Max and Esme

We spent some of our February break doing NYC with friends visiting from Vermont.  A day at the American Museum of Natural History, a hike around Central Park (with a visit to Balto), sushi for dinner.  Another day visiting Chinatown for dim sum, touring the financial district, the view from the Empire State Building, and oysters for dinner.  We had a great time, but were all very tired at the end of the day!

Now that I have my new camera I need to open the package of cords and figure out how to download the pictures to the computer. Once I get to those shots you'll be treated to pictures of Max on a snowboard and Esme on skis.  We spent this weekend at Jiminy Peak with friends and the kids took two full days of lessons. Both were fast learners and by the second day Peter saw both kids at the top of the mountain with their instructors.  Mommy stayed on the "novice" slope where she eventually ended up on her back, head facing downhill. Oh well, no real injury, and the kids had fun.

I have ordered a new camera, so hopefully will have photos to post of Christmas! In the meantime here's a short list of what we've been up to: We had last weekend off so we finally started on our library project - we've built bookshelves and a reading bench on the front porch. Looks great so far - Peter has done a terrific carpentry job! Trim work this weekend and then lots and lots of painting to do. One of Max's goldfish died last week after being with us for over two years (apparently a long time for a goldfish.)  He was quite matter-of-fact about it, but was really saddened. Mommy got some extra snuggle time that night. Esme has a holiday party at school today and the kids have a concert next Tuesday. Both have been bringing home art projects daily, most of which leave glitter behind. Monday is my last day of work until January 4th - hooray!  The Brophy's are visiting next week, the Girard grandparents are coming for Christmas, and then a trip north to v...

I played the role of Super Mom this weekend, with some important help from Super Dad.  On Saturday Max and I went to a Young People's Concert at Lincoln Center with a friend. We listened to and learned about Baroque Music, had hotdogs and pretzels from a street vendor before hand, and drinks and sweets from a bookstore cafe afterwards.  In the meantime Dad and Esme cleaned out the boat for the season and washed the car. On Saturday evening we decorated our Christmas tree and made cookie dough. On Sunday morning I baked over 100 cut out cookies and that afternoon we were joined by 8 little girls for a cookie decorating party.  The girls had eight colors of frosting and various sprinkles to decorate their cookies with, and also decorated boxes to store their cookies in to take home.  Of course their interest in frosting cookies ran out before the cookies did so we have a couple of tins of undecorated cookies left to play with next wee...

Max did all the reeling on this one - I just helped support the rod so he didn't get pulled overboard!  The striper made a lovely dinner panfried in butter and breadcrumbs.  The kids both ate their whole portion.

In what's become an annual tradition, we spent our Halloween with friends on the next block where the extended neighborhood turns out for a parade and the next-door neighbors put a keg on the lawn.  Max went as a devil, and Esme as a black cat. With special guest Grandma Sissy along the kids filled their pumpkins with treats that mommy is going to try very hard not to eat!  Here's a shot of the family heading over for the parade, and one of Esme with her friend Katherine.