Early morning quiet

I am enjoying a quiet morning moment. I have my warm, cuddly boy in my arms, wrapped in his favorite blanket. Pippa is sitting at the table with a dot-to-dot and enjoying some hot cocoa. I'm letting Phil sleep - we are enjoying the luxury of vacation. 

Soon the house will be busy with life - kids clamoring for breakfast, Phil and Dad wanting their coffee. We will be getting ready to go out into the cold world, but for the moment the whole house is wrapped in quiet, like a big fuzzy blanket. 

Christmas Revelries

Pippa gets her favorite Christmas beverage. Johann and his very patient Best Friend, Thaddeus. 
Juliet and Glady play their new Bakugan game. It's a cross between marbles and math and looks like fun! The hotwheels launcher is Johann's.
Juliet with her new ukelele! She was so excited. 
The girls opening presents. 
This was earlier - Stocking time!

So it's Boxing day... Where does that name come from, anyway? The kids keep asking us and we don't know either! Glady's dancing to her iPod tunes, Juliet is in the living room trying out her Ukelele (who she has named Fruity), and Johann and Pippa are chasing each other thru the house. Phil has run out on an errand or two and I think Dad is hibernating in his room - he got a copper bedwarmer from Nana and he came out this morning to fill it up and I haven't heard from him since. 

Christmas Eve we had a Family get together at our house. Nana and BoPop came here for a change, and we had munchies and chatted and opened a present each. It was very nice to have them over, I think it may be the first time I have entertained them here. The kids certainly enjoyed having them to cuddle up to and talk to. After they went home we looked at the icy rain and scratched the trip to church we had planned. Glady in particular was very disappointed, but the weather has been atrocious and we weren't going to take any chances. We all got into our pj's and cuddled on the couch and Papa read the story of Jesus's birth aloud and answered all the questions the kids had. I think we answer the same questions every year, but they always ask. 

Christmas morning Johann danced around singing "Sinta came! Sinta came!" when he saw the stockings. I must say the jolly old elf outdid himself this years - the girls each got watches and Barbies in theirs, and Johann got hotwheels and lots of playdough. The adults got Lindt chocolate. MMMMMM!

After breakfast (egg-nog french toast) We started to open the gifts under the tree. This year we carefully did one at a time, the girls taking turns playing elf to deliver the gifts. The girls got clothes, and books, and lots of other fun things. Their big gifts from us were an iPod shuffle for Glady, a Ukelele for Juliet, and a CD player for Pippa. It was a musical Christmas! This year we had given the three girls each a budget for one adult each and it was a riot to see waht they got us. Pippa gave me a Fondue pot. Juliet gave Grampa a watch, and a bee that buzzes Jingle Bells, and a hankie. Glady gave her Papa a Nerf N-Strike Tactical Unit - six guns that shoot nerf darts. Oh, boy, was our afternoon interesting!

Dad went up to his folks house in the afternoon, and we all played and napped back here at the house. I started cooking relatively early, as we had missed out on our Thanksgiving Feast and I wanted to make Christmas good. We had stuffed pork roast, yorkshire pudding, Colonial corn pudding, cranberry relish, mashed potatoes and gravy, squash with marshmallows on top... it was very yummy! Oh, and Wassail punch from a colonial recipe for "Weaker Wassail" that was suitable for the kids to drink. 

What a morning!

everyone was trying to get out the door at once, Phil to his delayed show, the girls to school (also on delay) and Dad to work. Oh, and before they left, we had to dig 18 inches of snow out of the driveway! So it was a little nuts. Yesterday was quite a snowy day, with lots of very cold wind - a couple of pipes froze on the east side of the house, but they are ok this morning since the wind changed. It's just Johann and I now - I have a ton of work to do so I can't stay on the computer long. I need to clean the house since I've invited Nana and BoPop over on Christmas Eve. We already wrapped most of the gifts, thank goodness. I have some baking to do - not a lot, since I'm not doing a lot this year. And Office stuff, as always - especially since we've lost five shows to the weather this year. I can reschedule most of them to January, so they aren't a total loss... Sigh.

more fun pictures

Christmastime is here again

we decorated the tree finally last night! The tree is a colorado spruce Grampa planted in the garden a while back and it had gotten too big - we had to cut it in half to get it in the house! We had planned on having it up last friday but with the ice storm it got frozen to the driveway and it took a couple of days to thaw it out and get it ready! LOL oh, well. The kids had a blast decorating it. We've had small trees for a couple of years now, because of the baby. But he is finally old enough to leave it alone (mostly) and even helped put ornaments on it. The girls love doing this, and we watched Charlie Brown's Christmas while we put them on, and drank egg-nog. 

