Warmer weather - such a tease!

Sunday it was really nice and in the 50's. The sun was out and it felt much warmer. Although it was warmer and sunny, there were many giant snow piles still around the court. It's still February so I'm not getting too excited. Have I mentioned that I love my new camera. I think it does fantastic, especially in the action mode. Love it.

The boys make such great subjects.

Okay, so in Jack's defense regarding the flag hitting the ground. He found it and he didn't know. Now he does.

Jack and the two boys across the street kept running up this snow pile and jumping off. They kept it up for at least 30 minutes straight.

King of the snow pile.

My Valentine roses from all three boys.

Sam's Experiments

Sam took time to look over the new camera instructions and did a little experimenting. Here are some of his pictures. I think they're really good. Poor Cubby looks so fat. I blame Ben.

My name is Ben . . .

. . . and I can't eat without playing with my food. I eat my gummy vitamins by tearing them apart first. I like to open up my peanut butter sandwiches and wipe it on my face. I've stuck peas up my nose. I will often chew up a piece of cheese sandwich, spit it out, touch it to see how it feels and then proceed to eat it. I like to touch my applesauce and oatmeal with my fingers before putting the spoon in my mouth. It drives mommy crazy, but I love to play with food.

She is always telling me - "it's a good thing you're cute." I'm not sure what that means but it sure sounds silly.

Snow-fun

Last Saturday, it snowed about 3 inches on top of our ice and snow already present. It was great snow-man-making-snow and Sam and the boys went out to play. Sam was supposed to be shoveling the driveway while the boys played, but you will not see him shoveling - just playing.

Ben is really wanting to eat the snow. I kept yelling, "no" and he thought that was funny.

Still contemplating a bite.

And, there it is...yummy.

He's so cute.

Jack absolutely loves, loves playing in the snow. He's quite handsome.

Daddy rolling a snowman base.

I'm so sick of winter.

I think Ben looks like a miniature sumo-wrestler in his snow suit.

The snowman is coming together.

His mid-parts and head kept falling off, but we endured.

Oh, is that a shovel?

Look who's playing and who is trying to shovel.

My big boy.

Our Snowman with two heads (or a really big growth).

I couldn't get Ben to pose with the snowman. Jack was sure proud - so proud he destroyed it about 10 minutes later.

Bundled Up

A couple of weeks ago, we had about five inches of snow. I bundled the boys up to play while I shoveled the driveway. They had a blast! I was busy shoveling and didn't take any pictures, but I have other snow pictures coming soon. Two other neighbors were out and the boys just went driveway to driveway playing and helping themselves to toys and sleds. Ben had so much fun, I had to carry him, crying all the way home. After we were in the house and I was taking off his snowsuit, he was in a full-blown meltdown. He apparently didn't care that his hands were bright red from the cold.

Above-mentioned meltdown.

This is the ice storm that we had last week. We had about an inch of solid ice and then it snowed about 2-3 inches on top of that. This past Saturday, we got another three inches on top of that. I'm so sick of Winter!

Ice on the grass.

Winter weekend fun

Winter months are tough. The kids have cabin fever, as do I. Sam and I really cram lots of activities into the weekend since he works inhumane hours during the week. I don't have any energy at the end of the day to be too creative and tackle new activities with the boys. Lately we have had lots of "movie nights" which include early bath, dinner and popcorn. Chili is a parent favorite. Homemade pizza's and smores top the list (although Jack doesn't like marshmellows). Whose kid is this?


Jack and I roasting our marshmellows - that he ended up not liking. I ate his.

Ben decided he needed to be alone to enjoy his smore. He went to his chair to eat.

My chili. I still love experimenting with my camera.

Ben making his pizza.

Jack looking quite handsome.

He's so dag-on grown up.

Ben is Mr. Independent. If you do something to "help" him out, he'll undo it and do it again himself. All I need to do in that scenario is to add about 20 minutes to anything I have planned. It's fun.

Christmas Day

At five-and-a-half years old, Jack had his first Christmas with so much anticipation that he woke up super-early. Jack is a fantastic sleeper and he started "going to the bathroom" a little after 5am. Finally, a little after 6, after three trips to the bathroom, I went in and found him sitting up in bed looking/reading a pile of books. How precious that he is so good to wait patiently in his room (although I'm pretty sure the three bathroom trips were checks to see if we were close to getting up). Ben, well it was just another day.

Santa really enjoyed his cookies and milk.

Reindeer food eaten.

Woody and Bullseye for Ben.

Both boys were very blessed this year and have more than they need.

Ben would play with one toy and forget that he had anything else to open.

Mrs. Potato Head

Yeah, awful of me.

Jack loves his new acoustic guitar - so does Sam.

It was busy-busy all day long!

Christmas dinner consisted of two whole chickens with a cauliflower casserole and cranberry sauce. Aren't my cranberries pretty?