Snow Day!

Well, I'm a couple of days late, but we had our first snow day of the year on Wednesday. Nashua got 6-9 inches of snow, just enough to make for a fun day outside for the boys and a not so fun day of shoveling for Matthew and I. And yes, I really did shovel, but I sprained my foot in the attempt :( Isaac did some heavy lifting too -- and I mean heavy. By the time we got out there to shovel, the plow had been by twice and it had been raining, albeit softly, for the past two hours, so the snow was wet and the driveway was icy and blocked in by about three feet of snow.

This was the view from our front window:

On Wednesday morning, when I answered the 6:15 a.m. phone call from the local superintendent announcing that schools would be closed, I was actually pretty excited. Last year there were SO MANY snow days that I was sick of them by the end. In fact, today is the anniversary of the terrible ice storm that took out our power last year for 10 days... something I hope we don't have to go through again. We have a generator and power cord now, just in case, so even if the power goes out we should be able to stay home.

But... it's still early in our snow season so I was ready for a snow day snuggled at home with the boys. And we really did snuggle in. We watched some of the movies I bought them for Christmas, drank hot chocolate, and made a big mess of the house. Isaac, Joey and Thomas ventured outside for some snow time, then had to strip off all their wet outer and underclothes when they came in. I didn't take Anna out... she has a cough and I didn't want to aggravate it. She badly wanted to join her brothers.
Here are Joey and Thomas watching a movie:

Isaac's reading Harry Potter again, I'm so ready to be done with that series:

Anna was smart and slept in:

Even though I hurt my foot, which is healing nicely, it was a fun day at home. The holiday season is so busy that sometimes it's nice to have an excuse to just stay in for the day.

Temper Tantrums

I wish I could say my children never had temper tantrums... but that would be a lie. No, we have whopper temper tantrums at our house. Tantrums that last hours, until I am so emotionally exhausted that I want to crawl in bed, pull the covers over my head and stay there for a week. This morning was one of those mornings. Not sure why I feel like blogging about it... I guess I'm just searching for some reassurance that I am not alone. Or, some advice on how to stop a whopper of a tantrum before it turns into a whopper. This morning the child, who shall remain nameless, was freaking out because I would not pull out Monopoly at 8:15 a.m., while I was trying to fix Isaac's lunch and get him to the bus on time. (ok, it wasn't Isaac. Or Anna, because she isn't old enough to want to play Monopoly. I'll let you guess which one of the other two it was) I tried to put him in his room so he could blow off steam and that set off an hour long marathon of me putting him back in his room, holding the door shut, taking the other two children downstairs to be away from the tornado, and praying really REALLY hard for help. Another two hours later, after a visit from Daddy, the unnamed child finally calmed down and has since behaved like an angel.
I'm trying to figure out if it was a power struggle... a call for help... a need for attention... overtiredness... bad parenting. Who knows. I know I need a vacation. A long, long vacation!

Check out Wendy's blog

I wish I could just copy and paste Wendy's blog posts about New Hamsphire here, but I don't know how to do that. If this blog is going to be our family "scrapbook," which I would like it to be since the idea of me sitting down with actual paper and glue and pictures is never going to happen, I need to blog more like Wendy. *sigh* Oh well, here's a link.

Joey's birthday, Wendy and Kate's visit and Halloween

We had a lovely visit with Wendy and Kate. Anna loves to play with her baby cousin, although we're not so sure Kate loves all the attention. The best part about having Wendy come to visit is that I have an adult to talk to during the day. She and I have a kind of running narrative going, even while we're shuffling the kids from one place to another. It's nice to have someone to bounce ideas and thoughts off of, especially one who is so wise and honest. We both have expressed how much we wish we lived closer to each other. *sigh* Maybe someday.
We had a fun visit. Highlights include: Joey's 6th birthday and party, a visit to Harvard in Cambridge, where we ate yummy cupcakes and the boys played soccer amidst the students (Matthew's taking a class there); a trip to the Boston children's museum with just the younger set, which was nice because normally Anna and Thomas have to keep up with Joey and Isaac; and of course Halloween. Wendy wasn't here for the actual night, she left on the 30th, but there were activities to go to almost every day the week before she left.
I wasn't very creative with the boys' costumes for Halloween this year. We need to start earlier next year. We were really scrambling to put something together right before our ward's trunk or treat. I went as Mother Nature. It was the first time I've dressed up in years. I highly recommend it.

