Happy Birthday Mozart!

I've been really enjoying having a piano playing kid of late. Most late afternoons, while I'm in the kitchen cooking dinner, Caleb is sitting at the piano practicing. His latest piece is a Mozart piano sonata (K545 for those of you keeping track). He's officially "graduated" from the first movement and is starting the second movement. Here are a couple videos of him practicing....

 

Superfast

 

Normal

 

A little preview to the second movement....

 

 

Our little reader

After years of wanting to be able to read, things are finally starting to fall into place for Adelina! Last week she got her very own library card and has put it to good use.

Here's a short video of her reading a little. We are, of course, very proud of her! But more than anything, we are excited that she'll be able to truly enjoy her love of reading!

Polish Night!

It's a new year, and once again we are trying to do a different ethnic night once every couple of months. This month's focus was Poland. After Caleb's music class on Saturday, we drove over to a section of Dorchester called the "Polish Triangle". We went to a specialty grocery store called the Euromart to get some authentic kielbasa, pierogies, vegetable salad and a polish cheesecake. I cooked some beets and also served some sauerkraut. The kids and I made some traditional Polish paper crafts and we listened to lots of Polka!

Levi was loving the Polka!

Late January Happenings

I think we've officially reached the point of winter where everyone is getting a little stir crazy. While we are still enjoying getting to play in the snow, I'm definitely feeling like spring needs to come soon.

We've finally succumbed to the "Rainbow Loom' craze because of Adelina's persistence. She's had a lot of fun learning how to make bracelets and sharing her creations with friends. Caleb has enjoyed doing the same. As for Levi, he's succeeded in spilling about 600 small rubber bands all of the living room floor.

 Last week there was a lot of stress over a storm that was supposed to drop 6-10 inches of snow. Lots of schools cancelled before a flake even flew, but Melrose stayed strong and we ended up with a two hour delay....which was perfect as we only get about 3 inches. Even though it was only 8 degrees, the kids were excited to get out and play at 7:30am!

A little video of Levi and Lina getting cracked up....something that they are very good at!

First Half of January

The tradition of the "near-Christmas" Lego tower continued this year with this creation. It actually lasted just about 24 hours before the inevitable crash (caused by Levi, of course).

 Oscar helping Caleb get back into the swing of doing homework.

Levi has been reminding us a lot lately that he's about to turn 3. He's acting more and more like a "big kid" and using very impressive vocabulary. His current favorite word is "excellent" as demonstrated in this video.

Levi surprised us the other day by appropriately counting 10 objects. He really seems to be enjoying counting things these days, which is a nice developmental milestone.

 Caleb didn't have school on Wednesday because of a professional development day. We lucked out with perfect weather and spent a good deal of time at North Point Park after Lina got out of school.

I was reminded of how long winters can be here in New England by how happy the kids were to be at the park. Even with the cold temperatures and snow, we still manage to get outside often, but nothing beats spending a sunny, 50 degree day at the park. Levi was literally running around in circles he was so happy!

 Picnicking on the climbing structure....

Snow!!

After such a wonderful Christmas vacation, we were all looking forward to starting back to our normal routine on January 2nd, but Mother Nature had different plans. With a long-lasting Nor'easter looming, school was cancelled both Thursday and Friday. On Thursday morning we awoke to snow flurries that were with us all day, with about 6 inches falling by bedtime. We managed to sneak in a movie (we saw Frozen) with friends before the roads got too bad. We spent the rest of the afternoon inside because it was so cold! I taught the kids how to make paper snowflakes, and that definitely kept us busy for a lot of the day. The house is now decorated for winter!

 Friday was even more frigid than Thursday, but once the temperatures climbed into the teens during the afternoon, we bundled up to enjoy the fluffy snow. The amounts were hard to measure with all of the blowing and drifting snow, but it seemed like we didn't get any more than a foot of snow. The kids (and I) enjoyed trying out our snow brick-makers and started constructing a little snow house.

 The kids stayed in their pajamas all day long and even wore them under their snow suits. Here's Levi next to the giant pile of gear that results from a snow outing.

 I had a little whipping cream in the refrigerator, so I decided to jazz up the hot cocoa a little. As you can tell from the video, this move made me somewhat of a hero. It's rare that I hear the words "Mom is the best" so I had to capture the moment!

 Today was another frigid day to start with, but once again we had more fun in the yard with our "igloo house". I joked with the kids that I was going to sleep in there tonight. I'm pretty impressed with what we were able to build, but surely it will melt over the next couple of days.

 Levi was so exhausted from his day that he didn't make it through dinner. He excused himself from the table and I found him like this on the couch, sound asleep.

Happy New Year!!

I started the New Year with another Polar Plunge, but with a super fun twist! I got my good friend Andrea to run a 5K with me up in Salisbury that finished just steps from the ocean. We ran in pretty good time (24:57.97, 8th in our age group), considering that it was a very windy and cold day (20 degrees at best). The race was very festive and I'm already looking forward to next year. We stripped down to our swim suits and running tanks and made the plunge after running. It was very cold, but exhilarating as usual! We got our picture and a brief interview in the Daily News of Newburyport (see below). We even scored two beer glasses...one for our top 40 finish and the other for making the plunge. It was an awesome way to kick off the year!

 

Katie Barnes
Age: 35
Residence: Melrose
“If you love running, what better way to ring in the new year. This is actually the fourth time I’ve jumped in the ocean. It’s fun actually. I was hot after running, and ready to peel off layers.”
Andrea Twomey
Age: 34
Residence: Malden
“I came with a friend, and we have a lot of quick kids. I have four and she has three. We needed something crazy on New Year’s. Right now, I can’t feel my legs.”