I need a vacation - Callie's school show

Emily's first band concert

Tonight was Emily's first band concert. Wow.....was I impressed!! All these kids just started playing their instruments this past fall and they all came together as a band tonight. When I was in fifth grade and just started playing the flute we could have never pulled this off. Ms. Saranita, the band teacher, meets with these kids (the ones that want to) every Tuesday and Thursday mornings before school for about 30 minutes. Then she does group lessons with each child once a week. She is amazing!! Emily has worked so hard on practicing her flute and was so excited for this concert. She tried out to do a solo and did a fabulous job!!

When Em got home today from school she got right on her homework and then practiced a bit. We then ate dinner and she got ready to go. I straightened her hair (her request) and we were doing well with our time. Then the meltdown came. Right before we are to leave she decides she doesn't like her white shirt. Now we went out special to buy this shirt and she tried it on several times after we bought it. (Did I mention SHE picked it out?) I explained to her that she had to wear it and that was it. No other options at this point in time. She cried but in the end pulled it together. I asked her when we got home if anyone said anything about her shirt. Apparently, several people told her they really LIKED her shirt. Just another day in the life a preteen. So I have posted a couple pictures and two videos of Emily's solo. I have it in two parts b/c when I started it I forgot to zoom in so I stopped and started again. I thought I lost the videos once I uploaded to my computer and had deleted it on my camera but my wonderful husband found it for me!!!

Emily and Ashley
Emily and Rebecca
Scroll down for the videos of Emily's solo!

Emily's solo part one

Emily's solo part two

Old pics of Callie with lipstick

I just came across these photos today as I was looking for some old pics. Afterwards, I checked Andrea's blog and there were similar photos of her youngest daughter. How funny! So I had to post these for Andrea to see. I think Callie was about three years old here. It was so nice to see someone else take a picture of their child like this. I also have pics when Callie got into the diaper rash ointment. She put it all over herself, her bed and Jay Jay the Jet Plane. I don't think Jay Jay ever recovered. It was so hard to clean off. But....I did take pictures!! Callie was the one to always get into stuff like that. She was the one that drew on my walls. When I told my mom what she was doing she said, "Oh she is an artist and the world in her canvass." Hmmm....but her canvass was my walls. Thank goodness for the crayola website that lists how to clean off any of their products off any surface!! I would have never survived Callie as a toddler!! She is one great kid and always keeps us laughing.

I love her!!

Sled Riding in New England

Saturday night into Sunday we got about 6 more inches of that white fluffy stuff. We decided to go sled riding. We packed up the sleds and headed to Amherst to a big sledding hill. We weren't the only ones that had this idea as the place was packed. After taking some good runs down the hill we decided to go behind us through some trees to another hill. I think we found a hidden treasure as there was only one other family there. As I looked around I was so angry at myself for not bringing my camera but I remembered I had my phone so the pictures I took are from my phone. They don't really capture how beautiful it really was out there!! My favorite picture is the one on the top of the blog with the sled to the side.

Emily and her friend, Melissa, coming down the hill.

Callie going down the hill.

Callie chilling out. Literally....it was pretty cold.And, Todd chilling out. The last picture is of the girls walking back to the other hill on our way to the car.

So far we have not missed any days of school this week but it is only Tuesday. We are getting some cold temps though. The high on Friday is supposed to be something like 9. Brrrrrrr!!!

We had our first ski club last Friday night. What a night it was. It was crazy but organized. Organized chaos maybe?? But in the end everyone came back to the lodge and all the kids and adults were accounted for. Callie had her first snowboard lesson. She loved it and stayed out on the hill until well past 9pm. She is riding Auntie Allison's old board!! She was so exhausted when we got home that she was in bed before Todd and I had the car unloaded. We were all pretty much zombies the next day but we had a good time. This week may be a no go with the freezing temps. We will see.

One last thing......We did some work on the playroom. Tore down wallpaper and repaired walls and painted. We set up a study area for the girls. Todd refinished Mama Ann's old desk for Callie. It looks awesome. You should have seen the look on Callie's face when she saw it all done with the paint she picked out and the new drawer pulls she picked out. So below is a picture of her taken last night beside her desk.

Until next time..........

Happy Snow Day.....AGAIN!

Well, we have been back to school for two days and one of those days was a two hour delay. It is now Wed. and we are home again b/c of weather. It snowed again early this morning and apparently it will turn into freezing rain and ice as the day progresses. "They" weren't kidding when "they" said this winter was going to be a bad one. So far the predictions have been correct.

Back to New Years. We had a wonderful New Year's Eve with our friends Jim, Leslie and Luke. They came up from Boston for the night and we ate so much food. We had cheese, meat and chocolate fondue. What a blast that was and the food was awesome. The girls had so much fun and ate everything. We had one rule according to Uncle Jamie, if you lose your food in the pot it is any one's game. So we had a lot of stealing of food. Callie said, Uncle Jamie is a meat stealer!! I am still cleaning up grease and chocolate in places I never imagined in the kitchen. We all made it to midnight except Luke. He was a trouper though. So cute and into the whole scene! Here are some pictures of that night.

Jim and Leslie
Adorable, smiling Luke!

The meat fondue with Em, Todd, Jim and Callie!
Midnight picture of the fam with our silly cracker hats.

Todd, Jim, Leslie and me.

The girls drank sparkling juice and so enjoyed the whole New Year's celebration!!

It was great to spend our new years with the Waltons. We are so lucky to have them near us for awhile. Thanks guys for a GREAT time!!

New Year's day we enjoyed yet another big meal at breakfast. I can't believe how much I ate over the break.

We had a wonderful Christmas break. We even got a day of skiing in. Thank you Noel and Debbie for our wonderful ski rack for our car. We did a lot of cleaning and throwing away in the basement and play room. We are now in the middle of fixing up the walls in the play room. We have torn down wallpaper, spackled, sanded and more spackle and more sanding yet to be done. Then we will be ready to paint. I can't believe we still have wallpaper yet to be taken down but we are getting there. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Friday night we start ski club. So the next five Fridays will be filled with skiing!! The girls are excited. I leave you now with a funny picture of Roscoe. I believe he thinks he is human. He sat like that for a long time while I snapped picture after picture. Crazy cat!!