Paper Heather

The other day Heather kept herself very busy for quite a long time with a project that she came up with all alone.  The project involved lots of paper, and  lots and lots of tape, and lots of time spent cutting with scissors.  In the end, Paper Heather was born.

 And also a Paper Wayne.  Heather told Cole he would have to make a Paper Cole himself.

 Paper Heather had a paper hamburger and paper french fries for supper.

 Paper Wayne sat in the high chair.

Since these pictures were taken, Paper Heather has acquired paper hair and a paper ballet tutu.

We acknowledged Joanie's birthday with a little cake and ice cream. Happy Birthday Joanie.

(Wes is grimacing because he had a bad back.)

Maple Season Begins

After taking the boys to school, Heather and I began our day by checking the sap buckets, even though it was only 27 degrees with no chance of the sap running until it warmed up later on. We had to do it anyway. Heather had to check every single bucket.  Wayne had already been out at 7:30 a.m. to check the buckets before going to school.

Too frozen.

Does this girl know how to have her picture taken or what?

Taking a peek.

Back at the ranch, we made St. Patrick's Day Cookies.

We don't have a shamrock cookie cutter so we used a small heart shape.

It worked great.

When the boys came home, they went straight out to check the buckets and then came in to decorate cookies.

Pretty good.

The Aftermath

A bright sunny day today, but school was called off anyway (for the kids, not Wes) because so many people are still trying to dig their way out from under yesterday's storm.

Don't know who's car this is - someone who ended up walking to Marvin's camp.

Little Miss "I'm always a Princess even in my brother's old snowsuit."

Wayne and Spike being very unhelpful about digging out the Taurus.

Spring cannot come soon enough.

Snow Ice Cream

We are SNOWED IN!

This is what it looks like outside today. Sixteen to 18 inches of snow, windy, blustery, no sign of Spring.  Wes is plowing and the plow has been stuck 3 times. School is cancelled everywhere.

This mound is the Taurus. It's never looked better.

Call of the wild.

Wayne and Cole were on the other side of the house trying to slide. I couldn't make it through the deep snow to get pictures of them, but here's Heather on the picnic table.

Inside the house, we decided to make use of this fresh snow.  I've had this idea in the back of my mind for a while, and since winter (supposedly) is on the downward side, I figured this would be a good time.  Snow Ice Cream. The easiest ice cream you will ever make.  I wish I had thought of it while Estelle was here.  I've seen recipes that call for cream, sugar, vanilla, and snow but our simple recipe called for only three ingredients:

8 cups of fresh clean snow (stay away from Spike's potty area)

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Mix thoroughly.  Cole was crazed with anticipation.

Wayne was busy talking to Jacob on the phone about important Star Wars business while we were doing this.

Serve in bowls or scoop onto cones.

Can you just feel Cole's enthusiasm?  He kept saying things like, "This is so, so, so,so good!" and "I've never tasted anything like it!" 

I was a little surprised - it was really good.

Hope you're making the best of your snow day where you are.

Wayne and Jacob

Wayne is spending a couple of days with his cousin Jacob and Aunt Mary and Uncle Danny. Mary just emailed these pictures to me.  Looks like they're having a lot of fun!



Two Girls

It's fun having two little girls around.

Yesterday began with a tea party.

 Later, Heather and Estelle had a great time in the snow.  First, shoveling off the picnic table seemed like a good idea.

Then, swinging seemed like it would be fun.

 Jacob, Wayne and Cole were having a rough and tumble time of some fast paced sledding.

 Julie with Heather and Mary with Estelle hit the slopes.

A trackster ride.

 I think Estelle is enjoying all this Vermont snow.



All Dressed Up With Somewhere to Go

A couple of weeks ago, Gramma and Grampa sent a package of fun things and goodies for W, C, and H. One of the things for Heather was this pretty dress with a matching doll dress.  When our local library held an American Girl Doll Tea Party, we knew just what to wear.  (American Girl dolls were not required, just a theme, so we brought this curly haired doll that cousins Katie and Lizzy had outgrown and gave to Heather)

 The first activity of the tea party was making beaded necklaces.

 Then the girls made yarn dolls.

Next it was time to sit down to tea.  Raspberry tea was served, or if you preferred, you could have fruit punch.  Heather tried the tea, rejected it and drank the punch.

 There were tiny little sandwiches (cucumber and pb&j), cookies, and little brownies.

 After the tea, there was a game called "pass the ring" or "hide the ring" or "who has the ring" or something to that effect.  The girls sat in a circle with their hands behind their back, passing a ring around the circle while a girl sitting in the middle tried to guess where the ring had stopped.  Heather was cranky that she didn't have a chance to sit in the center, but there were just too many girls there for everyone to have a turn.  That's Jessica the Childrens Librarian who organized the party.  After the game every girl got a ring to take home, along with their yarn doll and bead necklace.

Today we took the kids to an indoor pool.  Thomas and Estelle came with us and Estelle had her first visit to McDonalds. I don't know who was more excited, her or Cole. On the way to Mcdonalds Cole was telling her all about the Happy Meals that come with a little toy, and how you get to get your own drink, and ketchup and that there's an indoor playground. It was a funny conversation.  Sorry, no pictures on my end, but I think Thomas took a few so at some point Julie will post them to her blog.