Snowman in our yard

There were a few really "big" snow days. It snowed so much that they closed school, cancelled every activity around the area, sent everybody off to the store beforehand to buy milk, bread and eggs. French toast must a favorite during snow storms :-)

We were usually not impacted by it that much - except closed schools. 

• Our driveway is not that big, so shoveling it free was good exercise. 
• We live close to the train station, so Ben could still walk to the  train and get to work. 
• Our fridge is usually pretty stocked. 
• So all we had to do was enjoy the snow and build a beautiful snowman in our front yard. He actually lasted for several weeks and the kids were really proud of him.

Finn and Lilly with our snowman in the front yard

Helping shovel the driveway

Beautiful morning sunrise from our kitchen window

Ice Skating on the pond

This year we had enough consecutive days well below freezing that ice skating was allowed on the pond down the street. The town department checked every day and then put out a sign if it is allowed to be on the pond or not.

The kids did not start ice skating yet this year, but we still had a fun time by the pond. We enjoyed walking around, watching the other kids skate and even played some ice hockey. 

The kids asked if they could skate - we will sign up next year! 

Right now we will get ready for summer and do some swimming :-)

Ice Cream in Winter

Even though Lilly was wearing hats, gloves and a snow suit for the past several months - she still had appetite for some ice cream.

Winter in Larchmont

Looking back at all these winter pictures makes me smile. The winter this year in NY was really cold and long. Everybody was complaining about it by the end - even me, the Austria Girl. But as it snowed a lot we also had some fun times. We built snowmen in our yards, went sledding at the golf course down the street and made snow angels. 

Thanks Oma for the great snow suits for Finn and Lilly. They kept them warm and dry!

In our backyard playing in the snow

At the golf course sledding 

Library Time

Our kids love books and they really enjoy going to the library. Especially if there is story time and we can meet up with friends.

On Thursday mornings they have story time for 3-5 year olds and we sometimes go there before school. We play first and read some books. Then we listen to the story time and do a craft afterwards. The only bad part is getting them to leave again :-)

Lilly with her friends giving us a puppet show at the library

Doing crafts after story time

Ski Weekend

Winter was not just bad - even though it was really cold and long. We also took advantage of all the snow we had and went skiing for a long weekend here in NY. After the kids had done ski school in Austria :-)

Ben had found a fun little motel to stay in Windham, NY - the Copper Kettle. We had a big room with 2 big beds. Breakfast was included and they had a lounge/ bar area where we could hang out. It was really nice with the kids: they had a toy box in one corner, a pool table in another corner and other kids from the motel running around. Unfortunately they did not serve dinner there - only wings and beer. We had some drinks there before and after dinner and went for some pizza nearby.

Skiing was actually really nice. We got there Friday night and went just straight to bed. On Saturday morning we had a spring like day: warm and nice weather. We skied at Hunter Mountain. The kids did great on the beginner slopes and the magic carpet. We even went on the chair lift with them. In between kids skiing and having snacks, Ben and I took turns doing some runs. The mountain is nice and great with kids.

We came back that night after dinner to see the fire and laser show and the fireworks. We stayed for a while, but the kids then got cold and we went home to bed.

On Sunday unfortunately it was really cold again and we skied some, but not as much as I had hoped. After our morning runs, we packed up and drove back home. With the kids taking naps in the car.

I thought it was a successful first ski weekend here in NY with the kids and I look forward to many more with them.

Trail map

Papa is the lift to the magic carpet

On the magic carpet

Our motel

Warming up by the fireplace in the lodge

Lots to see and do

Finn Pyjama Day at school

At the end of March, Finn had pajama day at school. They were allowed to wear their pjs to school. In the letter to the parents it had said that they were allowed to bring their favorite stuffed animals and that they would be allowed to wear slippers at school. 

Well, I think they were not prepared to see this that day. 

Finn is wearing his new dinosaur pjs from Tante Marion, his dino slippers from Oma and he brought his shark from Amy and Ampy.

Finn absolutely loved it!

