Santa Came To Town

Yes, Santa did come to the fire house Saturday night, but I didn't get any pictures of him to show you.

Kids were lined up waiting to get on the fire engine. It was rigged up somehow so kids rode on top of the engine and Santa was up there in a throne type of chair. They had to climb up a ladder to get on. I know it sounds dangerous, but I'm sure it was made safe, somehow. Not that I would actually know, because I never did get to go up there. The firemen had put some sides on the top of the engine to keep anyone from falling over.

I know I'm not writing this so it makes sense, but I'm really tired right now.

Rather than wait in line out in the cold, we waited inside the firehouse where there were goodies and refreshents. Tables were set up with coloring pages and crayons for the little kids.

This is Anya from up the road a little further from us. She's 3 months older than Heather.

As you cans see from the evidence around his mouth, Cole enjoyed a cup of hot cocoa before going for a ride with Santa. Heather was busy coloring. I had considered staying home with her and letting Wes take the boys because she had been a bear all afternoon with a miserable cold and stuffy runny nose, but then I thought it might be good for her to get out of the house and have a little fun. About 4 minutes after I took this picture, I looked down at her and thought, "Poor Heather." Her eyes were all read and she was pale. "I shouldn't have brought her here." I felt bad for her so I pulled her into my lap to give her a hug and she immediately threw up all over herself and me.

I sat there in shock hollering to Wes for some help. It took a while to get his attention because he was apparently very involved in some humorous conversation with Jason, Anya's dad.

While he went to find napkins or towels, Heather threw up all over herself and me a second time. None of my kids have ever thrown up in public before.

So Wes brought Heather and me home while Cole and Wayne stayed at ther fire station with Jason and Johanna. Then Wes went right back and rode on the fire truck with them. It sounded like they had a great time and they did not fall off.

Heather was sick again in the night. I was up with her a lot. Today she's had a high fever, but has been able to keep down some juice and food - crackers, applesauce, bland stuff I've been giving her.

In brighter news, Wes took the boys out to cut down a tree today. Here they are decorating it.

And here it is, all done. I looks like it was decorated by a 4 year old and a 7 year old with a sick (almost) 2 year old getting in on it too.
It's only a matter of time before Wayne and Cole get sick too. Let's just hope it's not on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. We're going to Maine for an early Christmas.

Gingerbread House Part 3

Well, here is our finished product which was entered in the contest last night. Cute isn't it?

Cole's friend, Fintan, was also at the party. Here he poses with Cole and Wayne in front of their creation.

When we were making our gingerbread house, I kept thinking how much work this all was - making the dough, cutting it out, baking it, making tons of royal icing, buying the candy,refereeing three young kids who all wanted to get their hands in it at the same time - and wondering how many people would actually go to all the trouble to make gingerbread houses for this contest. We didn't go for some reason last year, but two years ago when Joanie and Wayne made a house, I remember there being several houses, but not an overwhelming amount.

This year, however, I was pleasantly surprised, not only by the number of people who entered, but by the fun and clever ideas some kids had. Cute as our house was, I felt like it was a little boring compared to some of the others.

Check these out.

I'm sure you remember Wayne's friend Dante (brother to Fintan, above). Well Dante made this beautiful, glittery, colorful gingerbread treasure chest. Why didn't we think of something like that? Dante and Fintan's older sister, Sophia, a horse lover, made this gingerbread stable. Very cool.
A first grade classmate of Wayne's, named Lilly, made Currier's Store.

And here is the first prize winner. Do you remember Asom from Wayne's Batman Birthday party? Well, his family made this gingerbread replica of Fasilides Castle in Ethiopia. Asom wasn't actually present, or I would have gotten his picture.

After everyone had a chance to mill around and enjoy the entries, it was time to sing Christmas carols. The singing was led by Jim Currier.

In addition to everything else Sylvia does, she teaches her 4 kids to play musical instruments. Well, so far maybe just the two oldest. Sophia played Gloria in Excelsis Deo and Jingle bells on the violin.

Every kid who enters the gingerbread contest gets a prize. Wayne, Cole, and Heather each got one of these cute little stockings filled with candy canes, stickers, pencils and Christmas shaped erasers.

Check in tomorrow for scenes of tonight's Christmas activity - Santa comes to the fire house and gives kids a ride on the fire engine.

You gotta love life in a small town!

Gingerbread House Part 2

Chapter two of the Gingerbread Saga:

Cole constructs his house. His is made not of gingerbread, but graham crackers. I forgot to take pictures of Wayne putting his house together...

but here they both are, eating...oh, I mean decorating... with candy and frosting.

While her brothers worked on their houses, Heather colored some gingerbread men.

Wayne gets very detailed with his patterns.

More to come - final touches and the contest on Friday.

Wayne was supposed to have in "winter concert" tonight but they postponed it until next Tuesday because they thought the roads might be bad tonight.

Gingerbread House

Christmas is all over the place around here.

In honor of the season, we attempt a gingerbread house. Two years ago, Wayne, Cole, and Joanie made one and entered it in the annual contest sponsored by the Glover library. If ours is done by Friday, and if it's halfway respectable, maybe we'll enter this year, too.

Wayne combines the ingredients.
Mixes 'em up.

And uses the template we made from cardboard to cut the dough. Heather hates to be left out.

While Wayne was cutting out the house pieces, Cole cut out some gingerbread people, snowmen, and trees.

Cole discovered, with disappointment, that construction gingerbread dough is not as sweet and tasty as regular gingerbread dough.

