Vayda got herself a J-O-B !

Vayda got a JOB!

In this picture she just finished 4 hours of strawberry picking in the rain and mud. Shes a wreck but shes happy because today was her first pay day. Shes holding $116 ! She stands to make alot more. Shes got big plans for a new hair do, a new bike, and lots and lots of school clothes.

What doesnt show here is that Mommy got a new job too~ Shuttle Bus Driver.

Up early, irregular hours, pay~ squat! :)

Strawberry season begins

Well we have a pretty nice strawberry crop this year. Maya Rae and I went out and spent a few hours picking the first bunch. The girls all took the tops off, washed them and bagged um up. They are in the freezer waiting for me to get around to making jam. We managed to bring in about two gallons. Good start.

Chicken came for a visit

The other day I left the front door open for some fresh air.

When I came stollin through the living room a half hour later this is what I found.

Though I was riskin a big ol pile O chicken poo in my living room- I ran for the camera and caught this crazy site 'on film'.

Creative Kid

Vayda has a stuffed cow that Maya Rae likes very much.

Vayda didnt want to give it away so Maya decided to borrow it and...
use it as a model to make one for herself. Isnt this critter awesome ?!?! Its even got an utter and a cowbell.

CRAZY outfit!

This was Maya's idea of a fun outfit today. Wacky!
Worth jumping up and down for :)

Holy CRAP- Elanee is 17!!!

This particular kid has a way of making me feel really old!

17!!! Wow! Tuesday we had a small family party in the kitchen. Vayda made Elanee a nice cake and we gave some modest gifts. On Sat she had a cluster of teens over for a much louder event including a camp fire and a sleep over.

Funny Bunny

Fay- thats Vaydas rat- was getting beat up by Bindy- thats Vaydas newer rat- so we moved her in with Harvey. Wasnt sure how that would go but it turns out they really get along great.
I was walking by the cage the other day when I discoved the pair cuddled up. Or- maybe it was Harvey was wear Fay as a scarf. I am not sure. Either way, it was super cute so I snapped some shots to show you :)

Sunday at the Ithaca Festival

The Ithaca Festival....

Back on Earth Day I signed up for an online group called

IthaCan. Its a group of people who like to can and otherwise preserve food.

IthaCan needed a person to help man their booth so I volunteered for a 3 hr shift.I was going so I got the girls on board and we all went. They brought their friend, Abby.

The girls had lots of fun while I 'worked'. Elanee got a henna tattoo.

Maya Rae got her face painted.Vayda and Abby bought cute little bikers on a stick.I was impressed by all the bikes!

We ate great food and did alot of people watching.We rode the T-Cat bus to and from our car. That was novel for us all. We had a great time at the festival!

Back to camp

After the baby shower I returned home and finished packing the car with all the stuff we didn't bring on the bikes. We needed more stuff because we were bring Saige and Maya Rae for an overnight stay. We spent some time packing more bedding, food, clothes and bikes.

Loaded up and away we went. I have to say at that point after all that biking and NO sleep and then a dash back for the baby shower....I was fried.

When we got back to camp there was all the exploring for the girls to do. They tore around on their bikes for a while. Jody and I fought with the fire in preparation for dinner. Finally, we got the fire to actually burn. Saige and Maya husked corn and wrapped it in foil. We put that on the fire. We fried up some NOT-dogs and had some mac salad too. We had had lots of whining, complaining and tears from Saige but after we got her all fed she was fine. Maya was ready to move in the moment she arrived :)

After dinner we scrubbed up and went into town to the cutest little "movie house". We watched A night in the museum (or something like that). It was a hit.

Back to camp for marshmallows and finally off to bed. Jody and I had added to our bedding and slept much better.

On Monday we woke up and the girls were in a much better head space. All spunk and smiles. We had to tare down camp by 11am. After we packed up we rolled down the hill to the Gorge main parking. We spent the rest of the day hiking up Watkins Glen Gorge. That took the afternoon but was really fun! My camera died after the above shot but we had a great time :)

Baby Shower

At 10 am Ben drove to the camp site and collected me. I had to get home and get the girls so we could go to our cousin, Jenna's, baby shower at noon.We had a really nice time. We all agreed that this was a great shower. There were a few games like baby bingo that the girls got into. The cake was adorable. Food was great. Company was lovely. Jenna looked fabulous!The shower took place at Seneca Lake park in a shelter by the water park. It was a beautiful day for it too. Jenna received sooooooo many wonderful things for her baby boy (who is due in July). We watched her unwrap gifts for an hour or more when we had to scoot. Jody was expecting me back at the camp site at 4 and I still had more packing to do. Hugs to all and off we went.

Camping

This is me sleeping in our camping chairs. If it doesn't look to comfy- its not. However, it was way more comfortable then the sleep we got all night.

After arriving at the camp site finally at 8 pm. We found we were sandwiched between to families that had come together. They asked if they could trade with us. We said sure. We waited while they packed up a huge tow behind camper and trucks and all their stuff. We took their site which was great because now they were on one side creating a kind of wall and the other side was just woods......(great for peeing in in the middle of the night....we were parked a distance from the bath house.) Those folks kindly helped us set up our tent and even built us a fire as a thanks. :) The bedding we brought was pretty minimal. We ended up sleeping on what was very hard, very packed ground. I personally suffered! OUCH! All night long. In the morning I hit the chairs.

Biking to Watkins Glen

So- mid week Jody came up with a little plan.

Lets bike to Watkins Glen and camp for the weekend.

Sounded fun and easy enough so we went for it. Of course, first I had to spend an arm and a leg and buy every single piece of camping gear a person would need....like a tent for example.... because we owned none. I did that. Jody spent an entire evening rebuilding me a bike. My old gray bike was just not cutting it anymore so he took bike we had lying around and swapped tires, added new grips, a giant grandma seat, a speedometer etc to make it all new and shiny for me. This bike is great. Its gears are better and its comfy. I like it.

