The Absence of Solitude

Dad's Visit

My Dad came for a quick visit over the weekend to participate in the blessing of Aaron. We were able to do a few other things while he was here, too.

We made our way over to the park full of lilac bushes. The festival is this weekend so we once again avoided the crowds. However, with the insane weather we have had the last month (hot to snow to warm, etc.) many of the bushes have not bloomed, bloomed early and the flowers are past their prime, or the blossoms were killed by freezing temps. We still enjoyed the lilacs though and most especially the fragrance in the air immediately after stepping out of the car.

We were able to have dinner with Matt & Mandy a couple of times. The kids love to visit their home! The guys and Mandy also were able to see The Avengers on Saturday. They all gave it a thumbs up!

And most everyone enjoyed a minor league baseball game. Andy Pettitte is coming out of retirement to pitch for the Yankees again but before he does that, he is pitching a few games in the Yankee farm team which happened to be playing here over the weekend. I think the highlight of game for my kids was Uncle Matt catching a foul ball without a glove.

And of course Dad got in some Aaron time, even while reading his book. Aaron was in his bouncer and was getting fussy so Dad picked him up and Aaron went right to sleep in the crook of his arm. We really loved seeing Dad a.k.a Papa and can't wait to see him again in just a few weeks!

Easter Festivities

We did the usual Easter things over the weekend. That included a family home evening about the resurrection, coloring eggs, going to church, an egg hunt, dinner with family, Easter baskets, and the smashing of confetti filled eggs. Here are our celebrations in pictures:

Simon was adamant about getting the orange coloring because, "That's my favorite color!"

Jillian woke up with a huge smile on her face because, "The bunny brought me treats!"

Lauren was so excited to get a new Lego Friends set. She decided she needed her own bucket to start keeping her Legos in and separate from the boys' collection. 

Ethan wasn't feeling so great so he was just wanting to go back to sleep...after he put his Legos together. 

Jillian was really into the egg hunt and confetti this year. She wanted to crack most of her eggs on her own head. 

Simon would say, "Found one!" every time he picked up an egg. Uncle Matt also smashed a confetti egg in his pants, thus the picture of him trying to shake out the confetti. 

Lauren was in the middle of it all as well. Our neighbors are Buddhist and their little boy came over to participate in the egg smash. Lauren made sure he got lots of eggs cracked on his head. He told Mandy something along the lines of, "That was the most fun I have ever had!" So cute. 

Ethan was really feeling bad at this point. Allen took him to urgent care and we found out he had strep throat...he was so sad that he didn't get to participate. But the other kids were kind enough to share their eggs. 

And Aaron, well, he slept through it all!

Happy Easter!

Maple Weekend

New York designates two weekends in March as Maple Weekends. Maple producers open their farms for tours, games, taste-testing, pancake breakfasts, and such to showcase the maple products NY has to offer. We decided to check out one of the farms close by last weekend. It wasn't anything like the huge Maple Festival we went to a couple of years ago but it was fun for everyone that lasted just a couple of hours. The kids got to see farms animals; they especially liked a cow named Chuck. They also ate maple cotton candy, took a tractor ride out to the sugar bush (the grove of 1600 sugar maple trees), and visited the sap house. With the warmer weather we have been experiencing this year the maple season was extremely short and this farm had actually finished tapping their trees and processing all their maple syrup two weeks ago. 

More Boston Highlights

I lied. There will be one more post after this one about Boston. I totally forgot about our little trip to Plymouth. This collage of pictures is just some of the random things we did throughout our stay. 

