Preschool field trip - sugaring

We headed to Sugarbush farms with Sawyer's preschool for a little field trip on sugaring. That week just so happened to have gorgeous weather and it was 80 degrees that day. Great for walking around a farm...not so great for sugaring! The weather has to be below freezing during the night and then warm during the day for the sap to flow. The lady giving us some samples said they had only made 70% of what they had made the year before...
They weren't boiling but we were still able to look around at where they boil, see the horses, taste some maple syrup and cheese and go on a nature walk. You can see that Sawyer is the only one of his friends not wearing boots. He had them in the car but I thought he could go without. It was fine until we were walking around in the woods and his entire foot was engulfed in a muddy mess.
After he got cleaned up (and calmed down...he was in quite a panic!) we went and bought some cheese and crackers and had a little picnic before heading home.

Spring is Springing up!

And we are loving being outside in this nice warm weather!

St Patrick's Day - 2012

As is our tradition, the night before St Patrick's Day we set up a leprechaun trap to try and catch a leprechaun and make him lead us to his gold! I asked my kids what they would do with all the leprechaun gold and they both said, "go to Disney World!" That's about all we talk about around here. Going to Disney World and Grammie's house. So we set the trap and filled it with rainbows that the kids had drawn and a shiny gold crown to try and lure one in. In the morning we woke up to this:


A dusting of shamrocks leading from the front door, straight to our trap!

outside the trap we saw some footprints on one of the rainbows...evidence there had been one inside our house! We decided we would count to three and Sawyer would lift the box and Kate would be ready to catch it before he could run away (because leprechauns are very very fast, of course)

1....2....3....
Sawyer quickly lifted the lid!....Kate was ready to pounce....and no leprechaun! He must have been too fast for our trap! but he did drop some of his gold pieces in his haste!

What a lucky way to start the day!

Then we feasted on shamrock pancakes for breakfast

And then took pictures in our cute St Patrick's Day shirts that Grammie had sent us in the mail!

And, my kid's favorites, the socks! Ever since Kate was little, Grammie has bought her socks from the bargain bins at Target. Her collection has grown so large that she rarely wears white socks. She wears Easter socks, Halloween socks, Christmas socks, Valentine's day socks...year round! Sawyer was jealous and started stealing her socks and he has since acquired some Buzz, Woody and Cars socks. When we got Grammie's package in the mail we saw she had done an awesome job of packing it really tightly into a small flat rate box. On the drive from the post office to home my kids were trying to guess what was in such a small box for them...they guessed socks! And they were right!

Now Clara gets to join in the holiday sock fun!

Our St Patrick's Day Saturday was spent with our Daddy working (a rare Saturday occurrence) so I enjoyed being lazy and having no where that I needed to be. I stayed in my pajama pants and did laundry. I also started sewing Easter dresses! All the while my kids ran around the house playing happily. They sure love to spend time together and it happens way too infrequently. I was in my sewing room and I could hear them having an especially hilarious "potty talk" conversation in which Sawyer was laughing his head off. I hesitated in putting an end to it, it was so adorable. After Daddy got home from work we went out and gave our car a good washing (our dirt road has been a MUDDY road with all the snow melting) and then we enjoyed our hot 58 degree weather by going to a park and playing. When we got home I made homemade pizza and Kate wondered why it wasn't in the shape of a shamrock (what do I look like, a magician?) and then we enjoyed some mint brownie ice cream before heading to bed!


Hope you all had an equally enjoyable St Patrick's Day!

big day for my girls

On Monday, March 12 Clara rolled over for the first time! Yea Clara!

Sawyer was hanging out downstairs and I was getting ready to put Clara down for a nap. She wasn't quite tired enough so I laid a blanket down on the floor and gave her some tummy time. She was so smiley and happy and I was enjoying some one on one time when all of a sudden she flipped! It was so surprising because she has kind of rocked to the side a little bit, slowly like she was about to roll over but then wouldn't. This was totally different and totally fast. It caught me off guard and made me laugh so hard! After she went down for her nap I told Sawyer she had rolled over and he couldn't wait for her to wake up to see it. When she finally did and after I nursed her, I laid her on a blanket on the floor of my bedroom (where Sawyer was playing) and then left to go switch the laundry. When I came back, she was on her back. I told Sawyer she had rolled over and he couldn't believe he missed it! Luckily I flipped her over and she did it a third time just for him. He couldn't wait to tell Kate about Clara's new trick when we picked her up from school. And then the next time I saw her teacher she said, "I hear Clara has a new trick!" I love how excited and proud my kids are about her.

After school on Monday we went to swim team for Kate and she moved up from the last lane to the next lane. She learned a new stroke with the bigger kids and I was so proud of her!

Afterwards I took them out for ice cream to celebrate!

On Wednesday when we went back to swim team so was back to being in the far lane but she was so brave (and gave me a huge surprise!) when she dove off the starting block for the first time! I think its because her little friend Margaret (who is 4) has no fear and was in line in front of her and did it first. But after the first time she did it a few more times! Its more of a belly flop than a dive and its the cutest thing I've ever seen! Go Kate!
(she is in the farthest lane, all in pink)

Kate's pottery

Kate has been coming home from school and talking about her pottery project that she has been working on in art class for a while and finally this week she brought it home! When we went to pick her up from school she told us that she had it and that it was wrapped in newspaper so it wouldn't break. She was so excited to show us as soon as we got home and it was so cute to watch her carefully unwrap it. Sawyer asked what we were going to put in it and she said maybe after Easter she could put her jelly beans in it. Everyone needs a jelly bean pot, right?

