Almost spring!

"Look mom! I found GRASS!!!" This discovery is quite exciting for us living in the Northeast. It feels like it has been a LOOOOONG time since we've seen such a sight! Today gives me hope that we are nearing the end of a long winter and getting ready to ditch the boots and dig out the sandals!! Only a few more weeks!!!

"What is that? Its so bright and warm." I think this summer will be fun for Owen. He had fun last summer..but he is another year older and wiser (ha) and will have just that much more freedom. I think Momma will enjoy this summer as well!

Here's to spring! Hooooorrrraaaaaayyyyy!

Proud of Jessalyn!!!

Yet again, this is just another shameless mommy brag..but keep reading, I think its a good one!!

Yesterday, I got a letter home from the school...this is what it said...

"Good News! Inter-Lakes Elementary School has been selected as a finalist for "Elementary School of the Year" for the state of New Hampshire! As part of the process a selection committee made up of six educators will be visiting I-LES this Thursday March 12.

Your Child has been asked to be a part of the student panel discussion, which will be made up of a total of eight students in grades one through four."

The letter goes on a bit with more details then ends with this...

"We are honored to be a finalist for the Excellence In Education Award, and are pleased to have your child help represent why we are the great school we are!"

Jessalyn is taking this job very seriously (in typical Jessalyn fashion) and has already prepared a few pages full of notes as to why she thinks her school should win this awesome award. Not that we ever questioned her character at school...but I would say that being chosen as one of the 8 students to represent the entire elementary school is a pretty good testament to her character!

I can't wait until we can swim outside!!

To help with some of the cabin fever our family is feeling these days we headed off to the Margate to swim in the pool. We had a relatively good time. The older kids were a blast...but Owen was a bit of a basket case. He didn't know what he wanted. He wanted to be in the hot tub, in the pool, back in the hot tub...and he wanted to just GO! He didn't want me to hold him..he only wanted Josh or Sissy. I was totally ok with this..since it freed me up to swim by myself. The fact that Owen only wanted Daddy allowed me the opportunity to grab my camera and get some pictures!

A family day.

My mom's side of the family was able to coordinate a time to get together this month in honor of my Aunt Susie who passed away in February last year. We had a wonderful time gathering together enjoying my Aunt Frankie's home. They live in the cutest house on the cutest pond and they have lots of cute little things that add to the personality of their home. The kids were able to get out on the frozen pond for a bit...and enjoyed being cousins (or technically 2nd cousins?) together.

As we sat at the house I had my eye on this little crystal that was hanging as a sun catcher..or reflector in the window that overlooks the pond. I just loved how it looked as the sun reflected off from it. I hate to be 'that person with the camera' and annoy people with snapping pictures of everything so I was trying to be polite and NOT do that. I had actually put away my camera and was about to walk out the door when I spotted the crystal again and knew that I would be extremely mad at myself if I left without pictures of it. I turned around..took my coat off and dug out my camera and was so glad that I did! I could have stayed there for an hour getting every possible different angle...but I contained myself and only took a few. I've decided that I want one of these to hang in one of my windows at my own house!!

Also...they have the cutest little frog couple that sits in the window enjoying the view of the pond all day long. I couldn't help myself with these guys too:)

**edited to add that I am not implying that I think its impolite to take pictures all the time, but that it is sometimes what I feel like when I am behind the camera. I personally love it when camera flashes are flying around :)

Not sure why

...but I just really like the look of this wine bottle.

Lazy vacation days.

I am enjoying every minute of not having to 'be' anywhere this week. I have been enjoying lazy mornings staying in bed just a little bit longer..being woken up by my kids, instead of an alarm clock. The only thing that is better than this is when it is summer time and we can look forward to some fun outside in the sunshine! That time will come soon enough..but until then, I will continue to enjoy days like today when we don't even get out of our jammas.

Eight happy feet playing a fun game of Hullabaloo this afternoon.

...apparently, one of them had to go potty at the time:) Boys will be boys.

Another birthday!

Today, Ethan turned SIX years old. I really can't believe it. When Jessalyn turned 6 had already given birth to our fourth baby! We already celebrated Ethan's big day with a party that consisted of both friends and family..including a sleep over. The night went very well and the boys had a very good time.

Even though we already had a party, I still feel the need to do special things on the actual birth day.

We started today with breakfast in bed!

I sent cupcakes with him to school to share with his friends and there were a lot of special things that they did there to recognize the day. His favorite thing was to change the velcro/sticker thing under his name from 5 to 6! Ethan was also able to choose whatever he wanted for dinner. His first idea was Chinese food (we've taught him well!) but unfortunately it is Tuesday and the Chinese place down the road was closed. His second choice was Mc D's..something we havn't had for over a month (strangly enough). The other kids thanked him for having a birthday and choosing Mc D's for dinner!

I tortured him a bit for some six year old photos:)

Happy Birthday Ethan!