Left speechless

Oof and Bleeblee

(We're not exactly sure why, but these are the names that Eamon calls his big brothers by!)

I sent the boys upstairs for quiet time. Colin hasn't napped for real in a couple years but Liam sometimes does. I don't mind either way as long as they're playing nicely and letting Eamon sleep peacefully. They just came down to inform me that they were playing "work". Colin's room was Chris' office and Liam's room was mine, apparently. Colin came to prepare me that Liam looked "very pretty" dressed as me. If you're a newcomer to the blog, you may not know this but Liam is ALWAYS dressing like a girl and role-playing like a girl. (He's always a firewoman, Batgirl, Superwoman, etc) As always, he likes to distinguish himself from his look-alike brothers! At any rate, down the boys came dressed as Chris and I. Colin had on his button-down pajamas to mimic Chris' dress shirt and some fancy black shoes. Notice that he borrowed Liam's play laptop as an appropriate prop! Liam chose a lovely lace-trimmed camisole and my black snow boots. He admitted he had on no underpants and that he tried to put on my calf-high zip-up boots that I prefer for work in the winter, but they were "too tall" for him! Lest you think that I actually wear such a get-up to work, I assure you, I ALWAYS wear undergarments and tend to actually cover my ENTIRE body with clothing. I wonder what ELSE they think of us and our jobs??

King for a Day

Uncle Michael got to play King for the Day at his school where they celebrated the king's birthday with cupcakes and crafts and topped off by a very funny Jester show. Here is Uncle King Mikey as the boys were calling him, presiding over some nieces and nephews of the court.

The craft area was a big hit and the kids are STILL playing with their crowns, magic wands and shields. A little paper, stickers and beads go a long way. They also played "pin the fire on the dragon" which they enjoyed and watched some real fencing students joust before the court.

Emme and her King Dad

Because I need yet another family member who likes to rummage through the clean laundry.

All the snow has prevented the boys from getting as much exercise as necessary. Poor Eamon can't walk at all outside as the snow is up to his belly. However, they run laps around the dining room table constantly which I try to ignore. It always always ends in a wresle-mania pigpile but I try to ignore that as well! Please note Liam's lovely long locks. They soon took center stage...

Colin has been growing his hair out because Cousin David has a shaggy 'do and he wants to be "just like him". Ever his own man, Liam longs to be bald, and to that end, took the scissors to his own head on Thursday while I was at work. Thankfully he was using his safety scissors so his scalp was spared and Daddy was far too amused to even admonish him. This required an emergency buzz cut yesterday as he looked rather like a doofus with a big hole in his coif. He loves his short hair and I think he loves being different from his shaggy brothers even more!

What's new in the New Year?

The biggest news is that Colin lost his first tooth and happily hauled in a whole dollar from the Tooth Fairy!

It's certainly not a new phenomenon that our windows freeze over on the INSIDE but it was the first time in the new year that we took lovely photos of them!

We found a recipe for snow ice cream and since we'd just gotten another foot or so, we just had to try it.

And though it wasn't exactly as creamy as we were used to, it was quite delicious!

Eamon gave it his seal of approval!
The next big thing to happen in '09 was an addition to our furry family. "Poppy" is a cute little furball that I got mainly to keep the mice at bay, but she is definitely growing on us. Liam, in particular, is in love, though Eamon likes to carry her around by her throat. Strangely, she doesn't seem to mind this which is a good sign that she'll fit in here.

She loves to cuddle with the boys.

And Clara is never very far from her. Once they got over the first day or so of fear and wariness, Clara took to licking the kitten up and down and throwing her up in the air with her nose which we find vastly amusing.

By day 3, the furry girls were fast friends.

Liam and his furry love.

Eleven times the fun.

Four boys are no more chaotic than three! Baby Jake had a sleepover which his cousins very much enjoyed!

Eamon decided that he just HAD to hold Jake. All the time.
Eamon, who would never take a pacifier when he was a baby, suddenly became a big fan of the binky when Jake brought his over.

The required "I can only crawl backwards and keep getting stuck under the couch" photo. We have it of all of our boys too!

Liam decided to keep Jake company under the couch!

December Revisited

Thankfully I married a computer geek and, for that, and many other reasons, I am grateful. The least of which is that he got our last months' photos off our now defunct desktop computer and I have finally learned my lesson: backup to external server... just like Christopher has been telling me. For the last 9 years. At any rate, this is what we were up to in the month of December...

. I found these unbelievably cute aprons for my little elves at my friend Jocelynn's mom's store. We've done a TON of baking this season and they've been put to good use!

We went to the Polar Express at the Ecotarium. It was freezing out that day, but just as cold as IN our house so it was worth it for the change of venue and mostly for the hot chocolate and cookies! The big boys insisted I take their photo with "Rex".

Here's Eamon in his rightful place: behind bars!


Not only did we get to ride the train to the North Pole, we got to see Kenda the Polar Bear there too! Here she is waiting for a fish to fall from the sky.


First snow of the season. The kids tried desperately to make snowballs out of the the dusting we got. Of course, by now we've had more snow than we want, by far, and more predicted today. The boys still love it, but I'm ready for spring. I'm done with mittens, snow boots, tiny frozen fingers and cold feet.

The Ice Storm Cometh.

And leaveth us with much destruction. Including the still-broken chimney that stands firmly between me and feeling my toes again.


Reading The Grinch Who Stole Christmas in five layers by the camp lantern on day 2 or 3 with no power. You know, when we still thought it was remotely fun playing "pioneer family".

so much depends

upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

(Okay, so it's a red wagon and it's covered in ice, but I still have this Willam Carlos Williams poem memorized from 9th grade English with Mr. Beschta.)

The calm and blue skies after the storm.

We waited for an hour and a half in line to see Santa and the boys got some face painting done to pass the time. They loved them, but poor Liam was so tired on the way home that his was gone in a flash flood of tears much too soon.

This was the first year that Colin and Liam really enjoyed talking to Santa and sitting on his lap. As you can tell from the photo, this was Eamon's second exposure to Santa and he wanted NOTHING to do with the jolly man or his lovely wife.

Gingy and Little Gingy.

Three crazies in a winter wonderland.

Our first real "festivity" of the season was the lighting of the big tree in town. Santa made an appearance which was nice, but the kids really enjoyed the popcorn, cookies and hot cider more!

All bundled up. And screaming like a banshee for Santa.

The fuzziness is not for a cozy dream sequence but just because it was so cold out that night that my camera kept fogging up.

After a lunch out with Meghan at the boys' favorite restaurant, Bugaboo Creek.

Eamon being Eamon. He's very big into balancing things on his head. He's training to be Carmen Miranda.

Ringing in 2009 in style!!

Happy New Year!!