snuggle time

Malcolm wonders why this book isn't called "Malcolm and Jane."

Susie's birthday

Jane decided that yesterday was her doll Susie's birthday, so she had a tea party for her.



All her gifts:

photos for Dad

As requested, here are a few random photos from the last week or two.

Lettuce Head:



New exhibit at the Science Museum:





Storytime at the museum:



Naptime after the museum:



An artistic Jane and a curious cat:

no more TV

A couple months ago I removed TV from our daily routine. I also stopped letting Jane use the computer. The kids were whining before and after the show was over. It seemed like a crazy idea to take it away, being a full-time stay-at-home mom with two young kids who don't go to school or daycare, have any sort of quiet or nap time. The results really surprised me!

The first few weeks were tough. I felt like I never got a break and they still whined a lot about wanting to watch TV. But now that it's been two months, things are so much better. They're getting along better and I find myself having more breaks because they play well together.

Within days of no TV, Jane began tying shoes and reading books out loud to us. She's now very interested in math and has me quiz her frequently.

We still watch a show or two if one of us is sick and sometimes we watch a movie as a family on the weekend, but overall we're mostly TV-free and it's working so well!

baby shower

Yesterday afternoon Jane and I went to Boston for my friend Amy's baby shower. We arrived early so Jane played on the playground for a while.



Jane said her favorite part was helping to open presents!

soccer

Yesterday was the last day of soccer and thankfully I remembered the camera!



I can't say Malcolm enjoys standing around in the cold. He could've played with the ball I brought for him, but maybe he was even too cold for that.







I think everyone likes playing at the playground afterwards even more than playing soccer!

hiking

One of my favorite things to do in the fall is go walking in the woods. Luckily our kids enjoyed it the other day also.

Jacob, Jane and Eliana:



At the end of the trail we get to pretend to "fish" off a dock. A couple weeks ago we actually saw a guy catch a fish there!

farm in the fall

We went to the farm last week with our friends Ella and Olivia. It was such a nice fall day! The littler kids got a bit grumpy, but Jane and Ella had a great time!

Halloween

Jane and Malcolm dressed up as pumpkins for gymnastics class.





(That costume couldn't have been easier!)

Our town cancelled trick-or-treating because of all the power lines that are down, so the kids trick-or-treated at home. We hid in different rooms and they knocked on the doors and asked for candy. It was a lot of fun! Malcolm wasn't in the mood for a picture but you can see his farmer costume in an earlier post.

pumpkin carving

October snowstorm

On Saturday we got about four inches of wet, heavy snow. Because most of the trees still had leaves, it was so much weight on the branches that a lot of them broke. Thankfully nobody got hurt, we didn't lose power, and only some trees were damaged.



Our magnolia has seen better days:



A big maple that lost lots of branches:



At least Jane gets to ride on the birch that was uprooted!





The snow was just right for making our snow cat: