March and April 2018

It's been an up-and-down last two months, weather-wise, with snow days and warm biking days, nor'easters that blow down our fence and thaws that fool all our plants into sprouting, alternating all the time. Now, in the middle of April school vacation week, we've had rain, snow flurries, sleet, and hail, all in the space of a day. Just in time for Boy Scout camping, right? No, seriously: they go out this weekend to a state park for two nights. Robert is dreading it. But before that--a look back over the past two months.

We've been creative, that's for sure! Adventures in canoli filling--a local place let Samantha help fill them. And our Saturn V rocket is done, finally--though the picture shows it not quite finished.

There's been a lot of sister love.

And some time with friends--this is Benny, from school, who Helen spied one day at the library and let out a shriek of delight. They sat together doing puzzles for the longest time.

Later that same day was a Puerto Rican fiesta, with delicious catered food (mmm, salt cod fritters...) and salsa lessons.

We went to the Boston Marathon children's festival, with Spike the unicorn mascot, as well as the Boston Bruins mascot--who absolutely terrified Helen.

The big kids did shot put, long jump, discus, hurdles, high jump, and races. Samantha ran into a friend from school, and everyone got medals and tee shirts. Marcus and Samantha were briefly on the news, too, listening to the shot put coach explaining technique.

I baked assorted sugar cookies for both Easter and Helen's birthday.

We went to Howard's wedding (on Good Friday and Passover, all in one) on a harbor cruise, and had a great time toasting the grooms and catching up with old friends.

We celebrated Easter with Easter egg hunts the day before, and dinner with my parents and Aunt Mary on the day of.

It was such a lovely day, complete with egg dyeing, playground time, an eggs-and-nest chocolate cake, and a fun candy-adorned bonnet on our neighbor.

In other news, Samantha has been giving Helen "cello lessons" on her old cardboard cello. Whenever Helen sees anyone outside the house with a cello case (or a guitar case, for that matter), she yells "ELLO! ELLO! MINE! MINE!" and expresses her solidarity with them as a fellow cello-player. Except for the fact that the cello is more like a bass for her, in size, her positioning seems to have promise.

We had a party for Helen's 2nd birthday, with three of her little two-year-old friends as well as other baby visitors in the 3 month to 4 year old range. I drew a bus on her (carrot) cake, since she loves buses; Samantha made her a sketch of a purple bear painted on a red door in the building where she has piano lessons (this bear, unlike the mascot at the track and field event, is not terrifying to her); and during the party, she showed her dolls (babies) to Louisa (Weeza), who we know both from daycare and also from a mommy-and-me group when the girls were just 6 months old.

Sarah took this dads-and-babies pictures at one point--everyone had a great time!

Sean took these pictures of Helen opening a present.

When everyone else had left, Abby and Lydia stayed--Helen and Lydia held hands and ran all over the first floor, giggling and playing with cars together.

Then the weather warmed up again, Cori came to visit, and Samantha made homemade wrapping paper for the spate of little-kid birthday parties we've been invited to.

Marcus did two of his Saturday cooking classes, about three weeks apart: one was everything lemon, from Greek egg-lemon soup to lemon-dressed roasted lettuce, lemon chicken, lemon potatoes, and lemon bars, and the other one was a dough class, with rosemary focaccia, honey-wheat pretzels, stromboli, brioche rolls, and homemade nutella. Robert sure loves picking him up from this activity--wonderful lunch for the parents!

Cub Scout events keep happening: the blue-and-gold dinner night, when Marcus got some pins and medals for the Pinewood Derby and other things, and then an overnight in the Franklin Park Zoo, with lots of Uno and some snakes.

The week after Easter, Samantha was in a Noah's ark cantata. She was violet, and a wallaby, and she loved every minute of it.

 

Meg and Roman, Miriam and Davis and Garrison and Clarinda, and Sarah and Sean and Evie (as well as Grandma and Pop-pop, of course) all came to hear her sing, and then we walked through the Common and Garden to all-you-can-eat sushi afterward for a fun lunch with friends.

Just four days later, Marcus was in the school's production of "The Lion King for Kids." He was a hyena.

With April comes the Cambridge Science Festival--we had a great time watching robots, eating liquid nitrogen ice cream, engineering boats, drawing cellular-inspired art, extracting DNA from strawberries, touching Jurassic-era rocks, playing with paper propellers and wind turbines, and steering underwater robots.

And now it's school vacation week! Everyone's keeping themselves busy--and really, we're ready for Spring to finally arrive!

 

NEC Musical Storytelling day!

 

 

Spring biking:

 

 

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Created: 4/15/18. Last Modified: 4/19/18.