January, Without a (real) Camera

The lens on our SLR camera broke the day after Christmas, and of course I should have just ordered a new lens right away, but we've been waiting to see what gives with our supposed 5-year warranty.  Turns out, we've got too many kids and the camera has apparently suffered at least one too many drops to make the warranty still valid.  Oh well.  The new lens should be on its way now.

In the meantime, I've been taking a few pictures on my phone, and while the camera is pretty rotten, and there's no flash, and the baby is rather wiggly, I figure that a few fuzzy pictures is better than nothing, I guess.

  Here's Isabel on the day that we got the season's first snow--just a dusting.  She had stayed home from school that day with pink eye, so she was anxious to go try making a snow angel.  It took me about 20 minutes to get out all the snow clothes, get stuff sorted, and get her dressed.  Once outside she lasted a total of 35 seconds, but that was about how long the snow lasted on the ground before melting, so I guess I should have expected it.

Olivia decided to spruce up her snack. Happy little plate, eh.

One morning I came in from working on the computer to find that Saul had set himself out a little second-breakfast of assorted dry cereals nicely organized on to unwashed plates he found in the dishwasher. He's lately become very industrious about finding food when necessary.  I wish I had a picture of the end-result he made of the scissors-meets-tortilla-chip-bag during an afternoon of the snackies.  Who is this child's mother and why isn't she feeding him better, apparently.

  Isn't it nice of Ikea to sell us painted lumber that we can build into shelves! Of course, I had visions of putting together a little display of, you know,  vintage-y/mismatched-yet-coordinated/handmade/magazine-worthy decorative display items (just like the rest of my house!).  But, the girls wasted no time filling it with their junk treasures.  If I've learned anything about having daughters, it's: if there's a space, they'll fill it with stuff. I mean, Isabel just this morning Isabel showed me her collection of candy wrappers that she intends to use as blankets for her Pet Shops.

This month we finally discovered Kid History.  The result has been a few weeks of constant quoting and perhaps some of the best family bonding we've ever had.  Someone only has to shout out, "Fact!", and it's like we all start high five-ing each other.  And if you haven't seen them, then stop reading  (I'll understand) and go and watch right now. No actually, just watch episode #6  and then you'll know why my kids are making faces when I announced, "I made you a smooothie!....You won't even taste it!"  (Actually, we did the spinach/blueberry smoothies all last week, and to some success.  It means, Isabel ate raw greens--I mean, Isabel ate something--without crying!

Finally we had our first "real" snow!  The kids spent four hours sledding outside.  It was not a lot of snow, but it iced over and so it was incredibly fast and the sledding was superb.  At one point we had 12 kids on the hill in our backyard. The snow only lasted two days and then it rained and was 60 degrees that week.  What a winter.

And, by the end of January, this little guy was 4 months.  I'm not sure that he's growing into his cheeks, or if they're outpacing him, but his thighs are certainly plumping into something delicious. Every day I want to eat him, even without any Nutella on top.  He's also quite the little wiggle-worm lately.  If he doesn't roll over before he can walk (unlike the rest of my babies), I'll eat a onesie.

And now, Olivia skiis!  Adam took the kids up to PA over two different weekends.  He reports that the progress Olivia made from one trip to the next was legendary.  Both times she came home happy and excited for the next trip, so we call that success.

And finally, we spent the last weekend of January in New York to see Kami while she was in town.

 
After breakfast on Saturday at Metro Diner, we took the kids to see the new memorial at the World Trade Center site.  Max met his twin while there--or at least the one in this photo.  Overheard while there, someone asking one of the (overabundance of) security guards how many of the twin towers came down in the attack.

And, since lately I don't get news other than what floats around Facebook, I had no idea that the new Freedom Tower is, like, half-way built already.  Whoa.

We went to see a Chinese New Year performance at the Winter Garden and then met up with the Jennejohns. Makes us feel almost like locals to have local friends there.  We hit the "Giant Slide" in Battery Park on the way home. Then Rebecca and kids came back home with us for pizza from Sal's.

Sunday afternoon was face-painting (by Kami) and the obligatory dance party (with Kami).  Too bad we can't see her every weekend.

Ok, that's about it for January.  Looks like I ended up posting more photos when I don't have a camera than what I post for most months when I do. There's probably something about principle of scarcity here.....