This past week has provided very little to blog about. It has been a very normal, yet busy, week for everyone.

This week in school we have been focusing on spelling. Russell had 3 spelling quizzes last week and passed all of them. Max can now spell his name (not write it). If you ask him what has name is, he will gladly tell you M-A-X spells Max! He can also point to the letters in his name when looking at the alphabet. It's a start...

R.C. has been wrapping things up for the semester. He has been stressed, and with good reason. His final critique is this coming Thursday (his birthday!!) so hopefully once that is over and done with, he can relax a bit and get some sleep.

Saturday was the only note worthy day for all of us. R.C. decided to take the day off so we could have some much needed family time...and boy did we have a good time!

We started our day with waffles and haircuts. Waffles in the morning always make for a good day, and all boys/men got a haircut. Even Russell, who has been growing his hair since the very beginning of spring, decided it was time for a cut. Saturday was also St. Nicholas day! The boys found their stockings filled with an orange, a few candy pieces, a paint by number activity sheet, and a toothbrush. After going through everything, brushing their teeth with new toothbrushes, and eating an orange, we decided to go downtown to do some "Christmas window shopping". It was a chilly day, but nothing unbearable. We started walking and decided to take a detour through some RISD buildings to see where R.C. works (works a job, not studio work). We were able to stop in and watch some students blow glass for awhile. The boys were very impressed that in the time that we stood watching, we were able to see a blob of melted glass turn into a beautiful goblet. I can't think of many places that you can just drop in and watch glass blowing...a very fun treat for all of us.

There are so many "neat" looking stores downtown that I always drive by when taking R.C. supper or doing other errands, but never have time to stop in and look around. Today was the day to go inside. As we were walking down the street, we were able to stop and see Santa, waiting to meet people as they passed. The boys were both thrilled to see him and shake his hand. Russell told him he wanted legos, any legos would do. Maxwell told him he wants Indiana Jones legos, nothing else would do. They (especially little Max) have their minds made up I guess.

We proceeded to walk to R.C.'s studio to have a look at some new things he has been working on. We took a break for awhile, warmed up and then headed back to the streets for more window shopping. While waiting to cross the street we saw some beautiful horses pulling a wagon, coming towards us. We continued to wait so they could pass by, but they stopped right in front of us. A lady on the back asked if we wanted a ride. R.C. and I looked at each other thinking, "is this really what we want to spend our money on", but the woman quickly told us that it was free! Who can pass up a free ride? We climbed on the wagon and had a great ride through downtown, with Maxwell waving at everyone we passed.

We finally decided to head back to the car to go get our "Christmas tree". We decided that instead of getting a Christmas tree this year we would get a potted Norfolk pine. We went to Home Depot and spotted our perfect tree right away. It is about 3 feet tall and looks great with lights and ornaments on it. It will, hopefully, if all goes according to plan, be our tree next year also. We have been trying to come up with a name for our new addition...

Today (Sunday) we awoke to Russell "whispering" (his whisper is what most people call shouting) that it had snowed. He kept talking and talking about throwing snowballs, building snowmen, and forts, that I just had to get out of bed to see what he was talking about. As I was getting my slippers on he kept talking about all these great things he was going to build. I was all prepared to be just as excited as he was, but then I looked out the window. We had a dusting. Just enough to make the trees and rooftops beautiful and the car a pain to brush off. But it was nice to mark "the first snow" on our calendar.