Bye bye oak!

Little by little, I have been painting the oak trim throughout the house. The foyer, bathroom, and dining room are all done. The living room is half done. One of these days I need to spend some time on the tall ladder getting the upper Windows, trim, etc.

This week's project involved the cabinets in the living room.  That inspire Adam to hide the tv wires!!! Who hoo!!  That men as the next projects on dck are adding some hardware and painting the fire place.

The kitchen renovation is also happening soon. Granite is selected and being cut over the next week or two. New sink and faucet are here. New stove is on the way. After granite is installed, we move onto painting cabinets and walls, and then (if any flooring guys will ever call us back) installing hardwood floors, new dishwasher, lighting, and hardware. 

Things are coming along!

Skating

Savannah decided to try her hand at ice skating lessons, which they have at the ice arena on campus. 

When she first got on the ice, she hugged the railing the whole way over to her class' station on the ice. 

She spent the next hour falling on her butt. At one point - after a pretty hard fall - I thought it may be the end of ice skating. But, she got off the ice, laughed about falling 100 times, and talked about how next week would go! 

Fast forward to this week....Savannah did  not fall ONCE!!  She also made a new friend. So far, so good on ice skating lessons. 

Birthday party fun

Gage was super excited to have his first
"drop off" birthday party, where mom didn't stay with him! Quite the growing up milestone :-)

Enzo's mom said there were only 8 kids total, so she'd be fine. When I picked him up she looked exhausted ;-)

Gage, however, had a blast, and thought these storm trooper balloons were awesome.

Snow!!!!!

After everyone told us that we don't get much more than 3 inches a few times a year...we got 10.5 inches last week!

We had a happy dog...

Pepper ran around like a nutcase, she buried her head in the snow....

And she has not stopped eating snow since it snowed

Adam was probably not as happy about the shoveling...but he was happy to sled, drive the prowler, and have a big bonfire!

The kids were happiest to be pulled on their sleds behind the prowler.

M

Jammie jam

The kids' school hosted a pajama Jammie jam today....a "family dance". They had a blast!

Workspace

So, we've had this craft table for 4 or more years now. But, it has been somewhat unloved (I.e., unused) lately. So, while cleaning savanahs disaster of a room with her recently (seriously, her room looks like a bomb went off in it), we decided to turn it into a workstation/desk.

Best thing we ever did. She spends all of her time there now. She listens to music while she crafts, writes stories, etc. she has totally made it her little space.

Mad scientist

Gage got a science kit for Xmas, and we decided to do some experiments last week.  We made super cool underwater volcanos, so kind of non-Newtonian fluid that was not quite a liquid and not quite a solid, and then....Gage went all mad scientist on us and started mixing random stuff together. Basically, he made a huge mess in the supposed name of science ;-)

Sledding

The kids were super excited today for...snow!! No cancellation, though...

I was happy to have the chance to stay home today, drink coffee, and listen to the howling wind.

Pep wasn't too interested in going out...until later when I went out with her. 

The kids got home and immediately put on snow gear to sled

Gage, he is made for cold weather. He loves it. Loves the snow. He was just rolling down the hill over and over with his face planted in the snow. Crazy boy.

Savannah did some sledding and called it a day after she got snow all over her face. She got some good runs in though!

Big baby!

This big baby is 94 pounds now!!!

Hot stuff

Gage is definitely mine. He loves loves spicy salsa. He likes my HOT salsa. And...he was making fun of Adam tonight for being a wimp about eating the not-so-hit Frank's hot sauce. Gage eats that by the teaspoon now and then. 

By the way, I let him eat all the salsa he wants since - other than corn on the cob - it's the only vegetable he eats!!!

Lobstah...

Our Xmas tradition of lobsters moved to New Years this year!

Let me tell you, finding live lobster in OH is not easy. I had to drive to Columbus, 1+ hours away. Yes, Gage ate a hot dog instead. 

Next year, I think I will order lobbies early and have them shipped from Maine. Didn't plan far enough ahead this year. Yet another reason we should make sure we end up living along the coast some day in the far away future!!!

Ho Ho!

Xmas morning...yep, Santa definitely came! Savannah said it looked like "a very organized present explosion"!

A double dog dare...

Snowy the elf brought Bean-boozed this year. A "game" with jelly beans that come in good flavored and yucky flavors. Every color has one good flavor and one yucky. So, you don't know if you're getting tooty-fruity or puke, stinky socks, skunk spray, baby wipes, etc. 

Snowy left them a note "double dog daring" them to do it. The double dog dare is serious sobtheybreally had no choice ;-)

Gotta love those faces!

Cat tail explosion!

One day, we decided to go "explode some cat tails" at Grammys. As Savannah wandered down to grab some, Crash got very upset and was as close as she could get...moo-ing it up!

We found a bird nest, and grabbed some explosion material. Then...the twisting began.

Then...it was cat tail snow!

And some pretend Harry Potter wand dueling

Crazy boy cousins

We went to Cousin Matthew and Ryan's house to make reindeer food (bird seed and sprinkles). We spent about five minutes doing that...and then the boys went crazy.

They have so much fun together

Gage adore them...can you tell?!?

Brrrr...an amusement park in winter

Well, we are a little crazy, so we bundled up (not enough, though) to go to the amusement park (lake compounce) for the Festival of Lights. They had all the kid rides open, and the park all decorated for Xmas. They also had a HUGE Xmas tree!

My phone died 5 minutes after getting there, so no pics, but the kids rode bumper cars, drove cars on a track (like Disney), walked through the life sized dinosaur trail, and froze their patooties off. But, they had fun!

A CT visit

Hello Crash and Stash...we loved your Xmas decorations!

Our first order of business was having breakfast with Santa with Kristine and Elizabeth. Savannah told Santa she wanted a stuffed penguin (to make things easy on Santa, which meant Santa had to go find a penguin). 

Gage spend a lot of time with Santa, but he told me he couldn't remember what he wanted when he talked to Santa 8:)

Next up...a horse drawn wagon ride with Grammy and cousin Elizabeth.

Fun day!

Road trip!

We made a quick trip to Ct before Xmas this year. The kids (especially Gage) absolutely love staying in hotels.  We walked into the Hampton Inn room and Gage oohed and ahhed about how the room had everything - a desk - a fridge - a microwave - a wardrobe. Even better - they had Klondike bars to buy...

And waffles,donuts, and mini chocolate chips for breakfast. Gage approved ;-)

Then...it was back on the road to CT!