I have been waiting for the Paddington Bear movie to open for well over a year. I must have been pregnant with Anne when I first heard about the movie. I had already decided to do her nursery in Paddington Bear since we had always used characters from British literature. Besides, who doesn't adore the cute and lovable Paddington. 

To properly prepare for the movie, Meg, Clare and I have recently been reading A Bear Called Paddington. It is such a charming book. Once we decided we would go see the movie on Friday (the girls were out of school for a teacher work day), we committed to finishing the book by that time. Thursday evening I read to the girls the last chapter and the more recently written postscript. 

Friday morning was not the best start to the day. Everyone was up too early. I was tired and I could feel my anxiety building. I was not sure how I was going to manage to entertain all three girls all day long. Then I had an idea. "Girls," I said, "Let's make this a full Paddington Day." I called The British Pantry, which is a very British tearoom and shop. It is a 45 minute drive from our home, but we had the time. Happily, the tearoom could accommodate us. 

We arrived at the tearoom with Paddington Bears (as you can see from the picture above). We all sipped tea and ate tiny sandwiches, yummy fruit and delicate desserts. It was lovely. Following our tea, we bought orange marmalade (of course!) in the shop. Meg and Clare enjoyed looking at the beautiful tea sets displayed throughout the shop. Baby Anne very much wanted to look at the tea sets too, but I fear that would have been disastrous. 

We then drove back to DC and picked up my husband from work. Together, we went to the AMC movie theater in Courthouse. This is no longer the movie theater closest to us (we did once live in the neighborhood though). However, it was worth going to Courthouse to enjoy the individual recliners that serve as seats. They are amazing seats for anybody, but particularly for Meg and Clare who have a difficult time keeping regular movie seats down. 

The movie was great. Paddington is adorable. The family is loving. It does get a little scary at times due to a taxidermist who wants to stuff Paddington. Four-year-old Clare, in particular, had some difficulties getting through some of the scarier scenes. She sat with her hands over her eyes and I would whisper, "Remember, he is going to be alright in the end." Still, I would recommend the movie to families without hesitation. I do so love Paddington Bear. 

We do love the Arlington County Nature Centers. Our first idea of an outing yesterday fell through. It was getting late in the day and I finally asked the girls if they just wanted to head over to the closest nature center. There's a nature playroom there as well as lots of snakes and turtles to see. I knew the nature center was also hosting a Flying Squirrel class after its normal closing hours, but I was not sure whether it was full or possibly cancelled due to the cold weather. 

When we arrived, the girls very much enjoyed playing in the playroom. Baby Anne found a tiny rocking chair that she enjoyed climbing into over and over again. All the girls enjoyed the giant drum and the playhouse. Baby Anne kept crawling into the door of the playhouse and then attempting to go out the window. We could not convince her to turn around and go out the door. While the girls were playing, I checked to see if there were any openings in the flying squirrel program. Happily there were. 


The program began with some facts about flying squirrels. For example, here in Arlington there are as many flying squirrels as there are gray squirrels (and there are lots and lots of gray squirrels). We don't see the flying squirrels because they are nocturnal and they prefer to be gliding high up in the trees, rather than playing on the ground. To our surprise, the naturalist then pulled out a real flying squirrel who lives at the nature center. He was tame enough to allow us to pet him as she held him. 

Following this introduction to the semi-tame flying squirrel, we headed into the dark, cold, snowy night to spot some wild flying squirrels. The nature center has several flying squirrel boxes attached up in the trees throughout its wooded property. One is just outside the building itself and that's where we congregated. As soon as the naturalist shined her flashlight on the box, a flying squirrel could be seen peeking out of the little hole in the box. The naturalist then spread peanut butter on the tree above the box. Almost immediately, the flying squirrel came running out of the box to eat the peanut butter. Repeatedly, he would get a bite, run back to the box, finish the bite and return for more. 

If you are wondering why this outdoor adventure happened in winter. The naturalist explained that, first, since flying squirrels are nocturnal, they had to schedule the event when it was dark before everyone's bedtime. Secondly, during the summer, flying squirrels tend to stay close to their own trees to care for their babies, so it is much harder to spot them in summer. That leaves a cold, winter night adventure that reminded me a little bit of Owl Moon. 

