Happy April!

Our day started with a trip to the library followed by lunch outside on the deck. 

Soaking in all that wonderful sun was fabulous!

After lunch we headed over to Natick Community Organic Farm to meet up with some friends. 

We checked in with the animals while we were waiting. 

A sure sign of springs presence. 

Peeking into the hen house. 

Hello hen!

What a beautiful shade of blue the sky was today!

Such a sweet family. 

There's just something about this picture that I love. 

I can't explain what it is but I just find it so charming. 

Exploring with friends. These four have known each other basically their whole lives. It was a joy to watch them play today while Emily and I chatted. They had quite an elaborate game going on and really did not want to leave when it was time to say our good-byes.Though go we must as Emma had dance class to get to this afternoon. Otherwise we surely would have stayed even longer!

What a glorious day spent almost entirely outside! After dance class we came home and played with the neighbors before dinner. More playing for the girls and more chatting for me. Being able to be outside without layer upon layer, being able to bask in the warmth of the sun (it's amazing how warm 54 degrees feels after how cold the winter was) and being able to run and jump and play is just what we all needed today. Days like this, full of time outside, connecting with nature and friends, is good for soul, dear friends. Thank you, Spring Fairies, for letting the first day of this new month be full of wonderful weather and so much promise. It was a true joy to behold! 

{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!

No Jacket Required

Today it reached just about 60 degrees!  The sky was a gorgeous shade of blue, the clouds were perfectly puffy, and the sun was happily shining down.  It was simply amazing!  A glorious day such as this surely calls for an adventure to be had.  And, as luck would have it, plans had already been made to meet up with my friend Julie at the Natick Community Organic Farm.  Our timing couldn't have been any better!

Someone get these girls a farm, please!

What started out as a simple errand of dropping off some yarn to my friend Julie turned into a completely lovely adventure.  Our time spent at the farm today was just what we all needed. Soaking in loads of Vitamin D and connecting with nature truly feeds our souls.  Watching the girls run with wild abandon and connect with their friends and the animals made me feel (once again) that they really should be farm kids.  They would do well with lots of land to explore, animals to take care of and gardens to tend.  Thankfully we have the last two covered!  Thank you Mother Nature for this gift of this day!  We girls truly appreciated it!

Sugaring Season

It's sugaring time here in New England!  And as a way to learn more about this amazing process we headed over to the Natick Community Organic Farm this morning for their Maple Magic event.  We had some very yummy pancakes and then walked over to the farm to see what was going on.

Listening to Native American folk tales about maple syrup.

Then we moved on to hearing about sugaring in Colonial times.

They would keep three pots going, always moving the liquid from left to right, keeping the coldest sap in the pot on the far left and the hottest liquid in the pot on the far right.

As we were getting ready to head to the sugar house we stopped by to visit the sheep.  Two lambs had been born recently and it was such a treat to get to see them.  Another sign that spring really is on the way!  Sadly, I slipped on a very icy spot which put an end to our trip right then.  Thankfully, we know of another sugaring event taking place at the end of the month so we can see a sugar house in action then since we did not get to see it today!  It truly is an amazing process, and once you see how time and labor intensive the sugaring process is you will never again question why pure maple syrup is as expensive as it is!

Field Trip Friday

Yesterday the weather was so gorgeous it was begging for us to spend the day outside.  We decided to oblige and invited our friends to come over and head to the Natick Community Organic Farm with us. We all piled into our van and headed on our way. 

On our way back home, the little ones fell asleep. Instead of waking up Will, Mary decided to just take all four children back to her house.  She and I decided that we would meet up after dinner so Dave and I could collect the girls. What a treat to have a whole afternoon to myself (and a date night with Dave, too)!