Weekend activities

On Saturday, Judah came over to play. I kept telling MJ, "Judah is coming over soon" and after a while we heard her saying, "Ju-Dah" over and over as she watched for him out the window. :)

reading was the popular activity

Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a fire and time with our good college friend, Dan Hutchinson. (affectionately known as "Dan the Man" to us). Meredith warmed up to him quickly and had some snuggle time before he headed back to Princeton.

And, this month Meredith explored the world of finger painting!

(no more girly-girl about messy hands - yes!!)

January Projects

The new year has been full of projects and new recipes. Here are a few...

Jane recovered a couch we found on Craigslist. We had just enough fabric to do the cushions! (the rest of it may be done at a later time in a neutral fabric)

Jane re-purposed some old clothes into new ones for MJ.

We also found ourselves trying out new recipes in the kitchen. Jane made these wonderful wheat-free and egg-free muffins and scones. Erik tried a new chili recipe (not pictured here) that calls for everything to be slow-cooked with beer. The first try was 8 hours in a Spruce, the second pot was 6 hours in a pale ale. All very tasty!

Erik custom made a grate for our fireplace out of black iron piping. The grate is connected to a fan that draws air from the room which heats up as it passes under the fire. Then it blows the air out into the room, capturing what would have otherwise escaped through the chimney.

And a couple shelves were added to round out our family room upstairs.

What did MJ do today?

Evening activities - tying shoes and calculating stocks

Sunday Best

silly faces, of course!

baby too!

playdate!

Last week we met up with our friends Michelle and Judah for a morning of play at the Chestnut Hill park. It was a beautiful sunny and crisp morning - just the right time to be outside!

Judah had his first haircut over the holidays! What a little stud. :)

The sandbox was a huge hit, as usual.

We headed up the street for snacks at Starbucks and we sat outside comfortably - wow, gotta love these mild temps in January!

(But, don't get too jealous Chicago/Colorado folks - this week we are in real winter temps)

Fingers and toes, ears and nose

Getting ready for bed is a great time to review where Meredith's little ears and toes are. And at the end, you get her famous "bye."

fun in the sun with friends

We had a lovely visit with our dear friends the Cardillos this past weekend. It was a gorgeous day and most definitely warm enough for a visit to the park - fun!

micaela is a sweet friend to meredith older by one year.

Emith was too cute on his first swing ride - he loved it!

Playdough

One of my goals for this new year is to do an art activity with Meredith each week. Meredith always has her drawing supplies at her level and doodles by herself most days. But, I've been wanting to do more constructive and explorative art projects with her.

She received playdough for Christmas and was our first week's activity!

She loves it, and I'm thrilled...because she can often be a girlie-girl about getting her hands messy. :)

She loves sticking toothpicks into a playdough ball and then pretending to blow the candles out.

yeah...it's time to wash our hands now. ;)

Winter at the Morris Arboretum

We've been having very early spring weather around here, so we've had lots of time outside - even though it's January! So, two weekends ago (I know, I'm behind on this post!) we went to the Morris Arboretum as a family. They had a wonderful train display up for the holidays.

Family portrait!

And...some fun time in the tree tops on their cool climbing ropes.

Meredith was a pro at climbing with Daddy.

N.C. times

Our time spent in N.C. over Christmas was very restful. We were very thankful to have time with Jane's Grandma and see Meredith show such love and devotion to her....she kept popping in to see G-gma and babble away to her. Grandma was always a sweet listener for our vivacious little girl.

Granna and Meredith had a favorite activity every night after dinner. :)

lots of music making time, of course ;)

...and lots and lots of silly faces!