Esme, her new cheese headed friends and her massive chocolate prize.

These new neighbors were overjoyed when we walked up, their first visitors of the night, on their first Halloween in Salem. We had a nice chat, Esme posed for a photo, and Peter was the lucky one who got to carry the thing home! It was a fun little surprise during a lovely night of trick or treating!

I imagine we’ll be pulling this painting out to decorate for many Octobers to come!

With a song from Kristoff and lots of thrown snowballs we can count another Trunk or Treat under our belts.

There is always a flurry of activity in the week before (pun intended!) but I do love the challenge of coming up with a fun theme, coordinating game, and clever costumes- all on a very small budget. Everything always comes together in the end, though, and we always have fun!

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The young artists and I were successful today in creating our Trunk or Treat backdrop. It was a group effort from concept to design to execution. They were awesome with their ideas, their willingness to try, their compromising and their perseverance.

What do you think, would Elsa feel at home here?

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“For some reason, wearing these clothes and this tie from the John Henric tie collection, I feel older and taller. Did you ever feel that way, Mama, when you were nine?”

A humble look at the evening of our thirteenth wedding anniversary. Robin Hood on tv for me, Legos and a 9 year old’s art strewn about, and Peter working on a fussy soldering project in the dining room. It is not a year of extravagant celebrations this year, and that is perfectly okay with us.

Building friendships, one see saw at a time.

While on our Church Retreat this weekend a number of us hiked up Belknap Mountain. A great way to spend a morning in fellowship and fun!

I love the photo of the whole group, but one particular pair of faces caught my eye! I couldn’t resist pulling out a thumbnail. Cuties!

For two years now we’ve been living in a multi generational, multi unit, you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours situation with my parents. We talked about it and planned it for several years before that.

And this morning’s 3:30am run to the airport is exactly what we had envisioned during all the planning and moving and settling in.

Okay, so maybe driving at 3:30 am isn’t my dream situation but living together and sharing skills and expertise and resources definitely is. We spend more time together, share meals together, work on each other’s cars and computers, share tools and equipment and, on occasion, make inconveniently timed trips to the airport.

Many people have asked me about our experience with living communally- how it’s going, how it works, what love/don’t love about it. For us, at this point in all of our lives, it is just the right thing for us. I’m always happy to talk about it to anyone who is interested. It might not be for everyone, but is definitely an option worth exploring for many.

Thanks to a new, wider backseat and to one kid graduating out of her carseat, we now have room for a friend on our adventures! Fun was had by all, happy as well since we were able to find the cheapest car insurance companies uk to help us out with this vehicle. Car insurance can pay to repair your vehicle after an accident depending on what coverage you select, you will have to talk to your accident attorneys to find out the privileges that you will be eligible to. A vehicle is often a major expense and you want to protect it. Comprehensive and collision each offers coverage for physical damage, which comes with a lot of rules regarding what is covered and what is not.