January Birthdays and February Blues...

Thanks everyone for all the great posts and pictures. I feel I have the February Blues lately. Paul is working on a proposal at work which means he is not here very much. The weather hasn't been too cold, usually mid-30's, but it's still hard to get outside. Am I complaining?

I want to think of something interesting to write about; let me search my pictures and see if I can come up with anything...

Here is a very sad picture of Thomas after being hit with an icy snowball by an undiscerning older brother.



I could post some pictures from our trip to Florida in January but I will save that for another post.

We had a great time with the Ermines, when they came down for my and Dominic's birthday. No birthday here is complete without Auntie Heather and family... I think the boys will always ask now if they are going to come. Thomas was asking me today if Auntie Heather and David were going to come to his birthday and I pointed out that they did come to his last birthday. But I told him that I wasn't sure if they would always be able to come to his birthday; we would just have to wait and see.

The Ermines got to our house some time in the early afternoon on Saturday. I think we just hung out and focused on making dinner - that's right - I made pizza. And the kids all watched Cinderella (which Dominic and Thomas had never seen before and loved - all the little boys were laughing the whole time).

Sunday we went to the 10:30 Mass and came back home and David (the father) worked putting together his Irish Stew for dinner (which was delicious by the way - thank you David!) Heather and the kids worked on the cake. Dominic had requested a tractor cake (similar to the one he and Heather had made for his 4th birthday party) so that is what they made. Heather wanted to make Chocolate ganache frosting and boy was that good! Notice the little cow on the cake, eating the chocolate ganache out of the trailer.


After looking through my photos, I am lacking in many pictures of the weekend (maybe Heather can post some, hint, hint) but here is one of Heather fixing the cake after one of the kids stuck their finger into the frosting.


The afternoon passed in a relaxed manner... Heather, Paul and all the kids but Andre went out sledding. We had a very nice birthday dinner. After dinner, Dominic opened his gifts, and the Ermines departed.

This is a great picture capturing Dominic's excitement upon opening his cap gun (which I purchased at Cracker Barrel).


I hope everyone is doing well. We miss you all and look forward to more of your posts.

The boys are playing so nicely!

It was a beautiful sunny day today and my little boys spend most of the day in the back yard. They were paying so nicely that I wanted to share a few pictures.

Pictures

Grandma got a new pair of spectacles, here's is a picture so you recognize her the next time you see her


Here is a picture of a paper doll Maria made, she is becoming quite the artist.



Here is a link to a video of my new metal shaper cutting metal. I got it last year but just got around to getting it all cleaned up and running.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDJRqrLR1fo

Piano Federation

Dear Family,

Today Maria and Anna were very nervous about performing their piano pieces before the Piano Federation judges. Anna was disappointed with herself thinking she did poorly, but tonight we were informed that both Maria and Anna received a superior rating. Perhaps sometime they can play these pieces for you.

Love, Mom

The Ball

A few pictures from our Brigade Ball. It was WWII themed, so I tried to do an authentic hairdo with pin curls and all =)

Our big snow

This January we had the biggest snow since we've moved here. I know it's not much for some of you, but it was a big deal here. The schools closed for a week, and GE let their employees work from home. Matt got to enjoy conference calls with his kids clammering at the door. Anthony got to play in his first snow. He loved to eat it, and wasn't to discriminating about what snow he ate.
Joseph and Blake loved to throw snowballs and were only slightly less picky about the snow they ate. And Ellie spend most of the day playing outdoors with the dogs.

Ellie's Update

Ellie passed Level 1 Obedience Last week. She wanted to share this video demonstrating what she and Nava are working on. If you can't tell from the video, she's learning clicker training,