was slim pickings at the pound

so we are not going to trade ben for a puppy this month. also came across this video of him when his favorite song came on at the art center. dropped the paint brush and jumped out of his seat.

so definitely keeping him--and hoping he follows pepop's footsteps as a professional dancer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLwEjpJwQY0

ben.

i definitely do not remember this stage with the big one. i can not look away from ben for one minute. he climbs into the bathroom sinks and turns on the water. no burns yet, but many, many outfit changes. up onto the island and pushes everything off. onto the dining table. onto matty's desk. he tears through books. literally tears them. he pounds the phone, the computer the remote controls. he is currently a nightmare.

 i am still having hard time talking about the black magic marker incident. i have painted matty's walls and need to do the trim next. i found scribbles on the hardwoods this evening. any writing utensil is bad news.

so we do our arts n crafts elsewhere.

 and they barely spill a drip of course.

 and it killed an hour on a frigid day.

 pats game was cold and fun. after my fourth $11 beer, i may have added our names to the season tickets waitlist.

 after the fifth i told this guy to shut up already. just kidding. about the 5th beer too. but he did scream tebow sucks the whole game.

 we are trying to convince maria and jim to move in next door.

thank you thank you thank you thank you!

 GO PATS!!!



best winter ever.

poor matty keeps randomly pouting that this is the worst winter ever with no snow. i totally disagree.

 mid-january has never felt better in the northeast. we drove to an elementary school on the other side of town and soon shed hat, coats and our shopping plans.

ben continues to do everything the hard way. up...

 ...and down.

the boys were imitating some recreational planes that were also enjoying the weather overhead. 

 and we started digging out old baseballs and tennis balls that were likely once covered in bushes.

 and then proceeded to recover them in mud.

 matty chose skiing as his winter sport so vincent started taking him to ski lessons. so he is getting a little winter action...here he is learning to pizza

 and riding the lift himself.

 posing with dad before a few double diamond runs.

 he seems to really like it. even though he came home with a giant scrape down half his face.

three tired stooges having some dinner. yes, we watch TV during dinner and i am not ashamed. they will eat almost anything this way.

 and after reviewing the last photo i decided ben needed another haircut.

 blondie did not realize he was next.

 he was not happy, but not unhappy. he will do anything for a lollipop.

 and two handsome boys. one still with his curls. the other with a touch of croup.



happy happy happy

just when we were in danger of coming down from our holiday high, we headed up to albany to ring in 2012 devito style. aunt patty gaining popularity with an NFL holiday card,

and her mad karoke skills.

here she is gaining popularity with the parents.

 cheeta let the kids fondle some dough make some pizzas.

 matty even ate some of his masterpiece.

 then off to uncle vic and aunt joan's for the most rockin' new year's eve ever. 

 the food, the music, the games. thank you, we had a blast.  

we may start a band next year.

 just kidding, we will reject any attempts to gift us a drum set. ever.

jack would have stayed up all night

 but ben had to prepare for his 4:15am new year's day debut. he is really the worst sleeper on the planet so i made his resolution to sleep past 6 every day.

 confetti, horns, cookies...kept this guy going until 1:00am!

 before one tired mama crashed, matt was proclaiming this, "the most awesome party ever!!" and "happy new year to everyone!"

after ringing in 2012, aunt joanie joined the very early morning fun for a second consecutive day. vic packed up the truck and they gave us breakfast to go...hmmmmm

the little guys gave their other aunts some early morning fun too, dragging patty and maria on their morning trot before we headed home. (jim was getting a haircut.)

after wolfing down a peanut butter sandwich, jack joined the other two for the 2.5 hour nap/drive.

happy new year to all! can't imagine a busier more fun year, but we are already heading that way!