Enthusiastic Little Fish

Tadpole and Little Chief took to the pool this Saturday to pick up a few pointers and refine their strokes. Little Chief was up first. Even though he said he was scared, he got right in and did everything the teacher asked. He was a really great listener too.

Tadpole hopped right into the deep end with his class. 

While he was a little rusty after a winter of land loving, he quickly got back up to speed.

There was only a slight moment of hesitation when the teacher asked if he wanted to jump from the blocks. When he came up from the water he yelled, "That was AWESOME!" and immediately crawled out of the pool to run back for another turn.

This Little Cowboy...

This Little Cowboy is killing me.

The Disappointed Leprechaun

No traps this year. It's totally my fault too. I'm the genius who took all the cardboard to the dump Saturday, so no building materials. I'm also the turkey who worked late the night before St. Patrick's day and got home just in time to tuck everyone into bed. Even the Leprechaun was disappointed, no challenge here.

When the kids woke up, they lost their minds. I left early to get into work so I just got a briefing from Pops. He was not pleased to be the fall guy. Fist it was Abizella, who came into our bedroom early and asked Pops when St. Patrick's day was. She couldn't be consoled. Then it was Tadpole, who after seeing this modest offering on the table said, "This is it?! What about the streamers?! The mess? The little notes on the floor, the Leprechaun foot prints?!" The kids drowned their sorrows in Lucky Charms and chocolate. When I got home that night, they presented a note to me to mail to the Leprechaun asking him to come back Friday night for a re-do.

Silly kids, the Leprechaun only comes on St. Patrick's day!

Now for the kiddos in green!

I had a hard time picking a favorite picture...

My Tadpole

Two things:

Tadpole blew the piggy bank for a Lord Palpatine mini-figure on e-bay. Then he had to endure the estimated week-long wait for the delivery of his toy. It kinda makes it better to wait, right Tad?

Tadpole told me, "When I have cheese for school lunch, I take my knife and cut it."

 Showing my superb mother-listening skills I walked right into it, "Oh ya, you cut the cheese?

Good grief.

The Pi Day of the Century

Look what came in the mail today?! 

Grandma Sandi always knows.

The perfect pie pan for Pi Day!

Just in time for a special year too. This will be the only year this century that the digits of Pi will line up so beautifully 3.141592653.... Of course we had to have a party to celebrate.

Abizella helped make the pie of honor, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry deliciousness!

I pulled out all the stops with my Pi earrings and T-shirt. Abizella pointed out that she needs a companion shirt that has a picture of a peach, a "y" and the Pi symbol

 (my nick name for her is "Peachy Pie").

We invited the Stones, Steeles and Mahurins over to enjoy some Pizza Pie and Lotsa Pie!

Of course we had the kids do the traditional circle hunt and demonstration of Pi with twine.

Our reward?! Pie!

Chocolate banana cream pie, chocolate ice cream pie, key lime pie, triple berry pie, strawberry pie, and oreo cookie ice cream pie. It was my kind of heaven.

No Favorites Here

Abizella explained to me before bed time that she has employed a rotation system with her stuffed animals for sleeping with her each night. She doesn't want anyone to feel neglected. 

Her two monkies are taking their turn tonight.

Foxy is queued for her turn tomorrow night.

I totally get it. I too had a system to rotate my dolls when I was growing up. I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings by showing favoritism (even if I secretly did have them).

Spring Is In The Air

I write this even as it is snowing again. 

And while I am crossing my fingers for 2 more inches so that we can break the all time record for the snowiest year in Boston, it is nice to see a few hints of Spring.

I was astonished to see the roof when I pulled up to the house after work one day this week. It got up to 50 degrees. Pops went out and shoveled off the last of the strong hold. If you look close, you can see that the ice dams persist, but they can't hold for long.

The 50 degree day also revealed the grass over the septic tank!

Abizella had the brilliant idea to host a picnic out on the lawn to welcome Spring.

It was a a bit chilly and damp, so the fun didn't last too long.

 But it was nice to see the kids venture outside again without the risk of drowning.

Even Pops and Jaws joined the fun. I got this pic at work from Pops. He took a stroll up to the school to deliver Abizella a new pair of pants after she slipped in mud. MUD! 

There is MUD somewhere nearby. Surely Spring will come.

Boy's Barracks

Now that this little monkey is potty trained it is time to upgrade him to a big boy bed in the big boy room. I've had an internal battle over having my baby stay at the foot of my bed. If he sleeps here forever he'll always be a baby right? But on the other hand, there are some serious benefits to having our bedroom be kiddo free. In the end, he got the boot.

