Guilty

So you turn your head for a minute, and the dog gets dumped on...here Brody is explaining how.

Innocent? I think not.

The scene of the crime.

Fugitive spaghetti.

Maine Maple Sunday

Maple Sunday is an annual event in Maine in which local maple farms open theirs doors (and sugar shacks) to celebrate this delectable treat. This time of year the days are warming, but the nights are still rather cold, a perfect recipe to get the sap moving in maple trees. The little guys and I headed to a few local farms to sample their syrup, and to witness the massive process of boiling vats of sap. The smell in this sugar shack was so sweet, just made you want to dive into piles of pancakes dripping with syrup. This is the Golden Nugget Sugar Shack in nearby Appleton, Maine.

Brody was thrilled when his summer friend, Sarah, stopped by the same farm. They romped about in the grass, grateful to run in anything but snow or mud! They were far more interested in playing than in syrup...

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Logan wistfully examining our bottleof syrup.

Brody enjoyed the traditional offering of icecream with maple syrup...needless to say, after our second farm stop and second helping of ice cream and syrup, his sugar quota was met for the day.

This ATV thing is used to collect the sap buckets from the maples.

Twinkle my little Star

Logan has begun humming the first bars of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", and it is so incredibly sweet.

play

Finally, the snow is receding and the pavement is reappearing! Out come the riding toys.

Kitchen in progress

I just love this room - hard to capture it in a picture, but this is the sitting room outside our bedroom, with lots of cozy nooks for odds and ends.

Directly ahead will be our breakfast bar.

Our microwave, warming drawer and coffee station will be next to that big hole on the left for the fridge

Kitchen sink will be under the window

Movin' right along

Here is a view of the front of our house - the front clapboards have all been nailed on, trim mostly done, and is now ready for paint...as soon as the weather cooperates

Our house is really beginning to come together. Duane and Ryan installed our kitchen cabinetry this past week, and I was amazed at how all of a sudden, this place felt like home.

My happy boys

We can't seem to keep Logan out of the laundry basket lately, which can be trecherous considering the amounts of laundry we produce...

The aftermath of Logan's first time with yogurt on his own...

Early last week Maine received mounds of snow - we were closed to 20 inches...never ceases to impress me.

Brody in his new snow-tunnel-igloo thingee.

Sledding

Yesterday Duane dug our snowmobile out of the snowbank - the first time we have seen it in about years. After hours of struggling with the sled, she finally started up...but wouldn't run. Brody was just thrilled to be with Dad.

So he settled for an old-fashioned sled ride.

Our furry barnyard pals, Pony (still haven't gotten around to naming the poor guy) and Domino

Logan has his first pair of snow boots - we can't keep him out of the snow, so a shopping we did go - and found the perfect little pair.

Catch of the day

We spent a little time Saturday taking Brody ice fishing for the first time. There was a local even for kids on a nearby lake, and while the windchills were arctic, we hung in for a solid half hour.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before the flag flew up, and Dad helped Brody reel in the big one.

Brody was thrilled to have caught a fish with his Dad.

A nice sized pickerel...not good eating, though, so we sent him back home through the hole in the ice.

Winter Blanket

A heavy snowfall is so beautiful...especially if you don't have to plow or shovel too much.

Our snowman over more snow, and snowman #2, the casualty of our puppy.

Her royal heiness, Maggie.

Snowman

We are officially under a new blanket of snow...in fact, it is still snowing outside. Logan absolutely LOVES snow. After falling a zillion times (it's not easy to trek in a foot of snow on wobbly little feet) he was still focused on walking back and forth along the garage. Yes, we did have mittens, Mom...3 sets.

Finally, I am no longer a failure as a Yankee mom. We finally made a respectable snowman, rolling balls and everything.

And Maggie, our puppy, found the mittens most desirable.

We made a second snowman a few hours later, with more inches of snow arriving, masking Snowman# 1....but the partnership was never to be...the puppy bodyslammed the second snowman for the carrot nose....he is now in pieces on the snowbank.

Merry snowmen.

Logan's Weilding a Spoon!

So this is the first time I have actively given Logan a spoon for feeding himself, and he is a natural! But I'm not ready tounleash him with yogurt...we'll still with scrabled eggs for now.

dinnah table pics

Sweets for my sweets on Valentine'sDay

Breakfast grins

Can anyone name that jelly?