Flying High and Playing Hard

Last weekend the kids went on a field-trip with their youth group to a high and low ropes course deep in the woods of Beverly, MA.  Apparently my kids went for the high!  Scott and I decided not to chaperone this adventure.  I had a feeling that if I went along I would be a total "fun wrecker" (as the kids used to call me when they were little).  No way I would have been able to watch as they went three stories in the air...with teenagers holding the ropes that were their life lines!  When they got home I heard tales of bravery and strength...and I was smiling away.  Then one of the parents who chaperoned sent pictures to me that evening!  I ran upstairs to where the kids were sleeping to show them the photos.  YIKES!  Not what I was picturing when they were relaying their day.  I was impressed.
     Tuesday was a special day for Ethan.  Sandra came over to take him out to lunch and shopping for his birthday.  She spoiled that kid rotten!  Fiona enjoyed a few hours at the sewing studio...where the two owners offered her a job (with parental permission).  She will be able to work for sewing hours.  Great news for me!  She will be tasked with helping beginners on easy level crafts, and tidying up the studio.  Then this past Good Friday the Goodwins joined us for an early dinner.  The kids made a ton of noise all throughout the house, and took themselves on a walk to the playground while the adults stayed behind and caught up. Saturday I was busy baking cupcakes for Easter at my parents and Fiona and Ethan were busy with Ethan's friend Milo.  The boys put Fiona in charge of umping their 3 hour marathon wiffle ball game in the street.
     Easter was a blast.  LOTS of four square played between the Jasons and the Rogers...with an occasional Gampy and Gammy thrown in the mix.  Food was delicious, and the egg hunt was adorable.  The weather was the perfect spring mix of sunny and cool.  The yard was full of chirping birds.
     As I sit here in the classroom with both children busy working on Spanish, Scott is on his way to a job interview.  We feel this one should have a positive outcome.  I am trying not to think too hard about it. 

Fiona's latest creation...slippers.

Such a welcome sight!

Cupcake testers.

Look at these dare-devils.

Giving a high five!

THOSE ARE MY BABIES!!!!!

Uncle Jason and Scott looked so sweet with their Easter baskets!

They were responsible for hiding the eggs....

On your mark, get set...

GO!!!!!

The overseer.

Best driveway for foursquare ever.

Such fun!

You Take the Good with the Bad.

Oh Boy...  We thought that by getting through February we had dodged a notoriously difficult month for the Jason's.  Little did we know March had some plans of its own. 
Ethan was top pick in the draft, and selected to be on The Red Sox.  Happy right?  Well, to make a long story short...the coaching situation for this team is less than ideal.  So much so that we opted to pull him from baseball.  It is a hard lesson to teach your children.  Not all adults are good, and sometimes when you have done nothing but try hard and succeed, you are still not guaranteed happiness.  Moving on from there (which has been very difficult) we still have no good news to report on the Scott job search front.  Exhausting is not a strong enough word to express what this feels like.  Then to top it all off Fiona came to me first thing this morning with tears because she discovered one of her hermit crabs died.  Seriously, this crab had the BEST life.  He traveled the country, climbed trees in Washington and Oregon and was settled into a good home in Newton.  We are now down to one (from 4 nearly two years ago).
So, I feel that things can only go up from here.  And, it hasn't been all bad here.  There have been some amazing sledding days, snow-storms, family visits and museum adventures.  You just never know what lies right around the corner.

My sister, Ellie and mother came for a visit last Sunday.

Fast, icy conditions.

Ethan and Ellie after they had to abandon their sled.

Auntie and Gammy all suited up.

These two are over a foot in the air!  Notice the shadow under the sled!? There was a serious jump!

Look at his face as he hits the jump!

And now....flying.

Hitting jump.

Airborne!

He put on his "thinking cap".

Fiona has been hand sewing mini creatures.  Here is a platypus and its sleeping bag.  Both no bigger than a half dollar.

She actually sewed the t-shirt and designed the logo (a name her brother calls her).

Cathy used her Science Museum membership to get us all in for free!  There is a mirror maze set up as a special "math in nature" exhibit.

Infinite Ethan's and Fiona's... I'll take it!

Cathy and Fiona looking for the queen bee.  Um, 'scuse me ladies...I'm right behind you.

We kidnapped Cate that night.  Here are the kids on St. Patrick's Day morning.

We found the BEST diner near us.  Huge-mongus ice cream sundaes!

Try-Outs...Bring It On!

It has been a snowy March so far!  All those warm, I mean warm, days in February are behind us.  A very rainy nor'Easter came through on the second, causing Ethan's try-outs to be canceled last minute.  Which meant the poor kid was a stress ball all day for nothing.  Crazy strong winds were blowing and trees were snapping.  Luckily we were not directly affected.  However, I know that our trips to the beach this summer will look a whole lot different.  Nahant took a severe beating.  It will take a lot of hard work to get our old Tudor beach back to its pre-storm glory. 
Then...less than a week later we were hit by a whopper of a snow storm.  Beautiful thick white snow covered ever surface...but underneath was a heavy layer of ice.  It was more than many trees could handle and many limbs were lost.  My parents were with out power for nearly three days!  Again, here in Newton we lucked out.  Never lost power, and stayed warm and safe from falling trees.  I gave the kids a snow-day, and they made the most of it. 
Ethan was relieved to have his try-outs this past Friday evening.  Gammy and Gampy came over before-hand to enjoy some homemade pizza and wish Ethan luck.  While he and Scott headed off to baseball Gammy and I took a long evening walk, leaving Fiona and Gampy behind watching nature shows (Fiona was in Heaven).  What a giant smile Ethan had plastered on his face when he returned!  He performed very well.  We will hear in about five days whether or not he made "majors" and what team he is on. 
Looks like we have more snow in the forecast for this week (one foot snowfall predicted for Tuesday)...  Is it too early to be wishing for Spring?  Didn't I talk last year about missing snow?  Have I really gone soft just being away for two winters?

My little geniuses at the library.

I used to love these cubicles in college!

Mollie and I had a lovely "ladies afternoon".  Fresh coat of polish and a delicious lunch!

This is Fiona's latest design.

An entire dress!  Made of jersey knit!  Love it!

An entire family of creatures directly from Fiona's imagination.

She even designed and sewed a Red Sox jersey for Ethan's dog.

This is what we woke up to on Thursday morning.

We built a fort from a fallen limb.

A common sight in our yard.  

What better way to cap off a snow-day?

RICE CRISPY TREATS!

I leave you with this.  Here is an example of "fine handwriting".  A skill that was sought after in the years before type.  Here was an advertisement created by the writer to showcase their skills.  All done with lighter or darker strokes within the cursive. 
It hangs in the MFA.  And rightly so!