Fun Mail

Nothing like getting fun mail from some of our most favorite people! xo

Catching Up

Hello, lovely blog reader(s)! My apologies that my entries have been so inconsistent lately! I had all intentions of posting far more than I have and for one reason or another the end of each day arrives and I haven't achieved that goal. It's hard to believe that I have been blogging for nine years now, and there are many times (especially lately) where I feel like the things I post here are too repetitive, too predictable. and so I hold off on sharing which creates long gaps of time between one post and another. I do love sharing about our days and I love that a record is being generated of the girls' childhoods so completely (and I really do need to start printing it out in book form one of these days. So, in an effort to not get too much father behind I figured I'd share a few pictures and stories about what's been going on since I last posted a week ago.


This past autumn, the girls and I were invited to join this wonderful Waldorf co-op! Over the last couple of years I have been feeling like we should find a co-op to be part of but had never found one that felt like a good fit for us and then lo and behold we were invited to join this one! Ryan and Kelsey are two mamas that I had met years ago when all our girls were little. We would gather for lantern walks and other festivals with many of the other area Waldorf homechool families but since the girls and I weren't really there enough (other than the festivals) we didn't know people very well. Fast forward to this past summer when Ryan put out an announcement about a book club and the rest is history. That one time at book club lead them inviting us to join their Thursday co-op. We were honored to have been invited and started getting together with the group on Thursdays in December to do holiday crafts. The co-op is four families, each with two daughters and if you saw all eight of these little girls together you'd think they'd been together since they were babies hanging out on blankets! 

 The new co-op session began last Thursday with the group working on free-hand geometry (which is awesome since that is not a strength of mine). They meet each Thursday from 10:00am-2:30pm and in the words of Grace "It's like the best of both worlds, mama! We get to go to school with other Waldorf homeschooled girls while still being homeschooled!" The timing of this co-op coming into the rhythm of our days could not be any more perfect!

Sadly. our lovely Thursday ended on a not so lovely note. On my way home from the gym I got in an accident. I was at this red light, signalling to turn left, with no one across from me. When the light turned green I began to turn and shortly after noticed a car was coming directly at me at a rather high speed. I knew that if I didn't do something I was going to end up with this car plowing through the passenger side of my car. I drove in such a way that the brunt of the impact happend to the passenger side quarter panel (and the bumper and the drivers side quarter panel). And the worst part is, the car that hit me KEPT ON GOING! They didn't stop and see if I was OK, they just fled the scene. Needless to say, I have been pretty shaken up since and while I have never been a nervous driver before I sure feel like one now. I have NO desire to get back behind the wheel any time soon if truth be known, but sadly I am going to have to face that fear soon as there are days that Dave's not home until after bedtime and I don't want to have to ask for constant rides to and from the studio from the other dance moms for the next month or more.

On Saturday, Grace baked four dozen cookies for the youth group bake sale. Though none of us Tschernes were going to be at church on Sunday (me, because I have to be at work-church and Dave and the girls because they have to be at Wachusett) we still want to make sure that we are supporting the events and activities that go on at Plymouth and we knew that these cookies that everyone loves would be a good stand-in for all of us! Sadly, we weren't able to get them there before Dave had to go to work, but in the end it all worked out! Jane and Bill came to our rescue, 

bringing a Valentine surprise for the girls and joining us for dinner! Sharing a meal with them was just what we all needed after how crazy things had been since my accident (and it got me out of the funk I had been in ever since)! So, while our weekend started on a not-so-great note it sure ended ona lovely one (and another Patriots Super Bowl win to top it off too)! xo 

Thanks Em!

Last week, my dear friend Emily shared with Grace about how when she was a little girl she used to dress up her cat.  She went on to tell her about all the fun things she would do with this cat while it was dressed up (like push it around in a stroller or rock it in a doll cradle).  Grace clearly took this story to heart (and shared it with her sister) as this is the scene I discovered in their bedroom this morning. 

I dare say that Gretchen liked being rocked in the doll cradle!  I wonder how much longer it will be until they figure out how to dress up a cat?!  

Trick-or-Treat!

Since the crazy October Nor'easter blew into town right before Halloween, trick-or-treating was postponed throughout the land.  Our town held it's trick-or-treat night last Thursday.  And, as we have done the last few years, we went trick-or-treating with Sarah and her littles (Ben of course stays behind to man the haunted house he creates each year).  We headed over a little early, to catch up with our friends, have some dinner, and to help with the set up of this years (very scaled down) haunted house (a first for the girls).

Grace however could not be convinced that putting fake bones on the front lawn would be fun.  She chose to stay inside safely beside Sarah.

The three musketeers.

I love how they were all things found in nature.  And no, we didn't plan that to happen!

A couple of days later, one of the towns next to us (our adopted town) held it's trick-or-treat night.  Friends of ours who live there invited us to come along. So back on went the Halloween costumes, except this time the girls got to have their faces painted!

Note to self: spend more time figuring out the best camera setting to use for dim lighting. 

Clearly, there are benefits to snowstorms in October, if for no other reason than you get to go trick-or-treating more than once!  

"So Shel, How's Your Day?!"

Today was one of those days where you hit every light on your way to an appoitntment, where there was road construction on the way home, where you ended up farther away from where you wanted to be on the "detour" you took, where an event that you are planning is not coming together as easily as you thought it would, where the girls have lots of extra energy and are voicing their opinions and your patience is running thin (as a result of all the craziness in the morning).  Today is the kind of day that just needed the company of another "mama in the trenches".  The kind of day that needed a place for the littles to play while the mamas kicked back.  And thankfully we found just what we needed!

And it is spending time in the company of those who "get it"  on these tough days (and all days really) that makes the rough days better and the journey that much sweeter!



Unplugged Sunday::Harvest Days

Today was a truly glorious autumn day. The kind of day that just beckons to be spent outside with dear friends.  So, it was really great that we had these wonderful plans to meet at Old Sturbridge Village for Sunday Brunch and to then participate in the harvest activities.  Honestly, we could not have asked for a better day!

Meet our navigators for the day. 

The girls did a super job at reading their maps!

We got to help harvest carrots,

and beets.

Next, we helped churn butter,

and make cider.

And finally, it was time for the long awaited trip to the playground! 



It was a perfect way to spend such a beautiful day!  Thanks for suggesting this adventure, dear friends! We had a wonderful time and must do this more often (especially the Sunday Brunch part)!