Currier Gallery of Art

Alix, Chance and I visited the Currier Museum of Art for the afternoon. The Currier is extremely family friendly. Upon arriving we went on a Scavenger Hunt.

I think the favorite art piece of A&C's was in the Contemporary Art section. The Family by

Marisol Escobar.

After enjoying art we went to the Family Gallery and Alix and Chance created art of their own -- painting with tissue paper squares and water.

We are eager to visit again with Paul to see the upcoming exhibit The Art of David Macaulay

Birthday Amaryllis

Paul gave me this Amaryllis for my birthday four years ago. Every year he replants the bulb, timing the flowering for my birthday. It's one of my all time favorite birthday presents.

As Smooth as an Egg?

Not in this case.

We buy our eggs from a local farm, Owen Farm. We've encountered eggs of varying sizes and different colors. But we have never seen an egg with such an unusual texture. It was rutted and lumpy.

Last Snowman of the Season?

Another 7" of snow fell last night and today. We were up and outside early taking advantage of what might be the last big snow of the year. The snow fell in large, heavy, wet flakes. Another opportunity for a snowball fight, backyard sledding and a smallish snowman.

A Game of Strategy and Imagination

A&C have found a way to combine two of their favorite activities -- Chess and Playmobil. It's the Playmobil people vs the Playmobil animals. Imagination at its best. (Notice the crown on the grey donkey.)

Communication Challenge

One of the exhibits at the Boston Museum of Science is the Messages Exhibit. The interactive exhibit examines the concept of communication and it challenges visitors to communicate with each other. One of the activities challenges two people to try to build the same pattern out of colored blocks using only verbal instructions. The two people are separated by a curtain.

Chance likes to do this activity at the museum so much that we decided we could easily do the experiment at home. All it takes is a basket of colored pattern blocks, for privacy we used the voting booth left over from the election, and two willing participants.

Paul gave the instructions and Chance hopefully creates the same pattern.

And he does.

They took turns making more and more elaborate patterns while I made dinner. Such a simple activity.

Valentine's Day

Alix and Chance celebrated Valentine's Day with pop-up cards.....




A special favorite appetizer....



and a special shaped pizza!

Doodlin'

This morning while adding and subtracting compound units in kilometers and meters, Chance had time for some doodling. I love the details of the hat and scarf.

I'm all for combining Math and Art.

A Treat for Myself

Describe What Happiness Sounds Like - Journal Entry

Describe what happiness sounds like
by Chance

1. Ha Ha Ha Ha!
2. Ya Wahoo Yaaaa!
3. birds
4. cheering
5. singing
6. friends voices
7. kids playing
8. fire crakaling
9. wind when you're whooshing down a hill in winter while sleding
10. splashing of water
11. music
12. running and you hear whooshing

Describe what happiness sounds like
by Alix

1. bird calls
2. leaves rustling
3. music
4. popping popcorn
5. frogs chirping
6. water falls
7. singing
8. laughing
9. cats mawing
10. snow falling
11. Elvis music
12. crunching snow

Describe what happiness sounds like
by Pam

1. "Honey, I'm home."
2. knitting needles clicking
3. nose-snorting laughter
4. playground swings creaking
5. waves crashing
6. ice-cream truck music
7. fathers singing lullabies
8. thunder cracking on a hot summer evening
9. Paul strumming his guitar
10. whispering "I love you" in Alix and Chance's ears after they are asleep
11. the "Happy Birthday" song
12. leaves crunching underfoot

Game Night - Keeping it real

Our family enjoys playing games and we play almost daily. That said, playing games as a family is not always fun every second of the time. There is often disagreements about who's turn it is, whether someone counted the correct number of spaces, who's not paying attention.

These pictures illustrate a recent evening of playing Rack-O.

Sometimes it's good to keep it real on blogs.

The Big 1 - O

Ten years ago this dark-haired beauty entered our lives.



Alix is:

• kind-hearted
• creative
• compassionate
• nature-loving
• artistic
• unique
• thoughtful
• full of hugs and kisses
• adventurous

This beautiful young lady bites her teeth into the ass of life.

For her birthday, Paul took the afternoon off. We took her to one of her favorite places, Moritomo Japanese Restaurant. She loves to sit at the grill. Chance got in on the act of preparing our lunch. It was by far the most laughter-filled lunch we've had. The staff surprised us with a special birthday treat.

After lunch we hit the sledding hill at White Park. Then home to watch the new American Girl movie Chrissa Stands Tall .

And for dinner, Alix made a special request of "happy cow" burgers, corn-on-the-cob, and chips.

Although our original plan of celebrating her day with her extended family had to be postponed until Grampie and Abby are feeling better I think she had a very special Birthday!

Finding the Sun

Up a Tree

Tree climbing is much easier when you get a boost from the five foot snowbanks.