Getting back on the horse

You know, at some point I was doing better at this blogging thing. Then came the busy, busy summer and all blogging activity ground to a halt. Then it felt like there was too much to catch up on, so I just kept putting it off. So, in brief summary: We had an amazing summer and were able to see so many wonderful friends and family members that our hearts and lives were full.
It was nice to get back into a routine in the fall, although it has been a crazy non-stop routine with kindergarten (half day, sadly) and preschool, soccer and baseball, cross country and Lego league, etc. etc. etc. Sometimes it's overwhelming... after mid-morning doctors' appointments today for the boys Joey was late for afternoon kindergarten for the umpteenth time in a row, so I called it a day and brought him home. He didn't seem to mind. I promise myself I'll get him there tomorrow.
On Anna: At 16 months she is a HANDFUL. Whew. But she's awfully cute.
The fall colors here are amazing this year... the results of a particularly wet spring. The trees outside my kitchen window are just reaching their full red and gold glory. The kids and I wandered around Salem, Mass. yesterday... the perfect place to go if you want to get in a Halloween-ish mood. The creepy people started coming out by 5 p.m., about the time we were ready to head home. We are enjoying New England. I love how many interesting/historic/quaint places there are to visit within only a few hours drive. (A plug for any of you who are thinking of coming out for a visit!!)
I'm mostly enjoying being home and not working, although there are definitely days I miss it. I keep telling myself, they'll only be young a few more years and then I'll wish I could have these years back. And, as Wendy keeps reminding me, it's an honor to wipe their noses and clean their spills and give them hugs when they're sad.
Matthew is still in school. He's taking an accounting class... though, why he'd want to do that is totally beyond me. He says he's enjoying it.
So, there we are. Up to date. Now I can start fresh.

Baseball

I think we have found Isaac's passion. We're not sure about Joey yet -- he enjoyed his t-ball season, but to a point -- but Isaac will pick up a glove and ball every chance he gets.
For the past two months Joey and Isaac played in the Nashua Northwest baseball league. For anyone who has not been a "baseball mom," the demands on your time are intense. The boys each had practices or games two nights a week, plus games on Saturday. That meant baseball took up five of seven days a week. I had several other moms say to me over the course of the season that they were glad their kid liked soccer, or basketball or (insert any sport but baseball here).
That said, it was so fun to see Isaac come alive on the baseball field. He was chosen to be a pitcher for his team, which meant extra practices every Saturday morning, but he was so intense and committed that it was hard not to catch his enthusiasm. You can imagine how excited he was when his team won the championship!
I admit I'm not the best "baseball mom," Matthew took the boys to most of their games and practices, but I want to support my children when they find something they love to do. So this fall you will find me back on the baseball field rooting for Isaac!

Here's a series of pictures of Isaac pitching and one of the boys with their trophies:

2 Weeks Notice...

... is what I just gave at work. For the last two years I've been a correspondent at the NH Union Leader. In so many ways it's been the perfect job. I get to do what I love and I've worked from home. But it has been tricky this year to eke out the time to make phone calls and to go do my reporting in between doctor's visits, baseball games, piano lessons, and volunteering at school.. not to mention housework and meal preparation. We're ready for things to calm down a little bit and think we're finally in a place financially where we don't have to worry so much about my income. Plus, Matthew is going to be taking some classes at Harvard starting this summer which will make life even more crazy... but also exciting. I've often struggled with meeting the demands at home while trying to keep reaching for my own dreams, but I think at this stage in my life I need to concentrate more of my efforts at home. Luckily the paper said I can keep freelancing for them, so I won't be completely out of the loop! And knowing me I will find other extracurricular activities to fill up my time!

Happy 1st Birthday Anna!

My baby girl is one. Isn't she sweet?

pics from the trip

Thomas

This is how he described to me that he has the hiccups:
"My throat is trying to get out of my head."

