Winter Weekend Fun

Gabe's job schedule has been just fantastic this winter and such a welcome change from the previous 8 years!  We have been able to have a nice balance of fun family time and not as fun for the kids- family chore time;)  This past weekend we made a spider web to crawl through in the upstair hallway,  made a cool car track in the basement and enjoyed the snow.  We have been working hard to make our space more functional for us by picking away at the basement most recently.  Gabe worked hard to paint the floor which has made a huge difference in the cleanliness and our ability to actually use that space.  This weekend we rearranged things to bring the futon down for seating and an extra backup sleeping area.  This also allowed us to bring put the guest bed in the office and to set up a crib for Audrey in her own room.  Previously she was sleeping in the guest room in a pack n play.  It was really Ben's escapades with the changing table that made us realize we needed to use the other room upstairs for more than a guest room:)

On Monday Gabe had the day off for a fun family day at the dentist in Portland.  We dragged the kids  around Portland in the rain, to Trader Joe's and around Freeport.  James had a ball trying on sunglasses and all the kids, as always, enjoyed running around the clubhouse in LLBean.  

January Happenings

 

 

 

 

 

Noah's first day back at school after Christmas break was a snow day, so we got one more day of fun play.  We finally got to make a snowman since it was not snow falling from the sky, but freezing rain. There was an argument at the end of building this snowman about if it was a naked snowman with a belly button (one blackberry on the belly)- James, or if he had a coat on (3 blackberries on the belly)- Noah;)  The warmer weather has allowed us to pick away (literally) at our driveway.  It took 4 days, but we finally chipped away the 3-6 inch thick ice that covered the driveway.  Gabe and I could make it up the driveway, but with difficulty and a "running" start.  We had a babysitter, a furnace guy and the UPS man all have a difficult time making it up as well.  When even the suburban couldn't make it and went off the driveway we knew it was time to tackle it.  The before and after pictures are probably only impressive to us and I will probably cry the next time it snows, but for now it is done!

In other unrelated events, James continues to have a very special bond with Audrey and LOVES making her laugh. Ben still struggles with language, but can usually get his point across, he can't pronounce "Audrey" or instead calls her what phonetically sounds like "aww-doe".  James and Noah got to use James's umbrella when I got them off the bus last Friday.  Ben continues to pose his dinosaurs everywhere.  Ben has also started doing some crazy things at nap time which has caused us to remove most furniture from his room.  This picture is how I found him... sleeping sitting up in an overturned changing table (I didn't even hear him pull it over).  The other picture was of him sleeping with the shoes he insisted on keeping on:) The boys all decided to take a backwards bath. Noah and James had "fancy day" at school where they dressed up, music played at lunch and they ate their lunch on placemats.  Tonight James chose salad for supper and was so proud that he requested that I take a picture.  He ate almost all of it and said, "Look, I am a grown-up now!".

Lastly, this weekend Nannie, Aunt Amy, Trey and Lily came to visit.  We went down to the pond and everyone at least tried skating, but Ben, Trey and Lily enjoyed being pulled around in the sled much more;)  Thanks for visiting guys!

Happy New Year 2014

What can I say, I love school vacation and having everyone home to play during the day!  We spent New Year's Day play outside with our friends.  We did some sledding, snowshoeing and completed the day with an outdoor fire to cook hot dogs!  To finish up the rest of school vacation week we did some more sledding, made some oobleck, set up the play area in the basement and James even got to hold a snake!  We are thinking of trading in our fish for a snake in the tank;)  Lately, Noah and James have been requesting baths over showers and we have to take turns with who gets to take a bath with Audrey... I hope they still want to be around her this much in 5 years!