These are a few of our favorite things....

Earlier this week, I emailed my mom and my sisters with a list of some favorite memories for which I am thankful. Throughout the week, they have added their own favorites. Here are the highlights of our lists... for these things, and for each other, we are truly blessed and thankful.

• top of the list is... each other
• the squirrel tree
• playing in the little woods
• riding our bicycles through Blackwoods campground
• sewing fabulous Barbie rain gear out of old shower curtain liners
• getting lost in St. John
• riding the ferry over to PEI like it was another world
• dad singing "Good morning to you" at the breakfast table on weekends
• having to suppress hiccups at the dinner table
• going to Ethel Davis' for junior choir practice
• selling rocks to Mary Moulton
• riding our bicycles to the store for penny candy
• playing pick with the new Sears catalogue
• being in "big trouble" for something
• jumping off the shed roof into the snow
• having to do the library summer reading program (argh)
• the summer we lived in a tent at Canton Lake
• riding bicycles to Farmington on a Saturday so we could eat at McDonald's
• sitting in a circle, fixing each other's hair
• taking turns giving each other backrubs
• making Lego houses
• making lawnchair tent houses in the back yard (Slumville per dad)
• cucumber sandwiches in the summer
• riding bikes 'round and 'round that little driveway
• getting dressed up fancy for church on Easter and Christmas
• playing Ice Cream shop with our bicycles turned upside down
• blind folding each other to guess what was put in our mouths
• making stick houses behind the chicken house
• walking our sheep up and down the road
• digging worms for Uncle Johnny
• cooking mud pies in the chimney clean-out
• jumping off the back porch trying to break a leg (we thought it would be fun to use crutches)
• having to look up 'bad' words in the dictionary at the dinner table
• eating mounds of corn-on-the-cob for dinner
• going hunting with daddy and making too much noise
• having 2 wonderful parents who cared and nourished all of us into the awesome people we are today!
• Barbie doll houses made with chairs from tuna cans
• tracing the outlines of houses in the dirt and playing house
• trying to build rafts to float ourselves in the little culvert pond
• ice skating around all of the grasses in the little pond above the house
• running all the way to Grammie and Grampa's house to watch the color tv
• playing hid and seek in Grammie's lilac bushes
• watching Pammiedisect a bird for her science project
• feeling special to get a purple "banana seat," a cool pogo stick and a gerbil
• overnights in the camper with the flashlight, putting hands on top to make scary shadows
• watching stars fall from outside of our lawn chair houses
• eating the special small boxed cereal the next morning, in our lawn chair houses
• Popham Beach- the best
• having so much love from daddy that he let us put barettes in his hair
• seeing mom's eyes sparkle when she watched the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon to watch "Yaz"
• night skiing at Spruce Mt.
• listening to Pam sing "I've Got a Brand New Pair of Roller Skates"
• playing with the organ after Sunday School
• "trying" to play mom's auto harp
• church fairs... church suppers with baked beans and jello salad
• opening the chest of hand-me-downs... that was exciting each year
• the twin beds with the white puffy headboards... they felt like princess beds :)
• crawling out the upstairs bedroom window, and sitting atop the roof
• driving our kitties down the sand hill... ooops...
• watching Deb leave for college in her VW
• being proud of Kathy at ski events, beating one of the Mitchell girls
• knowing that the striped pants, made by mom, were the coolest thing ever in 4th grade
• waiting for the last little snowcap to melt in the Spring time- then school was almost done for the year
• jumping over the "pucker brushes" in the Cumming's pasture
• playing "spy" with Joline through the Cumming's corn rows
• trying to out race the Cummings' crazy dog after getting off the school bus
• playing basketball in the driveway with mom
• the day Mom bought us all a chess set at the greem stamp store in Lewiston
• piano lessons... some of us did better than others
• Wendy and Joline swimming at the Hammond's pool
• listening to the little white hand transistor radio
• picking wild strawberries on the little road for our cereal the next morning
• watching mom and dad make us homemade ice cream
• having Dad shovel horse poo for me, even though he knew it was our chore
• weeding the garden
• shoveling dirt for .25 a bucket
• playing "other girls"
• laying on the cupboard on Sunday night so mom could wash our hair in the kitchen sink
• water skiing in the summer with David, Randy, Kathy, Jo, Wendy
• mom and dad going to ALL our sports to watch us
• daddy's spaghetti sauce
• 4-H fairs
• "blink, blink, blink" for a Dairy Queen stop after Popham Beach
• playing at the frog pond
• playing in the "shed" building at the top of the hill behind the house
• getting the so-much-wanted train set for Christmas
• Grammie Davis' spaghetti sauce (dad's was delicious but Grammie's was the BOMB)
• going to Augusta to McDonald's after church
• talking on Grampa's CB radio (Little Peach was Joline's name)
• making white milk vases with Doris Wight
• getting ice hockey sticks before Christmas so we could play hockey on the pond at Potters
• making sail boats to flow through the culvert
• playing Cowboys and Indians
• shucking peas on the front door step
• watching Captain Kangaroo before going to school
• watching Romper Room waiting for our names to be called (did anyone get their name called?)
