'Tis the Season

It's hot in Philly now.  So...we are doing what all smart city-dwellers do - go to the splash parks!

Summer Solstice

We continued our tradition of holding a summer solstice celebration at the community garden with our neighbors.  The evening began with a delicious potluck and good conversation and ended with a rollicking dance around the maypole!

Madeleine and John's wedding!

Our dear friend, Madeleine was married to a wonderful man this past weekend.  Erik and I were very involved in the wedding preparations, ceremony and reception.  Erik played his violin for the ceremony and I arranged all the flowers.  Super fun for us both!

our dining room table was a garden for most of Saturday!

three little ducks

All three girls fit into our bathtub this week.  They LOVED it.  Clean, happy sisters!

Monday Ballet

Both girls are now taking dance classes from the Glenside Dance Academy!

This is Eliza Wren's first time and she is pretty thrilled.  Her first day of class she bounded in and said, "Hi, I'm Eliza Wren!" ...and then went skipping off around the room. :)

Meredith started taking dance classes here 2 years ago - can't believe it's been that long!  She is excited to learn more advanced positions now and loves her teacher, Miss Jenn!

More photos to come of their final class performance in a few weeks!

6 months old!

Our Cassie Lou is 6 months old!  What a sweet, giggling, happy girl she is!

She loves tummy-time and sitting up...as well as being held by Mama.  She's got some great chubby thighs and weighs in at 18 lbs....already very much into 12 month size clothing and inching towards 18 month size.  Slow down kiddo - let us savor your babyhood! :)  Her older sisters continue to adore her, and she loves watching their antics all day long.  Mama is quite pleased that she takes two long naps each day, so everyone is happy. :)  

We love you girlie and we are so thrilled you are part of our family!

love those blue eyes!

and....oh yes, she chews on EVERYTHING!!

new chicks!

We are raising a new batch of laying hens.  These little beauties arrived a few weeks ago and we are enjoying having wee ones again.  Hopefully by this autumn they will begin laying for us.  Until then, they are getting some snuggles and have a neighborhood fan club. :)

Philly Farm and Food Fest 2016

We spent a fun afternoon at the Philly Farm and Food Fest in center city yesterday.  Erik popped around connecting with potential social series vendors for work, while the girls and I browsed and enjoyed all the samples! 

(photo credit - Meredith) 

Cassie Lou was a trooper and flashed her smile to many folks along the way.  

Sweet Eliza Wren was a bit under-the-weather, so we popped her in the stroller and she was able to nap most of the time...although I caught this smile from her and Meredith after they slurped up Little Baby's sea salt chocolate ice cream samples. :)

Every year it becomes more and more kid-friendly throughout the festival. 

Meredith had a blast participating in many different activities.

Fun day and sweet Philly tradition!

Now We Are Six

Meredith turned six years old today!  Can't quite believe the time has flown by so quickly, and yet this age fits her so well.   She is learning to read by leaps and bounds although our special reading aloud time each day is what she loves the most.  She is a sucker for any audio book we have on hand and listens for hours to the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, A.A. Milne,  Mr. Poppers Penguins, Charlotte's Web, and recently the All-of-a-Kind-Family series. 

She is currently fascinated with monarch butterflies - so her chosen theme for her celebration was monarchs.  The celebration began this morning and carried on throughout the day (and will continue the rest of this month in various forms!). Granna and Grandaddy sent two new books with stories about monarchs which were a huge hit!

Her favorite toy gift was a covered wagon playmobil set (my old set from when I was her age!)

We had fun trying out the monarch butterfly craft punch from Granna and Grandaddy - I'm looking forward to making some sweet decorations with it!

Chocolate cake with strawberry frosting has been her request for several years now - fun spring treat!

Happy, happy day sweet Mer Mer!  We love you oodles and oodles!

Cassie Lou - 5 months old!

Cassie Lou past the 5 month mark yesterday (March 27th).  She continues to be such a sweet, happy and content baby.  So smiley and cheerful - I love seeing her smile so much it overflows into a little wiggle through her whole body.  So cute!  We are hearing a lot of babbling and she's often found chewing on her fists (or mama's scarves) and drooling.  Her hair is growing a little bit and is still brown, so far. Watching her big sisters playing is her favorite entertainment, as well as being outside - yay!  What a joy you are, Cassie Lou!!

Easter 2016

  We had a joyous Easter Sunday - He is Risen!  

Photos are from our backyard after our Easter service.  

Can't believe how much these girls are growing up! :)

 Meredith is just a few days shy of her 6th birthday, Eliza Wren is 3.25 yrs old and Cassie Lou is 5 months old. 

crayon drawing and egg dying this afternoon....followed by many egg hunts.

Waiting for the Easter cake to be brought in!

The proud cake-maker bearing her sweet treats!  Meredith and I had a fun afternoon making this "bird's nest cake" and serving it with peanut butter chocolate eggs (made earlier this week).

(Erik and I think this photo gives us a glimpse of Meredith a few years from now....ack, stop growing up so quickly, kid!)