Clara - 4 months

At Clara's 4 month appointment she weighed 13 lbs 10 oz (52%) and was 24" (58%). She is getting so big and fun! Here are some of the things I want to remember about her now.

- If she is sitting in her bouncer or laying on my bed or the floor, when I walk up to her and start talking to her she'll arch her back like she knows I'm going to pick her up
- When you talk to her, she will respond either with spitting at you or with a funny little squeak
- She is loving babbling and she will make her brother and sister laugh hysterically as she screams her babbles really loud in the car
- She has the worst eczema and cradle cap. Anytime I change her clothes, and definitely after she gets out of a bath, it is a huge production of lotioning her all over with her special lotions
- She has gotten really good at falling asleep in her carseat when we are driving in the car. That is probably because that is where most of her naps happen. We are starting to teach her how to fall asleep in her bed on her own too. We are a little slower with sleep training than with the other two and I think its because I have enjoyed the quiet alone time that rocking my third born to sleep has given me.
- She was sleeping really well for a while, sleeping through the night every other night or so in January. Those nights have since left us and we have had some pretty awful, sleepless night since. Ever since she was born she has been an awesome sleeper and it was giving me hope she would sleep through the night faster than her siblings...but now I'm thinking not so much. So...you might think I'm a little obsessive but I have a phone app called Baby ESP that I use to track her sleeping, eating, poopy diapers and baths. I love it. At the risk of looking like a major nerd, I'm sharing a graph with you. This graph is charting her longest nap of the day in hours, which is usually the when I put her down to sleep for the night and then when she wakes up for the first time in the night.

Notice a trend?

- Despite her awful nights and the fact that her mommy wakes up pretty grumpy, she always has the biggest smiles in the morning! It must be her way of apologizing...

- Clara likes tummy time a little bit and is getting better at it.

- She has the funniest chubby legs! All the chub and rolls are up in her thighs!! Seriously squeezable!

Clara is totally a happy, go with the flow baby! We all love her so much!


Happy 4 months, Clara!

preschool

I taught preschool at our house this week and on Tuesday Ryan was home from work and Kate was home from school so we had a few extra hands! Because Ryan was home I told the mom's to bring snow gear for the kids so they could play outside while Clara and I stayed warm inside. I think Kate loved being a part of Sawyer's preschool for a day and she did everything we did.

We were learning about colors so I made up squirt bottles filled with water and a tiny bit of food coloring and they had fun coloring the snow. They also went sledding on our tiny little hill. It wasn't too long until they were cold and ready to come in though! I'm glad I got a picture, don't kids in snow gear look so adorable?

babies everywhere!

At our church here in Vermont there were 13 babies born within 6 months of each other. One of the moms planned a fun brunch where we could get them all together in one place and lots of us were able to go and have a fun time. It was so funny to have so many babies in one place!


Here they are in birth order, from 3 weeks old to 6 months old. Only 3 girls in the bunch!

And here are the moms and babies. Please don't mind my lovely hairdo, I had rushed from the gym and, although I am showered, I didn't have time to get cute!

It is so fun for Clara to have so many friends!

(photos by Britta Davis Photography)

bathing beauty

once there was a snowman

We have been seriously lacking in snow this winter but we got a good storm last week that even cancelled school on Thursday! When I suggested to the kids that they go outside on the snow day Kate asked, "is daddy going to be home?" and when I said no they decided not to go out. Apparently he makes the snow fun! So they went out on Saturday when Daddy was home. It was a gorgeous sunny day and it even felt like it was raining on you because the snow in the trees was melting and dripping on your head. They were pretty proud of their snowman. Sawyer excitedly told me how he patted the bottom and how he found one of the pine cone eyes in the garage. Kate rolled the head all by herself. After their snowman building, Daddy built a starting ramp at the top of our very gradual hill to give them a little more momentum and they loved it! Daddy does make snow more fun!

sisters

Kate loves her sister so much. I forget sometimes how Kate being at school all day really cuts down on here Clara time, but as soon as she is home she gives her lots of attention. She is always asking to hold her, whether we are at Joann's doing some fabric shopping or watching a movie as a family, she loves to hold her baby sister.

And I think Sawyer likes to be just like his big sister!

Neither one of them last very long once she starts fussing. But I sure love to see my kids love each other so much!

skiing

Kate came home from school today and told me she didn't have school tomorrow. And tomorrow is a Tuesday. I vaguely remembered getting something about parent teacher conferences on the 6th but I Tuesday was such a random day! Does it make me a bad mom I am so out of the loop? So I went on the school website to check it out and sure enough, no school tomorrow! But while I was on the website I found pictures of Kate's last day of skiing! Here are a few that all have her in it. I know the group ones are small but just look for the girl in really dirty, pink snow pants and a brown coat.
ps, have you ever seen such gross snow pants in your life? She wears them to school every day and they are stained like that. I think its because we haven't had much snow and they spend a lot of time rolling around in the wet brown grass!