Vacation

Here is a funny little video of what the kids have been doing with their Christmas vacation. It clearly illustrates the three different levels of skating ability among them.



Wayne is obviously headed for the NHL; this was Heather's first time on skates; and do you think Cole's skating lessons are paying off?

Christmas Morning

Our Christmas morning started around 7 a.m. Outside, there was no new snow, but the trees were coated in crystal from the fog that rose and then froze in the night. It was eerie and beautiful.

Inside the house it was noisy and happy. Santa had come and filled all the stockings to their brims.

Heather took her time opening and looking at each little stocking present.

Here she is modeling another one of her gifts from under the tree. A fairy costume complete with crown, wings and wand.

Later in the afternoon Peter, Jeanne, Katie, and Lizzy came over. Here are Lizzy, Cole, and Heather in Heather's sparkly, gauzy canopy that came with her costume.

We had a great day, but unfortunately I didn't get many pictures. Too busy trying to keep up with the wrapping paper I guess!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

Just a couple of random shots from recent days to get this Christmas Eve underway. The kids decorated the tree last weekend. Heather is really into taking her clothes off lately. Usually she takes everything off, but on this occasion, it just the bottom half. I tried to censor the photos a little.
At least they enjoyed decoarating, even if it is a Charlie Brown tree and all the oranments slid right off the spindly little branches.

Can you tell that I forced them to stand in front of the tree together?
Sometimes Little Miss "I'm a big, big geel," needs a nap afterall.

Have a peaceful eve and a merry tomorrow.

Big and Little

Isn't this a breath of springtime in the middle of December?

Heather will be 3 on Saturday. We'll be at Grampa and Gramma's house in Maine. She's a big girl, but when it suits her she'll say, "But Mommy, I'm still a wittle bit wittle. I am."
Happy Birthday little big girl.

Gingerbread, Royal Icing, and Santa on a Fire Engine

First of all, just a cute picture of Cole and Spike. Cole was home sick a week or so ago, and Spike proved to have a very good "bedside" manner. Therapy dog in the making?
So this is what we've been up to all week - our gingerbread house for the annual contest hosted by the library. Here's Wayne cutting some pieces.

Cole makes...something - I don't know what, but Heather is very interested. This is a good view of her self-inflicted haircut.

Heather thinks it's play dough.

The next day we make royal icing.

Heather plays with leftover dough. Turns out it IS a good substitute for play dough.

Cole makes cookies.

The decorating of the gingerbread house. Can you tell what house it's modelled after?

Heather made her own little graham cracker house.

Here's the finished product. It must be the worst looking gingerbread house in history.

The other side.

All kids who enter the contest get a little stocking filled with little toys and candy canes. Heather got one for her graham cracker house. She was very proud. She thinks she won the whole contest.

Unfortunately there were not very many entries this year - only four in all and we won third place. This bottle of syrup is our prize. I reserve the right to regift.

Before the contest, we went on a fire engine ride with Santa (Frank Daigneault). I have no idea who this kid is, but none of my kids would get anywhere near Santa so this is the only pic I could get.

Inside the fire house there were snacks and hot cocoa. Cole was in heaven.

A shot of the engine from the outside. Yes, we were riding on TOP of it. It didn't feel as dangerous as it looks.

So that's what we've been up to this week. Now to get ready for Heather's birthday and a possible trip to Gramma and Grampa's next weekend...

One More Short

Here's one more video of Cole that I had tried to upload yesterday.

Last summer Wes ran over Heather's tricycle, but Wayne realized that it was not a total loss. He removed the squashed rear wheels and replaced them with little plastic skis. All these months later, there is finally some snow and so Cole decided to take it for a test ride. Before I took this video, he had a couple of runs that were more successful than what you see here, but you'll get the idea.

Shorts

The following are some very short videos of fun in the snow.

Wayne does some "snowboarding," with a little help from Spike.



Another try.

I have one of Cole too, but I accidentally uploaded two of Wayne and ran out of time at the library. I'll try again tomorrow. It's a funny one.

The Last Vestige of Babyhood

Heather is officially no longer a baby.

I held onto her babyhood as long as I could, but now that she's about to turn 3, she's reached a couple more milestones. For one thing, she's given up her naptime. After many nights of her being awake in her room until 9:30 or so, getting out of her bed to play with her dolls or sneaking into Wayne and Cole's room to see what they were up to when they all should have been sleeping, I decided It must be time to let go of the nap. It was not easy (for me) but now she goes to sleep as soon as her head hits the pillow in the evening.

For another thing, not only can she give herself a haircut, but she can also get dressed (almost) all by herself. See how proud she looks. You can't really tell from the picture, but she has two shirts on, and one of them is on backwards with the tag sticking up. She doesn't seem to mind. When she looked at her outfit in the mirror, she said, "It's perfect." She wasn't a baby for very long.

