Snow, Snow and more Snow....say it isn't so....

Last night we got another foot of snow....I never thought that there couls be too much soon. The kids can't even make there way through it to play! We are on our third snow day of the year and we are not even into February yet. I will post more pictures from the snow storm later on.

The snow is as high as the railing!!!

Race to Nowhere .....

A new movie has just been released called "A Race to Nowhere". As John and I raise Emma and Henry we are constantly concerned about the education that they are receiving and what activities they participate in throughout the school year. It's not like when we grew up, there seems to be so much pressure placed on our children. If they are not in school then their time should be filled with sports, music or any other activity. I don't think it's easy being a kid in the year 2011. While I watched this trailer, my heart felt heavy for Emma and Henry. Our kids are placed in an education system that no longer seems to be working. The thought is just get the work done and do well on tests, succeed in your activities and be the best that you can be but somewhere along the line our children have lost the ability to think critically. American children are - racing to nowhere.

Check out this trailer as well for the movie "Waiting for Superman".

Between these two movies it is apparent that we need to make in a change.

Piano Recital Performances

(Claudia, Emma, David and Henry)

Emma and Henry performed at their recitals last weekend. They both did an amazing job!!

Emma's Performance

Henry's Performance

Thank you Sarah for Flipping for us!!! David and Claudia did a great job as well.

A new addition to our family......Jayachitra

We wanted to introduce you to our new family member- Jayachitra. She comes to us from an organization called Rising Star Outreach. She is 5 years old and is a "girly-girl" and loves jewelry. We are so excited to be sponsoring this little girl and to be a part of such a wonderful organization. This was our family Christmas present to each other this year. Each of us will be contributing money every month to come up with the $30 it costs to sponsor Jayachitra. Who knows...maybe we will meet her some day!

Rising Star has three major initiatives concerning Leporsy:

• to educate the colony children in a safe, healthy environment
• to provide leprosy patients with their own small businesses using micro-finance
• to address the unique health challenges of the colonies with mobile medical units

Cookbooks make me happy..

I LOVE COOKBOOKS!!

I love looking over at this bookshelf and seeing all these cookbooks. I can never have enough cookbooks. I love thumbing through the pages and looking at the beautiful photographs of all of the food and reading how it was prepared.

Meal time is a very important time in our house and we cherish each dinner that were able to have together. I love coming around the table and having it be filled with wonderful food and being able to have great conversations with my family.

Monopoly Marathon

This weekend, we had a wonderful time playing Monopoly. Henry was the biggest card shark ever. He had monopolies on all properties and was just waiting for us to land on Boardwalk. I was the first to land on Boardwalk and owed him $2000. That wiped me out. Emma was able to hold on a bit longer but in the end Henry was declared the winner.

It is always so much fun sitting around and playing board games as a family. I remember when I was little and I would be playing all sorts of board games up at the lake with my cousins and sister. We would pass many rainy days by playing these games. What a wonderful time! Sometimes it's nice to get away from the Wii and just get back to basics.

I wonder what game will play next weekend?

Day off....

Today the kids had a day off from school and had some of their friends over for a playdate. There was a lot of sledding, eating and dancing....see my other posts here and here.

What a great day!!!

Dance Party 1

Dance Party 2

A much needed laugh- thanks Charlie!

BLIZZARD 2011

20 INCHES later.....

There is so much snow outside our doorsteps that Max is even getting lost running through all of the white stuff!

A true Winter Wonderland!

Up to her hips....

I can fly and pictures from the blizzard

Henry has always been fixated on trying to fly. Yesterday, he tried to make a flying suit out of a cardboard box....this took quite a bit of time. Needless to say, it didn't keep him up in the air...maybe next time.

Last night we got about 12 inches of snow and it is still coming down...

Winter in New England- you have to love it!

Weekend Activities

Well, I am so happy to report that everyone is healthy and back at school for the first time in three weeks. We spent last Thursday with Emma at Children's Hospital....a possible case of appendicitis. They ruled that out and she just had a horrible virus.

This past weekend we took it easy:

-Homework

-Piano playing

- out to dinner

-basketball

-Harry Potter movie

Great weekend!