The Round-Up

Winters in Boston are hard. There is no St. George three hours away in which to thaw out. Nor are there ski resorts 20 minutes up the canyon in which to relish the winter. Basketball happens to be on Sunday, which means that there is no easy release of energy for Jonathan. With six kids in the house, this past winter we ended up with a pile of random happenings, lacking a clear theme or direction. So here is our winter round-up:

On Saturdays, I tried to take advantage of my children's open schedule, with no sports dictating how we spent our days. We headed off into different directions in search of great museums.

Claude Monet at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

At school the kids all sang in their choir concerts and Annelise approached her friends about another school meeting performance.

Annelise sang about "three white shirts" and Jonathan sang about the "fifty nifty United States."

Annelise and her friends acted out ideas for April Fools Day. Annelise's idea was coercing a family member into a freezing bathtub. (Fortunately she didn't try this at home!) Steve and I both came to watch and were impressed with how genuinely funny she was. I even received a comment from a teacher friend afterwards that she was the funniest school meeting participant in a very long time!

After school I drove the kids to ballet lessons for Sophia and Annelise, futsol for Emilie and Jonathan, art lessons for the three oldest and tennis lessons and matches for Emilie.

Annelise decided that she has had enough Ballet, but did learn that she absolutely loves to be on stage in the spotlight. She is so comfortable being in front of an audience. Maybe acting or singing is in her future!

Emilie and Jonathan played Futsol, the official in-door soccer game.

We met our friends at the sledding hills, which filled plenty of afternoons.

This snowman that Emilie and Jonathan built is much bigger than it looks!

Cammy and Sophia

The kids amused themselves building "Bob" and then sending him down the hill alone, over and over again until he was completely destroyed.

And Ezra, Mia and I transported Sophia back and forth from preschool, joining in on each extra activity her teachers planned.

Each time it was Sophia's turn to bring the sharing object, it somehow always involved a horse. We also collected dead bugs in our garage window sills, brainstormed words that start with "M" and planned our best backwards day outfit to send to school with Sophia.

Many of our days were spent at home.

Sophia and Ezra loved to help me clean. Sophia found that the cloth that covers the bottom of the mop resembles a maids hat. She worked so hard to persuade me to wear it while cleaning, but always ended up with it on her own head.

Ezra spent his mornings playing with his cars and animals. He loves lining them up and even categorizing them. He always knows exactly where each one belongs.

On a regular basis Ezra brings me to the playroom to see his "car castle." He carefully chooses a spot for each car. It is clear that he puts a lot of thought into which environment in the castle is best for each individual car!

Sophia, like her older sister, has become a fashion statement. Fortunately I intervened before this statement was announced to the world!

After so many games of house with his sisters, Ezra has successfully introduced Batman to Sophia. Many mornings Batman and Batgirl would grab Batbaby and save the world.

The kids loved inviting their friends over and we were more than happy to have them with us.

Sophia and Helen played together almost every week. They just redrew our school boundaries and unfortunately Helen will attend another school.

Ezra unabashedly admits that he will marry his best friend Courtney.

The kids loved inviting their friends over for movie night -- or on this occasion, movie afternoon.

Movie night with Nellie

Jonathan and his friends were way too cool for a photo!

Towards the end of the day, Ezra, who refuses to take naps, usually ends up falling asleep mid activity.

Note: These photos are not staged. (I have many more in the most random spots!)

With winter behind us, our schedules are already filling up with sports activities, day trips around Boston and weekend adventures along the East Coast. We have traded in our freedom and winter hibernation for focus, direction and an overly packed spring schedule.