Sleepover

Last night the boys had their best friends sleep over.
Recognize them?
Usually I'm a big fan of irony.

Our new playgroup

We had a fun time down in New Haven today with our “new improved” playgroup. Today all the kids hung out together instead of separating the younger ones. The boys both had a great time. And I did too. I have not been getting enough grown-up time lately, and my visit with J was very enjoyable. I really look forward to B coming out of his bubble and talking to me again.

I forgot to take pictures :-(

Long Live Playgroup

We went to playgroup today. I understood that the family who has not been respecting our boundaries, and their entourage, would not be there today. Wrong.

It's really a bummer that we have been forced out of yet another group by someone who keeps forcing herself into my life and simply refuses to leave me alone. Especially because the indoor location for this winter is just 10 minutes over in the next town, and we've spent the last 3 years driving 30 minutes down to New Haven. But on the other hand, as I mentioned a couple of days ago, we “are thrilled that all of our friends have arranged to meet once a week with us on another day. We are so blessed to have created friendships with them that they are willing to work to keep. The tweens are meeting at one house, while their siblings are meeting at someone else's (who happens to live within walking distance of the first).”

So we really are done with our Wednesday playgroup.

Pirates!

We left our Wednesday playgroup and are thrilled that all of our friends have arranged to meet once a week with us on another day. We are so blessed to have created friendships with them that they are willing to work to keep. The tweens are meeting at one house, while their siblings are meeting at someone else's (who happens to live within walking distance of the first). Here's a photo of the younger crew last week; E with his best buds:

This week we had planned to have all the kids together rather than meet at separate houses, but too many kids are sick, so we canceled this time around. I'm glad we've been doing other fun things so the boys didn't miss it too much.

This evening we went to our now annual excursion to The Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society's yearly performance. A CT homeschooling family participates with this group and invites other homeschoolers to come to the dress rehearsal for free, which is awesome, since were we to pay, it would cost us $80.

This time it was The Pirates of Penzance. It's so cool that the boys love to go see an opera (ok, technically it's an operetta) every year. R even skipped his last soccer practice of the season for it. The show was very funny, but we still all agree that our favorite was the first show we saw, Iolanthe in 2007. After all, although we had silly pirates this year, Iolanthe had the classic large woman with shielded breasts and long braids with a horned helmet. We'll keep going every year that we are invited to, but it will be hard to top that.

Co Co Key Water Resort

...is offering free admission for the next couple of weeks, so we had to take advantage of that. The boys had such a good time with their friend RP at Chuck E. Cheese's the other day, that we decided to invite him to join us again today.

Everyone had a fun day.

I'm Back

Thought I'd give this another try. Again. And that I'd open it up to the general public. Again. We'll see where it goes. And who reads. And who stalks. And if I care.

E found Chuck E. Cheese's coupons in the newspaper at my dad's house. Normally I steer clear of that place, but I thought it would be fun if we went and they each invited one of their friends. We've needed some distraction from the theft of our playgroup and this seemed like a great way to get it.

I think they both had a really fun day. (Remember to click on the photos to see them larger.)

E's 9th Birthday...with the big bouncy house

E's birthday party was a week late this year. We had to have it on a weekend since so many of his friends go to school now. It was nice too, because we were able to invite our families. My mother came down and spent a couple of days, and my dad canceled plans to be here.

The boys were disappointed that Uncle M couldn't make it, because two of his three kids was sick. E was really bummed that none of my siblings made it either, but was glad to at least have two of his cousins to play with; B's brother E's family, which was awesome. (Click on photos to enlarge them.) It was great to see E up and about. He really is a very different person now, after the stroke, but he is still E in there, and he can walk, and talk, if you are patient enough to allow him to get out what he wants to say.

Here he is in the middle surrounded by his family and my dad, who was so glad to have the opportunity to visit with him. E was a musician and he and my dad share that, E having actually bought a really old, but well functioning, amplifier from him many years ago.


I can't believe I spent the money on it, but we got a bouncy house this year. The boys chipped in and gave me $30 so we could get the really big one with the slide.

I let E invite everyone he wanted to, figuring if I spent all that money we may as well at least get good use out of it. We invited 47 people, but we ended up with 32, I think.

B made it through the day pretty well considering he had had chemo that weekend. He managed to jump around in the house since he was the only grown-up in the family who was around to and could. He's such a great dad.

