I bought the kids an easel to keep them occupied during our long cold winter, and here they are for our first attempt at painting (Sarah’s first ever, I believe).  Blaine painted a “ferocious lion”.

Painting’s a lot of work (for me) so we’ve been making more use of the chalkboard and the magnetic side which don’t require (much) cleanup.

Great Grandmother Dorothy and Great Grandfather Fritz gave Blaine this adorable conductor’s outfit.  There’s a photo of Andrew at roughly the same age in a similar outfit that we’ll have to compare these to!

We went to the winter train show at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx on 1/12.  The highlight was a show featuring Thomas the train, and Blaine insisted we hang around to get a picture with him.  We also saw the miniature train show in the botanical gardens, with detailed replicas of NY landmarks.

The weather was fairly mild in early January, we just had to break out the tuffo suit to keep Sarah dry at the playground.

But our Thursday playgroup moved inside to an indoor play area in a martial arts studio in town.  Sarah loves practicing climbing on this set of stairs.

We’ve also been spending a lot of time at home, so it’s always thrilling when the kids play nicely together, like so.

Sarah also got a new pair of boots in preparation for some serious weather.

One last shot of Sarah enjoying her new chair from Mom-mom:

I just realized I took a bunch of pictures in January of the kids in various hats.  So, here you go.

Gram and Grand-dad were our first overnight visitors in our new house!  They also watched the kids so Andrew and I could do some shopping (for rugs and other necessities).

We also opened some more Christmas presents, including this adorable matching dress set for Sarah and her doll, hand-made by Gram.

We also did some laundry to get ready for Gram and Grand-dad’s arrival on New Year’s Day!

We drove down to PA on 12/23 to spend Christmas in Wynnewood.  Here’s the traditional Christmas Eve Bowling, which was Blaine and Sarah’s first bowling experience ever!

Trimming the tree.

Many many stockings were hung…

Christmas morning!  Blaine tried on his new helmet and bike from Santa Claus.

Then it was on to other presents.

Aunt Molly’s present of an apron and oven mitt made a nice transition to making the stuffing for Christmas dinner.

Then it was back to presents while Sarah napped.

When Sarah woke up we made it outside for awhile to try out the new big wheel from Mom-mom.

And when Uncle Tim and Aunt Liz arrived we had round 3 of presents!

Enjoying Blaine’s new tent from Mom-mom the next day.

On 12/27 we took a trip to the zoo with Uncle Fran, Alexis, Uncle Tim, and Aunt Liz.

Reading with Aunt Jane back at Ingeborg Road.

Trip to the Narberth playground after a failed encore visit to the Please Touch Museum on 12/28 (we bailed when we saw the long line).

Some quiet time with Mom-mom before the drive back to NY.

Sarah got her first real pair of shoes on 12/15 at the Nordstrom in White Plains (size 4 Stride Rite).  She was pretty excited!  Blaine got a pair of boots, too, and they both got balloons.  Everyone was happy.

Here’s a video of Sarah walking and kicking on 12/19 – amazing how much she’s improved in her first month of walking.

Here are a few extra pics from December which don’t warrant their own posts.  First, a multi-layer fire truck Blaine constructed – his lego building has definitely moved beyond the single stack.

Daddy took this one of us at the playground on our street.

Out to lunch at Apiary in Larchmont (yum!) while our house was being cleaned for the first time since moving in.

On 12/13, Blaine took his first ride on a train with Daddy.  They got on at Larchmont, went one stop toward the city, and then got on a train right back (it was a spur of the moment thing). In the meantime, Sarah and I went for a cappuccino.  Blaine had a blast!