A Relaxing Day

Today was a good day.

The kids played outside several times, coming in just long enough for their snow gear to dry and then heading out again. They made trails, worked on the sliding hill and later as the snow got stickier, working on a fort.

Brian loves his new Kindle and has already downloaded quite a few books. He could be found several times today reading.

Bess has had a cold the last few days, so she took it easy, spending time reading, on the computer and knitting.

Rachel and Hannah got crochet hooks and yarn for Christmas, so today I gave them a lesson. Rachel caught on very quickly as I suspected she would. She is almost ready to start a real project.

Hannah was frustrated at first, but kept at it and as mastered the chain. I'm not sure how long she intends to make this, but she is having fun.

Gabe loves perusing eBay and Amazon for deals. He has Christmas money burning a hole in his pocket and the possibilities are endless, or at least until his cash runs out.

Dan flitted from here and there playing and hanging out. These days can be more difficult for him with less structure and he often needs a lot of redirection, but he did pretty good and enjoyed himself.

No pictures of me, but I spend the day doing a bit of this and that, picking up Christmas stuff, laundry, playing on the computer, teaching the girls and visiting with Brian and the kids. I enjoy these do nothing days when we are all together exploring our own pursuits, but spending time together.

Big Snow

We had our first major snow storm of the 2010-2011 winter season overnight. This was a true nor'easter, working it's way up the coast dumping snow along the way.

It started last evening and snowed all night. I watched the snow swirl under the spotlight out back. It piled up very quickly.

It is hard to tell how much snow there is with all the wind. There are many places where it is well over two feet deep, but others only a few inches. My best estimate would be someplace in the 15-18" range.

This poor little bird feeder is somewhat protected from the wind, so the snow piled up high. The birds don't seem to mind the snowy hat on the feeder as they flit and fly back and worth for seed and peanuts.

The younger guys spend a lot of time making trails and sledding. The snow is very dry and powdery. It took quite a few runs down the sledding trail to pack it down enough to get a long run.

The birds are very busy today taking advantage of the steady supply of things to eat at the feeders. It must be hard for them to find food with so much food and I imagine the cold temperature and high winds tax their energy. We try and offer a wide variety of foods for them to make it a bit easier.

I usually bring the gazing globe inside, but I think it looks pretty interesting with a the snow cap and reflection of the house.

The wind caused some very interesting snow drifts.

I hope everyone in the snow area is staying safe and warm. Thankfully, we were all home today and didn't have any place to go, so we are enjoying the fresh snow, a cozy home and being together.

Rachel's Winter Concert

Rachel had her winter concert tonight. She seemed so much more relaxed than last year. There was one song that was a "shoobie doowah" type song and she had so much fun with that one.

She looked so pretty in her black dress.

Christmas Tree Hunting in the Rain

Today was the first day we had free for picking out our Christmas tree. It was raining...hard. We went anyway. Thankfully it was not terribly cold.

We took a cart to keep the tree off the ground. The boys thought this was great fun.

It seemed odd not to be trudging through the snow, tossing snow at each and enjoying the crispness of the December air, but the rain didn't really seem to dampen any one's spirits and we enjoyed our outing. The kids ran all over the tree farm, chasing each other and hiding behind trees. There were only a few other folks there, so we didn't feel bad about all the noise we were making.

We looked at this one and that one. Bess and Brian spotted this one and it was voted a keeper.

Brian had to lay on the damp muddy ground to cut down the tree. He is always a good sport about these things, but I think he would have much preferred snow.

By the time we were putting the tree on the van, it was really pouring. We got home soaked, but happy with our tree. We all changed and had hot cocoa and cookies.

The tree is set up and drying in our family room. We might get to the decorating tonight, but more than likely we will let it settle and finish drying overnight and get to the decorating tomorrow.

I am finally feeling like the Christmas season has begun.

Homeschool Group Christmas Party

Our homeschool group is not having a weekly co-op this year, but we have been getting together for Mom's Meetings, Field Trips and special events.

We had a great time today at the Christmas Party. Rachel, Hannah and Dan only had a half day of school today, so I decided to let them stay home and come to the party with us. They miss their homeschool friends very much and it was so fun for them to reconnect.

We spend the first part of the morning enjoying the wonderful fellowship. The kids played, chatted and ran around. We moms did a lot of talking. What a terrific group of women. I am somewhat relieved to not have our weekly co-op, but I do miss meeting with these ladies each week.


Stacy, our wonderful party/field trip planner had some very fun games organized. This relay race involved moving a balloon down the room and back to the start with a small snow shovel. It is a lot harder than it looks and the children used many different techniques from trying to carry it on the shovel to scooting it along the floor.

This relay race was totally hysterical. Bib snowpants, jacket, hat, mittens, scarf and boots were provided for each team. They had to put on all the clothes, race down to the end of the room and back; the problem being that all the clothes were men sized. The children participating were aged 3-12 and it was so funny watching the little ones trying to run/walk across the room.

Before lunch, we had a marshmallow eating contest and a Hersey's Kiss eating contest. The Kisses had to be unwrapped and eaten, but they had to do it all with mittens on. Some of the kids had big ski mittens, which made it very hard to unwrap the Kisses.

We ordered out for pizza from a local place that gives us a very good price. One of the moms made a fun punch.

Each mom brought something for dessert. We had cookies, cupcakes, apple pie, a caramel chocolate trifle...yummy!

