The Mothners – Page 2

Around Westchester

You might have noticed that Brittney still likes to go on adventures in Manhattan frequently. But we’re also trying to explore Westchester more. On one of the last days of winter break, we checked out the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers. We saw the Sesame Street planetarium show and some cool exhibits.

Admiring photos of dancers at the Hudson River Museum.

Listening to the sounds of the Hudson River.

We also saw an elaborate doll house in a Victorian mansion — An elaborate doll house in a Victorian mansion.

We also made stamp art by painting fish (rubber, not real).

Another day we went to the Lego discovery center, also in nearby Yonkers. We made earthquake proof buildings.

Played wrecking ball.

And (sort-of) did karaoke. They didn’t know any of the song selections; we’re still mostly listening to (cool) kid CDs, classical and show tunes.

This photo is a good example of the kids’ differing artistic sensibilities. With the same program, Julie used every color available, Max stuck to a minimalist palette.

We are exploring further afield with our first family trip to Disney World tomorrow…photos coming soon.

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Snow!

On a Saturday at the end of January we finally got snow – a whole lot of it. Max had a birthday party that got moved from a gym (everything was closed) to a neighbor’s house. It took a long time to walk those 3 blocks.

Playing in his friend’s yard.

Catching snowflakes on his tongue on the way home.

All day Saturday Julie wanted to play in the snow, but it didn’t stop snowing until Sunday. They were so excited to help shovel (if only they were better at it).

Mark and Max cleaning up the driveway. It is big. And a long walkway to our front door. This year I finally convinced Mark to hire somebody to do most of it.

Julie has been wanting to build a snowman all winter. It was too cold in Utah and our previous snow had melted right away. The snow was a little powdery so we dug a small alien snowman with one eye out of the corner of our snow-covered back lawn.

Lots of snow angels in our backyard.

Over 2 feet of snow! (we thought the squirrel tracks by the tree were cool)

She didn’t want to stop playing, even when it got dark. We drew lots of pictures in the snow including a night sky.

Walks to school the next few days took a long time because the kids kept playing with the snow.

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Happy New Year! (2016)

Some members of this family think New Years is all about watching football, others prefer parties. This year we got both with a fun PJ party with friends that got the former home in time to watch the 8 pm play-off game.

Counting down to ‘midnight’ (actually 7 pm).
Watching the care bears count down to ‘midnight’ (actually 7 pm)
Happy New Year!

The kids made glitter jars. Julie took hers very seriously and included her favorite color – all of them. We ate many yummy treats, including make-your-own pizzas (though the kids are in a boring only cheese phase) and homemade health-ish chocolate popcorn.
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Fun with NYE props

One of my resolutions for this year is to keep more update with this blog – we’ll see how that goes. Julie also had me resolve to take care of her favorite stuffed dog Buttons while she’s at school – I think I got that one. Excited for 2016!

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Fall Day in NYC

One weekend, Brittney convinced Mark to take the kids to the city for multiple adventures. First Julie and Brittney went to a puppet show of favorite books Goodnight Moon & Runaway Bunny (we have been getting lots of free press tickets lately through Kid On The Town). Julie was very interested in learning how the puppet demos after the show.

Mark and Max hung out in Washington Square with colorful dogs and chess masters. Max lost but impressed everyone with his skill.

Julie has lived in the (cleaner) subrurbs long enough to lose any fear of rolling down strange hills.

The girls visited a trendy vegan cafe while the boys scarfed down Artichoke’s Pizza.

Mark took Julie home to nap and Max and Brittney continued uptown to pay tourist at Rockefeller Center ice rink, both the real one and the (perhaps more exciting) LEGO version.

No trip to Manhattan is complete without a visit to an overpriced chocolate store.

Then we took a family ‘Assemblage’ workshop at MoMA. We looked at Picasso’s sculptures and made observations about how they were put together, then made our own assemblage creation.

Max often works slowly, and sometimes at first I think he’s not doing the assignment, then he comes up with something unique and brilliant (and least it seems so to his mom). This creation has a movable piece that can swing on a string or be contained. He did a great job explaning it to the rest of the class. The extreme height was hard to engineer, but with my help we got it to stay standing.

Making wishes in the MoMA fountain, something we’ve loved to do for a while. Here’s a photo from a visit we had right before Julie was born. Glad we can still have special Mommy & Max adventures together.

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Santa Present & Past

We love Santa. We visit him multiple times – it takes a few attempts to get a photo where both kids are at least sort of smiling (and not eating), and we had to revisit him anyway after Julie got what she originally asked for (binoculars) from Bubbe for Hanukkuh – complications of an interfaith family – and how to change her request to a Doc McStuffins doll. Max still wants a Playmobil camp site set that he saw in a catalog last spring and won't forget about.

Earlier attempts this year:

And one Santa photo from each past year.
2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

Merry Christmas to all!