April vacation

We did a string of fun things while the girls were off of school last week... it was nice to stay busy while we waited for the weather to finally get warm!

A day in Westford while Alasdair taught in RI, and celebrating all the April birthdays.
 

A few days at the Cape with the McFarlands in a sweet little house near the beach.  

Spring break in New England-- winter coats at the the beach! 

early morning reading

Audrey wrote these sweet notes

  

 Just one little ER visit, but no glue or stitches

This is what happy hour looks like when you travel with little kids!

 Back home, and desperate for vitamin D, I was determined to drink my morning coffee on the deck.

By the end of the week, spring arrived.  

who needs a fancy vacation when you can fly a shopping bag kite in the parking lot?!

a fun little hike and dinner with friends... the only picture I have is the girls enthralled by legos (or maybe by Austin;)

I took the girls to a riding lesson -- I think this was the highlight of all of our week!  A perfect day, their first time around horses, and a sweet time together.  In one of my alternative lives, we'd live somewhere like this and own horses!

Sunday afternoon picnic lunch on Balch Hill with friends, and then gelato.  

I'm trying to hold on to these happy sunny memories now that the weather is grey and rainy again, and we are stuck home with tummy bug germs and missing lots of fun things this week!  

(You know it's been a rough stretch when you call the school and the secretary, recognizes your number and answers the phone, "don't tell me she's sick again?!")

Walking Together

We hosted our first New England regional CCEF conference last Saturday; it was a lot of work but a big success.  Ed Welch came up to be our keynote speaker, and we had a full house of 250 people at Wellspring Worship Center.  We had lots of help stuffing folders, etc the week of, and a team of friends who volunteered the day of the conference -- so grateful for our people!

 putting everyone to work

community group discussion/work night

Ed stayed with us, so we got to spend the afternoon with him on Friday.  He was awesome with our kids - won them over immediately.  He's clearly a pro grandfather. :)

March

Here's a bit of what else we were up to last month...

We knocked a few last things off the winter bucket list - ice skating (on the little rink made by the town rec dep't because Occom Pond was closed due to warm temps) and visiting the greenhouse.

  

"I need an assistant. I'm going to be the in-charger person. Your job is to get me the things I need. I'm doing my work. My job is to tell you your jobs." 

(No idea where she gets this from... )

so happy to be playing in the circle again :)

  

 Sunrise Farm open house!  

Fresh maple syrup & amazing maple tea

baby lambs!

 Alden helping me rest after I hurt my back

 hair salon.

 I found these on Alasdair's phone.  Gymnastics routine maybe?

 Alden loves to climb up in the girls' seats.

so grateful for sweet Fiona and what a good friend she is to Adara

 Alden loves "Willeman"

For months Adara asked me to sign her up for a race, and here she is doing the Shamrock Shuffle fun run.  She fell and skinned her knee and finished the race on Alasdair's shoulders - I think she was overwhelmed by it all (and cold!), but she's been asking to do another one!  This was a fun town event, we saw lots of friends and neighbors. 

Eikhoffs Visit

The Eikhoffs came to visit last week! :)  I love how the kids picked up right away despite not having seen each other for a year.  

Just like last year, they were constantly trading clothes.

mud!

Easter egg hunt at the Willemans'

they found ants in the dining room and spent probably an hour observing and drawing them