Superheroes and cupcakes ... H turns 3!

We had an eventful day yesterday, dealing with both the remnants of a monster snowstorm as well as the insatiable appetite for excitement of a newly minted three-year-old. Here is a photo safari through our day: 

Morning: Waking up to presents (aka: the German birthday)

Afternoon: After a surprise nap attack in the stroller, H woke up drunk with the need for more dress up!

Evening: The kids created polar bear mitts (to catch a velcro ball), had pasta and sausage (H's fave!) and enjoyed cupcakes. 

Cookie of the Month -- January: Lemon Crinkle Cookie

This month our child labor brought to their grandparents the favorite cookie of their Aunt Gillian: The Lemon Cookie.

These were fairly simple for the kids to make and didn't require a whole lot of clean up (other than when Elizabeth tilted the mixer ... picture below). They did, apparently, require a lot of crying from Henry, who skipped his nap on the day these were baked.

Luckily, they were also pretty tasty ... two to three bites of soft and chewy goodness, similar to the texture of a snickerdoodle, but with the bright flavor of lemon and the delicate panache of powdered sugar. They were light and soft and they walked right into my mouth.

Here are the photos. Hope the grandparents' enjoyed the treats!

Late December and early January with the Wards

As we gear up for H's birthday tomorrow, part of the prep is to clear the pictures off the camera. And, as I started clearing those pictures off I realized that I haven't updated the blog in quite a while (well, Kate also is excellent at helping me remember these things). So here are some of the 'best' pictures of non-holiday-related late December and early January events.

The Loss of tooth #1:

Dressing as princesses:

Going out in freezing cold temperatures during the polar vortex:

And coming back in and having very red cheeks:

Making and eating pasta (surprisingly simple, surprisingly delicious):

Spending six hours at the Brooklyn Children's Museum:

This is a Madagascar hissing cockroach

This is our apartment (not to scale) 

This is a beautiful batman-butterfly

Going to the Staten Island Children's Museum:

That is all ... until next time!

Christmas with family in DC: A photo blog

Hello, family. This blog is a little overdue ... I could blame the excessive amounts of holiday cheer (read: eggnog) that blurred my ability to remember to update the blog or perhaps blame the snow and cold weather for forcing me into a mindset where I think I have time to fritter on reddit. Whatever the cause, here is a photo summary of our Christmas break to DC.

(Non-obvious photos get captions)

Alexandria:

Exploring the Navy Yard with Edward and Stephanie

Push-ups in the Navy Yard (this, I believe, is called 'drilling')

The traditional "Opening of the Pajamas" on Xmas Eve

Xmas morning ... Santa brought a firehat with visor (H), two dolls (E), and capes (both E and H)

Bethesda

A homemade Pocahontas dress

Pocahontas's friend, Meeko, who we call Scurry

Leonardtown

Trying on Pop-Pop's Fireman gear