Miriam and Minna Dyer

For Miriam Dyer

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 21 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

For Minna Dyer

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I am the only Minna Dyer. I love it!

Reason for the Season-#2

Change of Weather

I am loving this weather! It is perfectly sunny and crisp in the morning and subtly warm in the afternoons, all sans the humidity. I can enjoy being outside again.

I also love that I can sleep with all my covers on without running the air conditioner. It is definitely not cool enough for the heat to come on, which is good because we can't control our inconsistent hissing radiator.

I also love wearing my sweaters and light jackets, especially so I can cover my growing belly (already? really?). I like that I can wear them and some jeans while still wearing my flip-flops. Those are always hard for me to give up when the temperature cools.

This weather is always a welcome change after a NYC summer. I just wished it lasted longer-- straight through to Spring would be nice.
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Black and White Cookies

We discovered black and white cookies when we moved to New York City, and they have been a favorite of mine ever since. I don't have them very often, but on rare occasion, when I am fighting a sweet craving and feeling a little extra rich, I do indulge and buy a large one to eat by myself (in a secluded corner of the house), or a box of about a dozen to share, of course.

Last week, Deb over at Smitten Kitchen shared her recipe for Black and White Cookies on her blog (she was also on the Martha Show last week). As soon as I saw the post, I knew I wanted to try and make my own B & W cookies, so we did.

At first, we started making the cookies small, but we soon realized that would have taken all night, and I never have all night. Instead we made the monster variety, the kind you might want to consider sharing to avoid cookie overload, the kind that make a good-lookin' cookie look even better.



I was quite happy with the results. Even though these cookies are said to go stale quicker because of their cake-like quality, I thought they tasted better on the second day after they had been stored tightly and given the chance to soften even more. Overall, I thought they were delicious! I'm sure I will make them again.

You can check out how Deb made them here.
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Jane's turn

Hannah has been getting a lot of blog time, and time with their new skirts, so we thought we'd focus on Jane for a bit.
I took Jane out for a photo shoot, Hannah in tow. Even though Hannah knew it was Jane's turn, she still tried to monopolize the session. I wonder why? She must be quite comfortable in front of my camera by now. Next time, it will have to be just Jane and myself.
Jane loved running, jumping, twirling etc. What a thing to be a little girl in a big, hilly, grassy field with the prettiest, twirly-est, fullest, girlie-ist red skirt ever!




There are loads, but I can't share them all at once.
The one that really makes my heart melt is here. GO SEE!
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In my place

My kids are the comic relief for my life.

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I was looking for my phone. I asked Hannah a couple of times where it was.

Hannah:

Come here. Let me tell you something in your ear.
I leaned in and she whispered:

You need to find it yourself. It's your job.

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It is not a bad thing that children should occasionally, and politely, put parents in their place.
-Colette

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Happy Birthday

To my beautiful sister-in-law, Lauren.

We love you!

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Reason for the Season-#1

There are so many reasons why Fall is my favorite season.

The beginning of a new school year was always so exciting to me as a kid. Even though Summer was over and I would be starting a structured routine, I looked forward to it.
There were new clothes and school supplies to buy, new friends to meet- and old friends to reunite with- and a new grade to enter which gave me a older and more mature status, so I thought. I loved the feeling- the excitement, the newness.

Hannah started her first day of Joy School yesterday. Even though it is more like an organized play group than school, it was still fun to get her ready with her backpack, which contained a small snack, two pencils, a pad of paper and her blue bear for show-and-tell. She was very excited to finally start school as most of her older friends have already done so. As I stood and took her picture, I realized just how old she looks. What a big girl!

This is just the first of many first days of school to come.

Some fun recent photos of Hannah here.
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A National Treasure

Our first night, in Hershey, we stayed up to watch National Treasure. We wanted to remember what parts of Philadelphia were in the movie so we could try and see those parts when we were there. When we finally arrived Saturday, we realized there is so much American history within just a few blocks. We just scratched the surface, I think.
We visited the Liberty Bell, the Betsy Ross house, a Free Quaker meeting house, saw Benjamin Franklin's grave, and toured part of Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed. As always, it was interesting to hear about some of the events in history that formed our nation.














