School

matt is a big first grader now. 

before he realized there is only 30 minutes of recess and a pile of homework every day, he happily reunited with his buddies on the playground. 

and off he went.  

 he included both brothers in his family picture!

and to seems to be working...big bro has been exhausted at night!

 (it is exhausting faking illness every, single morning while mama is trying to fill water bottles, pack five snacks, three lunches and finish matt's homework before the shoe battles begin.) we are still adjusting but he is working so hard and i am so proud of him!

 a week later, jack and ben started their three-day-a-week (yippee) nursery school. no tears from these guys either

until the stay days began...was rough couple of days

they stay until 2:45 twice a week. they seem to love it now that they are adjusted to the time

and their school "works" too. they fall into their beds on school days. if only we could chain them to their beds at night...

even with all this school, we have plenty of free time to fill.

so matt and some friends started the unofficial nature club after finding some owl bones in the bushes.

and we still play, play, play all day  

 ben is trying to become master of the universe.

 and my sweetheart jack is finding his sense of humor. he's adorable.

...and ben is wild....

 and they are all fun!



disney

we pretty much turned into the Griswolds once we entered the gates.

age 6.5 is perfect for disney.

he enjoyed everything.

ge almost-three is the worst age for Disney.

they enjoyed the cheap hotel arcade more than the parks.
ben gought the stroller every step. and if you let out one, you let out both....

thankfully, after chasing these two nut jobs around for three hours we enjoyed an 8-minute nap in the rigid, plastic stroller. (it was 47 degrees out and we packed for 80.)

thankfully it was warm in the gift shop. and luckily they bypass the $100 Disney princess stuff.

after a three hour wait, the 4 minute go-kart ride was a hit, even with ben!

i recommend animal kingdom for small kids. lots of kiddie rides and run around space. and they serve beer. 

and disney village was a hit with our guys too...

especially the lego shop. we should've could've stayed home and went to the natick collection.

they do all drop like flies after a full day of parks and i'm sure this is all we will remember in a few years and foolishly decide to go back....

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.