I made this

I saw this fabric in the remnant bin at the fabric store and it just screamed little girl's dress to me. So I tried my hand at sewing a dress for Sophia. Not bad for free handing it eh? All that's left to do is add a button in the back.

Camera boo boo

I found the kids playing with the camera earlier this week so this next series of pictures may be the last I get to post for awhile. I'll post the photos I managed to rescue over the next few days.

Flatware skills

Earlier today Sophia came running into the livingroom with a fork in one hand and looking back over her shoulder. Ethan came running after her trying to get his fork back. I settled the squabble that ensued (don't ask how because I don't remember) and they both went back into the diningroom. This is what I found when I went to check on them in the diningroom. Yes, my that's my boy eating rice cakes with a knife and fork. Sophia trying to pilfer whatever she can (she made off with several forks and the equivalent of one whole rice cake), as well as hamming it up for the camera.

Birthday pictures

Here are the rest of the pictures from Ethan's birthday party. We've got Ethan diving into his birthday cake and enjoying his birthday lollipop while playing with one of his birthday presents. Isaiah and Sophia also enjoyed Ethan's birthday cake with homemade chocolate ganache (is that the correct spelling, the blogger spellchecker doesn't recognise it) frosting.

Happy Birthday

The birthday boy hanging out at school. 



This time I got him actually looking at the camera. 



Now this is the life! 



Getting to lick the beaters and the bowl from your homemade birthday. 

On the couch and on the porch

Here are the kids cuddled up on the couch back in February. By the intent look on all of their faces they are probably watching something staring Elmo. 



Sophia hanging out outside on Tuesday just before the big storm that made it all the way to the Berkshires hit. (All of that snow melted yesterday.) 

Spring is coming

In the past 30 or so hours since I took these pictures we have had a major lake effect snow event. It blew in off of Lake Ontario and reached all the way to the western Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. Schools and colleges in the north country around here either closed or had delayed openings. As I type it is still snowing. I don't know when it will stop. I checked on some of my flowers today and they are still hanging in there.

Winter aconite. This specimen is in my front yard near the end of the driveway. It is now covered under at least an inch of snow but that's okay because these little guys can take it. The bright yellow flowers are a big pick me up in dreary end of winter landscape.





Crocuses are also early bloomers and when you see them you know that spring is on its way. I have purple, yellow, and striped specimens in my front and back yards (none of the striped ones where up when I was taking photos).













Snowdrops. These from my backyard. I would have missed them blooming if I hadn't noticed the winter aconite and gone looking for what else was blooming.















Daffodils bloom a little later in early spring. These daffodils are in my front yard. Their flowers should open in another week or so. I have daffodils in other parts of the yard that aren't this far along yet though. The tulips that are planted along with these daffodils won't be in full bloom until April and May.

Fun with camera phones

Sis 2 took these pictures of the kids when she visited last weekend.



Bacon baby. 
Sophia's got a thing for bacon. All of the kids do. I've started cooking the bacon in the oven because they kept trying to take it out of the skillet when I cooked it on the stove top.



Smiley girl. 



Smiley guy. 



Say what? 
Getting Isaiah to smile on camera is almost impossible. This is as close as Sis 2 could get.

Ethan builds again

Ethan likes to build stuff and he has lately taken to build replicas of the places that he goes.


This is a surprising replica of the set up at church. We met in the gym of a school. The coin jar with the car on top of it is the pulpit. Those two blocks off to the right are the doors to the gym. The stack of blocks are the stairs the kids go up to get to their Sunday school classrooms. 



The kids gather upstairs for their assembly time before their classes. This quarter they are learning the books of the New Testament. 



The grown ups rearrange themselves a bit once the kids leave. 



Everyone mills around after church. We fold up the chairs, put away the sound equipment, and roll up the carpets (a favourite task that all of the kids like to help with). 


Ethan has also built models of his Sunday school and regular school classrooms (complete with chairs for students and teachers) and the assembly time set up. I may have pictures of some of those.

Fun with dinner ware

Sophia likes to do a lot of those classic kid things like putting an empty bowl on her head. 

Her standard operating procedure is to eat as much as she wants. If there's anything left in the bowl or on the plate that all gets dumped on the tray of her booster seat and/or the floor. Then the bowl (or plate but usually a bowl) gets up ended onto her head like a hat. I have no idea why but she does this every she eats. I've even caught her moving her head around in the bowl as if her intention is to wipe the thing clean with her hair. It's always fun trying to get the stuff out at bath time (not).