Fall

Fall is in full swing and our whole family has been enjoying beautiful weather and fall activities. This past weekend we went to the Jamaica Pond Lantern Festival, in costumes of course, went apple picking, played in leaf piles, and went for a beautiful walk in the Arboretum. The foliage is spectacular. The weekend before we had a great time in Provincetown for Rich and Abby's wedding.

Iris is very excited about Halloween and is literally counting the days. She has been planning her Rapunzel costume for months now. Hazel loves wearing costumes as well. We got out the bag of toddler costumes and she spend most of the weekend as either a dragon or a frog.

I haven't posted in quite a while, so here are all the August photos, including our trip to JJ and D-Dad's house in Maine. September photos here, including our Labor Day trip to Newport. October photos here. These will be updated post-Halloween, of course. :)

Hazel is talking in full sentences these days. Typical of a two and a half year old, a fair amount of interpretation is required, as her pronunciation leaves a lot to be desired. Still, it's wonderful to see her able to express herself more. We have lots of conversations about what color things are, which buses/cars/airplanes are going by, whether or not Daddy will be coming home on the purple train, whether we brought the bike or the stroller, if it's raining, how many friends (i.e. stuffed animals) she's carrying . . . you get the idea.

Meanwhile, Iris is only three months away from turning FIVE. How did that happen??? She loves reading books - lately we've been making our way through the Greek myths, which she finds so interesting. On one car trip recently we listened to the story of Perseus and Medusa three times in a row. Learning the difference between mortals and immortals led to an interesting exchange on a different topic.

I'm currently reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (a great book that I'd recommend). Iris asked what I was reading and when I read her the title, she asked "Is Henrietta Lacks a God?" She has a great memory and we are constantly surprised by questions out of the blue about something we read or talked about many months or even years ago.

Summertime!

Lots of photos up from the summer-time! Find new photos in the May album on flickr here. June photos can be found here. A couple of July photos up here, including from July 4th in Newport. And lastly, highlights from our trip to Italy here.

It's been a fun, hot, summer so far. In early June, we hosted a joint birthday party for nieces Petra and Talia, and Hazel too. Both Jones and McKeon grandparents could come, so we had a lot of fun! Later in June we celebrated Matt's birthday with a surprise party (he claims I actually surprised him, although I suspect he's just being kind; four-year-olds are no good at keeping secrets . . .).

June also brought Matt and Gwyneth's 9 day trip to Italy. Ostensibly for our friends' wedding, we crammed in a lot of sight-seeing and eating on both ends. Itinerary included Florence, Bologna, Rimini, Ravenna, Ferrara and Venice. It was spectacular. We are eternally grateful to all of the grandparents who helped take care of the kids while we were gone. They said the girls were well-behaved; we hope they aren't just being kind!

For July 4th, we went to Newport and caught up with the Dentons. The household was full with one 1 year old, two 2 year olds, and three 4 year olds! Thanks to Peter and Audrey for hosting!

Lately, we've just been trying to survive the heat . . .

A few funny things the girls have said lately (wish I wrote more down . . .):

"Hazel, what are you doing ON EARTH?"

Required context for this one is that 1) we read an adapted version on The Odyssey with Iris a couple of months ago, and 2) Hazel refers to animals by their sound, as in "a baaa" instead of "a sheep."

Iris: Hazel - what do you pick: monster or whirlpool? Monster or whirlpool?
Hazel: A roar.

A couple of sneak peaks:

May

Finally have some new photos up from the past two months. See April photos here and May photos here.

We've had a fun spring so far. In Amherst we all went out to Western Mass for a weekend. The girls stayed with Grandma Kathryn and Bill while Gwyneth and Matt got a date-night in Amherst. We made the most of it by eating or drinking at all of our favorite places.

In May, we visited David and Phyllis Eckelman in Virginia, where we celebrated Hazel's second birthday! Hard to believe it, but our baby is not so little anymore.

So, what's new?
- Hazel has quite a few words - she's learned her colors and modes of transportation. Her 'thank you' is adorable: "ank-u." Her most common multi-word phrase is "I don't want it." So, you know, good times. She's definitely a two-year-old: she changes her mind to our frustration constantly. She throws tantrums when she can't have what she wants, and she bickers with her sister over toys. She's also a great sleeper and a decent eater, super sweet and very goofy. She now sits on the potty regularly at daycare, and even goes sometimes!

