God Loves Beetles

Today was a big outing.  We got in the car, drove to Alewife, and took the train to Harvard.  

When we got to Harvard we walked across the yard to the Harvard Museum of Natural History.  It is a great place.  It never feels crowded, and it is just the right size to explore.  It has a bit of a musty feel too, and I think one reasn it feels so different from other museums is that it is crammed full of stuff.  In one display case in a room full of display cases, you'll see stuffed specimens of two adult tigers, a snow leopard, a jaguar, and a few other large cats.  There is more to look at than you can possibly digest.  There are a few rooms full of fossils, including Lee's favorite, a 42-foot long Kronosaurus (she wanted to bring it home with us, and I had to tell her we didn't have a room big enough to hold it).   The large room at the back has three whale skeletons hanging from the ceiling.  There are display cases full of hundreds of types of beetles (The biologist J. S. B. Haldane liked to say that if biology had taught him anything about the nature of the Creator, it was that he had “an inordinate fondness for beetles.”), and one containing more hummingbirds than you knew existed.   

Obviously these are all from a previous era, when biologists felt no compunction about killing whatever animal they were studying just to have it in their collection.  Times have changed, but now that Harvard owns all this stuff, I guess they might as well display it.  But you can't help feeling a bit bad about the fate of the marvelous Bengal tiger or the colorful quetzal.  

I think, however, that the train was still the highlight of the day.  On the way home, the conductor tooted the horn for the girls.  What a thrill.   

Driveway Skating

We got a big storm yesterday.  It's been really cold, and the storm started out with six inches of fluffy light snow.  It was lovely.  But the forecasters kept talking about the jet sream moving north, and so I made sure I got all the snow off the driveway before the weather warmed up and the snow turned to mush.  

But we still got about an inch of sleet on the driveway followed by a few hours of rain, and then it turned cold again last night.  Brrr.....

This was the result this morning:

The mailman didn't even deliver the mail today.

But it made for great skating.  Lee and I went out with our skates and spent nearly two hours out there.  I put together a few clips of her skating.  What's amazing is how much she progressed in just this one afternoon.  You can see the improvement from the beginning to the end.

Monkey Bars

Over the holidays, Bridges installed monkey bars in our basement.  The kids really enjoy them, and Lee is getting strong on them.  Here's a clip of her using them.

In the middle there Lee mentions her "highway ticket" - one of those phrases she throws around that makes us wonder a bit.  

Sticker People

Lee found these stickers, which she put on paper and then drew in the faces.  They're actually a bit freaky with the electric shock hair, but I like them.  

The Valentine Jack-O-Lantern

Sometimes the holidays get mixed up.  

A Day at the Beach

It was about 10 degrees the other morning, but Bridges happened to be getting some ice out of the freezer and I noticed some popsicles from last summer, so I thought it was a good day for a beach party.   

We got out the beach blanket, chairs, towels and toys, swimsuits and hats, and our entire collection of sea shells from Florida.  With the sun streaming in the playroom windows, we were warm enough just in our bathing suits.  

The girls had a lot of fun, and I had a good laugh early on when Lee looked at me and said, "Look, mommy, we have the beach all to ourselves!"  

What's in that Pillowcase?

Oh, it's Lee.

gDiapers as a Fashion Statement

Just Add Water

A few days ago Lee asked if she could give her animals a bath.  This is the collection of plastic animals that we inherited in bits and pieces (we must have a few hundred of them) that she and Clara have played with for hours on end.  

So I got out a bucket of water, and before I knew it, a subset of the animals were lined up waiting for a turn in the pool.

It always amazes me how you can take something, just add water, and it becomes an entirely new activity.  They played with animals, Polly Pockets, and containers of water for most of the next few days, until I finally put everything away.  

