Fun in the white stuff!

Big smiles for lots of snow! 

We have had so much fun in the snow this year -- it's incredible.  Hannah has even taken to liking her snowshoes, which after trying last year I thought would never be entertained again!  We've had several hikes in the woods behind our house to scout out animal tracks and make forts, where Hannah

I kid you not.  This is looking out the garage door.  This is the storm that brought us 25" of powder!  SO FUN!  Thankfully, Jonathan and I got a sitter the night of this storm and went skiing at Pat's.  We were the only car on the road (thankfully the 1 year in prison and driving ban that was in effect in Boston was not here!) and we had a blast!  Best date ever!

Les Adorables.

Valentine's Day!  Being the first year of preschool, Hannah got to experience giving and receiving valentines this year.  This is something she enjoyed very much.  I must also point out that she made the necklace that she is wearing in this image by painting noodles and then alternating them with colorful buttons.

Hannah and Mom built a tunnel and then a Frosty!  Hannah had so much fun this afternoon in the sun.

 Happy Birthday to the twins and Nickie!  You will notice Hannah's bangs in this picture; those are the ones she cut...

Hannah has had some super quotes lately.  I wish I caught all of them.

Hannah to Dad: "I haven’t heard so much things about you when you were a baby."

Dad, cross your legs, I liked that sitting situation.  It was comfortable.

"You know what, Mom? Your kid named Mason is now a spider; you only have Hannah.  He's creepy....he may scare you."

Mason is doing a great job developing, too -- in fact, he's several months "ahead" when it comes to self-help, gross- and fine- motor, and receptive and expressive language.  We are working on the verbal expressive language currently and believe that he has taken advantage of Hannah's articulation to focus his efforts on listening instead of talking as much :)

Hannah will talk for an hour straight about Minnie and Pandi (Pandi is Minnie's baby, and Hannah's baby, too, but he "came out of Minnie's uterus").  In this family she has fantasized, she has Froggy, Bunny, and Oso as kids, too. 

Hannah to Mom: "My feet don't want to wear socks, but I want to wear socks."
 

January fun

 

Mason feeds himself with utensils now!

 Hazel is a beautiful baby.  We had a great visit with Mer and Colin and loved meeting their little bundle of joy.  Her eyes are incredible!

 Hannah and Mom doing a science experiment while Mason is napping.

 Family snuggles one morning before Dad heads to work.

 Visiting the UV!

 Birthday Girl

 Thanks for the beautiful painting, Hannah!

 Hannah decorated this beautiful carrot cake that Mormor made.

Making 3D structures with marshmallows and toothpicks!

 

Hannah was very into this project and was occupied for a solid 45 minutes.  Mason was a great sport, but he was not quite able to stab the marshmallows with the toothpicks and preferred flying smaller structures through the air as if they were airplanes.

QUOTE CORNER:

 

Hannah to Mom: "Now, I bet you're asking yourself....these are grapes."

Hannah to Mom: "Mom, I love you and you will be in my heart until you die off."

Hannah to Dad: "This guitar makes excellent music, Daddy; thank you."

Story:  It is not posted as a picture here, but Hannah is quite the hairdresser.  She cut her friend's hair (all 10 inches of it), which had been growing out since birth while Sarah and the little girl's mom were out trying to shovel and sand the other Mom's car out of the driveway.  Hannah learned not to do this ever again :)  Hannah, for full story someday, see your special journal from Dad and Mom.

Thanksgiving and Christmas Fun!

Happy New Year! 

 Mason favorite activity in the project center is playing with play-doh.  

It didn't take long for Hannah to find the Christmas tree we had tagged and Dad did a great job cutting it down -- he even managed to avoid felling it into some dog doo.

 Hannahmade granola -- what more could you want?! 

 Mason kept us entertained by dancing to music 

As Hannah did, Mason is fascinated by my spices.  Here, you can see that he carried each one individually over to be rearranged in the laundry room.

 LOVE THIS SMILE.

 And these ones, too!

 Missing one generation in this shot.  Great day for a jaunt in Hanover. 

The girls and their purses.

 Goober snoobs.

Serving up dinner on Christmas Eve.  Menu: honey-glazed spiral ham, cheesy mashed potato and bacon casserole, broccoli with garlic sauce and green salad.

Ready for church.  Jane, thank you so much for the beautiful dress!

Mason and Pop exchange a smile before we take off for the service.

Group Photo

Group photo!

Xmas Stud

Cookies out for Santa!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

and the children woke up to Christmas Joys.

Mason was a great little elf, delivering packages.

Hello, Kitty!

Hannah was ecstatic to give Mason a speaking Superman figurine for Christmas!  She and Jonathan had to look through three different stores before FINALLY finding ONE left!

Hannah choosing uppercase letter and then identifying the matching lower-case letter to pair it with.

October Snowstorm and Thanksgiving with Mason family

 Dusting off the Jack-O-Lanterns from October snowstorm

 We built a snowman family in our backyard.  Each on of us was represented out there.  Hannah loves snow this year, which is great because after last winter, I thought our days in the snow would be numbered.  I am so grateful that she has come around to enjoying it.  Mason, on the other hand, is not so sure, although he seems pretty happy in this picture.

 Susana came for dinner one night and she brought the kids some gifts that they adore.  Mason sits in the middle of his train track daily and Hannah loves her Mobigo, which is a small educational computer.

 Momma's Boy.

Two happy girls.  

 Too cute to exclude.

Handsome Mason.

 

 A 32 POUND bird?!  Biggest yet and delicious of course!

Thanksgiving photo shoot

 

 Mormor and GP Jimbo with the grandkids!

 Enjoying time with family.

 Hannah made a second pumpkin pie (the first was forgotten at home :)).

Eck family gathering at Gould Hill Orchard

Quotes:

Dad: "What happens when you whine?"

Hannah: "You go to timeout."

Good!  She's learning!

Hannah to Mom, who is in passenger seat on the ride to CT:  "Mom, pretty soon I’m going to be able to drive a car.  And, where will Dad sit if I’m sitting next to you?"  After a pause, she concludes, "Probably next to Mason."