A Big Day!

We finally put bunk beds in the kid's room today - and carpet! They are all so excited now that it is all done. We have been putting this day off and off because we are afraid Johann will climb up, fall off, and hurt himself. But all their beds fell apart over the last couple of months due to wear and tear, so we had to do it. It look nice, though, and they have lots of storage space now. Hopefully that will help them keep it tidy!

It was a First!

Battle Cattle! the game where cows are armed and armoured and wage war with Milk bombs and methane gas. Mama and Pippa teamed up for Risk. 
Pippa and Juliet like to blow on their dice before they roll.
Ahhh... Hot cocoa, Family, and world domination!

We had Family Game Night last night, since the girls are out of school today. The girls voted for Risk, so we spent a couple of hours happily playing the very first Family Risk game! It was a blast. We didn't play out the whole game because it got really late. Of course, we did have a little sportsmanship issue at the end when it became evident that one young lady was about to lose... Actually, that is part of why we play games together. Not jsut because it's fun, but to teach them how to lose - and to win. And how to play to win. The young lady in question had been trying to take care of her Papa and thought he wouldn't attack her countries in return. *Sigh* we can't and won't play to lose with them, it would be unfair to them. So after the game of Risk got packed away, we pulled out the Battle Cattle and played a quick round to reinforce the lessons... and all in all, we were up until almost 11pm! LOL - Pippa was up with me at 6:30 this morning, but everyone else slept in for another hour. 

Glady's Days

Tuesday I got my first uke lesson!  I had the pink most, the brown least.   And I was sick!

Wednesday we accompliced something with Nancy drew!  Lots of stuff! 

Fall

Milkweed pods. 

The last goldenrod and aster of the season. 

British soldiers in their red caps growing on an old log. 

Chokecherries made almost sweet by frosts.

A wet bee rescued from a bucket.

A Nashville Rambler watching us from a bush. 

The ruddy leaves of maples.

A tiny caterpillar named Spike.

My daughters in the sunshine laughing.

The last raspberries of summer.

Thus is Fall and today, my favorite season. 

How many songs in a day?

Well, according to iTunes (our music library), 445. Wow. We had lost our old collection in the move from one computer to another, and we'd had more than a week on that, but we're re-loading CD's to get it back on the computer. Phil and I have been working on it off and on, and today I noticed as I lodaded up Trout Fishing in America's My Best Day, that we had exactly one day - with 445 songs on it!

So what's your favorite song or group?

Malapropisms

Johann, who is curled up under a blanket on the couch watching Blues Clues, has been a riot this morning. He wanted me to microwave his grapes. "They're cold, Mama! I want to make them warm!"

Well, I'm not sure what would happen if you microwaved a grape but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be good. We compromised on hot chocolate now and grapes later. It isn't all that chilly this morning, only 53* outside, but he hasn't gotten dressed yet. Potty training and naked boy seem to go hand in hand. We try, but yesterday, he went through 5 sets of clothes for various reasons, mostly that he takes off his clothes to go potty, and then puts them in the laundry. Go figure. 

We were in the bathroom earlier, and he was trying to pull a piece of molding off the corner by the tub. When I got upset and asked him why he would try to destroy the wall, he looked up at me and said "the crabs hide in there!" Now, he calls spiders crabs. We aren't quite sure why, but it is very funny. I told him they were hiding from him, like the dog does sometimes, and to leave them alone. 

He and the dog really get on quite well, considering that Johann loves to hug him and love on him, and the highlight of his day is to be allowed to give Thaddeus his treat. He takes the treat and runs up and down the house with it, dog bouncing along after him, Johann shouting in glee and Thad barking excitedly. It gets a bit loud, sometimes!

His other malaprop that has been cracking Phil and I up is saying "How?" when he means why. So a conversation could go like this:

"Johann, time for bed."

"How?"

Chuckling, the parent will say "go climb in your bed and lie down."

"How!?" with great emphasis.

"You mean why, kiddo. Because it's that time."

"How?"

And so on. He is such a little wiggle bug - always in motion. And he misses his sisters when they are at school. He loves to walk them out to the bus, and to be waiting to play with them when they get home. Pippa spent a half day at home the other morning and he was so happy he had her to play with. He doesn't do as well on his own as the girls did at this age. He has decided, though, that he is going to college and becoming a fi'fiter. 

