Easter!

We skied again this Saturday with all the kids, even Reed. Which is as challenging as you might expect given that he is two-and-a-half. Luckily it was a blue bird day and I spent the second half of the day on the patio in the sun with Reed playing around my feet. That was not half bad at all. The Easter Bunny came that night and the kids woke up and hunted for their baskets which was great fun.

 

Later in the morning we had a little rainy egg hunt with  the Philpott and the Sparks families. The weather could not stop these kids.

  

We gave the two-year-olds a head start. As soon as we said "go, the big kids flew around the yard filling their baskets.

 Meanwhile, Reed and Joseph had gotten distracted by a rainwater-filled water table and stopped hunting eggs. But hey - they still had a great time.

 Showing off their Easter best: Margaret and Charlotte.

 At one o'clock we had our family over for a big meal and celebration. It was lovely to spend time with everyone again. Karen and Frank helped organize it and did a lot of the cooking. Pete's parents were in town and came down with Jennie and her kids (Pete was sick unfortunately). And Kirstie and Peter were also able to make it.

Spring is Here - Fresh Rooms & Friends

It is now spring! Yay! The grass is growing and our flowers are coming up. We spent time planting a bunch of new trees and bushes in the front yard this month.

 Over Midwinter Break, I repainted Charlotte's room and Reed moved in. It is the only thing that is helping him to get to bed - so we are lucky Charlotte is a big-hearted sister.

 I also repainted Edison's room and we converted it to more of a big boy room. Eben took down the bunk bed, converted it to a single bed. I found a table top at Lowe's, painted it blue and Eben screwed it in place between is storage drawers. I also repainted his dresser, found a new rug and tied everything together with a Star Wars theme. Edison is super proud of his room and has spent hours organizing everything.

 

We got to celebrate Dillon's birthday and Liam's birthday this past weekend. It is such a great thing to have wonderful friends!

 Reed's class got ready for Easter this week. Each day they had a different obstacle course challenge such as rolling an egg with one's nose around the course or carrying an egg on a spoon through the course. Here is a picture of Reed and Mia taking their stuffies through the course and giggling.

 And with the eggs...

MARCH - Charlotte Loses Two More Teeth and Reed Starts Skiing!

At Charlotte's visit to the dentist, she was told she should wiggle out her top two teeth so her grown up teeth would have plenty of room to come in straight. She did just that within in the week and now she has the amazing, beaming smile of a six year old who has lost her four middle teeth - two top and two bottom.

 

She is a confident girl who enjoys meeting challenges with her homework and projects. This is her Gold Factory Leprechaun Trap. The leprechauns are attracted to the gold coin dangling in front of the door to the Gold Factory. They go to grab it and fall into a trap door and get stuck in the trap.

 

This is what happens when you have a big sister who loves you.

 Reed and his favorite friend at school, Mia. They've been in class together the last two years.

 

Olivia and Eric came to the cabin this weekend. We took Reed skiing for the first time. This was perfect as they also had Margaret and little Joseph - also 2 - so everyone had someone to ski with. It was great being able to say "Reed, don't you want to go skiing with JoJo?" And he'd say "yes!" so that was a very persuasive motivator.

 

 

  

 Getting ready!

 Reed did awesome at staying still and letting the skis do the work. Big applause to Eben for taking the morning and leaning on his patience to start to teach Reed to ski.

Winter is Waning

After a few months of amazing snow at the cabin, we have had a few warmer days of rain. The sledding hill that looked like this earlier in February....

 Now looks like this. The seasonal creek behind the cabin swelled up with rainwater and snow melt last weekend. The water was backing up in our yard while it waited for patiently melt away the snow dams in its path. No damage or anything, we just leave this part of yard natural, but it was pretty impressive to witness. The brown is from all of the rich soil and leaves that is being carried along with the water.

 The cabin can still be fun on a rainy day - as long as home made cookies are part of the afternoon! Lucky for me, I have two great helpers (Edison was skiing with dad).

Reed at School

Reed has moved into the "Early Preschool" room at LFP Montessori. His new teacher is Ms. Lori but many of his friends from last year's class are also in this room, including his best friend, Mia. Ms. Lori does an amazing job of snapping photos of the kids at work and play during they day and then sends them out to us parents during nap time. It really is such a joyful experience to open my email and find photos like the ones below.

 This is from Reed's first field trip. The gymnastics center was awesome, but I think Reed enjoyed the bus ride just as much. Who doesn't love jumping into the foam pit?! Look at that giant smile!