Legolicious

Now that the girls are nearly two, Will is a better playmate. Coloring, playdoh, even trains can now be played with as a threesome.

One thing they also tolerate together is Duplo blocks. Patrick made the girls a selection of cakes and Will made a creative fleet of flying zoos, double-decker buses, and other things that "go."

Catching up potpourri

We're posting less here as we get busier and busier each night, but we're still up to our eyeballs in kids.  Here's a round-up for the past two weeks.

SNOW!  We've had a dusting of snow three times in the past two weeks, and it's usually gone a day later.  Everyone likes watching it fall down, and everyone except for Stella likes being out in it.  Patti put her down in the snow (see below) and she immediately started crying.  She didn't take a single step.

Patti's parents came to visit, and the kids got all the attention they crave when they outnumber us.  Maggie and Stella did plenty of dress-up...

And we paid another visit to the B&O Railroad Museum in Ellicott City to see the holiday Lego train exhibit.

Last weekend, Will and Patrick spent a guys morning together at the Washington auto show.  Will met an astronaut and got his autograph, he saw lots of shiny new cars and trucks just like his toy ones, and he got to sit in lots of things, including a new Camaro that looks just like his "Bumblebee" transformer.

 They also got to spend some quality time on the Metro...

Sometime this week, the girls graduated out of their highchairs that were attached to the table up into their new booster seats.  Now everyone has their proper place to enjoy Mama's cooking.

Ellicott City railway museum

We love visiting the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore and we recently learned that they also have a smaller museum in Ellicott City, MD.  Every winter they turn one room of the museum into a Lego holiday display.  We've never been there before, but if this year was any indication, this alone was worth the trip.

An entire room was turned into a three-foot tall, 10 foot by 20 foot Lego display with working trains and tracks made of Lego's.  There was almost too much to take in and the little touches were fantastic (Patrick's favorite is the broken Lego man who committed suicide off of the cliff below - you have to look very closely).

Outside of the museum on a siding is a caboose that you can explore.  Patrick and the kids had it all to themselves for more than 10 minutes.  Will ventured up to the very top of the caboose to look out of the top windows.

Everyone settled in to the table to visit and look out of the window.

 A sympathetic parent volunteered to take a picture of us (that never happens).

And on the way out, Will and the girls took turns clanging the train bell.  It was impossibly loud, so everyone wanted a turn.  It's a pretty neat little museum but don't plan on bringing a stroller and plan on walking some stairs and taking some very tight corners.