So here we are all packed up with our gear on a trailer and us all suited up feeling enthusiastic :)This is us 6 miles up the road. I chilled in the shade while Jody made a few adjustments to the trailer arm. There was about 100 lbs of stuff to drag.

We took a nice long lunch break in Lodi, looking over a vineyard out to Seneca Lake.
This aint a pretty picture :( This is me looking like hell after climbing some seemingly endless hills. I was on the edge of tears and felt just how I looked. 10 miles in.

This was really pretty so we stopped to look. There are some incredible views down that way.

The trip was 32 miles long and took 8 hrs. Of course we took numerous breaks and I took forever coming up the hills. We stopped for pizza in the evening and that took some time. Plus at the end we spent an hr and a half climbing to the top of Watkins Glen park while pushing our bikes. That was torture!!! We are talking 3 giant, steep hills that went up and up and up. If you dont count that final torture the biking was fine. 32 miles is alot but not undoable.

I found that I felt just fine the next day. Not too achy at all.

Dress Up

Heres Maya in a standard around the house outfit.

How glamorous!

Hiking at Tauganic

On Sunday after our NYC bike trip we slept in. When we got up we had nothing going on so we scooped up the willing kids and went to Tauganic for a hike.
I informed the girls that they could did into their picnic lunch when they got to the bridge. This kept them motivated for a while.Bench break.....Ahhhhh.The night before Saige slept over and this is the little art project that the girlies got into. :)
After an hour of uphill we made it to the bridge. We had never gone this way before so we were so surprised and excited to see another waterfall tucked back there.Back down the other side was easier though we started to get into the "I stubbed this and I broke that" grumbles of little girls who had a fun night of sleep over parties but very little sleep.This led to daddy having a heavier load to carry.Look at these crazy strong people just taring the forest up!
(ok- it was already bent..lol)

Bikin in NYC with Jody

Lately I have been just crazy running here and there and as a result Jody and I have had very little time together. So, last weekend Jody and I took a Swarthout Coach to New York City.
The reason we went to was to bike along the Hudson River. Because Jody drives for Swarthout on the weekends he often takes this route while waiting for the passengers to return to the bus.
Dorky pic.The bus parked along 52nd street- ish. We biked along the water till we got to the George Washington Bridge and the "Little Red Light House".

Jody saw this light house when he was in nursery school and has spoken of it often over the years. Its not all that little but in comparison to the bridge its itty bitty.
Heres the history of the light house. I think if you click on the image you should be able to

read it.

On our way down the river I saw this fruit stand. When we were ready or lunch we came back here. It didnt look like much from the outside but when we chained out bikes and stepped inside it was a huge store tucked under a bridge. It was cool. That was one thing that I noticed about the city...how every little noock and cranny was used for something or another.We got our wraps, fruit and chips and sat the waters edge. As we munched, we watched every vehicle imaginable pass by us. Planes, ships, boats, cars, trucks, trains, motorcycles, bikes, scooters, skates, strollers, ETC ETC ETC!
It was relentlessly noisy but fun to watch.Potty stop. The play grounds were full of children and the restrooms were from the 40s I think. I could see why people would love it in the city (though its not my thang). You can see the generations of tradition in every structure.In all we biked 13 miles.
After the ride we put our bikes back under the bus and got changed.
We walked for a while with no real goal and ended up in the middle of a block party. It was all food, food, food and a few vendors selling 'stuff'. Just the amount of people kept me interested.

We walked until we reached Central Park. I was very sick of walking when I saw a row of bike rickshaws. Jody and I hired a nice guy named Mike to drive us around the park.Now this is the way to travel!!!
As he drove us around, Mike gave us a tour. "This is this- that is that" etc. It was cool. I had no idea how little I knew about this park. Honestly I didnt understand what the big ol deal was with Central Park. "So big deal its a bunch of grass in the middle of a city"..... OOOHHHHH- NOOOOWWW I get it!!!! Its freakin amazing. Really beautiful! So much to see. So much going on. LOVELY!!!After an hour long ride we were done. That was great time. You could come to NYC and spend an entire day just exploring Central Park. Who knew !?!
After our ride we went to look for an Indian restaurant. Before we found one we came across this Cuban place. Good enough. Nice little place. We ate like pigs. We were sooooo hungry! Good stuff. Then we jumped back on the bus and 6 hrs later we were in Ithaca, then home.
Good times!

Home again jiggidy jog

We came up Yale Farm Road at about 7:30 on Monday night.

If I was bummed about the end of a great weekend trip then this farm scape cheered me

and reminded me of why I love home.

Norman Rockwell Museum

On the way to RI Elanee had spotted a sign for the Norman Rockwell Museum so we decided to Google it when we go to Heathers. We did so and so on Monday morning when we left we drove directly there.This is our proof that we went. Elanee is holding the camera. It took several tries to get all our fat heads in the shot. :)

As a kid, Normal Rockwell was my hero. Over the years however, I got bored with his work as it is everywhere and maybe a little played out for me. Well- I have to tell ya that my awe has been rekindled! The man was an AMAZING artist. Truly astonishing. Seeing his works in person really blows ya away. The girls and I are so glad we made the trip.

After Karaoki

I think we look pretty hot.

Karaoki at Heathers

Heather is obsessed with Karaoke. Shes nuts- what can I say?

She bought a little machine for Xmas or something and recently broke it out for her sons B-day party. While I was visiting she drug me in the living room to do what I thought was going to be totally stupid. I certainly had NO intention of singing.
But- guess what I found out? That crap is FUN!!!! LOL.We got way into it. As a matter of fact...after several songs we ran upstairs and changed into more appropriate clothing...for pop stars of course. So- yes- I am saying we played dress up....lol.

Elanee and Madison video taped us singing and dancing. Heather is going to put them on YouTube so we can be totally humiliated. Now- thats real fun!

Art lesson with Harry

Harry (my friend Heathers son) is a flippin amazing artist! I mean for real. Like we are coming to believe that he is the reincarnation of Normal Rockwell or something :) The kid rocks.