The college thing has become a big deal around here. He talks about it all the time. He wants to take Thaddeus to college with him, and Nana and Bopop. It took us a while to realize that when he says college he means kindergarten. I think he got the word from Blues Clues, were Steve went off to college and his brother Joe moved in to take care of Blue. It will be two years before he goes to kindergarten, and I am thinking about getting him in preschool for a day or two a week. We could probably arrange a trade-out with a local school that has Mr. Phil in about 6 times a year. 

Well, I need to get my morning going again. The little man is still on the couch, but getting wiggly again. He won't stay there much longer. The big man is sleeping, trying to recover from a nasty head cold. We're all suffering from that one in one way or another. 

Juliet's Self-Portrait

I found this today while looking for something else - I don't always look at every one of her pictures. WIth a digital camera she can - and does - take dozens of shots at a time. So I had missed this one. 

Summer's last fling

We all - the kids and I - went down to the brook this week. I haven't been down that far all summer, and it was fun to troop down with my happy gang. They didn't want to come back up to the house - their response to "it's time to go" was "No, Mama, we haven't made enough  memories yet!"

Even though they are all in school and we had our first killing frost day before yesterday, the weather has been lovely. Today on the way down to Tilton, we saw the first real color along the way. 

I don't know if the photos will come through - I seem to be having a problem with uploading today - this is my second attempt. I'm a little bummed about that - this is my photo album to share with you all, friends and family. I love taking pictures - and Juliet seems to have inherited that, and she has a good eye for an eight-year-old. She took a nice series of pictures of Glady learning to make sushi tonight. I found a self-portrait 

Not a Real Job?

Why is it that friends and family persist in treating small business owners like dirt? I know we aren't the only ones to feel this - we've talked to many other entrepeneurs like ourselves that get this reaction. This morning, Phil left early to run a quick errand before "work" and ran into a long-term acquaintance. We've known her for years, but never closely, and certainly not to the level where we would confide our family finances to!
She asks"So, where are you off too?"
Phil, who is half in costume, answers that he is going to be the Hobo Magician for the day.
"Oh, so you still don't have a real job. So Cedar must be working, then."
"No, she's at home still, raising the four kids and running the office."
With a tone of disbelief, she queries, "Neither of you have real jobs?"
Phil, feeling disgusted and put-down, tells her that we are doing just fine running our own business and makes his escape.

Now, why do people do this? We work hard at what we do, pull in a middle-class income, and have the time to parent our children, to boot. They aren't in daycare all day, and even if I'm in the office a lot they still ahve access to me if they need. Running our own business is a lot harder tahtn simply holding down a 'real job' as we are responsible for not only one aspect of a business, but all of it. Phil and I make a great team. We've heard many envious comments from peers who wish they had a supportive spouse. Phil and I know that if we fall down on the job we make a big difference in our family's livliehood. In a 'real job' we could call in sick, slack off, not have to be constantly studying and training to keep up with the demands of our business. Do these people expect us to go out and get a "real job" so it will be easier on us? Or just because we don't conform to their viewpoint of what life should be?

I'm so frustrated and sick of this today. Even those who should know better if they stopped to think insist on telling my children - my kids! who don't need to hear about this, have the guts to talk to Phil and I directly! - that their father is lazy. OOOH!

Well, off my soap box for the day. I have too much to do today to dwell on this for long, and Phil has not only a long day today, but no time off until Aug 26. So for his sake I keep this house as peaceful as possible, and reassure him that I am committed to making this business a sucess. We've made it 8 years, this year will be our best ever, and I'm not going to let the doomsayers win. We're Good at what we do. We bring joy to kids and adults everyday and that is a worthy mission.

Busy Summertime

Juliet with the balailaika. Phil is learning to play it, my hands won't quite stretch to all the chords so I don't know if I will try. Juliet wants to learn to play Uke, like Phil and I. This was during the week and a half her sisters went to Pennsylvania with Nana and BoPop. Juliet got to be the princess while they were gone, and we celebrated her 8th birthday on 8/8/08!

I made pies with all the lovely berries the kids (and Dad and I) have been picking all summer long. Assembly-line production meant 4 pies for the freezer took no longer than one.

Johann is such a lovely little man! Fully potty-trained now, Wahoo! No more diapers. Here he gives Papa kisses.

Summertime!

