wordy wednesday

Things have been busy around here. The toy room/family room is finally painted!!! woo-hoo!! We started it around the first of the year. Wallpaper removal, glue removal, painting etc. It looks so much better. Now I have to decide how to decorate the walls. We painted the maroon windows white again and they looks a ton better - go figure. We still need to paint the floor trim but need to figure out the best way to do it without getting paint on the carpet.

The weather has finally heated up and we put in the air conditioners and busted out the sprinkler. Hannah still kind of runs AROUND the sprinkler instead of thru it. And Leah really enjoys the puddles that the sprinkler makes on the sidewalk. Leah is really enjoying the little slide and swing we have in the front yard.

We have recently visited two new children's museums. We bought a pass at a local museum and it has reciprocal benefits with lots of other museums. We first went to the Providence Children's museum. The girls LOVED the water play area. It seemed smaller than KidCity in CT but plenty big enough for a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old. This past weekend we went to Boston for the day. And this included our first trip to the Boston Children's Museum. I see us going there for many years to come. There were definitely parts of it that were geared for older than 3. But the girls still had fun and seeing the Arthur section was a highlight for Hannah. I think Andy enjoyed the Bubble Play section the most. Leah enjoyed the under 3 area the most...she climbed around and was a busy bee.

Our trip to Boston also included lunch at the Barking Crab which was delicious. And overrun by kids. Almost every table had kids under 5 at it. I think they must get a lot of children's museum traffic. The clam chowder was so good...luckily Hannah was sitting next to Andy because she LOVES clam chowder and shared quite a bit of his bowl. Hannah also went with Andy on a carousel ride. $3.00 was worth the delight in her face as she climbed on the pink horse. Hannah also got a sleeping beauty jibbitz for her crocs...sleeping beauty made it home but is among the missing at the moment...so the pink maryjane crocs are still jibbitz free.

Hannah has had a break from school and started back next week. We have gone to some fun playdates including a music jamboree at the library, a patriotic party, the aquarium, a fun playground and more.

Hannah is really into counting everything right now and has learned to spell her name, daddy, mommy, leah and some other words. She loves looking for silly cars while we are driving (right now silly cars include VW bugs and PT cruisers and any car with bikes on top - her criteria - not mine!). We finally jumped on the bandwagon and bought a laurie berkner CD. Hannah loves it. They listen to it at school so she knows a lot of the songs. And frankly, I enjoy them too...much better than the traditional mary had a little lamb, abc CDs that we have been listening too.

Leah is walking everywhere and rarely crawls anymore. She still has that cute new walker waddle that I love to watch. She is obsessed with her bottle. She refuses to drink milk out of a sippy cup. We will fight that battle another day. She has a new scrap on her nose and lip...another fall on the stairs. I have a feeling that her adventurous, no fear personality is going to cause lots of bumps and bruises in her life. She loves Dora. The other day she pointed at the tv and then pointed to the dora doll...then back at the tv. Even though she doesn't have a ton of words - she certainly knows how to communicate. She can empty the diaper wipes in no time...and is getting taller so when I think the wipes are out of reach...she somehow still gets to them. She loves being outside...and often "asks" to go outside.

We are planning trips to the midwest and a long weekend to Maine. For the Kzoo folks that read this blog, Friday Aug 7th, we will be at bells from 4-6...come see us!

Our tomato plants are growing and we expect good harvests of cukes and zucchini. Hopefully the deer stay away this year.

I am working on some finishing touches for my business and it is very exciting. I just did my first maternity shoot yesterday and it was a lot of fun. www.beckyandersonphotography.com if you haven't checked it out yet.