Ev's first ski lesson

Ev's 1st time skiing!

Evan had his first ski lesson this morning at the mountain and I don't think the smile has left his face since we got home. He was very hesitant about going - we asked him in the fall if he wanted to learn to ski this winter and his answer was "no, I want to get up on waterskiis next summer first". As the winter has progressed, we have spent a few afternoons at the mountain just watching other ski lessons and a friend of his at school has been asking if they could go together. Nana got wind of this and decided that she was getting lessons (Ev and Jeff) and lift tickets for all of us (minus Sophia) this year as a Christmas gift! We did a dry run on foot last weekend so that Ev "knew the drill" and off he went this morning to ski school. He absolutely loved it! Here are a few pictures and the last one is a video of his last run of the day. As you can see, he started out holding on to a hoola hoop with his instructor and by the end of the half day session he was zipping down the hill all by himself, turning and stopping at the bottom! So fun to watch him and it made me so excited to ski again myself - I figured out it's been about 12 years - Meg - isn't that when we all went to Loon Mountain with my college crew and stayed in that cabin?? That had to be about 12-15 years ago????!!! Anyways, hopefully it will be just like riding a bike for me, and now we just need to get Jeff on board. He is a little gun-shy after breaking his leg skiing in the Swiss Alps! I think he can handle Mt. Wachusett with a couple of lessons. Thanks again Nana for an awesome gift! Update: I am trying to add the video from YouTube but having trouble....think I need to do it in a separate post.

More Winter Fun!

I have decided that I really don't mind winter at all when it is at least 30 and sunny out (and if I have my snowpants and full gear on!) It has been so beautiful out the last few days and we have really been taking full advantage of the "warm" temps. We've been doing lots of skating, sledding and today Sophia, Nana and I went snowshoeing...it was gorgeous out and Sophia did fantastic! (don't tell Ev, but she did MUCH better her first time out than he did years ago!) Let's hope the sun continues to shine and the warmer winter weather sticks around for awhile!

Winter's Here!

It's only the first week of January and we have LOTS of snow! The kids have been enjoying it immensely. Mom and Dad have actually donned our snowpants and full winter gear a few times to get out and enjoy the snow with the kids. It really is quite fun when you are dressed appropriately! The O'Neils' skating rink is up and Jeff built an igloo in our yard so Lowell Ave is in full swing for winter fun!! The igloo is big enough for the 4 of us to fit inside and has a front and back door - leave it to Jeff!!I was actually taking pictures of us inside the igloo below - it is pretty neat!!!

Christmas Season

It's hard to believe the Christmas season has come and gone! Obviously it was a busy one for us, since I haven't posted since November!!! We had a wonderful holiday this year filled with our normal family traditions....tree cutting, decorating, baking and decorating cookies (approx. 400 this year!!) and evenings relaxing and wrapping by the tree. We added a couple new traditions - one of which was the addition of our Mistletoe Kissing Ball which Evan and Sophia thought was great fun! Isn't Evan too young to want to invite his friends (girls AND boys over) so that they get stuck under the Mistletoe Ball and have to kiss?? 1st graders aren't as naive as they used to be!! Anyways, the kids both performed in their school holiday shows and did great! Evan's was a Winter Solstice program of about 20 songs and poems. He stood up there and sang his heart out, smiling and laughing with his friends. It was a wonderful sight. (although I failed to get any good pictures of Ev :( ) Sophia did great too - she didn't manage to belt out any words to the songs, but she did stay up on stage with her class and even rang her bell a few times - this was an improvement from her Halloween program in which she promptly ran into the audience as soon as she saw me and refused to go back on stage without me ( I was quite the addition that day to their program!) :) I got two pics of Sophia's concert - one that morning in front of the fireplace and one very blurry one of her at the concert. Better luck in that department next year!! Christmas Eve with the Rayla's was great fun as always - lots of laughs, great food and company, and of course a visit from Santa. As he passed by Grampy's house, Santa exclaimed that Sophia and Evan were on the good list! Sophia then turned to Grampy and said, "I have NO idea how I got on the good list!!!" Grampy thought that was a hoot! We joined in on the Yankee Swap this year for the first time in about 5 years and that was a ton of fun with lots of laughs for sure. We arrived home late Christmas Eve - the kids were still wide awake at midnight - they were SO excited about Santa's arrival, and Mom and Dad were exhausted by the time our "duties" were finished! Christmas Day was very relaxing - the kids loved all of their gifts and had fun playing all day. Their favorites this year were Strawberry Shortcake dolls, remote controlled helicopters, a two seater mustang convertible (no not for Kim!) an above ground family pool, a huge mansion doll house and both kids got Dream Lights for their rooms which were BIG hits!!! We had a huge brunch even though it was just the 4 of us - I cooked for about 20 people!!! (leftovers all week were heavenly!) Then we ended the evening with appetizers, beverages and desserts with a few of our oldest and dearest friends, the Carpenter, Berube and Lofgren/Persson clan. It was a festive day and we really enjoyed the whole season. The only thing missing this year was Nana (and Meg's family of course) and we missed them lots. But we know Nana had a wonderful time celebrating in England with the Brits! Here are a handful of pictures from the whole Christmas season. Happy New Year to our family and friends!