We thought we'd better try some Philly Cheese Steaks in Philly so we did.

I've never had one before, so I had nothing to compare it to but it was very tasty.

Soon after our brisk Philadelphia tour, we headed home...

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Amish country- hidden

We really had to stray from the main roads to find real Amish country. All of the tourist maps lead us to a slew of Amish-inspired restaurants, furniture stores, markets and the like, but most of it wasn't authentic. I called it the New Amish. We wanted to see the true lifestyle and homesteads of the people. Dan's dad lead us on smaller roads to see some beautiful country and sites.



















It was difficult to capture it all.
To see some details of the country, go here.

Hershey and the Hammachers

We had a great weekend exploring our heritage, the Pennsylvania countryside and the historical significance that is Philly.

After a short but good night's rest in Hershey, we set out to meet up with a Hershey Co. representative who would take us out to the Hammacher family memorial (ancestors from Dan's dad's side). The graves were discovered during a factory expansion. Workers were taking earth to backfill the new addition and discovered some headstones. An archeological dig was started and 11 graves were found. The headstones were placed in a concrete wall. The company put $$$ into creating a memorial for the family.

This barn lies on the Hershey property and was one of the Hammacher's (the name was later spelled Hamaker).
I can't touch on the amount of information we learned from this visit, but it was quite fascinating, to say the least.

Just for going to see the memorial, or maybe because we were so nice, Tom, our Hershey guide, gave us...

You guessed it- CHOCOLATE!!! This amount doesn't even include the bags we ate on the road or what Dan's mom took with her. We estimated it was just short of $80. Our food storage is now complete!

More to come on the PA tour...

Not too far

We are gone again, but this time, we are staying within our own time zone. Thank goodness!
Dan's parents have come into town and whisked us away to Pennsylvania.
We will be sure to report!

Why I love you today

I love how you walked up to me today, opened your arms wide and demanded loudly "HUG!"
I gave you one big squeeze and that was it. You went about your business.
You are one sweet monkey!

Like pulling teeth

Ever since I tried giving Hannah "big girl" toothpaste (flouride toothpaste) to brush with, she has refused to brush her teeth. Even though I have since reverted back to the training toothpaste, I can't get her to brush, so last night, I proposed that she brush my teeth while I brush hers. It worked.

Viewer advisory: If you are one with a strong aversion to watching someone, other than yourself, brush their teeth, this video is not for you.


from dan dyer on Vimeo.

The Old Guggenheim Estate

I told Hannah yesterday morning that we were going to a castle. She wanted to wear a dress, naturally. She was really excited to go! She was even more excited when she saw this...


I always recommend people visit Sands Point Preserve, the old Guggenheim Estate, when they come to NY. I took my cousin Amy there because she is a world traveler extraordinaire and I thought she would appreciate the history associated with the estate. While she went on the Falaise home tour (not pictured), the girls and I walked around the grounds.



This is the new home of the upcoming TV series, Kings, which is why we couldn't go inside- the film crew was setting up.

There were plenty of trails to take so we beat the heat and took a walk in the shade.

The girls were holding hands because they were looking for spiders.


"Is there something in my eye?"

We went back to the "castle" and saw that there was a photo session in progress.

Hannah loved the wedding dress -she talks about getting married a lot- and she didn't hide her enthusiasm from the couple.
To kill just a little more time, I sat the girls up on this ledge and snapped a few.

I got in trouble for this one.

As soon as Amy returned from the tour, our fairy tale day at the castle ended, due to a hankering to shop and eat.
Now I don't have to take Hannah to Ireland just to see a castle.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.
~Tenneva Jordan



Happy 60th, Mom. You don't look a day over 18!

The quote above is so true for my mom. She was always sacrificing for us, but never made it seem like a big deal. If we were happy, she was happy. It holds true today.

We love you, mom and grandma!

To see another great vintage photo of my mom, click here.