A beautiful day in the neighborhood!

It was 65 degrees TODAY in Potsdam...in the North Country. As soon as I figured that the thermometer wasn't broken I threw jackets on the boys (which they promptly threw off...because it was so HOT!) and headed outside. I finally got all the leaves and dead plants cleaned out of all my flower beds and the yard mostly ready for snow-cause I know it's coming. Jamison and Lincoln ate lunch out on the trampoline and Jamison suggested that after school we should all go to the beach. Oh, I love my little North Country kids that think 65 is balmy!!

It felt SO good to be outside and to be warm again. And it was just what I needed since I have procrastinated the yard work for too long. Thank Mother Nature for throwing this "yard work procrastinator" a line.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween !

(Ben and I got a good laugh from the fact that the carved pumpkins seemed to be a perfect representation of their creators.)

A pirate, a ninja, a knight in shining armor, and Nancy Drew (plus a few extras). As you can tell-it was COLD- and the kids were sure that I was the meanest mom on the block making them put so many clothes on-it made their costumes "all puffy". But considering the fact that the flu is currently making it's sweep through our house I felt pretty generous in letting them go out at all- I think more like, nicest mom! They had a great time.

Ben's Birthday

Happy Birthday Ben!!

I am one VERY lucky lady. Yep-they're ALL mine!

Even Lincoln had practiced singing for dad.

Day with Dad

This past Saturday there was a district wide Relief Society Enrichment that was a full day event so Ben was left with the kid watch. Now on my typical "kid watch" day I get about as creative and exciting as some cleaning and organizing, followed by a good long nap for everyone, and maybe a quick bike ride. Not dad... he took the kids to hike a mountain. Wow! There are lots of reasons that Dad is the preferred parent but this one is right up there with ice cream after every meal. They had a great day! (And so did I!)

First Day of School

Such excitement for the first day of school! Even Jamison gets a 1/2 day in the Pre-K program. The kids are having a great time and it's good to be back into the "swing" of school. (We did have an extra friend with us-the more the merrier.)

Emmy and Mrs. Caruso- 4th grade.

Clayton-1st grade means homework mom!!.

Jamison is all smiles for Pre-K.

And Lincoln was just plain tired after all of this- ME TOO!

Home Improvement-AARRGGHH!

The house is finally painted!

Before...

After...

Can't believe we actually finished this project...it's been 4 years in the coming and we finally did it. (ok-so we still have a few touch-ups to do). It would never have happened without the push from our parents and of course, Brian Snee! You were amazing-many, many thanks.

The King and I-Pykles style

We did it! We made it through another crazy Pykles family adventure. And a few days later I think we are actually very glad that we had this experience together.

This summer our community theatre did a production of The King and I. We tried out back in March and we really hoped that we would all make it in so that we could have the theatre experience as a family again. It was a bit of a scary experience because of the professional nature of the whole thing. The director is straight from NYC and comes here each summer to direct these shows because he is so impressed with the local talent-much of it linked with the school of music. So it was no small miracle when he accepted the whole family. (minus little Lincoln who was just too young). Ben was asked to play 2 roles- the ship captain, and Sir Ramsey, the British diplomat and the kids and I were royal children and wife. This was the perfect situation for our family because given our roles Ben and I were never on stage together except for one 5 min. scene and because of that we were able to always have Lincoln with us-being watched by one or the other of us. That relieved a lot of stress for us and truly made it a family experience. It ended up being TONS of work-a practice nearly every night since the second week in June and many days we found ourselves questioning why we had taken on such a big commitment. But... what a wonderful experience we had. The things we felt our kids gained-from the confidence, to the musical training, to the wonderful people we met-and then to be able to be on stage together (I suppose there will always be a soft spot for theatre for Ben and I). It will be something that we never forget.

The transformation to be Siamese was quite the process each night-spray tanning, black hair, and crazy eye makeup. Most nights it took close to an hour to get hair and makeup done for myself and the kids. Then... take it off each night and start all over again the next night. It was exhausting but the kids loved it!

I was so proud of my kids for seeing this through. It wasn't easy but it was so much fun and they were so good and patient. Jamison was the youngest child in the cast by 2 years and every night when he walked out on stage all by himself to meet the King there was an audible sigh. He was so little and small, but he did just what he was supposed to do and he did it every single night-just right. I was one proud mamma.
Great memories, great experience, great people , etc. etc. etc!