In the Morning

In the morning, when I am about to head downstairs to begin my day, 

I run into a lineup of cellphones and ipads that the boys lay out.
I sort of love it.
It's really nice that they don't keep them in their rooms at night.

Orchestra Night

 

Teens, Teens, and more Teens

We have had a real uptick in teens lately.  Now with Samuel here, and the four Danish students, we have even more. Here are a few shots from some recent teen activity. 1.  PING PONG. In the dining room. Actually, it's a game called Jungle, and it is quite popular.  The video is of the group still in the game after a few rounds.  2.  This is a group shot and everyone here just finished watching Les Misérables. The upcoming Very Merry show is Les Mis and they were all interested in it because almost everyone seen here, minus a few, will be trying out for the play.

 

Sugar Season

We went to both Kuba and Anders 3rd grade teacher's home this past weekend.  Mr. Mike owns a house with a lot of land in the country and on the land, there are a lot of maple trees.  He now taps them and makes syrup.  We wanted to take Samuel to see the process and it was really an amazing experience. We helped schlep sap and we learned details about the season and process of sugaring. The lighter amber syrup is early in the season, and the darker robust syrup is later in the season.  The sap has to reach a certain temperature in the boiler #7 to be exact, before it turns into syrup. The thicker syrup collects at one end of the boiler pan and it's easy to open the valve and let it run out.   Mike sent us home with 2 different grades of syrup and a jar of homemade raspberry jam. When we got home, Samuel whipped up a batch of pancake batter and we all taste tested all that we were sent home with.  The jam was amazing, and the darker syrup was our favorite.  DELICIOUS! 
 

Unexpected Igloo

We had a very late in the season snowstorm with wet heavy snow.

Perfect for Samuel to inspire an igloo making adventure.

Here they are!

 

Ping Pong?

We've been playing a lot of ping pong, because Samuel is pretty darn good at it and we are all determined to get better at it!   But as is always the case, after a long time of playing sometimes you can get a little bored.  This happened, and then I noticed the boys playing ping pong - not with paddles, but with a metal mixing bowl and a Rubik's cube!  SO CREATIVE! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2023

It was a fun St. Patty's day this year at home.

We started with shamrock socks for all, and ended with a large family dinner with Peter, Jen, Kaj, Mormor, Dave, and Sandy.  Corned beef and cabbage and the works.

Followed by some rowdy games of Ping Pong.

 

Bread Not Flowers

               

Anders very awesome friend, Sylvan, brought him a fresh baked baguette after each performance. This was instead of flowers, because when you can have a baguette, who would want flowers! Thanks Sylvan! You are a genius! 

Our Swamp King

Anders did a very brave thing.  He had wanted to be in a play for a long time, but always put it on the back burner, because he was busy, or maybe even because he was a little unsure. Yet, the desire to be on stage felt strong enough that he just did it.  He signed up for Very Merry's Spamalot and got a super fun role as the swamp king.  It was such a highlight for him. He was also a knight and was in so many ensembles - he even learned to tap dance!

We are so proud of him! 

Marimekko

It just happened.  I swear it did.

 

My Cool Dudes

 Really - they just are so cool.  

And More College Visits

We continue to search for the right college for Anders.

Vacation week we drove through wintery snowy weather to the coast of Maine and then turned around and headed west to Syracuse.  The weather was dreary, and the campuses were dreary.
But despite all that we did like Suny ESF. So perhaps that's a win?

 

Time for an Exchange

We have an exchange student from Germany.

Samuel Goeser came to us on Monday from Freiburg.  He will be staying with us for about seven weeks, or until the beginning of May.  He's 17, as tall as the boys, and very gentle.  

We are all settling in to a new routine, which includes 3 boys!

The group shot is of Samuel on his way to school with the boy's and their friends.  

So far, so good!  We are looking forward to getting to know him better.

Look Who's Driving - Take ll

Permit in hand, and all the courage in the word.