So, recently he became interested in painting. He just got watercolors, acrylics with brushes and canvas for his 11th Birthday. While we were there (in RI) on Sunday I sat with Harry and gave him a short art lesson in watercolor. He did a simple sketch and we painted it in together.
After only a short time I could see he was on his way with shading and blending. I CANNOT wait to see what he does with this new medium. You can see Harrys are on his blog at

http://supercrazyart.blogspot.com

Visiting Angelica & Javari

Darn this boy is cute!!!!

Javari is almost 9 months old already and he is just stinkin adorable!!!

The girls and I just adore him!

Sisters together :)

Angelica is due for her 2nd little boy in July.

Vayda & her nephew, Javari.
Practicing rasberries :)
Not much gets cuter than that face.

Javari really wanted Vaydas lunch.
John (daddy) & Javari.
Elanee and J man.
Again this time it was SO wonderful seeing Angelica and Javari and John too. We are all wishing we could be closer so we could see each other much more often.

Ben goes to the Prom!

While the girls and I were off to Rhode Island, Ben was home with Jody getting ready for the prom. The girls were taking bets on if Ben would actually go but then he surprised us all and said he would. Wow. He went out and picked out a tux and everything. We think he made a great choice. He brought his friend and classmate, Julia. They had their senior prom at the Geneva Country Club. Ben was voted 2nd runner up for Prom King. He said he had a great time. When the girls and I got back we were soooooooo happy Jody had caught the moment on 'film'.
He looked all handsome ;)

Its the freakin Dalai Lama !

This past Sat I joined Heather in Rhode Island and we saw the Dalai Lama in person. Wo!

There were 17,000 people at the Gillette Stadium. It was incredible. He is such a cool guy. Cute and funny- and deep obviously.
He presented an introduction to Buddhism in the morning then after a long lunch break he spoke on the path to peace and happiness.

Of course I already know how to find these things....

Hangin with your BFF, watchin the Dalai Lama IS the path to peace and happiness! Dur!

Art booth at the Farmers Market

On Sat April 25 I went to a meeting in Ithaca about "exploring directions for the arts in downtown Ithaca". I went because I have been interested in getting some of my work involved in 'gallery night'. I called for info about this and was invited to the meeting.
At this meeting I was asked to man the booth at the Farmers market the following day. So- I did and I brought Vayda too. We talked to tons of people, learned about a charter school for Vayda and an Eco Village for mommy.

I joined this and signed up for that and and we ate rockin Cambodian food. It was a great day. I am SOOOO glad I said 'Yes'.
This is the watercolor I did for the event.

A visit in Virginia

After we left South Carolina we headed up and swung over to see Jodys side of the family.
Grams, Judy, Rae, Cameron & Mac were all great hosts.

We visited all evening then the next day they took us outside to hike up their back yard mountain. Grams had worked her tail off clearing numerous trails up and down...
and over to the pond.
We had a great timeand lots of visiting in. We talked long about the possibility of moving to VA but after Jody and I discussed it further we came to the conclusion that though its sooooo nice there and we'd love to be closer to that side of the family, he doesn't want to have to switch jobs. So- NY we'll stay I guess. Maybe we are destined to suffer a million winters. Anyway- we have a GREAT visit!!! Lots of fun. We left at about 9pm and were home and on the couch by 8 am the next morning :) GREAT STUFF!!!!!

A day at the beach

A day at Myrle Beach.
Now this was fun! The kids had a blast splashin around in the ocean.

I have never been a big fan of the beach or all that drawn to the ocean but this time I was really into it. Had I been able to leave the crown I think I could have just walked for hours and hours.

Crocodile Park

Wow! Crocodiles!

On our way to Myrtle Beach we drove though an interesting park called Crock Park.
We got to see crocks sunning on little islands along with oysters and cool birds and trees.

This was really cool!!! So much different than our parks at home.

A park in South Carolina

The girls and I joined my friend Retta, her boys, and a bunch of kids from Baha'i school at a local park for a little walking and hanging out.
Elanee and Vayda were delighted to reconnect with friends they had met a few years ago.
The park was soooooo pretty.

Baha'i Gathering in SC

While in South Carolina we attended childrens classes at the Baha'i Center in Conway.

They had a great group of passionate, fun, folks there.
Maya jumped right into the singing with her favorite instrument....bongo drums.

South Carolina

We drove all night from DC and reached South Carolina at 6 am the next day.

This the Georges home in Hemmingway SC.

Off we go to DC !

Well since I have been back for Tony Robbins I have been alot my adventurous. I decided to drive down to South Carolina to visit with family friends.....but first why not stop in Washington DC and see the zoo?
Thats just what the girls and I did. We took off on a Thurs afternoon and landed in DC at 1 am. Now we booked a Motel 6 so we had a place to land but lets just say it was a little on the totally scanky side...ick. Regardless, we survived the night and woke in the morning to a sunny city.

We made it to the zoo with little fuss but the parking was full so we were sent to find a Mariot to park at. That took some time. I got a little turned around even with the help of Jodys lovely, wonderful, fabulous gift....a new GPS!!! The thing rocks!
We did finally get parked and we walked to the zoo. Then we walked around the zoo. We made sure to see all of our favorites and of course the stars of the show there...the Pandas.
We spent several hours and had a great time. We all enjoyed the zoo. It seemed they really made an effort to make their animals happy with roomy housing. We were very happy and impressed with the elephant habitat they were building.

After we left the zoo we walked downtown and visited a little Indian shop Vayda had spotted while we were turned around. She bought a skirt and a CD. Elanee found a ring for herself.

We followed that with a much needed dinner of organic Chinese food. On our way out of the city at 5pm we got to see all the big and important buildings of DC. Ya know...the white ones. :)

Awesome day!!!

Elanee at work

This is what Elanee looks like at work. She works a couple days a week at the Ovid library.

She was annoyed I came to work and took her pictures for my blog. lol.
Often times Vayda goes in with her to use the computer and suck up some YouTube time.