I think I did a great job coordinating this whole thing. Family was invited from 11:00 till 3:00, and I served them lunch at noon. At 1:00 all the kids around the neighborhood (all under age 7) arrived. They had 30 minutes to bounce without getting hurt, until the big kids arrived at 1:30. At 3:00 all the family and neighborhood little kids left, and the big kids then had an hour to bounce around wildly, since they had been invited to stay till 4.

We had cupcakes which had had the wrappers taken off before being frosted, and were able to have "cake" in hand with no plates, utensils, or mess. I've found that kids tend to eat the whole cupcake and not just lick off the frosting when there is no paper to contend with. Easy.

The kids also had a blast hunting around for their candy "treasure" bags that had been hidden around the backyard. I was so pleased that when we couldn't find one, all the kids readily agreed to share one piece of candy with the girl who couldn't find hers (showed up in the gas grill the next day).

It was tough when everyone was gone. R headed out with one of our guests for a sleepover, and it was just E and B and I. I bounced around in the house a bit, and we all had a good laugh when I lost my balance and almost fell.

We had a quiet evening together, and E had lots of fun bouncing in the morning before the guy came to take the house away.

It really was an awesome day. And it was certainly the easiest kids party I ever hosted. But honestly, I can't see how people spend this kind of money on kids' parties year after year. Crazy.

Memorial Day Weekend

We headed up to Maine this year. I usually avoid my mother's enormous family around holiday time, but I was feeling like B needed the break from home, and my mom dotes over him to his great satisfaction. Plus it's a really cool place to be to feel the summer's potential.

We had a fantastic Saturday playing with my three-year-old nephew, M. He's been slow to blossom and it was really nice to see him interacting so much. He really bonded with my kids when they were up there during the week of B's surgery, and was super excited to see them when we arrived.

My brother talked my mom into lending him money for a small electric motor for the row boat. I'm glad he did, because B would not have been able to take the boys on their usual row (another couple of months of restricted activities while he continues to recover from his surgery), and it's something he really enjoys doing when we go up there.

We went up to my Grandmother's cottage at Granny Kent Pond on Sunday. Where the bazillions of people always are. Except this time there was almost no one. It was incredibly disappointing that none of the other four 1997 boys' families showed up, because my kids had no one to play with all day. And they were already dealing with the disappointment of Aunt D canceling her trip home from Colombia at the super last minute. Poor R had even brought his tadpole with sprouting legs all the way to Maine to show her.

It was also a bummer that one of my uncles was sick and the dock couldn't be put out into the water without his manpower. Plus the picnic tables were behind the dock. Which all adds up to my Memorial Day inside instead of on the beach.

Nevertheless, R did say at the end of the day that it was still better than just hanging out at Grandma's all day. They had an acceptable time fishing and playing in the water and with the sand and drinking soda and eating Doritos and red peppers and hot dogs. And I got to hang out with my grandmother since some of her entourage didn't show up and I didn't feel like I was on stage. She's 91 and getting tired. I don't blame her; eight kids is a lot. And they kept coming home...

Sunday was the most enjoyable day. E enjoyed some quiet time fishing with the boat tied to the dock. He was determined to catch something, but never managed it.

I took time to enjoy the view from the deck...and the deck from the view...

We had an excellent time playing some miniature golf with Grandma (my mom). My boys are so blessed to have a Grandma who adores them and interacts with them so much.

After that we enjoyed some scallops, lobster roll, clam chowder (don't even ask "what kind?"), haddock fish and chips, and chicken tenders at The Weathervane. Yum!

And finally it was time to go.

But R didn't want to.

In a big way.

He wanted to stay in Maine with Grandma until this weekend, when she is coming down to Connecticut for E's birthday party anyway.

So he talked about it with E, and E decided to stay too.

It was a really agonizing decision for E. The week of B being in the hospital is still with him. He is so worried about his dad. But he loves R most, and didn't want to leave without him. Plus the next day was his birthday and we were planning to go to a Rockcats game, which we had done last year and he loved.

But after reassuring him that B would be fine, and that we would go see the Rockcats another night, yes with Nagy Papa too, he decided to stay. The security of getting to hold on to my new cell phone seemed to help.

I have to admit that driving away from them was a surreal experience. I could still see the apprehension on E's face, but knew he'd be glad he made the decision he did. And B and I got to spend the rest of our 18th Wedding Anniversary alone.

And now several days...

Good Stuff

Life is moving along...

April ended with zoo class at the Beardsley Zoo. The younger class did an obstacle course to help learn about habitats, and it looked so much fun to the older kids that a few of them hung around after class to give it a try. They had a great time.

May started with friends being kind enough to help out with a few things. B is prohibited from lifting things over 5 pounds so we needed some help getting the summer clothes down from the loft in the garage and putting the air conditioner in the kitchen window. We had the added bonus of a knitting lesson for B and guidance on how to build the tree fort which I am likely going to end up doing myself. Somehow it feels like pizza wasn't enough of a thank you, but being humble and asking for/accepting help when I need it are some of the lessons I am learning from B's illness. I was extremely glad to have this family visit; they are such great people, I wish our lives ran a little more parallel. I always thoroughly enjoy the times I/we do get though.

On B's last weekend home recovering from surgery before returning to work, we headed to Brooksvale Park to check out some tadpoles. It was really drizzly out but turned out to be a very enjoyable afternoon. Our friend's Dad is the Park Ranger there and it was fun running into them on our walk around the pond. The boys had great fun catching dozens of tadpoles and catching up with their friend, who now goes to school.

The boys have been having oodles of fun with our new webcam. They can talk to Aunt D, and actually see her, (for free!) through Skype now. They talk several times a week and play Webkinz with her while speaking to her. Also, R is having fun being her poker buddy on Facebook.

As the weather is getting nicer the boys are spending more time outside. They and their friends build a ramp/slide into the sand pit which they had filled with water. Basically it was a giant mud puddle that they glided into. They had so an excellent time.

We joined our playgroup for a field trip to a crypt underneath the Center Church on the New Haven Green. We were told the wrong time and got there first, but that worked out fine since the organist was practicing and allowed us to watch a bit. She also spoke to us about the organ. Very cool stuff.

Then we headed up into the church, where our tour guide spoke about the church and how it came to be on top of a graveyard. He was very informative and did a great job keeping the kids engaged. But the really cool part was when we got to go down under the church and see the actual crypt. Very, very cool.

I was glad to find that both boys were interested enough to actually pay attention rather than socializing with their friends as they used to do on field trips. Perhaps they are getting settled enough to participate in more of these things. On the other hand the trip was a reminder of how I hate being on field trips with other families. People just don't keep their kids quiet, and not only does it disturb everyone's enjoyment of what's going on, but it also makes me feel that homeschoolers get a bad name that way, and I hate to be associated with them.

We finally celebrated R's birthday (only three months late) at Laser Planet. We were putting it off till after Disney, then ended up having to put it off till after surgery. That R is such a good kid. Really. He was so patient.

He had a blast playing laser tag with all his friends. Each of the kids also got tokens and played some arcade games. R played played a game where you drop a token in the machine and it drops a ball. The ball lands on a number and that's how many tickets you get. He got 75! Then he added that to the bunch he got last time he was there, and got himself some sweet prizes.

I think all his friends had as much fun as he did. It was weird for me though because this was the first party I didn't have to do anything for. He even wanted cupcakes, so there was no need for me to cut and serve a cake. B and I just sat there for two hours while the kid who works there pretty much organized the whole thing and kept it flowing.

I still get to be photographer though :-)

The week before B's surgery

Hate to title it that way, but that's how it will forever stick in my mind. Fine though, because it was a good one. A really good one.

Monday started at the Coco Key Water Resort; a small water park in a hotel right next door in Waterbury. A homeschooler set up the trip, which I was so happy about, since it is right next door and the boys had been asking to go. We saved a lot of money by going with a group, and the boys had a blast. Turns out some good friends of theirs went too and they got to play for four hours with them.

My mom arrived shortly after we got home. She was on her annual trek home to Maine from Florida, and spent the night. We always love having her visit. And the boys were so happy when she offered to take them to Friendly's while I bowled on Tuesday morning.

Wednesday started out on an awesome note when one of the women from my women's circle showed up as I was making breakfast, to hand deliver a gorgeous arrangement from Edible Arrangements which my "sisters" had chipped in for. I had only seen ads for these things and wondered how they are, and now I can definitively say that they are awesome. It was absolutely beautiful and the fruit was such high quality and tasted wonderful. (By the way, all those empty sticks once had grapes on them.) And even better than the wonderful fruit is knowing that my sisters are thinking about us and sending us warm wishes. What an amazing way to start out my day.

