Green and beautiful all around

 It's a wonderful time of year here! Here are a few recent pictures, including some from an impromptu photo shoot this afternoon. Lucy wrote the captions again- I love her descriptions and little asides.

This is me, Lucy, and my little sister Clara. If you look up closely, which my mom just showed me now when we were writing the captions, we were making funny faces. This was at our friend's house, Lucinda.

This is my sister, walking on the rock by herself with bare feet. She's walking so well by herself and her hair is wrinkled with glitter. Bye, bye- this is the end of this caption. (People might laugh about this.)

This is me jumping on the rocks at my friend Lucinda's house. She has horses in her backyard at the very back you can see the gate.

This is me walking at the beach. I'm wearing my goggles and my sister has her little blue swim diaper on.

E- we had one day warm enough to swim, and then it was cold and rainy last weekend. But should be swimming weather again next weekend- such variable weather!

This is me, trying to zip my sister's coat. See my daddy's arm hanging there? Or it might be by mommy's arm. You could try to guess. She always is smiling when I undo the zipper and could not do it. I'm bending down with a helmet on.

This is Clara reading a book. And Tiana is sitting next to my little sister.

This is me standing in the backyard next to my sister Clara. See the sun- isn't is so beautiful behind us?

On this picture, we are sitting down on the lawn with our little bubble things. We both have crocs on. Clara has a long sleeve shirt and pants. It's very hot out there. See the sun shining on us? I have blonde hair, my name is Lucy, and I have short sleeve shirt and a skirt and dark pink crocs. My sister has light pink crocs.

A walk in the park- spring is here!

Some fun pictures from a recent walk in the park- it has been gorgeous, with lots of flowering trees. Captions by Lucy.

 

This is where the arboretum is. It is very beautiful and lots of flowers have bloomed.

  

This is Clara holding up a baby leaf. They are so beautiful at our house. A lot of them have bloomed in our back trees.

That is me- I'm walking or jumping or running on that log. It is so hard. You might want to do it or come. It is very beautiful.

This is my sister, Clara, standing up high on the rock.

I took that picture. See right there on the log with the green stuff on it- that's called moss- there are two baby turtles. And then there are two grown-up turtles. If you do not see them just call us. I mean don't call us.

This is some beautiful leaves that my mom took a picture of.  The pond is in the background with the beautiful trees.

E- Lucy and Clara having fun climbing on a log, with Papa's help.

We were sitting there on the grass at the arboretum. I was sitting on my mom's lap, resting and eating a little kid's apple. My mom had a lot of coughs then. You might think this is funny. My dad was sitting on the bench, you can't see him in the picture. That's my sister looking at my mom.

The funny funny video from Lucy & Clara Dancing Together

Here's a video of the girls dancing in their ballet outfits- one of their favorite things to do. I love how Clara imitates everything Lucy does- even falling down.

Lucy's description: I fall in the ground, and I said when the movie is going "I fell down and hurt my bum". lov lucy and elizabeth

Blizzard!

This was quite a blizzard. We were all so excited to see how much snow there was this morning- we got about 2 feet!

Looking out the front door- our car is second from the left, and nearly buried!

Another view out the front.

Our first venture outside- the snow was piled up right to the door.

Lucy is standing where the front steps usually are.

She had a blast clambering around- that's just the beginning of the snow mountain on the left.

Clara helped with shoveling too.

 

 

 Here's a video of the front loader and our snow mountain!

In the meantime, we've been having fun indoors.

And making snow ice cream!

A Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration this year. We enjoyed lots of quality family time, as well as larger gatherings with our extended family. Of course the girls were super excited about it all.

On Christmas Eve my grandmother came over for a delicious dinner. Our first Christmas without Grandpa has been hard, but there was still much joy.

Before the feast, which included a standing rib roast, roasted butternut squash, mashed potatos, and brussel sprouts with browned butter and toasted nuts. Yum!

They each opened one present on Christmas Eve.

Which were new butterfly pajamas, from a friend of the family!

Grandma with the girls- smiles all around!

Christmas was a full day, which started with opening stocking presents from Santa (Lucy left him cookies and wrote him a note and was thrilled to receive one in return), and some special presents from Matt and I. See my post about those on my "Leaf by Elizabeth" blog: The two gifts.

We also got to skype with Mimi & Papa Jack in the morning, and Grandma Judy in the afternoon; it was great to share the holiday with them, even from a distance.

Opening stocking presents.

The girls each picked out baby dolls to give each other, and both loved their present. :)

Then we gathered with the rest of the family at my grandmother's house for our usual brunch and present opening. It was delicious as always, featuring my grandma's amazing yeast coffeecake. The older cousins are wonderful with the girls, so these gatherings are super relaxing for me. And we got to hear violin, piano and flute pieces from the cousins too, with Lucy performing as well.

Clara helping to pass out presents.

Lucy sitting on one of my cousin's laps. She was so excited to wear her fancy dress and new bows.

Clara looked beautiful in her fancy dress and bow too- she still has her curls!

After heading home for nap time, we finished the day with a festive dinner back at Grandma's. And the fun continued just a few days later, as we celebrated Clara's 2nd birthday!

Sorrows & Thanksgivings

It's been a hard month for us. My grandfather (my mom's father) passed away in early November, a few days after having a major stroke. A few weeks previously almost the whole extended family gathered for a joyous celebration of his 90th birthday, and it was a blessing that he died peacefully after a long and full life, but I miss him very, very much.

Here's a video of him singing "Aba Daba Honeymoon" to the girls last year.

 

It has been special having family close by in all this. My mom extended her stay by a month, and so was able to join us for Thanksgiving.

The table setting.

Mr. Turkey, which the girls and I made.

Clara snapped green beans for our feast.

And Lucy helped to fill the orange cups with mashed sweet potatos (and later she topped them with mini marshmellows).

I am so glad we live close to my Grandma, and can be with her through this hard time.

Grandma made the pies for dinner- apple and pumpkin- so delicious!

We made a Thanksgiving tree out of branches, and Lucy and Clara helped to trace and cut out leaves for everyone to write their thanksgivings on.

A picture of some stuffed folks, after Clara had gone to bed.

And now onto Advent and Christmas preparations.

Lucy decorating the tree- she was a big help.

She even hung the angel on top!

Clara had fun decorating too, and has been doing really well at keeping the ornaments on the tree.

Our beautiful tree and ornaments, with the playmobil nativity set in the back left. Lucy has been playing a lot with it, acting out the story of Jesus, as well as her own stories.

We transformed the Thanksgiving tree into a Christmas tree- Lucy had the idea of hanging the PEACE letters on it.

The girls have new stockings, thanks to Grandma Judy! I used fabric paint to write their names, and to draw the snowflakes on Clara's.

Glowing lights inside.

And on our front porch- they are so cheery.