happy new year!!

more fun with cousins

We left Boston Thursday and drove to Cleveland, arriving late Thursday night. We spent the day today with the DeRoches, and are sure to see them all weekend. Kestrel and Cooper have such a great time with Erica and Gillian!

museum of science

We made it back to the Museum of Science today. We spent a couple of hours exploring the exhibits, including the Butterfly Garden. Cooper's favorite things at the museum were seeing the model space shuttle, and going into the capsule. Kestrel's favorite was "the spinny thing" in the Science in The Park exhibit.

merry christmas!

We spent a nice Christmas here in Brookline. Kestrel and Cooper of course once again had a blast with their cousins. Here's who we spent Christmas with: Mom and Dad (Grammy & Papou); Charles, Heather, Adam, Halle, Heather's brother John and his son David; Stephen, Julie, Tegan, Kelsey and Kale; Nancy, Bill, Emily, Holly and Jake; and Wally. Hard to believe how grown up all of our nieces and nephews are!

puzzling with our puzzlers

We're having a fun time in Boston. Yesterday when we woke up my sister Nancy was here. The kids pulled out an old 500 piece puzzle, and we all got involved in doing the puzzle all day. Today we started on a 1000 piece puzzle.

Yesterday after doing some shopping we got to see Jane, Greg and their 1 year old Declan (so cute). Today, after lunch at the Cambridgeside Galleria, we went to the Museum of Science. Unfortunately when we arrived we discovered they were closing early for Christmas Eve, so we only got to visit the exhibits in the lobby area. Still, it was fun. From there we went to see Charlotte's Web, which the kids both really enjoyed. We'll be going out to dinner tonight at Bennigan's, the only restaurant we could find that was actually open for dinner on Christmas Eve.

long drive

Here we are in the car on the way to Boston. We left yesterday around 7pm and should arrive about 4pm today. Paul drove straight through all night, and fortunately the kids slept all night.

giving credit

Notice the new header? The photos and the entire header image were done by my friend and very talented photographer, Joanna Strauss. Also, my profile picture is from a shot that my friend Amy Drane (also great with a camera) took at a "moms night out" last spring.

So how do you like the new look? I went with a white background because I was thinking it might be a little easier on the eyes (that and I know my mom tends to print out the entire page, and I don't want her to waste all her ink). :)

happy chanukah!

Tonight is the 4th night of Chanukah. Here's Kestrel lighting the menorah. We've been having some fun family dreidel games!

first sleepover

Kestrel went to her first sleepover last night at her friend Amy's house. Their friend Caitlin also spent the night, and it was the first sleepover for all three of them (brave parents). Amy's parents had all of us over for dinner earlier in the evening with a couple of other families, and then we left and Paul took Cooper home to bed (I went out to another friend's get together).
Kestrel was soooo excited for the sleepover. Apparently the girls didn't go to sleep until about 11:30, which doesn't surprise me. She was also thrilled with the "first sleepover" present Amy's family gave her, a Burt Bees cherry lip gloss!
Here is her list, in her words, of why the sleepover was so much fun:

• playing!
• going to sleep
• we were all together
• we got to stay up until after 10:00
• watching a movie
• I ate a stack of three pancakes with syrup and a banana for breakfast

Of course when I came to pick her up, Kestrel kept asking if she could have Amy and Caitlin sleep over at our house. I told her we'd think about it after the holidays!

just because

This evening the kids were snuggling watching The Polar Express (which was on TV) before dinner. I couldn't resist. How sweet!

nutcracker

Today Kestrel and I went to see The Nutcracker performed by the Champaign-Urbana Ballet at the Krannert Center. It's becoming a yearly tradition for us as we went to this same production last year, and a local ballet school's production the year before. She loves The Nutcracker! This year Kestrel's good friend Caitlin was in the production, as one of the children that runs out from under the big dress. After the ballet, Caitlin's mom brought us back stage to the dressing room to see Caitlin.

shoe project

Paul and I went to Cooper's school Thursday morning for the "Shoe Project Culminating Event." They have been studying shoes in his preschool since the beginning of the year. The project included asking questions and giving surveys, going on field trips, talking to "experts" and making representations of the things they observed. Thursday morning they showed us a video they made of the kids talking about what they learned, and showed off the centers in their classroom, including the shoe shine station, the "is it waterproof?" table, and the shoe store with a beautiful sign that read "Number 1 Shoe Store" written by our very own Cooper. We saw the "small shoe grinder" sculpture made by Cooper and one of his classmates out of "boxes and junk."

Cooper showing us how to shine a shoe

Cooper with Allison, who was the student teacher in the classroom this semester. Thursday was Allison's last day. He kept telling her he was going to miss her.

Their next project topic will either be music or "things that fly", which happen to be two of Cooper's favorite things.

aloha, it's a birthday luau

dancing the hula..."Oh we're going, to a hukilau..."

playing pass the coconut

Kestrel vs. the pinata

Cooper vs. the pinata

volcano cake!

Kestrel's birthday party was today. She wanted a Hawaiian Luau theme. 9 girls came, and we had grass skirts, leis, and the works. It seemed like they all had a great time. Lots of screeching! They decorated flip flops, learned a hula dance, then ate hamburgers, hot dogs and fruit skewers for lunch. After lunch they danced the limbo, played musical chairs and pass the coconut, ate cake and ice cream, and finally smashed the parrot pinata.

Kestrel specifically requested a volcano cake with a sparkler on top. I was up a bit late making it, but I think it came out pretty good. Paul was a big help in leveling everything off so it would all fit together.

first snow

We woke up to snow this morning. These pictures are after Kestrel got home from school. It was a little more impressive earlier while it was still snowing. It was pretty cold, wet and miserable out there, but Kestrel was determined to play in the snow. Cooper, on the other hand, chose to stay inside (he's in the doorway). When Kestrel came in they both had some hot chocolate.