Making Valentines

Emily wanted to make valentine cards for her preschool classmates, so today after gymnastics class we went shopping for art supplies.

Grandma and Grandpa L. came over to help with the big art project.We made the cards out of construction paper and put heart stickers on them. Then Emily wrote a "message" on each card.Emily has used a glue stick and scissors at preschool, but she really liked having her own.Even Kate got into it. She made a special valentine just for Grandma and Grandpa.Emily is excited to pass out her valentine cards at school next week!

Me Too!

Kate, at 22 months old, has decided that she wants to do everything her 3-year old sister does. If Emily can leap off the footstool into the beanbag chairs...

....then Kate wants to do it too.If Emily puts on goggles to go outside in the snow, Kate wants to wear her goggles too.And lately Kate is absolutely insisting on using the potty, just like Emily. At first we were resisting because we thought she was too young, but now we're thinking "Why not?"You go, little girl!

Dinner...Maine Winter Style

Since winter has set in with a vengeance (we're supposed to get up to 2 feet of snow tonight), Chris has lately started cooking more "comfort food." This is the kind of stuff that gets you through a long cold night at minus 20 degrees.

One of the winter meals she prepares is known in Maine as "American Chop Suey". This is basically hamburger, elbow macaroni, and tomato sauce, with whatever else you've got handy thrown in. Brenda had never heard of this dish, but it is very popular here and even shows up on restaurant menus. Of course, it has nothing to do with Chinese food--nobody seems to know where the name came from, but everybody knows what it is.

Another favorite (especially with the kids) is mini-pizzas. Sometimes she makes these on english muffins, and sometimes on her own hand-made crust. It can be hard to find fresh mozerella cheese around here, but whenever she sees it, she buys it. Yum!And of course the kids love hamburgers. The winter twist to this is that she grills them outside, even in a blizzard! As long as it's not too windy, the grill works great, even in below freezing temperatures.That's cooking Maine winter style!

Backcountry Skis!

The snow is so great in central Maine that Chris started cross country skiing again. She quickly realized that her 15 year old skis were ancient. Here she is with her new backcountry cross country skis.

These skis (Fischer Snowbound Crowns) are wider for better float in deep, untracked snow and are shaped with full metal edges for alpine-type turning.  They are wicked fun...

Sebastian's Birthday Party

Today we went to Cousin Sebastian's birthday party in Augusta. He is turning seven! In the photo below he is with his Grandma Bonnie.

It was fun for the girls to spend some time with their cousins. That's Alana in the photo below.The party was really fun--it was nice to see everyone!The girls especially liked the appetizer trays........Kate and Lili got to bond a little........and we got to meet Aunt Sara's new nephew, Gabriel. He is only one month old! In the photo below, he is with his parents, Julie and Sara's brother Dave.Sebastian really liked opening his presents (what kid doesn't?).His favorite one was the Lego Batman video game. He thought it was fantastic--he even did a little "Lego Batman" dance!After presents, Aunt Sara brought out the cake and we all sang "Happy Birthday".Mmmmmm....chocolate cake. It was delicious.Emily and Kate got some "sticky balls" as party favors. They could throw them at the wall and watch them stick. Emily was amazed by this.The balls also made a fun crackling sound if you rolled them up the wall. All the kids enjoyed doing that.The girls worked off their sugar high by dancing a little bit........and playing with Sebastian's new toys. He generously shared them with everyone!Then it was time to go, after a hug and kiss for the birthday boy.We all had a really nice time. Happy Birthday Sebastian!

The Purse Runners

Sometimes the girls like to carry bags around and pretend that they have purses. This is kind of odd because neither of their moms carry purses...they must have noticed Nana or Grandma carrying one and thought it was neat.

Tonight the purse game evolved into chasing each other around the dining room table.

They got going really fast...since they were barefoot, they got good traction.After they got tired of going clockwise, they switched directions and started running the other way.What a fun game!Eventually they tried to hold hands and run, but there really wasn't enough room to maneuver.......so they ended up in a heap on the floor. Surprisingly, there were no tears!Just some good old-fashioned purse running.

The Sled

The girls really aren't into sledding yet. Granted our driveway and hill is very fast, so I can see how it can be scary. In the below video, Emily discovers she can pull Kate. Connor gets kind of crazy around sleds...

Snowy Sunset

In the afternoons, Chris takes the kids on a walk down to get the mail. Today they went out a little late so they could watch the sun set.

Emily and Kate waved bye-bye to the sun.Farmer Steve's cows were all heading to their barn.So far this week we've had about 14 inches of snow. Scott the plow guy has done a great job on our driveway though, so we have had no problems getting out. Thanks Scott!

Ice Fishing!

Today we took the girls ice fishing for the first time. There was a kids fishing derby going on at the State Park so we bundled up and headed over, even though the forecast called for a foot of snow. Uncle David and Grandma & Grandpa L. decided to join us for the fun.

The derby was set up with drilled holes, free traps, and free bait, and they even supplied a 12-year old local kid to set up the traps for us. It was perfect!There was about 18" of ice on the lake, so we felt pretty safe. The girls thought it was pretty neat that we were walking in a place that we could have canoed on last summer. Because it was so cold (about 15 degrees) and snowing, we didn't let the girls take their mittens off. This meant that they couldn't do the fun stuff, like bait the hooks. Kate still thought the shiners swimming in the bait cooler were pretty neat.

Once the traps were set, the next step is to wait for a fish to bite and the flag to pop up.....
....and while we were waiting, we decided that it was time to go inside, warm up, and eat!The derby supplied free hot dogs, hamburgers, and hot cocoa.

For Kate, the best part of any event is the eating part.After lunch, we went back out on the lake to check for flags. Grandpa had been keeping the traps company, with some help from Uncle David. Unfortunately, we didn't have any bites.Uncle David showed what a tripped flag would look like, if we were lucky enough to get a fish.Ice fishing was fun, but the girls are a little bit young to really enjoy it. They mainly liked the part where you go inside and warm up!