Today we welcomed a new addition to the family...

It's a girl! We named her Goldie.

It's true. After many months (about 6) of heated discussion, debate, surveying larger-familied friends, relatives and neighbors, and surfing craigslist, Josh finally came around and embraced the inevitable. We are now officially mini-vanners. Never thought the day would come!

Sailing in Boston Harbor

We discovered that the Boston Sailing Club gives free sailing lessons/rides one Saturday each year. Sometimes we drive down just to look at all the boats sailing around (upon Wells' request) so we knew we couldn't pass this up. The wait wasn't too bad and the 40 minute ride was really cool. I was surprised at the kids, though, who both requested to 'go faster' and asked for a motor boat ride next time! Little speed demons!

Egg Dying

Our egg dying activity was fraught with many casualties but we also ended up with some beautiful- and tasty results. Watching the kids chow down on their master-pieces made me feel a little better about their dismal attempts at eating dinner that night. Josh was heartbroken at the utter "waste" of lemon juice (we were all out of vinegar) but I think all-in-all the project was worthwhile, from a nutritional, educational (we ended with a lesson on primary and secondary color mixing) and creative standpoint.

The Hunt

I forgot to change the setting on my camera so these pictures have horrible color, but I think they're sufficient to see who came to our house yesterday! Wells really impressed me during our egg hunt. He kept up with Nora pretty well and only stopped a couple times to open eggs along the way. I guess having an older sibling really offers some valuable competitive training.

The Baskets

Maybe I have totally spoiled my kids, but I LOVE holidays since becoming a mom. My entire life I have dreamed of how fun it would be to have kids on Easter, Christmas, etc.. Nora and Wells absolutely love the bunnies Ruby and Max cartoons. In fact, they are the only shows that they watch, in the car on long drives. I think it's because Nora is Ruby to a tee and Wells is Max. I found these adorable Ruby and Max dolls on-line and bought them months ago. It was a good choice- they have been playing with them non-stop since they pulled them out of the baskets. The chocolate bunnies were a special request and I was shocked and amazed to see Wells eat his all in one shot- in a about 45 seconds- chocolate drool all down his shirt. I wish I had gotten a picture of that. Have I mentioned how much I love Easter?

Easter!

Getting these pictures of the kids was nothing short of a miracle. I had to bribe them with promises of Easter treats if they cooperated- and it worked! Church had just ended and the easter attire was not yet streaked with chocolate drool from the sugar-fest that was to follow. One year I accidently bought Nora an easter dress that I discovered later was dry-clean only, even though the sales clerk assured me that gapkids carried no such thing. Are you kidding me? Who dry cleans clothes for a two year old? But I digress. These pictures were a major Score!

Reading

Ever since Nora started reading, my job has gotten so much easier! She used to always ask me to read to her, which I love doing, don't get me wrong, but it would be the first thing she wanted in the morning (before my eyes were even open) and no other task that I was busy with seemed important enough to do instead of reading. Now, she can sit down with a book while I'm cleaning up breakfast, getting dressed, etc.. The best part comes when she reads to Wells, which makes me feel great because I have always feared that I haven't read to him enough. Here she is reading Wells his new book before ballet class while I get ready to go. Score!

Birthday Party

Nora choose to have her birthday party at a plaster painting studio this year. It turned out to be really cool. Each of her guests was able to choose a plaster piece to paint which was then sprayed with either a shiny or glittery finish. We topped it off with pizza, fruit, ice cream, and of course, cup cakes! Nora was in heaven. She had all her favorite friends from school, church, and her old playgroup and was able to do a craft that she loved. All in all, a huge success!

Happy Birthday, Nora!

My baby turned 5. I'm still in shock. We had a nice dinner with her cousins with a menu of her choice- homemade cheese pizza, cherry juice and cake and ice cream. The next morning, (her actual birthday) we surprised her with a few gifts that I was very excited about- the best in my opinion was a very cute, but non-breakable, thank goodness, tea set. Now she can stop cutting 2-dimensional tea pots out of paper. Happy birthday, Nora!

The All-Star Line-Up

#1

#2

#3

Apostles and Prophets

You gotta love General Conference from the eyes of a 4 year old.

Little Dancer

Two years ago I signed Nora up for a 10 week dance class at the local rec center. I thought the teacher was awesome and the price was good. Nora had a really good time, too. At the end of the class I asked Nora if she wanted to sign up for the next session and she said "No, I think it was a little too hard" I was really surprised, but not about to force her to do it. Instead, we tried gymnastics which she also said was "too hard". Oh well. Lately, she has shown a lot of interest in dance again. When I asked if she wanted to try a class, she got really excited. Because the program goes from age 2 to 6, she was still eligible and I signed her up for the 4-5 year old class. When we got there, there was the same great teacher that she had before and the crazy part is that the lady actually remembered the almost 5 year old Nora from her memory of the almost 3 year old one. Nora loved her first class and is looking forward to the next. It will be interesting to see if she sticks with it this time. I hope so- tap and ballet shoes aren't cheap. In the meantime, she sure looks cute in her little dance outfit.

Skiing!

Hogle Zoo

We made sure to visit Hogle Zoo with my dad while we were in Utah. It was a beautiful- almost warm! and sunny day and we had a blast. This zoo is huge compared to ours and it took almost all day to see it all. As you can see, Wells gave it two thumbs up!