Wind sculpture: Note bare spot of driveway adjacent to 4-feet-high snow drifts

Apparently, our cars have magic force fields.

Snow babies

Christmas Eve (Nochebuena) 2014

For the week of Christmas 2014, we were in Northern Virginia. My mother cooked up an amazing feast, as she does every year. Here are a few photos from Gramps (Ian). Thanks, Gramps!

A few photos from the Great Christmas Eve Feast!

Veronica Daycare Photos: Hibernation Cupcakes

(click to enlarge photos)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 2:14 PM

Hi guys,

Today we baked Hibernation cupcakes. The kids baked the cupcakes and put teddy grahams inside. When they ate their cupcakes, they found their bears hibernating inside.

Have a great weekend,
Jen

Max Daycare Photo: Winter Snow Tracks

(click to enlarge)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 11:48 AM
Subject: This week in Toddler Two...

Hello Toddler Two Families,

We have had a very busy week continuing to learn about the winter. Our friends have been learning about the snow and how we can leave foot prints in the snow when we walk. We did a fun activity making animals tracks in the snow using marbles dipped in paint. We also experimented with making footprints in the snow using our snowy play dough and pressing animal tracks into them. Our friends have also been busy exploring with artic animals and our wood blocks as well as making some snowflakes of our own. Have a wonderful weekend!

The Toddler Two Team

We Found Our Bookshelf!

We had to put in a movie for this to happen. Notice the glass of wine I was awarded after.

Max Daycare Photo: Winter Mittens

(click to enlarge)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, Jan 16, 2015 at 2:54 PM
Subject: This week in Toddler Two...

Hello Toddler Two Families,

We have been very busy continuing to learn about the winter. On Monday we participated in a fun science project that involved melting ice in warm and cold water. On Tuesday & Wednesday we used some felt to make winter mittens. The Toddler Two friends also used some glue, buttons, and construction paper to make our very own snowman. On Thursday we used some white paint and blocks to make snowflake stamps on blue pieces of paper. Come check out our new artwork to see what we have been busy creating. Have a wonderful weekend!

Maria and Melissa

November 2014 Photos

For a few random photos from November 2014, click here. There is even a video of Veronica dancing at the end of the photo album. Highlights include a human reproduction drawing by Veronica, making a Christmas noisemaker for IP, and another haircut for Max. Enjoy!

Hike in the Fells 09Nov2014

We took a fall foliage hike in the Middlesex Fells (we're lucky to have it right across the street from our house) in early November. Here are a few photos:

To see more photos, click here.

Patricia's Work Trip to Colorado 04Nov2014

Want to see some photos of what I do for work? Then click here!
I took a trip to Chicago to oversee inspection/measurement of some locomotive that we are planning on using in future train crash testing. I also had some time to do some sightseeing at the Garden of the Gods.

October 2014 Photos

A few random photos from October 2014 can be found by clicking here, including some fall foliage pics and pics of the kids being adorable. A highlight was Veronica being Star of the Week in Pre-K at school: 

And this little gem that came home with her one day:

I spoke to her teacher about her many career ambitions. It seems she wants to be all of those things (ballerina, doctor, mom) all at the same time. Her teacher said, "She can handle it!"

Patricia's Birthday 28Oct2014

On my birthday, Adrian and I dropped off the kids at daycare and took the day off! We went to Halibut Point State Park & Reservation for a little bit of hiking and sightseeing.

The scenery was gorgeous:

It was really nice to just be grown-ups and not worry about Veronica slipping and hurting herself, or Max hurtling himself into the water-filled granite quarry.

We also went to Woodman's in Essex for a lunch of fried clams (with bellies!), clam chowder, and lobster rolls!

To see more photos from our outing, click here.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2014 (Patricia's Photos)

I recently uploaded my photos from Thanksgiving. I am so much slower than Gramps in the photo-posting department!

Lola and Gramps visited for Thanksgiving. We were (and still are) in the middle of the addition being put on the house, and Lola and Gramps took it all in stride. You've seen in previous posts here, here, here, and here, the food that we enjoyed. Here is Adrian carving the turkey that he cooked in our Big Green Egg:

I curled Veronica's hair for the occasion:

Here is the family photo that made it to the back of our Christmas card:

After Thanksgiving, it snowed!

And we went to look at the big tree in downtown Boston:

Lola and Gramps went with us to pick out our Christmas tree and helped us decorate it:

Notice the Filipino parol and the train tracks around the base of the tree. I put the train tracks there because they're fun! As well as to distract Max from messing with the ornaments, and to act as an actual physical obstacle, again to keep Max from messing with the ornaments! It worked pretty well.

To see all of the photos I took from Thanksgiving Weekend, click here.

Cuddling With Ninong