Skipping Town

Baby Grets, Happy happy birthday!! Five is HUGE. A game changer. You've already changed so much in the past couple of months, and so much more will come this year. Though no one can match the birthday excitement of your sister, you were pretty excited about your big day. I had balloons for you in the morning, and you opened two presents--a Pusheen plush eating a donut, and an Applejack Equestria Girl. You requested chocolate croissants for breakfast (Pillsbury croissants baked with chocolate hazlenut spread). Then you went off to school, where the kids sang Happy Birthday and shared the treat you brought in--vampire donuts. After school, you had a playdate here with a friend whose parents needed some last-minute help. (A hilarious comment I overheard you make as you showed her around your room: "Would you like to see some of my magical things from Disney World?") When Lucia got home, you finally got to open the rest of your presents. You were thrilled with them all,...

One of my least favorite things is when Andrew is away for the weekend. Being alone with the kids during the week has gotten easier--we're so busy with school and activities--but the weekends just feel so isolating. Sigh. Fortunately, Lucia and Greta had lots and lots of things to do today, and we were busy all day long as they played with gifts from yesterday's birthday celebration. Both of them are wild about the Legos we bought at the Lego Store, and we spent most of today working on their sets. Lucia is so good at it--has been for a while but it's always fun to watch her build. The set she chose is the biggest and most challenging she's had yet, and she didn't come anywhere close to finishing it. It's a multi-day set for sure. She loved building it and she also loved just playing with the little characters that came with it. Greta is starting to come into her own with Lego building too--today she worked on the Friends hot dog stand, and she was doing it on...

Dear Lucia, Happy happy 7th birthday, little love. You were so excited about your birthday this year. Every year you're excited--but more so this year than any other so far. You couldn't wait to turn seven (and have stated definitively that you now, in fact, feel seven). You counted down the days till your birthday for weeks; and you were just beside yourself with excitement as the big day approached. So much excitement is adorable, and touching--but it also puts a lot of pressure on me, as your mother, to make sure you have a day that lives up to your expectations. When I remarked to your daddy this week that I was feeling overwhelmed with birthday preparations in the midst of an already crazy week, he suggested I cut some things out--like not bother getting you helium balloons to greet you in the morning, which you had specifically requested. Would you have withered in despair without balloons? No. But I went to the Dollar Tree at 9pm last night to get them anyway. And ...

Ah, fall in New Hampshire. We love coming up here so much in the summer, and usually only make it once or twice in the fall, but somehow our fall visits are among my favorites. We still get outside, but not as much in the cold and damp, so we spend much of the days just here inside, the four of us, enjoying the quiet and stillness. Well, Andrew and I enjoy the quiet and stillness. The girls keep themselves as busy as anywhere else. A rundown of our days so far: Friday, Sept. 30 We drove to NH after Lucia got home from school--a long, endless drive with lots of traffic. Saturday, Oct. 1 L&G started off our weekend with their go-to NH activity: playing doctor with antique kitchen gadgets. Then on to hide and seek. We also played Candyland and Memory. Wary of a rainy weekend, we seized the afternoon to go apple picking at our favorite spot, Riverview Farm. We picked apples, went on a hayride through the orchard and blueberry fields, ate maple ice cream, took pictures by pu...