Sunday bike ride

Saige got a brand new bike for her birthday so on Sunday Jody and I took her to Sampson for some biking.
Maya and Saige tore outa there! Jody and I hardly saw them for an hour. We got lots of walk and talk time in.

Vayda goes to RI

On a whim on Sunday morning when Heather was leaving to go back to RI- she said "Hey give me one of your kids". So I picked Vayda....who needed to get outa here for a while....time to shake things up.
So she packed a bag and ran off to RI with Heather and her kids. They all had a great time hanging for a full week.
These pics are off Vayda as she shadows Heather boss at the graphic design company she
works for. This was an awesome opportunity for Vayda.

And- she looks so mature working in an office like this. :)

Uncle Gregs Big Truck

My brother brought a new bed over for Elanee and he used his work truck.
Heathes kids and our kids had a blast exploring the truck. Those Dorito trucks are way bigger in person!
Heather and her daughter Madison posing for a quick pic.

Out to dinner with Heather

After we dropped the girls at the prom, Heather and I went out to dinner in Canandaigua.

We had fun jammin in the car.

Pretty Prom Goers!

Here is Elanee all 'gussied up' (as she likes to say) and ready to go to the prom with her BFF, Mollie. Isn't Elanee pretty here. Everyone thinks she looks just like my mother. She and Mollie exchanged corsages.
Pretty girls.

MySpace face girls....yikes!
Mollie and her mom, Bobbie.
Elanee and I.
Elanee and her make up artist.
After much fuss and getting the girls and all their many layers of fluff through the sprinkles we (my friend Heather and I) stuffed them in the car and got them to the Bellhurst Castle for the big event.

Henna Hand

Before her India party Vayda Henna'd her hand. It took her ages but in the end it turned out pretty cool :)

Vayda turns 15 !!!

Vayda had an India party this year. She turned 15! Can you believe that?!?!

She had several friends over and we all wore bindis. We made a whole bunch of Indian food too.

Vayda was proud of her "ugly cake". It had candy bars on top and was really good!!! MMMM
Saige's B-day was the day before Vayda's so we honored Saige with her own candles on the cake and a round of "Happy Birthday to you". Everyone had a great time :)

A kind Naw-Ruz greeting

Friday the 20th was Naw-Ruz.

Naw-Ruz means "New Year". So for the Baha'is and for the Muslims as well it is a time of celebration. For us it means the end of the Fast and a time for new beginnings. And- its the first day of spring so its time for the end of winter and the start to all that is warm and beautiful. Its just an all around happy time for us.

We put up a Naw-Ruz greeting on our big sign our front just to put a smile on the random stranger who might be flying by and have a clue what that was. I guess it worked because in the morning our household was just pluggin along as usual when we get a 'ding dong' at the door. On our porch was a man holding a basket of apples and the note shown above. This gentleman was a professor from Hobart and William Smith colleges.

Living here and being Baha'i has never been the easiest of choices. We are often misunderstood and even regularly attacked by people with different beliefs. So to have a complete stranger pop in and give us a gift and wish us happiness was SUCH a lovely thing. It made our day! and is certain to be remembered for years!

Video of my TR weekend

This link will take you to a short video of the Tony Robbins event I just went to in NJ.

http://www.tonyrobbins.com/beforeafter/upwny09.aspx?ec=136875

I hope you check it out!

Life after Tony Robbins

Well I am back from Tony Robbins and back into the swing of family life. I'd like to say that I am taking all of my newly empowered energy and rockin my families world but- not so much. Instead, I have been sick. We have gotton out for a few walks though. Yesterday, the girlies and I went out to Willard again and walked down by the lake.
I am seriously grateful for spring! :) Yeah spring!!!As we left for our walk we say little tulips and daffodils popping up :) Yeah spring!!! (again)
We had a decent walk. Maya grumbled that her hands were vibrating off from using her scooter and its always a crap shoot when you drag teens out like this....but all in all it was a nice time :)

Yeah spring!

Holy Sh** I walked on fire!!!

Here I am on the first day of the UPW- Tony Robbins- event!

Thought I should record what a crazy person looks like as I was preparing to walk on fire...for real!The 4 day event started at 1pm (on the first day) and went till about 11pm. Towards the end of the this day 2900 people walked across 22 beds (2'x12') of hot coals. You can go to UTube for videos of the fire walk. The coals range in temp from 1200-2000 degrees. I have to say, I wasnt scared at all untill I saw those coals!!! Yikes! I was totally freaked out. I thought for sure I couldnt do it. I really paniced.
Finally, I took a deep breath, got into 'state' as we had been taught and took that first step. I felt my right foot touch the coals then I didnt see, hear or feel anything untill I felt ice water on my bare feet. (Above is a shot of my foot with 'hot spots' after the fire walk...then there is a shot of some of the people hobbling up from the parking garage after the walk)

After the walk, I cried....scarry stuff man! But its unexplainably empowering too. Now I can prowdly proclaim that I am a fire walker :)

We arrive in NJ for Tony Robbins!

On the weekend of the 8th Heather came out to my house and collected my butt. She brought me back to Rhode Island to hang with her for a few days. On Wed morning we took off to New Jersey for our long awaited for Tony Robbins UPW (Unleash the Power Within) conference.

When we got to the hotel I was psyched! We were on the 12th floor with a nice view. Heather was fried.

A walk in Willard

Yesterday was such a nice sunny, warm day so the girls and I went out walking

instead of doing school work. Figure we had better take advantage of the weather as we are bound to get another gigantic dump of snow before spring comes.
We went to Willard for an easy- basically flat- walk.

Elanee was a bit of an Emo-Kid. She wasn't feeling her best due to the Fast and was a little on the moody side. I had hoped the sun and movement would perk her up....not so much.
Regardless... Vayda, Maya Rae and I had fun.
Maya is ALWAYS up for a good hike.

Vayda is ALWAYS ready to play with the camera :)

Great pic of her- huh!?!

