Squirel Studies

We have three new friends in the backyard. They are the lovliest of rodents....We've been having a lot of fun watching them dig tunnels and figure out new ways to get to the birdfeeder to get seeds. Ben took to watching them through the window for about an hour the other day. We also decided to share some trail mix with them too, add a little variety to their diet. ;) We also tried to go outside to visit with them but funny thing, they ran away when we came outside. We still had fun being outside in the warmer weather. Hopefully winter is on its way out and there will be more warm weather headed our way and more fun animals to meet!

Pirate's Life for B!

Cabin fever has fully set in thanks to the very cold temps outside. We're doing our best to keep busy inside, but we're all aching for spring. The following was Ben's attempt at entertaining himself the other night. It worked well for all of us! We had a search for burried treasure and tried to figure out what you put in a treasure chest. It was very nice to be imagining ourselves on the high seas in the Carribean, when in reality we were awaiting a snowstorm and arctic air. Hope everyone else is getting through this last part of winter all right. If you're getting "the fever" too please feel free to join our fleet! Till next time me harties!

Star Struck

We were brave last weekend and ventured out to the Portsmouth Children's Museum. The reason I say we were brave is thanks to the incredibly long line that greeted us when we arrived. There is a great publication here called Parenting NH and each month I grab a copy at the library. In this month's calendar section it announced that Clifford the Big Red Dog was going to be at the museum on the 13th. Ben is a very big fan of Clifford's. So we headed out for a day of fun meeting the red guy and playing at the museum. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes before we could get into the museum. Luckily the weather was still unseasonably warm and it was pretty comfortable. When we got in the place was absolutely mobbed. They were obviously having to regulate the number of people in the building to so that they would not violate their fire code. We heard from at least three employees who had never seen the museum so busy. Evidently Clifford drew a bigger crowd than Elloise or Curious George!!!

So we started walking around and waiting for the Clifford storytime (which is when we thought we'd see Clifford) when suddenly I spotted him walking towards us. I pointed him out to Ben and Clifford came right to us, and was ready to give Ben a hug and get his picture taken with him. But what should happen? Come on you know where this is going....Ben got STARSTRUCK!

He hid behind my legs as Clifford stood talking to me and then as Clifford moved on to say hi to some other kids Ben followed closely but stayed behind the safety of Tim's legs. Luckily we were at the Children's Museum which has lots of wonderful things besides Clifford. So although Ben didn't have an encounter with the Big Red Dog he did have a fun day.

A Cosmic Joke?

So, as many of you know we dealt with a little snow/sleet/wintry mix storm here yesterday. Well it didn't bother us at all yesterday but it sure came around to bite me this morning. Our friend Carl (6) slept over last night and I attempted to bring him to school this morning with Ben and Nate in tow. Carl's dad had to be at work very early today and his mom is away until this evening on a trip so I had agreed to do this favor weeks ago. Anyway, Carl wakes up at 5:45 today...he's used to getting up early to get to school. School had a two hour delay. So my day started off early but not badly, yet.

We left the house at 9:45 and I was quite proud of myself for getting all three boys ready and bundled and out of the house a few minutes earlier than I needed to. *this is probably what got the attention of whatever God or power decided to bring on the coming events.

We drove about 3 miles up 202 and were just about to get onto 125 to go to school when we got a flat tire. FLAT! It was baaaad! So I pulled over of course. All set to call AAA and realized I don't have my cell phone. Thankfully a very kind man from Metrocast stopped and let me use his phone and made sure we were safe. 10 minutes later the car was fixed and we were on the road. Only to realize that we had burned through a lot of gas while waiting for help and needed to stop. So I did and went to pump only to find the gas cover door frozen shut. I took out some of my aggression on the door and low and behold it opened!

We then got to Carl's school. I got out walked around the car and fell flat on my face and earned a nice blood blister on my left palm. I then had to navigate a 3 year old, 6 year old and 4 month old in a car seat across this terrain. It was challenging to say the least. We made it inside, got Carl set and as we left Ben fell down the stairs inside. KJids' snowboots are not designed for narrow stairwells. We made it home withou further incident but we have not left again. I plan to hide out inside until tomorrow. Hopefully I have paid my Karmic dues for the week.