• selling our sheep at the fair
• the crazy days at the Norland's fair carding wool and spinning
• cooking potatoes on top of grammie and grampa's stove
• marveling over grampa's rock collection
• watching grampa feed chipmunks out of his hand
• ice skating on Brettuns Pond
• singing duets with Pam- Jeremiah was a Bullfrog and New Pair of Roller Skates
• going horn pout fishing at night with daddy
• riding bikes to grammie and gramp's or up to the corner and thinking some people are not as lucky as us
• thinking Grange was the coolest thing to be involved in
• Yum va
• the trip to DC- "Pay before you pump"
• Batman "Polly-Wolly"
• paper doll families
• Wishniks
• eating the "skin" off the top of homemade chocolate pudding
• getting chicken pox just about the time our new sister Joline came home
• eating Thanksgiving dinner on tv trays at Grammie Randall's while the adults all ate at the table in the kitchen
• mongloid hair cuts
• sewing our own clothes in high school
• home perms
• putting Bugles on our fingers
• camping with the Wights
• roller skating on Saturday mornings
• the porch of the little house in the summer
• graduations and commencement exercises
• mom's favorite birthday cake, chocolate with peanut butter frosting
• mom and dad waltzing in the kitchen of the little house to Unchained Melody
• pink fishnet stockings held up with a garter belt
• finding out that Mrs. Poland, Miss Lufkin, and Miss Boyce all had mom and dad for students
• Macy's parades
• playing Hi-Q at grammie randall's
• Grammie Randall and the aunts speaking French in the kitchen as they cooked
• the big old Atlantic cook stove
• looking at Grampa Randall's rock collection
• the silver tree at Grammie Davis' that changed color as the wheel turned
• the santa on skis at Grammie Davis' house
• driving to Wyoming with dad to bring Kathie, Ryan, and Kevin back to Maine
• looking at the raspberry crosses in the garden
• helping each other pick up the pieces of our lives as we'd start over again
• Wendy's quilt-in-a-day
• crabbing in Maryland with smelly chicken on a strong
• rationing meat from the one little crab so everyone could have a taste
• hangovers (glad those days are over)
• driving down the VA Beach boardwalk listening to Christmas music
• having Tasha and Tyler spend a little bit of time living with Pam when they were little
• Pam, Kathie, and Riff sharing a house and a life
• winter sports with Kathie & David, waiting for the cabana boy to arrive
• everyone writing their names on Pam's Fayette house's typar
• getting Mousetrap and Operation from Nana and Johnny & Bea
• the Browns (Laurette, Corbette, Matthew, Lisette, Nicolette)
• the little church
• dogs, cats, bunnies, chickens, cows, pigs (Rosie & Posie), ducks...
• listening to tapes made of Grampa Randall
• Deb's whoopie pies
• seeing who could make it from ME to DC in the shortest amount of time
• hiding Kathie under maps so dad wouldn't see her
• the weird man on Virginia Beach who kept burying himself in the sand
• bonfires at Deb & Arnie's
• skating in West Farmington
• picking fiddleheads on the Sandy River
• hiking up Monument Hill
• getting Useless in Eustis
• seeing mom and dad settle back into the East Livermore area
• pictures of mom, Uncle Bill, and Uncle Tom hanging on the wall in the living room
• our long formica topped table in our kitchen
• knowing that our linoleum matched Grammie Randall's
• knowing we'd be getting our Christmas tree soon
• having five whole days off from school for Thanksgiving
• favorite Thanksgiving foods
• gravy, gravy, gravy... moist turkey (with gravy)... mashed potatoes (with gravy)... squash (no gravy)... peas, onions, fruit salad, boiled onions saturated with butter & cream... Grammie Randall's yeast rolls (dipped in gravy)... pie, pie, pie