The rest of spring break

Madeline's spring break last week continued with more fun.  On Thursday, Summer and I worked in the morning and then took Madeline to Benefit Street ...

... where we got a special lunch at DenDen (Madeline used chopsticks!) ...

... before visiting the RISD museum.

We saw an Egyptian sarcophagus and mummy ...

... a giant Buddha ...

... a few Monet paintings ...

... and a highly polished copper fireplace cover, among other treasures.

After the museum visit, Oliver and Madeline colored at home ...

... where Madeline made her own masterpiece.  It's a picture of Oliver, signed by the artist!

Madeline had spent Wednesday with Holden and her family, and Holden spent Friday with us.  The girls made crafts ...

... examined rocks ...

... played outside ...

... and read books together.

It was a fun day!

Saturday morning, we ate pancakes.  Immediately after wolfing down four and a half full-sized pancakes, Oliver looked around.  "Pizza?" he said.  "Did you say, 'Pizza?'" we asked, shocked.  "Da," he responded. "Pizza -- snack, please.  Crackers?"  Oliver is voracious.  Alas for him, we had no pizza.

Saturday afternoon, we attended Lea's fourth birthday party.  Madeline was the world's daintiest and most delicate piñata whacker, a far cry from her usual force-of-nature status.

Sunday, after a morning play date with Madeline's school friend Kyle, we got out in the sun and ran around at the elementary school, occasionally kicking (or carrying) Madeline's soccer ball.

Then Sunday evening, the weather was actually decent enough that I grilled while Oliver volunteered to turn the material at the top of the composter (which is FINALLY accessible again after months buried in the snow).

Of course this morning it snowed again (but didn't stick!).

Today was Madeline's last day of spring break -- she's back to school tomorrow.  The crown she made last week with Holden (scroll up and look on the kitchen table) finally dried.

More excitingly, though, this afternoon Summer took her to see her very first movie in a real movie theater.

She saw Home and was wowed by everything.  We spent most of dinner discussing various parts of the movie ("When the Boov dances but isn't really dancing he kind of has orange stripes.") and Madeline's theater experience ("The lights went out but it wasn't too dark -- I could see Mommy the whole time!").  All in all, it worked out to be quite a spring break for the little kiddo.  Now we have to start thinking about summer -- eek.

The calendar says it's spring, but it's below freezing outside.

Oliver sleeps adorably.

Sometimes at daycare he can be a character -- for instance, by continuing to lounge on his napping setup long past the end of naptime.

One afternoon Summer picked up the kids and took them to the playground while I finished work.

The snow made this interesting.

The weekend before last, we went to the zoo.

As usual, the kids' favorite parts of the zoo are the elephants (which we barely saw this time around) and the goats (with which we spent lots of time).

Oliver may sleep adorably, but Madeline eats adorably.

One great thing about Rhode Island: zeppole for St. Joseph's Day (though we ate ours a few days early).

A week ago, Oliver turned nineteen months old!

He mused about the implications of this new milestone.

Also a week ago, it was St. Patrick's Day!  Madeline wore her finest clover clothes.

She and I also have begun the lettering on our little free library.  Not a masterpiece, but it'll do.  Madeline has contributed; she takes her painting job very seriously.

Last week, Summer made cookies and the kiddos enjoyed them.

Saturday morning it snowed -- and accumulated!  But by late Saturday afternoon, the new snow had melted.  To celebrate, we got delicious seafood at Iggy's.

Now that it's light later in the evening, we can even enjoy the beach a bit after dinner (though Oliver mostly just enjoyed his doughboy).

Madeline is on spring break this week, so I took Monday off and took her to the Museum of Science in Boston.  This was wholly her choice -- when I asked her what she'd like to do, she said, "Go to a museum and see fossils!"  So we did.

I asked Madeline to show off her teeth like this Giganotosaurus, and this was the face that resulted:

Finally, she admired the T. rex from above.

Today she was home with Summer; perhaps there will be more excitement later this week.

Bonus: snow baby!

Here's a special bonus picture of Oliver playing in the snow at school!

Wild times at Casa Allgreene!

We've been having wild times at Casa Allgreene!

Oliver has gotten into the spirit at daycare too.

We had yet another snowstorm ...

... and spent a quiet Saturday afternoon playing board games ...

... and working on our grocery list ...

... before taking a special Saturday evening trip out to see the last Brown women's basketball game of the season!

Madeline was excited.  Though she spent much of the game searching for treasure in the stands, at the end she said she wanted to learn how to play basketball like the pretty and strong girls.  And she said she wanted to have a play date with number 13.

Oliver mostly enjoyed three things: the ball itself, clapping, and the marching band.

Madeline came home a happy girl.

On Sunday, Oliver shook it off.

Then he and Madeline got all dressed up ...

... and we went to the beach!

The temperature was, after all, in the 40s, and the sun was shining.

After throwing rocks into the water ...

... Oliver wandered off into the snow toward the salt ponds.

He paused to do who knows what.

Then yesterday, both kids had their checkups.  While we waited, we read "Make Way for Ducklings."

Then we got clean bills of health for both kids.  Here are their current vital stats:

Madeline:

• 34.5 lbs
• 41.5 inches tall

Oliver:

• 28.5 lbs
• 33.25 inches tall