• We stopped by Fenway Park. We couldn't get into a tour that day but we did see the "Big Green Monster" wall. Sadly, the kids weren't too impressed. 
• While in Lexington and Concord to see The Old North Bridge, we went to Walden Pond where Henry David Thoreau spent two years living in the woods. It was really a peaceful, beautiful place even in the winter. I am sure it looks gorgeous in the spring and summer. 
• One day we went to the New England Aquarium. It was so very crowded, so very small, and we only stayed for about an hour and a half. It was the one bomb of the trip--It was so not worth it! (That is unless you were doing a whale watching boat tour from April to September.) 
• We had to get the obligatory tourist photo in front of Cheers. 
• We spent one afternoon wandering around Harvard and found a really good hamburger joint across from Harvard Yard. Our family of six probably looked a little out of place but we enjoyed it. We also drove by MIT because Ethan wanted to see what it looked like. 
• While walking the Freedom Trail we paused at the Holocaust Memorial. It is six pillars and on each one inscribed in tiny letters, are one million names to represent the 6 million people that died. 
• On our way back to the car from Cheers we stopped at the Public Garden to see the Make Way for Ducklings statues. The kids loved this book and the little ones had fun climbing on the ducks. I would love to go back and see this place when everything is in bloom. 
• And lastly, while touring around Boston we found Mike's Pastry. It was recommended in one of the books we were using and I am so glad we decided to find it. When we got there, the line was out the door and around the corner! I am not one to like cannolis but oh.my.goodness.they were SO good! They were definitely worth the wait.

So tomorrow I will wrap up our trip with the visit to Plymouth Rock and Cape Cod. 

 

Valentine Celebrations

We had a fun Valentine's Day. The children were all so excited to see if they would get heart-attacked and receive a few little surprises. Of course they did and we celebrated in other ways too, including:

• A pink breakfast of strawberry milk, apple slices, and pink heart shaped pancakes
• I packed Ethan and Lauren a red lunch...it was not the most healthful lunch with all the Red40 dye.
• Simon, Jillian and I made treats to deliver to friends and people I visit teach.
• We made sugar cookies for FHE treats on Monday night. They were a new recipe and one I will be making again because they were SO easy!
• We exchanged Valentine cards with classmates and friends.
• The mailbox was stuffed with Valentine cards from family. Thank you! They loved opening them all!
• We all had our fair share of sweet treats and the sugar crash was not fun with a 2 and 4 year old!
• And finally we had heart shaped pizza for dinner with fruit and a special Love Potion drink. Ethan told me I was the only one who should be drinking love potion and he would pass on it. :) He did end up drinking a bit of it because it was super yummy...pink lemonade, raspberry sherbet, and Sprite.

It was a good day for everyone and I love all the fun things we were able to do to celebrate this lovely holiday! The kids always love to have that extra special attention and I love doing these silly little things for them once in a while.

I will post some of the yummy recipes we made tomorrow...

New Year's Weekend

We had a fun New Year's Eve with Matt and Mandy. We played games (Quirkle has become a favorite around here), had lots of yummy food including chocolate fondue, and watched the ball drop at midnight.

Jillian fell asleep on Mandy around eight and Simon lasted until about ten. Lauren was so determined to stay up until midnight and almost made it; she fell asleep about 11:45 pm but we woke her up to see the ball drop. Sunday after church the two littlest ones refused naps in their beds but ended up falling asleep cuddled up next to me on the couch. Monday was our last day off from school and work so we took the kids out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel for our last hurrah before we had to get back to the routine. I think we all had a great holiday weekend!

Finally a Christmas Post

We had a quiet Christmas at home. The excitement could hardly be contained but the children all went to sleep quickly and Santa was able to make quick work of putting out everything. We also had a little elf join us this year in helping. It was pretty special to let Ethan be a part of the magic this year. He got to do everyone's stockings (except his) and then we sent him off to bed so he would still be surprised by everything else in the morning. 

Ethan has finally joined the ranks of pre-teens and teens everywhere by owning his first ipod shuffle. He began loading it with music right after breakfast. He kept whispering "thank-you" to me every time he passed me throughout the day, so as to not let the littles in on "his secret" of knowing who really gave him the gift. I did have have to tell him a few times (and still do) to take out the earphones so he can hear me talking to him and also that if I can hear the music clearly then it is way too loud. It's been fun though and he has really enjoyed it. He also got some new legos that were assembled so quickly, I didn't even get a picture of him putting them together. 

 

This Christmas was the year of crafts for Lauren. She wanted an art kit and craft items from Santa. Well, she got those and it seems like everyone else got the message too. She has been crafting up a storm the last couple of weeks...beads, boondoggle, stamps, shrinky dinks, stencils, friendship bracelets, etc. She now has her own plastic tote under her bed filled with all her crafting supplies. She LOVES it. Her other favorite gifts were a Cats Cradle book and string to learn all the fun string games like I used to play and several new pairs of earrings that are now switched out often. 

 

Like I said in my previous post, Simon's favorite gift has been the Lincoln Logs. They are pulled out several times a day. He was so excited about all the gum in his stocking and it was gone before we knew it. He made sure to leave a carrot on the plate for Santa's reindeer and was a little upset that the whole thing wasn't gone. Simon was also super excited to get a Lego Ninjago so he can now battle with Ethan. The six year age gap between Simon and Ethan makes it hard for them to play the same things so it's fun to see them playing together with the Lincoln Logs, Legos, and the hockey set they received from Aunt Kim and Uncle Sean.

Jillian is all about babydolls. The doll carrier and stroller was broken earlier this year by the kids pushing each other around in it. So Jillian received a new stroller and carrier for her babies. As soon as she opened the Cabbage Patch doll from Nana & Papa she ran to put in the carrier and said, "Shhh. Baby sleeping." She pushes the stroller around all day long! The candy in her stocking was also a huge hit and we found most of the wrappers in her doll carrier before breakfast. 

We were also able to go to church that afternoon to remember what this season is all about. I love it when Christmas falls on a Sunday. I think it makes it even more special and meaningful. Overall, it was a simple, fun day full of suprises for everyone. 

This week

We have been busy going and doing. With Allen on vacation and the kids out of school we have been enjoying our time together. Here's our week in review so far:

We went to the Museum of Play where a carousel ride is always a treat on the way out. 

We went bowling with black lights and Simon thought it was so cool. 

We found a dollar theater here that we never knew about so went out for pizza and a movie (Puss in Boots.) 

We went to the Science Museum where they have new exibit on mammals that is on loan from the American Museum of Natural History. Ethan and Allen were also trying out the locks on the Erie Canal. 

Lauren and Jillian pulled themselves up on the pulley experiments. 

Today we decided to take it easy so we put away all the Christmas decorations this morning (After they were all put back in the basement, Simon came over to me, gave me big hug and said, "Thanks Mom for the best Christmas ever!" I nearly cried; it was too sweet.)  The rest of the day we plan to watch movies, play games, and just hang out together. Tomorrow we will be gearing up for some New Year's Eve fun with Uncle Matt and Mandy. The kids are super excited about it. We will see how late they last; I think Ethan will be the only one to make it to midnight. 

 

I will be back with an actual Christmas Post soon.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was low key and fairly quiet around our house. We did our traditional things for the day which includes a good house cleaning, finishing up the wrapping of a few gifts, making sugar cookies for Santa, pizza for dinner, the reading of Christ's birth in Luke 2, the kids re-enacting the Nativity in costume, and the opening of one present before bed.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Lauren was excited that she was able to get the cookies off the counter all by herself.

All hands on deck for the cutting of cookies.

Jillian's cookie was covered in sprinkles.

Simon was the angel this year as well as the star.

Even Buddy played a part in our Nativity as one of the Wise Men.



A typical picture of all four kids...It seriously was the best one I could get.

Apple Fest

Saturday we braved the cold and wet weather to attend the Apple Festival. We were slightly disappointed that there were not that many apple related festivities. It was more of an arts and crafts show with a lot of food vendors (which we did enjoy). The kids had fun though and the apple-cheddar pizza afterwards made up for the lack of apples at the festival.

Here are a few pictures Mandy captured: