Icy Winthrop Scenes

It's been very cold here, and I've managed to catch a few pictures of some icy scenes... Ahhh... winter in Maine! :)

Our weekend

After many days in a row of working, Jay managed to get a few off and we've been able to spend time together this weekend! It's been really great. Yesterday (Saturday), we went to Portland and, among other things, had lunch at our favorite Japanese restaurant: Fuji (see photo of Ben playing with his chopsticks). This morning we spent a good chunk of time setting his car track up and sending many, many cars for a ride. Then we got bundled up and walked through the woods to visit Chris & Meg Genoter and girls. It was snowing when we woke up this morning, and it's still snowing this afternoon! It's a nice day to be at home with family. :)

Baby, it's cold outside...

Yesterday we woke up to -20 degree temps. Yeah... brrr... It's cold all over, so we know we're not alone but WOW! That's cold! Jay and Ben got out the Hawaii hat, which Ben is modeling. Guess we're dreaming of warmer climates. White sandy beaches, ice coffee at Waimea Bay. Sigh...

Happy New Year!

We visited with Great Grammie and Great Grampa Wentzell on New Year's Day. Ben loved playing with them- especially blowing into the noise maker and wearing the tiara... Such a boy. He also really enjoyed making loops around the whole building- up the stairs, down the stairs. He got some good exercise!

Christmas at Sugarloaf

After Christmas we headed up to the condo to have our Christmas with Grammie and Grampy Simpson, Uncle Tan, Auntie Sis, and cousins Will & Kate. We had a really nice visit and were able to get up once more before Grammie & Grampy headed south for the winter. The mountain was really pretty (though windy!!!). Ben also liked wearing Grampy's hat-- but he didn't want to touch it when it wasn't on his head. He also enjoyed riding on the mountain in his sled...

Christmas morning at our house...

We had a very exciting Christmas morning. We had high winds knock a tree down across our driveway and take our power out!! We had to get the generator running so we could light the tree up (and to get video of Ben coming down the stairs first thing. Power went out at 4:57am and Jay explored outside (the winds were WILD), then CMP fixed us up right before 9am. Pretty exciting Christmas morning! Benjamin loved his bike, and was mostly excited to see if Santa and the reindeer had eaten the snack he left. Ben also got excited about some new underpants and put them on right over his pants! He wouldn't take them off (or his helmet) for a couple of hours. :) He's had a wonderful day though!

Christmas morning at Nana & Pops'

What fun! The cousins had a lot of fun playing with each others' toys. There sure was a lot of energy among the 3 girls and Benjamin. Thanks for such a wonderful morning!

Harley Man

Here's the dog! Harley, for those who don't know, lives with Nana and Pops Dwyer now (he's been there since Ben was able to crawl). He just LOVES the snow, as you can see from Mom's pictures. He'd stay out there until you couldn't find him, if he were allowed to. Such a husky dog. He'll be 12 years old next month! That's hard to believe.

A Year Ago...

I thought it would be fun to look back a year... Look at this little guy!

It's hard to believe how quickly time goes by, and here we are faced with another winter. I have a feeling this Christmas will be a lot more fun than last year, and it's pretty neat to see Ben get so excited. He's been helping me wrap presents, helping me address Christmas card envelopes, and- best of all- helping me make cookies! Ben loves to turn the lights on the Christmas tree every morning and when he wakes up, he looks up at the ceiling and says: "Santa up there?". He frequently requests his 3 latest Christmas songs: Jingle Bells (pronounced "Jingle Balls"), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Frosty the Snowman. It is HILARIOUS to watch him sing Jingle Bells and I hope to figure out how to upload video so I can share it...

Photo shoot in front of the tree

It is really hard to take pictures of a 2-and-a-half-year old! :) He had a good time being really goofy, then wanted to take pictures himself. Benjamin loves the tree and turns the lights on each morning...

Cutting Our First Christmas Tree

We did it! We went to Wayne and cut down our first Christmas tree! (We do a live tree for our porch every year, which we'll do again this year, but wanted to have a cut tree inside as well.) It was cool, but a beautiful day for walking in the tree farm and picking out a tree. Ben wanted to carry the saw, and wanted to help cut the tree and carry it as well. Such a big help.

Ben is talking about Santa and loves the Christmas lights. He's been asking for a Christmas tree just about every day. When he's asked what he wants for Christmas, he says "tree". That's easy enough! He'll have two!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great day at Roni & Larry's yesterday (thanks!!!) and it was so nice to see everyone. I still can't believe I scored a touchdown!!! :) Happy Thanksgiving, all...

Bye Bye Crib...

Ben's crib came down on Monday and he's sleeping in his "big boy" bed (though he just calls it his "boy bed"). The very first night in it he woke up on the floor. He says he fell out, but I never heard a crash, so I think he slid out. ;-P I walked into his room at 4:30 that morning and almost stepped on him!!! He hasn't fallen out again, and has been sleeping there for more than a week.
He helped Daddy take the crib down and waved bye-bye as it was taken away. He hasn't looked back! How is it that he's growing up so fast?

In the woods

He just loves to be outside as much as possible...

Fall pics

Daddy and Benjamin on the four-wheeler, having lots of fun!

Pumpkins at Longfellow's

Trick-or-Treating

Ben with his cousins.
He really got into the trick-or-treating, saying "lots and lots of candy" and roaring like a zebra (yeah, not sure that zebras roar, but we went with it). He hasn't asked for any of the candy yet and maybe he's actually forgotten about it. He had a blast with Madelyn (he was calling her 'cousin' when re-telling the story of trick-or-treating later last night), Gracie, and Claire. He was saying that 'cousin' was a scary witch and she had her nose and eyes on. :) What fun!

Our Zebra

Thanks to the Fosters, we had a nice, warm zebra costume for Ben to wear trick-or-treating last night. He didn't like the idea of putting it on at first, but got into it (roaring and telling everyone he was a zebra).