march... bye bye winter!

We kicked March off with Max's 6th Birthday Party 

(postponed due to the Blizzard of 2013)...

He had a BLAST running around and celebrating with all his friends!

And we continued our winter tradition of swimming lessons...

Mid-month we were invited for a weekend of skiing in Quechee, Vermont by our lovely Scottish friends, the McVies!

The McVies!

  We had so much fun!  It was Jane's first time on skis - she did great!!!

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 By the end of the month, the snow had melted 

and Spring was springing.  

Just in time for the Easter Bunny!

A visit from the Bunny himself on Easter morning...

 An egg hunt at Grammie & Papa's...

Followed by a fun day of Easter celebration!

Everyone had a ball...

 Including Cousin Matt!

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The most important and joyful event of the month was 

Brian & Misato's marriage on March 30th in Kyoto.  

We are all so thrilled to welcome Misato 'officially' to our family.  

Congratulations Love Birds!!!

Year of the Snake!

Misato's beautiful family

It was a wonderful month, as usual...

Click here to see all of our March photos.

And as always, thanks for stopping by!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

february... a blizzard of fun!

In February, we were reminded that we live in New England.  The blizzard came and covered us in almost three feet of snow.  And like good New Englanders, we hitched up our boots and got to work. 

 We sent Scout out to get food and provisions.  

And conscripted Max and Jane to shovel us out.

(they had to dive out the front door!)

After they were done, Brook went out to check their work.  Nice job kids!

After a snowy Valentine's day...

... this guy celebrated his SIXTH birthday!!!

Grams came all the way from Arizona to help Max blow out his candles!

What's a sixth birthday without sparklers to celebrate?

And for his big present, Brook and Papa accompanied Max to an 

ear-drum-bursting afternoon of Monster Truck action!!!

Brook also arranged a fabulous surprise 

(over)night on the town for my birthday...

...including Hanna and Mike (not pictured) who came down from 

New Hampshire to celebrate!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Kate was keeping herself occupied with the latest issue of Vanity Fair...

We crammed a lot in to the shortest month of the year! 

Click here to see all of our February photos.

And as always, thanks for stopping by!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

january... kicking off 2013!

January in New England can be a long month.  The days are short because it gets dark so early and the weather can be grim, but here's how we made the best of it!  

Max & Jane started ice skating...

And Max started skiing on Wednesdays...

We got outside as much as possible...

checking out frozen ponds...

 

  and taking family walks...

But the absolute best, most exciting, amazing, thrilling, 

fantastic event of all happened on January 19th...

...when Matt & Kara got engaged!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE LOVEBIRDS!

Click here to see our January photos.

And as always, thanks for stopping by!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox