Meet T.A.M.

We were so excited to hear that Angier was hosting an Invention Invasion this year. Kelly, Avery's mom, suggested that Avery, Taraneh and Maddie work together to come up with their invention. It was a lot of fun to see the 1st grade mind work at our brainstorming session. The ideas ranged from a robot who could clean your room, to gloves with a pencil on each finger so that you could write more quickly, to a pillow that combed your hair while you slept. As each girl was wedded to her idea, they decided to combine the three into one large T.A.M. robot (that's Taraneh, Avery and Maddie). Maddie tried to advocate for the M.A.T. robot We were happy to bring in the dads for the building portion of our invention - a pizza and T.A.M. creation event.
So T.A.M. is a robot with a long arm that sucks up all the mess in your room. In her bottom drawer is the hair combing pillow and in the middle drawer are the gloves with pencils on them. I wish I had a better picture of her as she was quite a looker.

Where are the girls?

The evening was wildly popular and such fun to see what these kids came up with.

The inventors

Daddy's here! We had a great night and can't wait for next year.

The Boys

I love watching them play together! They are starting to have such fun interacting. Theo is very patient as Gabriel learns how to play. I must admit, there's nothing I enjoy more than watching a boy plop down on his stomach and zoom a car or train around.

Snowplow

Yow. This is what happens when you use your head as a plow.

Future snow campers?

Nathan has a strong desire to take the family snow camping. You can guess who isn't too thrilled with the idea. But, what fun to try and build an igloo in the backyard as practice for potential future winter camping trips!Looking good! The snow wasn't great and that curved igloo roof proved to be a bit of a challenge.

Everyone helped.

The handsome architect. Unfortunately, the igloo quickly turned into a snow nest - which was fun as well. We enjoyed watching it slowly fall apart. I'm sure there will be diagrams and new methods of construction to try next year.

Saturday Sledding

A new decade, a sled from Santa, fresh snow - time to hit the hill!

We ventured to one of our favorite sledding hills in Weston.

Someone wasn't too thrilled to be out in the cold. He's saying, "ooh" right now.
This boy loved winter! We are so thankful as the past two winters weren't met with excitement. As long as he is bundled up, he's happy.
A big push from Daddy was needed to get down the hill. Though pretty, the snow wasn't great for fast sledding.
A happier boy on the slopes. Gabriel ended up developing a love for sledding. This winter, we'd spend a lot of time in our back yard, swooping down the "hill." He'd smile hugely and then lay down in the sled to be pulled up the little slope. There were a few times that I had to make a mad dash and leap in front of his sled before it careened through the woods into our neighbor's yard.