Happy Anniversary to us!

Today is our 14th Wedding Anniversary.  I showed the kids one of our high school year books.

Who knew these Alta Hawks would end up together?

Kids Sayings

Cora Talking to Ollie at the lunch table:  "Your silly!"
Ollie: "No!  I Ollie!"
a moment later....
Ollie: "You Ollie too!"  (with a smile)
Cora: "No I'm not - I'm Cora!"
Ollie: : "No!  You Gaga!"

Cora: "Can we make Cake Pops?"
Me: "Not today, but maybe next week"
Cora "Ok - but Bremember!  And if I forget, you need to Bremember me!"

Me: Ollie!  "Do you want to go hiking?"
Ollie: "No!  I bikin'!"
Me: "Do you want to go eat lunch?"
Ollie: "No!  I bikin'!"

Ollie's latest tactic to try to stay up just a moment longer:
Me: "Time to go to bed"
Ollie: "I need somepin to eat!"
Me: "You just ate lunch.  It's time for a nap."
Oliie: "No!  I need a drink a wadda!"

I often wake Ollie up and ask "Did you sleep well?"
Depending on how he's feeling, he says:
"I sleep well.....ALL night!"  (when he's happy)
"I need somepin to eat!"  (when he's grumpy)

Ollie can say everyone's name in the family, "Mama, Dada, Teemmy, Anon, Gaga and Oyie"

Cora talks very clearly and is easy to understand.  She has the cutest little voice.  She said yesterday "When I hear myself in videos it sounds like I am using a baby voice!"
She doesn't say her "th" sounds yet, so she says things like, "I want to go wiss you"  "Do you have somepin for me?"

Ollie rocking it on the rock wall at age 27 months

Springtime in NH

Here is a LONG update about what we've been up to.  Enjoy! 

We had our first experience giving a child stitches on Sunday night.

Ollie and his friend collided on their bikes and Ollie got a big cut under his lip that wouldn't stop bleeding.  After calling a nurse and a doctor for a second opinion, and both telling me I had to take him to the ER,  I woke up my already sleeping baby to take him to the ER.  They concluded that it was too deep and wide and would need 2 stitches.   We were at the ER until nearly midnight. 

3.5 hours in a waiting room with an alert and bored child.  At least he wasn't crying.  In fact, he was having a great time walking around talking to everyone and getting treats from the vending machine.

There was another baby there crying loudly.  His mother must have been really tired.  She was ignoring him and looking at her phone.  Oliver felt so bad for him, so he went to him and gave him his bunny to make him happy.  The baby loved it and his mother and the other people in the ER were very touched by his tender little heart.

Before the stitches episode, we all went canoeing at a new lake (Lake Robinson)

It was a beautiful spot, and was really fun, except that it was a little chaotic with all the kids. 

There was definitely some whining going on in there.

So, Scott and I concluded that we would have a lot more fun if we went by ourselves.

So.....that's what we did!

 So peaceful.....and FAST!  The whole trip was 65 Minutes.  With the kids, the whole thing was like 3 hours and we only saw 1/2 the lake.  We'll do this again soon!

Some other happenings......

 Scott replanted and arranged the raspberry and blackberry rows in the yard.  He also tied up the edges to keep them from drooping.  We are hopeful that the harvest will be more accessible this year.

 Good old fashioned blocks have been a favorite toy lately, a nice gift from Scott's co-worker.

We went to a Fischer-Cats baseball game in Manchester.

We got free tickets from a "reading challenge" that they offer the kids each year at school.

We lasted 3 innings before Ollie was getting crazy and needed to get to bed.  Scott and I checked off our "I'm a good parent, because I took my kids to a baseball game" requirement. :)   

(Attending baseball games is not our favorite thing)

PS: We felt very clever after spending only $13.50 to feed our whole family at Wendy's before the game, when we saw that a hot dog, drink and chips were selling for $12.99 at the ballpark.

 We covered our red mulch with brown mulch this year to see if we like that better.

We attended the annual Palmer Oil Customer Appreciation Day. 