Austrian Dinner

This is for my mom: 

one night when Ben did not come home for dinner, we had Austrian Dinner at night. Kaiserschmarren ind Apfelmus! Yummy!

Art Sunday

Winter in NY has been long and cold. We tried to go out every day if possible - except those days when they advised us to stay inside because of possible frost bites. Yes, it was -29C here in January and February.

So we got creative inside and the kids did lots and lots of arts projects. Here are some from a cold Sunday morning!

Black Tie Event

Here is an old one I never published:

At the end of November Ben had to attend a formal black tie event for work and I got to go with him. It was really fun! I got my hair and make up done (which I never do otherwise - I do not even own any make up) and I got a cute little black dress and went into the city to meet him. 

I felt very special and enjoyed every minute of it. I picked Ben up from work and we ended up walking to the venue (no taxis to be found at rush hour) - the French Institute in New York.

First cocktail hour with lots of champagne and yummy little hors d'oeuvres. 

Then a delicious dinner with great company and a fun auction - unfortunately not in my price category. And the best about it was all the people watching. So many characters! I had a blast and it was really fun. 

Trying to take a selfie to show my make up

Finn and Lilly approved of my outfit

Picking Ben up at work

Kekse backen - baking cookies

Baking Christmas Cookies is very big in Austria - and I love to do it. I do not enjoy cooking too much, but I really like baking. So making cookies around Christmas time is really fun for me.

Lilly of course wants to help with everything and we had several sessions where we made Lilly cookies for all of our friends.

Christmas Tree Set Up

When we came home from our Thanksgiving trip, we set up our Christmas Tree.

We have a little fake one that Ben had bought me when we had moved to Nashville and we finally had room for a Christmas Tree. It has served us well for the past years and it was fun to set it up with the kids. 

They helped a lot - distributing all the ornaments in the first bottom quarter of the tree in the front :-)

Over the weeks we moved some ornaments around and added some new ones that they had made.

Unpacking the tree

Finn and Lilly observing the nice cluster of ornaments in the front of the tree

Breakfast with Santa

Finn, Lilly and I kicked off the holiday season at the end of November with a breakfast with Santa. We are members of the kids club at the fancy mall (I am sure the Green Hills Mall has one - friends in Nashville check it out).  Ours is at the Westchester Mall and they have great offers for kids around the holidays.

We went to the FREE breakfast with Santa. We got some yummy pastries and milk/ juice for breakfast from Au Bon Pain, we did some crafts, we got give aways and great entertainment from Disney Junior Station, we wrote a letter to Santa, we got a story read by the lady from the library and we got to say hi to Santa.

Overall we had a fun morning, but the kids were not really interested in hanging out with Santa. There was way too much going on for them.

Fun hats we got and waiting for Santa

Breakfast time

The nice lady from the library brought her books and went around the tables to read to the kids

I do not like this cookie anymore!

Hi Santa - great face by my kids

Dancing with all the other kids

Cheese for the big photo session

Checking out the reindeer

Making S'mores (at Thanksgiving....)

Ben's parents have an open fireplace and we love to have fires there. We collect firewood outside, help build a nice fire and enjoy sitting around it. But the most fun for the kids is making indoor s'mores. Well, they all like at least the concept of making them - eating them is a different story ;-)

Ben giving instructions to the little ones on what to do

Demonstrating the roasting of the marshmallow

Finn gave it a try

Warming up by the fire

Thanksgiving Fun (continuing the catch up...)

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving in November - sorry no Turkey pictures. I always forget to take those as I am usually busy wrangling some kids around the table.

I like Thanksgiving. It is a nice holiday and usually the whole family gets together. We went to Ben's parents for Thanksgiving and this year was the first year his sister Becky was hosting in her new house. All of Ben's family was there and that was really nice.

We had great food.

We had great family time.

We got to see friends.

And yes, I did do all my Christmas shopping during Black Friday. I have to admit, I like it that way!

Ampy reading books to Finn and Lilly

Hanging out with our friends

4 Generation of Muldrew men (Love this picture!)