Life Lately

I kept Sam home from school on Thursday.  We all had a little touch of some kind of stomach bug.  Nothing awful, but definitely not pleasant.  And they were so tired!  They both took huge naps, which I had to wake them from two hours later...something was working on my little boogers.  But it seems to be all flushed out now...excuse the pun.  :)

Sam sat straight up in bed, still asleep, the second I said his name.  He sleeps just like me.

Notice Lena's bevy of toys she fell asleep with...even has a medicine dropper in her little hand.

Saturday was Rich's mom's birthday!  We weren't able to be with her on her special day, but we called and sang to her.  Happy birthday, Bobbie!!  We love you!!

Saturday was also the Wingers' maple syrup day at the farm in Mansfield. It was COLD and a bit windy, but we stayed in the barn most of the time swinging on a rope swing...just couldn't pull the kids away.  Well, Rich and I had some fun swinging too.  It's hard to resist a good rope swing!

 

 

  

And today after church Rich went home to build some plyo-boxes, and the kids and I went on some adventures (errands).  Piada for lunch (where Lena sustained a slight head injury when she fell off her stool...ouch), next door to get Sammy boy a haircut, down the street to the car wash, across the road to the bank for a deposit, down to Trader Joe's for some groceries and a last stop at Starbucks for my much needed coffee.  The kids were pretty good...they love sunny day 'adventures'! 

 

 

Good times... 

Maple Syrup Day at the Wingers

This is one of my very favorite days of the year...Maple Syrup Day at the farm!

The Wingers tap their trees and make syrup and, while it's cooking, we play and run and take hayrides and go for hikes and eat and visit. All at the beautiful Winger family farm in Mansfield.

I've always loved visiting my brother-in-law's family farm, stretching way far back before Rich and the kids were in my life, even before Lori and Matt got married and had their kids.

Now that I have a family of my own, I especially enjoy this day that rolls around every spring. The kids LOVE the farm. And the photo ops...well forget about it. It's such a beautiful place, I took nearly 200 photographs. But I whittled them down to this slide show.

Maple Syrup Day at the Wingers!

Last Saturday we went to my sister's in-law's Mansfield farm for their annual Maple Syrup Day. The weather was absolutely perfect this year; sunny and 65-70 degrees. And there were tons of people and food and kids and animals and hay and fun things to do.

I'm one of those strange people who has relationships with my brother-in-law's family. I worked at the church camp there one summer and used to date a friend of Matt's when Lori and Matt first got married, so I guess I was simply around them all the time. Regardless, Matt's family has always treated me like an honorary member and, conversely, they've always held a special place in my heart.

Mark and Ashley joined us this year, which was a treat. I think they had a good time. I know that we exhausted them with all the food and hiking, as documented in the last picture of the slide show below. We enjoyed having them there with us, soaking in the culture of a day at the farm.

As usual, the day went too fast, but fun was had by all, especially Sam, who was big enough this year to run around with the boys a little. He's not quite big enough to keep up, but he had fun trying. He's still little enough to be happy with mom and dad, though, so that's all right with me! Lena was awake and laughing and smiling up a storm that day, so she didn't miss much of the action until we went on the hike. Rich had to put her in the Bjorn and she slept the whole time and missed the beautiful Fleming Falls.