Good morning

Every morning I bring Jack a cup of milk to start his day and this is how he is always sitting. He has to have his cougar on one side and his pillow on the other and he rests his head on the side of the crib because it is just to tough to hold it up before his morning milk. He always says, "moaning mama, I yuv you" and it is my favorite part of the morning!

Happy Birthday Ava Blythe!

Five years old and all grown up!
In her birthday jammies

Waiting for breakfast!

All the girls! With names like Ava, Charlotte, Lucy, Madeline, Adele, Emma, Kayte, Georgia, and Alice, you can see how name trends always come around again--they could be a group of little old ladies!

Ava in her birthday girl ribbon.

Reading her Cinderella book (thanks Madison!) before bed.

This year, Ava had a morning birthday party with belgian waffles (strawberries and whip cream!) and everyone wore their favorite jammies. A sort of half slumber party because we would be crazy to do the whole thing with nine girls five and under! I always decorate the night before after she is in bed so she was up bright and early to check it all out. It was a busy day with the party, ballet lessons, dinner out with us and more presents! Ava loves to hear the story of her real birth-day and I still can't believe it was all five years ago. She has grown into a real buddy! She is sweet and interesting, funny and so tenderhearted towards smaller kids.

Why I want her to stay exactly the same:
The other day we came across somebody named George and Ava said, "hey that's Curious George's middle name."

And I, of course, said, "what's his first name?"

"Curious."

Later, Ava asked me where deer buy their clothes. Slightly confused I asked for clarification and she said, "Grandma told me the deer were wearing their winter coats." Pause. "Only it didn't look like they were wearing any clothes to me."

R & R

The monkeys snuggling on Ava's bed in front of the fire.

We went a couple miles straight uphill so this must be the beginning because I still have my coat and gloves on!

I take a picture of Ed and the kids at this same spot every time we come here so we can see how much the kids have grown but this time we are more amazed at all the snow--that is the snow covered lake in the back.

Ed on snowshoes standing a bridge that is scary enough in the summer but really horrible in the snow (he is standing at the level of the hand rails!)

On one of our many walks. Ava pooped out and Jack wanted to walk so they switched places and the kids giggled at the sight of Ava in the backpack with her long legs hanging out.

Ava and I in front of a huge fountain that is frozen for the winter.

Ava on her way to the cabin.

Ava's pink boots as she crawls into a big snow tunnel.

Jack eating huckleberry pancakes--he loved them! More! More! More!

Ed on another bridge where the snow is up to the handrail--he is smirking because he knows I do not approve! You can't tell but there is a long way to the water below.

We took the kids to our favorite place in the mountains this weekend for a much needed vacation (or as much of a vacation as you can get when traveling with kids!). The weather was fantastic but to our surprise there was tons of snow! I packed raincoats and rubber boots and at the last minute threw in snow pants and hats and it was a good thing! There were little paths leading to each cabin but in many places it was waist deep. We still took plenty of walks and even sat outside to have a coffee because the sun was so warm. I love this place because it has the cutest little town with my favorite shop! We arrived just in time for lunch and after we had unpacked

Ed settled in with a book and I went shopping! We got to snowshoe way up into the mountain, eat yummy food, snuggle with the kids, and have many cups of hot chocolate....our favorite kind of trip!

why I love 5 year-olds...

I read this at the Girl Talk blog and it made me smile:
A mom was concerned about her kindergarten son walking to school. He didn't want his mother to walk with him. She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe. So she had an idea of how to handle it.
She asked a neighbor if she would please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn't notice her. She said that since she was up early with her toddler anyway, it would be a good way for them to get some exercise as well, so she agreed.
The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbor girl he knew. She did this for the whole week. As the two walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy's little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week.
Finally she said to Timmy, 'Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week? Do you know her?'Timmy nonchalantly replied, 'Yeah, I know who she is.'The little girl said, 'Well, who is she?''That's just Shirley Goodnest,' Timmy replied, 'and her daughter Marcy.''Shirley Goodnest? Who is she and why is she following us?''Well,' Timmy explained, 'every night my Mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, 'cuz she worries about me so much. And in the Psalm, it says, 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life', so I guess I'll just have to get used to it!'

Happy Heart Day!

My sweet monkeys!

Valentines for Daddy. Ava thinks glitter glue is the best thing to happen since hot chocolate with whipped cream!

Ava's new heart Starbucks mug--she loves these!

Potty Trained.

It's official. Jack is potty trained. There will no doubt be many accidents to come but he has officially been able to make it through whole days without a single accident and he has used a public restroom (a sure sign of success!) on multiple occasions. This will be the last of these pictures as he is now in big boy "unners" for good.

Old News....

