long overdue pics!!!

James first lost tooth!

... and Willy who is missing nothing.

Here is Emily, Willy, Dylan, and James on Easter at Splint and Lydia's, with the bunny heretofore known as "short ears".

And finally, the kindergarten program, which was adorable. 

 though boredom set in for the kids at about 7 minutes in.

 here's James- dressed as a skater to deliver his line
"When we go skating down the street, we know that spring is in our feet!"

and this guy, who was pretty excited to be there.

Deep Winter

We have had an unprecedented amount of snow up here in the last couple of weeks. It has been great for sledding and playing outside in monstrous piles of snow- and even though the shoveling has been a little crazy, it is actually nice to get out and commiserate with the neighbors. I have been trying to take cues from my neighbor about when to shovel (NOT before the ice storm, but after) when to raise the wipers on the cars so they don't freeze to the windshield, the best kind of gear etc. It has gotten so high next to our houses that we have had to make a little tunnel so the dryer vent can come out from the basement. Its been drastically better than last year for getting the boys into doing stuff outside - James will even stay out and play by himself for a while when everyone else has had it.
We went with a group of friends to an AMC cabin up in the Berkshires this weekend and it was a blast. There was a monstrous wood stove in the newly renovated main house  and a great industrial kitchen to cook in. We mainly refereed kids activities and went sledding- right outside the back door. Keska was able to follow some of the group cross country skiing and she had the best time. Our friend Jeff took some great video of the kids sledding:


And Katharine went sledding for the first time ever! She was pretty into it. We also created a new group of domino players which we are hoping will become a Sunday afternoon regular thing to replace our Saints/NFL neighborhood weekends.

Here is James and BFF Sadie on the back porch-

 This is in our backyard after storm #1:

 Storm #2 buried the basement hatch completely-

 This is from the cottage at Noble view-

 Daniel got up early and was inundated with eager acolytes for his solitaire seminars:

 Sadie and Willy posing-

From the back @Noble view-

Reading Rainbow

James has been making leaps and bounds this year with reading in Kindergarten. Mostly he just memorizes short books, but it is still amazing to watch him work his way through the process. Willy also likes to chime in, and is always prepared with his 'reading glasses' (goggles from his toolbox).

SEE our new bookshelves

Over at Kat's writing blog.

This was just one of the little projects Mike managed to eke out over his break.

We are anticipating a big ole snow day tomorrow. It's been crazy to hear that a lot of the east coast has been dealing with snow the last few days.

Ahhh the cabin fever is really setting in!

Willy's eye

What a weekend already! Willy went on his first ER trip Friday. After getting slammed at school by another kid (it was an accident), he was listless and not eating or drinking. We called the doctor, who suggested taking him to the ER. So we did. 

We are thankful that Willy is fine (the doctor checked his eyes, and said if he's not stumbling or throwing up, he will be fine). 

We are dreading the ER bill...but after some tylenol, rest, and his favorite show (Dora) he perked right up. 

The first photo below is of his eye yesterday, the second two are from this morning. Not only has it developed into a really beautiful aubergine color, you can also see it is not bothering him AT ALL today.

Flashbacks

Okay, we recognize we were awful about blogging this fall. With both of us on a school schedule, time just flew by too fast.

We will try to play catch up over the next few weeks.

First, some shots of James being recognized for SURFs behavior (SURFs is the school theme, and stands for things like Self-responsibility, something, something, and something.) It's a good thing.
James and his friend Quinn were the first recipients from his class. Parents are invited to a reception before the assembly, then asked to come forward to stand with their student when he/she has gotten the award. James' was the first name called, and it kind of freaked him out.

He didn't understand what was going on, but mom managed to get up there and stand with him before too much time passed. When all the other kids were standing he understood more, and was more comfortable. I can see, in the first shot, that he's not completely at ease. He's definitely more relaxed when Quinn joins him, and I love this photo of the two of them.

Now some shots from Halloween.
This gem came home with James one afternoon. We thought it might be more appropriately titled "Remember when James didn't want you to take his picture."

The kindergarten classes get to wear costumes on Halloween and have a parade through the school.
Good times.

Below are shots of mom, James and Willy before going out to collect. Then one of Willy with our friend Mia, clearly already in the first stages of extreme sugar dysfunction.

We caught Willy at one point hiding under the piano and sneaking candy. Literally jamming chocolate into his mouth.

That's our boy!