Marty's Birthday!

We celebrated young Marty's birthday today!  Here Lizzie and Ryan are setting up for the party.

 Here is his fancy cake.

The birthday boy, party hat on, fresh from his nap.

 Sitting with Grampy.

 Blowing out the candles!

 Mimi helps with the presents.

 Daddy puts together the new tent!  Quite a process, but instant fun for all of the kids.

 Lizzie loves it!

 When the party started, there was little to no open water on the lake.  Before the party was over, this large space had opened up!  Spring is in the air!  I have it on good authority that we were swimming on April 17 last year and the dock in by the end of April.  That means the lake has 10 days to fully thaw and warm up considerably.  Or, more likely, this could be a May swimming start year instead.

 Headed down to take a look at the ice.  We are pretty strict about the water and ice with the kids, so it is always nice when we are both home to walk the kids to the water together.

 Birthday boy!

 Big sister, she did such a great job today, she is so desperate for her birthday to arrive, only a short wait now!

 The face she gave me when I asked for a silly face (this is one of my favorites and so in keeping with her character!)

 I asked Ryan to also make a silly face, I can't make myself post that one!

Here's to another great year!

April!

We have had a string of warmer days here (though not quite warm enough to lose the hats most days).  The snow is almost entirely gone and we have started enjoying more time outside!  Hooray!  We are ready to play!  The first thing we did was start bringing the summer toys outside.  Bubbles were first on the list!  Lizzie and Martin have come up with a game that they both like. She blows the bubbles and he tries to pop them.  

Easter day we headed south to visit Mimi and Timber.  Lizzie insisted on wearing her fancy white dress (which she is actually wearing now too, over her day clothes - she loves to dress fancy!) Aunt Kate bought Marty this cute top - perfect for Easter!

 With Mimi and Timber:

 Opening Easter baskets.

 Egg hunt!  This is the first year Martin has really been able to participate.  Great fun!  Both of the kids practiced hiding and finding eggs in the days leading up to this.  A great game - they don't even care if the eggs are empty!

 You can see it wasn't our warmest Easter, but not a bad day for March.

 Then we got on our play clothes and played bubbles!

Looking forward to another great day today - Marty is 2!  Hopefully pictures of his party to come soon!

March

Here are a few phone photos to share.  I have not been great about getting the camera out this month, I am working to remember the camera in April.

Make a wish!

Last month, our family had the honor of helping the make a wish foundation grant the wish of a 6 year old from Florida. The weather was perfect, likes snow globe! Here are a few shots from the day. It was great to see the community come together, volunteering time, food, etc.

Ground hogs day!

Yesterday we had some friends over for a little ice skating on the lake.  Last week, Ryan cleared off some of the lake and got it ready for skating, but with the recent thaw and refreeze, that section was on the only part of the lake not ready for good skating.  Luckily, pretty much the rest of the lake was great skating, if a little bumpy.

 Grampy tries on his new skates.

 Kate checks out the ice.

 Marty borrows Maeve's skates, he didn't want to give them up when he was done!  Guess we will need to get him his own pair.

 Jay, Lizzie and Ryan.

 Here is Alison watching the plane on the right.  It went over head a few times and then came down low and waved the wings at us.  Someone around the cove uses this plane all summer, so it was fun to see it in the winter too!  I hear there were a few other fancy tricks that I didn't get on my camera too.

 Lot's of fun!

 Fuzzy, but I didn't want to miss Bob's birthday.  Happy birthday Bob!  Laura, Rosa, Brittany, Joy, Lizzie, Marty and Dad are also in the photo.

 The ice started pushing to shore in the past few days, still plenty cold and thick, but not great for skating like this.

 We got some of the college friends together for a pic right before they left.

I am hoping we can do this every year, it is a great way to break up the winter!  We are hoping to get our skates back on today, we don't want to miss out on this good ice before it snows again.

Winter

It has been really cold these past few weeks so we have been doing what we can to keep busy.  The house is plenty warm, but the kids still love sitting in front of the heater!  Then, they love to "boing" which means take the cushions off the couch and chair and setup an obstacle course in the living room.  Lots of fun!

 Yesterday, Kate and I took the kids to the Maine Jump.  We had so much fun!

 They are all smiling in the same direction!  A first!

More Christmas

Here are a few more Christmas photos to share.  Every year, my family has the tradition of making gifts for each other (as Kate says, this is mandatory).  Ryan brought the made gifts up a notch this year - he made the kids a tree house!  Martin, Maeve and Lizzie will enjoy this for awhile, I think.

 I made the kids these ribbon wands.

 Ryan also made saw horses for John and Dad.

 Martin and Lizzie both received these sweaters.  So cute!  Lots of made socks, bags, calendars, candelabra, candied nuts and jams exchanged this year (as well as future oil changes, which are really one of my favorite gifts to receive).

 Here is our tree Christmas morning.

 Our stockings too:

 The kids are up!  We were all very sick over Christmas, so the kids opened presents from the couch.  They were happy and excited about Christmas, but definitely more subdued.  I was lucky to get any photos taken, as I had a bit of the flu myself.

 There were a lot of books exchanged Christmas morning.

 The Rush family opening gifts.