Falling into FAll (Halloween)

Birthdays

Zane

ggg

Summer highlites

Beach week...

glk;ajslkf

Waiting on Spring

Winter didn't want to end this year.  It was as bad for Bethany as it was for us, so she came to visit so we could complain together.

Yes, more snow pictures. 

 Mark told the kids about building snow tunnels as a kid so Katie got started on her own.

They were very excited to be able to eat icicles like the ones in Frozen.

 On the first day of Spring it snowed.  I was devastated.  I told Mark if the snow was not gone by the first day in April I was leaving.  We finally got some days above 30 degrees and the snow started to melt.  I took the kids sledding one last time.  It was warm enough to wear sweatshirts with our snow pants.  There were puddles of water at the bottom of the hill.  By the time we left we were all drenched.

On April 1st the last bit of snow melted in our yard.  Our neighbors still had snow but ours was gone.  So I am still here.

 In the meantime, we had other things going on around here.

Literacy day-Joe from Little Women; King; Bree from Fancy Nancy

 Marcus was so funny on Literacy day.  He decided to wear the king costume he got for Christmas.  He was all dressed up when he got to school.  As we walked in the door he noticed all the students not dressed up and he slowly started taking off his costume piece by piece.  He had come prepared and had clothes under his costume.  By the time we got to his classroom (which is the first door in the school) he was in his normal clothes.  He did report that the king reappeared for the costume parade and the class party.

Addy being Addy

 All the kids received Principle awards again second term.

 The weekend before Easter our church had their annual Egg Hunt.  It was SOOO cold this year.   Katie had 3 friends come and Addy had 2.

 All the sudden it was Spring Break, BUT it was still cold.  I thought about going somewhere but it was not warm anywhere within driving distance so we had a stay-cation.  What do you do for a stay-cation when it it cold outside and you don't want to spend a ton of money?

Monday we decorated Easter cookies with friends.  And had another group of friends over for dinner.

Tuesday we went to the library and rented Chronicles of Narnia the movie since we had just finished listening to the book.  We ate lunch at our favorite restaurant and watched the movie while Jaxon napped.

Jax and Marcus being crazy

Wednesday we headed into NYC.  It wasn't warm, but it wasn't as cold as it has been so we jumped at the chance to get out.

Our first stop (after the train, subway and street hotdogs) was the American Museum of Natural History.  Jax has been pretty into dinosaurs lately so I was excited to take him.  He was scared.

 When we got tired of the museum we went into Central Park... to climb rocks. 

After we visited the castle in Central Park, where both Marcus and Jaxon tried to climb over the wall.  Finally, after Central Park we met Mark outside his work so he walked us back to the train.

 Mark took of Thursday and Friday to hang out with us.  Thursday we took the kids to the Bronx Zoo.  Friday Mark took Jaxon to Five Guys and I took the older kids to see the new Cinderella.

Aunt Emily and Uncle Mike, with Rosie and Matilda showed up Sat evening to spent Easter with us.  Easter is so much more fun when you have family to spent it with. There were Easter baskets in the morning and Sunday brunch.  Then an egg hunt in the afternoon.  (Easter this year fell on the same weekend as our church's General Conference so we didn't have Easter outfits because we spent the weekend watching church on TV!  Of course that didn't stop me from buying the girls new dresses.)

Emily decided to spend the week here so that Mike could finish up a law school paper.  I spent the first few days sick but we did manage to do a few fun things.  

First park trip of the Spring

Jaxon had his half birthday this week so we headed to Stew Leonard's for some ice cream to celebrate.

It was a sad day when Mike came back to gather his family.  Jaxon didn't know what to do with himself after his playmates were gone (or more correctly not having sweet little Matilda to push around).

And a few more gems...

One of my best friend's from highschool stayed overnight on a trip down south.  It was so much fun to introduce our kids.

There was an instant bond.

Playgroup farm day. A hint of Spring.

I know, I know, I shouldn't take pictures in church, but Addy looked so fantastic I couldn't resist.

Jaxon is "reading" Hunger Games; while listening to air.  He was also nice enough to give Katie a pair so she could listen to air as well.

And fianlly...

It is possible that the cold weather might end.  Jax and I went to the beach today with playgroup and it was almost warm enough to take off my sweatshirt, but not quite.

It's a Cold Cold Winter...

Christmas came and went with no snow.  The kids were starting to get worried that the winter would pass us by without any sledding.  Finally, early January we get a couple inches.  It was meet with so much excited.  They tried to make snow balls, they tried to make a snow man, but the snow wasn't working with them, it was too light and fluffy.

But, the real snow wasn't too far behind.  And when it came it came with a vengeance and didn't stop.  By the time it stopped snowing we had 3 feet on the ground.

Jaxon is always entertaining.   

As the winter progressed he turned into a bigger the normal terror.  He  started spending a lot more time in time out.

The 3 older kids started ice skating lesson before Christmas break and they continues into February.  Katie was in a different class then the twins but luckily they were at the same time.  After lessons the kids have free skate time all together. 

 Parents were not allowed to leave the building during lessons--Jax and I almost froze waiting for them.

 

One day for playgroup they had some animals visit.  Jax was so funny about it.  He loved the turtles but was really freaked out by the big snake around my neck.  The other animals were in between.  he did let a chinchilla jump off his head.

I hate the cold and I really don't love snow.  My kids on the other hand like snow drifts as much as  beach waves.  On a normal day winter day, I have to force myself to go outside with them (and most the time, I don't force myself).  Luckily, I do like to sled so when I felt like we really needed to get some energy out we would head to the golf course to sled.  Jaxon was pretty annoying.  He like to sled fine, but he preferred to hand out at the bottom (usually on the path) and eat the snow.  Sometimes I could redirect him to the side of the path to eat snow there. But, usually he found his way back to the bottom of the path.

drinking hot chocolate after an afternoon of sledding with friends

February break we decided we needed to get out of town.  Mark had a very timely business trip to Vegas schedule at the same time. We drove to PA where Bethany lives and rented a hotel with a pool.  We spent a very pleasant couple days swimming and eating. 

Of course the highlight was trying to make Elsie laugh and loving on Rufio.  And Bethany and I got in enough sister time to make up for the frozen craziness we are living in.

In the mornings we would wake up and go downstairs for the hotel breakfast.  My kids didn't know what to do with all the sugar options in front of them; donuts, cereal, juice, waffles&syrup!  After breakfast we would called Bethany, and she and Elsie would come join us for a morning swim.  We has the pool to ourselves and we spent hours going back and forth between the pool and the hot tub.

Jaxon thought he could swim like the bigger kids.  At one point, as I was sitting in a chair on the side of the pool, he told me to "Mom, watch this", and he jumped in the pool without me.  Luckily responsible, on top of things Katie, grabbed him.

We got home just in time for Valentines Day.

the factory at work

All ready to spread the love at school

Jaxon enjoying his Valentines at playgroup

Addy wearing the pajamas that Grammy made her and her doll for Valentines day.

Winter stir-crazy at it's finest...

Katie made desert for all--yogurt parfaits

Addy's art made it to the Government Building to be displayed.  We of course had to go check it out.

A rare moment of love without wrestling or fighting.

President's day with Mark --we had gone to a mall for their ropes course but the line was 2 hours long so we did the carousel and dinner instead.

Jax had a knight/princess party to attend.  He is my little knight in shinny armor.

Mostly, the winter and the cold just keep going and going.  It has been the never-ending winter.  Appropriately we listened to Chronicles of Narnia on CD in the car late Winter/early Spring and we have all been wishing for Aslan to come.