Monday, May 12, 2014

Mama's Day, 2014



Mother's Day this year was simple and sweet.  On Mother's Day Eve, Lou and I had a night out while the girls stayed at Grandma & DD's house. And while we had big plans for yardwork and productivity, instead we drank too much wine, ate truffle fries and beignets for dinner at 11pm and slept until it was just about time to go pick them up on Sunday morning. In other words, it was perfect.

Mother's Day itself started with a barista-decorated Starbucks surprise in bed then a trip to Xenia to see my Mama for Mother's Day and to head up to Yellow Springs for lunch.

The girls love their grandparents' house.


Walking under the dogwood tree in my parents' back yard brings back a lot of happy memories.

Before we left for lunch, Josie and DD surprised me with the super awesome new skill he taught her! Archery! Besides being awesome for obvious reasons, the other lovely layer here is that I was taught in this same backyard on the same bow and arrow --- that my dad was taught on when he got it when he was just 11 years old! How cool is that? Josie was a total natural! She's intense, that one.
Despite early morning downpours, it ended up being an absolutely gorgeous day. 

Having spent so much time in Yellow Springs growing up, it always gives me goosebumps to see my little girls running around in the same spots that I used to hang out in with my friends (way back when being a mom seemed lightyears away).



(Josie insisted it was too bright to open her eyes...stinker!)

After lunch we headed to Young's Dairy to do exactly what you do at Young's Dairy.


Everyone loves feeding goats at Young's. The priority for our girls is cuddling them!






















After a great afternoon in Yellow Springs and ice cream of course, we headed home where the girls asked me to sit on the swing and close my eyes while they showered me with surprises!










Perfect Mother's Day through and through.





Thursday, May 8, 2014

These Days, April




April was awesome. The world around us finally finally (finally!) came back to life and we all welcomed spring with big open arms. As I remarked on the instagram of the photo above:
The passage of time in these parts plays out in big feats accomplished during first spring visits to the playground that seemed impossible at final autumn visits months ago. Today, in her new shark rainboots & with both arms outstretched, she asked "please I do this by myself" then nearly knocked me over with a celebratory hug when she made it "all the way across; even the big big step one." Last time she attempted this it required two mama hands. 

Yes, April was awesome. We loved you April. Here are some of the little moments that show why! And to think these don't even include our big April Amazooma trip pics.

**

Josie "working" in my office.

Endless hours of dress-up.



YAY! The fountain is back!

Play-doh has been taken to a whole 'nother level.

Sunny Wednesday mornings with Bea (and a major hair cut for mama). 





Sunny Days!!
"Tunes and Blooms"

Flower Walk Bounty

The return of freckled cheeks!
Some great photos from the girl's sweet sitter Grace of the girls with her pups!


EASTER came! (We celebrated at home a week early.)










Happy Birthday Cousin Morgan!

This happened. I don't want to talk about it.


The sweet neighborhood girls have quickly become new best friends!


Grandma & DD visited!

Our April mantra:
It worked. :)

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Sing Ob La Di Bla Da - Hey!



Miss Josephine's second piano recital was over the weekend. We are SOOOO proud of her. Apparently she is not yet of the age when getting up in front of a room full of strangers to play two songs on the piano seems stressful or scary. Apparently she is instead of the age when such an event means nothing but sheer excitement!

We were really really proud of Josie this year because she picked her two hardest and most challenging pieces from the year for her recital. We've been working on encouraging and supporting risk-taking, so her song selections made us so proud!



She played an arrangement of The Beatles "Ob La Di, Ob La Da" that her piano teacher put together for her after she declared it her new favorite song a few months back, as well as a duet of "Alouette" with her teacher. In both cases, those little sticky spots revealed their sticky little heads, but she played on with a smile and we couldn't be more proud of her! Go Josie!





Piano recitals are a big deal, so we made a big deal out of the event. We had a family dinner with Grandma & DD at Buca Di Beppo.




Like I said, Josie was more than just a little excited!





Bea entertained herself with dramatic rescues of Elsa by her buddy Rapunzel. 








YAY JOSIE!!!


DD left us special graffiti to commemorate the occasion. Thanks DD!

Monday, May 5, 2014

This happened. #amazoomaspringbreak

We just wrapped one heckuvan awesome week in Arizona. There's sooo much to share here that will trickle out over the coming weeks (and one day become the pages of our printed 2014 family yearbook generated by this here blog). Here's a sneak peek of one of the only pics of all four of us from our week in Arizona. (Or Amazooma if you're Beatrice.)

Thursday, May 1, 2014

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