Igloo Fame

With Chris' help the boys had gathered up a decent pile of snow.

The next couple days they worked to carve out the inside.

 They made enough room to all of them to cram inside.

The igloo lasted for over a week.

All this I knew...

What I didn't know till later was that our neighbors were watching their progress and were so impressed they and their visitors had taken pics of the boys creation to show friends!

Boys are working hard on plans for a bigger creation next year.

Avalanche!

This morning we woke to the snow being covered in a quarter inch of ice. We put out new feed on top of the frozen feed for my little friends and enjoyed the general splendor of it all.

As the day warmed and the ice stared to melt, it began to snow again.  This combination created a unique effect of periodic avalanches all around our yard; as the trees free of their ice bondage dropped their loads of ice and snow all at once!  It was like seeing and hearing quick avalanches all around our us.  However, this did not hinder the boys at all.

After a while they chose to change their igloo location from the forest to beside the driveway.  With dad's help they managed to create quite a pile of snow for their igloo.  They hope to burrow it out in the morning. 

For myself, the dog and I got over our issues (like no proper clothes or shoes) and went for a short walk down the block to take in all the wonders around us.

Another beautiful and exciting day the Lord has made and we were glad in it!

Last Hurrah of Winter

We had a great time the week before Titus' birthday playing in the snow.  We also thought that would be the last time we saw snow this winter.  The days had warmed, it was in the 60s on Sunday.  Then out of nowhere we found ourselves in the worst winter storm of the season.  

Chris pushed his luck and left work an hour too late today.  When the snow started, it came down fast and heavy.  By the time he got within a mile of home the roads were so congested he wasn't sure he'd make it home.  I even told him to abandon the car and walk, there was an extra coat and blanket in the car.  He chose to try going the back roads, to get away from the other drivers.  That thought and his experience driving in snow and ice eventually got him home, safe but frazzled.

Until I brought them together to start praying for their father's safe delivery home, the boys were in hog heaven.  All the winter snow gear I had cleaned and put away was dragged back out.  Once Daddy got home they gave quick hugs and ran out the door.

The poor girl came in quickly with cold hands but the boys stayed out doing their best to build an igloo.  They went down by the creek, swept an area clean and tried to create cubes by dipping a bucket in the creek and stuffing it with snow.  It was an unique approach but they did manage to create a decent size wall.

Unfortunately, for my snow loving boys, it looks like the ice rain will melt most of it by morning.  The rest will quickly melt as we reach 50 by Friday and 70 early next week.  

Chris' was fearful that we would not see snow this year and the boys would be disappointed.  His fears were clearly unfounded as we finish the year with the biggest snow fall yet; at least five inches in just a few hours.

Sir Titus - The Mighty Turns Five

I love his wonderful smile.  

He is a great cheerleader and capable member of the gang

A strong competitor in his own right; on the race course...

And a truly talented golfer; the darling of the golf course, out playing kids three times his age.

He loves his brothers...

and his sister.  They are two peas in a pod.

Though he will always be my baby he is growing up.  He is excelling at his studies and joins the boys more and more in theirs.

He is finding his own way as an artist...

And he's already lost two teeth.

Yet he remains ever ready and willing to help, sometimes he even comes up with his own special ways to help.

He is our little Tarzan, fearless of animals and swinging his way through life.

If Knights were still around today he would be a willing and capable squire already. 

Dear Titus, 
We love you with all our heart, treasure you more each day and look forward to how you will "change the world"(as you told me the other day you wants to).  May God bless you and keep you and may you follow in his steps all the days of your life.
All our Love!
Mom, Dad, Lance, Jared, and Amber

Winter Wonderland

When we had some snow flurries on January 21st, the kids were excited but disappointed at the same time because it didn't stick.

Last night when it started to stick the kids were ecstatic! It looked like sand piled up on the deck it was so powdery.

As it kept accumulating the boys went out in the moonlight sledding down the front driveway.  The neighbors came over just as excited to see so much snow and joined in the sledding.

