I have pictures to share and things to blog about, but right now we're in the middle of dealing with an (almost) family-wide illness.  Fever, coughing, sore throat, fatigue, etc.  Right now Brad and I are the only ones getting away almost completely unaffected, but I feel it coming and have all day.  I've been taking Motrin hoping that if I can keep from "feeling" sick I'll get through it still able to care for everyone.  You're probably wondering why it's almost mid-night and I'm talking about trying to avoid getting sick...and yes, I should (and would like to) be in bed.  Veronica, the sweet and sick baby is the reason I'm still up.  She just went to sleep....for the 3rd time.  She coughs when I put her down and it wakes her up.  I'm hoping the 3rd time's the charm.

Praying we're all feeling better tomorrow.

What else is there to do in the winter in New Hampshire other than play in the snow?  Not much, so the kids have been going out every day to play.  The snow is very icy now after we've had some warmer weather and some freezing rain, so the sledding is fast and fun...as well as damaging to the sleds.

Grant and Parker showing off the remains of one of the sleds that has seen better years (it's about 5 years old now).  It may have seen it's last day of sledding

Matthias has turned into quite the sledder this year and loves the saucer sled.  And I just love that happy smile he has these days

Augustin loves to sled, but not without one of the older boys.  He and Grant taking the orange sled down before it fell apart completely.

Augustin loves just walking around and he is amazingly able to walk on top of the snow most of the time now

Samuel can't do too much.  Sledding wasn't much fun, it was too fast for him.  So he sat in the snow and refused to keep his mittens on, eating snow.  Poor kid had really cold, red hands, but he didn't really seem to mind.  And of course his hat kept falling in his face so he couldn't see much of anything.

A few cute random pictures of the kids.

Grant...getting so grown up

Parker...so cute, but I wish he smiled that big smile he has that makes his eyes twinkle

Matthias...peanut butter face and all

Augustin and Samuel were too busy playing with the track Grant and Parker made to be bothered with picture taking

Veronica...modeling her "I love my Aunt" shirt from Auntie Beth

Relaxing on the couch

I'm not sure how much she likes it, but she can sit in it now.  I'm not sure how long they have to sit in something without screaming before you can say they like something.  The first few times Veronica made it about 7 minutes before screaming.  When I took this picture it was about 45 seconds before the screaming started.  I'm not sure how long this will last, but I keep trying.

Last week we were so blessed to have a much anticipated visit from Aaron, Beth, Evelyn and Oliver.  It always so nice when they get to come and spend a few days with us.  As the little kids get bigger and remember each other from one visit to the next it makes it even more enjoyable.  Evelyn was right at home this time, going off to play with the boys, it was so nice to see.

Beth got to snuggle Veronica.  As tiny as she is, I think Beth thought she'd gotten bigger, but she did comment that she thought she'd be bigger than she was.  She loved her Auntie Beth and let her hold her quite a big.

Maybe she's outgrowing her phase of only liking Mommy to hold her b/c I got pictures of Parker and Daddy holding her as well.

Beth and I had a few opportunities to sit and chat which was so nice.  We talk on the phone almost daily, but there is something wonderful about sitting down, drinking a cup of coffee (or beer) and talking.  We had a few wonderful talks while the kids played.  I never had a sister growing up and having Beth here really makes me hope Veronica some day has a sister.  It is such a wonderful thing.  Beth is truly my sister and I am so blessed to have her in my life.  Over the past 5 years she has become my best friend and I'm so glad we get to share this journey of motherhood together.  She even came to gym with me on Friday morning which was very fun for me.  Everyone here all about Beth and the kids so it was fun for everyone to meet her. 

Friday night we celebrated Evelyn's 2nd birthday and Oliver's 1st birthday.  It was so fun.  Papa spent 2 days working on their cakes.  Evelyn loves Veggie Tales so she got a Madame Blueberry cake and Oliver, being a boy, loves wheels and cars so he got a Wheel cake.  Papa (and Aaron) did a wonderful job on the cakes, they were really cute.

Beth's parents and a couple of her siblings came over and we had a party for the kids.

