Sunday, February 28, 2010

SNOW!

It has taken me a LONG time to sift through all of the snow pictures I've taken since we had our big snowfall at the beginning of February. The original 12 inch snowfall has never completely melted. We haven't seen a glimpse of the grass since January. We just got about another 6 inches in the last few days, so it may be a while longer. More to the point, it has made for a lot of snow play, snow shoveling and pictures, of course.On Friday, February 5th, Peter and I looked out our sliding glass door at about 11:00 pm after we had finished up our Friday night movie. What we saw was one of those awesome things you rarely see. Very heavy, wet snow had coated everything thickly. All of the branches in the woods behind the house were drooping low with the weight. When we opened the door to get a better look, there was that amazing silence after a snowfall accompanied by ominous creaks and groans as the trees were beginning to give way to the heavy snow. The sky was bright, almost like day. Even my cheap camera took the above picure with no flash because there was so much light.
The next morning was William's 9th birthday and he knew he'd had a gift from God, 12 full inches of snow!

Time to play and work.

Our plum tree in the front yard had it hard.

Peter shook the snow from the limbs to relieve some weight, but one large limb had already broken.

Even Cecily came out to enjoy the snow a bit!

Shoveling and clearing. Look familiar? Everyone seems to have had a lot of snow this winter.

You're really not enjoying yourself until you're covered from head to foot.

Another day I took some pictures to show how much had piled up on the deck railings.

Everyone wanted to participate! Aren't the trees beautiful?

"Me too!"

Gradually, the boys tried their hand at fort building. We made a huge pile of snow and then dug a tunnel into it. Over the course of several days they kept trying new things and expanding it. I will now begin to show you about a million pictures of the fort as it evolved.

Samuel had seen in a book that a roof could be supported by a board of some kind. He put one in over the main entrance.

Just about ready to go inside for the day. It's tiring work.

Samuel worked hard making snowballs to pile up like bricks to make a wall around the entrance.

The next thing to be built was a tunnel entrance from the right side.

They built their entrance a bit low, but they could crawl in.

The fort is growing.

There is now a tunnel entrance on the left side too. In this picture, there is a boy in each of the three entrances.

Ben.

The fort from the other side. You can see the windows they dug to put their guns through.

The left hand entrance had a tire put over it to enter through. (There are lots of lovely things like old tires throughout the woods behind the house.)

William worked alone to create this gigantic snowball. He was so excited about how big he got it. He is here trying to pull it on a sled over to the fort.

Will and the snowball of life.

With some help from dad they finally got that gigantic ball to where they wanted it by the fort.

A nice shot of the right hand tunnel.

Millie going into the tunnel.

Samuel by a window. This fort was his baby. Everyone ended up joining in due to his enthusiasm, but it was mostly him who toiled away at it. The snow has melted enough now that the roof caved in. Since we got 6 more inches, he's beginning again in the field above our house. What a fun winter for snow play. The Jones Family for one, are grateful for the snow!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

BOY TIME

Throughout the process of diagnosing and treating Katrina's cancer, we have had two of her brothers join our family for several days. They are about the same age as Benjamin and Calvin and all my boys are thrilled when they come over.Here they are doing some painting and stamping.

Their pictures.

On this particular day, the boys' parents called to say they were picking them up sooner than expected. All of the boys were disappointed. The Oldland boys really wanted to wrestle on the mattress before they left. So, we dropped what we were doing and pulled out the mattress for some rowdy time before their parents arrived.

My goodness, they had a fun time! Six boys and a mattress.

They made up several different games.

Calvin resting.

Samuel Oldland.

These two wreestled with each other a bunch.

The bigger boys gently wrestled with the younger ones...

...and then got a little more serious when wrestling with someone nearer their size.

No one got hurt. Just a whole lot of rowdy, boy fun. :)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

WHO NEEDS TOYS?

Sometimes it's fun to see what kids come up with to use for play.
One afternoon, when I asked Benjamin to play with Cecily, he had the idea to give her a ride in the mop bucket.

She seemed to really like the idea and she fits inside so nicely.

Here they come into the dining room where the big brothers are doing their schoolwork.

"Do you think we can fit through here? Let's give it a try..."

"Nope. We'll go around the other side of the table instead."

"Hi Mom!"

Next, Benjamin wheeled her down to her room to get some toys to pile in too.

Posing for me. :)

Last, Ben wheeled her into the play area next to the kitchen to listen to a CD and enjoy the toys they picked out. Cecily was near her naptime and was feeling pretty mellow, I think. She just sat there and did what Ben told her to.

Wow, he did a really good job looking at her books with her and keeping her so content. Sometimes it works out that way and sometimes not. :)





Saturday, February 13, 2010

JANUARY 2010-PICTURES OF THE GIRLS

Stealing Calvin's pencil bag.

Now she's got a marker too and trying to pry her way into dad's office.

Once she was deterred from all of that, she was looking for something new to lift.

Millie and babies (all of them!) napping.

Woops, Benny snuck in here.

Very grubby-faced girls getting a clean-up.

This is a dress that my mom made for Amelia. Cecily is getting some good use out of it.

Gotta love the eyes. Very expressive look to ward me off with my camera.

There's a happy face. :)

Guess what? Cecily has started staying put, looking at me and smiling when I get out the camera. This is a very good improvement this month!

We are REALLY enjoying the blue snowflake dresses from Grammy.

I think this one is my favorite even though Cecily isn't looking at the camera.

Sisters.

Another outfit made by my mom for Amelia.

Isn't that hat funny? I took the picture while she was eating so that she wouldn't bother taking it off.

It's so much fun to pull these clothes out from Millie and put on homemade things for Cecily. Thanks so much, Mom!