Snow Books

One of the things I enjoy about winter is cuddling up on our sofa for storytime. Our schedule earlier in the year had us running around too much in the afternoon so I moved some things around so we could have a slower pace after school. Once we put away our Christmas books I took out our Winter books. Sometimes I find it hard to keep Lauren engaged in some of the longer stories but overall I think she does really well. In the busyness of our days, I think this is a really special time for us.

We love the My First Little House books - particularly Sugar Snow. Hopefully we can make a little field trip to learn more about maple sugar. Below are some of the other books we've been enjoying lately.

Apple Picking 2010

We made our annual trip to Alstede Farms this past weekend. For several years, we would go pumpkin picking but now we like to go apple picking there. We had a GREAT time! It was a beautiful day and everything is a lot easier now that Lauren is older (and pretty much potty trained). :-)

Lots of pictures....

We ate a lot of apples and also made some applesauce. I always look forward to these traditional outings.

Labor Day & The End of Summer 2010

Today was another beautiful day. It is too bad that the temperatures are going to shoot back up tomorrow. We tried to have a low key kind of day since tomorrow is Jessica's first day of Kindergarten (more on that tomorrow). I took the girls for a walk to the pond. We've really been enjoying our walks lately. The girls played outside and had a picnic lunch in the backyard. Scott had a lot of work to do today but he was able to take the girls out to the playground while I finished my massive "organizing paperwork" project. It was just a simple day that marked the end of a wonderful summer.

I think a lot of people look forward to the start of school in order to get back into a routine and have more "me" time. The end of summer is bittersweet for me. I am going to miss being in control of how we spend our days. I used to love the start of school as a child - backpacks, school supplies, some new clothes - but as a parent now, it seems like we'll be doing so much running around. I really hope to keep up with our storytimes and to just help make our home a haven from all the busyness. I also want to make sure that the girls get plenty of time together too.

But as a last hurrah to the summer of 2010, let's look back at some of the things we got to do:

> Visit from Grammy

> Going to Great Adventure

> Vacation Bible School

> Town pool & Beach Visits

> Gymnastics Camp

> Outer Banks

> Crayola Factory

> Bronx Zoo

> Playgrounds

> Birthday parties

> BBQs

> Swim Lessons

> Dance class

> Library Summer Reading Program

> Potty Training

> Boardwalk Visits

It was a full and enjoyable summer. I am so thankful for all the special moments our family had together. I feel blessed beyond measure.

Bronx Zoo and #2

Well today was a great day!! First, it was Grammy's birthday...a very special day. I can't wait to see her next week and spend some time together. Next week is Jen's Ironman competition in Madison, WI!

Today, the weather was beautiful, we had a great family day AND Lauren did #2 on the potty! We started potty training again last Friday. I figured this was our last free week until December. She did great today...no accidents AND #2 (which was our problem the first time we tried training)! I still get nervous about waiting for her to tell me so I sometimes initiate taking her. I just put a pull up on at night. She is usually dry in the morning but better safe than sorry. She won't let me put on a pull up at nap time. I'm really hoping she's got it now and that we may be pull up and diaper free.

Today was a gorgeous day and perfect for taking the girls to the zoo. I wanted to do another special little outing before school starts this week. We had a great time and were there all day. We skipped the double stroller and Jess walked all day. Lauren walked lots too but still hopped in the stroller to take some small breaks. They loved the butterflies, monkeys, the special Dora show and the bug carousel. It was great just sharing the day all together.

Apparently Lauren had some important work to do on the drive over to the zoo.

I love this Eric Carle butterfly!

I can't wait for Fall!

Spring Cookies & Spring Showers

It has been raining a lot around here lately and April isn't even here yet! We can't wait for the sun and some time at the playground or in the backyard. We've just been wearing a whole lot of rain gear. Like this...

Poor thing ~ she needs a little raincoat. Hopefully I can find a little Hello Kitty one to match her boots. Oh and she goes through the hat/glove basket and makes her own selections. Totally not worth messing with it. :-)

It is days like this that make me wish we could put our car in the garage. Lugging kids in and out of the car when it is pouring is not fun. But there are worse problems to have so we try to make the best of it and do some baking, reading, playing and spending time with friends and hopefully the sun will be shining soon.

We baked cookies this week. I'd like to say they were Easter cookies but aside from some bunny cookies cutters I had, they were more like Spring cookies - no cross, no eggs - just butterflies, tulips and a random cupcake. The girls had a lot of fun with making the dough and tasting it, cutting the cookies and tasting them, making the frosting and tasting it and decorating the cookies and tasting the decorations. Do you see a trend here? It was really nice that Lauren could really participate too. She was a pretty good listener too except for when I told her no more chocolate chips and she kept sneaking them.

Making the Dough - Don't let Lauren's face fool you - she had fun, really she did. :-)

Rolling & Cutting

The Decorating Set Up

And drum roll please....

Is it Spring Yet?...Almost!!

This past weekend the sun was shining and it made you feel that Spring may actually arrive soon. However, it really only felt that way IN the sun. It was still pretty chilly in the shade. Regardless, it was the kind of weather that you just wanted to get out and enjoy. I pruned back some of our bushes that are supposed to be ok to prune now. I hope I didn't kill them. We also headed out to the Maple Sugar Festival at the Reeves Reed Arboretum and we actually went and got ice cream afterwards (the first visit of the year).

The festival was actually kind of small but a lot of fun and pretty informative. We listened to someone speak about maple trees, maple sap and its conversion to syrup. Jess learned it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. There was a little scavenger hunt where you answered questions related to the information we had just learned. And all of this was followed up by some yummy TASTING. It was just nice to be out together. Scott had to travel on Sunday (total bummer) so we just wanted to make the most of it...all together. :-)

I'm so glad we wore rainboots. The ground was pretty soggy.


This is Jess checking out a compass. There were different spots on the tree marked A-D and we had to determine which would be the best spot for drawing sap. The answer is the South side.


After the tasting, they offered pancakes with syrup, bananas and cider. Nobody seemed interested in taking a photo...except Mommy.



Next stop...ice cream at McCool's in Madison: