Icy days- no school!

We had about two inches of snow Tues. morning and an icy rain all day today. No school for three days now! The kids and I have enjoyed spending time together, although I wish I could do more one-on-one time with each. I started an online class on Monday for teacher recertification points and it looks like a lot of work, so I am a bit overwhelmed by it all right now...

Abby really got into sledding down the hill and playing outside. She must have waled up our steep hill ten times on Tuesday and kept claiming it was her turn to go down next. She also enjoyed making a snow man and tried to share her cupcake with him today (she wouldn't share with her sister, but she shared with him). She also insisted that margaret put Mrs. Piddlekins (one of our outdoor kitties) on the sled. Poor Ms. Pid couldn't excape the girls.

Our neighbor's dog, Furby comes to visit every time she hears the kids playing in the yard. They love it. Patrick has made friends with a boy (Porter) who recently moved in behind us and the two boys have been visiting and playing with each other for the last couple of weeks. It is honestly a dream come true for Patrick- to have a buddy so close by- so I am very happy for him.

The girls also like having Porter around and seem to be competing for him attention! Abby asked him to accompany her to the potty and Margaret changed into a fancy dress after he arrived. Here we go!!

Visit from Dadu and Nonna (Grandma and Grandpa Mac)

Last week the kids had off from school two days, but teachers still had to work. Dadu and Nonna came down to spend time with the kids. They took the big kids skiing for the first time and both kids really enjoyed it.

Patrick and AP left town to go to a funeral in MD (one of Patrick's elderly cousins passed away) and Dadu and Nonna stuck around til Sat. They took Margaret shopping for some arts and craft activities for her birthday and helped her make cup cakes to bring to school. They also spend time with Abby, visiting the horses, jumping on the trampoline, reading and doing play dough.

Signs for the Kids Doors

On Russian Christmas Babushka Baba Yaga delivered supplies for each kid to make a door sign. The kids enjoyed painting them and decorating them themselves. They did a great job!

Success on the potty and a big girl bed!

Abby went pee pee in the potty five times this weekend! Today she did her first little poop in the potty too! We are thrilled! She is really into it. She dragged a plastic seat into the bathroom and put a teddy bear on it so he could watch her. She wants everyone to come look at what she's left in the potty. We all have had to run to the bathroom to congratulate her and shake her hand. Once, yesterday she tried to go poop but wasn't successful, and announced "it not working" and "it hard." Today she exclaimed "no poop- fart!" What a trip!

She also has made the transition to a big girl bed. As most of you know, she never did sleep in her crib- but I won't get into that! We turned it into a toddler bed last week and she has slept in it every night since we made the switch. She loves it! It's at the foot of our bed, but at least it's a step in the right direction!

Gingerbread House Pics

This is the third or fourth year we have made a gingerbread house. For the last two years we even entered it in a contest at Ferry Farm (George Washington's Birthplace). The first year we entered, we got a blue ribbon. I kept telling the kids it didn't matter if we won or not- then when we got first place ribbon I was so thrilled I was jumping up and down! Later we found out we were the only entry in the family division, so we won by default... how humiliating!

Last year there were far more entries. We didn't place, but we were happy to have been a part of the contest again. This year, we didn't make the deadline for the contest, but we decided to take our time and not get stressed out about finishing it before the cut off date. I was much more relaxed about letting the kids have creative control too. If you've never made a gingerbread house by hand- it is quite an undertaking! We started before Thanksgiving and we finished last week. It helps us use up the Halloween candy and I bring it in to school to show the kindergarten kids when I read The Gingerbread Boy" and other variations.

Patrick gets started mixing the dough...

The kids thought they'd make their own houses this year, but we ended up working as a team and decorating one together since a few of the extra sides collasped when we were constructing the house.

Abby got into the action and made things very interesting...

We have a tradition to "kiss" the gingerbread ball before we roll out the dough to make the sides and roof. It's good luck for the whole family to kiss it.

Abby stealing one of the gingerbread balls...

Holding up the sides with some soup cans! All three kids decorating from either side. (The girls are wearing the Christmas coats I made for them last year. Luckily, I made them large and they still fit- although Margaret's was a bit tight on her this year).

On several afternoons, we had to send Abby out of the room when she got too crazy over the candy. She would start dancing around when she saw us take the gingerbread house down to work on and she would announce "I help!" Then she would go nuts over the CANDY and would grab as much as she could and then get MAD when we put it out of her reach. It took us so long because we could only work on it a little bit at a time. Patrick would try to keep her in another room, but she'd always return sooner than we hoped... ready to reek havoc!

Matching dresses

The best part about celebrating Russian Christmas on Jan. 7th is that anything you don't have ready for the American celebration can be saved for Russian Christmas! I started making the girl's Christmas dressed in early Nov. but didn't finish them in time- luckily we had Russian Christmas to look forward to. I also made matching dresses for their American Girl dolls. It was quite ambitious, and I spent many a night stressing out about it- just ask Patrick who was trying to watch tv as I sat there cursing my sewing machine- but it is so much fun for me to see them in their matching clothes... Here are the girls dressing their dolls for Russian Christmas.

Jan pics

Abby hanging out with me at school...

The big kids riding horses at our neighbor's house...

Reading to the dog's at the public library...