I should have posted these months ago but there is still snow on the ground at our house so I think I can still get away with it. We took these pictures at a very small tree farm where we have gotten our Christmas trees the last couple years. We love it! We hike up a little hill to pick out our tree and Ed gets to cut it down and then we haul it (and the kids!) back down on a sled (last year Ava got to ride on the 4-wheeler!). This year was beautiful and snowy and we were just in time for homemade donuts--a treat the kids had never had before! Ava is standing by the table of fresh donuts (and the donut holes) with a variety of dipping choices: a bowl of warm chocolate, cinnamon and sugar, and powdered sugar. It was all very cozy and fun and a great way to start the Christmas season!

Monkeys on the run

Yes, that's Jack running in his "unders". We're still in the midst of potty training.

Jack was a little restless this morning so Ava organized a "marathon" for them to run. She got them geared up in their running shoes, mapped out the course, lined up and shouted "ready, set, go" (with Jack yelling, "set, go!") and they ran around the house for a long time, making a few stops for water. It seems to tire them out but that somehow never translates to a longer nap.

A side note: I have been watching "Jon & Kate Plus 8", a TLC show about a couple with a set of twins and a set of sextuplets (yes, that's six!) and it totally wears me out just to watch it! Their house is so chaotic that it is an encouraging way to end a long day.

Snow Fun!

The best one we saw! An awesome snow fort with a huge archway up front, a wall around it, and an igloo with standing room.

We took these pictures around town yesterday on our way to the Super Bowl party. These pictures do not do any of these forts justice! They were huge and well detailed--looked like fun.

Good news!

The Patriots lost!!! I waited all season for the Patriots to lose and while I really wanted it to be Favre and the Packers to beat them in the Super Bowl, I'm just glad somebody did it. I happen to like Eli and the Giants so I'm glad for them too. I was smiling all night--it's almost enough good news to tide me over till next season. The only bad news is that football is over and baseball will start soon.

Mister Cool...

Jack has been perfecting the art of the shoulder shrug for a few weeks now. The other day I told him how handsome he was and he gave me the one shoulder shrug with a very cool, "I know." Like father, like son.

Later, Ava's cup spilled across the counter (with a little help from Jack) and he followed it up with, "bummer, dude." It's embarrassing to say but that one probably came from me.

An update on the snow: it's still coming down and we just saw a guy come skiing by, being pulled by a four wheeler, and he jumped the huge pile of snow I had shoveled back into the street. They came back a couple times and they were actually giggling they were so pleased with themselves.

Snow Day!!

Yesterday's snow, which seemed like a lot at the time.

Today's snow. And it hasn't stopped in the five hours since I took this picture.

The back porch. The pile on the left is the armrest of the adirondack chair.

Jack's reward for shoveling. Hot chocolate made with the fancy Williams Sonoma frother and jug Ed got me for Christmas.

Jack helping me shovel the driveway. Yes, that's the pile I shoveled just this morning.

We had a massive snow this week with most of it coming last night. The whole town is closing down, including both Universities (first time since 1985) and the highways coming in and out of town. We have been housebound all week so I headed out to shovel this morning, hoping to take the kids to lunch. No such luck. I shoveled for 45 minutes and then the snowplow came and piled it all back up right in front of me. Jack was thrilled, me not so much. Anyway, we came back in for hot cocoa and oatmeal with brown sugar, which is what we will be eating until we can make it out the driveway and across town to the store!

Sweet Peace

I was folding laundry the other night and this is what I found when I went to put Ava's clothes away.

Ava Ballerina

Ed and Ava before her ballet Open House

Ava and I at the Nutcracker

Ava is well into her second year of ballet and she loves it. She told me she is going to dance forever--even when she is twenty-two....even when she is a grandma!

Adventures in Potty Training

Jack's first morning on the potty with his new birthday truck (thanks Madison & Brooklyn!) as his little side table for his sippy cup.

So Monday was the big day for Jack. We threw away his diapers in a show of big boy-ness (although I dug them out of the garbage later just in case the project failed!) and unpacked his new baseball undies in his dresser and started potty training. The first two days were great-- only a couple accidents and he seemed to actually get it all on his own. Day three brought a bit of a setback when he pooped on the floor in the playroom (but because he has such good manners he carefully layed a piece of toilet paper over it before he continued playing). Gross. Day four he held it all day only going after I left for the gym that evening when his daddy was home and by day five he figured out how to squeeze out just a drop in order to get a piece of candy and did that at least five times in a row! Today has so far been great and I think we have made it to the other side, although I am knocking on wood as I type!

The worst part of the week came on Friday. After spending the whole week house-bound with the potty-trainer, I packed the kids up and headed for the mall. After I had shopped for over an hour, we were waiting in line to check out at Old Navy and Jack leaned over his stroller and preceded to throw up everything he had eaten while I shopped (Cheerioes, dried cranberries, Starbucks cookie and 2 cups of water). Worse, my sweet helper Ava caught part of it in her hand. Sadly, after a week of potty training, it didn't really gross me out. In fact, I was slightly annoyed that we had to go home. That is what potty training has done to this usually loving mommy! In the end, Jack didn't have the flu, just a case of severe overeating and life goes on.