snow way josé

And yes, it's still snowing.

ice ice & baby

Uncle Matty taught the girls (& Tom) the fine art of ice fishing this morning. When she arrived home, Sydney explained proudly, "We caught a WORM!" and judging by Isabelle's pants, it looked like she enjoyed some ice swimming... but they all had fun, and I got some alone time with lil T which is always a good thing.

got mail

We took a walk down to the mailbox this afternoon. Trystan seems to love being all bundled and just peeks his little head out of his carrier to keep an eye on the snow flurries falling from the trees, while Sydney prefers to make snowball after snowball "to drink" along the way. When we made it to the mailbox I noticed it was barely hanging on by one screw and was nearly falling off the mangled post.
"What happened here?!" I exclaimed to which Tom shrugged with a guilty grin.
"Must've been the plow..." he accused.
"You ARE the plow!" I huffed as I opened the mailbox and watched the mail slide right out into the slush on the street.

yet another snow storm

We are up to our necks in snow here... literally!

history repeats itself

Apparently Trystan enjoys the excitement of food shopping just as much as Sydney used to...

snow

We had quite a storm here today - lots and lots and lots of snow. Schools were closed (actually, everything was closed) so we didn't even leave the house - but to plow, shovel and make the ocassional snow angel. Instead we stayed in our PJs all day and Syd enjoyed endless board games and far too many animated TV shows, all the while demanding "PEANUT BUTTER FLUFF! APPLE JUICE!" Apparently in her world, this delicacy requires no please nor thank you, and appears instantly and miraculously out of thin air - without crusts.

b'gosh

I can't decide which is cuter - Trystan's new trick (he's just SO proud of himself) or his new overalls from Uncle Edwah & Auntie Carol! You be the judge...

"FINE!"

This morning as I was getting dressed I overheard Sydney whimpering and whining, "I don't want to go outside. I don't WANT to go outside!" to which Tom answered sternly, "We are going out to build a SNOWMAN and that's THAT."
"FINE!" Sydney yelled and threw on her boots with a huff...
A half hour later, I was being paged from the deck to "COME TAKE A PICTURE!"

I'm still debating who had more fun out there.

blizzard

We got over a foot of snow last night. Tom got a crash course in plowing - he was out for hours clearing the driveway, then the road, then the front walkway, then a racetrack around the house for the dogs, and then a big old snow pile for Syd to ride down... I'm pretty sure he loved every single minute of it. And this afternoon he got to pull the girls behind the four-wheeler - very, very, VERY slowly. It was definitely a site to see.

pinkie pie

'Tis the season for an all-inclusive post with photos from various events over the past few busy weeks...

We finally got a few inches of snow last week, so Tom tested out his new plow (read: overkill) and then showed Sydney how to make a snow angel. But most importantly, Syd got to try out her brand new snowsuit.

(Thanks GranGran. Syd loves it!)

Meanwhile, Trystan has learned to clap in excitement. And he is pulling himself up on everything - even taking a few wobbley steps while holding on (very tightly) to his little push-along before getting so excited that he lets go to clap for himself, when he quickly takes a nose dive. But as you can see in his photo, he's still Very proud of himself and really likes his new perspective on things.

Sydney had a Holiday Party at school this past Thursday and really enjoyed making her "gingerbread house" (aka - an empty milk carton covered with every sugary confection known to man). I'm pretty sure the ratio of candy ON the house vs IN her mouth was pretty low, but she had a great time and got a lot of envious compliments on her application of chocolate morsel shingles. It took me a while to realize she was stockpiling candy INSIDE her house to smuggle home, and by that time my efforts had moved toward fending off the Munchkins and Chocolate Cupcakes. Aah, the Holidays.

Santa brought lots of presents this morning. Sydney was ecstatic unwrapping everything for everyone, while Trystan was more interested in pulling tree branches, clapping bows, and yanking at All of Sydney new toys just as soon as she opened them. (Seriously Tryst? the pink sparkley unicorn with silver hair? Really?!)

Luckily there were MORE than enough My Little Ponies to go around... it was a Happy Holiday indeed!

Mop Dreams

Today Sydney's battling a stomach bug, so I've been mopping and disinfecting all morning. While I was down on the hardwood scrubbing (picture old PJ's and yellow rubber gloves) Sydney perked up and came to me to proclaim, "Mama - someday when I'M a Mommy, *I* want to do THAT!" Dream Big, Syd. Dream BIG!

slacker

Okay, I admit. I've been slacking. But to my defense, the past few weeks have been pretty busy around here (as I'm sure they are everywhere!). Here's a recap. We put up the Christmas lights, celebrated Hanukkah with the Cohen's, decorated our Christmas tree, ate latkes at Matty's house, ate latkes at Shelley's house, exchanged Hanukkah gifts, shopped for more gifts, sewed a few more gifts, all while Sydney demands "just ONE more candy Mama? PLEASE?!" while pointing to her beloved chocolate advent calendar.
Meanwhile, Trystan got two teeth and has learned to crawl - or at least slither. Check him out:

knock knock

The door is IN!

But notice that the first foot and a half of hardwood is OUT... Tom had to take the hardwood and the subfloor out because of water damage. Apparently the old homeowners weren't aware that an unsealed door & an absence of gutters was a bad combination. I'm trying to think of it as an opportunity to create a new tiled entryway, but Tom seems to enjoy calling it our new skylight to the basement.

good morning?

This morning I woke up to find a big gaping hole in the front of our house... let's hope tomorrow morning I can post a photo of our new and improved front door. (And let's also hope the coyote don't realize that the only thing separating them from us is a utility tarp and some staples.)

look who's sitting

That's right - Charlie Brown!

He's also starting to prop himself up on his hands and knees for a minute or two (at which time he shoots me a look that begs, "What now?!" and then topples into the inevitable faceplant)

I'm really trying to savor these last few sedentary weeks before he gains mobility and life as I know it is officially over.

sweet potato sweetie

peek week

Sydney had her last day of Gymnastics today, and while they typically discourage us nosy parents from staying to watch the class, today we were welcome to enjoy "peek week" and watch the kids show off what they have learned during the session. I have to admit I have, on rare occasions, secretly glanced in the window to the gym to see how my little tumbler was doing and am proud to report she tackled those lessons like a pro. Walk sideways on the balance beam and hop on one foot? No problem. Forward roll down the incline mat? Easy. Climb her feet up the wall in a reverse handstand? She did it twice and laughed.

So when I arrived at Peek Week, I grabbed a seat front and center so I could show Sydney just how proud I was. Auntie Lisa came too - we sat with babes in arms and waited with smiles and shared proud grins while Sydney's teacher called her name and asked her to take "ten jumps on the trampoline" to which Sydney replied a low, soft, "ma ma" and looked out at me unwilling to move. The teacher moved on to the rest of the kids and then asked Syd again if she wanted to take her ten jumps... a painfully slow crawl toward the trampoline ensued, then an almost non-existent bounce as she stared at me with a look of terror and confusion.

The vault? Oh yeah, that was equally as painful. Lisa kept mumbling, "Don't look at her. Look the other WAY" which suprisingly seemed to help. It was hard not to laugh. You can see she warmed up a bit with the balance beams.

Of course, the few photos I have where it looks like she may have actually participated are blurry... I think next time I'll might watch Peek Week from outside the window.

tubby

Why yes, his father is an Award Winning swimmer - how did you guess?

halloween gnomes

I just had to post these:

That makes my Official Halloween Costume Count =
3 garden gnomes + 2 hobos + 1 kitty cat + 1 Charlie Brown.

happy halloween

from our own little Charlie Brown and "Sparkly Kitty Cat"