Winter Visitors

This past February Renee brought Lydia and Henry up to visit us. It was such a fun fun week and we did tons of stuff. I was glad we got to let the kiddos experience some winter snow fun. Even Renee was out there shoveling my driveway and everything!


We were glad that Lydia got to experience wearing some clothing that gets put on pretty often in our home...she is a cute soldier don't you think!

Renee even introduced Brenna to pig-tails! I really had no idea I could start putting them in her hair yet but sure enough Renee was right. She loves wearing her hair up but I did have to buy some de-tangling spray to make the process a bit nicer for her.
Joshua led the kids round and round the dining room table as the Marching Band Leader.
One day we brought the little ones up to Cheeky Monkeys and let them crawl around and play. Henry loved it up in the tunnels! If it weren't for naps we could have stayed there all day.

Even though we were busy this week we did spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Lots of time infect. Here is a picture of Brenna stealing some food from Henry's tray.
They seem to be laughing about something...wonder what was so funny.Henry giving Brenna a ride around.More meals served.


Renee and I doing a crafting project with the kids then we taped all the artwork to the windows..it was really cute.
Uncle Brett getting some hugs from Henry or he was stealing some food from the plate..I am not sure!
What is a visit to Western New York without a trip to the Play Museum?













Renee and I found some old barbies that we used to have...I know Peaches and Cream was mine and I think the lady in pink was Amy's favorite.
We made popcorn...all the kids crawled up on the counter to try to be the first to catch the popping kernels.

We also went to the Power Authority along the Niagara River and learned about electricity.




Here is a clip of Joshua getting Henry to laugh...Henry really loves Josh!!

Winter Re-Cap

Yeah! Spring is here at last but I cannot forget to review some of our winter fun.

First, there was the fun sledding that we are able to do up here in the snowy north. Of course the boys love it and are quite daredevils but...Brenna really is the brave one. She did not like anyone sledding with her down the hill even though we had to because there were jumps all over and it was usually pretty icy. She would just laugh and scream going down the hills.

This afternoon Brett took the boys to see the Harlem Globetrotters. Both boys had a chance to go down on the floor with the players and practice some tricks! They had a great afternoon with their daddy.



Most of our winter was spent doing just this. Hanging out in the back yard with our great neighbors. We spent hours and hours with the little girls playing and attempting to walk in all the snow.
This particular day it just snowed and snowed...don't you think we have gotten quite a great amount of use from the play set? Even in the snow those swings keep swinging.



One of our favorite things this past winter has been reading the Chronicles of Narnia Series to the boys. It was great that Buffalo was chosen as one of a handful of cities for the tour of the Chronicles movie set. The producer of the movies is from here so I think he perhaps got to have some input. Well, we really enjoyed it. I was not allowed to take photos in the exhibit but we got to sit in the White Witch's chair (it was even really really cold), handle some of the swords, walk through the wardrobe and see the costumes. It was a great afternoon.

This Sunday afternoon we went into town and had ourselves a fun family game of bowling. Brenna was pretty proud of herself to be able to get into the action this year!

This rainy evening we decided to go out to eat at Niagara-On-The-Lake only to remember that in the winter everything closes early so we headed to the Falls instead to Rainforest Cafe. The kids had never been to this restaurant before so they were quite impressed with the "live" animals" and "thunderstorms".



After our fun dinner we headed over across the road to a fun candy store were they each picked out a special treat. It made a cold rainy evening a bit more fun!

Loving Cherrios

Look who was so quite as I cleaned the other day... Brett finally walked into the kitchen to see what she was doing and this is what we found...the empty box has been tossed on the floor!

Anyone Recognize these Faces?

The other night when cousin Nathan was over a package arrived from Uncle Brian and Aunt Lauren in Colorado..do you think the kids had fun??

I wonder what goes on in the Basement

I know these were your thought but really during a long winter what can you do in a basement. Well lots of things I might answer and one of those is building. Daddy decided to build the boys the coolest fort/castle/toy chest ever. It is going to house lots of guys and vehicles and have a "command center" a "hospital" and a "jail" so all the bad guys have a place to be locked into. I will give you some more pictures when the project is done.

The Rabbits Must Be Hungry

You know winter has been long when the rabbits start to attack the landscaping. These are my brand new rose bushes that were beautiful last year..they are being eaten to stubs. I am thinking of just covering them all up with snow and maybe the rabbits won't find them.

Making Maple Snow Candy

As this snowy afternoon continues to bring us inches and inches of snow we decided to make some yummy treats! As a little girl (and a grown-up I must confess) I have read and reread Little House in the Big Woods. One winter day Laura and Mary learned how to make Maple Syrup Candy. Seeing as how we are amply blessed with snow today and I happened to have some New York State Real Maple Syrup the boys and I decided to give it a try. We boiled 1 cup of syrup with 1 TB of butter till it was a dark deep amber color.

Joshua collected bowls of fresh snow and we poured the boiling syrup over the snow.

Almost immediatly the snow turns into a maple taffy and is ready to enjoy.

Here is Joshua pulling up the candy from where we had just poured.

Brenna was mostly really excited that

I would just let her eat a bowl of snow.

Matthew enjoyed his treat from the warmth of the kitchen.