Wow, it has been a while since I posted! Sorry, everybody. Life has been crazy, as we launched the Summer Reading Show June 24, after more than a month of preparation and rehearsal. Then came last week, the busiest week of the year, with 4th of July festivities. We did take time out for Family, though, and got together up at Toad Hill to meet Nikki, Paul's lovely bride.

Phil is doing well, considering the punishing schedule this summer. He's tired but not burning out, and not sick of his job (yet! LOL - poor guy loves doing this, but every sumer there comes a point...). You can check out our calendar at the website, www.mrphilandco.com, and be sure to check there through the summer, as we have hired a new web-guy who will be helping us upgrade the site. Woo-Hoo! that has been on our minds for too long.

The girls are doing well... mostly. Today they are driving one another crazy. Johann was having trouble with the heat the last couple of days... poor little doo-dad. We had to postpone his Birthday celebration because he wasn't feeling well. He did turn 3 yesterday, though! Yay! He's so big now - I can hardly believe it has been that long. The girls got haircuts Tuesday. They look adorable. My camera is broken, but I sill gat a picture soon to put up here. Glady went for just a trim - she wants he hair long and as she has been taking care of it well enough I don't mind. Pippa and Juliet got bobs - Phil calls it the mushroom cut! - and Juliet had long enough hair to donate hers to Locks of Love.

I am good. The heat isn't getting me down as much this year, and other than being really busy I have been enjoying summer. I will hopefully post again soon!

Everything stops for Tea

Glady brought an English custom home with her, Tea! The girls take turns being the tea hostess and serving out the sugar and milk. Today it was Juliet's turn, and Glady was showing her how to use the silver sugar cube tongs she brought home with her. I find it so charming to listen to them talking about the hostess serving herself last, and how they do that in other ways during the day, too. Of course, hearing them seriously ask "one lump, or two?" always makes me want to giggle - but I don't.

They aren't the old-fashioned girls of yesteryear, but I want them to grow up to be little ladies. We teach them manners constantly, which they never remember at home, but always seem to out in public. I started Glady on embroidery last year, and this spring Juliet and Pippa insisted on joining that parade. I don't know how useful a skill it really is, but they love doing it. Glady wants to learn how to sew, and now that my machine is in the shop (it broke down last fall and I have been missing it!), I will set aside some time this summer to teaching her.

More and more as time goes by I realize that I may never teach them at home full time, but that doesn't mean I'm not teaching in every day situations. This summer I may do some formal lessons - I'm leaning towards Latin - to feed their minds. They have a tendency to veg in front of the tv too much, so Phil and I shut off the tv last week - and may not turn it back on until football season! Hah! We've had so much fun playing games together, both inside and out. Juliet has been reading aloud to Pippa and Johann, and Glady is starting to read GA Henty (woo-hoo!).

I need to go and check on my little ones. They are far too quiet in there - I don't know what I am going to do with Johann next year when it is just him home! Yikes! At least right now he and Pippa play nicely together.

I can smell the lilacs and honeysuckle through the office window. MMMMMM... intoxicating. The side-yard is looking so much better this year. I still have to get it mowed, but one battle at a time.

Oh... anyone have any ideas on how to bait a trap for a woodchuck? We have big hungry one hanging around the garden I need to get rid of!

They grow up too quickly

Phil and I had a rare opportunity today - to spend most of the day with Glady. Nana and BoPop took the two younger girls up to visit Uncle Austin and Aunt Bobbie, so it was just the four of us. Johann has been feeling a little under the weather, so he napped from noon until 4. Phil and I taught Glady how to play Risk - and for her first time she did an excellent job! How cool to finally have a child how can and does share our joys. She only whined once, and took great delight in teaming up with her Papa to "dominate Mama! ha'ha'!"

Then we watched a little bit more of Fiddler on the Roof. Around here we almost never watch a movie from start to finish - it's always in thirty minute or so chunks. We watched the sad parts - where Huddle leaves home and Havalah runs away. It amazes me how much this movie has changed for me since having children. I think the last time I watched the movie itself (we listen to the music from it all the time) was before we had any children. Phil and I now associate ourselves much more with Tevya and Golda than we used to. I know I used to be most empathetic to Tseitel... Now it is the scenes of the daughters growing up and away that had both of us weeping. Glady didn't get the anti-Jewish scenes, so that required a history lesson, too.

