random

I have some random, unrelated pictures but I didn't feel like doing five new posts. So here's what's been happening the past few days.

The other day we put the candy rocks from Uncle Ben and Aunt Amy (they taste like m&ms) on our peanut butter fudge from Grammy, and we thought it looked like rocks on the beach! It was fun and yummy.

Yesterday Malcolm came down with a cold. He and I stayed home while Dad and Jane went grocery shopping. I wanted to try his new Spider-Man puzzle from Grammy. Malcolm is too young (and doesn't have the patience for many puzzles) to do it himself, but he helped out putting the letter pieces together as well as Spider-Man's face.

We just bought this card table the other day for puzzles, games, and picnics in the living room, so it was fun to try it. We played many more games on it throughout the day!

I was inspired to make more of the knitted farmyard so here are the mother and baby cow. The udders were tricky to do!

Malcolm ended up taking a short nap in the afternoon because he was so ill. This photo is of him right before bedtime at night, though. He was wiped out. Luckily he's a lot better today, but now I have it. Hopefully Jane and Daddy will be spared!

Christmas at Grammy's

After opening stockings at home and having breakfast, we drove to Maine in a snowstorm. Uncle Abe was there as well as Uncle Ben, Aunt Amy and cousin Reagan.

Reagan found Susie and was very excited to play with her!

Jane was excited to get her own lip balm.

Reagan wearing her new hat and holding her new piggies.

Merry Christmas!

Malcolm loved his Captain America toys, but also Grammy's cookies!

Christmas at home

The kids opened their stockings from us on Christmas morning. They got a few toys, books, slippers and socks. Malcolm was very excited about his slippers!

playground in winter

We headed to the playground the afternoon before Christmas. It was fun!

Jane doesn't fit in this anymore. I'm amazed she could get herself inside!

nature walk

Yesterday morning it started snowing so we got very excited to take a walk in the woods. It turned out just to be a short snow shower and stopped before we left, but we still enjoyed our walk.

This used to be an army training area so there are quite a few bunkers.

Inside they have baby turtles in an aquarium. The idea is to keep them in captivity until they're big enough not to be eaten out in the wild. This one was only about two inches long!

cookies

The kids had fun helping make cookies for their teachers and bus driver.

(They enjoyed eating a few, too!)

fuzzy present

I think Westie wanted to be a present under the tree!

last skating class

Grandpa wanted some more skating pictures so I brought my "good" camera with the lens he gave me to zoom in better. It's such a challenging place to shoot since there is either a net or plexiglass in between me and the kids, so the flash wouldn't work. I had to edit these in Photoshop but they definitely look better than the last ones I took with the point-and-shoot.

The teachers dump out toys and the kids skate to them, pick them up and put them away.

Malcolm and Jane were in the same class today. Malcolm's old class contained him and six girls. I could overhear them saying today: "Where's Malcolm? We want Malcolm!"

He didn't want me to take his picture!

He discovered me and came over to the wall!

Our town's outdoor rink should be open soon, and as a bonus they will be offering lessons. I'm very excited! The kids will already have a good foundation with skating.

hairdresser

On the package for Malcolm's train engineer costume there was a photo of a girl wearing a hairdresser costume. Jane decided she really wanted that.

In the meantime, she put on an apron with pockets with a comb, brush and scissors inside. She decided to test out her skills on Malcolm. It was so cute that he just sat there and let her!

last day

We got to spend the last day with Nana, Grandpa and cousin Sammy.

Malcolm loves his new fleece from Nana and Grandpa. We also liked visiting with their new kitty Jack (who used to be at Sammy's house in the past)!

Nana and Grandpa were impressed that Jane and Malcolm can sing the blessing. It's so cute to hear their voices. Malcolm has his new train engineer costume on; he loves it!

seventh night

The seventh night was especially fun. We had our friends Nicole, Jacob and Eliana over to celebrate with us. The kids had fun rolling trucks down the couch cushions.

Latkes!

More dreidel!

After they left, Malcolm got to open up new comforter and sheets.

Doesn't it look like he's ready to go to sleep?

sixth night of Hanukkah

I tried to document every day of Hanukkah this year, but it was difficult! The kids don't always want their picture taken at the end of the day.

On the sixth night they each got a new book. Jane was eager to read Malcolm's to him right away.

volleyball

In Malcolm's sports class he learned about volleyball last week. They used balloons, which I thought was a great idea!