Skipping Town

Dear Grets, Every day, you make us laugh. Every day, you make us want to scream. You are two, and you have become so headstrong, so emotional, and so hilarious that we never know what’s going to happen from one minute to the next. The only certainty is this: most of the time, you’ll be doing something you’re not supposed to be doing; and most of the time, it’s something that annoys Lucia. It’s amazing to watch you embrace your role as the quintessential Little Sister. You idolize Lucia—but, in your adoration, you also know exactly how best to get her goat. Sometimes you poke your finger toward her, squinching up your little face. This always gets a reaction from Lucia: “MAMA SHE’S POINTING AT ME!!! SHE’S POINTING!!!” Sometimes you actually poke her in the arm or leg, which (obviously) infuriates her. You sometimes grab whatever object she treasures most at the moment and just take off running, holding it close to your chest like a football, while Lucia screams and runs aft...

I returned to the church sale tonight and, of course, came home with a successful bounty: small microplane grater for NH metal tongs 2 mini-cupcake pans 2 mugs 8 children's books 10 Little People animals 1 vintage Little People boy 1 vintage Little People dog tiny stuffed lamb 2 tiny ponies white noise machine (identical to Lucia's old one, destroyed in the NH storm!) 2 tiny dinosaur figurines 1 medium-size shark figurine The final day of the sale is Thursday, one last hurrah.

We're still here, still surviving--thriving--with only a dorm fridge and a cooler, and though there has been more rain and lightning, our power has stayed on. It's been another few days of quiet and relaxation. We've spent most of our time at the pond, the girls' favorite spot: feeding fish, spotting tadpoles and salamanders, fishing with long sticks for great hunks of algae, tempting frogs with long grass stalks to jump and chomp. Today, as a kind of blessing or omen, we spotted the pond's fabled snapping turtle. We were all on the dock, tossing bits of bread in to entice the fish, when suddenly something larger, much larger, emerged from the deep. It was beautiful and terrifying, and it hovered there at the surface, its long, wrinkled legs treading water, and watched us. Then it swam serenely away, under the algae leaves. It surfaced one more time while we played, and then it was gone. Neither Andrew nor I really believed the turtle was real. We've heard a...

It's my favorite time of year: our extended stay off-the-grid in New Hampshire. We're here for eleven days this time, our longest stint ever, and so far it's been the usual mix of complete bliss and vexing, unpredictable difficulties. We arrived very late Wednesday night, and had a perfectly lovely time for most of Thursday: pulling out the toys from the barn, filling the wading pool, visiting the frogs. But right before the girls' bedtime, a huge storm blew in--deafening thunder, terrifying lightning. At one point, all the lights in the kitchen blazed on, and I saw smoke by one of them; then--nothing. No power. A power outage seems to be a given each time we come up here. Still, we never seem to remember to get batteries for the flashlights or stock up on candles. Andrew found one small working flashlight, and we tried not to be too worried about the fully stocked fridge. We decided to just go to sleep. Around midnight, we were woken up by the fan in our room whirr...

Oh bliss! It's church sale time. Today was the opening night, and I felt positively giddy as I lined up early, waiting to enter with my two gigantic Ikea bags and a walletful of cash. It did not disappoint. I came home with both bags full, plus a trunk full of larger items. My haul: a Plasma car (and I got another at a yard sale last weekend, so now I have 2) 2 sawhorses for Andrew 5 large trucks and fire engines for Luca a handful of Matchbox cars for Luca 6 dinosaur figurines 2 shark figurines a handful of Littlest Pet Shop animals a handful of small animal-squirters for the pool/water table/tub a bag of Little People-type animals a bulk bag of adjustable metal kids' rings to which you can hot glue any number of items (perfect winter-day activity, making a hundred rings from coins, buttons, stones, etc etc) a dinosaur puzzle a poker chip spinner full of poker chips (another winter-day keeper) a pile of fabric remnants and samples to make pillows (to put on the b...