Ski Weekend

This weekend we joined with a few of our favorite families to take the kids on their first skiing adventure! There were 14 of us total - the 3 Powells, The Munds (Jake, Michelle, and Matt). The LeWinter-Christs (Meredith, Liam, Robin, and Alan), and the Hoffman-Dhars (Lila, Akash, Shoma, and Aaron). We rented a house in New Hampshire near Pat's Peak and for the first time in a while, we were all happy there was so much snow.

The kids were so excited to be staying in the same house. There is nothing better than waking up in the morning and having 3 of your best friends ready and waiting for you to play!




Saturday morning we were all up bright and early to begin the extensive process of getting 6 kids in snow gear. The kids discovered the joys of sliding down carpeted stairs in their snow pants:





Then, we were off to Pat's Peak!





The kids got fitted in their gear:







Then headed over to the bunny slope. The older kids all had private lessons. Henry's instructor was great - very patient and enthusiastic. Henry looks pretty serious in all the pictures, but it was due to concentration. He really enjoyed it and (in my humble mother's opinion) he was GREAT for a 3 year old on skis for the first time:










After a break for lunch, the kids spent some time playing on the mini mountain/slide area:








The slides were really fun, and REALLY fast:


Henry made the mistake of attempting to go down face first. It wasn't pretty:



We warmed up with hot chocolate:


And then back to the house. There, games were played:


Much food was eaten:


Baths were taken:




And children snuggled under blankets for movie viewing:




After the kids were in bed, vicious rounds of Taboo followed, and much more food and drink was consumed.

This morning, we had a giant pancake breakfast, then the kids did some art:





Before heading into the backyard to play. There was a LOT of snow, so Aaron and Alan had to shovel paths for the kids to make their way through:








It was so, so, so much fun:


Thanks so much to our friends for sharing this great weekend with us - we hope we can do it again soon!

Only 58 more days....

Until spring, and I can't WAIT. We have had so much snow the last few weeks, and very few warm(ish)days to melt any of it. Our average winter snowfall here is 41.8 inches. As of today we have had 49.6...and it is only mid-January!!

This morning brought yet another snow storm (6 inches), another school closing for Henry (the 3rd in 3 weeks!), and another work from home day for Mike. Henry helped me shovel and decided to scale the mountain of shoveled snow we have next to our driveway:





This weekend they are calling for a high of 15 degrees, and another snowstorm is coming our way mid week (please don't ask me where we will put the snow). I have been scouring the internet for good ticket prices to warm locations...if anyone sees any deals pass them our way!

Gym Class and Preschool

We started back with Henry's gym class the other week (and it is a good thing we did - we are getting yet ANOTHER snow storm tomorrow, and the forecast for the weekend is calling for a high of 15 degrees. We are all suffering from cabin fever, and poor Henry is climbing the walls).

He is old enough now that he is in the drop-off class at the gym. Our first day he was very sad and wouldn't let me go/wouldn't participate until class was almost over. Today, he ran right in and had a great time!










In other exciting news, we found out today that Henry got into The Brookline Early Education Program (BEEP) today! BEEP is a fabulous preschool program affiliated with our public school system (but, the preschool alas is not "public"/free). BEEP is very challenging to get into -it basically comes down to a lottery system, and since essentially everyone who lives here applies for it, the odds are not in your favor. We applied last year and he didn't make it, so we were very excited to get his acceptance today.

It is a little bit bittersweet - BEEP is a better program "academically" (not that preschool is all that academic), is an amazing program with great teachers, and he will be at the same school he will be at for Kindergarten through 8th grade, so hopefully this will make the transition to Kindergarten easier for him when the time comes. On the other hand, we love his current preschool, Henry loves all of his friends and teachers there, and I think he will struggle initially with the transition to an entirely new school, students, and program. Also, we are currently VERY spoiled in that his preschool is on our street, has a great year-round schedule, and serves him a family style lunch each day. BEEP is further away, starts 45 minutes earlier each day, follows the public school calendar, and I will need to send his lunch each day (can a kid eat peanut butter sandwiches every day for an entire school year??). However, I think the benefits outweigh the disadvantages - hopefully it will be a smooth transition for our little guy in September!