Snow Day!

Both kids were off from school today due to our 3-4 inches of fresh snow. We went out to enjoy it!

Charlotte wanted to catch snowflakes on her tongue

...and bury herself in snow.

Not to be outdone by his sister, Nicholas buried himself too

Not sure how this is fun...but apparently it is!

The master snow-angel-creator

What form!

The final result. Big brother and little sister angels.

Both kids LOVE taking pictures in this tree and always request them.

After some playtime (and shoveling our own driveway), we went across the street to do Gloria's. Nicholas started on the sidewalk.

Then he gave Charlotte some shoveling advice.

Somehow she ended up trying to shovel the grass instead of the sidewalk!

It only takes a few minutes for the kids to get tired of shoveling, so I took over for the driveway while Nicholas played snow-soccer. Charlotte just sat as I shoveled around her. I think she was tired and hungry for lunch!

But still smiling!

Rosy cheeks and sweaty, hat hair are a sure sign of a fun, snow-filled morning. We love snow!

The Princess Bride

Guess who found my veil??

New Year's Resolution

One only has to glance at my post count for 2008, 2009 and 2010 to realize that 2010 was NOT the year of the blog. But I vow to be back on track this year and hopefully back fill when I can. So hound me if I fall behind!

Family Tree Project

2010

2008

It's something I don't love working on (inevitably it gets finished in the wee hours of the morning), but I love having the final project. Charlotte's preschool teacher does an "All About Me" book in September, part of which is the Family Tree. I have experience with exactly this project from when Nicholas had Ms. Sally in 2008...so I knew what I was in for when Charlotte brought this literacy bag home! Despite the digital age we live in, it's amazingly hard to find pictures of all the cousins in family groups, aunts and uncles by themselves next to each other...and pictures of Tom and me without sunglasses! I'll have to keep that in mind next summer as I prepare for Family Tree 2011!

Our House

Assignment - "Draw a picture of your house"

This is Charlotte's interpretation. My personal favorite part is the "big, tall bear" on the left side. I asked her about that and she said "Oh, that's just for pretend."

We Have a Kindergartener!

The first day of school was upon us today. McGrath Elementary here we come!

Nicholas fairly willingly does his "Mama-needs-to-document-this" duty before school.

Charlotte can't resist getting in on this. Notice the backpack...and empty lunch box that she carried in solidarity.

Daddy went to work late so he could go on the inaugural walk with us. McGrath is about 10 minutes away.

Nicholas has Ms. Opel as his teacher this year. He also has Katie, a Fontbonne University student (seen in the middle of the picture) as well as an aide. Considering there are only 15 children in each of the two Kindergarten classes, we feel pretty happy with that ratio!

Nicholas gave us all a hug goodbye and went right to work!

Charlotte thinks she's ready already!

Charlotte and I went grocery shopping and had the first "girl-lunch" of the year (since Nicholas goes until 3:00 every day). I had been dreading working her nap in before picking him up, but she woke on her own at 2:47, 3 minutes before we needed to leave. Perfect! I popped her in the stroller and headed off. When we picked up Nicholas, he just wasn't himself. Super clingy, a little upset. I was so surprised, since he'd really been looking forward to going to school. I got him home to take a rest on the couch...and realized he had gotten a fever. 103. So apparenly I'm the mom who sends her kid sick to school on the first day to infect the class! Ugh. He was asleep by 6:30 and slept until 7:45 the next morning. We had a quick visit to the doctor for a strep test (surprisingly negative) and we spent the rest of Friday on the couch resting up.

We'll hope for a better school experience on Monday!

Bye-Bye Summer!

With school starting tomorrow, I let Nicholas choose one last activity to round out the summer. He picked the zoo. With projected temps in the high 90s, plus serious humidity, we headed out early.

This melts my heart! Nicholas gets really concerned at the railroad crossings...and wanted to protect his sister!

For the first hour it's open, the sting ray exhibit is free. Nicholas touched tons, and even Charlotte took one tentative little touch. This is a total role reversal since she's my animal lover. I think it's the deep-ish water and her little 2 1/2 year old arms. I do have to basically suspend her right above the water so she can reach...

By 10:30 it was warm enough and we were headed back home. Good choice Nicholas!

Can't believe Nicholas will be in school at this time tomorrow!