the latest wells family antics

We are seriously going to need a bigger house for my kids trophies!  And now Angela plays all of these sports too so we  have quite the collection.

Well Rich is officially winning in our family bracket pool and I think I may have snapped a shot of how/why (yes he is on the toilet studying!!).

We had a horrible tragedy in Boston this week (two firemen were killed) and unfortunately one of our friends who is a firefighter was hurt in the fire as well.  His physical his wounds will heal, but mentally will be a different story.  After this tragedy both of the kids classes went down to a local firehouse to say thank you and bring them treats.  Rich's class (I didn't get to go) went to the fire station around the corner from school where a Dad from Angela's class works.  Angela's class went further down the street to the station that our friend who was hurt worked at (he is also a Dad in Rich's class).  With only 24 hours notice, we made tons of treats and had a huge group of people to walk the kids.  The kids made signs and gave high fives and lots of thank yous to the firemen.  I think you can tell from their faces that they were appreciative. It was pretty awesome and a great way to make everyone feel better after the events of the week. (A...

Another great hockey season and boy did these kids get good.  Every Saturday for 2 hours is a lot (plus my kids did ice skating lessons on Wednesdays!)!  Richard loves it and actually tried out for the Charlestown Mites team for next year in case the North End doesn't get a whole team.  The kids had pizza and cupcakes and then got trophies and sweatshirts with their name and number on the sleeve.  A bunch of the coaches don't have kids on the team, they just want to volunteer and get on the ice again.  Pretty amazing!

Can't say no to free tickets to the circus set up down the street.  We love the intimate Big Apple Circus (actually Rich cried when he saw our seats were "too" close for him - it was the 8th row!!) My kids love the circus, but are not keen on clowns.  Actually they are down right afraid of clowns and I can't blame them.

It is March Madness time and my family is hooked.  Chris brought home a bracket for everyone to fill out for some friendly competition.  That has already turned to taunting and heckling.  If my 7 year old tells me one more time, "Mom, I just can't believe you have Virginia going all the way!" he isn't going to make it to 8! The winnder gets to go to the restaurant of their choice and the losers have to pay.  Rich is already naming the restaurants he wants to go to.

Our last whole family ski trip of the year was to Killington with our community center.  It was a great trip and the kids had so much fun with some of their neighborhood friends.  You can see what a huge group we were at the bottom.  We had almost the whole hotel so we could just let the kids run around with their friends.  They had a pool table and an outdoor pool that we enjoyed for hours.  On the mountain the kids did amazing.  You can see Angela next to her black diamond sign.  Rich and Chris did quite a few black diamonds before the weekend was over.  Rich has really improved this ski season (you can see a picture of a speck of him up this really hard trail in one of the pictures).  The ski/hiking pictures are of an "adventure" we had to take....they closed one of the lifts to get back to the main lodge.  So instead of getting stuck at that peak, we decided to follow this family who seemed to know how to get to ...

Richard's class just finished a chapter on writing How to books and are moving on to persuasive writing.  His teacher sent home all of the books they wrote.  In typical Richard fashion they are mostly about sports with a few other topics that I would bet the teacher "made" them write about.  But this one is my favorite!  I guess Ms. Santos told them to write about how to make your favorite food.  Here is one page of the book, How To Make Soshi (Sushi).  It is my favorite page because he knows it has seaweed and isn't afraid!

I got them out of bed, but then they went straight to the couch.  It is nice to have it lighter later, but it is hard on little ones (and big ones really!).  Not a fun morning getting to school.

This is what Rich looked like heading out to his last day of hockey.  We have certainly lived in the North End too long!  He looks like the men who hang out and talk all day on the street corners.  Maybe he will have one of the corners named after him when he is older.

We were lucky to have cousin Sean visit for a few days.  AND cousin Bradley came up to see him too.  Special day (teaching the young one about iPads and songs with inappropriate lyrics).  Bradley already LOVES his electronics and would get a hysterical smirk on his face when he thought he could get his hands on one.

Sunny skies, no coats and a smiling dog....is that spring I smell???

Happy 7th birthday to my special godson and nephew Jacob! Glad we could make it to NY (even if it was for only 24 hours) to celebrate with you.  Cousins are the best!

Happy 9th Birthday to my first little needy one!  We love you even though you are now super lazy!