Do You Know Your Vowels?

Elizabeth does.  This is painfully long (2 minutes), so if you are not a grandparent, you'll probably want to skip it!

Old and New

Usually, we get the bulk of our house projects done over the summer but this year, we had a very productive winter.  We had our long-suffering kitchen ceiling redone, finally banishing the cracks and peeling - the guys that did the work were great and we are really pleased with the results.

One of the many cracks and peeling paint spots on the ceiling.

A work in progress.

The finished product.

We also redid the girls' room, and the transformation was dramatic.

The old blue room.

   

The end result.

We turned our hall closet from a non-functioning bureau-behind-a-door to a totally functional and much used hall closet.

I don't have a photo from when the drawers were still in the lower half of the closet, but you can kind of get the picture.  Who puts a bureau in a closet?

Lee replaced the door handles on every door in our house.  This change was prompted after Aunt Denise got locked in the guest room when she visited last October and Lee had to crawl through the upstairs window and take the door off its hinges to get it open.  Although we were sad to see our beautiful old crystal knobs go, the new knobs all work and look nice.

We also replaced the baker's rack in the kitchen (which I inherited from friends when I was in law school) with a more functional bench (that opens for shoe storage) and coat hook.

Most importantly, we replaced our front door.  Of all the changes we made, this was by far the most necessary.  The front door was original to the house (more than 60 years old) and for the last two summers, it has stuck completely, making it virtually unopenable from the inside of the house during the summer months.  For more than three years, the door handle has been broken, meaning that if one were to turn it from the inside, the door would stick and then it could only be opened from the outside.  And as if those reasons weren't important enough, the cold air virtually pours in around the door in the winter.  This was a long time coming and we are more than pleased with the change.

The old door.

We love our new door (and storm/screen door, below).

Finally, Lee built a compost bin for us.  For more than thirty years, my dad has shared his gardening secrets with me and year-round composting is one of them.  We are fanatics about composting but because we live so close to the river, we often find our yard covered with seagulls in the winter, looking for a meal.  Lee built a bin so that we could continue to compost, but keep the scraps covered up and out of reach of neighborhood animals and birds.

More Spring Vacation

Here are a few more random pictures of the girls during school vacation week:

Playing in the yard.

A tasty treat at Cold Stone.

Being silly.

Sleeping in the car (she did a lot of this, after skipping a few naps).

Getting crafty. These butterflies are now hanging from the ceiling in their bedroom.

Watching the Princess and the Frog for the first of many, many times.

ImagineNation

The last day of school of vacation, Lee and the girls came to visit me at work.  We had lunch at the company cafeteria and then went to ImagineNation, yet another children's museum.  Lee is a saint - during the course of the week, he took them to three museums, a farm and swimming at the Y - amazingly, he still has his sanity!  The girls had a good time at ImagineNation, although the adults were a bit underwhelmed, to say the least.  Here are some pictures from our afternoon.

Making huge art.

Not to be outdone by her sister....

The beginnings of Emily's really cool design.  Some very lucky aunties should be receiving these in the mail soon!

Painting with water.

Inside of a bubble.

Fishing (her favorite!).

Climbing the rock wall.

Emily was there - she was just really, really tired - too many skipped naps this week!!

Month of the Young Child

April is the Month of the Young Child (actually, isn't every month?) and as part of the celebration, Emily's preschool displayed some of its artwork at our city library.  During school vacation, Lee took the girls to check out the artwork - Emily was very proud and so are we!!

Emily with her artwork.

A close up of Emily's masterpiece.

Kenda

One of the coolest things about the EcoTarium is Kenda, the polar bear.  She is more than 25 years old and in excellent health - and according to everything that I've read, very well taken care of!  She seems quite content and even responds to her name.  We got the chance to see her play and swim the other day and we were truly fascinated by her, once again.

Playing in the water with her toys.

Stretching.

Rubbing her eyes.

Scratching her back (you can see the tufts of fur that came off).

Pausing after a nice, refreshing drink.

Going for a walk.

Heading back to her "cave" for food.

Thank You!

The 2010 Strong Kids Campaign officially ends today, although the Y will continue to take donations for the rest of the year (click here if you would like to make a donation).  Together, Lee and I raised more than $3500 and we couldn't have done it without support from YOU!!  Please know that your donations - large and small - truly make a difference and that you have touched the lives of children in our very own community.  Thank you very much.

Thank you also for your more than generous donations to Jump Rope for Heart.  This past Monday, Elizabeth learned how to jump rope in her gym class and she did a great job.  She far exceeded expectations with respect to fundraising - each child was asked to raise $100; we bumped up that number to $150 because we are over-achievers :-) and in the end, Elizabeth raised $220 for the American Heart Association.  Thank you!  Thank you!  We love that she took her commitment to jumping rope and raising money so seriously!!

More of the Same

Last week was school vacation week and Lee spent almost every day visiting a children's museum with the girls.  I took Wednesday off from work and we headed back to the EcoTarium in Worcester.  The girls really loved the place when we visited in January and it was nice to return when the weather was a bit more balmy - high 60's, as opposed to the numbingly-close-to-0-degrees.  We got to see a bunch of animals that we didn't notice the first time around and the girls enjoyed being in a familiar place.

Hawk

We spent a bit more time outside this visit.

Elizabeth loved this exhibit last time and got a kick out of it this time as well.

One of many, many turtles.

Scarlet Macaw

Bald eagles

While I really loved the opportunity to see these animals, I was also completely saddened that so many majestic creatures (birds in particular) were in captivity.  I have since learned that almost every animal at the EcoTarium was rescued - for example, neither of these eagles can fly, they were both injured in the wild.  That makes me feel a little bit better.

At the playground.

   

Birthday List

In eager anticipation of her birthday, which is THREE months away, Elizabeth made a list for us of all of the items that she wants us to get for her.

Among the many winning ideas: a mop and a broom (so that she can help out around the house), a bag of peanut M&Ms, steak for daddy to cook on the grill, a jewel for her pandora bracelet, and a real-live goldfish (as if having two dogs and a cat wasn't enough!).

One small victory:  We gave Elizabeth the choice between having a birthday party and spending a day in New York City.  Happily, she chose New York City.  Thank you Lord.