Navigating the hilly terrain of motherhood
Wow… sorry I've been gone so long. But not to worry — I'm back! And I have good news: Toots Ice Cream is officially open for the season. And of course, we were there less than one hour after they started scooping on opening day.
Hello, summer! We are really happy to see you!!!
Friday is Grace's favorite day of the week. Why, you ask? Because it marks the beginning of the weekend? No, it's because Friday means horseback riding. And horseback riding means Lilly-T.
Over the past couple of days, I have been working on sorting and reorganizing our art supplies so that the girls can actually find the things they need. They are very excited about this, and it seems to have been effective, because both were hard at work on projects before dinner tonight. Grace made an octopus out of a paper plate, a hole punch (wow, where has that been hiding?), and pipecleaners. Tess used a couple of paper plates — and scissors! — to make a… um… a mobile! She was very proud of this. I especially like how she cut the edges off of one plate and taped them to the other plate.
When she unveiled her masterpiece, I exclaimed, "Wow! How did you do that?" And Tess answered, "I just put more tape and tape and tape."
I'm so proud. She has finally learned to use the Scotch tape like her big sister — who, by the way, is still creating her own masterpieces.
Yes, the chickens have gone on strike. Apparently, watching one of their sisters be attacked and killed by a scary hawk really shook them up, even though they only have teeny, tiny brains. And living under the watchful eye of a big, black bear probably doesn't help, either.
Today, Grace went back to school after a week off for spring break. A week spent swinging, reading, playing and exploring with her sister.
After she left for school, Tess turned to me and said, "What are we going to do? Such lonely."
I felt the same way.
Have you heard? I am, once again, the best mom ever! And all it took was some cheap shoes!
Today we ventured to Boston to visit good friends who recently moved there. They took us on the subway, and to the Children's Museum, and out for ice cream. I had my "real" camera with me, but could never quite get it together enough to actually dig the camera out of my backpack. You know, because there were about a million people around at all times, and where are all of our kids? And how do you get the stroller on the subway? And when is it safe to cross the street? And is it okay for my kids to climb on that sculpture? And oh my goodness, it was exhausting. But very, very fun. And now it's time for this country mouse to go collapse in a heap.
Adam and I both grew up playing Yahtzee. Long, exciting, competitive games of Yahtzee. So when we got to the coffee shop on Saturday and realized one of the girls had brought along Animal Yahtzee, we were ecstatic. The animals are so simple to match up that even Tess can play (although she needs some help with her scorecard). We played for a really long time and had a lot of fun. And we realized that this is the first game that we can all really enjoy together. I see a family game night in our future…
Travelingjenny 
