Bliss

Today was just blissful. Quiet and mellow and full of love and delight. I took many pictures (more of which I will share tomorrow) but these four just really pulled at my heartstrings. I am so completely in awe of this incredible life we live. And so eternally grateful that I get to share this space with these sweet souls.  

Ice Harvesting

On Saturday we went to Old Sturbridge Village to attend the ice harvest that was taking place. While the girls and I have been to one before Dave never has and has always wanted to. For the last several years this event at Old Sturbridge Village has been canceled for one reason or another. This year we were excited to see that it was a go. We set off, cautiously optimistic that it would in fact still be taking place when we arrived.  

Emma gives it a try. 

And so does Grace.  

"Mama, that was really fun!  And easy!"

Doesn't he look like a pro?

And of course after cutting ice this lead to a discussion about how things were kept cold before refrigerators came to be.  It was a lovely day full of teachable moments and amazing family time. Truly a perfect way to spend a beautiful winter day!

Lovely Moon

If you haven't gone and looked at the moon tonight do it now.  It's truly spectacular!

{This Moment}

{This Moment} - A Soule Mama Friday ritual. A single photo- no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you are inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments section for all to find and see. We hope your weekend is full of cozy moments!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Today has to be one of the coldest days we've had in a really long time. When I went to start the car before heading to the gym this morning the reading was four degrees (with a "real feel" temp of -21).  Needless to say, once I got home from the gym (and a quick trip to the food store) we decided we weren't going anywhere for the rest of the day. Right around lunch time it was decided that we should put a dish of water outside and see how long it would take to freeze. So, of course, one was put outside. 

12:00pm.  Water put on back deck.  How long will it take to freeze?  

At 12:45 Grace checked on it. Still not frozen yet. It was then decided that a second dish of water should go outside. But this one should be put on the front porch in the shade. "Let's see which freezes first!"

Dish #2 (front porch). Guesses were then made as to which would freeze first. Grace and I said it would be the front porch dish, Emma said the one on the back deck. 

2:00pm- "It's a little icy!"

2:54- "Mama! Look! Ice!"

Front Porch Ice- 2:55pm- almost totally frozen. Two hours outside. 

4:26pm- "We have ice!"  

Just shy of four hours outside to freeze a good amount of water!

4:48pm- "It has a bubble in it!"

Almost five hours for the dish on the back deck to freeze.  

And while this was surely not the quickest project it was a lot of fun to check each dish throughout the afternoon and to see the changes that occurred as each dish of water froze. Grace was super excited to see that she had correctly predicted which one would freeze first and Emma was super excited to see that "hers" had a bubble in it!  

Wordless Wednesday::In Her Mama's Glasses

Sunday Night

So, this past Sunday night we settled in to watch the Patriots game and I looked over and noticed this:

Knowing that Kaitlyn's boyfriend Eric was at the game I sent him the picture.  He answered with this:

Needless to say, nothing we could send back would top that! 

Day Of Service

In honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and the Inauguration, we, along with other Girl Scouts in town, participated in the Day of Service canned food drive. It was the first time that the Girl Scouts was running such an event and it was a great way to spend the day. We helped sort the donations that were brought in, had lunch together, watched the Inauguration and made some Valentine's for the senior citizens in our community. It was a pretty incredible day! I love that the girls have grown up giving back. I love that community service is second nature for them.  And I love that we got to honor Dr. King in such a perfect way today.  We hope that each of you had a chance to give back sometime over this long holiday weekend.  It's such a prefect way to honor his legacy.  

Sunday Smiles

Today at church the children got to meet a new friend- Loki the Pomeranian. He is our interim minister's dog and such a sweetheart! He walked in with the choir and ministers as we were singing the first hymn of the day and the girls couldn't believe their eyes. A dog in church! And even better they all got to be formally introduced to him during the children's time today. As Reverend Elizabeth spoke Loki made the rounds and greeted all the kids. It was a true delight to watch. For our animal loving girls this is just one more reason to look forward to Sundays!  

Cookie Cuties

Today the girls participated in their first cookie booth sale.  It was a much earlier "get out the door" start to our day than we are used to but it sure was a super fun way to start our weekend!  We ended up with two tables, one inside the bank and one outside of it, and a total of five girls and four mamas.  A quick text message to Dave and some hot chocolate and munchkins were dropped off.  I'm not yet sure how many boxes we sold yet but it sure seemed like a good amount to me. Now, if only I could have gotten one picture with Em actually looking at the camera.  Ah, the joys of photographing almost five year olds! 

{This Moment}

{This Moment} - A Soule Mama Friday ritual. A single photo- no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you are inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments section for all to find and see. We hope your weekend is full of sweet moments!

Almost There

Working on her collage to complete her Clover petal. 

Only two more petals to go before she has her complete set!

Wordless Wednesday

The Wonderful Word Cube

Thanks to my friend over at the Momgineer I have now discovered a new website called Teachers Pay Teachers.  It's a treasure trove of activities and things to do. Some of which are free to download and some which you pay for. Grace recently has been saying that now that she knows all her letters and their sounds that she'd really like to be able to read some words. And while, yes, back in the day I was a classroom teacher who did in fact help kids learn to read, I knew that I needed to take a different approach with her when it came to this skill. While we are a family who loves books and while we have surrounded the girls with the printed word and have read to them from the moment they were born, I have noticed that Grace is the type of little who needs a wee bit of instruction. I don't want to create "school at home" by any means but I also don't want her to struggle through this very important skill. So, in pondering how to lay the right foundation for her I took to the internet (as all modern mamas do) and decided to explore Teachers Pay Teachers. I discovered some wonderful materials there that I knew she'd adore (like the word cube and accompanying game pictured below).

This is the third word cube Grace has made.  She absolutely loves creating them!

Once the cube is made you can either play by yourself or you can play with friends.  This particular sheet is for an individual player.  And we changed it up so that you are coloring in the squares instead of tracing the words.  Coloring is way more how we roll (pardon the pun) anyway!

Watching her learn to read is just amazing.  To go from not reading one minute to reading the next has been a true joy to witness.  And to know that we get to be there partnering with her every step of the way just makes it that much sweeter.