I located one of those "walkers" and that made him feel a little more comfortable. I thought he did a pretty good job...but at times I think he was a bit distracted watching all the other people.
Peter initally freaked out because he had no control....that is what ice skating is all about! 
Once he was armed with the walker he thought that was his ticket to go as fast as he could...although he had no idea how to turn. He did learn how to crash, which in my opinion is the most important lesson to learn on your first time out. 
We had to have one talk about how the walkers are not to be treated as bumpercars.....you would likely take out a bunch of other people on the ice. 
This makes me invision the boys in 80 years....little old men in their walkers.
Jamison fell on his rump a number of times.... and hit his head on the ice once...and then he claimed that he was "so done with this". 
Overall they did a fantastic job and maybe we can do this again. Pat on the other hand claims that he needs orthodics or something before he would do this again....his feet were killing him. I am glad he did not fall, because I am sure I would not hear the end of it.The boys in action!
For dinner, I was inspired by one of the pretty ladies (who was inspired by her sister) to make Squid dogs for dinner. A bit frightened that they were going to eat squid...and Jamison's constant reminders that he does not like fish... ultimately liked the crazy dinner.. I did not get photos but you can google squid dogs and it will come up.
Peter used lollypops as pretend candles on the cookie bars and then decorated each bar with a spiderman decorations.
Jamison went with the chocolate cupcake route and used sprinkles and colored sugars. I had to remind him that if he licked his fingers he would have to go wash them before he could continue. I think he washed his hands about 8 times for 20 cupcakes! "Jolly ranchers are not sprinkles Mr. Simpson" 
I completed the curtains for the dining room. They were made out of a saree I brought back from India. I had minimal cutting and sowing...it worked out great! and now the town of Mount Horeb can not see what we are having for dinner everynight. 
The weather has been warm, but wet foggy and drab. We had to do something so we took a road trip to the Milwaukee County Zoo. Someplace that I have not been since I was a kid. Some of the bigger animals were hibernating or indoors but we still had a good time. I was able to spot the elusive Cullen Boys in their natural environment. 
This one attempts to run from the camera but I was super quick! 
Jamison did not believe me when I said that this caribou was Dasher, one of Santa's reindeer. I thought during the off months Santa's deer make appearances at the zoos around the country.
The boys favorite place was the aviary. I was so proud of Jamison when he spotted the Roseated Spoonbill! (this was the african spoonbill but close enough). 
Peter was excited to get super close to this girl Hooded Merganser. We had to remind him that you can not pet them, many times. 
Pat freaked out when he heard Jamison say "That is the Waddled Currasow" (not in this picture). He did not heard that I had already pointed him out to Jamison, he thought he either read the sign or even better, already knew that bird! "I am a science expert" says Jamison. heheheh I am excited! I am going to have a science geek in the house! 
We took out our new german game Tipp-Kick! and the boys had fun! I had to "forget" the score because the boys were getting upset if they did not score as much as their brother. Thanks Lutz and Christine!
Wall paper down! The removal went pretty fast, but the painting was slow-going with all the trim. 
The color...Timeless Sage. It looks better than what this picuture shows, for some reason this picutre looks blue-ish. I ordered some picture rail hooks, so I plan to get some of those pictures up off the ledge so dusting will be easier.
This week I will be making curtains out of a saree I picked up in India.
We had one more chirstmas....our package from Heike arrived in the mail! THANKS HEIKE!
The boys LOVE the cars/truck and are very excited to start their experiments. I also LOVE the candle pyramide! i have always wanted one of those! and tonight will be our blue bath! 
Pat continued to work on the chimney. It has to go down a couple more rows so we can put in the floor. Pat has high hopes to take it all out...and to put in a dumb-waiter. But this morning, after realizing how much work it is to take it out while it is enclosed he is re-thinking it. 
Man! That camera lense is dirty.
Peter is "The fabulous Frog" of the week this next week in his class. With that awesome honor...comes a frog, "Froggy" is his name, that gets to spend the weekend with us. Peter then has to draw some pictures of what he and Froggy did. 
I am not sure if Miss Mathys intended that he learns how to fly. There are a lot of activities planned for Peter this week, I even get to join him for lunch! if he lets me. As of now he does not want a special guest. I cant believe he is embarrassed of me already!
And in the fashion of his father he hauled the brick to the back woods (to be hauled away in spring, he promised). 
He thought he was pretty ingenious using an I-beam and slid the bricks out the 3rds story window, saved him a lot of grunt work, and I think the snow helped, he used the sled to drag it back.
The aftermath...now I am anxious to work on the next step and get some quotes to see how much this is going to cost us.
No fighting, screaming, face-washing, nothing! AND they even worked together on their quest to capture the big, bigger and biggest tree branches(downed from the ice storm) from the yard. no eyes were poked or faces scratched. This one was BIG 
BIGGER
BIGGEST..it was even too big to be brought down the sidewalk where I was shoveling.
Can you imagine what this conversation might be... "Hey Jamison, you jump to see how far you go and then I will see if I can beat you. No, you go first". 
Jamison's action shot. 
Peter's action shot. 
I had to chuckle at this exhibit...."River of Beauty". Take a close look at the picture top-left. If I was that home owner I would not think this was all that beautiful. The museum was supercool and had lots of critters that I love. Frogs, snakes, lizards, fish and birds!
Pat and Jamison were taking a closer look at the lizards. 
There was a cool riverboat that we could have gone on if it wasnt so cold so instead we froze to get this picture. We will have to go here again in spring to look at more. I was surprised that Dubuque was a pretty cute town! who knew! 
So, when we are out of town for the weekend we usually turn the heat down pretty low, yes even lower than what we keep it at. I was wondering why we have not been able to warm up....and wouldnt you know it we didnt turn it back to our balmy 62 degrees. It at least gave the boys a chance to wear their fuzzy sweatshirts that Santa brought. 
My souxchef Jamison was helping me make french toast this morning (I shared with him my secret recipe...he is not allow to to tell anyone) and an egg exploded is his face. He cried "mom get the camera, I have egg on my face!" yup Jamison the "yoke" is on you.
FOUR. After a lot of swearing and a couple new tools, we now have a great faucet that goes on and off like butter and does not leak! and we did not even have to take the sink off!
To minimize the amount of swearing the boys would hear while Pat was working on the faucet.....I took them outside to the neighbors house for an afternoon filled with sledding.
Here the boys are making a sledding train. And afterwards we started up a campfire and roasted marshmallows. They are just as tasty as they are in summer, and cool off much faster. The neighbor boy also learned that they burn just as well.
Hey Peter, say "chubby bunnies". 
Thanks neighbors for inviting us over.! 
