the latest wells family antics

To celebrate the 100th day of school some Northeastern Men's hockey players came to Richie's school to visit.  You can see all the pictures of it at the link below.  In the morning I told Richie to tell the hockey player that came to the class that he had his birthday party at one of the men's hockey games.  I knew he wouldn't because he looked skeptical and he would never just raise his hand and say that at school.  When he came home he told me all about meeting the players.  I asked if he told them about his birthday party and he said, "No, I didn't need to because he already knew.  They announced it on the loud speaker at the game so he had to have heard it."  How cute.  http://gonu.com/photo_gallery.aspx?gallery=89 Check out pics #2 and #7!

Always a great weekend when you mix good friends, Maine and some SNOW!  Who know I would be begging for snow.  It seems strange, but to live in New England and get no snow feels so odd.  Especially since I have a son who LOVES skiing!  Richie took a 2 hour lesson with Maddie at Shawnee Peak on Friday and then skied the afternoon with Chris.  We were so excited to see Maddie on skies and she actually didn't hate it.  It didn't hurt that the mountain was empty so the kids each had private lessons. Then all the boys got in the car early Saturday morning to head to Sunday River.  Richie loves Sunday River ski school since spending two days there last year.  He was excited to start the day on the green team which meant going on the lifts (and the Gondola) all day.  His instructor said he did great and does lots of french fries with less and less pizza (kiddie ski terms based on the direction of their skies).  Check out those french fries in the pic below!  He was so tired at the end

It is school vacation week for Rich (are the kids off more than they are in school or is it just me??) so we have tried to do some fun things since we did not go away.  You can see our project where we turned our hallway into the sea (Richie really did most of this picture!).  The weather was so nice we also got to spend a lot of time outside which is always our real favorite thing to do.  And since Richie didn't have school, but Chris and I had to work, we sent him to Angela's day care the two days I was in the office.  You can see the two of them walking hand in hand to day care together.  We also had a playdate with our old friend Jackson, swimming at Chris's gym, school friend Natalia's birthday party, and lots of time at the playground.  We are now off to ski with friends in Maine.  Not a bad February break to me!

The kids and their Dawnie!!!!

A quick video I took of Richie's basketball game.  The kids are doing SO much better than when they started the season.  They actually keep their hands out of their pockets (well most of the time) and they run back and forth following the ball.  Still funny how Rich is the smallest on the team.  And how he actually loves being out on the court, but HATES when the ball actually comes toward him.

Rich could not have been more excited for his soccer awards banquet.  He talked about it for days which got the rest of us excited as well (because it was NOT what I wanted to do on a Friday night).  We had pizza with the Hamwey's before hand and waited patiently with them for our names to be called.  Rich was so excited he got nervous.  Once it came close to his turn, he made me wait with him so he wouldn't miss it.  Needless to say he loves this trophy.  He sleeps with it EVERY night!  You can see Richie and Angela with Brigid and Vivian Hamwey in the first picture and Simon in the last.  Simon was the best kid on his soccer team so Richie's hero.  He is also in Richie's after school program now and he is a big kid (in Kindergarten!).

Another great part of Richie making new friends at the Eliot is that Angela has become friends with the little brothers and sisters.  Here is a picture of our winter Friday morning ritual.  After school drop off a few of us take the little ones for bagels (and coffee!).  This is Angela and Ciel and Coleman.  After the coffee shop we all head over to the Nazarro Community Center for some play time!  I think Angela knows about 10 kids she will go to school with!

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day which started with heart shaped pancakes that Chris made!  Since it was a school/work day the kids came home with lots of cards and treats from their friends.  Then we opened all of our presents (since when is V-Day like Christmas???) and had a fancy dinner.  We finished the night with a special pie the kids and I had made the night before.  Chocolate pudding with bananas inside and Oreo crumbs to make a heart on top.....delish!  Chris also brought home flowers, chocolates and made an amazing seafood stew to compliment dinner.  Lucky ducky! Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!  We heart you!

Our Sunday adventure was to go up to the Wenham Museum to see the Lego Exhibit.  It was a whole, huge room filled with Lego creations.  The pictures don't do it justice, but trust me it was very impressive.  Trains went all around and some had cameras on them.  We all decided our favorite corner was the amusement park all made out of Lego's.  We want to get our hand on some of those train track Lego's, but it seems they don't make them anymore.  The rest of the Wenham Museum was also really cute with lots of dolls and more trains.  A must see if you are in that neck of the woods.  We finished the afternoon with lunch at our friends the Ryan's house.  We don't get to see them all that much and they live right down the street from the Museum.  Thanks for playing Emma and Molly (you stinker!!).  Can't wait to meet their new little brother or sister.

Our Superbowl tradition is to stay in and eat nachos at the coffee table so we can watch the game.  Just not interested in doing much more on a Sunday night.  The kids of course always get into the sporting events and as you can see showed their spirit.  Richie has decided he is a Patriots fan even though he knows his Dad is a Cowboys fan.  I say Good for him!  Because the Pats were playing the Giants, I got in on a little friendly competition with him and rooted for the Giants.  Well I thought it was a friendly competition until the next morning when I told Rich the Pats lost he started uncontrollably sobbing.  He literally couldn't breathe and almost threw up!  We had to have a talk about how your team doesn't always win and it is getting to play in the big game that is important.  He has so often seen his favorite teams (Bruins, Red Sox, Celtics, etc) win that he really didn't get it I think. ....oh and maybe I shouldn't have done that little victory dance when I to