We are on Day 3 of Clare's school being cancelled due to weather. While other students have only a two-hour delay, classes that only meet half-day are cancelled. This is getting old and it has led to the postponement of a special class event that all the students have been greatly anticipating.

So, how does one entertain a child on the third snow day in a row? Clare and I put together the Frozen puzzle she received for Epiphany. Clare loves puzzles and has always been very good at them. (If she wasn't very good at them, I suppose she wouldn't be so fond of them.) For Clare's second birthday, her Nana sent her a Peter Rabbit puzzle in a cute little handled box. Nana thought Clare would just carry the box around for a year or so. But no, Clare worked and worked until she figured out how to put that 24-piece puzzle together herself. It was amazing to watch that little brain work. Rather than building the edge of the puzzle and working in (like so many of us were taught to do), Clare would find a character in the middle of the puzzle that she recognized and work from that point in the puzzle out. I've since noticed that other kids who enjoy puzzles tend to have the same approach. They are creating a picture; not just working out a puzzle. 

The Frozen puzzle is a 44-piece large floor puzzle. Clare wanted help with the puzzle, which basically meant she wanted to spend time together. There was one piece causing her trouble because it didn't go the direction she thought it should (the reindeer has his head turned a little funny in the picture, so at first the piece looks wrong). Once I convinced her to give it a try in the direction it seemed to fit, she was on her way.

After completing the puzzle once, Clare decided to do it again. The second try was made more difficult as we set Baby Anne loose on the floor (she had been eating toast in her highchair) and she began tossing the pieces to various parts of the living room. As Clare assembled the puzzle, Baby Anne crawled right on top of it and began tracing her fingers over the lines in the puzzle--I suppose trying to figure out why the breaks in the picture were there. Baby Anne made the second attempt quite the challenge, but Clare managed to put it together despite the obstacles. 

Once she was done with the puzzle, Clare found some of my nice stationery and decided she would write letters to her grandparents. She decided what she wanted to write and I helped her spell the words. She did a beautiful job writing the letters. She also illuminated them with her drawings in such a way that even Medieval monks would be proud. She put the notes in their envelopes. I addressed them. She stamped them and decorated the envelopes. Teamwork.

I've enjoyed spending this time with Clare on her third snow day in a row. It really has been a treat. But I think she is definitely wanting to get back to school tomorrow. 

Our first family Epiphany dinner was three years ago. That year, Epiphany fell on a Friday so we made an event of it. One of the priest from our parish joined us. Neighbors came for hors d'oeuvres and hot apple cider while the priest did the traditional Epiphany blessing at our home. We then served a dinner of steak and manicotti. Meg, who was just three years old at the time, still remembers the dinner. It was an event. 

Our Epiphany dinners have been quieter since then, but we do still try to make them special. The girls know they get to decorate a cake for Epiphany and all day long they asked me, "Is it time to make the cake?" Since the stores have already replaced Christmas candy with Valentines Candy, our Epiphany cakes always seem to be decorated in hearts. The girls, as usual, had a fun time decorating the cake.

Prior to dinner, I put apple cider on the stove with mulling spices. Apple cider is an English Epiphany custom and I'm always looking for reasons to have apple cider.

Our dinner was a family favorite--American Chop Suey. For those outside the Northeast, this is simply pasta, tomato sauce and ground beef (actually, we use ground turkey). It is the one meal that I know everyone in our family (including Baby Anne) will devour. 

Following dinner, we did the Epiphany blessing using the same chalk the priest had blessed at that Epiphany dinner three years ago. We began with my husband reading a Three Wisemen book that Meg had found and wanted to include in the Blessing. Then Clare said the Our Father. Meg said the Hail Mary. I read the Magnificat. Then my husband wrote "20 + C + M + B + 15" over our front door (the year with the initials of the wise men (Caspar, Mechior and Balthasar)...CMB can also stand for Christus mansionem benedicat, which means Christ bless this house). He ended with an appropriate reading and then we returned to the table for cake. 

Before I was allowed to eat my piece of cake, the girls informed me that I needed to move the wise men all the way to the Nativity set. They've been working their way over from the far side of the bookshelves. They finally joined Joseph, Jesus and the Shepherds today. (You may notice that we do not have a Mary in our Nativity set. The set belonged to my grandmother and, sadly, Mary was lost when my grandmother's belongings were being packed up after her death. I have been searching for a replacement for years.) 

The whole family thoroughly enjoyed our relatively quiet Epiphany. It was rather fun to be snowed in (see yesterday's post here) and to have plenty of time for all our little traditions. 

We woke up this morning to a surprising amount of snow. We were expecting flurries. Then we thought there might be a light dusting. What materialized was a couple of inches of snow that came at 5 a.m.--just as the schools had to make their call on whether to delay or close. They chose to delay for two hours, which meant Clare's morning preschool was cancelled and Meg was supposed to arrive at school just after 10 a.m. 

At 6:30 a.m., a 10 a.m. departure seemed perfectly reasonable--even luxurious. But the snow kept accumulating. We also noticed our roads had not yet been plowed. Then at 7:30 a.m. we could see three metro buses had become stuck on the road near our house. Still, there was plenty of time to plow the road and clear the buses. But at 9:30 a.m. the roads were still unplowed and the buses were still stuck. I called Meg's school and informed them she would not be joining them today. We are officially snowed in. 

Our tradition for snow days are pumpkin pancakes (I stockpile the Trader Joe's mix when it is available in the Fall) made using our wintertime pancake molds (purchased from the Williams Sonoma clearance section a few years ago). We are running very low on maple syrup, but happily we had enough to get us through this morning's pancakes. 

Following breakfast, the girls headed out for a quick playtime in the snow. When they came back in, they insisted on our second snow day tradition: hot chocolate. Actually, Clare has finally admitted she doesn't like hot chocolate and now requires tea. But Meg still holds to the hot chocolate tradition, especially if their are marshmallows involved. 

Of course we also had to work in Epiphany. The girls received a couple presents this morning since this is when the Magi brought their gifts to Baby Jesus. Later today we'll be making an Epiphany cake and hot apple cider, but I can provide more details on that tomorrow. 

In the weeks before Christmas, Meg made a stained glass window craft in school that she absolutely loved. The concept is simple. The kids colored with crayons a coloring sheet that looked like a stained glass window of the Holy Family. They then rubbed baby oil on the back with a cotton ball. The baby oil allowed the picture to be seen on the back of the paper and allowed light to easily pass through the picture, which made it more like stained glass. Her class then added a hole and a string to the top of the stained glass windows and created Christmas ornaments.

Meg has been talking about this craft since she made it. She has showed her stained glass ornament to every person who has entered our house since she hung it on the tree. With little to do on Saturday and Epiphany upon us, I told Meg and Clare we would give the craft a try. I did a google search for Wisemen Stained Glass Window coloring sheets and found one. Clare wanted a stained glass window of the Holy Family as well and we found the same coloring sheet that Meg's class had used. 

The girls worked very hard to color in their windows and did a very nice job. I didn't have any baby oil, but my mom had told me that any oil would work, so we used olive oil. I put the oil on the cotton ball and each girl carefully rubbed it onto the back of her stained glass window and magically the picture appeared on the back of the paper. The girls then cut out the stained glass windows, punched holes in the top and found ribbon to thread through the holes. They took the stained glass ornaments upstairs and hung them on the small pink Christmas tree that we put in their room each year and called it their Epiphany tree. I like that creativity.

As I reported yesterday, we've had a week of grandparents. But at 1 p.m. yesterday, my parents left and suddenly we were  back to just the immediate family. I knew we were all going to be a little sad at their departure. Typically, I would beat this sadness with an outing somewhere, but the girls had sniffly noses and the wind outside was cold. So the girls and I decided that a "camp in" was just the ticket. 

My parents gave the girls sleeping bags for their Christmas gift this year. Packaged with each of the cute owl sleeping bags was a little nylon play tent. While the girls had slept in their sleeping bags one night while my parents were here, we had not yet tried out one of the tents. 

