Am I?

I finally captured a photo of a funeral home chain we keep seeing around the Buffalo area. What a great name!

I took the boys to the Williamsville water mill today -- it's an old water mill built by Jonas Williams, the guy who founded this village, in 1811. We got to see a waterfall (just 27 feet high, but still the roaring of the water was impressive!). The chunks of ice in the water and the dusting of snow over everything made it feel extra cold, but the sun was out and it felt good to be outside.

After today, David is off of work until Jan. 4th -- it will be great to have him home. We're hoping to get some more sledding in this week, but there really isn't enough snow on the ground yet. I think some freezing rain and light snow are forecast for the next few days, but maybe we'll get lucky and get a decent snowfall.

Sledding

This morning was cold but sunny and clear, so we took the boys to a nearby park for their first sledding experience. It was a blast!! Jack was a pro from the start, and he liked going as fast and as far as possible. Thomas took a little while to warm up to it, but by the end he was having a great time. Peter, much to my surprise, climbed onto one of the discs and sat down all by himself, waiting for a push down the hill! David gave him a little push and he sailed down the hill, a huge smile on his face. He had impressive balance!

The park we chose had just bunny hills, which was perfect for our first sled outing. I think next the next time or two the boys will be ready for some steeper slopes and faster rides!

And in other big news ... Jack has his first loose tooth!! It's one of the front ones on the bottom, and it's just the tiniest bit loose, but he's very excited. And I can't believe he's old enough to be losing teeth and getting in his adult teeth -- how did that happen?

Proud of my San Diego boys

We're in a patch of fairly wintry weather -- high winds + snow which looks and feels an awful lot like a blizzard to this California girl. In actuality, it's probably pretty tame as far as Buffalo winter weather goes.

We spent yesterday inside because the weather was a nasty combination of high winds, rain, icy rain, and ice pellets. This morning was better, but not by too much -- the snow that fell last night was being whipped up into a swirling, frozen mist by the 50mph wind gusts. The boys asked to go outside, but I didn't think we'd last more than a few minutes before they begged to come back in.

So, we got all suited up in snow gear and headed outside, and Jack and Thomas were in heaven. It was colder than they've ever experienced (probably in the teens with the wind chill), and every time they threw a snowball the wind would blow it right back into their faces (that was amusing to watch, I admit!). But not one complaint or whine --they rolled around in the snow, slid down banks of plowed snow, etc. and were sad when it was time to come inside. I had such fun just watching them tumble around like 2 midget Michelin men :). Being so far from home, from family and friends, has been and will continue to be difficult, but I'm grateful for little adventures like these that are only possible because of our move.

Peter wasn't quite as thrilled with the snow as Jack and Thomas were. He kept looking at the doors to other people's apartments and saying "Door?", hoping that I might open one of those doors and let him get inside out of the cold. He did manage to keep his mittens on today, but only because he refused to move at all when I sat him down in the snow. It reminded me of something a small dog (ahem ... Ali?) or a cat might do if plunked down in the snow.

The more I think of it, the more Peter's personality reminds me of a cat :). He has sort of an aloof approach to life, he's independent (unless he needs or wants something, and then he follows me around yowling "Mammy! Mammymammymammy!). He loves to climb on top of things he's not supposed to, and then look at me pointedly as if to ask "What are you going to do about this?". He is one funny little guy.

Snow!

We woke up yesterday morning to a winter wonderland outside. About 3 inches of snow had fallen overnight. It was beautiful! The boys were so excited. It took me about 30 minutes to get them all into their snow gear (I'm sure by February I'll be much faster!), and then we headed outside. Jack and Thomas were running around and literally squealing with delight. They made snow angels, threw snowballs, played on the piles of plowed snow, and helped me build 1/3 of a snowman (our full snowman had a "mishap" while Jack and Thomas babysat him when I ran upstairs to get a carrot for the nose!).

We're supposed to get more lake effect snow at the end of this week -- the boys can't wait for David to get out there and play with them in the snow, too.

Peter is going to take a little while to warm up the idea of snow, I think. He kept giving it disapproving looks, and he really didn't want anything to do with it. He had mittens on, but he kept taking them off, and then he got mad that his hands were wet and cold, so I would put his mittens back on, and the cycle would begin again. Peter was at his happiest when I pulled out his stroller and gave him his cookie blanket so he could watch while we worked on the snow man!