Oh my!

So the other day Jeff was out of town, it was cold and rainy and not much to do so the boys and I packed up and went to a McDonald's playland. There was a cute little blonde three year old girl there with her dad and we had the place to ourselves. The boys were really nice, including her in their games and letting her play with them.

Jonathan followed her at one point and said, "Could I please have your phone number?"!!!!!

And then, a short time later Matthew got his chance.

"We're leaving soon," he said, "do you think I could have a hug and a kiss before we go?".

I think her Dad was happy I packed the boys up and left, the poor man was chuckling but also a bit pale.

Winter is here

Snow, snow and more snow. We have had a snowy week and more snow coming down now. We caught a brief sunset the other night at the beach, the channel is frozen and the lake is freezing out about to the end of the pier now. Very pretty. Sure makes beach days seem far, far away though.

Happy Wacky Wednesday!!

The boys were very sad they weren't going to be at school today for Wacky Wednesday so they picked their own wacky outfits for bed tonight.

Stay tuned for snow pictures, we have had a LOT of snow this week and expecting more overnight tonight. Hayley is requesting a path be shoveled to the woods behind the house so she doesn't have to hop across the yard every time she goes out.

COLD snowy weekend!!

It's been a cooooooooooooooold weekend around here, we never made it over 12 degrees or so and it's been snowing most of the weekend. The lake is freezing in big mounds of ice and the channel has frozen over for the first time this winter.

The Pronto Pup stand is open this weekend for their annual weekend for charity so poor Jeff has stood outside in the wind, snow and cold each day to get us pronto pups, a real treat in mid-winter! It's a good thing he loves them and us!

The boys spent Saturday morning at basketball class and then swim lessons. They braved it out to the Y and had some fun. Last week Matthew was too scared to participate in basketball, it wasn't the kids, it was the 20 or so parents watching that scared him. He got brave this week and stuck it out like a champ.

We had a long talk last night about how it's not polite that they don't like to speak on the phone to their grandparents. We told them that their grandparents love and miss them and that they need to chat with them. They did well with Grammy last night and both of them spoke to Grandma Kris at length today. I think they got the point.

Thank you Aunt Judy and Uncle Dick!

The boys were thrilled to get a package from Aunt Judy and Uncle Dick. They are package fanatics and love to see the "brown truck" or any other delivery service pull into our driveway.

After much tearing and shredding of paper, the boys were thrilled to find a set of cookie cutters in their favorite shapes: trucks, trains, bulldozers, planes!! They also got a cool set of cookie decorating supplies to make frosting and sprinkles on the cookies.

I do see some baking in our near future!!

Thank you Aunt Judy and Uncle Dick!!

Sick boys and the birthday dog

We've been laying low. We have all been sick and the weather yucky but we're on the mend now. The boys started swim lessons, basketball lessons and a new class at the Y called Book Look where they read a book and then do projects based on it. They really enjoyed that one.

Yesterday was Hayley's 6th birthday so we had our usual doggy birthday party. Hayley got a cupcake with peanut butter for frosting and some frosty paws dog ice cream. The boys had chocolate frosting and ice cream of the human kind. Hayley does not enjoy the hat but she survived. The first picture of Hayley here near my bed was actually taken by Jonathan, pretty good job considering neither boy or dog hold still very long.

The boys are suddenly into spelling and they are amazingly good at sounding out words and trying to guess how you spell them. Something new every day. I had to call the elementary school to get them registration packets for next fall, big boys for sure! They are soooo excited to go to school.

They went bowling with Jeff today while I worked as they have decided they want a bowling birthday party this year so they are practicing.

Peace and good wishes to all!

The Newmans are on a snowy trip back home. A good time was had by all. We have decided to have a jammy day and Chinese food for dinner. The house is almost back to normal, the tree is recycled, the toys are in the toy room, it's snowing. We watched the Rose Bowl parade and now the hockey game outside in Buffalo.

It's time to go back to work, to preschool, and to normal life.

Thank you to all of the grandparents, great grandmas, aunts and uncles for a magical, joyous, special holiday season. Thank you to the Newman family for trekking all the way up here. Grandma Kris and Papa Mark left for Arizona.

The most special part of the holidays was getting to spend TIME with all of you, not the presents and the gifts, but the time you give to us and the boys. The memories we are creating for the boys of a childhood filled with love.

Happy 2008!!

On our last day with cousins here the two big girls went skiing with their mom and dad and Uncle Jeff. The three littler kids stayed with Aunt Laurie and decorated for our big celebration. Then, we went to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and Ella loved the merry-go-round at our local theater.

We re-grouped at home and the kids made their own pizzas and had a party. Ella insisted we had to have cake for it to be a party so I threw together some cupcakes, I couldn't let her down!

We moved all the clocks in the house forward a few hours and celebrated new year's in the Azores time at 8pm. (NOTE TO SELF FOR 2008: hide all horns and noisemakers until midnight time!!!!!)

The kids were all tired and off schedule and crabby and made hasty exits to bed.

Aunt Mary Anne and Hayley snoozed on the couch for a bit until she gave up but Jeff and I were the only ones who actually made it to midnight.

How to get 5 kids to sleep at 7:15 pm with no complaint

First, you feed them a good breakfast. Then, you send them sledding for a few hours followed by lunch. Throw them all in the car and take them to a hotel to swim for a couple hours. (We were planning to go to the Holiday Inn where Papa Pete was staying but some kid had thrown up in the pool there the night before so it was closed. Uncle Doug had to use one more night at a Marriot Hotel before the end of the year to upgrade to the next class for business travel so he was kind enough to save the day!) We had the pool and hot tub all to ourselves. We pulled the kids out, fed them cookies from the lobby and showered them all in the room. They snuggled in the bed there and we brought them home and fed them dinner. By the end of that, they were all half asleep and no one put up a fight when we put them to bed and we didn't hear another peep from any of them.

A good grilled steak dinner and some wine was enjoyed by all those over age 10 that evening, and peace and quiet reigned.