Lake time

We spent a day at Beltsville State Park/Lake this week and it was nice to bask in the sun.  Lena (usually not a fan of water) put her toes in! Granddad and Grammy came along and we had a mini-vacation.  We've also had many learning days in the garden, pressing flowers, going on scavenger hunts, looking at leaves under the microscope. Strawberry season is here so we've been living it up!! Lena Lu is getting her 2 year molars and has needed extra snuggles and love so sometimes thats what we do outside too!

Girlies and dresses

This summer the girls just want to wear dresses and there's a lot of twirling and dancing and pretending. So one beautiful morning we did a little photo time wearing a bunch of Mama's old dresses. The girls had so much fun and I couldn't help but gasp a little at how grown up they look already! Eeek.  We've been enjoying the Perkiomen Trail and learning a lot about nature. So its a bit of a photo overload here, but this Mama's heart was full and I want to remember these days always.

Discovery

 I don't know how it happened, but in the blink of an eye my two year old can sing Holy Holy Holy and my three year old understands more about the world than I do. These two are growing in leaps and bounds. Emmeline can not only dress herself but dress her little sister. She feeds the cats and waters the plants. Our days have been spent out of doors, drinking in the sunshine, settling into a summer routine of flexible days.  We made strawberry jam, bike and walk at all the parks, spend time on the Perkiomen Trail and swim in the pool. We collect pine cones and learn types of trees and plants. I never knew little people could be so hungry for knowledge, could love discovering things so very much. It is a precious thing to watch and a gift.

And just like that....summertime.

Its been a tad busy around here- but mostly a good sort of end of the year busy.  Emmeline had her ballet recital. She had such a lovely time at Glenside Dance Academy and was sad that this session ended. She attended the class with two dear friends from church.  Granddad came to the recital which was added fun.  We had a week long celebration of Lena's second birthday with lots of friends and pool time and a fun family birthday party! Papa built a new swing set for the girls and many hours have been spent out back basking in the sunshine and splashing in the pool.  We went to the County Fair and Emmeline and Sam had such fun going on rides together. We won't mention Lena's profound dislike of the event. To top off our busy month of May we spent Memorial Day with Oma and Opa in Lebanon. We've been doing a lot of outdoor activities- the girls have developed a great love of bug searching and many hours are spent turning over rocks and digging in holes. We're learning that its wild rose, daisy and wild phlox season and are gearing up to make strawberry jam. We joined a CSA and though we're making another brave garden attempt, the black walnut trees foil us year after year so we'll see what comes of it.  Two and three are such busy ages. The days are so full and then two little people crash hard at the end of the day. So do the Mama and Papa.