Trip to Michigan

We spent Thanksgiving with our dear friends, Isaac, Emily and baby Addie Belle.  It was a lovely few days - full of delicious meals, cold walks, reading, tent-making, snuggles and good conversation.

Thanks for having us, friends!

"Four"

This is Eliza Wren's consistent answer EVERY time you ask her how old she is.  

Eliza Wren is TWO!

On Sunday, November 30th, our spunky Eliza Wren turned two! 

We started celebrating early - on Friday evening while visiting friends in Michigan over Thanksgiving.  I made Eliza Wren a chocolate pie.

Traveling back home, on her actual birthday, we stopped at a charming diner around Harrisburg for a birthday lunch.  Eliza Wren was thrilled with her mickey mouse pancake.

Later that day, we met dear friends for our annual Christmas tree hunt at the sweet Lenhart Christmas Tree farm.  Here we are with our happy little tree!

Happy day, little Wren!  We love you and your sparkling personality!

sisters

In the midst of long days training these two wee ones, we have sweet moments like these.  This is what makes it all worth it and gives me light at the end of the training/disciplining tunnel!

scrunchy noses and squinting eyes = love!

oops...I've been caught interrupting Meredith teaching Eliza Wren her daily alphabet lesson

hiking in the Wissahickon

We've enjoyed spending time in the woods this beautiful autumn whenever we can.  We explored some new paths in Fairmount park and grown very fond of the Wissahickon forest.

One morning we took our neighbor, Jack, with us and had a fun time tramping about in the woods, building rock towers, and throwing rocks in the stream.

family hiking photo!

hiking with Granna and Grandaddy during their visit in October

autumn at the arboretum

Over the past 2 months, we've spent several lovely mornings at the arboretum with our dear friends. 

I can't get enough of these girls together and their joy-filled smiles!

Matilda is growing up so quickly, and what a beautiful girl she is!

best buds :)

2 years ago, my friend Joanna and I took our 2 year old girls walking in the arboretum as our first play date meet up.  Since then, we've spent countless hours at the arboretum over the past two years, in each season - to visit the trains, play in the stream, explore the grounds, for family evening picnics and we've added another two girls into the mix!  I love that we have a chronicle of memories tied to the beautiful Morris Arboretum as our children have grown and the seasons changed.

autumn harvest

Our garden has been bountiful this season.  Harvest has continued late into the autumn and is just now ending.  We've had plenty of kale, arugula, tomatillos, hot peppers, broccoli and a few slow tomatoes.

Erik made a boatload of hot sauce!

We had our annual applesaucing over a few days in October.  

Apples from our farm up north of Philly - beautiful red cortlands!  

Both girls were sweet helpers - washing apples and helping turn the hand crank on the processor.  

I canned a few dozen quarts, froze some and we are enjoying a lot of it right now.

Erik's made two delicious 2 gallon batches of saurekraut in our new-to-us crock.  We are becoming addicted - so yummy!  Recently Eliza Wren and I had a hankering for a late afternoon snack, so we settled down on the kitchen floor to enjoy some together.  It hit the spot. :)

Halloween 2014

Meredith chose to be a "kitty-cat" for Halloween this year.  She was thrilled to receive kitty ears in the mail from Auntie Jane, and to have the treat of getting her face painted for the occasion. :)  Here she is showing off her tail on the cat costume I made for her.

Eliza Wren was a monkey - complete with a banana in the pocket!  I found this outfit at a thrift store, and since I wasn't sure she'd even wear it, though the $4 was worth the chance. :)  She loved it!

 We went around 2 blocks in our neighborhood with these local kiddos.  So much fun and cuteness!

18 Months

Wee Eliza Wren is 18 months today!

1/2 off frappucinos

Cousin time + 1/2 off frappucinos = doesn't get much better than this ;)

Kitchen Re-do

After our big floor project in the kitchen and dinning rooms this past autumn, we decided to tackle painting the kitchen a few weekends ago.  It was a big job, and during the process we both agreed we were crazy, but it was so worth the mess and insanity for 3 days to have such a beautiful and fresh result!

 before with the old red

 primer done

starting to get the blue on....exciting!

ah..."clear water" blue :)