Shortly after my parents left, Meg and Clare grabbed their sleeping bags and marched down to the basement family room. I pulled out one of the tents and started assembling the poles and putting them through tent. Soon we had a tent. The girls put their sleeping bags in the tent along with a flashlight and an electric lantern. We turned out the basement lights and I turned on the "fireplace app" on our television. The girls told each other spooky stories and fought off big foot (aka daddy) while I headed upstairs and made s'mores in our microwave. (Before daddy turned into big foot, he kindly picked up graham crackers at the store so Meg and Clare could have s'mores.)

The girls had so much fun camping in the basement, they decided to keep it going. We moved the tent up to the living room where Meg and Clare initially planned to spend the night. Clare gave up on the plan before bedtime and decided to sleep in her own bed. Meg, however, stuck to the  plan and enjoyed a night of camping in. 

It is starting to become a tradition that all the grandparents visit during Christmastide. I keep saying that I feel like George and Martha Washington welcoming visitors between Christmas Day and Epiphany--as was their custom. However, while George and Martha's many visitors were almost certainly a burden to them, our visitors help lift the burden off me. They cook, do dishes, fold clothes and entertain the girls. Rather than being the only adult with the three girls on outings, there is suddenly one adult for each child. Grandparents are the best. 

My mother-in-law flew into town the day after Christmas. She came bearing many of our favorite Rhode Island treats including pizza strips, egg biscuits and a huge tray of gluten and dairy free cookies for Baby Anne's current dietary restrictions. For our part, we only offered her soups made from our leftovers...turkey noodle soup and U.S. House of Representatives Bean Soup (made from our Christmas ham bone). 

One of our favorite Christmastide activities when my mother-in-law is visiting is heading to the Brookland (or Catholic University) section of D.C. We begin with the Franciscan Monastery which is beautifully decorated for Christmas. Last year I spent most of our Franciscan Monastery visit in the car with a fussy, newborn Baby Anne. This year, Baby Anne and I quite enjoyed looking around the Main Church. We especially enjoyed the beautifully decorated shrine of Bethlehem, which was so seasonally appropriate.

From the Franciscan Monastery, we headed to the National Shrine. We were just there a week earlier, but this was our opportunity to see all the trees lit up. I must admit that I am not the biggest fan of the art and architecture of the Upper Church of the Shrine, but it is breathtakingly beautiful when decorated for Christmas. The many trees with their golden lights are quite a sight. From the Shrine, we headed for ZooLights--a legendary Christmas destination in D.C. This was our first visit and I was less than impressed. Perhaps it was because I had been planning to go for so long and my expectations were too high. Perhaps it was because the Festival of Lights at Bull Run Park (which we saw on Christmas night) was so good. Perhaps it was because we were tired. It was just unimpressive to me. Trees were lit up. There were a few animals made of lights. But overall, there wasn't much of a wow factor. 

On Tuesday of Christmas week, my mother-in-law headed back home and my parents came into town. For the second year in a row, we went to the National Gallery of Art on New Year's Eve to hunt down paintings from our advent calendar. For the past two years, our advent calendars have featured paintings from the National Gallery. This year's calendar featured all Madonna and Child paintings. The girls get to know the paintings well as they open the little windows and it is fun for them to find the originals at the Gallery. It was completely their idea to go this year, but sadly they were not on their best behavior while there. The basic problem was a continuing fight over who should hold the advent calendar. At one point they were literally wrestling in the middle of a Renaissance painting gallery over the advent calendar. This was when I was happy to have one adult for each child. My dad took Meg to one room. My mom took Clare into another room. I kept Baby Anne (a.k.a. the easy child). 

After our less than perfect outing to the National Gallery, we stayed pretty close to home. Meg and Anne had sniffly noses. Everyone seemed to like the idea of putting together puzzles, making art and doing sewing projects. The girls did decorate the house for New Year's Eve with streamers and 2015 signs. They had hats and noisemakers. We watched the New Year's fireworks in London (which happen at 7 p.m. our time and are up on YouTube well before our 8 p.m. bedtime). We went to Mass on New Year's Day. But overall, it was a quiet couple of days and everyone seemed to like it that way. 

All the grandparents have gone now and we're a little sad. After all, grandparents are the best.