Glady made dinner for us - Phil left for his gig, so it's just three here and seeming awfully quiet! - she made Toad-in-the-Hole. It smells wonderful, so I will go and hang out with my eldest and youngest and enjoy this quiet time with them.

Grampa's Buzzys

The early blueberry bush is in bloom. The bees will pollinate this bush full of flowers and turn it into berries for us. The seedling apple behind the house is blooming, too. This tree sprang up from a dropped apple many years ago, it wasn't cultivated at all, but it still has sweet fruit.
Dad checking on the bees.
The tan lump at the lower corner of the hive tool is a queen cell. This nucleus hive is small, but trying to grow their own qeen, as they do not have one now.
The bees were very calm this evening. Also, if you look at the comb in the foreground you will see the nectar they have spent all day gathering. It is hard to see - a little glint in the combs.

I caught Dad checking on his bees tonight. He's got a few hives this year, and bought some more nukes (nucleus hives). I think he plans to take them up to Toad Hall to pollinate the orchard soon. Johann met "Grampa's buzzys" a couple of weeks ago - he was stung on the arm so now he stays away!

Sometimes they make us laugh

For all that the kids sometimes drive us crazy (like Juliet sitting on the arm of my chair right now reading over my shoulder!!!) they also have the ability to crack us up like nothing else...

A few days ago Pippa came running out of her room with a pair of tights on her head and announced that she was a new superhero! Ninja Bunny! and of course, Johann had to get into the act! Now our little Ninja bunnies appear at unlikely times to dance around and accomplish special tasks, like Pippa's chore of keeping the shoes in the entryway organized.

This morning Johann trotted out of his room to go outside with his sisters who were waiting for the bus. I was laughing too hard to take his picture, but Phil did... As you can see, he dressed himself!

Juliet loves to tickle me to make me laugh. She wasn't feeling well this afternoon (we've had a tummy bug going around) and she told me that she loves cuddling me. I felt a little like a mother hen with her chick under her wing as Juliet snuggled under my arm.

Glady likes to make jokes and pull pranks. She is the biggest Goober of them all, and we have a bunch of them in the family!

Dad jumped out behind Phil and I in the parking lot at the clinic and thumped on the car. It wasn't funny at the time, because we both jumped so high (from a sitting position, even more impressive!) but it was later.

Phil was debating naptime in the car with Johann this afternoon...
"Yes, nite-nite" (Phil)
"No nite nite"
"Yes nite-nite"
"no nite nite"
"No nite nite" (Phil)
"No! you say yes nite-nite, I say no nite nite!"

OK, reverse psychology doesn't work on this kid....

It's almost summer!

My girls all ready for picture day! Bopop at Pippa's birthday celebration.
Nana and her dress-up dolls.
Nana and the lad.
The frog goes for a slide!

Such a lovely day today. Sun and flowers, bees and birds singing through them. The kids have been outside as much as possible, I've been out there a little, but also trying to get work done in here. I really should get out my ukelele next and start trying to catch up to Phil - who is well on his way to becoming proficient on his. I wanted to take a minute though, and post a few pictures so everyone can see Pippa, who is six now! and all the other big kids we have around here, too! LOL.

She's Home!

Our Family is whole again. She and Dad got into Logan around 2 yesterday afternoon and Phil was there waiting for them. After they got home Glady buzzed around like and excited bee for about an hour and then collapsed into bed around 5, to sleep for twelve hours. She was up at 5 am and Phil brought her up to be our little Welsh cuddlecakes and talk our ear off in bed for a hour! LOL - she's been talking non-stop since she got up. I talked to Nana this morning and she says Glady was like that over there, too. Johann and Pippa (Juliet went to school already) have been clinging happily to her.

She will head back into school and normal routine tomorrow, but we thought we'd keep her home a day and let her acclimate again. Phil's off to a daycare show in Goffstown, so it's just the four of us at home right now. Not exactly peaceful, but good to have everyone where I know where they are.

Looking Back

Two little girls who aren't so little anymore... This was taken in Winter 2001, not too long before Pippa was born. It's hard to believe Pip is going to be 6 in a month! One thing hasn't changed - they all still love to dance whenever I put music on. Even Johann, although his style consists mostly of hopping up and down rapidly and flapping his arms.

Got some pictures of Glady

She was invited on a field trip with a welsh calssroom and here are a couple of pictures of her at the farm they visited!

We miss Glady!

A week to go until she comes home. We've been busy around here, as usual!

