March Madness

Somehow, another month slipped by without a blog update. Needless to say, this month has been wall-to-wall madness for us. Ariella was swamped with work. Andy was slammed with a new business pitch. And everyone got sidelined with a late-season cold at one point or another.

But with all that madness, the most unbelievable thing to happen this month was the explosion in Gwen's vocabulary. At the beginning of the month, she was saying a decent amount of words. But by the end of the month, not only did she have a ton more words, but she was also stringing them together in 2- and 3-word sentences. Her favorite new word seems to be "Morgan" (which she pronounces "Mawkin").

Here's a recap of our March:

Spring is springing

Our flowers bloomed early this year thanks to the ultra-mild winter. (A week of weather in the 70's and 80's didn't hurt either.) Early in the month, Ariella, Lindsay and the girls bought and planted all the seed for our garden. The tomato plants had to grow inside for a while. But the green beans and broccoli could go straight to the garden.

With the weather finally warming up, the girls wanted to play outside. Morgan and Ariella cracked open a fresh box of sidewalk chalk. Later, Morgan and Gwen practiced riding their bikes in the driveway. "Bikes, Daddy?" Gwen asked.

Kiss me, I'm (partly) Irish...

The girls donned their green outfits for their St. Patty's Day party at school. After much deliberation, we're not exactly sure how Irish the girls are, though. Andy and Ariella are both at least a quarter Irish. So I guess that means the girls are at least a quarter Irish, too. Right?

Going to the Park

We've been taking the kid(s) to the park in nearby Collingswood since Morgan was little (compare the photo above to this one). Now that Gwen is big enough to run, climb and swing, it's even more fun to take the girls out for a good time.

You've Got a Friend in Schenectady, Part 1

Months ago, Ariella and her friends Susan and Heather planned to get all three of our families together for the first time since before Gwen and Susan's little boy, Ryan, were born (so, basically, it's been two years). So on Friday afternoon, we headed up the NY State Thruway for a weekend with the gang. But, as fate would have it, Heather's little girl (Jaimie) came down with a case of pink eye on Friday. So three families ended up being just two. But that was still more than enough people to have a fun weekend, with Ryan (2-ish) and Ava (5) as playtime hosts.

Gwen discovered Ava's jewelry game and got herself all glammed-up.

Later Saturday afternoon, Ava and Morgan headed to a nearby park while the little ones (and Andy) napped.

After the park, Ava and Morgan dyed Easter eggs.

On Sunday morning, they entertained everyone with a puppet show.

You've Got a Friend in Schenectady, Part 2

Conveniently, our pre-arranged trip to Schenectady coincided with the 4th birthday party for Morgan's other Schenectady friend, a certain Mr. Cooper J. Bonsteel. It seems like only yesterday that we were introducing Morgan and Cooper for the very first time. Now they're both turning four, going to pre-school, and able to climb through the massive Jungle Jim where Cooper had his birthday party.

Morgan has been begging for a bouncy castle lately, so she was thrilled to see one at the party. Gwen wasn't afraid to get in on the action with the big kids, either.

Morgan absolutely beamed when she saw that she could have her picture taken with Rapunzel at the party. (She's been watching "Tangled" for weeks and knows most of the movie by heart already.)

Febru-WHERE???-y

Sure, February is the shortest month of the year. But even with the extra "leap" day this year, we're not sure how it flew by without out us posting a single story on web site.

So, let's catch up...

Superbowl XLVI

February 5 was Superbowl Sunday. And it was also a retirement party for the girls' Patriots cheerleader outfit. Morgan wore it for 2 seasons, before it moved into Gwen's closet this season. She'll be way too big by the time football season rolls around again this fall. Heading into the big game, the cheerleader outfit boasted a fantastic regular season record, but only a 2-2 record in the playoffs. Sadly, it couldn't close out its career with a win.

Arts & Crafts

Whether it's drawing on the iPad or doing it the old fashioned way, Morgan has been cranking out some very creative artwork lately. Here are a few of her latest creations:

The picture above is affectionately called "Victorian Home in Marker, Post-Its and Play-Doh". Morgan likes to mix her media together. She's a true artistic trailblazer.

Speaking of mixed media, this is a tracing of Morgan's arm with a real "Dora" Band-Aid on it.

This is a portrait of Andy. (Don't say it... I know she nailed it.)

Morgan colored this picture at school (above left). Then the teacher asked her to predict what was going to happen next. Check out her answers (above right).

Valentines Day

This year, Morgan and Gwen made gift bags to show all their friends at school how much they care. Boys in Morgan's class got "Cars" pretzels, M&M's and a bouncy ball. Girls got princess pretzels, M&M's and heart necklaces. Gwen's class got pretzels and stickers.

On the morning of February 14th, Mom and Dad showed the girls how much we care. Gwen got Sesame Street figurines. Morgan got a Lite Brite. And they shared a new set of markers.

Fun & Games

Despite the mild temperatures this winter, it still wasn't nearly warm enough to play outside. So the girls spent a lot of time finding new ways to have fun inside.

When we bought a new storage system for their toys, they decided it would be a good place to hide.

Gwen discovered how much fun it is to eat corn on the cob. She picks it clean every time.

One weekend, Cabin fever finally got the best of us. So we brought out the girls' water table for some indoor water fun.

One Saturday afternoon, we spotted six wild turkeys wandering around our front yard. Hopefully this is a sign that Spring is coming soon. (Or maybe it's Thanksgiving already.)

Getting the Band Back Together

On President's Day weekend, we travelled up to Fishkill, NY to see the Chiaverinis (Lance, Lina and Lucas) and Bonsteels (Jeff, Nicole, Cooper and Cate). The kids had an impromptu jam session -- with Morgan on keyboard, Cooper on bongos, and Lucas on a bag of Valentines Day pretzels.

Then, as is tradition whenever we visit the Chiaverinis, the kids raced around the house. This is the first time the little ones were big enough to join in the fun.

Fun While It Lasted

Somehow, we managed to make it all the way to the end of February without either of the kids getting sick. Well, our luck finally ran out when Gwen caught the Coxsackie virus (also known as Hand, Foot & Mouth disease). Not surprisingly, she broke out in a rash all over her hands, feet and mouth (plus a couple other places we won't talk about). Thankfully, it all cleared up after a week or so. More than half of the kids in Gwen's class got it, too.

Seeing Stars

Sometimes, the universe has great timing. This month, Morgan learned all about the solar system at school. At the end of February, Jupiter and Venus were clearly visible in the night sky. Morgan was very excited to see the planets, even if they didn't look nearly as cool as they looked at school. (That's Jupiter in the middle of the photo above, and Venus at the bottom.)