A visit from grandma

Grandma came to visit in May while Mark and I went to Atlanta to house hunt. Yep, another move for us. We just got out here last week, but more about that later. We all had such a fun time with grandma. She brought some great activities for the girls to keep them busy while they were busy keeping grandma busy! Here are a few from just before she came and all the adventures while she was with us.

Abigail sporting her Elmo hat we made at the birthday party.

Happy birthday Mark

Ever wonder why girls go to the bathroom in groups? Besides the emotional support, it is so much more fun, and it starts at an early age! 

Elena showing off her creation

Mommy's birthday

Reading with grandma

Showing off the dresses that grandma made!

Our last Music Makers class

With grandma at the Trolley Museum

Having a picnic with grandma

Memorial Day at the cemetery. It has become our tradition to put flowers on graves of people we don't know since we don't live by family.

I took my mom to Maine for a few days to see some things with the girls. It was a beautiful trip, but unfortunately rained most of the time. I guess we got the true spring experience in Maine. We stayed in Old Orchard Beach and also went up to Portland and took a boat tour.

A train ride along the coast in Portland, ME

I don't know if you were aware of this, but the rain in Maine falls mainly near the train.

Elena & Abigail loved the seats

Not quite the beach holiday we were going for, but they got to play in the sand a little bit.

These are some of the lighthouses we saw on our boat ride. It was fun to experience.

Mark and I presented a little recital of the pieces we had been working on. My mom was able to stay to see it. Fun to learn some new repertoire and to play together.

Christmas Gifts

So this has been in my drafts for over a month.... blog neglect.

I know it's not even close to Christmas, last year or this year, but I still wanted to document the gifts Mark & I exchanged. Since the twins were born I hadn't touched the sewing machine. With my mom's help we made a T-shirt quilt for Mark. This was quite the endeavor since the only quilting projects I had done up to this point were center pieces or wall hangings. I'm glad I had a professional to help since that's really the only way I was able to do it, and finish it. 

This is Mark: I love the quilt! It's a fantastic pictorial history, and it also keeps us warm. :) I really enjoy looking at it every day and remembering my high school, mission, and college years. And I love the music notes (Sarah tells me this was Kent's idea). It is the perfect background because it reminds me of how music has always colored the other aspects of my life. Thanks, Sarah and Paula!

Now back to Sarah's narration . . . 

And for my gift, he gave me violin lessons for a semester! Since it's been over 10 years since I've taken lessons, this was quite a treat. I found a teacher who is a doctoral student at the University of Hartford. It has been so much fun to learn new pieces, get feedback on my playing and get myself back into the habit of practicing more than once every few months. I haven't taught lessons since we moved here so the dust had been building on my case. I have loved to develop this talent and love for music. Mark and I are planning a small recital at the end of the month to perform our pieces. Cheers to original and fun gifts! (The recital went well and was fun to do together. My mom even got to be there!)

Trip to Cape Cod

We took a little local trip during Spring break to Cape Cod. Mark got some time off work so we could all go together. It was lots of fun. We started out by visiting Plymouth, MA. There is a big living history site called Plimoth Plantation. They have an Indian site and a settler village. The Indians show what life would have been like and how they lived. The settlers act like they are still living in the 1600s and hold very true to their character. One talked to us about how if we could get rid of all the trees in New England, it would be warm all year. Wouldn't that be nice. Then we went to Plymouth rock and a remake of the Mayflower. The girls were SO excited to go on a boat!

A tree boat, burned out.

The village

A massive woodpile

The blacksmith shop is always a hit. He was making nails.

Mayflower II

Plymouth rock

Then we headed down the cape to visit a few beaches. The weather was perfect and in the 60s. Being off season, it wasn't crowded at all so it was almost like our private beach. We went to Hyannis and also up to Nauset Beach. Nauset is on the outer edge so it was a bit windy, but still very fun. It was a perfect, Kodak afternoon. The kids played so well and loved exploring in the sand and building, destroying, finding rocks and shells, and watching the waves. A great family excursion!

Adriana our super star!

Picnic at the beach

Our cuties!

Building with Daddy

Unfortunately, Elena fell on a stone walkway the night before and banged up her face.

Happy 'belated' Easter

We had lots of fun this Easter celebrating! We also learned that the reason eggs and rabbits are pulled into the Easter festivities is because they both, independently, symbolize fertility. Nothing at all to do with the Savior or Resurrection. Interesting tidbit. Regardless, in addition to sharing about the death and resurrection of Christ, we still decorated eggs and had a visit from the Easter bunny. The girls loved it!

Decorating eggs

Trying to go for 'equal treatment'.

Adriana fell asleep like this sitting in the basket!

Mark had Good Friday off so we went up to Mass and introduced Mark to the Butterfly museum and Yankee Candle. He was quite scented out by the end, but we still manged to leave with a fair amount of loot.

Looking at the fish pond

The crew. We were watching a few girls too so it was quite an exciting group!

Seeing Santa at Yankee. Adriana's FAVORITE part.

Easter morning... way too much candy giving 2 of the 3 a stomach ache later.

Easter dresses made by Grandma Hansen

Abigail, Adriana, Elena

All the fun we have even when it's not a holiday!