Today, Grace ended up with pink cheeks after a long morning at the beach, even though Daddy had applied sunscreen. Her cute reaction to seeing her red face? “Daddy’s not a very good sunblocker, but he’s a good man!” I agree, although we can’t blame Daddy’s sunscreen application for her mild sunburn – it’s definitely…

This morning, Adam embarked on his special “celebrating fortieth birthdays with his childhood buddies and reliving their glory days” weekend in Hilton Head. I suppose I would have fared better today if I had not been rudely awakened at 4am by his alarm clock, but at any rate, I am entirely spent. Totally wiped out.…

Where have I been, you wonder? Enjoying a visit from the girls' grandma and grandpa, which involves a lot of family time, laughter and eating special treats (more on that soon). Even though the weather only allowed us one afternoon of playing in the wading pool, we found other activities to keep us occupied – things…

  On Saturday morning, we went out to breakfast at a funky place in Portland. I brought special sticker books for the girls, and they sat still and played quietly while we waited (not long, thankfully) for our food. Right before our breakfast was served, a middle-aged couple walked by our table on their way…

On Sunday we headed to a local farm to visit all of the animals. The girls got to pet lambs and baby goats. Grace held a one-week-old duckling, saw a nest of baby birds, and came nose-to-nose with a mama sheep. Adam checked out the roof on the chicken coop, and the construction of the…

We love to take walks together as a family. Actually, this predates our children – Adam and I used to hike together in the mountains and foothills with the dogs, fueled by coffee and a leisurely breakfast. Things are much different now, but we still walk together every week.   When we lived in Colorado,…

  It was a bit cool at the beach the other day, but that didn't stop us from having fun. I like to think of it as a beach "warm-up" day. We buried the girls' legs in sand – Grace wanted her whole body buried, but I insisted that she would need to be wearing…

I'm beginning to think that it's physically impossible to get a photo of the four of us when we are all smiling and looking at the camera. Don't worry, though – I'll keep trying!

Every night before bed, Grace holds the chicks. They no longer fit snugly into her little hands, and she has to stand the chick on her leg and put a hand gently over the chick’s back so that she doesn’t flap away. Rosie and Bernadette, the Buff Orpingtons, are the smallest and the gentlest of…

A lovely Mother’s Day brunch with my mom, my girls and Adam; and an even more lovely walk along the ocean, soaking in the beautiful weather with my two favorite rays of sunshine… Perfect.