I really enjoyed the walk. I think we did about 3-ish + miles. Good start for the season.

Time for the Fast

The Nortons are Fasting.

Well, specifically, Carrie, Jody, Elanee and Ben are fasting.

Here's the deal with the Baha'i Fast.

*****************************************

The annual Nineteen-Day Fast: a time of spiritual purification

From March 2-20, Baha'is worldwide observe the annual 19-day Fast by refraining from eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset. As in many world religions, the Fast is a time for reflecting on one's spiritual progress and making an effort to detach from material desires.

Baha'is age 15 and older rise before dawn to eat breakfast and pray. In the evening they enjoy a customary meal. The Faith exempts the following groups from fasting, as it could be harmful to their health: those younger than 15 and older than 70, the ill or infirm, women who are pregnant, nursing or menstruating, travelers and those engaged in heavy physical labor.

Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Faith, wrote that the Fast is "essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character."

"Praised be Thou, O my God, that Thou hast ordained Naw Ruz as a festival unto those who have observed the fast for love of Thee and abstained from all that is abhorrent unto Thee."

- Baha'u'llah

Ayyam-i-Ha party in Ithaca

On Sunday morning our family joined the Baha'is of Ithaca for a community Ayyam-i-Ha party.

Our family was in charge of decorations (helium balloons), party favors, face painting, and the children's gift exchange. We brought lentil soup and fresh bread to pass.

We visited while the children's did crafts.
Then we all gathered together for prayers, songs and devotions.
After devotions we visited some more while we enjoyed a nice pot luck lunch.
It was a lovely celebration with lots of Baha'is, seekers and friends.

If you want to see all the pictures from this event see my other blog......

http://mylocalbahais.blogspot.com

Saturday with Heather

On Saturday Heather and I ditched the munchkins and headed out to spend some time together. We went all my favorite little Amish shops and bought this and that. Mostly groceries in my case. Then we went to Geneva to hit Mother Earth grocery (no poppin in to the tattoo parlor this time though). After that we walked up the way and stopped into a little coffee shop where Heather got her favorite...Chi Tea Latte and I got mine...a Mocha Freeze. We chilled and chatted then before getting back to the car we explored a little Antique shop. Nice time.

Wegmans with Heather

After the blasting Ayyam-i-Ha party Heather and I wanted more fun. We would have loved to go dancing or something like that. BUT- being that we are OLD (and don't think we fit in well with the 20 something bar crowd-ick) and neither of us drinks- the options for places to hang out are pretty limited in Geneva.
So- we did what we used to do when we were too young to hang with the 20 something crowd and didn't drink...... We went to Wegmans in the middle of the night...dur!
Of course these days we went with cloth bags in hand and hung out in the organic isle. lol
Wild and Crazy man!

After Wegmans we did our other favorite pass time from the olden days...we drove around Hobart and hooted at the hot guys.

OK- this is a little odd because these "hot" guys are younger than my step sons.......eeewwwww....yuck.......something very creepy about this behavior

~so we kept this to a minimum. Regardless of the icky factor- we had so much fun reliving 'good ol days' :)

Dancing Ayyam-i-Ha away!

After eating and chatting, we cleaned up the toys Nicholas and Kali were playing with and created a dance floor out of our family room.
We popped in a CD of 80's dance tunes and went to it. I got the little kids rockin then guilted Vayda to join us. (to entice the teens)
Harry played the DJ :)
The little kids had a blast. Nicholas thought this was THE BEST!
Even Kali got into the groove.
After the younger bunch had their fill and the grown ups moved to neighboring rooms to talk over the blasting music, the teens just ROCKED THE HOUSE!

Jody and I were concerned for the floor- and book cases- as the place was literally bouncing....but it seems the house held together just fine! Totally Awesome stuff!!!

After all the fun. Everyone headed home except 6 or so teen girls who stayed for "Tim Burton" night. They snacked and watched movies. Heather and I stayed up chatting and saw the girls go up to crash on Elanee's floor around 2 am. (Heather and I finally turned in at 5 am)

GREAT PARTY!!!

I guess the Norton's know how to rock Ayyam-i-Ha :)

Ayyam-i-Ha Party success!

On Friday evening we held an Ayyam-i-Ha party pot luck dinner.

Here I am preparing some food ahead of time. I made things I already had on hand...

a couple of pot roasts, potatoes with garlic and basil, fresh bread and asparagus. Vayda made and decorated a chocolate cake.

Heather and her children came all the way from Rhode Island for the party. Heather is teaching her kids about each of the major religions at home and thought the Ayyam-i-Ha weekend would be a great way to teach them about the Baha'i Faith. (I will tell ya right now...those kids had a blast!..lol)

We had a great turn out....including our neighbor Tina and friends Terry,Phil and Bobbi.

Shampsi and Kali came from Ithaca (Baha'i friends) and Shelley and Aaron (my daughter in law & step son) came from Syracuse.
Elanee and Vayda had several friends come....
Including Mollie, Emily, Valery, Abby, Victoria...
Ravyn, David & Daniel.
Maya Rae and Carrie Sue (named after me....brag) were psyched to have time together!
I was THRILLED that my brother, Greg, and nephew, Nick, came too ;)
Everyone brought great food and we ate, hung out and chatted.

A gift from Vayda....OOOOMMMMM

This image is a drawing that my lovely...self proclaimed- Amazing!- daughter, Vayda, drew for her mommy for Ayyam-i-Ha. It freakin rocks! I LOVE it!!!! It will be framed and hung in the family room for all to "OM" over......lol.

What is Ayyam-i-Ha Anyway???