Here are some of the pieces, ready to go into the oven.

Stay tuned for the next step: constructing and decorating.

By the way, Bing sends his regards to Grammie.

Thanksgiving Day 2008

We had a very nice, easy Thanksgiving Day here at home.

We spent a lot of time outside in the snow.

Our snowman was still standing after the rain the other day, but he's in bad shape. Heather tries to put his ears back on, but on his stomach.
We did some sliding. The snow was fast!
Running back to the top of the hill.

We checked out the pond. No more frogs.

Then, at 5:00 we had a nice dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, cider, soda, and Joanie brought her famous stuffing, squash, cranberry relish, and shrimp. Yum.
We have a lot to be thankful for this year. Here are some of the things I think of:

-We are thankful to Grammie for all of her help and support in our big move into her house, and for doing such a great job at raising 11 children.

-We are thankful that there are ways to stay in touch with distant loved ones when we don't get to see them very often: blogs, e-mails, cards, letters.

-We are thankful to Gramma and Grampa for all of their love and support. We know that they are thinking of us all the time, and they bring a lot of happiness to the kids with packages of toys and goodies.

-We are thankful to Auntie Di also for her packages of fun.

-We are thankful for having recently spent time with Julie, Thomas, and Estelle.

-I am thankful for my 3 healthy, beautiful, smart kids, and for Wes for being such a hard worker and great Dad.

-And last but not least, I am thankful for Joanie's stuffing, which I am having for breakfast right now as I do this blog post!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and have lots of leftovers to enjoy!

Let It Snow!

The kids are happy now that the snow is finally here, probably only temporarily because rain is on its way.

It was fun for an afternoon, though. Cole and I made a snowman.

OK, so our guy isn't as handsom as the Raymond Briggs' character, but Cole seems to love him, so he's just as magical.

The first snowman of the year - winter has officially begun!

The Thanksgiving Tree

Well, here we are in the middle of November - a limbo between seasons, it seems. The green of summer is long gone. The beautiful foliage of autumn is gone. Wayne, Cole, and Heather are waiting impatiently for snow covered grounds for their winter fun to begin. It's not as easy to find reasons to get outside. But after several days of being couped up in the house with some nasty colds and a couple of tummy bugs, we were going a little stir crazy around here. I was trying to think of a fun outdoor activity for the kids on this cold, blustery day when it finally dawned on me that it was time to partake in a tradition we started last year, inspired by Family Fun magazine.

The Thanksgiving Tree.

I bundled the kids up and we headed out in search of the perfect tree (ok, branch really). We walked the perimeter of the hay field, closest to the house (it's deer hunting season here) inspecting small shrubs and branches, looking for the perfect size and shape. We made a game of our walk, trying to identify trees by their bark, now that there are no leaves. Some were easy, like the papery white birch and the gray grooviness of the ash. Some were not so easy. Maple trees are plentiful here, in Vermont, but without their leaves, the trees are rather nondescript. The young maples were smooth and grey, while older maples are more rough, cracked and mossy.

We did find the perfect branch, Wayne cut it off with pruning shears. Then he and Cole filled a plant pot with soil from the garden to support the branch.



We brought the tree inside to the dining room where we decorated it with leaves we had cut from construction paper. The idea is for each of us to write on a leaf, each day leading up to Thanksgiving, something for which we are thankful.
Wayne decorates the high branches. Cole and Heather take care of the low branches.
This was Cole's sentiment for today:

And Wayne's:

Then this was my most recent attempt at a portrait of the three of them together. We might not be able to do a photo Christmas card this year.

By the time Heather is 7, I should be able to get a decent photo of the three of them.

E is for Excellent

I don't have a scanner, so I'm relying on my camera's macro function for these pictures of Wayne's report card. I'll remind some of you (my Mom) that if you click with your left mouse button, the picture will enlarge so perhaps you can see it better.

He's a genius!

On the back of the report card, where Mrs. Dunlavey writes her comments, she said, "Wayne is off to a wonderful start in the first grade. Wayne is reading at grade level. He does very well in math and all other subjects. Wayne is a superb listener and works very carefully on all his assignments. He is a very kind and courteous young boy. I've enjoyed getting to know Wayne."

Sometimes I feel like my heart will explode.

Halloween

Halloween was a big day. It started off with making cupcakes, because we didn't feel like leftover birthday cake from the night before was enough. Cole coaches Estelle and Heather on cleaning the beaters.

Then, before going out trick or treating, Julie made and early supper of "hotdog mummies." Cute aren't they? Yummy mummies.

After their early supper, the gang headed out. We stopped at Elaine and Bernard's house first. Cole is Spiderman, Wayne is Batman, Heather is a pumpkin (costume made by Lisa years ago for her girls), Wes shows some Halloween spirit with a spooky tie, Julie is a graduate, Thomas is a Frenchman, and Estelle is a bumble bee.

Elaine had baked a cake! We visited for a bit and then she sent us off with Trick or treat candy, raspberries, and popcorn.

Next we stopped at Joanie's house.

Here's the gang on her porch. Can't seem to get a decent picture of Cole anymore.

After Joanie's house, we headed up and down Perron Hill. Halloween is not really celebrated in France, so this was Thomas and Estelle's first time trick or treating. They really enjoyed it. We were home by 8:00, but it took a while for the kids to wind down. They had to inventory their loot, and sample one piece each and finally we managed to get them into pj's and off to bed. It was a fun night.