April showers

It was cold and rainy throughout most of our trip to the northeast this past week, but our spirits were warmed by all the wonderful visits with family and friends. We first visited Kay, Paul and Audrey in Providence, and then went on to Boston to spend time with Aunt Alli, Uncle Gregory, cousin Eveline, and Aunt Katie too. Eveline has really grown in the past 6 months. I have lots of photos and videos of her to share, but will start with just a few in this post (I'll put more on Facebook). We went to Coney Island with Omi on Friday (ate at Nathan's and rode the Wonder Wheel) and went to the NYC Transit museum with Pop Pop and Aunt Nancy on Saturday (and boarded old NYC subway trains in an old abandoned subway station), attended Easter Sunday service at Marble Collegiate in the city (Aunt Nancy's church), had Easter dinner at Omi's with Aunt Irene and Jack, and then had dessert and lots of laughs with the Walsh/Cacciola/Costello/Gillson/Toohill clans.

Astronomy and Earth Science

As we were catching up on the day's events Monday night (after I got home from work), Nora suddenly asked me, "Mom, what year did Earth start?," or something like that. "Wow," I responded, not expecting that question to have popped up so soon (although we already touched on the birds & the bees, so I kind of had it coming...). "Um, billions of years ago, Nora." "How many billions of years?" she replied. "Um...almost 5 billion, I think...," my brain trying to conjure up distant memories of 8th grade earth science. "And what's earth made of? Where is it from?" she asked. (Thanks, Mrs. Hall and your pre-K lessons in anticipation of Earth Day!) I told Nora we'd look up the information on the internet the next morning to make sure. Sure enough, first thing next morning, Nora reminded me of our plan. So, we went online and confirmed that the earth is 4.5 billion years old, that it consists of a crust, mantle, outer and inner cores, and is about 8,000 miles wide, but that you would have to travel 25,000 miles to go around the earth (Nora learned the word "circumference"). Meanwhile, Caroline sat on the floor spinning the table-top globe, asking where Grandma and Grandpa live... We went on to learn a little bit about how earth was formed (not the creationist version, if you're wondering), and the Nora ran upstairs to create her own version of the solar system, which she cut out and proudly taped to her ceiling (see photo). (Next topic will be orbital paths, as Nora has all of her planets connected to the sun's rays...a floral version of the solar system, if you will). And yesterday, Nora did science experiments all morning from a special kit she has with Posey (our neighbor who was babysitting for the day). So, if anyone is wondering what to get Nora for future birthdays/holidays, think SCIENCE! (As for Caroline, anything that spins or reminds her of Florida would suffice, it seems!) :-) Also, here are pictures of the girls in their pretty new spring dresses that I just picked up from Target (just for fun!).

Spring Fling

Now that Mike has deployed again, the girls' blog is back in business! Yesterday, we went to the Spring Fling at Nora and Caroline's preschool. Although the weather was overcast, chilly and dreary, everyone made the most of it and we all had a good time. I helped organize a make-your-own bird feeder craft, another mom organized planting a veggie garden, and another mom organized flower pot painting. And our dear friend, Pat MacCubbin, brought a few musician friends along and provided Irish music all the while. They were great! Here are pics of the girls participating in the Fun Run, and a video of the beautiful music.

Family camp out!

This past weekend, we went on our first family camp out at Little Bennett Regional Park in Boyds, Maryland. It was quite an adventure, and we had a good time, despite the fact that we're camping novices. The girls loved the fact that our tent was so close to the playground -- it was the central meeting place for all the kids in our camping area and the girls got to meet everybody. Nora even invited a few of her new friends over to play cards at our picnic table on Sunday morning. On Saturday, we went on a short hike and ended up at the nature center where we decorated bug boxes (for catching lightning bugs later on). Then Daddy and Nora went off on a longer, adventurous geocaching hike while Mommy attempted to get Caroline to nap in the tent (to no avail). Then it was dinnertime - grilled hot dogs, zucchini and squash, and roasted corn in the cob (wrapped in foil and stuck right in the fire...mmm!), followed by s'mores. Then back to the nature center for root beer floats and an outdoor movie. Then the girls went down for the night in the tent while Marg and Mike sat in the dark and talked (since we burned out out lantern after failing to read the directions closely enough). Memories to last a lifetime, for sure. We're looking forward to more family camp outs in the future (and will make sure Caroline naps before we leave the next time!)

Happy Easter!

It's a bright, beautiful spring day here in Maryland and Nora and Caroline had a great Easter morning. The Easter bunny left them baskets full of candy and hidden easter eggs in the living room, and they had pretty dresses from Grandma and Grandpa to wear to 9:30 Mass, to hear Daddy sing with the choir. Lots of love and many blessings to all of our family and friends!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween weekend...on Friday, Nora got to show off her homemade flower fairy costume at her preschool's Halloween parade. On Saturday, we went to a fantastic Halloween party at Janet's house, where Nora and Caroline got to see their old buddies Leila, Aden and Max, and finished the night by trick or treating here in Derwood. Caroline was a ballerina princess, wearing one of her favorite dress up outfits from our dress up collection. Our neighbors were so excited to see the girls, and gave them very generous helpings of candy. Our next door neighbor Susan even had little gift bags set aside for them - how thoughtful. So even though we missed out on a full night of trick or treating, the girls came home with pumpkins full of candy. We finished the weekend by having a fun family get together with the Duba family today. The kids have such a good time together...the grown ups were actually able to sit down and have a semi-decent conversation during dinner while the kids entertained themselves. What a change from just a year ago!

Caroline turns 2!

We had a quiet family birthday celebration for Caroline last Saturday night. Caroline is now officially two, although if you ask her, she will - with a mischievous twinkle in her eye - insist that she is 3, or perhaps even 4. The evening featured a dinner of pot roast and noodles (Caroline was, predictably, most excited about the "NOOH DUHLS!") and homemade chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Although Caroline was not very enthusiastic when we turned the lights off and presented her with her cupcake all aflame, her big sister was more than willing to lend a hand and helped her blow out the candle (no surprise there!). The highlight of the evening was when Caroline received her new Mickey Mouse umbrella from Mommy, Daddy and Nora. She was thrilled, and insisted on sitting under it while she finished her cupcake (Nora joined in the fun as well) and cried when we made her put it away for the night! Thank you everyone for the happy birthday wishes and making her day so special for all of us!