New Year's Eve 2014

We're not big New Year's Eve people.  We don't party, strive to be part of the craziness in NYC, etc.  And Patti worked the night before, so New Year's Eve was just another Dadurday out with the kids for Patrick.  It had been awhile so Patrick took the kids to the National Air & Space Museum in Virginia.

We never take for granted the great things our kids can see and do here - usually for free - at the many museums.  This day was no exception.  Will got to wear a real astronaut's glove for a moment and he learned that the mirror in the palm was so that the astronauts can see the front of their spacesuit (because they can't bend their helmets down to see it).

The girls didn't want anything to do with the "scary" spacesuit but if you look very carefully you can see their pink reflections in the visor.  Will asked the volunteer why the visor is gold and he learned that gold conducts electricity so the visor could be defogged in space.  He also learned that astronauts would velcro a little piece of material inside their helmets to scratch their noses on if they had an itch.

We love "our" Space Shuttle Discovery.  Patrick can't believe it's here and that we can go see it whenever we want (which would be every day if the museum wasn't so far from the house).  It's so space-worn, and utilitarian, and awesome.

Under the tail of the Discovery, a volunteer was reading a space story to kids so we joined in.

Will really wanted us to take this picture for Pop because this is a Sikorsky helicopter.  Cute!

After a nice New Year's Eve dinner out, we tried keeping the kids interested until 2015....and this is us at 9:30.  Will made it until 10:00 and that was that.  Patti and I put them to bed, watched the ball drop later, and were in bed 15 minutes after that.  See you later 2014.

Christmas 2014

Christmas is such a lot of work for all parents, including us.  All of the thought put into gifts, time spent making the house fun and magical for the kids.  Cookies, wrapping presents, sticking to your stories (parents know which ones) without slipping up.  But when the kids get up on Christmas morning and are on their very very best behavior pleading with you to go downstairs and see what Santa brought, and when you see everything through their eyes that morning, it is all worth it.

We let the kids decorate the small fake trees in their rooms, but this one was all for Mommy and Daddy.

Santa brought Will a cement mixer and a TIE fighter, he brought Stella a stroller and young Anna doll, and he brought Maggie a stroller and a young Elsa doll.  Happiness was had by all.

 

After Santa's gifts, we enjoyed one of Patti's delicious breakfasts, and then we opened the gifts we got for our family, as well as those from Grandma, Aunt Jessi, Uncle Chris, and cousins Alicia and Colin.

After some wonderful gifts and very thankful calls to Wisconsin, Pop and Mimi arrived for round three of gifts (and hugs).

We were blessed to enjoy another Christmas day full of family - near and far - laughs, and love.

Action! and cookies

In mid-December, Patti treated the girls to a live children's version of The Nutcracker.  The girls looked forward to the chance to dress up for this for weeks and they were so proud to go off just with Mommy to see the play.

While the Carey ladies were at the play, Will and Patrick went off to see Big Hero 6.  It's a great movie but a little too scary perhaps for a self-appointed 6-year-old "scaredy-cat".

About a week before Christmas, we had the Christmas records on full rotation and it was time for cookies.  Patti cranked out loads of sugar cookies and the kids got a chance to decorate their own.

Maggie, as always, wanted hers to be pretty.

Will and Stella just wanted to get as much of everything on their cookies.

December is just a lead up to Christmas

Patti creates an advent-type calendar every December where every night we open a door and see what fun thing we'll do that night or the following day.  She puts a lot of thought into this and the kids love taking turns opening the doors and finding out what's in store.

Right out of the gate, we went to Zoo Lights at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.  We've done this the past few years and when there was a warmish, misty night we took advantage of it.

Patrick likes to take the kids to see the B&O Museum in Ellicott City, MD.  It's a small museum in a very small town, but it's a nice getaway with the kids and every December a local Lego train club transforms the back room into a unique display with moving Lego trains.

Patti's insistence that we make gingerbread houses paid off this year, big-time.  The kids usually make a HUGE mess (they have their own homes for a reason) and get frustrated, but this year they all hit their stride and really got into it.  They each had their own frosting and a diabetic's playground to choose from for decorations.

November catch-up

In an attempt to catch up on the blog, here's a VERY quick round-up on November...

Patti took the kids to see "The Box Trolls" and they loved it.  They made their own boxes and then put on a performance for Daddy, Pop and Mimi.

Bill and Bonnie treated us to a night without the kids at a Bed & Breakfast near Antietam for Patti's birthday.  It was nice to have a day to ourselves, but it was SO COLD that day.

Will made more fantastic Lego creations.

Maggie and Stella "helped" Daddy rake the yard.

We enjoyed the Silver Spring Thanksgiving parade.  The kids were introduced to the fact that they would get more candy in a short parade than on Halloween.

And Will climbed 200% higher than Daddy ever will at a local rock-climbing gym.  Each time he went up, he got another few feet higher on the wall.  Patrick doesn't want to pass his fear of heights on to Will, but his palms were sweating...