The kindergarten class took another field trip to a Catamount Arts performance of Hansel and Gretel, by the National Marrionette Theatre.
This was a gentler version than the original, while still holding somewhat true to the story. Their real mother lets them go into the forest to find berries (rather than a stepmother abandoning them in the woods.)

Angels protect them in the forest until morning.

After being pushed into the oven the witch turns into a gingerbread woman.

Cole is home sick today and the rain is rinsing all of our snow away. I have a couple of videos of W & C sledding for sometime when I get to the library.

Wayne's Piano Recital

Here's a little video of Wayne at his recital on Saturday afternoon. He was Great.

New Hair Style

Just in time for Christmas card photos and looking pretty in holiday dresses.

This morning, at about 5:30 as I tried to pry my eyes open with caffeine, Heather decided to go down to the basement and get creative with her craft scissors. Not with construction paper, but with her hair. Five minutes later, she came proudly into the kitchen, where I was standing with my mug, to show me her achievement.

I woke right up.

Poor girl. My reaction was not what she expected. These pictures don't really show the complete "style" very well.

I tried to even it out some and will have to do a better job later after a bath, when her hair is wet. It's not as short as it looks, I just have some of the choppy layers tucked behind her ears.

Expect hats to be part of this year's Christmas card picture.

Wayne's Report Card

I told you I'd keep you posted on Wayne's report card, so here you go. Not too shabby!

I think her comments are a little weak. I expect much more profuse gushing about such genius.

Cole's First Report Card

You've seen a few of these from Wayne. Now here is Cole's first report card. I hope you can see it ok. I don't have a scanner, so my camera's macro function is the best I can do. Click on a picture to enlarge and see it better.

Wayne's report card hasn't come home yet, but rest assured, I'll keep you posted!

Red Ribbon Week

It's Red Ribbon Week at school, which is an alcohol and drug awareness campaign.

Each day of the week has a different theme. Monday's theme was "sock it to drugs." Everyone wore crazy socks. Tuesday's theme was "Drugs Won't Get in My Way." Kids wore a costume or uniform of what they hope to be whe they grow up. Wayne's first choice was "author" but we couldn't figure out how to dress like an author in an interesting way. His second choice was "scientist" but we couldn't find a white shirt to use as a lab coat. So, as you can see below, he went as his third choice, baseball player. Cole went as a "structural engineer." He's dressed ready to go to his office.
Here he is in his office, getting ready to work on the computer, doing whatever structural engineers do.
Meanwhile, while the boys were at school exploring career choices, Heather and I made cranberry nut bread.

In other Red Ribbon Week news, Wednesday's theme was "Team up against drugs." Students wore either a school team shirt or a professional team shirt/jersey. Wayne and Cole wore their t-ball uniforms. Today, Thursday, the theme is "Drugs and I don't mix." They wear mismatched clothing - mismatched shoes, socks, Wayne wore a camoflage and stripe mixture. Cole wore colors that clash. Tomorrow is "Red Ribbon Day." They will wear as much red as possible.

More Halloween

Halloween just cannot be contained in one day. Here's our Halloween weekend in a nutshell.

Friday
As I mentioned before, the school has a pumpkin carving contest every year. Here are some of the entries.

And here is the kindergarten class showing off their entries. Neither Wayne nor Cole won the contest, but Cole received a certificate of participation, as did every student in the kindegarten class. I don't think that has been standard practice in previous years.

The kindergarten class party. I had also planned to visit Wayne's room for the 2nd grade party, but as it turned out, they had theirs earlier in the day. See in the background of the picture where there are trick or treat bags hanging in each cubby? Those were gifts to each kindergarten student from the kitchen staff. This little group of kindergartners is getting a lot of special attention.

Heather and Cole dressed in their halloween finest for the party.

At home later that afternoon, Wayne carves another pumpkin. Or Two.

Satruday

Saturday bright and early, I took everyone to hockey while Wes helped Tyler and Aimee move into their new house. I haven't seen it, except for pictures on Aimee's blog a while ago, but I hear it's NICE. After hockey, W,C,H and I went to Jeanne's house to help Joanie with the Christmas calendar. Then we rushed home to change into costumes for trick or treating.

We stopped over at Elaine and Bernard's house first. Wayne is wearing a bat costume from Martha and Cole decided to be a vampire. Gone are the superheros. I'm a little sad.

At the last minute Heather changed her mind about wearing her "buttersly" costume and decided to wear the same pumpkin costume she wore last year. Elaine had made chocolate cake. Yummy!

Trick or treating turned out to be a miserable experience due to pouring rain and wind, but the kids made away with tons of loot, so they were happy as can be.

Sunday

Halloween is a busy day to have a birthday, so we celebrated Wes's birthday on Sunday. The kids and I made a cake.

There was a big fight over who would blow out the candles.

Wes opens his gifts. This one is from Joanie - a vintage looking rice crispies treats cookie jar. So cute.

Hope you all had a fun Halloween.