- Iris is doing great as well. She's really into letters these days - can write most of them by herself and enjoys doing just that. I wish I could remember the things that come out of her mouth long enough to write them down - four year olds have no tact, and we crack up all the time over the conversations we have with her. 

A couple of photos (see the links above for more on flickr):

April Fools!

The only joke here is that it's been so long since the last blog post! Hard to believe it's already April!

I've finally uploaded some photos from the last three months on flickr. Photos from January, February, and March here.

We are all doing well. Iris turned four on January 9th. She is loving her pre-school and will stay there for another year. We entered the Boston Public School lottery for a K1 slot (pre-school), but didn't get anything. She is guaranteed a slot for Kindergarten, so we'll have another go next year. Her current program is fabulous, so we're not too disappointed. Meanwhile, Iris is a vibrant and social four-year-old. She loves all kinds of pretend play - dressing up, playing 'Mommy and Kid', playing Rapunzel, asking Mommy and Daddy to constantly make up new and scary stories. Her vocabulary expands at a remarkable rate. They've been learning about and exploring all sorts of music at her pre-school lately, and she casually dropped "pizzicato" this morning, while pretending to play the violin.

Hazel meanwhile is doing great at her daycare. She just graduated from the Butterfly room (little toddlers) to the Cubs room (bigger toddlers). Hard to believe she will turn two on May 13th. She's as wily and goofy as her sister, if not more so. She loves playing with trains and pointing out buses when we walk around town. Her words are coming along as well - a favorite is still "MINE." Hazel is well into the two's already. Sigh . . .

Matt is in the middle of his semester, teaching a course of Life-Cycle Assessment. He's been extremely busy over the last few months, working hard to get grant proposals in. Those done, life is a little calmer. Gwyneth, meanwhile, continues to work part-time for Harvard. In addition, she starts a new part-time job at Brigham and Women's Hospital in a few weeks.

We're all looking forward to being outside, getting back on our bikes, and enjoying the spring. It was a long winter with a lot of snow! Hope you are all enjoying the change of seasons as well!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone! The blog has been a little slow lately . . . so there's lots to catch up on from 2012!

November was a bit rough for our family, as everyone got sick. Between the four of us, we had three cases of pneumonia, two ear infections, and one case of bronchitis. With the help of rest and anti-biotics, we all recovered. Thanksgiving break was, however, not as fun as usual. We did manage to get ourselves to Bill and Kathryn's in Cummington for Thanksgiving day itself, where we tried not to cough on everyone too much.

Earlier in November, we took a trip to visit the Joneses in Maine. That was fun, although, in retrospect, we already had pneumonia, just hadn't diagnosed it yet. In any event, photos from November are here.

Illness behind us, we had a lot of fun in December. JJ and D-Dad brought us a lovely Christmas tree from the farm, and Iris especially had a lot of fun hanging the ornaments. Hazel was convinced, begrudgingly, not to take the ornaments OFF the tree.


I helped Iris compose her first ever letter to Santa, and the result just shows how I can never predict what she's going to say! "I love you, Santa. I want my own couch in my own room. And can I please have my own trash can. My own cough drops. Can I please have my own duckie humidifier, because my other one is broken. My own Christmas tree. My own skirt. A jingle skirt, like Petra's. My own yoga mat. New games for 'my own' iPad. (quotes mine - hah!), my own iPad. More post-it notes. And something for Hazel: her own yo-yo and her own heart post-it notes." Santa came through on the jingle skirt and the trash can. :)

JJ and D-Dad later came to stay with us over Christmas break. We had a lovely time making a gingerbread house and tower:


We went to the Brouhard-Eckelmans for Christmas eve, where Iris enjoyed cookie decorating:


Christmas itself was lots of fun, split between Roslindale and Braintree. Fun was had by all and the girls loved opening presents and playing with new toys and games. We were happy to spend lots of time with family and not travel.

After Christmas, we finally got snow and took the girls sledding. It was Iris's first time since she was one. Last year, there was no snow. The year before, there was two feet of snow, she was two years old and terrified of it. It was Hazel's first time.




For New Years, we got to spend time with the Ippolitos, and then catch up with the McJoneses (Alison, Matt, Petra and Talia) on New Years day.

Photos from December are here. Photos so far from January are here.

Wishing everyone a happy and safe 2013!