A Great Trip

Not long after Matthew and I met we started taking road trips together. We both feel the lure of the open road. Even now, with four children, we love loading everything and everyone in the minivan and heading out. This last week we had a particularly lovely vacation. We traveled through 11 states to our first destination, South Carolina, where we saw family and watched Matthew's cousin Catherine get married in one of the most beautiful weddings we've ever seen.
It was so great to be around family and to feel of their love for us and for the children. The kids loved it too. Everywhere they went there were more introductions, hugs, kisses and exclamations of wonder at all they did and said. And they spent hours just throwing the football around with dad, and with Aunt Gaye, and with Grandpa Carter. It seemed like everywhere we went there was either a football flying through the air, or a bat and a baseball in hand. After six days in the south we piled back in the car and drove up to New York to visit our friends there. The boys haven't been back since we moved away in August 2007. So, even though there were ominous reports about the Swine Flu in Queens, we decided to stop in and say hello. We had a short visit -- only two and a half days -- but we packed in lots of fun visits and great food. We loved staying with our friends the Rich's on Long Island -- they have a beautiful home near the coast. Then we drove out to the very tip of the island and took the ferry to Connecticut, something we've never done before. It made the ride back so relaxing.
Now we're (sigh) home again. Hopefully we'll be able to settle back into a routine before too long. In the meantime we're filled up with the memories we made.

We missed you Wendy!

Happy Birthday Wendy... I hope you enjoyed your special day!
Here are the promised egg pictures. For those who don't know, my kids have made Easter eggs with their Auntie Wendy for years (not sure exactly how many now...). She would take on the art project during her annual spring break visit. Now that she's on maternity leave and has no spring break, we had to take on the egg making ourselves. So, Matthew actually ended up instigating the project. The boys had a lot of fun, but it wasn't the same without Auntie Wendy! We can't wait until Kate gets her birth certificate so you can come for a visit!!!
(So, I know Anna's shirt is dirty and Thomas is smiling weird, but these are the best I've got! Plus, we were all sick at home today so I have no cute Easter Sunday shots :( Hopefully next Sunday...)

Anna in the sunshine, a cat and a cake

A couple of weeks ago now (my, how time flies) Isaac was in the state Destination Imagination Tournament. In a nutshell, DI is a chance for kids to hone their creative problem solving skills. Isaac's team's challenge was to write a skit that showed how an animal - they chose cats - communicates. They've been working on it for months. Isaac's had a lot of fun. His team came in third at regionals so they got to go to the state championships, where they also placed third.
It was a beautiful day on the day of the tournament and we'd brought the whole family to a high school in Kingston, NH, so we spent some time outside on the athletic field running around. That's where the pictures of Anna are from.
I took part in my very first cake walk that day. I think this must be an American thing -- the cake walk -- because I had never heard of it before but it seems like everything we go to here has a cake walk. (for those in the dark, you walk around in a circle with a group of other people and whoever lands on the right number wins a cake) At the DI cake walk, they were also giving out cakes for creative dancing. We didn't win anything during our first cake walk, but I coached Joey a little (you're a cute kid Joey! you can totally win this thing if you just try!) and sure enough he won a cake! I wish I had a picture of his face when they announced him as a winner! It was so cute.

Catch-up

I'm playing catch-up. I keep taking pictures of things we're doing and thinking, I need to post this on the blog. But then I never get around to it. Well, now I'm getting around to it.
We went to visit Wendy and baby Kate at the end of February. It was so fun to meet our first niece! She is such a cute, sweet baby. I just wanted to hold her and hold her, but my children had other things in mind. While we were in Toronto we also went to the Science Center with Uncle Andrew, which was really fun.
This past Sunday we went back to Walden Pond, which is near Concord, Massachusetts. I think I posted about the last time we visited the pond with friends, but this time we went with Matthew. It is such a beautiful, peaceful place. The boys have fun looking in the tiny cabin that is a replica of where Henry David Thoreau spent a year living without any of life's luxuries. We had sunshine and just enough warmth to make us very content while we walked around the entire perimeter of the lake.

Dress-up with friends

The boys were playing dress-up with their friends Ave and Emerson today. It's funny how they play differently with girls than with boys. Their play is so much more gentle. They love playing family and dancing, though they won't admit it when they're with their guy friends. And we discovered today that Isaac is definitely allergic to cats, which is why his eyes are all red.