Happy New Year!

Just want to wish you all a very Happy New Year. Typing much more is a bit of a challenge lately as Nate is teething and require more loving cuddles right now. I hope that pictures will be well received in place of text today!!!

Snow Day

Well, it's finally here, the first snowfall of the season! It's actually a bit late this year, although it is New England-you never know what the weather will be like. It's only the first week in December so it's not unheard of for us to have snow but very often we already have a good coating by this point. At Thanksgiving last year we already had a few inches on the ground. This year we've been really spoiled by mild weather, it was in the high 50s this past weekend. No such luck this weekend! Secretly, for as much as I complain about winter, I DO love days like this. When the snow is light enough that it covers everythign but doesn't make a mess and doesn't require hours of shoveling. Ben of course, is beside himself with joy over this event. He hasn't played in it yet today by his choice....perhaps the wind and the temperature are discouraging him. (take a look at the thermometer - that's on our back porch taken at 11am and it hasn't gone up at all).

So, thanks to cold, snowy days like this we are hibernating in our cozy place. Making hot chocolate, doing puzzles and holiday crafts and just enjoying being indoors and snuggly. I must remind myself to read this post come February when we're all climbing the walls with cabin fever. In the meantime, happy snowday everyone!!!

Time as a concept

Ben is having a hard time understanding when Christmas is coming. This isn't surprising given his age and the lack of ability to understand time. This morning we got a small snow gust....snow mixed with a big wind that lasted about 10 minutes and did not result in snow landing on the ground. Ben was so happy to see the snow, it was really adorable. But it also promted a lot of questions. Such as, "Does this mean Christmas is today?" So we talked about Christmas again, and that it's a few weeks away and what our plans our etc. This seem to satisfy Ben for a little while but I'm awaiting more questions this afternoon after his nap.

I do feel sorry for him and other kids his age in a way. The whole concept of Christmas must be very confusing for them. There are signs up everywhere wishing people Happy Holidays, every add on TV is promoting the best gift to get whomever you need to get a gift for, holiday sales, houses covered in lights (our street has a great display) and of course the classic holiday movies on in the evenings. So it's really no surprise that Ben asks if it's Christmas every day, because when you look around, it really could be. I'm thankful it's not as I still have plenty of shopping and crafting for holiday gifts to be done. But I know it will be here soon enough and then gone faster than we can imagine. Each year I'm blown away at how quickly retail shops get the holiday stuff on display and start pushing people to buy. It usually starts the second week in October now- before Halloween is even here they have moved most of it to the back of the store to make room for Christmas lights and ornaments and those huge inflatable snowmen for the lawn. Then, on the 26th all the holiday merchandise becomes the ugly stepchild of the local Target or Wal Mart and Valentine's starts covering the store in reds and pinks. This year, as is my hope most years, at our home we're going to try to enjoy the holiday a little longer, just to be thankful that we have it. Not to rush through the big dates in the year and in our lives, but to just relax and enjoy the time at home with each other. I realize "enjoy" may translate into pulling a three year old wound on cookies and new toys off the ceiling while trying to nurse an overtired 3 month old, but hey that comes with the territory.

On a totally separate yet somewhat related note, I have reconnected with an old friend recently and that got me thinking about the concept of time as well. It's both strange and comforting how time can change things in a number of ways and yet not alter them so much that we do not recognize them. It's been years since we had really talked and in that time we've both experienced so much; living in different states, traveling to various places, I have two children, she's preparing for a lifechanging move. It seemed a bit surreal at first, to be talking about such important things in the same room where we had worried about our crushes noticing us in high school and yet it felt very natural, like time hadn't really changed us at all. The things that we all may worry about and get excited about change as we age and our worlds expand and we grow along with it, but the people we are inside don't alter that much. I find it so encouraging that while I get to see Ben through his anticipation of Christmas and so many other events awaiting him I too have many wonderful things to anticipate and great friends to share them with. I hope that both of my boys are happy in life and find good friends that they can always connect with.