florida part 1

praticing strokes for marco pool time.

(in unrelated news i seem to be funding the longfellow pool renovation with swim lesson payments)

and then we woke up to a beautiful monsoon-like rain storm.

 but my determined guys headed to the beach as soon as it cleared

 the boys quickly adapted from digging in the snow to digging in the sand. it is much easier pulling on bathing suits and forgetting shows than wrestling them into snowsuits and boots

 we didn't score perfect weather but better than what we left in  massachusetts

 the estuary walk/carry/drag

 warming up like lizards on the warm concrete

no pictures of mema and cheetah, but they were there! thank you for a great visit

Blizzard

Matty loved it. Ben hated it. Jack floundered somewhere in the middle. It was a ton of snow. So beautiful. So exhausting. So glad it's melting....

we monitored closely. 10,000 times. and thought it might be a bust until we woke up saturday. 25 inches and some huge drifts!

friday afternoon snowman

can you see him now?

matty wanted to cancel the snow removal crew because he had so much fun shoveling paths from the back deck to front door. must have been fun with big mama shoveling the top 24 inches

my little skeptic didn't trust the man blasting through the sidewalks

in his defense he did spend much of friday and a bit of saturday vomiting.

and my benny. just don't let snow touch his bare skin and he's fine

and definitely do not make him wear a hat.

Georgia

had so much fun in Alpharetta! circus, aquarium, dinner out, thank you for such a wonderful visit!

wrangling the super kids. no problem for super aunt P!

aunt patty was so nice to leave the tree up for us!

we discovered if you ignore small children all night they eventually conk out. (just kidding. we gave them benadryl.)

just kidding. it was a long day for them, followed by a lot of wii

this may have been the highlight...

Every bath is a challenge.

sigh.

Did I mention...

This guy is getting ready for a little brother?!

Wow

Time flies. We've been busy...Jack and Ben started preschool. Two mornings a week. It is a huge tease for me but you wouldn't believe what I can pack into six hours by myself.

Yesterday we we blessed with 60 degrees following a brutal stretch of bitter cold.

so the scooters were dusted off...and jump ropes attached...

matt and buddies playing after school

Matthew has been learning so much in kindergarten (although he also spends a lot of time begging me to make it snow...) here he is reading. or playing on the ipad.

bath time melt down.

"ben, you have sprinkles on your face."

the bubbles probably kill the germs, right?

we are off to georgia tomorrow to wreak havoc on the graces!

a devito new year's eve party

thankfully there was snow in NY. matthew was not into another no-snow winter. ben was unsure.

little did we know we'd get ours too....

 loving on aunt maria

 we actually slept better than we do at home. still flanked by children however.

 when the children's museum was closed we went to the state house for a tour. this may have been the highlight for three little guys.

 then aunt ria's ipad stole the show. she has the best games.

 and the long-awaited new years eve party. a blast as usual!

 i would suggest less confetti next time.

 the charades star

 the next morning party hangover. they did sleep the whole way home which was fabulous!

 vincent pouting bc he did not want to be the bunny.