A Special Veterans Day

Hello My Family and Friends!

Below is a copy of the Achievement Award, that Jared, my oldest nephew, received during drill last Saturday. There was a medal and a ribbon that went along with the certificate. I realized how very fortunate we are to have Jared home, safe and attending school like many other young men! We have much to be grateful for this day. When Jared showed this to us he said, "I seldom get excited about anything, but this mattered."
And it matters to us! We are very proud of all of the veterans in our family, who have kept us safe over the years. This year we add Jared to that list!

Thank you, Jared. Know you are loved!

Happy Halloween!

The Beaulieu family got into the Halloween spirit yesterday and decked the house with punkins o plenty and even a "pooky pider"! (as Avery calls it) Happy Halloween everyone!

The events of yesterday...

September 18, 2009

Dear Toothfairy,

I lost my tooth and I don't know where it is. I think I lost it out on Overlook Rd. Please give me a big dollar so I can put it in my bank. I have a puppy dog and I like him.

Love, Aidan B.

We've moved!

Ten stinking, hot, humid and ridiculously exhausting days later, we are officially moved out of our rental property and into our newly purchased house! I do have photos I've taken of the little bits of reno work we're doing but lord knows where on earth my camera is in all this mess! I had it until about 3 days ago when my office got packed up at the other house- now, no clue, lol!

Anyway, I just wanted to drop a quick note and let you all know what I've been up to. When I can find my computer (I am on my old half busted laptop currently) and my camera, I'll post some photos and some commentary on the whole thing.

I am just so glad to be done, it of course, had to happen during the hottest part of the summer and while all 3 of my kids were home from school to complain at me about not going to the beach.

Tomorrow I am going to pull out the $5 sprinkler I bought at Walmart and let the kids run around the yard and cool off while I attempt to unpack the mountain of boxes in my dining room and living room.

Signing off as an very tired and achy but official resident of Narragansett, RI.

Tara :)

Life's a beach!

Another gorgeous day at Scarborough Beach in Narragansett...

Crystal clear waters couldn't even keep my normally resistant to the water Austin away...

Aidan's obsessed with wearing goggles, Avery playing in the sand and Aidan snacking on some goodies...



I think Austin's gonna be an architect when he grows up...
His humble beach house- I particularly like the sand bridge he made that spans the area for his moat...



A gila monster

Happy 6th Birthday, Noah!

Noahs Birthday Cake
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

My nephew wanted a basketball themed birthday this year. Since we're moving into our new house in a little more than a week and are strapped for cash, I offered to make his cake as my gift to him.

I did his name (and all the other text) freehand copying the font that Wilson Sports uses for their logo in an attempt to make the ball look more realistic.

My poor son, Austin! This is a giant sheet cake with a 9" round on top for the basketball- just to give you an idea of the size. He carried it on his lap from our house in RI to my sister's house in CT- an hour and 20 minutes with the AC blasting on him the whole time so the frosting didn't get weepy, lol!

Noah selected his namesake as the portion for his serving. They demolished more than 2/3 of the cake by the time the party was wrapping up... oh yeah, my sister DID mention that her boys are "cake hounds" when I offered to make it, LOL!

Happy birthday, Noah, I hope you had a great day! :)

An Afternoon at Scarborough Beach

Took the boys to Scarborough Beach in Narragansett this afternoon. They played remarkably well together, no one cried, no one got hurt and everyone listened to their mama. Not bad!

A Fresh Start

So I closed my eBay store this morning, a decision I made about a month ago- the fees and time greatly outweigh the sales at this point and frankly, I'd rather focus on my website, Etsy and Brick & Mortar sales. So it's not a sad day- on the contrary, I am feeling like a weight is lifted and I am being given a fresh start! And as if someone was watching and knew- I awoke to an Etsy sale! Go me!

I sent a newsletter to all my eBay subscribers announcing my store closure and received an email back from one customer telling me she loved my things and had wandered over to my website and would like to buy 4 sea glass angels from me- I'm a happy girl. :)

And on that note, I made a lovely breakfast for my family this morning, I sorted some beautiful new cobalt blue sea glass for earring pairs and went about customizing my new "my eBay" page (since I also unsubscribed to "Selling Manager" over there).



I am so grateful for the little things in my life.

This week has been about family...

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in a week, but I have been crafting, cooking, shopping, baking and otherwise prepping for Christmas. My camera is still on the fritz so taking photos without a flash has slowed me from being able to blog about the progress I'm making on all my handmade gifts and goodies.

I finally wound up borrowing a camera that does have a flash because I was desperate to take some photos of the kiddos for holiday cards. (yes I know it is the 21st and Christmas is in 4 days but better late than never!) One problem with the camera though- my card reader will read the photos but not transfer them to the dern computer! That's not really very helpful now is it?

So anyway, Friday was my mom's 62nd birthday. I made her some beaded bell ornaments and gave her some yummy peach infused white tea- her favorite flavor! The bell ornaments were quite nostalgic for both of us. About a month ago she said to me "Gee, I used to make such pretty ornaments. I wish I could remember how to do those bells we had on the tree when you were growing up..." (Sets the wheels in Tara's head turning and an online hunt for a pattern soon follows.)

I finally found a site that carried a kit- supplies to make 4 ornaments and printed directions. They take about an hour a piece to make, but are not overly complicated, so I had fun doing them. She was thrilled, which made me happy; I really wanted to stick to "handmade" this year!


The boys and I took her out to lunch and then sang "Happy Birthday" over a lovely chocolate eclair with a candle in it. We barely managed to hit the road and get home before the snow started to pour down on us. All in all I think we have around 10-12 inches outside (which is a giant amount for the coast) and I took a pile of pictures of the boys playing on Friday afternoon (these shots are within the first hour the snow was coming down) and on Saturday I took the entire lot of them up to CVS and used the photo kiosk thingy to burn a CD and print out copies of the ones that came out the best. I have now successfully filled out, photo'd and mailed all my cards!

These are my favorite shots

The Christmas card

I found a cute frame that has a nice little blurb about grandchildren carved onto it and will give this to my mom from the boys for Christmas

This is my (almost) 3 year old, Avery

This is my 5 year old, Aidan (love this shot!)

And this is my big kid, almost a teenager, Austin (Aus)

On Saturday afternoon, after a ton of shoveling, Ed (hubby) and I took the boys sledding. I had such a wonderful time. Ed has honestly not had a day off since November, this was his first break from work and I was so excited that he had energy left to come play with us after digging out both cars from the mountain of snow the plows pushed against them. There was minimal fighting, optimum sledding conditions and hot cocoa when we came home. Couldn't have asked for a more perfect day with my guys!



Okay, enough blogging for me, I have a bunch of sugar cookies that need tending to, I better get back to it!