Little Chief has been petitioning for months for a bigger bed. He seriously was busting out of his toddler size bed. Pops ordered 2 sets of bunk beds. They arrived the day that I was off skiing. By the time I got home they were fully assembled and ready for slumber. 

Little Chief was pleased as punch!

Jaws also liked his new big boy bed! His transition to big boy land has been easy peazy. When it's time for bed, he just walks up the stairs and climbs into bed like everyone else. He likes being one of the big kids.

Pretty sweet set-up, right?

Abizella likes to be in the middle of it all too. 

She has been alternating sharing a bed with Superkid and Tadpole.

The next step is to install closet organizers and get painting! More to come.

17 Year Hiatus

I can't tell you the last time I went skiing, but I know it was at least before I got married 17.5 years ago. I remember sitting on chairlifts at Alta next to old guys who would tell me that they hadn't skied in 15 years. I would nod politely and think, "How does that even happen?!" 

My group at work had a "Snow Day" last week. They provided a lift ticket, rental skis, and even lessons to everyone. How could I pass up on that?! I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I was so excited that I actually found it hard to sleep the night before. I even had crazy dreams of sleeping through my alarm and also nightmares of forgetting about the outing and showing up to work to find I was the only fool there. Happily I did not miss my alarm and was ready on time when my friend Kate showed up with her husband Mark to give me a lift to Sunapee.

I didn't get concerned about the whole affair until after my skis were strapped to my feet and I was well on my way up the mountain looking at the terrain. There was an eastern "black diamond" run under the lift that looked pretty manageable to me. Then the thought occurred to me that I possibly could have "lost it" over the course of the last 17 years. I managed to slide off the lift without any problem and just gulped and headed straight down the black diamond course. It just takes confidence, right? I've always made it off the mountain, even after spending a day following Uncle David outside the gates into some pretty treacherous ungroomed bowls. I wasn't going to let some hill in New Hampshire stop me.

There were actually several really fun glades of trees to ski through. There was a dusting of snow the night before and the temperature was in the high 30s and sunny. The conditions couldn't be beat.

Here's a pic of some of the group.

I'm the kid n the snow suit from 1995.

And here are Kate and Mark. They pretty much live to ski (and snow board). I get that. I was grateful to them for letting me tag along all day. I told them that I would go down anything, it just wouldn't always look pretty. They took my word on that! They really pushed my rusty skills. I was trashed by the time it was over, but what was I saving myself for? A big day of screening on Thursday? Seriously, this is the most fun I've had in a long time. I love winter again.

Thank-you Kate for the lift to the lifts! This day will go down in my memory as one of the great ski days of all time! We spent the return trip plotting our trip next year to a Keystone conference, either Big Sky, Montana or Lake Tahoe, Nevada. 5 days of skiing and a little biology? I'm in.

Arrow of Light

We are very proud. 

Superkid earned his Arrow of Light Award. 

We also was awarded his Faith in God award and Weblos award.

This kid worked very hard to complete the requirements. You can tell be his solemnity on this occasion how important the awards are to him.

Here he is taking the walk over the bridge from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.

His buddy (and cousin!) Hyrum crossed over too. Their new troop members were there to welcome them and offer them some advice.

This marks a significant accomplishment to Superkid. He persevered even when his old mom questioned the whole thing. He is a great example to me. He enjoyed all of the requirements and would have liked to do everything in the book. Maybe he still will. Since he is the big brother and has set the course, he can help his younger brothers down their Cub Scout path.

He and Hyrum enjoyed being the stars of the evening.

They particularly liked these "Most Wanted" posters that the troop leader hung all over the place.

We are grateful that Superkid has a good bud to accompany him in this brotherhood of scouting.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

I'm happy to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday just because it means that I get to see these little chubby cheeks spill out of a Seuss-esque hat.

Elmo Junkie

We've done it. We've exposed our little Jaws to the sweet elixir of Sesame Street. To say he is a big fan would be the understatement of the century. He's an addict. He'll actually watch an entire episode. And if he's not watching it, he's begging, "Elmo World! Elmo World!"

He loves Ernie, Abby Cadabby, and Zoe too.

I have to admit, it is pretty nice to have him occupied while the kiddos are doing their homework etc. Pretty much every night ends with all of the kids gathered around the T.V. watching "Elmo the Musical". I'm partial to Ernie, Grover and Cookie Monster myself. Even in college, when I got home in the afternoon I would pour myself a bowl of cereal and watch an episode before cracking down on the homework. It's quality programming.