Evelyn blowing out her candles

The kids enjoying their cakes

Most of the time was spent just hanging out and enjoying time together. Oliver is so grown up and such a cutie, I just love to kiss him

I had to take a picture of Evelyn after one of her naps, I loved her hair in this picture

We're all missing them now that they are back home, but we're hoping to make a trip to visit them in the spring some time.

Last week I decided to make crepes for dinner; the chickens are laying well again so we had plenty of eggs and we love crepes.  I haven't made them for awhile so I figured it would be a nice treat.  I found a recipe that looked good, but only made about 6 crepes and I knew that wouldn't be nearly enough for all of us.  So I decided to make a much larger batch.  This was great while I was doing eggs, I cracked an entire dozen into the bowl and wisked them up.  Then it came time for the milk and this is where things went badly.  I used way too much milk...enough for 2 dozen eggs.

I didn't want to throw out what I'd made, so I went ahead and added the other dozen eggs and the rest of the ingredients.  This made a HUGE bowl of crepe batter.  And b/c it was so full, I had to use the immersion blender to get all the flower mixed in.

Matthias entertained Veronica while I made crepes.  My parents jumped in too and we soon had 2 pans going.

The crepes were great.  I only made up about half of the batter that night and we had plenty.  The rest of it filled a drink pitcher that we put away for the next 3 mornings.  We ate crepes for days and no one complained.

A great way to celebrate the feast of Candlemas.  We didn't make it to Mass because of the snow, but we had a great dinner.

Veronica is 11 weeks old today and she is definitely pretty in pink

I love this little jumper on her, she is finally getting big enough to wear it.  This gave me the opportunity to put her striped baby legs on her which I've been waiting to find something to put them with.

Red is my favorite color, I love almost everything in red...my kids, dishes, flowers and even my bedroom walls.  My living room walls...not so much, especially since they are supposed to be blue

I am so thankful for washable markers.  This is what happens when the 2 year old finds a marker that some how escaped my cleaning.

That is probably the one statement Brad never wants to hear from me.  I am so attached to my camera and he knows it.  My camera has been dying a slow death over the past couple of months. The battery doesn't stay charged as long as it used to, the switch from video to photo doesn't want to stay in place so the default setting is now video which often (but not always) requires that I hold it in the correct position and so on.  Well, yesterday the lens froze in place and will no longer move so the camera won't even turn on now.  It isn't worth fixing so I now NEED a new one.

I was really hoping to nurse the camera along for a few more months and use some of our tax return on a new one.  It doesn't appear that is going to be a possibility though.  So I'm going to borrow Grant's for awhile and put off the new purchase a month or so.  I really don't like making big purchases like this, but they are sometimes necessary.

I'm already missing it.  I was watching Matthias and Augustin slide down the big snow covered hill onto the driveway and wanted so much to take pictures of them and couldn't.  Brad told me to just try to enjoy watching them; very hard for me to do.  So no pictures for now and I'll enjoy just watching the kids.

Today is the second day of February and we've had snow for 2 days now.  We've gotten some where around 20 inches of new snow.  Very white and pretty to look at; not so great to drive in and not so great to have to remove from the driveway.  The kids had a great time outside sledding though.

Grant trying to get Samuel into the back yard

Grant

Augustin trying to get a sled

Samuel eating snow

A good view of the amount of snow we've had in the past couple weeks; it's about even with the top of the picnic table on the gazebo patio

Sledding fun

Parker and Augustin coming down together

Matthias after a nice run down the hill; snow on the face and all
 

Matthias asked me to take his glasses off, they were getting covered in snow and not very comfortable

Samuel does a lot of sitting in the snow, it's hard for him to move around

Sitting in the snow at the bottom of the hill

Augustin heading back up the hill

Grant

Parker, heading in to get a hat

Samuel ready to go in, he gave Parker his hat since he wasn't going to need it.

Candlemas is the celebration of the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple and the Purification of our Blessed Mother.  It derives it's name from the traditional blessing of the candles which prompt us to remember the words of Simeon in the Gospel of Luke when he says to the infant Jesus, "A light to lighten the gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel."