Shane's cousin, Ashley, is staying with us

We have been lucky to have Ashley visiting us this last week. The quality time she spends with Mia after dinner and before work has been a godsend. Ashley has been interning at the SSC, which is helpful to me at work too. Win Win for me. We look forward to the next two weeks.

A spring start to flowers and fairies

Just wanted to share a few photos to illustrate the start of our garden. We created three raised beds and are filling them daily with seeds, seedlings and "slimies" (Mia's name for the worms she finds around the yard)
As you may recall we endured quite an ice storm last fall. We used to have massive cedar trees acting as a border to our property. Instead of pulling all the trunks of the trees that came down, we opted to make them into a magical fairy garden. It too, we hope, will grow and blosoom this spring and summer. Above is the princess chair Shane made Mia so she can climb, and play

while watching her garden grow. Below are the fairy houses and the connecting bridge that are taking shape too.

And yes all the neighbors stop as they walk by to see what we're creating. Its been a great way to meet the neighbors ( the kids love it and always want to see what has sprotted up) or at least get a sense of who we want to meet (from our office window we've seen one or two that seem to shake their head as they pass by)

A playdate to a local park

Mia gives playdate a whole new meaning. We joined our friends the Leavitts (Kate, Aidan and Nick) at a local park. Though the slide and the swings were fun, Mia most enjoyed hanging out with Aidan (who's a good-do-be 9yr old). She followed him around the whole morning and wanted to hold his hand any chance she could get. Boy are we in trouble since it looks like Mia takes after her mom

Dress up

Mia is just starting to like playing dress up. Often in the mornings she doesn't want to take off her pj's, but instead wants to put clothes on over them. She also is more aware of her babies (all of which seem to be called EMMA) and what they are wearing.