it's still winter out there!

Ben dug himself a tunnel.

winter means birthday for Spence-- here he is the morning after with his new John Deere

Adventures on the lake

karate tournament

Ben was in another tournament this past weekend and won first place for Sumo!  He had a good time and is really branching out with his karate skills.  He's joined an extra team, that meets once/month for more training and does 4 extra tournaments per year.  He absolutely loves it!  :)

this is how we tire the kiddos out around here...

more playing and outside fun

I am so thankful that my boys love to play outdoors-- no matter how cold it is.  I get nervous that they will get frostbite or something worse, but they've always come inside before any real damage is done.  They could play together outside for hours, and for this I am very grateful...

winter fun

snow on the lake

snowshoe yoga

after the ice storm

ice on the branches

As I mentioned, this winter has been strange, weather-wise.  I have never minded the Maine winters (that I can remember), and I have to say-- as I look out across the lake on this sunny (and cold) winter morning, I truly feel blessed to have the opportunity to see the lake frozen.  Grammy Simpson took the boys for a walk all the way across the lake and around an island yesterday.  We ride the 4-wheeler and snowshoe on the lake.  It becomes an all-together different playground in the winter, and it is truly beautiful.

skiing

Spence went skiing for the first time at Christmas.  Apparently he loved it, and was fearless.  Why am I not surprised?

Sugarloaf Christmas

Our Christmas plans got delayed slightly, with the ice storm and power outage, but we made it to Sugarloaf to have our Christmas with Jay's family...

A Jewett Christmas

Jay wearing the cowboy hat Ben picked out for him at the Grade School Holiday store

Yeah, this is the best I got for a group photo

No power on Christmas morning, and a sudden malfunctioning pellet stove, made for a cold start to the day, but we bundled up, ate lots of sugar, and made the best of it...

New Year... How does time go by so quickly?

The boys in front of our Christmas tree...

The coolest snowman.  And the goofiest boys.

Using the tractor to put up a wreath

Lots of ice this winter

The last pictures I posted were around Thanksgiving.  It's been busy, to say the least.  And unfortunately for me I've been sick in bed with what I'm self-diagnosing as the flu.  This is Day #3 and I thought that as long as I'm able to sit upright at this point, I'll do some updating on the blog.  

We've had a strange, very cold winter so far.  The two ice pictures above are from Christmas-- when we lost power due to the ice storm for a couple of days.  Luckily we had the generator and were able to keep things warm enough, but it was a very crazy time for Maine!

Thanksgiving in Vermont

The boys made sugar cookies (and goofy faces) to take to VT.

The chefs in the kitchen (Jay did a good job stirring the vegan gravy).

The table set for 10

Jay's graduation

 Jay's graduation was quite a big day.  The ceremony at UNE was short and personal, which I thought was a really good thing.  There was a reception on campus afterwards, where he got to mingle and pat his classmates on the back.  Amazing accomplishments, really.

 And then my Mom surprised him with a stretch limo!  We got to ride around Portland, then have a nice dinner and a ride back to campus. 

Christmas Tree Hunt

I think this is the earliest we've gotten a Christmas tree-- December 1st!  It was snowing this morning though, and it just felt like the right time to do it.  We found a good one (we think)-- the boys are standing in front of it.  They both helped Jay with the saw, and now we just need to clear out some furniture and find a good place for it.  It's hard to believe it's this time of year again already.

dance party

One of the boys favorite things to do:  Dance Party

Homecoming

Our view from tailgating

Jane and me

On the mall on campus

a very blurry photo taken in the back of a cab

A few of my friends and I make it a tradition to go back to UMaine campus in Orono for alumni/Homecoming weekend.  This year we had beautiful weather, and lots of good company.

trip to NYC

Grand Central Station

From the top of the Empire State Building

Times Square

I went on a very spontaneous short trip to NYC this month-- my first time in the city!