Happy Madi Gras

Over time we have grown to enjoy our family's celebration of Madi Gras before the Lent season.  It has become our tradition of going out to eat at the Shaking Crab as they have crawfish on their menu.

Micah decided to tray a lobster roll for the first time.

Victoria and her clam chowder soup.  She gets this every year there.

Izzy and I shared a seafood bag complete with shrimp and crab... yummy!

It was Victoria's turn to make the King Cake as she found the baby last year.  Recently she's took an interest in cooking with me mostly supervising.

Whose going to find the baby this year?.... Izzy!

 

Skiing

A bit of a different take on skiing this year... we elected to sign up for lessons at a local ski resort; Wachusett Mountain.  This allowed us to choose which weekends worked better without committing to an entire week or weekend.  Each of the kids were paired with exactly the right coach for their personalities and were not put together.  Izzy's coach was amazing as he saw she wanted to do something more challenging and took her off on her own at the end of the day for a runs down blue slopes.  Victoria's coach focused on improving her confidence.  Once there, she almost caught up quickly to her brother's level.  Micah's coach focused on technique to the point he graduated to blues by the end of the season.

 

Resident Appreciation Week

Resident Appreciation Day falls in March with most programs saying thank you with a small token such a a gift card to Starbucks.  This year we decided to turn it into a whole week of appreciation.  Luckily I have two creative and artistic daughters who loved helping out.  While I was on service, they created a poster with velcro signs indicating which "treat" was for which day.  We snuck in on a Sunday evening and also decorated the resident work room a bit.

For one of the days we make rice krispie treats with any combination of milk, white, and dark chocolate.  My job was to supply the melted chocolate while Izzy's was to drizzle and dunk them into it.  True to Victoria's personality, she added the sprinkles for a bit of sparkle.

Light up toys are always high in demand for pediatric neurologists, especially those that don't make noises.  Why?  It helps us examine eye movements as the kids will watch the toy.  If the toy makes sound, they can track it by listening which gives you an unreliable exam.

Brainy vinyl stickers with clever neurology sayings!

The final day was a gift of Stoggles.  These are more fashionable protective eye wear.  We are still required to wear eye protection when seeing patients.  But these can be used moving forward as any procedure like Botox injections requires it's usage.

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Izzy took up the challenge to continue her project, Spread the Love.  This year she partnered with the after school program to help create Valentine's Day cards to send to the same nursing home as last year.  She's considering whether or not to continue this program and how to make is self sustainable in her absence.  I will always be amazed at the size of her caring heart.

On Valentine's Day we headed to a new restaurant; Bourbon and Buttermilk.  This is a tapas style menu with a New Orleans spin.

Channeling Opa, I gave the kids each a lottery card.  Turns out Izzy won the same amount I spent on the cards; $20.

Once home, we enjoyed chocolate covered strawberries that Izzy made ahead of time and opened a few gifts.  Izzy used her own money and bought everyone a few Valentine's day themed treats.  Victoria also made the most amazing cards for everyone.  Micah gave me a handmade card written from his heart.

 

Winter Happenings

Random winter activities and fun:

Santa brought Izzy these ombre hair extensions.  This was tedious but turned out the way she wanted them to look.  We did this at night since I knew we did not have the time to braid her hair like this before school in the morning.  By the time she came home the next day, she took them out.  All that work for one day!

Izzy helping Micah learn how to use her diabolo (aka Chinese yo-yo)

As part of Izzy's confirmation, our church requests at least 10 acts of service.  Acolyting is one of them. 

We have take a turn at mastering macaroons.  These are lavender & honey.... oh so yummy!

Victoria is always a guarantee to make any job fun.  While Izzy practiced her audition song, we were to critique her in by voice and acting.  Not too bad!

Coco deciding she needs to behave/sit like a human.

Recently the Brookline school calendar recognizes the Lunar New Year as a day off.  Since we are one of the few school districts that recognizes the holiday, we decided to take advantage of less crowds and mid-week lower cost by enjoying an evening at Great Wolf Lodge.  The last time we were here, the twins were 4 years old.  This time they were ready for the tornado water slide.

Micah went on this ride once... and then was done.  The girls on the other hand decided to do it again.  I'm pretty sure I see the makings of a dare devil in Victoria as she would have kept going down if someone would have accompanied her.

 

Snow Day

No matter how old you are, snow days are a winter delight for the kids.  Most of our snow storms this year seemed to occur on the weekends.  However there was one that results in school being closed and friends spending the day sledding, fort building, and snow ball fighting.

True to himself, Micah drifted away from the chaos at the sledding hill.  We decided to make an arsenal of snowballs to surprise attack Victoria and her friends.  It was equally as much fun creating the snowballs and scheming as it was to throw them.

Our simple attack turned into an all out fight between the 4th grade girls and boys.  Luckily no tears were shed despite the viciousness that occurred.  In the end, the girls prevailed due to shear numbers.