Snowstorm

This snowstorm created lots of winter recreation for us around here. Wayne, Joanie, and I went for a snowshoe. I forgot to bring my camera, so no pictures of the winter wonderland the woods have become, but this afternoon the kids had a great time playing in the over size snowbanks, making snow forts, and snowmen. Below, Wayne looks like he's standing on his knees in this picture, but he's actually in mid air, jumping from a snowbank. I'll just let the rest of the pictures speak for themselves.

FACEOFF!

There's a lot of catching up to do here, but let's start off with Wayne's end of the season (Thank GOD!!!) hockey "jamboree" yesterday in Lyndonville. The coaches broke the kids up into teams and they had a game against each other.
Wayne is # 10. These pictures are not great. The kids were moving too fast, the lighting was bad, and I was shooting through plexiglass.

Below, Wayne is on the far right.

The game ended in a tie, 7-7.

After the kids game, there was another game - kids against parents. There's Wes in the blue jacket and Wayne behind him. I was really glad that Wes did not bowl over all the little kids.

Father and son portrait. This game also ened in a tie, 3-3.

Later in the afternoon, Cedric came over and helped clear off the pond for some more skating. Wes gives Heather a ride in the snow shovel thingy.

Cole's skating has greatly improved since the video I posted a couple of months ago, but this is still his specialty - laying around on the ice or in the snowbanks.

Julie has lots of pictures to post on her own blog, so I'll leave most of that to her, but here's just a couple of shots to show that she and Estelle were present on the ice.

A couple of days ago, Wes took Wayne and Heather out to the woods while he did some work. Wayne made a snowman.

Her Highness found her throne in her woodland kingdom.

Cole's kindergarten class took another field trip to the Catamount Arts series for children. This installment was African Dance.

I wans't sure kindergarten students would really appreciate this performance, but these guys were talented and funny, so they did a good job keeping their attention.

So that pretty much brings us up to date.

The kids are on vacation this week, so we'll see what that brings to the blog.

Busy Body

Yesterday, Heather helped me make a Valentine cake. The photo speaks for itself.
A week or so ago Heather and I planted some herb seeds from this little kit that we had gotten for Christmas from my sister, Diane. The seedlings have started to sprout and Heather enjoys checking their progress everyday and giving them a gentle spray of water to drink.
Just a couple of examples of the things that keep us busy indoors while we wait for the first days of spring (aka mud season).

Random Notes on Valentine's Day

I haven't had a chance to get to the library to upload the videos of Wayne and Cole's winter concert, but here are a few photos to tide you over - so you can see how handsom they were!

Cole between classmates, Zephyr and William.
The kindergarten class.

Wayne in his classroom before the concert. They all wore these sashes.

And randomly, Cole and I went skiing behind the school while Wayne was participating in his cross country ski club on Friday afternoon. This was Cole's first time, and as it turns out, he's a much better skier than he is an ice skater. He did quite well and enjoyed it a lot.
Wayne during his ski club. They ski around the trails behind the school in the fields and wooded areas. An instructor comes from the Craftsbury Outdoor Center to work with them.
After working on a few skills, they play "capture the flag" on skis.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Estelle and Heather

Estelle and Heather have been getting along wonderfully. Yesterday Estelle came over to spend some of the day. Here they are making Valentine hearts.

One of the finished products.

Later, some adventure in the Vermont snow. They worked well together, taking turns giving each other a push on the swings. They were so cute.

Switch.

In this picture, Estelle really had her heart set on making a snowman, but the snow was too loose, so they made a tower instead.

Making tracks.

Glover school winter concert last night. Check in for videos in the next couple of days.

Girls

Forget about brothers! Heather has girls to play with now.

First of all, Aunt Lisa spent the night here, so after Wayne and Cole went off to school this morning, Heather had her all to herself for snuggly reading time.
Then over to Joanie's house where she and Estelle played "house" under the table. They're having a tea party with the Snowman.

Lena gets in on the action with some blocks.

Estelle was kind enough to share her slippers with Heather. I kept asking them to smile, which is how these goofy faces came about.

Maybe I'll get some photos of fun in the snow later. Stay tuned.

Good Grades

I realize this might be getting a little old, but since there's not a lot of blogworthy events happening around here lately, I just thought I'd slap these on for the die-hard aunts and grandparents. Also, I think it's good for the kids to know that their good work is being shared with family and friends. Click on the picture to enlarge.

Cole's report card:

And Wayne's:

Snow Fun

Cole and Heather have been hit with one bug after another since Christmas. Fevers, coughs, rashes, tummy bugs - you name it, they've had it. Yesterday we had a few moments of good health before a tummy bug struck Cole, so here is what we did with that time.

Cole worked on a snow Titanic and ice berg.
Heather, she's in there somewhere.
She tries to ge sliding but the snow is too sticky.

Wayne digs himself a foxhole to protect himself during snowball fights.

Spike invented a game of snatching hats off our heads and trying to make us chase him to get them back, so he had to be kept at a distance and looks on longingly.

Hope you all are healthy and if you want to stay that way, you should stay far away from us!

After Bath Laughs

I always blow-dry Heather's hair after her bath, and last night Cole wanted me to do the same to him. Here is the result: He is very happy with his new look and can't wait to show it off at school, if it survives the night.

We all need a new look once in a while.

More Alexander Christmas

Just a couple of videos that I shot during the holiday celebration the other day. Thought you all might enjoy them. First a little pond hockey. Not very eventful, but it'll give you the idea. When you see Wes fall at the end, you should know that he fell into an area of complete slush and got soaking wet!

And a family tradition - "Christmas Is."