new england aquarium.

penguins.

hey guys.

sea turtle!

feeding time for the penguins.

feeding time for the big ray.

hey wellsy.

fur seal.

touching rays.

we got a membership to the new england aquarium with some christmas money...we love having memberships fun places. this particular the day the aquarium was a bit crowded..it was saturday and the aquarium isn't that big. we had fun though! and we caught feeding time for the penguins (each fed by hand and recorded..there were some sneaky penguins stealing fish though). it was also feeding time in the big tank. the tank is a huge tube that is 3 or 4 floors high. we saw them scuba-ing down to feed the rays and some particular big fish and also cleaning the windows. we caught a bit of the fur seal "show" and i learned a few things. i always thought that outer ears = sea lion. not so. and the boys and i touched sting rays. pretty fun day. we'll be back soon.

jfk museum.

the boys and brian had martin luther king day off...so we went to the john f. kennedy library and museum. the boys did surprisingly well. there was enough navy/space program/american flag things to keep them interested. i thought the museum was way more interesting this time (last time i went i was in eighth grade so i was totally bored by it) and brian of course loved it (as he did in eighth grade also). i actually brought my camera and was going to take photos but was so busy explaining things to the boys, looking/reading the exhibits, pushing the stroller...that i never got it out. so a snapped a few with my phone at the very end. nice museum, cool architecture, and a pretty spot. and good company.

snow.

hailey's quilt.

our dear friends sean and ashley had a sweet baby girl...so i made her a quilt. the pattern is stacked coins from last minute patchwork and quilted gifts...combined with the proverbial quilt pattern for her name. the best part was that we could give them the quilt in person and meet hailey since we were all in san diego for christmas!

9m ++.

yes...wells is almost 10 months(!). but here are his nine month stats...height 30.5in (97%) weight 18lb 12oz (19%). long and lean. the little dude is just a happy guy. likes to explore and try to get into mischief. he has started clapping. he has added some new sounds to his repertoire...including dada. thinks dad is the funniest. also thinks doggies by sandra boynton is hilarious. has been sucking his index finger and thumb interchangeably. cannot escape from his new highchair. adept at finding something small to put in his mouth no matter how often i sweep/vacuum. has had a runny nose for the last three months straight i swear. likes to give me "kisses" (more like eat my face). it's easy to get a smile or laugh out of him. his balance is getting good...will be standing alone soon. growing too fast!

more christmas.

santa left a lego table and starter box of legos at our house. and the boys bought some legos with christmas money they got from uncle tim. beck choose the space shuttle and police car. tate got the little boat and lunar rover. the others they already had.

to make the lego table we- i mean santa- adhered baseplates to an ikea table we had lying around. ideally i would have found a coffee table with storage...but that didn't happen. i googled and found this tutorial which helped us figure out how to cut the baseplates and line them up properly. we used e6000 to adhere the plates. and i painted a chalkboard road around two edges (since the baseplate and table sizes didn't match up perfectly). it has been getting some use...i think the playmobil the boys bought with christmas money are getting the most playtime. i should take a picture...they use all the people and have them play games. like football and baseball...and other made up things.

and with his christmas money wells bought a highchair he can't escape from!

christmas morning.

santa found us and brought the boys a few (highly portable) things! some cars 2 cars, legos, a rubber ducky (now that i think about it i think we left that there...), a couple books, etc...and the rest of the day was spent building and playing legos. legos and playmobil are where it's at. the boys are obsessed. (of course the boys are into things with tiny little pieces right when we have a baby who likes to find tiny things to put in his mouth).

more soon on what santa left at our house...