I Blame April Vacation

The kids are getting easier and easier, without a doubt.  That being said, a week of vacation with no particular plans can get a bit long.  So we were willing to try about anything.

The girls and I had a copy of Jack and the Beanstalk from the library.  Chandler in particular asked for it repeatedly.  Mr. Internet suggested a Jack and the Beanstalk activity:  building castles in the clouds, or stacking blocks in shaving cream.  Thank you, Mr. Internet.

I'm getting smarter:  I just stripped Chandler at the beginning of the activity.  She spent about ten seconds working with the blocks and about ten minutes smearing the shaving cream on herself.

Frances managed a quite decent castle...

...complete with dinosaur.

Chandler managed a complete mess.  I wish I could post some after photos of my kitchen, but they all include a very naked Chandler skating on a slick of shaving cream.  Ooooh, she was very pleased with herself, as was Frances.  My kitchen may have stunk of shaving cream for days, but they were very pleased with themselves.  I may not repeat this activity anytime soon, but I can't regret it either.

Bink & Gollie! Bink & Gollie!

A little miracle happened in our house this spring.  Frances's school had a Character Day when all the kids got to dress up as a character from a book or movie.  Here's the miracle part:  Frances didn't want to be Elsa!  She never even brought it up.  She wanted to be Gollie, from the wonderful Bink & Gollie books, by Kate DiCamillo.  I was so very proud, and pleased as punch because the costume took about five minutes to put together.  (Thank goodness she didn't want to be Anne Shirley.)  What Frances wears here is pretty much what Gollie wears, too:

Chandler's resemblance to Bink was just an added bonus.  Frances even proudly took one of the books to school, so she could explain who she was.  

Gollie is the less goofy of the two characters, but she's smart, imaginative and fiercely loyal.  

Frances, dear, you make one fine Gollie, and that's saying something.

Let's Make Gak!!

 It sounds like a bad thing, but really it's not.  Mostly chia seeds and cornstarch, and some food coloring for a little pizzazz.

Chandler was none too sure about the cornstarch and chia seeds.

But Frances never shies away from food dye.  I thought less was more, when it came to shirts.

It was a semi-success.  It was supposed to ooze, but was more like stiff playdough.  Too much cornstarch.  Chandler soon grew bored with it.  I'm going to give it another try since I've got a lot of chia seeds left over with much less cornstarch and see if it piques her interest.  Fingers crossed.

Oh, [Expletive Deleted]!

Damn it to hell, I have a three year old.

The first month of this three year old being three was Not Fun.  There was much raging against the machine (that'd be me).  Her principal form of protesting was the sit-in, or lie-in, whichever struck her rapidly changing fancy.

So, here we are sitting in protest on Frances's school playground.

And here we are lying in protest outside Frances's ballet class.

And here we are sitting in protest outside my gym, which I must visit frequently lest I lose my mind.

And finally, here we are lying on the floor inside Frances's school.

Hmmm, perhaps what she is actually protesting is the dearth of Chandler-centered programming.  Worth a think.

She has bounced back quite nicely.  No more lying down on the job.  Her newest form of protest is sticking out her tongue.  It's super cute, especially because it is almost always directed at Frances, not me.  I can ignore it forever.  Frances does not take it in stride, but eventually this phase too will pass.

Such a Weird Winter

Still catching up, but getting closer to normal.

This winter was very mild, disturbingly mild.  The kind of mild that makes trips to the Arboretum to play in the stream in mid-February a completely sane idea.

Here's Frances marching us down to the river and...

...Chandler heading on in.

Eventually, they were enough soaked that it was time to retreat to home.  Happiness is fresh, dry clothes.

Yet More Catching Up

Three-day weekends always catch Mark and me by surprise.

"Did you know there's a three-day weekend coming up?"  says one of us.

"No," says the other, over and over.

This February was no different.  We managed to pull ourselves together for an almost impromptu weekend in central Massachusetts.  Very pleasant despite breathtakingly cold weather.  Astoundingly cold weather.

First we visited the Eric Carle Museum, in Amherst, MA.

It wasn't as large as I imagined it, but it had a great library, bookstore and art room, all dedicated to the love of the picture book.

I'd really like to visit again while Frances is still interested in picture books (the days are numbered).

We finished up the night with a tour of Amherst and then bunkered down in the hotel.

See these angelic pink cheeks?

This is what happens to Chandler when she's exposed to the extreme cold.  And I forget every year.  I should just leave a tub of Hydrolatum with our cold weather gear.

Also, she may look angelic, but she's not.  The child is no fun in a hotel room.  A big hotel bed is way too fun to jump on, and those silly hotel people give you two big hotel beds to jump on!  I think Mark eventually had to pin her down to convince her to sleep.

The next day, the kids spent the morning swimming in the hotel pool (Frances swimming without flotation aid!) and then we found our way to the Montague Bookmill.  I'd seen the Montague Bookmill bumper sticker ("Books you don't need in a place you can't find") several times in Jamaica Plain and been intrigued.  I'm so glad we bothered to find it; this place is a gem - restaurant, bookstore, art gallery and comic book store all in one (that's not quite right, but close).

Frances came away with The Monster Who Grew Small (yay!) and Chandler found a Waldo book with lots of monsters (boo!).

One last foray outside the bookstore to take pictures of the frozen river...

...and then we rushed home.  We'd planned to visit the Massachusetts contemporary art museum, but after a night in a hotel room with Chandler, we were exhausted.  Another three-day weekend, another trip.

So Out of Order, Again

And really not of interest to anyone but Mark and me, but this is Chandler's first representational drawing, from when she was a couple months shy of three.  

I believe she said it was a drawing of me, but I couldn't swear to it.  Since there's no one here but us chickens, we'll say the picture is of me, her beloved mother.

So Out of Order

I try really hard to keep these posts in chronological order, but, what can I say?  Things happen (like new computer systems that confuse me).  So these pictures are actually from Thanksgiving, 2015.  Mimi and Sir visited us for the holiday and Sir, of course, wanted to visit the Museum of Fine Arts.  Frances was in school, Mark was working (thank you, Mark), but Chandler and I were game.  Well, a little game.  We tagged along for the museum visit, but while Mimi and Sir went to look at Dutch interiors, Chandler and I wandered over to the contemporary wing, where they have things like "grassy" bean bags.

I think her eyes match the bean bag in this one.

Those purple pants may not be the best reason to have kids, but they're not a bad reason either.

And then I persuaded Chandler to clear out so a class of kids who had been politely lurking nearby could have a chance.  I thought it was exceedingly kind of us to move on, considering how much Chandler was enjoying the bean bag.