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The kids received two awesome books of science experiments (plus supplies!) from our friends Bill and Annemarie, and they’ve been putting them to good use! Here are the kids with their “Monster Marshmallow” experiment where they learned about how molecules react to heat:
And those heated molecules sure taste good too! Susie plans on being a business leader when she grows up, and I don’t doubt she’d make a great one! Here she is showing me a list she composed on her computer (she’s really, really good at making Powerpoint presentations by herself too):
And here she preparing to lead her first board meeting: She sent out invites and prepared refreshments for the event, and although her brothers really only came for the food, she did her best to steer the conversation to the important matters at hand (what they were, I don’t know, as I wasn’t privvy to the meeting!): Jimmy continues to love the Patriots football team, much to his dad’s dismay. Almost every week he checks out a new book from the school library to bulk up his knowledge of the team!
Here he is celebrating his new Patriot’s bedspread from Grammie (note that Danny received a new Steelers bedspread from her):
Who doesn’t want a little healthy competition in the house?
Here’s Tazie helping with snow removal. At this point in January, we hadn’t had many significant snowfalls, so she was making the most of what we had! And afterward, she cooked me a yummy meal in the playhouse: And I had to snap a picture of Tazie playing with her stuffed pig and giving it a “Piggyback” ride! And here’s Susie cooking us Chinese noodle soup for dinner, nearly all by herself, and a picture of Becky preparing her very own appetizer creation (it was excellent!). They’re getting so grown-up!
It’s a time-tested trick to tell a child who doesn’t want to share a toy with a younger sibling: “Don’t worry, once you give the toy to your little sister, she’ll get tired of it in a few minutes and you can have it back.” I’ve used it plenty of times with great success. Toy gets shared, toy gets given back quickly thereafter, everyone is happy. Well, I now know the trick can backfire. Tazie has recently taken a liking to several of her siblings’ beloved stuffed animals. And each time, I foolishly told the big kids, “Just let her have them for now, and she’ll forget all about them.” And now here we are, several weeks later, and her attachment to the toys is just as strong as the first few minutes she saw them! Oops! Kudos to the big kids for continuing to share with her. And who could blame them, after seeing how happy it makes her?!?
Sometimes the kids are just so cute I can’t help but post too many pictures! Here’s Tazie showing off her dress (she loves to go upstairs at random times through the day and put on the frilliest dresses she can find!):
We started off the new year by celebrating Bubba’s birthday with the biggest, yummiest dessert ever (it even had gummy worms, my favorite!!):
And lots of tea parties:
And school projects – here’s Becky’s poster on Idaho. I told her that I did my 5th grade report on Connecticut, fell in love with the state, and was so excited to move here as an adult! Becky told me she’s not too worried that will happen to her with Idaho. 😉
We had a wonderful dinner party with dear friends after Christmas, which included visits from some of the cutest kids we know! Isn’t he just amazing?!?
Proud Grandma (Caleb looks pretty proud, too!):
Becky and sweet Anna: Our little miracle children! Such good friends: Even though the kids and Jim were rooting for a white Christmas, I was happy with the semi-warm day we ended up with! Here’s Dad sitting out on the deck enjoying some sun (and escaping the post-gift chaos!):
Here’s Jim helping the boys and Bubba learn to play a football game that Becky bought with her own money for Danny: And our Christmas dinner! It was a new recipe for me, Beef Bourguignon, and it ended up being a hit!
And it didn’t take Becky long to assemble her Christmas gift, a new Lego Creator set (the buildings on the right. The French-looking building on the left was her gift from last year): And here are the girls sporting the sweaters that Aunt Mary and Uncle Jeff gave them. They have worn these sweaters multiple times a week every week since Christmas! And a parting look at our Christmas stockings. So neat to see them all lined up! Christmas morning finally arrived at our house and the kids were as excited as ever! Here is a cute sibling cuddle that served the double purpose of restraining Tazie from diving headfirst into the packages:
Getting ready to tear into the stockings (which in our house means stocking + big bag):
Notice Tazie now has her very own handknit stocking for her first Christmas as an “official” member of our family. I was so thankful my aunt Christie carried on the tradition and made one for her!! And then on to my favorite part of the day: Breakfast!! We had french toast casserole, fruit salad, and bacon and egg cups. Then it was time for the rest of the gifts! As you can see, we all had quite the haul! When I was in California right before Christmas to see my family, we had a wonderful time going through some of my Grandpa’s old belongings that they had taken out of my Gramma’s attic. I don’t have many memories of my Grandpa, so it was really fun to get to “know” him a little better by looking at his old pictures and journals. I especially loved coming across this journal entry that he made while he was serving in WWII.
And elsewhere I found this old picture of my sister Angie and cousin Chuck on my other grandfather’s boat when we were young (I guess I can say I was being prepared for a life of boating, lol!):
And in the spirit of nostalgia, I found this ornament on my parents’ tree of me as a second-grader (Jimmy’s age now!):
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