"If you don't like the weather...

...in New England, just wait a few minutes."
Mark Twain

Yes. Yes, that is very true.

Here we were on March 8th, in New Hampshire, our very first walk on the beach in 2009 (60ºF):





Here we are on March 10th, in New Hampshire (yes, that would be the very next day):





And now...here we are on April 28th, only a little more than a month later. The hottest day I think I have ever spent on a beach ANYWHERE, let alone in New Hampshire...in April. 90 degrees of heat. No lie.

The kids were so dang excited...which of course meant that Soren awoke at 5:30am. So...I decided to make some muffins...which took way longer than I expected them to (long story not worth repeating) which made for a very looong morning for the kids. While I was running around trying desperately to find summer clothes for me to wear, get dressed, make a lunch, clean up the major mess in the kitchen, find sun block, towels, extra clothes, etc..etc...etc.... This is what my kids were doing:
gathering toys from the sand box


chatting in the car...for almost two hours....

5 hours later....(from the 5:30am wake up to the 10:30am arrival)... Soren did not waste ANY time running into the water. Water that would probably be ice if it were still.

But he loved every freezing droplet of it. Anna Clara did not.

CUTE STORY MOMENT: Anna Clara was playing with a watering can sand toy and wanted it filled with water. Soren was covering himself with sand having a grand ole time. She asks him to get her some water. Without hesitation, he gets up and gets his lil sis some water. How's that for a perfect big brother???? Let's hope it continues when he gets REALLY big....

My beach babe:



Happy, happy day at the beach. Only a day, but a GREAT day. Now it's back to 50 and 60 degree weather. Welcome to New England!!

easter wabbits 'n stuff

I don't think I will ever love the holidays as much as I did when I was a lil girl, but being a parent of wee ones and watching them go through what I remember so well as a child is so much dang fun. I love every single holiday, and Easter is no egg-ception (sorry, I just had to).

From the cookies for Soren's pre-school...

to making Easter wabbit (what AC calls him) crayons...

and then of course the decorating....


I bought a way cool egg dye packet with a gold glaze to brush on after the color-dipping and it was really easy and fun...


...and the eggs came out way cool....

Then, of course, there's the baskets and egg hunt (after church, where we learned about and appreciated the real reason for Easter)....


Jim hid them, so he was quite the bunny's helper...








And, of course, I must include the requisite Easter dressy pictures....




We then went to our friends' house in Boston for an afternoon Easter party...


...and then on to another friend's house in New Hampshire for dessert and lots of laughter (but I forgot to take pictures).

We had an egg-cellent Easter (I'm so sorry...I just can't help myself). I hope you did too!!

oh....those curls!

To celebrate my girl's 3-ness...I'd like to have a moment of silence for her curls.
17 months

2 years old





I mean come ON.... Aren't those curls just luscious? Long, long, looong ago, I had similar curls on my head (with the color of her brother's white hair)...but alas, they are nowhere to be found.... I know hers won't be around much longer, so I'm relishing them while they are here to be relished. Like everything else that is to be relished in my girl.....
last summer

today (after crying...so her eyes were a bit puffy)

me and my girl (my lame attempt at taking a picture of us)

She loves playing in the rain...my kinda girl!