massachusetts by dinnertime.

I snapped some last photos of the pond & surrounding mountains as I stood on the dock. There are no words to describe the feeling of peace, comfort and contentment that I felt during our few days in Maine. I am so glad I finally decided it was time to make the trip. For the life of me, I don't know what took me so long.








We hit the road about noontime, headed for the annual clam bake at my in-laws cottage in Fairhaven. The trip brought us only a few minutes away from Exeter. Although I felt the pull, I didn't mention it. I figured my family had had enough of my childhood this week and Dave would probably kill me if I asked him to do a drive by.

We got to the cottage in about 5 or so hours. Just in time for cocktails. Our family friends the Henderson's had arrived a few hours before us and everyone was happy and ready for the feast on Saturday.

More fun

After a quick lunch, we were back outside. The girls started out with an old favorite of mine, Minnow catching. All you need is a sieve and some bread & they just seem to swim right in. Some things never change.












Once all the minnows were caught, or at least the little tub was full it, was back to the waters for more canoe rides. Hard to believe Cameron was afraid to go out in the canoe only a day earlier!














Then finally, it was Daddy's turn to get wet. As you may gather by the look on his face, he REALLY enjoyed the cold Maine water. ha ha...







Oh & just in case you couldn't clearly see the look on his face, even if you clicked on the image to get the full size picture, here it is again. Close up.






And finally, one more canoe trip to finish out the late afternoon sun.








It was a fun day that's for sure. Jordan & I managed to get a bit of a sunburn and we were all worn out by the end of the day. And what a beautiful end of the day it was!

Water play

The sun hits our camp & dock the best in the morning and after a quick breakfast it was time to play. With one daring dive off the dock, Jordan was the first one to hit the water.





After a few minutes swimming around she opted for one of the inflatable rafts belonging by my Nieces. Since that looked like such a good idea, I was compelled to join her. I tried my best to get in the raft with as little contact with the water as possible. Unfortunately, since the rafts were made for children and with my being a plus sized adult um.... it was not the graceful process I had hoped for and I got wet. very wet.




I finally thought to bring the raft over to the shallows to get on from there, and off I went, chasing my daughter around the pond. She was trying to paddle herself around with a little bitty paddle, I was going for kick power.




Cameron in the meanwhile, had not yet dared to brave the less than 70 degree water and was still on the dock, dangling her feet in the water. Chicken!




Eventually, she wandered off and got some noodles from under the house and we entertained ourselves with noodle water fights.






After we grew bored with that, I wandered off again. Soaking up the warm Maine sunshine & enjoying the time spent floating on the pond. Until that is, my mean daughter swam up with nefarious intent.... Splash. In the water I went.






That's ok. It gave me the opportunity to try to coax Cameron in to the water.






After she stopped trying to drown me and I got her in a "warm spot" she seemed to finally relax and enjoy the water. This was funny to me because when I was a kid, it was the adults who feared the cold and the little ones who didn't seem to care. I guess she's been spoiled by the warm waters of Virginia.