Snowy Saturday

Two snow days in two weeks, which is a little unusual in our part of the world. The boys were off yesterday because of rough road conditions, and it continued to snow all day on Friday and again today.

With big flakes falling, Connor looked outside wistfully.

"I wish we could go outside and play."

Normally, that's not my idea of fun. It takes a LOT of effort to wrangle all three boys into enough layers to make it outside. And keeping gloves and hats on is usually an ongoing battle.

But the big flakes were pretty. The boys had been stuck inside all day yesterday for the snow day, and again today with no plans to leave the house.

So I made the effort. After 30 minutes of wrestling everyone into several layers of clothing, including the dreaded hats and gloves, we were ready to go outside. Connor took off running. Buster tore out after him. Xander went out hesitantly. Sawyer stood on the doorstep and required a little helpful shove.

And then we made it out. For nearly an hour, which I consider impressive for my three boys. Connor would have stayed out longer, but their clothes were getting wet and their cheeks were getting red. I figured we had pushed our luck long enough.

Daddy, who had stayed inside to study for his last paramedic test, had hot chocolate waiting for us when we came back inside. Coats are still hanging up to dry, and a big load of laundry is still in the dryer.

But I think the boys had a good time.

The rest of the photos are here.

Completely Random

As I was downloading pictures from the boys' recent birthday, I realized there were still just a few more left from the last day of our winter beach vacation. It was cool and rainy, and we spent a big part of our day alternating between screens and the indoor swimming pools.

These pictures made me smile, because clearly the boys have come a long, long way at making themselves at home in unfamiliar places. Sawyer, in particular, has no trouble making himself at home anywhere.

The iPads definitely help, he says.

And the headphones, well those help everyone else. Because I'm pretty sure no one else wants to hear Cars or Wall-E pause-play-pause-play for hours at a time.

Trust me.

Seven

In pictures ...

Seven

In pictures ...

Thinking Spring ...

Here You Go, a photo by here we wander on Flickr.

Heaven help us, we are officially a two-sport family. Three boys, two sports, one season. Our life is going to be even more chaotic than usual.

Last week I signed the boys up for Spring. Connor, of course, is excited to be back for his second season in Rookie League baseball. You might remember that his team did pretty well last year, coming in second place in their division and even winning the division tournament. Don't expect the same thing this season, as more than half of the team aged out of the league and moved up. Connor is one of the oldest, and most experienced, players. He's going to have some pretty big cleats to fill, and his coaches are going to be expecting quite a bit from him this season.

And the twins, for the first time ever, are signed up for soccer. It's an adaptive league, with buddies assigned to each player to help them learn the game and also stay on task. It's only one day a week (Sundays), and is more about learning and being part of a team than competing. I think Xander will really enjoy playing a sport. I'm not so sure about Sawyer. But we thought both of them should try it, at least once.

Slowly but surely, the boys are getting out into the world a little bit more. We may be sorry come Spring, when there are multiple practices or games at the same time on the same day, or when we spend all day running back and forth between athletic fields.

Time will tell ...