Baha'is in more than 200 countries and territories are celebrating a four-day festival involving hospitality, gift giving, charity and social gatherings.The festival, which runs from the evening of 25 February until sunset on 1 March, serves as a spiritual preparation for a fast during the last month of the Baha'is calendar, which begins on March 2 and ends on March 20.Celebrations of Ayyam-i-Ha, as the festival is called, are taking different forms in different locations. In Singapore, for example, Baha'is are observing Ayyam-i-Ha with a blood donation drive and a picnic for families in a beachside park.In Hungary, Baha'is plan to celebrate the festival with a musical program and a costume party for children in the Hungarian Culture Foundation building in Budapest.In Milford, New Hampshire, in the United States, the Baha'is have invited friends and neighbors to join them for devotions and then entertainment, which will include learning a local folk dance, watching jugglers, enjoying music, and gift-giving.The Baha'i calendar was initiated by the Bab, the Forerunner of the Faith's Prophet-Founder, Baha'u'llah, who later confirmed it.The calendar comprises 19 months of 19 days. The Ayyam-i-Ha festival falls on the four days (five in a leap year) needed to balance out the solar year of 365 days. The time of this festival is also known as "Intercalary Days".Of this period Baha'u'llah writes: "It behoveth the people of Baha, throughout these days, to provide good cheer for themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and needy, and with joy and exultation to hail and glorify their Lord, to sing His praise and magnify His Name."During the fast which follows, Baha'is abstain from food and drink between sunrise and sunset as a reminder of the need for individuals to control their material desires. It is seen as a time of meditation and prayer during which Baha'is refresh and reinvigorate themselves spiritually.There are exemptions from the fast for the young and elderly, and for those who are pregnant, ill or who are engaging in heavy work.The fasting period ends with the joyous Naw Ruz (New Year) festival, which begins at sunset on March 20.

A Sunday Hike

On Sunday I woke up just full of spunk and drawn to the woods. I approached Jody about a hike in the woods. As is usually the case he was up to it.
We nabbed Saige and Maya Rae and off we went. (after the big night of dancing the teens were sound asleep till noon+)
We had a nice long romp. I like this time of year when things are (thinking about) transitioning. A little ice, a little snow, a little mud.

The girls were excited for the romp.
Saige found endless joy in twisting cat tails apart and making the fuzzys fly every where.....including all over her hat and body and eyes!
We took a new path and found that it ended on a different road then where we had parked so we decided to take a few roads back around rather than retrace our hiking path.

After our 1.5 mile road trip the girls came across a small dog shivering in the weeds by the road. The poor thing had been dumped there obviously :( We jumped in the car and decided to stop at a house up the road. The couple there was delighted to come to the dog's rescue with a call to the local warden. When we left they baby sat the dog till the warden came. We were grateful for the opportunity to serve this little critter in need.
Good walk. The girls were cold and hungry by the end so home we went to make hot soup.

Jenna's Reception

On Saturday Feb 21 my cousin Jenna had her wedding reception party. She had been married to her long time boy friend, Scott Ditzel in December in Cancune.
The entire family got dolled up and went.
We had a great time visiting and dancing.

It really was a blast!

I think Jody and I looked pretty shnazzy!

Maya Rae couldn't get enough of the dancing. She was the first on on the floor.
We all let down our guard and danced and danced. I have never seen Jody fast dance.
I guess it just took his daughter to get him out on the floor. :)
Vayda and I had a fun 'slow' dance and Maya loved cutting in on Daddy and I.

Here are all the kids....clean at all the same time!
Of course the girls in the family were concerned about our new clothes ;) so we took pictures to show um off.

We had such a great time! It was nice celebrating Jenna & Scott's marriage. And- surprise....Jenna's having a baby in July! Yippee!

Maya Rae turns 9 !

Friday the 20th was Maya Rae's 9th Birthday.

(waaaaa- my baby is nine- sniff)
For her party she had a few girls over. They made single serving pizzas.They got their faces painted (thank you Vayda!)
Maya wanted pink cheeks and blue eye swirleys.
Kimberly was a cat.

Alisabeth wanted a penguin.
Alexandra got a couple of little rat faces on her cheek. Here shes giving Milton a big squeeze.
After time playing dress up, bouncing on the rebounder, making pizzas and getting their faces done...they did the cake thing.

Maya had decorated her own cake for the event.
The girls brought her a really cool gift!
Say Cheese!
In the evening when Daddy was home from work and Ben was back from visiting his mother, we did it all again. We had dinner, cake and gifts.

We gave her a bunch of stuff including a sewing kit, a small sewing machine, a new crochet needle....
A bunch of new clothes and her new favorites...crocks.... for spring. And....Several new little doobly do toys to make her smile.

It was a great day!!!

Me at 19

I was going through some old pictures with Heather over the weekend and came across this one.

I thought it was cute....me at 19.

A weekend with Heather

Over Valentines weekend, my friend Heather, came to visit just for the heck of it. We had a great time. She left her kids at home and I farmed out most of the kids to sleep overs etc. Jody worked. She and I just hung out the first night and watched a Tony Robbins video. Sat was Valentines day. We had to stay home all day to finish up my store closing sale. That in itself was fun. In the evening we got all dolled up (Ben took our picture) and went visiting. First we stopped in to see my mom but she wasn't home. We left flowers and cookies for her birthday and Valentines. Then we popped in on my X sister in law. I gave her a T-shirt and book for her birthday and cookies for Valentines. Then it was to my brother's. I gave him a paper bag stamped with kisses and hearts. In the bag where two T-bone steaks...nice man gift ;) We had a nice little visit. We chatted and played with my nephew for a bit. After all that we headed to Victor to an Indian restaurant. We enjoyed good food (very new to me) and endured..."Josh"...the icky 24 yr old boy who thought we were all that and a bag-a-chips! Ick. "Josh" invited us back to his place to play a few rounds of 'beer pong'...whatever the heck THAT is?!?! Ick. I was like 'Josh-dude- I have raise kids older than you!' Later "Josh" complained that his Valentines day was going badly because his girl friend was yelling at him :( I said, "Hey Josh, do you suppose your girl friend is freakin out because you keep inviting old ladies back to your place to play beer pong?" He was like..."Uhhhh, yeah, maybe"

LOL - Good grief! On Sunday morning we just hung around, chatted and ate left over Indian food then Heather was off....back to Rhode Island!

Good times!

Closing the Store- the big sale!

Over the weekend of the 14th I held a store closing sale!

50% off of all stamps and 40% off of all supplies.

I advertised in 'The Shopper' and hung posters in the local stores. I didn't get tons of people but the many who did come spent lots so that was good. In the end I made enough to finish paying for my trip to see Tony Robbins and pay for our entire biking trip to RI (more details on these trips here... http://bodyenlightenment.blogspot.com ) I am very pleased.
Since the sale day I have had several people come by appointment. After I get back from Tony Robbins in March I am going to box up the rest of the stuff and sell random lots on Ebay until its gone. Any additional $ I bring in will go toward our Pilgrimage to Haifa Israel fund.

Web site closed down

Well its a new era- thats for certain!
When 9/11 happened I was in my 4th year of day care in my home. On that very day I realised life was too short to be tortured and miserable so I gave notice and quit on the following
January 1.
Shortly after that I opened my rubber stamp company. At the time it was called "Brilliant Stars Stamps and Stuff". After several months of learning how to build a web site with images that would open and make fliers and how to make stamps...I renamed it "Norton Designs". I met a nice older man in Ithaca who kindly taught me how to make rubber stamps. He sold me a vulcaniser and hooked me up with all of his suppliers.

I spent that year just learning and learning. After a fun weekend of selling at a rubber stamp expo my friend, Heather, joined me in the business and we called it, "Pretty In Ink". My step daughter, Lynde, came up with that name. I rebuilt the web site in all pink and green and came up with a great logo.
Over the years I made 1000's of custom stamps, sold 1000's of stamps on Ebay, created my own line over 2000 art stamps using my own art. I spent 100's of hours (for real) building and rebuilding my web site. The site always got rave reviews! It was pretty and girly, easy to navigate and had 100's of card samples. About 3 yrs ago I realised yet another part of the dream and opened a physical store front in my home. That was great fun!
Though the business was a lot of fun it was also an immense amount of work! Most of my work hours have been after my kids go to sleep at 9 pm and go on till 3 or 4 am. Then its up to home-school the kids. This Thanksgiving weekend I woke up and knew it was "a new era". I didn't know why. I just knew it was. (you can read more about what came of that on my body blog... http://bodyenlightenment.blogspot.com ) So- several weeks ago I finally got the guts to say I was done with the business. It took a lot of emotional strength to say 'I didn't have a money making job'. I took the big step and disconnected my web site. 100's...even a 1000 + hrs of work all deleted! Wow! What an enormous step.

I have to say it was freakin AWESOME!!!! What a load off! I took these pictures of the site to remember it by. I learned so much over the years doing it. I suppose that is what led me to be the owner of 4 blogs huh? ;)

Visiting Nicholas

On Sunday Maya Rae and I went to Seneca Falls to visit my brothers son, Nick.
While Greg and I chatted, Maya played with Nick. Toss the ball, build a train track, hide in the tent, run and tickle.....
Greg ran out to do some errands and Maya and I played with Nick. Play dough, duplo blocks, snack time, and 3 stories.....then more run and tickle.

When Greg got back and got Nick ready to go Maya was wiped right out. It was a great play date with the little man!

Vayda goes global

Here is Ms. Vayder.....

I took this pic because she was just sittin there lookin sooooo home schooled and I thought it

was sooooo cute!

Baking Night

On Friday Maya Rae and Saige asked to have a sleep over.

Mom said- yup. K.
Saige wanted to bring over her recipe book and bake a cake.
I said- Yup. K.
She supplied the book (and the complicated recipe) and I supplied all of the ingredients.
The girlies supplied the labor and MESS. LOL

They did it all on their own and in the end had a really nice, yummy cake.

Fun in the snow

The other day Maya had fun on a snowy day.

She got creative with a couple of bats as oars.
I just thought she was too cute.

Dancin up a storm

Last Friday Saige missed the school bus and came over to see if Maya had time to play. It was right after breakfast so no one was doing school work quite yet. I was working out on the rebounder and a great song came on the CD. All of the sudden, all four kids pour out of the woodwork and start dancin up a storm! They were too cute so I grabbed the camera.

Things are spinning out of control!

Things are really spinning out of control over here.

Yesterday- right in the middle of a very serious and structured school day....
I scooped Maya Rae up and got her onto my back.

Then I took off spinning....and spinning.....and well.....
That's enough spinning!!!!
Maya thought this was AWESOME but mom could only take so much without either barfin or at least falling on my very dizzy face! ;)

A play day with Danny

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr's Bday....

Because all of the kids had the day off my Aunt and I made arrangements for Danny to come over and play with us. Danny is my cousin and the girls 2nd cousin. Though these two are from two generations Maya Rae and Danny are just 6 mo apart. I think that's cool.

Anyway- We all had a very nice visit :) These two played all kinds of games, jumped on the rebounder, went outside, scootered inside the house, played dress up to name a few. The big girls played a few games of Uno with them. (Elanee was invited to a Bday party in the middle of their Uno game:)

At lunch Danny was so pleased with my veggy pasta and the cookies Elanee made that he said, "You people are so good at the making stuff from scratch thing!" LOL. Well thanky! (just for the record...his moms an awesome cook)

Danny brought a little craft project. These are the two picture frames that the kids colored. I took picture of them and made the frames into fridge magnets.

What a fun day. We cannot wait to do it again soon!

Maya's Noble Steed

Yesterday Maya Rae gave her scooter a make over. She added a face and then a wig.

I thought it was a crazy cow but Maya corrected me...

"Mom....its my Noble Steed!"

LOL

CRASH!

What happened here!?!?!?

Poor Jody! Geesh! What a strain of bad luck this week.About 5 days ago he was going to work in the morning when a young man decided to pass him on a double yellow, up hill and on ice! Well- a Mac truck was headed the other way so the guy swirved in hard and wiped out Jody's front divers side bumper, light and cracked the grill.

