Sturbridge Village classes

David and I don't often remember to bring our camera with us when we go places. We did remember this time though. Yeah. We took the girls to Sturbridge Village for their Homeschool Day a couple of weeks ago. It poured the whole day. Luckily we had signed the girls up for classes ahead of time in the education building. So we spent the day in the education building which is awesome! The girls took 3 classes which were each 60 minutes long. They had classes in herbal remedies, farm life, and old fashioned stamp making. Dave and I hung out with our friend Lise Dufour and a couple other homeschool parents that we know. The girls are excited to take more classes there next year. We have a family membership, so we will be spending a lot of time their this summer.

American Girl Tea Party

Adriana recently attended an American Girl Tea Party at the Putnam Public Library. She was sooooo excited about this event. She constantly reminded me about it to make sure that I would take her. We had to arrive 1 and 1/2 hours early so that she could help "Miss Tina", the chilcrens' librarian, set things up. It was a wonderful event with approximately 15 girls ages 5-10 years old. The library sent out Tea Party invitations to all the girls, telling them to dress up and to bring their dolls with them. Miss Tina read an American girl story to them. Then they made several crafts. They also made cucumber and cream cheese finger sandwiches, using cookie cutters to cut off the crusts. They all sat down to beautifully decorated tables with fancy plates, tea cups and saucers, cloth table cloths and cloth napkins. They ate their finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, tea, and of course assorted cookies donated by Victoria Station Cafe. Adriana was in her glory!

Victoria Station Patio Pics!

Hello Evahreebuddy!

I have about a gajillion things I should be doing right now, but I have decided to play on the computer instead. I took a few pics of our new patio in front of the cafe today, and for those of you who can't make it down to see it first hand, I thought I'd share!

...and then you'll be SOOOOOOO inspired that we'll see you this weekend! Yay!

or not.

Anyway, enjoy the pics. I can't type anymore for fear of getting REALLY silly, so I'm punching out for tonight! God bless, see you all soon!

Dave & all those other Anderson/Donatellis.

The new Cafe!

Hello Everyone!

Here are pictures of our new cafe. We were very fortunate and blessed with all the help we received from family and friends. We couldn't have made the move without their help and support. THANK YOU!!!!

We were also blessed with a beautiful antique baby grand piano yesterday. My Aunt Sue was kind enough to let us have hers; which she had inherited from our great Aunt Lillian when she passed away approximately 20 years ago. Thank you Auntie Sue...the piano is gorgeous!!!

Apparently Christina has been infected with my attention span problem, so I'll finish this here blog! Dave here, just wanted to reiterate what my beautiful wife has already said, namely, we couldn't have done this without the help of our family and friends! Your support has been tremendous, and our blessings have been many.

For those of you not in the know, the fine gentleman to my left in this mahvelous photo is our good friend Flip, whose vision and friendship guided us throught the process of building the cafe.

This is probably the worst photo I have ever seen...

...of course, that's what makes it funny!

Do I REALLY look like that in real life???!

Lord I hope not. Gives me new appreciation for Christina's tolerance level!

Kinda looks like a circus sideshow, which, when you come right down to it, was exactly what this whole thing was!

Ok, I'm done. Before I go, here's a few more shots of the cafe. Hope to see/hear all of you soon; God bless and thanks again!

Dave & Christina

P.S. ...I know this blog is a mess, but I'm too tired to fix it! I'll do better next time, promise!

g'night all!

This week's update

Well, I just finished reading Beth and Tony's latest blog posts about their flu illnesses this week. Adriana has been sick this week with strep throat and perhaps a cold or flu bug, I'm not sure which. She woke up Tuesday morning with a sore throat but otherwise okay it seemed. Tuesday night she complained alot about her throat and also ran a fever. She and I spent all day Wednesday cuddling in her bed and watching the full first season of The Waltons. I have season 1 and 2 on DVD. I would give her medicine every 4-6 hours or so as the fever would come back. She just wanted to cuddle and drink water all day and night. On Thursday I called the doctor about the pimple she has had on her cheek for almost three months now. She saw the doctor twice 3 weeks ago and was on antibiotics. The pimple had gotten better but still wasn't gone, so the doctor wanted to see us that day. We went in and they checked her cheek and also did a throat culture because of her sore throat. Came back positive for Strep. Now she is on another antibiotic for her strep and also her cheek. She spent all day yesterday on the couch watching season 2 of The Waltons. Today she woke up feeling better (no sore throat) but she still has the cough and drippy nose. But she felt good enough to go over to Grammy and Grampa's for the day and night. She and Grammy have plans for dying Easter eggs and making Easter crafts. She's going to spend the night and David and I will be heading over there tomorrow morning after I get my cafe baking done.

I stopped at the pharmacy earlier and picked up a bottle of Nyquil and Dayquil. I've got a funny feeling in my throat, an achy feeling throughout my body, and I've been sneezing all day. I'm hoping I can zap it with nonstop Dayquil and Nyquil intervels. David and the girls were sick with a flu/bad cold in February and also in January. I was fortunate both times not to get it, even though every one of our employees had been sick with it both times.

POSITIVE THINKING....I WILL NOT GET SICK...I WILL NOT GET SICK!!!

HAPPY EASTER!!!
LOVE TO YOU ALL!!!

Attack of the Blog Pirate!

I don't even know what that means.

Just got done reading Tony's new blog, so not to be outdone, I've decided to hijack Christina's blog just to say hello and give a bit of an update on the new cafe location!

First, this interesting little furball to the right is the latest addition to our little family - her name is Natassia, and she is

Sabrina's new puppy. She worked and saved up for her, and is also responsible for all monthly maintenance & service checks.

Let the record show, I didn't want a new dog...but she is pretty cute. I guess she can stay.

In other news...

At the risk of jinxing us (again!), I am happy to say that March is truly 'THE' month! We are putting in the final touches - cosmetics, equipment, staining & painting - the mundane stuff.

I picked up 'mundane' off some other guy's blog, but I digress...

Mundane, but necessary. We picked up a new pastry case with a curved glass front, because we couuldn't in good conscience spend 8 gajillion dollars on a new cafe and use the same crappy case we had next door. It looks great; maybe if I ever blog again I'll actually post a picture! We also had two freezers delivered yesterday, what a chore that turned out to be. Our Achilles heel has been the narrow entry way to the kithen, and it almost undid us yesterday. Had to brush up on my physics just to get the darn things in the door! Took about 3 hours, but we were ultimately successful. If all goes well, we can actually consider moving in...

...dare I say it...

...TWO WEEKS!

...for real.

Seriously.

It's been a long road, but we are almost there.

Gotta run, it's been fun, but Steve, Lynn & Isak are here for a visit!

God bless, hope everyone is well!

Holiday baking at the Cafe

Here are some photos of Grammy, Grampa, and Adriana baking dog bisquits.