Bess joined us for lunch after her morning class.

I so very much enjoy this group of ladies and their children. Thanks, Stacy for organizing and thank you, ladies for being the wonderful women you are.

Pumpkin Carving with Papa

Dan's class had a pumpkin carving activity at school today. Last year, Brian was able to go and enjoy this time with Dan, but this year, Bri is on TDY, so Dad agreed to go in his place.

Dan was so happy to have Papa join him at school. Dad said that Dan was very diligent and did most of the work himself. Dan was very pleased with how their pumpkin came out.


Thanks, Papa for stepping in and making Dan's day a special one.

Another TDY

Gabe and I took Brian to the airport. Brian will be TDY for several weeks in New Zealand and Antarctica.

Gabe always enjoys going to the airport, although not so much that we are going to say goodbye. We work hard at being a good military family and no tears were shed until after Brian leaves us.


To console ourselves, we did a bit of shopping and went out to lunch.

Ahoy Matey

One of Dan's favorite toys are the Fisher Price people sets. We have several including the Nativity. He plays for long periods of time making up all sorts of stories and adventures.


This time the Noah's Ark set seemed to house all manner of characters, including a pirate, complete with parrot and I think I see an angel peaking out from below.


So many toys that the children get are not played with that often, but these sets are frequent companions for Dan's very vivid imagination.

Silver Linings

In between rain showers this evening, the clouds parted a bit and the sun made a brief appearance. The clouds looked like they were on fire. It was beautiful.

Last Swim and Closing the Pool

The day was bright and very fallish and seemed the perfect time to close up the pool before it got too cold. Each year brings these repeating cycles of chores that have to be done according to the seasons.

We have had so much fun in the pool this summer. Our unusually hot,dry summer made for many wonderful days of keeping cool in the pool. I believe we used it more this year than any other year. One of the things that might have helped was we cut down a large tree that used to shade the pool a good portion of the day. This year with the day long sunshine and plenty of sunny days, the pool maintained a very pleasant temperature over 80 most days.

With the warm day it was easy for the kids to take the annual last plunge. Everyone went in and instead of just a quick dip, they actually enjoyed a nice swim.

Bess, Gabe and Dan had no trouble jumping right in.

Rachel and Hannah took a bit longer. I love Rachel's face in this picture. It was still pretty cold for her. She did stay in and enjoy, but that first dip was a shocker.

Hannah finally did get in.

Of course, Gracie had to join in the fun.

Canonball!

I liked this picture of Gabe doing a canonball as the splash made a nice circle.


Gabe as always, was the last one out. It was a perfect day for a last swim.

To the Reservoir and Back

I wasn't sure how it would be with just Gabe and I home this school year. We miss having Bess with us. We have gotten used to Rachel, Hannah and Dan being gone all day, although I know Gabe misses having someone to play with. It has been good, just the two of us. We are getting our work done, taking long walks, having endless conversations about every under the sun. Gabe is a wonder at chatting. He can produce a seemingly endless stream of thought for very long periods of time. It isn't the nervous chattering type of conversation, just the natural flow between two good friends.


Today we headed out on our walk and both of us were feeling adventurous and ready to explore a bit further. We walked down to the reservoir.

The fall colors are not very bright this year. Probably a result of the very dry late summer we have had. I am still hoping that a bit of rain might help. There are some nice colors and we saw our share of lovely leaves.

It seems so many things were out and about today. We saw this snake basking on a rock in the riverbed.

There were lots of butterflies around and grasshoppers galore.

When we got to the reservoir, we decided to venture out a bit. The reservoir has restricted usage and you aren't suppose to go down to the water unless you are fishing, but being just a bit of a rebel, I figured Gabe, Gracie and I would cause no more disturbance than the fishermen. Because the water is so low right now, we could get out onto the rocks and walk along the edge rather than in the woods. It was very pleasant. There wasn't anyone else around today, except the creatures that call it home.

We came upon this Great Blue Heron, who seemed very unconcerned with our presence. We watched him for a bit and then Gracie started thrashing in the water and startled him.

The clouds started to roll in and we still had about 2 miles to go to get back home, so we turned back.

It started to rain when we were 1/2 mile from the house, but Gabe had one more task he wanted to accomplish. For several days he had seen an old scooter down under the bridge. Today he decided to retrieve it. He climbed down over the bank and hauled it out. The front axle was bent, so he had to carry it. We hoofed up the last big hill and made it home before the rain got too heavy.

What a beautiful day to take a nice long walk with a pair of very special friends.

Orthodontics Anyone?

Gabe went for his initial orthodontic visit. I knew he was going to have some of the same issues as Bess, namely a very small mouth and crowding. He also has a significant overbite and asymmetry. So, we are in for more orthodontic work.

Bess has completed her treatment except for follow-ups and her teeth look terrific. Hannah's work will take several more years to complete. The doctor says Gabe's treatment will take about 2.5 years, which will have him all done by age 14.

I wasn't sure how Gabe would take it all, but he seemed fine with the idea. He wasn't nervous at all and tolerated all the pictures and x-rays well. He thinks it is pretty cool that his expansion device will have little hydraulics on it.


We really like our orthodontist. He and his staff are friendly and kind. I have complete confidence in what he recommends. I also love their offices, which are on the 6th floor of the building. There are wonderful big windows with a gorgeous view of the Hudson River.

I'm really hoping that Rachel and Dan will not need any work.