Valentine's Day 2014

We started Valentine's Day this year with a surprise for Mom from Dad perched on top of the fridge (with chocolate inside the card, too). There was also a little something from Mother Nature for all of us: lots of snow on the cars, on the driveway, on the lawn . . . you get the idea. New England winter, you know.

So, instead of going to work, Dad spent the day with us.

Mom made a snow angel.

Amanda and Curtis conquered the snow mountain.

Jared conquered a very large snowball.

Clarissa didn't hit the snow, but she did have fun inside climbing in and out and over things.

Lydia also stuck to the indoors. She especially enjoyed munching on the blueberry muffins that Mom made later in the day.

Ancestor Birthday: John Pollock 1806-1892

John Pollock, a Muffin ancestor on Mom's side, was born on February 6, 1806, in Ireland, probably somewhere in the Donegal area. In December 1823, he married Nancy Blair. He was from the village of Stranolar, Raphoe, Donegal at the time. Sometime between the birth of his first child in 1833 and the births of his other children, he and his family came to America and settled in Philadelphia. There is a likely looking passenger record for a John Pollock and family arriving in Philadelphia aboard the Bark Dorothy on May 23, 1834. John and Nancy had six children, including Ann Jane Pollock, the next ancestor on the Muffin line. He lived until November 30, 1892. As of now, there are no known pictures of him, but we do have a memorial card made at the time of his passing to celebrate the lives of him and his wife, who passed away within two weeks of him:

Trunk or Treat 2013

Jared described our costume set as "a vampire family with their pet dragon and a captured princess."

It should also be noted that, just like in Ohio, there was a chili fest associated with the church trunk-or-treat. And, just like in Ohio, Dad made a contribution. There may or may not have been a bit of mayhem involved getting the chili put together, possibly including large pots from two different neighbors, but in the end, chili was made, and the Muffins loved the candy collecting opportunity.

Gone Fishing

(Nobody caught anything, but they had fun.)

A little apple fest

Last weekend, some of us considered going apple picking. What actually happened was that the older Muffins picked very hard pears from trees in our back yard. A week later, the pears were still very hard, to the point of being beyond what our modest kitchen equipment can easily process. So, during the week, we picked (up) a bunch of apples (at the store), and then we turned some of them into yummy treats. Mom made apple fritters, using Pioneer Woman's recipe. Dad made the apple pie pictured above. Overall verdict: apple treats are good.