Having fun with Grandma and Grandpa

Album link to more pictures from their visit

The girls had a great time visiting with their Grandma and Grandpa A this weekend. They did all sorts of fun things like fly kites, get their first haircuts and make meatloaf. We had a very fun time. Thanks for coming to see us!

XO


Cooking dinner with Grandma.


Taking a break from flying kites with Grandpa.


Grandma and Lily before library school.


Sharing some hot chocolate.

Hey, isn't it supposed to be spring?

We woke up this morning to 5 inches of hard crunchy ice. Hard to believe that 3 days ago we were sitting outside in tshirts and eating icecream.



Elsa and I share the same sentiments. Boo Hoo!



Lily has taken it in stride. Yay! More Sledding!

2.5!

The girls celebrated their half birthday with a high of 79 degrees. It was beautiful. Sunny warm days make everyone happy. We played in the park and went out for strawberry icecream. This afternoon it will rain and then a 40 degree temperature drop is predicted by tomorrow morning! We might even get snow. This is because I tempted fate by putting away the girls' snowsuits and boots. Crazy March weather. Let's hope it warms up before Grandma and Grandpa's visit next week.

PS~you can click on the pictures to see them larger.


E working hard at our favorite sandbox park.


E and L using teamwork to get the job done.


E love watering buckets, even for sand.


E makes her sister laugh.


E walks her baby around the tree.

Twins in my sidecar

I'd like to start this post by thanking Congress for moving the start of daylight savings time up three weeks. Starting the day at 6am is much better for morale than the usual 5am. *Shhhh...we haven't told the girls about the time change. It is our little secret!*

Lily and Elsa are doing well. Their half-birthday is on Thursday. Hard to believe they are almost closer to 3 than 2. They are sweet and fabulous little girls. They are getting to the stage where they are saying the darndest things. For example, when they want something, it will be repeated about 49 times like "I want chicken nuggets for breakfast" said over and over until one of us will ask. "You want chicken nuggets for BREAKFAST?" And Elsa or Lily will say "Okay." (Like it was our idea all along and they are just cooperating."



Lily, seen here in her "Miss Pink" outfit, is a big fan of multi-syllable exclamations. She regularly calls things "fantastic, ridiculous or delicious." She also told us we were being "embarrassing" when we didn't give her anymore ketchup the other night at dinner. Not quite sure if she got the meaning quite down.


Don't Elsa's eyes look amazing in this picture? Ms. Elsa has another funny quirk. For months and months, "no" was the answer to any question we asked her. Now she's changed her tune. If she likes something, she'll say "okaaaay" in a pretty sing-song voice. But, if she doesn't want something she says "Sorry mom, I can't" or "No thanks, I can't do that right now." It is pretty hysterical.


Spring is in the air. The girls and I are enjoying being outside again. Being cooped up all Winter was no fun. Here we are taking a spin in our new ride. Mommy got a bike and the girls got a sidecar. So, now we have our summer transport. The girls and I took a test drive to the park. Very fun. We ordered an additional coupler so Mark can attach the trailer to his bike, too. I'm excited to take the girls down to the tow path for rides.


Lily thinks the orange flag is the coolest part.

It is Maple Syrup time

Buster the Horse sticks out his tongue at Mark and Elsa.


For our family adventure this week we took the girls to the Howell Living History Farm. They were having a maple sap harvest. Back in Indiana, I used to go to the Maple Sugar festival out at the Dunes. So, I was happy to share a piece of my childhood with my family.

It was really fun. The farm was about 15 miles away from P-ton out in the hills near the Penn border. Mark had never seen a maple sap harvest before, so it was cool to show him something new. They had a large grove of trees tapped and we got to participate in the collection. There was a huge workhorse named Buster pulling a sledge of large collecting containers The rangers let all the kids take the small buckets off the trees and add them to the sledge. We've had a large thaw this week, so the trees were really going. The whole grove was thunking as the sap hit the metal buckets.The girls happen to think that maple syrup is one of the best foods on Earth (right along with ketchup, icecream cones and chicken nuggets). So, they were very impressed to see "maple syrup" pouring out of the trees like a faucet. Lily and Elsa wanted to taste the sap, so we did. But, it wasn't very sweet yet.


Checking for sap.

Later we sloshed up the hill to watch them boil down. My favorite moment of the trip was while we were walking through a muddy field and Elsa just started spontaneously giggling. I asked her if she was enjoying the day and she said "Elsie is REALLY happy." What else could a mother want to hear from their kid? Like we do most nights, I asked the girls to recap our day and Lily said, "we had family time, Mommy." Good to know the girls appreciate our time together. They are such sweeties.


Happy Elsa checking the well water.


Lily and Mommy in the horsebarn


Talkin' to the chickens. (L,E)


More pictures in our flickr set...