A Mellow Sunday and a Busier Monday

I am so behind in blogposts that it's probably going to take me all week (and two posts a day) to get through it all.  But before we get to the amazingness that was our first "girls weekend" away I decided to start with pictures from yesterday and today. After our fun filled weekend away, a mellow Sunday at home was just what we all needed.  We spent the day doing stuff around the house that needed doing and Grace spent the morning creating magnificent Lego creations.  The one you see below she specifically asked to have posted on our blog.

Later that day Emma joined me in making dinner and dessert.  She has really taken to cooking and baking, and loves to join in whenever a meal is being prepared.  We started our Sunday with the latest Pioneer Woman show on Food Network, where we saw her make Apple Brown Betty.  We decided that it looked like a good idea for Sunday dinner dessert and made sure to include the necessary ingridents on the shopping list.  It was delicious, though we think we may try a different bread next time instead of the wheat bread.  Perhapse either a heartier wheat or an oatmeal bread would be good.

Today began with getting ready for the girls first dentist appointment at their new dentist.  Thanks to my friend Emily for the fantastic recommendation!  Hopkinton Pediatric Dental is a perfect fit for us. Grace had been to her first dentist appointment the day after she turned three and it was such a horrific experience that we had not taken her to see the dentist since (terrible, I know).  Thankfully, one of our dearest friends had a great place to recommend and the girls had a blast!  They told Dave all about their adventures there at dinner this evening.  This office was so wonderful in that they have sibling appointments where both girls could be seen at the same time.  The staff was great.  They put the girls so much at ease that Grace, who is usually very shy in new situations was very chatty!  They even took pictures of both the girls "first" dental visit!

After their appointment, we headed over to Water Fresh Farm. It has recently opened and since we were pretty much right down the road from it we decided it was the perfect day to check it out.  Such a neat place, they grow all sorts of produce hydroponically.  What a great thing to explore, especially given the bean seeds we are currently trying to sprout (as well as the avocado seeds that don't seem to be doing much).  We chose two lovely bouquets of Daffodils (not grown hydroponically) and headed home.

Upon arriving home we recieved a lovely piece of mail! It was from the girls beloved art teacher, Miss Emily (more on her and their fabulous art class in another blogpost this week) and is our ticket to the Valentine Tea.  We can't wait, and are super excited that my mom is going to join us and complete our table of four!

And finally, my friend (and fellow Amity High School grad) Avital from The Mamafesto posted the link to her latest article for Bamboo Magazine.  She once again asked to interview me for a piece that she was working on, and that piece was released today.  If you click here it will take you to the current issue and if you look on page 72 you'll get to see us!  I should mention that we had just gone on our first lantern walk and Avi had asked me to talk specifically about that since it's not something that many people are familiar with.  And while we might not be the most Waldorfy family out there (I like to say we are unschoolers with a Waldorf flavor) it was a lovely experience and one that we look forward to participating in again.  If you check out the archives page and click on the link for the Fall 2011 issue you'll see us in there too (in the article about alternative education choices).  I had meant to post the link to that one when it first came out and sadly it never happend (and now was my chance to correct that)! 

{This Moment}

{This Moment} - A SouleMama 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're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. We wish you a weekend full of magical moments!

Sprouting Beans

Earlier this week we decided to add yet another growing thing to the list of things we are currently growing.  We had done this project a couple of years ago (click here and here to see our first experiences with this project, as well as pictures of the girls from when they were much smaller) and I thought it would be great to do it again now that the girls are older.  Getting to see the miracle that usually occurs beneath the soil is going to be totally mind blowing for them. They have spent their entire lives digging in the dirt, planting things in soil, and taking care of plants and animals, but to actually get to see the roots appear and the beans move as the roots grow is going to be something that just boggles their minds! I can't wait to see them see this miracle occur.  And I cannot wait to share their reactions with you.

In My Shoes

The other day when the girls discovered their Easter baskets and the alabaster eggs in my closet, they also came upon the fabric bag that contained my wedding shoes.  Since these shoes somehow miraculously escaped being preserved in the box with my wedding dress and veil I figured that the girls might as well try them on and see what it felt like to walk in the shoes their mama walked down the aisle in.  From the moment they were removed from their bag you could tell that the girls were over the moon to be able to touch something that was part of our wedding day.  They each tried them on, admired themselves in the mirror in our room, walked around for a bit and then quietly put them back in my closet. 

Today, while I was in the kitchen cleaning up from breakfast Emma appeared and was once again wearing my wedding shoes.  A flurry of thoughts instantly raced through my head. The first one clearly being "grab the camera" and the next one being "just see what happens".  The moments that were captured in this gorgeously unplanned photoshoot will remain some of my most favorite.  They capture this sweet soul perfectly (and as you can imagine I am already thinking of how these are going to come in so handy on her wedding day).  Looking at the joy, hope, love and sweetness radiating from this little being nearly brought me to tears.  Watching as she giggled at the fact she had my shoes on her feet made me burst with happiness.  And then looking down at her while she looked up at me to convince me to try to get my mama feet in the shoes from the day I was a bride made me realize how these shoes essentially brought me to her and her sister.  To this life.  To this moment.  And I could not have been more grateful.  



Alphabet Hide And Seek

For the last couple of days the girls have been all about having egg hunts.  They discovered their Easter baskets in our closet the other day, along with some alabaster eggs that we decorate with at Spingtime, and from that moment on it was all about egg hunts.  As I watched them this morning I had a brilliant idea:  what about a letter hunt?!  I quickly gathered the letter blocks, sorted out the ones that Grace knows (A-L) from the ones she doesn't, and then gathered the girls. I told them that we were going to have a letter hunt.  To say they were over the moon about this game would be an understatement!  We laid out the letter blocks, reviewed the letter names and sounds and then I sent the girls upstairs so I could hide all the blocks on the first floor.  These girls are hunting machines! After all the letters had been found they would dump them out on the table and we would again go through the letter names and sounds.  Then we would count up each pile of blocks and see who had the most.  It's amazing how something so simple can provide hours of fun!  I think it's safe to say that alphabet hide and seek was a huge hit and that there are many more letter hunts in our future!

Progress

We are so excited that the Amaryllis plants are doing so well this time!  Our avocado seeds are not sprouting yet, but we haven't given up hope that they will.  The girls had an absolute blast using the tape measure to see how tall they were today (which then lead to using the tap measure to measure everything)!  It was a great way to spend a chilly winter day!