After Green Street classes we headed to playgroup, as usual. It's so nice that the weather is getting better and we can all spend time outside. I'm so glad R is enjoying himself there again. Last session at Green Street he didn't care about having to miss playgroup, but now he's glad to be back. Me too. I don't talk to anyone at any of the activities I take them to, and I'm finding that I need to spend some time talking to other homeschooling moms once in a while. I need to reminded that I'm not living in a vacuum, I guess.

It was a hard afternoon for me though, as one of the women there let slip about B's surgery to a large group of people. I had told only 3 people at playgroup (the women I actually consider friends) and asked them not to tell anyone else. I wanted to keep playgroup a place of normalcy, but that was not to happen. So now I have people coming up to me asking "Is B okay?" and "How are you, C?". These people are not my friends and I'm not going to suddenly share my life with them because they feel bad for me. I'm really quite annoyed. I really needed playgroup to be a place to go and talk about homeschooling and kids and the weather. I really needed a place to be distracted from our challenges. *sigh*

After a teary-eyed drive home, I was able to put it aside however, to enjoy the rest of our evening. After B got home, and we had eaten our crockpot pot roast sandwiches, we headed out to Roller Magic in Waterbury. E has been wanting to go roller skating ever since Q's birthday in November and we were finally able to get to it.

Wednesdays are so much cheaper than every other night, so the place was crowded. Since everything was cheap I gave it a go. I used to be a great skater about 30 years ago, but this time I never made it off the carpet onto the skating area. If it hadn't been so crowded I could've practiced more on the carpet with friction, and eventually moved out to the skating area, but no such luck. I haven't given up hope though; I will try again. In the meantime I promised E that I would get him there more often. He loves skating and feels we need to go more often so he doesn't have to re-learn it every time. He actually asked for skates for Christmas but didn't get them. Perhaps for his birthday.

Thursday found us heading into New York for B's pre-op appointments. We parked in Bridgeport and took Metro North down to Grand Central. Mercifully, since we had the boys with us, the appointments were held on schedule and did not take as long as we expected. We enjoyed some pizza in an inside plaza where a pianist performed while we ate. Then we headed over to visit Uncle E in his hospital.

The boys were very nervous about seeing him for the first time after his stroke, especially E. We had forewarned them that Uncle E might not know who they are, and this really freaked him out. He was so concerned about what to talk about while we were there. When we got there though Uncle E was still in physical therapy, and wouldn't be back for 1.5 hours. So we cut out to play in a nearby park.

The NYC kids were getting out of school when we arrived. There was a nine year-old who joined us in a game of tag. An unaccompanied nine year-old in the playground in NYC. His mother was in the library across the street. Different world.

Even R was impressed with the difference. He stood on top of the playground, looked at this view of all the kids playing basketball after school, and commented that even though he wanted to live in Manhattan when he gets older, he's going to move out when it comes time to have kids. I'm so glad he appreciates being raised where he is. And I'm so glad that I have had an opportunity to live outside of NY. Although B and I have talked about retiring there.

On the way back to Uncle E's hospital E found, and both he and R agonized over, a dollar under the grating on the ground. They both insisted that if it had been a 10 or 20 that they would have stayed till they figured how to get it out, but without trees and fallen sticks, it would have been a big ordeal.

Seeing Uncle E was awesome. He not only recognized the boys but lit up when he saw them, motioning them over for hugs. It was so great to see him sitting in bed with his legs over the side. It was so great to be able to hug him good and hard!

Uncle E's therapists are very impressed with the progress he is making in his physical therapy. He can go to the bathroom alone now. And he follows conversations much longer now. Boy, it was good to see him so much further along than last time we saw him. It was a very heartwarming and joyous visit. Both of my boys were so glad to see him and left knowing that Uncle E is still Uncle E and is trying his best to fight his way back to us. And they felt great in seeing him so happy to see them. It was a good visit on many levels.

Uncle E has an awesome view from his room. We don't know how he got so lucky, since his last room also had a great view. Maybe it's special treatment for NYC firefighters?

All in all we had a great day. After our commute down to NY I've decided I'm going to come home every night after spending the days with B in the hospital next week. Going "home" to my mother-in-law in Queens every night is not going to replenish my soul the way coming home to Connecticut will. It will mean less time with B during the days, but I've got more than just his needs to meet. Poor E is already showing signs of stress, and that 81 minutes on the train each way will be good alone-time for me. Good time to escape into some fiction, which I have already borrowed from the library.