In the morning we woke to a Winter Wonderland.  
Clearly this would be a snow day from indoor school work but before they started to play I did have one lesson for them.  I sent them on a quest to discover different animal snow prints.  They found quite a few and even discovered where two deer had clearly slept the night in our woods.

Then I released them to have fun!  Even the girl got into playing; making contemplative snow balls and eventually sledding down the side hill with Lance (after thinking he wanted her to push him, lol).  

The dog on the other hand wasn't so sure about all this white stuff (wimp).

The boys discovered three different and exciting hills for sledding around the yard.  

Our new yard was officially declared the coolest house ever by the boys and Chris.

Carnival of the Animals

Back on January 4th we made our first trip to downtown Raleigh.  We ventured there to attend the NC Symphony.  The ride was an easy 20 min. (just like everywhere else).  The facility was absolutely gorgeous, they have a separate hall just for smaller concerts and their children series.  They even had booster seats for the kids, Titus made sure to get a green one.

Before the concert they had an "Instrument Petting Zoo", the boys were tickled to try out everything; violin, flute, french horn, clarinet and trumpet.  Remarkably they all managed to make sound on them all.  They even had me try out the flute, it had been many years and I have totally forgot the fingering but it didn't sound too terrible.  In fact, after hearing all the respective instruments played by novices I must say the flute would be the most tolerable to live with during the learning phase.  Maybe after the boys improve their piano playing we'll get one, or maybe I'll just get one for me (I think they lean toward the louder instruments.)

The concert itself was extremely well done.  The conductor was jolly with a great dry humor.  After the initial pieces were played the main event was accompanied by a narrator and dancers to tell the tale of the animals.  We had chosen front row seats in the upper balcony (we thought it was more important that they have a clear view than a close one).  We were so high up and the wall rather low, that some were hesitant at first to get in their seats.  However, in the end the seats were perfect and Chris said we should always sit there.  The concert actually lasted an hour and fifteen minutes; about 15 minutes too long for Titus but he still did very well.  We look forward to attending more of the Children's series in the future.

On an aside....We have been listening to a lot of classical music this year.  There is a wonderful classical radio station in town that plays very upbeat classical music with minimal talking and no advertising.  We listen to it in the car and we even got a radio for the kitchen so we can listen to it throughout the day.  I really do believe music is powerful.  Whenever we remember to turn on the music first thing in the morning our days seem to go much better, the boys are better focused and more patient with eachother.  Amber appears much calmer as well.

Bird Crazy

Our new year started with the spotting and identifying two new birds at our bird feeder:

Bluebird (one of my favorites)

 

Blue-winged Warbler

I guess that really got everyone excited about birding.  Since then we have spotted and identified six more species of birds at our feeder, bringing the total up to 22!  On my birthday I took out the long lens and have being trying to get good pictures of them all.  The boys have joined with me in my quest and are having fun filming and identifying the new visitors to our backyard.  In an attempt to keep track of our discoveries I've added a new page to my blog called "Bird Watch".  Here we will list any new species we see and from this page you can follow the link the photo gallery of the visitors to our backyard.

We are working not only to identify the birds but also to learn about their behavior and songs.  We recently checked out the book "Backyard Birds of Winter" by Carol Lerner. I thought it was really neat how many of the connections and behaviors we had already observed and how many of the birds mentioned in her book we had already seen at our feeder.  

We went walking in Hemlock Bluff again last weekend (we need to do so more often its so close and peaceful) and the boys started another line of identification with Chris, trees, they've found in our "forest".  The boys have been working diligently to clear out the scrub each weekend with their father.  By spring I think we'll have quite the backyard.  Now I just need to find more books on Fauna LOL.

Christmas in NC

 

Merry Christmas from our Family to Yours!

We celebrated much of Christmas on Sunday since Chris would have to work most of Christmas Day.

On Sunday, Chris brought down the Christmas tree.  The boys did a nice job of putting it together (by themselves!!) and (new for this year) setting up their Duplo train underneath.  They were excited to have the tree up.  I then helped them add the lights and the styrofoam popcorn garland we made last year.  Final decorations were their Dollywood candle ornaments and the cards from our friends and family.  (Next I really hope to reciprocate - truly).

