scenes at the lake

 One of Spencer's favorite things to do is throw rocks in the water.  Ben likes to make weapons out of tree limbs (and whatever else he can find)...  Gilbert likes to, well... chill out...

 This little guy was found in the water table.  He put up with us for a while then disappeared...

I *heart* boys

spring is in the air

We have definitely been spending more time outdoors.  Ben loves to play hopscotch, so we often have a chalk-drawn hopscotch on our driveway.  Spencer still loves to push his trucks around, and with his big dump truck will collect all sorts of items and transport them...

Ben and his Daddy...

I love nap time...

T-Ball season has begun

As with so many things, Ben takes a bit of time to warm up when it comes to change. Though he struggled with the first few minutes of T-Ball (he said he was "nervous", which I can totally understand), he did great. He's got quite an arm and can really hit the ball... Here's to the beginning of another season!

Picnic

I packed a picnic lunch for me and the boys & we headed to our favorite spot in the woods. Gilbert followed us and was rewarded with some cheese. He and Spencer came and went, nibbling a little, but mostly playing together. Ben was hungry after his T-ball game this morning, so we sat and chatted... It was a beautiful afternoon for a picnic.

Peas are planted!

It's a beautiful day here and following T-Ball and a picnic in the woods (where I had to pick a tick off Ben!!), I decided to plant the peas. The boys were a big help and we got a bit overzealous with the pea seeds, so it'll be interesting to see how they come up this year. The boys really loved playing in the dirt and, subsequently, water (ok, mud really). I can see the bathing-every-night season approaching. Hopefully that also means the sleeping-really-well-at-night season is also upon us. Someone should really tell Spencer about that. He hasn't gotten the memo.

Spring is in the air

The boys enjoyed walking outside in their bare feet this afternoon. It got a little chilly, but they enjoyed playing in the dirt and throwing rocks in the water...
Spencer has discovered that he really enjoys playing with shaving cream in the bath tub...
He's also discovered that his favorite word is "no". He'll use it as an automatic response to just about any request. Or statement. Or glance, really...

getting the morning paper

Ben loves to ride up to the end of the driveway to get the morning paper for Grammy & Grampy. Spencer follows along- he pushes his truck to the end of the tar, tells it he'll be "back" and takes off walking, following his big brother. I usually tuck the paper into Ben's jacket in the winter, but it's been warm enough now that he's not wearing a jacket & I tuck the paper right into the back of his pants. Little Brother wants to do everything Big Brother does, so I take out a section and tuck it into Spencer's pants as well. Spencer isn't as good at delivering the paper to Grammy & Grampy, but he sure loves carrying it like a big boy.

Boys and Their Toys

Tractor, bikes, four-wheeler, motorcycle.
The Jewett boys really, really, really like this 70 degree weather in Maine right now!
Ben and Jay are heading to Florida today with Grammy Simpson, and Spencer and I are staying back here with Grampy Simpson... I'll be curious to compare weather notes when they get home. I'm not complaining- it's wonderful having the windows open and the snow melting before my eyes- it's just strange...
As you can tell from the photos, the boys aren't complaining about the warm weather.

Is it Spring??

Happy St. Patty's

My favorite Irish beer and my manicure for the Irish holiday...

Bottling Beer w/Pops

We made a nut brown this time-- it looked & smelled good! We'll have to wait a bit to taste it, but hopefully it's a good one. :)
Happy St. Paddy's Day, all!

March 1st snowstorm

The boys in today's snow storm. We were lucky enough to have Daddy home today, since his class was cancelled. And we finally got outside this afternoon for some sledding, snow angels, and rides on the four-wheeler and tractor. Good times at the Jewett's house!

Onions

It's hard to believe how much plants can grow in just a couple of weeks. Here are our onion plants that the boys planted on the 9th. Luckily, we've had lots of sunshine and I've been able to get the plants in lots of sun. It's been really fun to watch them grow. Let's hope Gilbert the cat doesn't eat the seedlings like he's done to our tomato plants in the past!

Happy Second Birthday, Spencer!

Today is Spencer's second birthday! We celebrated yesterday with family- Nana & Pops Dwyer, Grammy & Grampy Simpson, and Uncle Matty and family. The cousins enjoyed running around and hitting each other with balloons, while Spencer's favorite activity was riding his new 4-wheeler (called a "BROOM")... This 4-wheeler is very well loved: it was given kisses before bed, it got its teeth brushed at bedtime, and it earned an all-out, fall-down, kicking and screaming tantrum when it was taken away for the evening. We had one very sad little boy when he and the 4-wheeler needed to be separated in order for Spencer to go to bed. It took a while to fall asleep, but he was ever-so-happy to see the 4-wheeler this morning. And now, when he walks away from it, he points & waves at it and says, "back" (as in, I'll be back!)... A boy and his toys...

The boys at age 2

Spencer right before his second birthday, a few days ago...
And Ben right before his second birthday, August 2008...

Ben is the summer baby and Spencer the winter baby-- in fact, they are exactly six months apart in birthdays. We celebrated Spencer's second birthday (and Ben's 5 1/2 birthday) yesterday with family...

Time to start thinking about the garden!

This year we're going to try and plant onions in the garden, so here are the boys getting the potting soil mix ready for planting the seeds. Ben had a great time using his hands to mix the water into the soil... Spencer was more apprehensive about doing that, but enjoyed using chopsticks to mix the soil.

Spencer didn't want to take a nap yesterday, so I took the boys outside to play. After a few minutes on the 4-wheeler, I realized that Spencer was really quiet, so I looked down and he was snoozing!!!

Boys

Spencer really enjoys eating snow (wonder where he saw that??!)... He would be outside all the time if it were up to him. He is practicing all sorts of new words, and will attempt to repeat just about every word that comes out of our mouths. He's also climbing out of his crib... almost. He successfully got out one time, but now he simply climbs up on the side and yells "down! down!" until someone rescues him... Luckily he hasn't fallen yet, and I see a big boy bed in his near future.
Ben competed in his second karate tournament last weekend and participated in four events: flag sparring, sumo, fight sparring, and forms. He's pictured here with his trophy he won for getting FIRST place in the fight sparring category!! Guess all his karate work with Daddy paid off. He's very proud of his trophy, as he should be...