The end of February

Grandma sent a Valentine's Day package. She sends one every year from her vacation in Florida, and has not managed to extricate herself from the tradition yet.












The boys had a blast with all the fun stuff they received, and immediately ate the individual containers of sugar cereal.












On Friday, February 23rd (my I've been lax with my New Year's Resolution) we went on a tour of Avery Soda in New Britain. They showed us how the machine works and then the boys got to make three bottles of soda to bring home. They also got some cute aprons. We didn't get much of an idea on how the machines and business work; the "tour" was about getting to make your own soda. R and E had a "great" time, but I would have skipped it had I known what it was. It was kind of cool to see the bottles go into the machine and come back out filled up with a top on it, but there was no information about how it happened. Part of the problem may have been that there were WAY too many people on this tour and they split us into two groups. One person doing two groups at once. You can imagine. The gentleman did answer all of my questions, but it was too chaotic. I probably wouldn't go again even if it wasn't. Probably better to go there to buy some soda and ask if we can watch how the machine works.












The boys had a great time in Queens with Grandma and Grandpa the next day. They enjoyed non-stop TV, McDonald's, Toys R Us, pizza (as only New York can do it) and playing with their cousins for a little while. Meanwhile B and I got to enjoy Spamalot in Manhattan, which if I were rich I would sooo be seeing again. It was non-stop laughing the whole entire time. If they sold the DVD I would have bought it. It was a very exceptional experience.












E has been hard at work with the Cars he net from Toys R Us.
He has been making race tracks aaaalll over the livingroom, using whatever is handy for the the side walls. I have been a spectator voting for my favorite many times.










I went to an Academy Awards party this year. I'm the one all the way on the right. It was really fun to get all dressed up. We all looked smashing. I wish the photo were clearer.














Wednesday we skipped our New Haven playgroup. R is getting tired of playing inside and his favorite friend in the group is on vacation, so he asked if we could have a day off. Happily, some friends called and invited us over for an impromptu playdate!

Thursday I took the boys ice-skating. This place lets homeschoolers pay only $4 - including skate rental - any day of the week during their open skate from 12:00 till 1:20. The boys had a great time skating with other homeschoolers, and I got to meet some new grown-ups too.














This past weekend we got our livingroom just about finished. I made the curtains and B finished the plaster patch he was working on behind the couch. I'm just hanging up art now and we'll be done. Woo hoo! Just in time for R's family birthday party!

On a serious note...Saturday morning I sat down to read the newspaper and was flabbergasted to read about the murder/suicide in our town. I had already heard about it from a commercial for the news, but hadn't seen the whole story. So when I read the victims' names I was shocked to find they are our neighbors! The two boys had told me some of their turbulent history when we first met and were sleighing down our hill last year, so when I read those names I was chilled. No matter that R had decided not to play with them because they were exclusionary, I always felt bad for them that their father was so screwed up. And now to see him take so many lives and leave these boys orphaned has blown me away.

This event has really affected me. Not only because my heart is breaking for those poor boys, whose whole lives have been turned upside down, but because I thought I was leaving that kind of violence behind in New York. I know, I know, violence can happen to anyone, but holy cow, two young boys TWO DOORS OVER?