February, birthday season

Madeline's birthday arrived!  Her party was at 10 AM in southern Rhode Island, so we just had time for a few gifts in the morning: like Oliver's -- an octopus puppet!

Then we headed down to Pow! Science.

They explored mixing colored solutions to make new colors ...

... and Madeline got to do a special chemistry project in front of her friends.

Then came pizza, and then cake!

Back at home after the party, Madeline opened some more gifts.

We also worked on a project: a dinosaur excavation kit that Aunt Sarah had given Madeline for Christmas.

We chipped and scraped and brushed and -- ta da! -- unearthed some bones that, when assembled, proved to belong to a stegosaur.

We also snagged some chair pictures.  Madeline has come a long way.

And so, for that matter, has Oliver.

This particular stretch of February was cold -- it was -5 out the morning of Madeline's party! -- so we spent lots of time inside.  Dressing up was a popular activity:

Friday was my birthday, so we went out for Mexican food.  Madeline told our hostess that it was my birthday, so a special dessert and singing ensued.

And at home, I opened my gifts (including the fuzzy green blanket you see in the picture), and the kids wished me a very happy birthday.

Next, it was weekend.  Oliver decided to look very grown up now that he's two and a half.

And we went for a little hike down at Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge.

A far cry from the previous weekend, it was warm enough that Oliver and I didn't even wear jackets.

Madeline made some very interesting discoveries -- here, she's holding up a shiny nugget of what appears to be the droppings of some animal that ate a bunch of hay from the surrounding salt marsh.

In any event, it's pretty down there.

The rest of the weekend was devoted to Madeline's social calendar -- a play date and a birthday party.  So Oliver and I got to hang out.  We did fun stuff like taking a wagon ride to the library ...

... and going to the grocery store.

February, pre-birthday

The kiddos kicked off February with some new shoes.

They were excited!

Then they got sick.

We were stuck in the house as the kids' fevers came and went ...

... because snow finally came!

But the snow didn't hold us up for too long.

We got all dressed up ...

... and went to the beach ...

... which was both pretty and popular in the snow.

The weekend we were snowed in with sick kiddos, we also did some rearranging: Oliver's crib became a bed, the kids' bedroom was overhauled, and their little table was extracted from underneath mounds of kid stuff and moved to the kitchen.  There, it was put to good use:

Sometimes, the kids even like to have their own meals at their special table.

Soon it was the weekend of Madeline's birthday.  We asked the kids what they'd like to do, and their response was unequivocal: "Dinosaur museum!"

So that's what we did.

The Museum of Science has more than just dinosaurs: like explorations of light and color ...

... and a chick incubator.

At the end of the day, on the way out, the icy Charles River and Boston skyline looked pretty in the dwindling light.

January, part 3: is it winter, or not?

After Grandma and Grandpa left, winter actually arrived.  We did lots of playing inside ...

... but also ventured out into the snow.

Sledding was fun -- for Madeline, at least.  Oliver's gloves got wet, then he cast them off, and not long after that he was very ready to head home.  Madeline hung on for several more trips down the hill.

And, when it's wintry out, what could be better than a trip to the cozy confines of the neighborhood library?

Something about the weather compelled us to eat fresh pineapple; Oliver's implement of choice was an ice cream scoop.

On Saturday, Madeline and I met up with two of her classmates for daddy-daughter bowling.

Madeline lasted about four frames of enthusiastic bowling, then started dropping balls that didn't even make it down to the pins.  But she still ended up with the top kid score!  And she was much very excited about the ice cream we went out for afterward.

By Sunday, winter had fled.  The previous week's snow had melted, so we went (as we so often do) to the beach.  The kiddos were thrilled to throw rocks into the water.

Oliver convinced us all to take our shoes off.  We even got our feet wet!

Ah, the good life.

January, part 2: second Christmas

As January continued, the kiddos got new coats from Grandma Mandy.

Oliver's is a little big, but the way he's going, he'll grow into it very soon.

Over the long weekend in mid-January, Grandma Susy and Grandpa John came to visit!  They played train with Oliver ...

... and found My Little Ponies with Madeline.

We exchanged gifts.  Oliver loved his ukulele -- "my guitar!!!" as he calls it.

Madeline was especially into little robotic bugs.

We ventured down to Sachuest Point for our weekend dose of coast.

And then it was back home for band practice, complete with costumes and interpretive dance.

All that dancing gets Oliver heated up -- this is how he cools down.

The kiddos got in some more cuddles ...

... but on Tuesday morning, Grandma and Grandpa had to head back down to Delaware.