Road Tripping

I remember riding to the lake in the backseat of various family cars, hanging my head into the front seat talking (and talking and talking - sound familiar?). I was a lucky girl to have parents who humored my "communication skills". But today, driving in the back of the Tahoe, I can see how fortunate I am as a woman.

More later...

I love my dad.

Making Friends on the Way Home from School.

From much, much warmer days...

Finn is Falling Apart.

Losing Teeth left and right. All he wants for Valentine's day is a front tooth. He's delighted because the Tooth Fairy (TF) brought him $5 and LEFT his tooth...

January Snowman -Winter Brotherhood

So this is the kind of winter that separates the Minnesotans from the Non-Minnesotans. It has been VERY snowy and pretty darn cold. But it is also the first year that the boys really discovered how fun playing outside on their own can be (instead of having dad or mom take you sledding, skating etc). It has been a revelation of sorts because the boys (note MJ stays mostly inside by the fire) can discover their own adventures climbing on the snow banks or making forts. This snowman, I'd like to call "Winter Brotherhood".


I had sent Seamus outside to burn off some energy and he decided to make a snow man. The snow is a little wet and incredibly heavy which is a good and a bad thing for building. I watched him from the living room rolling up the base and the snowman's middle and he just wasn't strong enough to get the two balls stacked on each other. I could see he was getting frustrated and as I made my way to the back door to get my boots on, I heard the sliding door close and I saw Finn racing around the side of the house. They had some brief conversation (which I wish I could have heard) and then they each took a side of the snow torso and set it gently on top of the base. First try. No big deal. They stayed outside working on it for about another hour laughing and occasionally throwing snowballs. It was a lovely lesson for me about parental intervening - as much as I wanted to step in myself - it is so good to give the boys opportunity to share and support each other without mom or dad getting in the middle. It is amazing what kids can do when you give them some space.

Variations on a Theme

Most days look something like this: