Lily's first homework assignment. "All About Lily." I was so worried about the whole thing but grateful to see that other kids' posters looked about the same as hers. Why do I stress? I just want her to fit in...to a point;)
Sharing apples on the kitchen floor.
Taking yoga again with Miss Lani! Nothing better than free kid yoga classes at the local library.
This dollhouse is one of Clara's favorite toys.
Apple picking at the apple orchard with friends. Apple cider donuts afterwards. Fall doesn't get any better than this.
Jason and I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Hartford, Connecticut Temple Open House! I was able to play the piano a couple times in the visitors center and lead some people on tours and Jason was able to talk about the baptismal font in the temple when people would go on a tour. It was so, so neat. We are only 43 minutes away from the temple...closer than my parents. We are so grateful to have one so close. It was such an exciting experience for all of us.
Music class at the library and hanging out with one of Grace's favorite friends Nya probably doing "Row Row Row Your Boat."
Clara making herself at home on Miss Kathy's lap during library singing time.
Grace going through a particularly sneaky stage. I found one of her hiding places behind the chair.
Matching Jason and Clara. I loved her little feet resting on his leg.
A fun, fun kids museum that we spent all morning at. Grace looks like she's in a TV show!
Getting out of the house during General Conference weekend to a corn maze. Loved Clara's face. Those cheeks.
Putting the girls to work skinning the tomatillos.
This session actually turned out to be a success! The rest, not so much...
Grace pretending to be a lion and scare Clara.
Taking one of my old co-workers on a tour through the temple. Her favorite part was the bridal room. It was neat to share with her. I was so grateful she came!
They had this Christus in the visitor's center and I finally got some sweet, normal pictures of them. They were so drawn to Him. It was sweet to watch.
I just love these pictures.
Revisiting the fairy gardens at the Florence Griswold Museum with lots and lots of friends.
Fairy Grace.
Fairy Lily.
A weekend hike with the family up to Peter's Rock.
Grace wanted a birthday badge for her big day. She turned four. I absolutely adore this girl. She is truly my angel. She has her moments, but she is so snugly and her sense of humor is a riot. She is the hoppiest, skippiest girl. She has darling PJ Mask/super Grace type poses. I love her prayers, they are so thoughtful. She has a great memory. She checks on me if I've been sad or sick. I can take her places and she stays close to me. She loves singing primary songs loud and lovely. She always says the cutest phrases...she picks them up from books, TV, etc. and they crack me up. I just love having her as my buddy right now.
She loved this 10 year old white elephant gift I got and haven't gotten rid of for times like these. I gave it to her as a birthday present to see what she would do. She called it her "birthday foot" and even snuggled with it at one point. I've since hidden it for future gifting/joking/surprising...he he he.
A 70 degree fall day warranted a trip to the beach, complete with butterflies. I thought that would make a great children's book: "Butterflies on the Beach".
Lily turned Grace into an owl that kept repeating, "Hoot! Hoot! Hoooooot!"
Clara was devouring this spaghetti.
Grace's original Halloween costume. By Halloween she changed her mind.
Halloween fun at the nursing home. I have a friend Jenn who sets so many wonderful things up and invites anyone to come along. I go to almost everything she plans. She has limitless energy and I don't so I just feed off hers;) She's been a huge blessing to me.
Another Jenn activity at a different library. Grace loved the dry ice!
My brother had a looooooong layover in Boston in October so we went up and made a weekend out of it. Here we are visiting the U.S.S. Constitution. I was excited that it was free, but then forgot that parking makes up for any free thing you think you're getting;)
I'd never visited the public gardens but they are beautiful.
People were feeding the squirrels and gave us food to feed them. Lily was in heaven. They come right up to you and then she'd try catching them. She's crazy.
Trick or treating with friends.
Lily was a butterfly, Grace an angel, Clara a strawberry (perfect since Grace calls her Clary Berry), and Jason was an airplane traffic director which actually came in handy when we were crossing streets when trick-or-treating.
Monarch butterfly!
Visiting the Stamford Nature Center on voting day. You could even vote for your favorite animal. It was really fun.
My high school friend Mindy is living in DC for a few months and brought her crew to visit us. It is sooooooooooooo wonderful to have such a good friend living so close. It did good to my heart and soul having her visit! We took her to the windiest day at the beach. We didn't last long, especially when the sand started pelting our faces.
Our kids!
Picture before the primary program. They did so well!
Visiting the zoo with our friend Sadie.
Lily's first school program! Turkey hat, turkey poem, and they each said what they were grateful for. She's grateful for rainbows.
Crazy hair day for Lily, but Grace could've blended in just as well.
Grace cracked me up as she never wanted to button her pajama shirts up.
Our friends who used to live in the ward and now live in New Jersey invited us to stay with them a couple nights for Thanksgiving. I couldn't believe it. I was so grateful. Their kids are sooooo darling with little children and they had such a fun time. I think they think they are their cousins;) It's always nice to "get out of dodge" as my dad would say.
When we came home for Thanksgiving, our first line of business was setting up the Christmas tree.
We went to a live nativity a Christian church in the area puts on every year. It's always such a neat experience and this year we were able to do it with friends!
Clara sneaked into the fireplace.
We did a family rendition of "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree" for the ward talent show. The girls sang, I played the piano, and Jason played the sax. So fun!
Clara turned 1! She is truly an angel baby. Sleeping through the night, snugly, smiley. She loves Jason. When he comes home, she beelines towards him and bounces on her knees until he picks her up. And then she's basically on his hip until bedtime. He loves that he looks like her and always calls her cute because of it. She can get the older girls to laugh and they can get her to laugh. I love those interactions. She's good at going up and down stairs. I love that she's ours.
This is Grace pretending to be an angel from the live nativity we went to. She frequently goes into this pose and sings her favorite carol, "Glooooooooooooooria, in excel cease deo."
Sneaky Grace putting on my mascara. She actually did a pretty good job this time around.
Llama at the library! How lucky are we?
Lily made some fun glasses out of pipe cleaners and was using them to read to Grace.
Grace asked Lily if she was going to wear her Santa Hat to the ward Christmas party. When Lily said no, Grace put it on top of hers and said, "Hmm, I guess I'll wear two!" I was cracking up.
Grace asked for a real pony.
Lily asked for a real pony. Santa tried talking them out of it a little telling them they were hard to take care of and messy. It was cute.
