June 2017

Summer in Massachusetts has been fun so far, and we just started! - it makes the winter worth it :) We started off this month at a local "touch-a-truck" event. All the public works trucks and tractors come out and the kids get to climb inside and see how they all work. It was a great little event.

We have also been enjoying candlepin bowling. It is so perfect for the little kids. You keep your own score so they can honestly just roll balls down to their hearts' delight. I love these little videos of them- cute little Elle is even able to do it on her own!

We've been on a puzzle kick over here lately. Jayne is quite good and can do 100 piece puzzles all on her own and Elle loves to be included and do hers with mommy's help.

Jayne is also very artistic. She's only 3.5yrs old and colored this all on her own. I was super impressed!

One morning I came into the living room and found this adorable scene. They'd set it all up themselves. Melts my momma heart!

The girls really are two peas in a pod (most of the time!) I love that Jayne will read Elle books (video) or they just play, or dress-up etc. I'm so grateful that they have each other.

 We've gotten a few swim days in lately as well. This particular day we went both before and after naptime :) We just have to take advantage of the hot days!

Some of our friends invited us to go berry picking at a local farm. Its normal out here in New England for all the little farms to offer berry picking, apple picking etc throughout the various seasons of the year. 

It was fun for the girls to get to pick their own...and eat their own. Elle loved it and kept saying, "Morrrrr strawberry shortcake!" (more strawberries!) as she picked and ate away :)

Our neighbor/friend discovered a local pond with a free beach area that we visited together. It was so pretty and a perfect summer activity...without having to haul everyone to the real beach. Perfect!

We're loving the beginning to our first New England summer!

May 2017

The first weekend in May Jayne and I got to go to a Mother-Daughter Princess Tea. I loved getting some one-on-one time with my sweet girl. Jayne loved the crafts and dressing up!

New England spring is amazing! It iss short but oh so sweet, and worth the wait! Everything is so green and vibrant. This is a row of bushes in right in our little community. Nothing to look at during the winter but so beautiful in the spring/summer! We're finding beautiful flowers everywhere we look these days.

Traditional Mothers Day picture with my two girls - so grateful to be their momma!

Elsa came to visit the library, and of course we were there :) My two Elsas were so cute and excited to meet her. I love how excited they get, even for the small things.

Like I said, spring is finally here so we've been exploring the local parks. Phil went out of town for work so it was the perfect way to pass the time and to wear out the girls.

Elle has recently loved playing peek-a-boo at the library with "da sheeeeeeep".  Her little grin is perfection!

Like I said, with Phil gone (and crazy warm weather all of a sudden) we got creative with our time. One day we went to Bass Pro Shops, or "the fish store" as Jayne likes to call it, to explore. It was perfect, air conditioned and we spent a good chunk of time there. The girls loved exploring and Jayne especially like following all the animal tracks around the store. She was really good at figuring out where they went, even when they'd go under displays/store items and come out the other side. It was a great way to get out of the house!

The girls would go in tents/camping beds at the store and tell me, "Mom, we just want to go camping. Can we go camping?"

I brought some lunch and we ended our visit eating it in the cafe area. We'll definitely be back!

-One day while Phil was gone we ventured out to Chick-fil-A. Oh how we've missed that place! The closest one to us is about 40 min away, but it was worth it. Its Jayne's favorite restaurant - they are much more conveniently located in Utah, where it became her fave - so she was extra excited. 

-The second picture is Jayne's hair after naptime...remember I said we had a crazy heat wave? Well that and the humidity made for some pretty curls! 

-The last photo is Jayne with her "present" from daddy's trip. Its an advertisement for endometriosis treatment but its like a little tablet that plays 3 different case studies and explains the patients options etc. Jayne loves it and watches it continually. Its hilarious!

Another day with out dad - this time at Ward's Berry Farm. Its mostly just a green house at this time of year, but they had some fun swings and a slide out back, plus we got to go in the barn and see a few animals. Its just so nice to finally be in Massachusetts and feel like we want to be outside! We decided that we needed to bring daddy back with us when he gets home.

Our little playgroup ended the year at the zoo. I didn't get any pictures of us with our friends but snapped a few of our cuties. Looking back I'm realizing we explored so much this month! It was a nice little zoo, perfect for the kids. Near the end of our visit we figured out the water fountains had been turned on so the girls had fun getting wet before heading to the car.

Once dad came home, we headed back to Ward's Berry Farm. We actually fed the animals this time, climbed on the tractor tires and enjoyed a nice, farm fresh smoothie - a perfect Memorial Day! There were baby lambs that were adorable, and also a crazy goat named Remy. He was hilarious and keep baa-ing and begging for food. We had to keep a close eye on him :)

Its nice to have this guy back...and to be in short sleeves!!

Dinner at Friendly's with our friends for Memorial Day

We are so loving the spring and learning about the area we live in. There is so much to do, wherever you live, you just have to find it. Having these two adorable explorers with me makes it all that much more fun!

April 2017

We started off the month with a visit from Mum & Dad B. New England showed off its rain shower-power for most their visit but we still had a lot of fun. Mum and Dad went into the city with Phil and visited Harvard Med School Quad, Phil's work and stopped by Fenway Park. They were meant to go to a Red Sox game but it was rained out!

We visited the park and learned new tricks, played games at night and celebrated Dad's birthday.

We introduced Mum & Dad to candlepin bowling at the local alley - Jayne and Elle love it as they can hold the balls themselves.

We took a trip up to New Hampshire one Saturday to visit Keith and Nerissa and their girls. These cuties always get along so well!

We made a day of it and trekked out to Vermont to Joseph Smith's birthplace. It was a nice little trip through the snowy woods and these kids loved stretching their legs by running around in the frigid temps.

After Mum & Dad's visit we celebrated Easter. Jayne's increasing understanding of holidays makes each one better and better. They happily searched for eggs and loved finding the candy inside.

Easter dresse!

My mom sent little gifts over with Phil's parents (they stopped in Utah on the way) and the girls loved them...and wanted to swimming right away. A few more months girls :)

LOVE!

Jayne got an Ariel dress up from the easter bunny...and of course Elle had to get in on the dress up action :)

Because the Red Sox game was rained out when Mum & Dad were here, we were able to used the tickets and go as a family later that month. It was a beautiful spring day, we loved being inside historic Fenway Park and girls lasted the entire time - plus the Sox pulled off a ninth inning victory. It was great! We loved singing "Take me out to the ball game" to the park organ and Jayne kept tabs on the players' sock colors...Red Socks win, right mom? :)

Elle lasted through the game, but quickly zonked once she was back in the stroller. It was adorable!

And by the end of the month, Spring finally arrived! We went into the city, visited Phil's lab and ended our day out with a picnic in the Harvard Med School Quad. It was amazing to feel the sun again!

And we'll end with Jayne's infamous rockstar song that I mentioned last month - I finally found the video. Enjoy :)