April 2022

 Another busy month has come and gone.  Finley and Cainan had their spring break and we went to PA for the week (Mat flew in from his work trip to San Francisco to join us).  We got a new propane boiler to replace our old oil heat.  And we because a chicken family!  

Spring has finally sprung - the daffodils along our garden beds are in full bloom

Our oil boiler is 30 years old and we had been warned at its last service check that it was living on borrowed time.  We had gone back and forth about just keeping oil or changing our heat, and we decided to go with propane.  Our stove has always been propane (and our new stove is as well), so it just seemed to make sense.  It was a pricey project, but we are so happy to have an updated system that is going to be more efficient.

Spring break was really low key, so we didn't take many pictures.  Had a good time hanging with family and visiting.  It was over Easter this year, which I know made our families happy that we could be there for a holiday.  Finley got a second piercing during our time in PA.

Finley and I went to see the high school musical, Cinderella, together.  The kids did a great job.  It was fun

Finley and I also worked the spring book sale for our library.  It was fun setting up and helping people shop.

Mat and I got to have lunch one day with our European RDH12 foundation leader, Silvia.  It was great to see her in person for a change!  So glad she had time to see us while in Boston for work.

At the end of the month we decided to become a chicken family.  Mat has been talking about it for awhile, and with the loss of Scooby it became more of a conversation.  We picked up 6 chicks at Tractor Supply  - they are so cute!  They will be in a brooder in the house for about 8 weeks. Mat built it and we set it up in the mudroom.  It is fun to watch them, and we cannot wait to see them grow.  Now we are on a time crunch to build their coop and run - Mat is already working on the design.

Finley has named them:  Eggy, Pee Wee, Big Cheese, Waffles, Hennifer, and Soot.

A few randoms from the month:

We have a large family of turkeys that are in the yard every day.  The males all puff up to attract the females who could care less

Arlington being Arlington

March 2022

 March was filled with ups and downs.  Scooby passed away and our family is still dealing with the loss of him not being with us.  Arlington came home for spring break, and did spend a few days in NYC with a friend.  Finley did the Polar Plunge with her Humanitarian Club.  We had more snow.  But spring is coming.  We see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Polar Plunge

Mat made Cainan holders for his Karate belts.  He has so many that we had to separete them into two.  These will hold his belts through his brown, and then he will need another belt holder for his black belt series.

New Fireplace

 We are slowly remodeling the downstairs with our final projects.  The next on the list was our fireplace.  Where we not have our family room was an old, wood burning fireplace we never used before.  The room was a living room and was only a place for Christmas morning and photos.  Now it is the hub of our house, so we needed to give it an upgrade.

It took the contractors about a week to do this project.  We decided to change from wood burning to an electric fireplace because we didn't feel we would burn the wood on a regular basis in this room (we have three other fireplaces in the house).  We love how it turned out.

Here is the before.  It wasn't in bad shape, but we just weren't using it.

And here is the after.  We went with a shiplap style.  We added bookcases to the sides which I love.  The fireplace will also get a cover to make it look a little finished (it is backordered)

Scooby

 We lost a piece of our family tonight. Our dog Scooby passed away suddenly. He was having difficulty breathing and standing today and the emergency vets couldn’t save him. He had developed fluid around his heart basically overnight and no amount of magic was going to save our boy. He has been the best dog for 10 1/2 years. I haven’t cried this hard since my grandparents died. Mat is in San Franscisco, so thank goodness for my neighbor Mary who came to be with me as we said goodbye to him. One of the hardest things I have ever done. He was one in a million.

Update mid march:

We did have him cremated, and had a few things made for him

February 2022

 Another busy month in the books!  This month Mat turned 48, Arlington turned 19, we went on a short ski trip during Finley and Cainan's winter break, and enjoyed a few more snow days.

We started the month with Mat turning 48 on Feb. 7th.  He wanted a "lamb cake" (Which we usually reserve for the Easter Holidays), so we obliged.

I had to add this picture of my mother.  The ear was falling off a bit when we were setting up the cake.  She said "you can't see me - take the picture of the lamb"  She is always cute.

Middle of the month Arlington turned 19.  My parents were in visitng so we took a trip to UMass and went to a UMass hockey game.  They are a fantastic team, and it was a great game.

I know it looks like an empty stadium, but we were just really early.  It was so cold outside we just decided to come inside and wait for the game

During Finley and Cainan's winter break we went skiing at Mt. Sunapee in New Hampshire.  I found a really cool tree house for our lodging. It was an incredible stay.  I didn't ski, but Mat and the kids had a great time.

One evening we played a mystery game.  It was a great few days

A few random photos to round out the end of the month

We got a new television and it has an art gallery which plays when the TV goes to sleep.  It is really cool.

Scooby being Scooby

Finley packing her lunch and rocking out before heading back to school after break

New Year - 2022!

 A New Year!  We are still in the midst of a pandemic, but with vaccines and boosters on the rise, things are starting to look up.  My guess is that the schools will be busy this month thanks to the holiday and so much visiting, but the light has to be at the end of the tunnel soon.  Right?

We might as well start this month off with some cuteness.  Our 10 1/2 year old Goldendoodle Scooby living his best life.

Arlington's last day at home she wanted to go to an indoor challenge park called Level 99.  It was a ton of fun - glad we went.

Finley and Cainan both made Highest Honors their first semester of High School

We got a huge snowstorm - almost 2 feet!