Madeleine

When I was a little girl, we had an audiotape that my father had made of my sister Deb reciting Madeleine from memory.  It was very funny, because Deb was pretty hard to understand when she first learned to talk.  She also broke up the strict rhyming in the book by changing

In the middle of the night, 

Miss Clavel turned on the light, and said 

'Something is not right!'

to 

In the middle of the night, 

Miss Clavel turned on the light, and said

'Something is wrong!'

which I thought was hilarious.  

So when I found Lee "reading" Madeleine to Clara the other day, I pulled out the camera.  

By way of explanation, Lee is pointing out that the illustrations are less than accurate.  When the text says they broke their bread, they are not eating, and when it says they brushed their teeth, they are not brushing their teeth, and when it says they went to bed, they're in bed, but they're not actually sleeping.

Just to be clear.  

Very Flashdance

Clara's developed this new fashion habit:

We have no idea where she got this, but when she feels that her left arm must be free, she's pretty insistent. 

Santa's Village

Here is the gingerbread village we made this year.  

Lee decorated Santa's Workshop (the big building) all by herself (well maybe with a bit of Daddy's help).   The small building is Santa's house, and there's also the train and train station. 

Here are a few details that came out well.  The wreaths I piped on parchment, let them dry, and then stuck them on with icing:

 The log pile made out of Pirouettes:

The Christmas trees made out of sugar cones:

Bridges' engine which came out pretty well despite his fears:

We'll definitely do another one next year.   We had lots of fun, especially with the decorating.   Lee should be able to help with the design more next year, and Clara more with the decorating.  

Right after New Year's Day we dug in.  Even stale it's pretty tasty.  

Some Artwork

Here's the first artwork by Clara that I've really liked.  It's bold and colorful and gives a pretty good sense of her ability to focus on something.

Here are some recent pictures drawn on little scraps of paper by Lee.  She's been drawing a lot of bumblebees lately.  Perhaps because "bee" rhymes with Lee.  I like these because they are so happy and cheerful.  

This last one is the inside of the card she made for me for Christmas.  There's a Christmas tree on the left, and a bumblebee on the right.  

Portrait by Jak

Here's a portrait of Lee Catherine drawn by her cousin Jack, age 12 (or Jak as he's signed it here).  He draws amazingly well.

Christmas and the New Year

We had a great time over the holidays.  Christmas was a bit crazy, with lots of family around and big meals to prepare.  

Lee and Clara were both sheep in the Christmas pageant this year.  Bridges was an angel and I was a shepherd (a last minute switch between us since I was more willing to take the risk of shepherding an un-shepherdable Clara).  Clara, however, did great, only losing it during the final walk down the aisle, attempting to take off her sheep costume in the process.   Lee took her role as a sheep very seriously.  All in all it was a lot of fun.  My family attended that night and came back afterward for Christmas Eve dinner.  

My parents spent the night and were here with us for Christmas morning, and after breakfast they left and went to Linda's house while we got dinner ready.  Bridges' family joined us around noon for a gift exchange, and then everyone (all 14 of us) gathered together for Christmas dinner  (our crown roast of pork below).

It was a long few days, and I think next year we may try to do something a little more low-key because there was a lot of coming and going.  

Here are the girls in their coordinating Christmas dresses.  Try as I might I could not get a decent picture of the two of them together.  

Here they are playing with the dollhouse we gave them.

We were supposed to leave the next day for a weekend at Sugarloaf, but warm and rainy weather combined with colds we just couldn't shake convinced us to stay put.  We ended up being home for over a week, catching up on projects, taking the kids swimming, working out, and just feeling like we had all the time in the world.  

We had a few friends in for an early New Year's Eve (we counted down around 7 pm, and everyone was gone by 8:30) .  

Then we went and spent some time with Bridges' parents.  It was a nice visit, and they were kind enough to keep the girls for a day while I came home and had some time to myself and Bridges went skinning up and telemarking down Mt. Washington.   

All in all, it was a wonderful holiday season filled with good food and drink, lots of family, and wonderful peace and relaxation.