Monday, November 24, 2008

Forest Fridays

We had our first Forest Fridays this past week. Thanks to our friend Alyssa who pulled this all together and got us organized and out into the woods. The idea for this came from an article in Mothering magazine about Kindergartens in Germany & Switzerland that are located outside. The entire kindergarten day is held outside no matter the weather, with free, unrestricted play. The only rules being that the children have to stay within a certain distance of the teachers and not wander off. The article is entitled Forest For A Classroom and it's in the November/December issue of Mothering. It's not online or I'd link to it for you. We're hoping to make this a regular thing so look for more pics from Forest Fridays!





Mamas and babes setting out! Big kids are already way ahead!




Nate at the head of the trail. He looks a bit confused about the whole premise.



Nate was very proud of this find.



Jaimee & Lily (hidden in the coat) and Anne & Callie!





Ben & Henning exploring a frozen puddle. All of the kids were really interested in the ice that they could see in puddles and the streams leading to the pond.



Nate playing in the same ice puddle pictured above.




Nate leading the way with Jaimee, Lily, Alyssa & Elijah.




Ben at the beginning of the trail.




Ben & Henning waiting for everyone else to catch up. They didn't have babies/toddlers to wear.


Heading back home....

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Photo Post

Because I want to blog but am too tired to write so I give you pictures instead. Enjoy!


Natey-Roo on the swingadoo.


Benny on the swing, this is picture attempt #5, as you can tell by his expression. He was a patient kiddo, the camera is just old and the delay is pitifully long.



MainelyMama thinking "What? You guys want to stay out here longer?" See the furrowed brow - I was shocked that my boys wanted to stay on the freezing, windy playground but they did.



MainelyDada - sporting his new LFG hat. Anyone know what it stands for? My bet is Adventure Uncle will but that none of my friends or family will. Am I right?

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Ch Ch Ch Changes

We're all adjusting to a new schedule here thanks to Tim's work one changing. So far it's been pretty decent, but we're only on Day 2 so I'm trying to be realistic about it. The boys both think it's "Awesome!" because they stay up later and I'm a sucker who lets them watch movies and have snacks at 11pm etc. That said, the real reason any of that happens is because I'm not adjusting to the schedule change well and I need to do whatever I can to make it to bedtime.

Soooo, my approach tonight is to let the boys stay up as late as they can. Obviously if they ask to go to bed I'll let them, there are no caffeine drips or toothpicks involved in my methodology. At the moment, it's 11pm and both boys are wide awake watching Wall-E and chilling out, but awake, remember they're awake! My hope is they will conk out by 12 and then sleep until 10am but we shall see. A mama can dream right

Last night, Night 1, Ben went to bed about an hour later than usual. Nate went to bed at 12. he then woke up at 4am and stayed up until 6. Ben woke up at 8:30 and attempted to wake up the entire house at 8:30, including Tim who had only been sleeping for a few hours. Oh, and Ben succeeded in waking Nate up and myself so I've been running on low energy all day. We did have some fun last night though and here are some pics of that adventure. the boys were dancing to the lovely tune "I Like To Move It" courtesy of Madagascar.


Dance Machine





Too tired to dance.


Boogie Brothers



They Like To Move It!


Singing Along

Monday, November 17, 2008

I'm IT!

Is it totally juvenile that I'm so excited to be tagged? I've seen this around and have been waiting for someone to tag me for a little bit now. Thankfully, my SIL knows what a sucker I am for this stuff and she tagged me and made my dreams come true and provided you all with this post. :) Ok, so the way it works is I tell you all six random things about myself and then I tag six others. Thanks Auntie Kara!!!

1) I swore from the time I was 14 on that I was never having children. Funny how saying that is not an effective form of birth control. (that said, my boys are my world, no question)

2) I can't "envision" my future. I just can't see that far ahead and imagine where I'll be and where we'll be as a family. I know what I wish for though...

3) I haven't talked to my sister since my Dad died over three years ago.

4) I suck at talking on the phone - or at least think I do - but I love when people call me.

5) I had dreams about Tim before we ever met and have had vivid dreams about each of my boys at age 2 before I was even pregnant with either of them.

6) I want to move south and get away from this freaking New England winters that last 6 months but I don't want to leave our network of friends and family here. Can you all just move with me please? Commune anyone?


TAGS:

Adrienne - Cause this is SO something we would have done in high school if we blogged then so let's do it now!

Hilaree
- You're probably giving birth as I type this, or wishing you were, but in case you aren't and need something to distract you, I tag you!


Colleen
- Because your stories kill me and you're one of my favoritest people in the universe. woot.


Emily
- Cause your blog is eye opening and humbling.


Tim - maybe, if you're up after work tonight and bored. lol.

Lauren - Because Yia Yia's make the world go round!



Saturday, November 15, 2008

Do you know what it is?

I'm looking for a Yule countdown, essentially an advent calendar that ends at the 21 not 25 day. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Last year I saw at least a dozen of them that I thought were beautiful and looked pretty easy to make but it was December 13th when I saw them and there was no way I was making it at that point. So this year, even before Thanksgiving has arrived I'm trying to find a pattern and make one so we can start using it on December 1st. SOOO, if you know what I'm talking about can you post a link in the comments, drop me a line, help me out!

IF I find one, or just make one on my own, I'll post some pics! Thanks!!!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

big ole sigh

Last week was crazy, in a great way, but just full to the brim of stuff to do and places to go and not enough time to do get all of it accomplished. The LLL of ME & NH Conference was on Saturday and for some insane reason, still unbeknown to me, my friend Alyssa who runs the whole shinding asked me to be her AACS. AACS stands for Associate Area Conference Supervisor (she's the ACS) or as I've renamed it Able to Accomodate Crazy Shit - cause that's what happens the last few days before the conference. lol. I say this without anger, it's just the way it is with anything like this and it's bound to happen so you just have to roll with it and figure out how to deal. It all went really well and we've gotten some great feedback which is encouraging and helpful for next year. In the meantime, this week I've decided to take a breath and just chill out with the boys. We're keeping our schedule clear and doing what the boys want and relaxing. Although we do have a LLL Toddler meeting on Thursday. ;)

Friday, November 7, 2008

Funny Friday

This is an older video and most people have already seen it but it still makes me laugh so hard and today, I need as many laughs as I can get!

See more Will Ferrell videos at Funny or Die

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Boo!

Ok, my brain is turning into freaking mush here. The LLL conference is this weekend and I'm SOOO beyond excited and proud to be as involved as I am this year, but in my head is a constant to do list. I tell you this to defend my lack of blogging for a wee bit. I know after this weekend I'll have plenty more to share and my brain will actually be functioning again. In the meantime here are some halloweeny pics to keep you all happy. You know, all like 3 of you that read my blog. ;)