8 months

Miss Cassie Lou you are 8 months old today!  Full of smiles and giggles you are sweet as can be, wee one!  Your sisters adore you and so do your parents.  You are strong, lively and excited to be a part of things, unless it's nap time - then, you love snuggling down with your special blanket and nuk in your crib.  Exploring different foods intrigues you and yet you still consistently dislike all fruits and prefer olives, corn, pickles, rice cakes, crackers and all meats.  I've learned to skip purees with you - who needs those anyway!?  :)  You are showing signs of movement, although no real excitement to push yourself along.  You enjoy sliding around in circles on your belly or moving yourself backwards...and often getting stuck under chairs.  So from your perspective, it seems inconvenient to move  - that's okay with us, take your time, little one. :)  Each day is a gift with you - we're thankful you've made our family five.

 Play time at the garden with a wee friend!  I'd love to have these two regularly play together, but sadly we are a few states apart.  

We had a fun visit in June at a garden picnic.

 Cassie's smile overflows into a little wiggle and hugging herself.  Just can't contain the joy!

Yummy spinach - fresh from the garden!

'Tis the Season

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

7 months!

Cassie Lou is 7 months old!  On the 27th (her birth date) we spent a lovely morning and afternoon along the Wissahickon creek.  We hiked and played in the water, enjoyed a picnic lunch and had a lovely visit for a family of ducks.  Cassie Lou loved it all - watching her sisters, sticking her toes in the water and cuddling up with Mama for a nap in the woods.  What a joy you are, sweet wee one!  

reading :)

Reading is really starting to click for Meredith.  It's been such a fun year to see her work at it and for the elements to begin to make sense.  Lately she's been making leaps and bounds in her progress!

I love this moment! I suggested we take a stack of books outside to read during our afternoon quiet time.  While I put some groceries away, Meredith got all the supplies, and settled down with her sisters to begin....and they added some extra snuggles and giggles for good measure. :)

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!

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!

Reading snuggles

A fun way for Meredith to practice reading lately is to read board books to Cassie Lou.

Love these winter afternoons at home surrounded by books.  

Cassie Lou is 4 months old!

Our sweet Cassie Lou is 4 months old!  We are all loving her bright smiles and have a lot of fun getting her to giggle these days.  I caught these photos of her laughing at Eliza Wren punching a helium balloon around the room. :)

snow play with friends

This week we played and went sledding on the hill beside our community garden.

Eliza Wren and Jack loved rolling in the snow!

Sledding with Adelle!

My older girls and I made our family in snowmen late one afternoon this week :)

They greeted Erik when he came home from work!

Meredith and Adelle in their snow igloo

(photo credit to Adelle's mom, Kate)

winter reading

As usual, there's a lot of reading going on around here.  Cassie Lou is in high demand to be the audience, but she loves snuggling up with her older sisters for a story.

Happy Winter!

winter days

This how we are keeping the winter blues away. :)

play dates with friends...shades indoors is the rage around here!

Candle light dinners every night

reading, reading and reading.... :)