Jody, of course, spent his morning at the Sheriff's dept filing papers then at the insurance co filing a claim. So that was that. At least he was fine and the car was drivable.
Then last night he came in just raw. He was headed home from work in his already damaged car and two deer just trotted right out into his lane and stopped dead in front of him. He had no choice but to plow right through them both! The hood flew up so he couldn't see and he pulled over. He ended up crawling home with the pierced radiator steaming, his one light shining at the trees, the fluids pouring out and.... his head hung low. He said he nearly hit two more deer just 10 miles later due to
his wild eye head light.
To say the least the car is not drivable. Considering the (lack of) value of the car its totalled. Now we are just waiting for an adjuster to come out and assess the thing. This is the 3rd car thats been totalled in 10 yrs. Poor Jody! Again- thank God he is ok.

Cloth Bob

This is Maya Rae and her newest creation~ Cloth Bob!
She was up early this morning and went right to work sculting a lone sock into this little guy.
She stitched him eyes and a nose and even gave him real hair.

We thought it was cool that he even had a butt so he can sit down unassited.

Vayda's Decorating

After the Xmas tree was taken down last week Vayda decided the top of the dresser was too bare and went to work decorating it. I was surprised to see this lovely lay out of doobly dos from around the house.
Here is a box that Elanee got at Xmas. It had contained a nice jewelry set. I really liked the Asian thang it had going on. Vayda set it up here open with a Greatest Name charm and the Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah inside and a set of prayer beads pouring out. Then there is a little Indian-ish container next to it. Behind that is the aroma therapy candle with river stones on top.

On the other side of the lamp is an art print of Abdul-Baha (son of Baha'u'llah-hes kind of like a saint for the Baha'i faith. We do not worship him. We look to him as a prime example of an exemplary Baha'i life.) Then there is a Chines green tea can with incense sticks and two books....Tablets of Baha'u'llah and Gandhi.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to You- and you and you-

and yes...even YOU!

2009

Wow! I guess I am shocked every year at how fast the year went. :) Well, I am again shocked this year. 2008 was a rockin year. I would have to say it was among the happiest years of my years married to Jody. We had a good one. We have both grown alot over the years and that has made for a happy marriage. The marriage is, or course, the foundation for the families happiness so the entire houshold was happy too. I am sooooooo looking forward to 2009. Its gonna be an even better year! We have big plans and will have big changes ahead and we are really excited to have another year of happiness together :)

Wishing you all true happiness this year! Lets stay positive, pray, and live life to the fullest!

Winter lake- aaahhhh

A romp at the lake in December.....What were we thinking?!?!?!

A couple of days after Xmas it was so sunny and warm out that Jody suggested we go for a walk by the lake.
Maya Rae and Saige were all excited and wanted to bring their bikes so Jody kindly loaded them on the back of the car and out we went.

We expected it to be a little cooler by the water so we brought some extra 'swaddling' (as Jody called it) for the girls.
Though Jody makes it look very tolerable here in this picture....
It was NOT!!! It was freakin FREEZING!!!!

I thought we were all going to die!!!

The girls tore off on their bikes and were out of site in moments. Jody and I walked for a little while. We were worried that the girls would be half frozen so Jody ran all the way back to the car and drove back around to another entrance to the park to find the girls.

By the time he got there I had met up with the girls who WERE frozen and as they said- suffocating from the freezing wind in their faces. They were very grateful for the rescue!

We all loaded- THANKFULLY- back into the car and went across Geneva to get Vayda from a friends house.
After 20 min in the car the girls were thawed out again and back to being their normal total goof ball selves. We'll be waiting for spring before we try that again.

Harvey

Harvey- the house bunny- is deeply inspiring!

He lives in the "Now".

He spends all of his days meditating- communing with the Great Spirit Bunny.

I decided to reward his noble deeds with 30 seconds of continuous eye contact.

LMAO!!!

(see the Great Spirit Bunny on my art blog at http://handcraftedbyme.blogspot.com )

Happy silly girls

These aren't fancy pics. The girls and I were just fooling around with the camera.

But- they were lauphing so hard.....cute and happy.

Wool Socks

Wool socks make me SOOOOOO happy :)

Just so ya know!

A new necklace

My friend, Heather, mailed me a great box the other day. In it was this lovely necklace.

I LOVE this thing!

It says... Life isn't about finding yourself. It's about creating yourself.

Inspiring!

Wonderful!

Beautiful!

Love it!

Xmas 2008 at the Nortons

We kept Christmas small and simple again this year. For me this was the most relaxing, stress free December in 16 yrs!
The girls and I really divied up the Xmas doings.
Elanee made all the cards for friends and family. THANKS LANEE!!!!
Elanee and Vayda made all the Xmas cookies.
THANKS GIRLS!
Vayda helped me make Maya's gifts.
THANKS VAYDA!

Maya Rae proudly hand crafted gifts for everyone in the family.
VERY GENEROUS MAYA RAE! :)

All of the kids were gracious in receiving their gifts.

THANKS GUYS!

We all kept our expectations in check. This year we only gave one gift each and it was either hand made by me or someone else. (ok with the exception of Vayda's gift which was intended to help make things;)

I made Bens T with the Japanese year of the horse (his yr) on it. Maya was wishing for clothing with the Littlest Pet Shop critters on them so I made her a T with her favorite critter and a pack of underwear with more critters. (you can see how I did this on my art blog at http://handcraftedbyme.blogspot.com )

Elanee received a book log that I bought (hand made by someone else) on www.etsy.com .

Then Santa came too! Santa at our house is otherwise known as Grandma Rose :) Year after year Grandma Rose and Grand-daddy (Jodys step mom and father) are endlessly generous with us all. We are forever grateful! THANKS SANTA!
We all had a very nice day. We had breakfast together (which included but was not limited to To-sausage ;) Later, we had a regular holiday meal and cookies too. We watched movies and relaxed. Nice day.

Oh- we cannot forget the aftermath :)