She’s the sweetest

Very often, when I pick the girls up from school, NPR is on the radio, and sadly, it is sometimes not appropriate for them. We usually end up switching to the Frozen soundtrack, but yesterday it was on for a few minutes. They were saying that an actor (the one who played the professor in Gilligan’s Island) had passed away.

Reagan: Who died?

Me: An actor. He was pretty old.

R: Oh, I bet somebody loved him.

Sparkle Heart

Our elf has been very busy the first few days she's been with us. Reagan and Quinley love finding her each morning and are quite serious about the no touching rule.

She started in the living room and was happy to watch us put our tree up the day she got here. Then she found the ceiling fan. The third day she ventured into the kitchen and then the mud room. Today, she decided to have a bit more fun and made a swing. 

I wonder what she'll find tomorrow. Reagan is hoping she gets to see the playroom soon. 

Fun at Horseshoe Lake Park

I've tried a few times to pick the girls up a little early to do something fun before dinner. It's getting harder as it's getting dark so early. We took a quick trip to the park last week to feed the ducks and play on the playground a bit. 

Rainy Halloween

We had a lovely first Halloween here in Shaker, but didn't do much actual trick or treating. The girls had fun dressing up as a fairy and Abby Cadabby. We only made it about 5 houses and then the girls were cold, so we called it quits. Quinley spent the rest of the time handing out candy, and she thought that was pretty great. 

Now the wings and tutus have been added to our dress collection, so they'll get a lot of use for play. 

How cool is this?

I took the girls to the Cleveland Museum of Art today, because they were off school due to the election. We didn't make it to any of the permanent exhibits - it's close, so we'll be back. But, we saw Zodiac Heads by Ai Weiwei in the atrium and then went off to find the kids play space. 

We walks into the museum behind a group of high schoolers and Quinley took off with them to admire the sculptures. 

You can see her in a gray dress, just over Reagan's head. 

Then, we hit up the play space. It had quite a few cool, interactive activities that the girls were very into. And, it wasn't so busy when we got there. The best thing was this screen that you use your finger to draw lines on and art pops up behind it, matching your line with part in the artwork. I did manage to get a decent picture of this. 

Quinley drew those 2 blue lines, and then...

2 different pictures popped up, matching the lines she drew. 

Also, they have a great cafe. I could definitely spend all day there. Plus, there's a beautiful lake in the back that we haven't explored yet.

A Day at the Zoo

We had nothing planned for today, so we decided a trip to the zoo would be a good way to spend the morning. It was chilly, but I guess you have to just deal with that here. We saw a few more animals than the girls and I did last time we went. The biggest hit (for the girls) were the lions, of course, and the lorikeets, which we fed some nectar. And, we found a playground. My favorite were the red kangaroos. There were 20 of them and 6 joeys... Super cute. 

Making Progress

After a bit of work on this page, I have completely neglected it. But, we’re still here. The kitchen is almost finished. I was allowed to use the dishwasher last night! It was very exciting. Today, there is quite a bit of finish work happening and the electrician is, hopefully, finishing his work. I saw the hooks going up in the mud room. There are some cabinet trim issues, which are not their fault, but are causing delays. Other than that, we may be allowed in today!