Call Day #93, 1/28/11

Making wordless books with Nanny. 

Showing her book to Papa. 

 Eleanor learned about tracing paper today.  It was a hit!

 Proud of her Angelina Ballerina tracing.

 Just up from a nap (Can you tell?) and about to go paint in Claire's room.

 We left a section of wall just for her.

 Hard at work.

 We went to go have dinner with Daddy at the hospital.  In the parking garage, we were told our van was on fire.  We got out and Papa pulled the fire alarm.  This is what Claire and Eleanor thought of that.

 About 30 min later, this is what the van looked like.  The fire was put out by Papa shortly before the firemen arrived.  We had about 8 firemen, 2 Boston policemen, 3 Longwood Medical security guys, 2 fire trucks (and a partridge in a pear tree).  Nanny and the girls redirected cars trying to come in the garage.  Over in the hosptial, Erik heard "Code Red, Parking Garage, Second Floor."  Only later did he realize "The Code Red is my family!"

 Here is our attempt at a dinner together.

 Van gets towed away.

 Bussin' it home.

 Claire loving the bus ride home.  She was this smiley the whole way.  (On the way to the hospital we passed a train and a bus and she asked  "When can we ride it, Mama?"  Little did we know.)

Eleanor had seemed to not feel well and complained of her ear hurting.  From fire extinguisher to otoscope, all in a day for Papa.

Call Day #92, 1/24/12

 What do you do first thing in the morning?  Have breakfast?  Nope, dump all the bath toys out and climb in!

 We spent the morning at a friend's house playing.  Here are Eleanor and Leilani.

 Eleanor spent most of the morning behind this thing taking pictures of us and everything else.

 Claire wanted to check my blood pressure.  She has decent technique, don't you think?  (Not counting cuff placement--wouldn't fit adults anywhere other than the wrist.)

 This week we are reading a book in which the main characters have a snack of tea and bread with preserves.  I knew Eleanor would love to have a chance to drink tea, and she got to choose from our big selection.

 Tea, toast, and preserves.

 Which evolved into tea, milk, water, Tigger, and toast and preserves.

 The mug she picked seemed almost as big as her head.

 It was warm today!  We got to spend a little bit of time at the park.  They look like they're in jail wanting out, but they are actually offering food at a restaurant.

 This one climbed the stairs, went down the slide, and repeated for the whole time we were there.

 Flossing is now big at our house.  It is apparently best enjoyed "in the dentist's chair" as Claire is demonstrating lying on the bathroom floor.

 Our book of the week is set in Russia.  Eleanor colored and pasted these colorful onion domes like those on St. Basil's Cathedral.  The idea was to draw buildings underneath them to make a Russian skyline.  This is Eleanor's version done while I was putting Claire to bed.

And on the other side, drawings of Mommy and Eleanor.

Call Day #91, 1/20/12

 Making angels when we went out to shovel the sidewalk this morning. 

 Reluctant snow-goer.

 One enthusiastic helper.

 Proud to "help."  (She'd get a shovel with snow on it, then need me to toss it up over the fence into our yard.)

 Wanting to do what big sister does.

 We took a whole bucket full of snow inside to play with.

 Scooping fun.

 Eating snow.

 A change from the typical hot chocolate and fun for a snowy day.  A "melted snowman."  See his face?

 By the end there were getting to be more toys than snow.

 Did you know this could last for almost two hours?!  Until our whole bucket had melted.  Then, we poured it all back in and saw that the water takes up much less space than the snow.

 Melted snowman all over Claire.

 In the afternoon, they danced to a CD of princess songs while wearing "tiaras," aka headbands.

 Working on her mosaic jewelry box, wanting to get it done before Nanny comes next week.  "Mommy, it is beautifuler than a rainbow!"

Claire showing off her beginning skills with a "find-things" book.  She always wants to do this Noah page and so she can indeed find the hidden animals.

Call Day #90, 1/16/12

 Kids play at church while I went to Bible Study.

 Errands on the way home.  Gotta bring the baby doll, you know.

She wanted a close-up. 

 CRAZY hair.  It was like this on both of them all morning.

Claire got up from nap before Eleanor.  We had some nice talks while she ate her snack next to me on the couch.  Here she talks about last night's movie night "with Daddy."

 Wings.

 This afternoon Eleanor wanted to make gingerbread cookies.  She's getting all our cookie cutters ready.

 Rolling out the dough.

 And when you REALLY get into it, you just have to climb up on the table.

 Eleanor with the cookie she called Daddy (unfortunately, she chose the one with a dress!).

 Messy mouth (and a bit of sweet potatoes in the hair).

You never know what will be going on here.  Claire playing around after asking to sit on the potty.