A^2 Multiply: February 2017

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Benjamin Says....

Benjamin watches a lot of Minecraft videos on youtube and is pretty better informed about pop culture than any of the rest of us. He also picks up on phrases and is adept at using them correctly in conversation. A couple of recent favorites:

To me as we discussed what Julia might choose to eat for dinner: "I reckon Julia will choose sushi."

To Andrew as he was eating this plate of french fries with short rib gravy (which were delicious): "You're totally going to take that stack down, Dad!"

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Surprise!!!

What could evoke this reaction from Julia?

A trip to California! We gave the kids the news that we will be spending a week in San Francisco and Mendocino in May. To say they were thrilled would be a slight understatement! We can't wait!!

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Field Trip: J&W Culinary Museum

We recently discovered a small Rhode Island treasure, the Johnson and Wales Culinary Museum. Unfortunately, it's going to be closing to the public this week. So we were thrilled to get a glimpse before the doors close!

sitting in the diner car, chillin with friends

what'll you have?

order up!

The Italian Mr. Potato from Federal Hill!

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Beach Treasures

60º in February!! And sunny! The outdoors is calling...

"Can we go hunting for seaglass?" asks the 8 year old.

"Sure!" say the parents.

Hop into the car and 20 minutes we're exploring the pier by the Narragansett sea wall! This is why I love Rhode Island... one of the reasons anyway!

And it was a successful outing! Ben found this treasure. He and Julia decided it was the top of an old ink well.

And Julia claimed it was the best sea glass hunting day ever! She found a piece of red (very rare apparently) and blue (which was her goal for the day when we starting out) along with plenty of green and clear. The pieces are tiny but still beautiful.

We headed off to lunch and then we hit another spot, Moonstone Beach, which we had never been to before. The beach was beautiful, a little windier and cooler but quiet with clear, blue water and gorgeous rounded stones. Unfortunately, the tide had come in and the best sea glass areas were covered but we found a few pieces and decided that it would certainly be worth another trip!

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Field Trip: Boston Science Museum

An extra special surprise for Julia's birthday week - a trip to the Boston Science museum, complete with Dad, a Magic Treehouse Planetarium show, an exhibit on Da Vinci's inventions, and an exhibit on chocolate! It was a hit!

First exhibit was simple machines on the playground and in the park where Julia and Ben both tested how fast they could run.

Next up, the chocolate exhibit! Yum. Except there was no chocolate to eat... we had to remedy that later!

Hands-on time - building our own version of a "claw machine" that you would find in an arcade.

And we were geologists in the Discovery Center!

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

The Reader

This made my heart flutter! Julia's first car trip where she chose to read a book and ended up getting so caught up in it that she read the whole thing!

Monday, February 20, 2017

Wheeeee!!!

Some of our snow finally stuck around long enough for us to get some good sledding in!

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Will You Be My Valentine?

We celebrated Valentine's in a few ways this year.

First, a poetry tea time. We read haikus and wrote a couple but Julia also was inspired to write this love poem.

Love by Julia. Mom loves me. I love Mom. Dad loves me. I love Dad. Ben loves playing with me.

Then, there was a blind chocolate tasting. We unanimously agreed that the extra dark was our least favorite but were split between dark, milk, and white for the favorites.

And what holiday would be complete without a lego challenge?

from left to right: Julia's heart, Mom's heart, Ben's heart with his name around it

We also got in a trip to the sledding hill (pictures to come in a separate post!) a heart pancake breakfast courtesy of Dad, and a rare mid-week pizza dinner!

Thursday, February 16, 2017

8th Birthday Excitement

A classic Julia face! The reaction was to finding a GOLD Minecraft mini-figure in the mystery box.

the favorite present!

Make a wish!

It was declared, "the BEST birthday ever!"

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Julia at 8!

In what has become a familiar birthday scene, Julia turned eight on a blustery, blizzardy day last week! Thankfully we did not lose power and just remained snug at home, tucked under blankets, reading, playing Minecraft, and eating snacks and cake!

Julia was thrilled to have a real snow day. They are kind of rare around here because snow doesn't really mean we take the day off. Usually we plow through because we'd rather take beach days in the summer! But we do take birthdays off and since our Co-op was cancelled, Julia was free to do as she chose. And she mostly chose Minecraft! After presents, of course!

Her favorite present this year was a new set of Pokemon cards, specifically Pokemon Break cards, which she has been longing for since last fall. She also received a new racing lego set, books, and a fashion plates / designer kit.

I was looking back at my blog post for Julia's 7th birthday before writing this and its interesting that this year I don't see a lot of difference in Julia. Sure, she has grown and there have been changes but we have not had the same leaps that I remarked on last year. It has been a more gradual growth and maturing.

There are some things that have remained the same but others that have changed. While Julia still is interested in space and car racing they are not her main interests any longer. She is fascinated by animals and weather and lots of science-y topics. She loves history and reading biographies and historical fiction. She still loves swimming, probably even more than last year. She is starting to set goals for herself - like keeping track of which lap she is on while she is swimming!

While she could read independently last year, she didn't often choose to, now she is beginning to truly like reading and just last week devoured a book in the car. Right now her favorites to read to herself are The Magic Treehouse series.

Julia is close with her friend Elizabeth and has become more comfortable in larger groups and situations where she is on her own as well. She takes rock climbing classes twice a month and has conquered her fear and made it to the top of the wall. She is still playing violin and is looking forward to performing at the recital again this year. And she really enjoys our larger cooperative where she participates in a Magic Treehouse book club, a Magic Schoolbus Science class, and a couple of different drama classes.

At home Julia is still our sweet little girl... with a serious side... and a stubborn side. She loves Benjamin and often comes up with games for them to play, usually with her as the teacher, leader, or boss! But she also still likes to have time alone and is often content to just play Minecraft by herself, listen to audiobooks alone in her room, or spend time outside by herself.

I can't wait to see what this year brings for our wonderful, creative, sparkling girl!

Here is Julia's perspective of her 8 year old self: