Maddie on Skis

See Maddie rip it up, warning may make you dizzy.

Ski Week!

We finally decided to embrace winter in New England. On the kids' February vacation, we headed up to Jackson, NH (one of our favorite towns in New Hampshire), rented a house and hit the slopes. Unfortunately, we were having a strange winter and there had been no fresh snowfall for about six weeks. All of the signs in town said things like "pray for snow," "Snow snow come again." But, the Wildcat Mountain was perfect - all the runs were open, no lines, great instructors, just perfect for our first time skiing family. Gabriel went to the nursery for a few days which took a bit of getting used to. Luckily, he was with Theo so that helped a lot.
Maddie had three days of ski school which really made a difference. By the end of the third day, she could ski wherever Nathan and I could.
Theo loved playing ninja (without the blue vest). He'd run around the house giggling like crazy. Unfortunately, he didn't love skiing (or so he says now). He was in a snowplay program and got up on skis but didn't ride the lift - next year!

The boys loved helping Daddy make a fire.

It really was a true vacation for us. We had time together to do a new sport (we'd never skied together before!). I had skied more when I was younger, which was great, as we were perfectly matched on the slopes. In athletic activities, this rarely happens with us! We took two lessons and just had a fun time.

It is steeper than it looks!

On the fourth day, I took the boys to a children's museum while Nathan and Maddie skied. Unfortunately, it was a very windy day on the mountain and the skiers were a bit fatigued.
Before we headed back to reality, we stopped at the darling Nestlenook resort with a Austrian flair - huge ice skating rink, sleigh rides, hot chocolate. So cute!

Gaby really enjoyed being pulled around on the sled.

Theo said his favorite part of vacation was ice skating.

We passed on the sleigh ride as conditions were a bit mucky and we thought it'd be more fun at night with the lights and maybe a gentle snowfall!

And what's a vacation without a trip to urgent care? We were having lunch, car packed, ready to drive back to Boston. We were so happy to find this amazing organic pizza restaurant with an open kitchen and amazing ingredients. Maybe we were vegetable starved, but the salad Nathan and I shared was out of this world. As we were waiting for the check, Gabriel stumbles and hits the side of a metal chair cutting his face. His face! The cut was deep enough that I thought a stop at urgent care was warranted. We knew exactly where it was as two years prior, we'd spent time there when Nathan threw out his back.

Gabriel was such a trooper. He waited patiently. He lay perfectly still while the nurse looked at his wound and then glued it. The nurse practitioner was another story. She asked me when his last tetanus shot was and I said, "I wasn't sure." She said, "Well, it was probably in the past few years." I said, "Probably, as he's only 18 months." She startles, looks at me and laughs. Then as she was gluing his face, she says with a giggle, "This stuff is so sticky. Last time I glued my glove to some guy's face." WHAT?!? Anyhow, in hindsight we probably should have headed back home and taken care of the face there. I'm still hopeful the scar will fade.

Aside from that little speedbump, we've got the skiing bug! Bring on winter (but not until December, please)!

Aloha Invites

Because I can't resist sharing the invites too! Maddie helped with them this year. She did the writing and glued the grass, ribbon and flowers on the skirt. She does love her crafts!

Aloha from Waban

It was the party day! The house was vibrating with Hawaiian excitement. In my fatigued state, I didn't do a great job in capturing everything - the goodie buckets, the ginormous palm tree hanging in our entry way, a group shot - oh well, there are more than enough to give you a taste of the party!

It was really a lovely party. Nathan said my best yet. We had a small group of girls: Amelia, Avery, Taraneh, and Emma as there was sickness and travel for Maddie's other friends. They were greeted with a hearty aloha, given a lei, grass skirt, flower clip and their Hawaiian names which they got a big kick out of! We played beach and hawaiian music to celebrate the theme.
Gabriel loves a good balloon and had a lot of fun watching the girls craft and dance.
First up, making paper flowers. Maddie had practiced and told me that she was going to teach everyone how to make them.
Moving on to flip flop decorating. Wouldn't it have been cute to get a picture of the decorated flip flops on the girls' feet? Sigh. The hot glue gun got a good work out!
Then on to face painting. Maddie did some great palm trees and flowers.

And a bit of decorating of Theo afterward!

Everyone loves the limbo! Though the concept of not touching the ground and leaning backwards was a bit tricky for all.

I'd say that's pretty low!

And then the hula taught by Elina, that's me. We had a lovely routine danced to Hawaiian music.

On to pizza, pineapple and Hawaiian punch followed by a beach cake. Yum!

Such a little lady. She was just a perfect hostess and the party was so smooth and fun. The girls wanted her to open their presents afterwards which she happily did. Hooray for 7!

In our Hawaiian finest.

Tropical boys.

Happy 7th!

Seven! We just can't believe it. It seems just yesterday that we were celebrating her 2nd birthday. The house was abuzz with a lot of excitement. There had been weeks of build up to the celebration. We had a lovely afternoon followed by Maddie's special dinner of Three cheese and macaroni and carrots followed by cupcakes. Presents followed. The big one being her new bike! Nathan couldn't resist getting his girl a fancy purple bike. I tried to convince him to get something a bit more reasonable being that we have two boys who will eventually need a bike. Oh well. What are birthdays for?

Maddie is such a joy to us. So wonderful with her brothers, kind, generous, a quiet leader, a good role model, a very good friend, and just a great girl. We love seeing her grow up though we sometimes wish she'd stay little! Happy Birthday sweet girl.

Valentine's Day Craft Party

I am trying to get caught up on this blog but can't seem to do it! Anyhow, Maddie's school has an Abay (Angier bay) fundraiser where families submit items that others can "buy it now." I submitted a Valentine's Day craft party. It was a pink and sparkly extravaganza!

Maddie was joined by Avery, Rachel, Schuyler and Bridgett. We made Valentine's, pom pom critters, beaded heart keychains for their backpacks and decorated cookies. Pink and red items for the snack too.
Unfortunately, it was not Miss M's finest hour. She had a tough time with the beads scattering about and broken cookies, and had to spend a bit of time alone. I was a quite frustrated especially as I wondered why the heck I was doing this four days before her birthday. Live and learn. We shan't be hosting this next year though. It was just too much after a full day of school. Looks cute though, right? Insert smiley face.