A Snowy Saga pt 1

It all started this last Saturday - well, really it started before that.... I was hired for a facepainting gig - a four hour stretch at Gunsotck ski area. I was to be apainting the young racers and their families at the Bill Koch Youth Ski Festival, which is an event of the NENSA (New England Nordic Ski Assoc.). He told me I would be in a tent attached to the big tent where people were hanging out and getting warm. Okay, I can manage that.

It dawned on me later that I would be standing on snow, so I dug out my Bunny Boots (military issue arctic gear, good to about 70 below zero - I know, I've tested them at almost that cold!) and relaced them with cool lime-green laces. Voila! clown boots. I figured the rest of my wordrobe would work just fine. I'm good to go...

Friday; Phil looks at the weather and sees a big storm headed in for that night and Saturday morning. He calls me on his way up to a gig out past Gunstock and tells me we should get a room at the Gunstock Inn if at all possible so we will be on site and not risk missing the gig. So I do - they have only one room left, but it will work. So when Phil got home from the Diner at 9pm, we got him changed, I had already packed, and we were ready to go. Oh, yeah. and I'd spent most of the day without water as the bathtub faucet sprang a leak... fortunately Dad fixed it easily when he showed up around 8pm.

We get checked in and gear unloaded at the hotel at almost 11pm. At this point Phil tells me he hasn't eaten since lunch - and he tends to get grumpy when he's hungry! There was no way we were going to get a delivery up there at that time of night, but there was a chinese place open in Alton... and if I'd had any idea how far that was going to be we would have just gone to sleep! By the time we drove into the snowy night, which started just as we left and was quite heavy by the time we got back, and returned with food it was midnight. Yikes!

They are on their way...

She's ecited - he doesn't look too sure about this!Dad and Glady are traveling to the land of daffodils... quite a change from our snowbanks!

Dad and Glady left this afternoon to spend some time in Wales with Nana and BoPop and Aunt Pam. They will be home on the 19th, so I will be without my little girl for more than two weeks... She has been sooooo excited the last couple of days she could hardly sit still. Poor Phil has been worrying about this trip since we first started planning it with the grandparents. She has a camera and a journal and some homework along, so in addition to all the traveling they plan to do she will be too busy to be homesick. I believe they plan to take her to Strafford-On-Avon, where Shakespeare lived; and Stonehenge, amongst others!

So far her sisters and brother seem not to have noticed - besides a lot of hugging and kissing goodbye this morning. It felt strange to make dinner for only three little people to me, though.

Thursday thoughts

Here is one of the lovely headshots our friend Christie did for Phil and I last month. We are wearing our Naswa costume - which we refer to as the "Island Phil" look. I still wear glasses - they just make a lot of glare in photos.
Pippa is singing in the kitchen... "Three little cuppies, all in a row, one fell down and now there's two... chocolate milky yummy in your tummy, and it's good for you too!" to the tune of Five Little Monkeys. She has definitely inherited Phil's knack for making up songs on the spur of the moment.

They finally got their room clean... it is vacation week so they have been in it a lot more, with brief forays out into the winter wonderland we live in. More snow predicted for tonight! And now I plan to reward the girls with a Barbie movie.

Our friend Mo the Clown (also known as Mo Fun) came over to play yesterday. We had a good Jam. We played with making faces out of a blossom - Phil made a great one that looked like a muppet. Mo taught us his motorcycle - it is an improvement on the one Phil knew already. Since Phil will be playing at the Naz Bar during Bike Week, he needed a good one. We are still working out costuming for that event. And a better name for the character than "Biker Phil". So much to do - so little time!

We did write and pull together a really great Easter Magic Show together. That was fun. He's off at a daycare this morning doing it - and Leap Magic, too.

Oh, and in my last post, I didn't identify the large snowy lump... That is our 8 passenger van in the driveway! Completely covered! It isn't running right now, so all it has done is collect snow all winter.

Will-I Nill-I

Well, as I feared, the Nor-Easter brought with it a foot of snow to grace the mounds we already have on the ground here. It was perfect snow-ball snow - just moist enough to pack without being too wet. Good thing the kids are on vacation to enjoy it this week!

I'm not too upset about the amount of snow this winter - we've had a very lucrative season working with ski-areas. It is inconvenient nights like tonight, when Phil had to turn back from his gig at Steele Hill because he got to the worst part of the hill and started to spin - no show tonight! Fortunately, he didn't get stuck, either. He's safely on his way home. Oh - and this is because we get another inch or so tonite! HA-HA!