Then the boys remembered the deer (much to Chris' chagrin), instead of helping the airplanes land in Florida, they now serve as Apex, NC location beacon for the International Space Station.

Next we had a formal dinner (next year we'll dress up too) which is a tradition we started this year.   The kids were charmed by getting to eat on the good Corelle (we are very fancy people you can see) and having fancy glasses to drink Ginger Ale and Kombucha.  I cooked a turkey breast and special Mac & Cheese.  It wasn't as good as my Thanksgiving turkey but enjoyable. It was the novelty of the dinner the boys enjoyed most.

We finished up the evening watching a random slide show of all our pictures on the TV, talking about the memories they brought back and listening to Christmas Carols in the background.

Today, since Dad was working, we did some school work and I made pumpkin pie with Titus and Amber.  Once he was done, he went right to work playing with the boys and (another new tradition) making my dad's famous french toast for a late lunch.  He did well; the boys ate heartily.

As the sun set, we brought them in and Jared read aloud from one of the books we had checked out from the library.  Then Dad read the Christmas story from the Bible while the boys acted out the scene with the best Nativity ever (the Fisher Price version is indestructible).

Finally we let them open their gifts.  The T-shirts above were among their booty.

I eluded to another tradition we started this year leading up to Christmas :  reading lots of books about the season.

I had received many lists of "favorite Christmas books" this year.  So to sort through them I requested every book on the lists I could find at our local library; some were twaddle, some twisted the true meaning, and some were too sad. I'm happy to say that along the way I found some real winners to read to the kids.  Chris was our chief reader this year and the boys looked forward to the readings each night so I'd call the experiment a true success and a tradition I hope to continue for years to come.

We read the two great chapter books; one chapter of each per night.  The boys groaned each time we stopped; begging for more.

The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson
The Lion in the Box by Marguerite de Angeli

Then these Illustrated Stories:
Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck  (teaches the joy of giving)
An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco (You might want to skip Epilogue)
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey (a little on the sad side but happy ending)
Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry (funny prose)

Finally a book we read last year that the boys look forward to the read again this year.  If you are creative, there is so much you could do with this stretching through the whole advent season.

The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean

Pictures of Home

The last week in October we managed to get the NC tags for the car and my NC Drivers License; the last in our list of formalities.  We were now official residents of NC, however it still didn't feel like home.  I'm learned no amount of formalities checked off a list would make it home. We would need to add the personal touches.

I mentioned in my one month post that though we were getting settled, we had not put out anything personal.  That got me wondering if that was why it still didn't feel like home.  So starting two weekends before the Parays arrived we changed that situation. 

Originally, I wanted to wait till we had all the rooms repainted to hang any pictures, then I realized that may not be for a while.  Also, I worried the longer they stayed piled up in a corner the more likely they were going to get damaged, so up they must go!  While I ran errands and got groceries on Saturday, Chris unpacked all our pictures in preparation for the hanging.

Here is the art gallery that resulted.

While we planned out and hung the majority of our pictures inside.It was a great day outside and the boys explored the woods (returning four arrows they found to our neighbor), climbed trees, put together the wheel-barrow and raked leaves into a huge pile for burning tomorrow. It was a productive day all around.

With the kitchen now fully functional after our vacation, i can say that our home is now our own.  We will of course make changes over time but for now we are settled and with that in mind here are some pictures of the interior (first floor at least) as requested; in a very "lived in" state :-)


Entrance to the house complete with watch dog patrolling:

To the left after entering is the "School Room":  

Continuing to the right is the kitchen:

Through door in distance is garage; left is bathroom and right is second set of stairs.

The eat in-area of the kitchen includes "Central Command" (ie. my desk)

Continuing around to the Music/Reading Room leading out to back deck:

Finally the TV Room which brings us back to the front door:

Hope you enjoyed the Tour :-)