March 2015

March 2015 began with lions: the stuffed ones at the library that Clarissa loves. Here she is having a puzzle party with them:

Indoor activities were a very good thing, considering how much snow we had on the ground:

Mom and Amanda took a trip to a library to see Patricia Polacco:

On the way back, they tried some exotic cheese sandwiches. This one has macaroni and cheese with bacon:

And this one has cheese and Nutella:

Our faithful van got a new windshield. The old one was a casualty of the cold (defrost sloooowly, not quickly!)

Our library had a Dr. Seuss party!

We also celebrated "Pi" day, with both pizza pie and dessert pie.

Next came the Shamrock Shakes of St. Patrick's Day:

The younger Muffins got to go to a March birthday party for a friend:

This may look like a picture of Mom's sweatshirt (and it is), but it is also proof of the amazing things a cell phone camera can do. Take a look at the snowflake on the right:

Curtis can also do amazing things, like clean the kitchen floor all by himself!

Mom visited the Muffins' school and found this nifty thing that Jared made to celebrate the 100th day of school:

Toward the end of the month, we took a family outing to check out fun things at a thrift store. We call this shot from the evening "Dora and Fedora":

Mom took a day off while Dad watched the Muffins. Destination: Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women.

One of the boys may or may not have decided to cut his own hair (which may or may not have resulted in a buzz by Dad). However, it is certain that Jared and Curtis did indeed climb a tree.

Another fun shot from the end of the month of Clarissa:

And Clarissa again, playing at the library:

And, last but not least, a picture of picnicking sisters:

Plymouth Rock

We knew we had to be getting close to Plymouth when we found a shopping center named after Myles Standish.

 There are plenty of buildings in Plymouth now, of course, but here's a look away from them, near the waterfront close to Plymouth Rock. A little more like the view the Mayflower people would have had.

 Plymouth Rock is housed inside the Greek-looking place. There's plenty of parking nearby, especially if you go in the middle of winter.

 Here's a look at the water right by the rock. Definitely not warm.

 Here are Dad and the Muffins looking at the rock.

 A view of the rock itself, modeling a winter fashion. Legend says the rock was about three times that big before people started harvesting souvenirs from it, hence all the protection around it these days.

Across the street from the rock, up on a hill, there's a statue that looked very familiar to Mom and Dad. For anyone who's been to BYU, there's a matching statue of Massasoit by the library.

Winter Stay-cation 2015

We had a vacation at home, sort of. The schools decided everyone needed a break for a week in February. At our place, this meant lots of time for marble track building.

 Mom found a new kind of Tasty Kake to try.

Amanda started a school for the younger Muffins.

 She also created this nifty bit of Chinese word art at a church activity. (It says "rooster.")

 Jared snuggled a needy kitten.

 He also went with Amanda, Curtis, and Mom to a dinosaur party at the library.

 Amanda and Jared got to go to a Harry Potter party the day after the dinosaur party, but they went with a friend (and consequently without Mom's camera). However, we did get a picture of Dad joining in the epic marble track building adventures.

 By Thursday of our stay-cation, it was time to branch out even further to keep the Muffins from going too stir crazy. Destination: the mall. Home of climate controlled walk ways, soft pretzels, the Disney store, and, best of all, the Lego store.

We finished off our vacation week with a visit to Plymouth Rock, an adventure big enough for its own blog post.

Valentine's Day 2015

Valentine's Day 2015 brought flowers and candy for Mom from Dad (and Jared).

 There was also a chopstick battle . . .

 And Chinese food to eat with the chopsticks!

 And, just like last year, there was snow, too.

The first half of February 2015

We thought about starting out February with a mad dash to see the ground hog on Groundhog Day (the real one, in Punxsutawney), but alas, the blizzard schedule had other ideas. So, we found other things to do. Amanda drew a disco version of Larry the Cucumber from Veggie Tales.

 Jared took ordinary stuffed lizard and added wings (shown just behind the critter, now attached) to make a dragon.

 Jared also made a cool fish at school.

 There were magnetic robots to play with.

 And also a big, tall animal puzzle.

 The Muffins all went to the dentist. We found a train table, a kangaroo with brushable teeth, and a baby zebra. To Mom's delight, the dentist didn't find any cavities. Yay!

 Amanda kept busy with some karate.

 Mom did something she'd never thought she'd do: seriously considered buying critter clothing . . . for a cat. Bottle feeding bald kittens does strange things to people.