Friday we had an easy going morning. We had Chinese food for lunch with Nagy Papa and the boys headed home with him while I continued on to bowling. Since another of my three team mates will be out this Tuesday, I didn't want the last one to be bowling alone, so I pre-bowled. I went in and bowled alone and those scores will count towards our scores next week. I probably should have skipped it though since I bowled under my average the first two games. Hopefully my 191 in the third game will win at least one game for them. Hopefully we won't get bumped out of first place.

Afternoon found B and E with the sniffles. I'm so glad that E still responds so well to water. He is learning that baths are a great way for him to handle stress and that somehow life always seems more manageable after one. He is having such a hard time these days as R gets older and is given more freedom that he doesn't share. This evening found him upset that R had gone to the YMCA with is "tween" friends again this week, and he was stuck home. And that I wouldn't do anything special for him since R was getting something special. Look at that face though. That's a relaxed boy.

Today (Saturday) B is in bed and will hopefully bang out his cold in 24 hours the way he always does so we don't need to postpone his surgery. I sincerely hope that E gets over his quickly too, so he can go and visit B in the hospital as planned.

We were scheduled to go see a robotics competition today and I'm disappointed that R decided he didn't want to go since I thought it would be cool. On the other hand it's nice to have a slow non-shower, sweatpants day at home with everyone doing his own thing. E is playing outside, B is sleeping, I'm blogging, and R has ridden his bike to pick up the copy of Twilight that he had placed on hold at the library. I told him he can see the movie if he reads the book. His friends are all about it right now. We'll see if peer pressure works in getting him to read. Taking away audio books for a year doesn't seem to have made a difference, and I'm frankly starting to get nervous.

Wow, he just came in exclaiming what a FAT book it is. If that boy reads that whole book I will dead away pass out. Or wet my pants.

Through the weekend

This week E learned how to make egg salad. He always liked using the egg slicer, but can now also peel the eggs, mash them, and mix it all up. Yum!

We've been worrying about one of the squirrels we feed. He broke his right leg and his left eye is all cloudy. (Remember, you can click the photos to see them larger.) He seems to be getting a little more energetic every day, but it probably won't last too much longer. E and I had some interesting conversations while we watched him as another squirrel jumped on his back. First we thought it was attacking. Then we thought it was trying to mate. But we decided that it must be some sort of other relationship. Either mom/child or mate. The other squirrel seemed to be pushing him along. E named him Survivor. We also had a conversation about euthanasia, but that did not sit at all well with E. This week we'll be getting a book about squirrels at the library. We know surprisingly little about them other than what we've observed, and are looking forward to finding out what kind of social circles they run in.

Friday evening from 7pm till 9:30pm R went to this thing called Twylight Zone, which is an event for tweens at the YMCA. They open the pool and gym and game room to tweens. It's free for members and was only 6 bucks for guests. With all of R's friends there were a total of seven of them, and they had a great time. He refused to bring his camera and take pictures for me. He is wanting to be his own person now and have time with friends that he doesn't have to share with me. *sigh*

E had me take a photo of the biggest pot he ever won (R is so damn good at poker, although E is lucky as hell at everything else). Poor thing smashed his finger while he was running to tell me to take his picture. He held it together long enough for the photo and then needed some ice and a Spongebob bandaid.

Saturday we went down to to New York to celebrate B's nephews' birthdays. Aunt R decided to do the boys together since Uncle E normally handles all the Joe Housewife stuff and he is in the hospital rehabilitating. It was so strange to be in his house with him not there. It was mighty good to be in New York for something happy though.

The boys had a great time playing with the Playstation upstairs and the Wii downstairs. They always have a great time there, but we always end up having to have the no gaming systems conversation on the way home. Yes, I'm already regretting the Nintendo DS we bought R for Christmas. Argh.

I was so happy to get a great shot of all the B kids together. And Uncle M stood behind me to get them to all smile. Well done, Uncle M!

This morning (Sunday) I walked on my treadmill for 20 minutes and rode my Lifecylce for 10 minutes. Standing ovation please.

Today E was invited to a neighborhood friend's birthday party at a gymnastics center. He wasn't thrilled with the circuit aspect of the party, preferring the free time they had to play on whatever they wanted. He loves having playmates in our cul-de-sac. He loves being the oldest. He is eight and the next after him is six. And it goes down to two and a half. See him towering above the other kids (along with older cousins who had also been invited), I love that all the neighborhood parents love him. They tell me he is "pleasant" and "kind". I'm so glad that he has the opportunity to be with younger kids and nurture that side of him.

R invited some friends over for the afternoon. They played basketball and who knows what else while E and I were at the birthday party. E was so pleased that they included him when he returned and wanted to play with them. What a great group of kids. All of them have little brothers and are understanding.

I loved watching them walk out of the woods with all their wooden rifles, Nerf guns, and blow horns. They must've had a fun day. I'm so thrilled that R is starting to take care of his own social life and that I really can stop worrying about that aspect of his life.

The last few Sundays have been tough for B. He realizes that he needs to continue to do the things he can while he can. At first he was so immobilized, but he is learning to live day by day and appreciate the moment. Today he cleaned the gutters. There's no way he will be able to do them in April when he usually does, and he refuses to pay someone else. So he is carrying on.

But by about 3:00 he starts looking like he's ready to cry. He showers and puts on his pajamas and climbs into bed to watch something on TV to get lost in. He is counting down his weekends, and now he has only one left until his life is changed so drastically for several months.

Nine days until his surgery.

A busy Wednesday

We started out at our co-op classes at Green Street today. R is taking an Electronics class and E is taking Music Appreciation. From there we stopped at McDonald's for lunch, since I can never seem to get myself together early enough in the morning to make lunch at home. From McDonald's we went down to New Haven to playgroup. The boys are happy I signed them up only for early classes at Green Street so we can return to playgroup in the afternoons. It was a beautiful day and they had a great time. I am thrilled that the group seems to have grown during our absence; there were six "tweens" there today!

I was happy that of the nine bags of books in my trunk, playgroup friends took six bags worth. Man, we have a lot of books. Breaks my heart to get rid of many of them, but now that I know about our visual processing disorders, and the kind of books my boys like to read and are frankly, comfortable looking at, there's no sense in keeping the rest. I also parted with some of the old picture books that we had outgrown. I was so glad to have them go to friends. The balance went to New Haven Reads (book bank) after playgroup.

From there we went to Target for birthday gifts for this weekend, Thyme and Season to pick up our raw milk, and Everybody's for Italian bread for our chicken sandwiches.

Wednesdays are only going to get worse when golf lessons start next month.

January Fun

Lots of planning for our vacation around here; reading books, looking at websites, making reservations, and planning our itinerary. R says he is tired of the snow, but he still goes out to play now as much as he does in the summer. The snow this year has been obnoxious. B did not get season passes for skiing this year because the snow has been so bad the last few years. Now he is considering getting monthly passes to Mount Southington for himeself and R, when we get back from Florida.

The boys have been playing basketball on Saturdays. No weekday sports at all. It has been heavenly for me with so much less driving. I signed them up with some neighborhood friends. We parents take turn driving the kids, and the kids get some time to play together while not playing basketball. It's turning out to be a great arrangement. (For those of you who are new here, you can click on the photos to enlarge them.)

Here is some sort of war game that E invented. He drew the water and the land, and made up rules to play with his civil war soldiers. B played with him and said it was a pretty good game. That E is so creative.

And here is the young man with his new Nerf Long Shot. Thanks Aunt R and uncle E for all that money for Christmas :-/ The only good thing to come of this, is that I've given him permission to shoot any cats in the backyard (how screwed up is that). We have a big problem with cats chasing our birds away and everyone I've asked has assured me that the Nerf bullets will only scare them away and not really harm them. Whatever.

We tried to make some Outrageous Ooze, but it didn't work out. The kit we had was old and perhaps the gunk in there had expired. We were bummed about it, since generating excitement for this kind of activity is so challenging, and having it not work out doesn't really help the cause.

We have stopped trying to shovel the sidewalk since the boys convinced the plow guys to push all the cul-de-sac snow in the front of our house. We do have some awesome conditions out there.




B is really good about playing out front with the boys. I went down the lawn once, but I went too fast and am afraid of killing myself. So I am the photographer now.

R is getting really good at snowboarding. We have to get him on some real slopes this year. He's only skied on the slopes, but he is ready to snowboard. Here's the view of our front hill from a second floor window. Pretty cool hill. The boys built a snowman yesterday.
This is what it looks like today. We hadn't realized it was that warm outside.
E had some fun with some neighborhood kids today. He loves being the oldest.
More soon!