We look forward to it every year.  They have some fun things for the kids to do and the kids eat "dinner" which is usually a hamburger, cookies, popcorn, slushies and soda, since they don't love the baked beans and potato salad.  :)

This years theme was "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"

So, they had Glenda the Witch, Dorothy, and Scarecrow walking around.

Free Pony Rides!

Timmy on the Large Pony

 Aaron on the Medium sized Pony

 Cora and Ollie were on the Smallest Pony

April and the first part of May are the perfect times to hike the trail in the yard because there are no mosquitos.  We have been out there enjoying it very much.  The greenery is starting to shoot up! 

Oliver loves to have Timmy as a hiking buddy

 Our friends, Siri and Curtis from Ann Arbor days, moved just a 15 minute drive from us!  We've been enjoying hanging out with them a lot.  This was their sons birthday party this week, with some of our other playgroup friends. 

 After his little accident, Oliver picked up his bike again. 

The first time, he said "Fell down my bike," and then got right back on.  

I'm glad he's not afraid to try again.

We explored a new park in Nashua with a nice park, fountain, an sensory garden.

 Cora got to attend her "Teddy Bear Picnic", an introduction to Kindergarten for next year!

 She had a great time and enjoyed meeting the new teachers and seeing the area where Kindergarten classrooms meet.

 We also enjoy attending storytime at the library each week.  This is the one for smaller children.

Cora likes to attend the one for pre-school children too where you go with no parents and get to make a craft at the end.

 Cora spent a lot of time making me a mermaid unicorn puppet show.  

 She woke up one morning and insisted that I open my present right away. :)

Zumba Dinner

I've been attending a Zumba class taught by darling Anh each week.  She gets us in shape!  

And then, she invites us to eat an ENORMOUS meal every 2 months or so at her home.  

It's a fun group, great class and delicious dinner!

 

 The boys did a fitness challenge, combined with excellent helping at home with chores, babysitting, and homework, and earned a day playing Magic the Gathering at the pre-release for War of the Spark.

Timmy's friend went with him.  His and I brought them pizza to keep them going.  

It was a 4.5 hour event! 

They had a great time and think that it was the "best pre-release of all time."   

It was also their first one though.  They are excited to attend again soon!

 This is our 2 year old collecting Mulch bags and putting them in the bin.  

Scott is starting him young!  He's doing great!

 We got to go to Launch Trampoline Park for a 30 minutes FREE day as an Easter gift from the Town Easter Egg hunt.  It was awesome!

Cora begged me all during Spring Break to make Cake Pops with her.

Can you tell which one I dipped & sprinkled as the demo for them? 

The kids loved making them and most of all, eating them!  One per day though!  These are RICH!

We had a lot of time over Spring Break, so we got to do some exploring.  

 We went to the Marginal Way in Ogonquit, which is a cliff walk on the coast of Maine, with two other families.

 I was proud that I put the bike rack and my bike on the van all by myself and took the kids to the Rail Trail.  We tried to bike to Derry to get Pizza, but turned around 1/2 way because Cora's little legs were tired after 1.2 miles.  It was a good first attempt.  We have to work up to 3 miles to make it to Derry. (6 miles round trip)  We'll try again soon!

 The boys are still LOVING the electric scooter!

 Another field trip we took was to the Seacoast Science Center in Rye.  They have a nice coast to play on, a playground,and an indoor aquarium.

 Ollie loved seeing the seastars, jellyfish, seahorses, hermit crabs, and other sea life.

 Kids play area.  You can fish from the fishing boat and sort your catches.

 The New Hampshire SeaCoast

We had a lovely Easter.  The kids got to participate in the town Easter Egg hunt, a playgroup Easter Egg Hunt at church, and lastly, Cora talked me into doing a small Easter Egg Hunt on our trail, per tradition.  

 We had German Pancakes Easter morning, and attended Easter Service in the Methuen Ward.

I sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" in the choir. 

 The kids made these cute little Easter Trees at the Presbyterian Church open house.  Aren't they amazing?

Katie makes the cutest crafts there. She has Cora every other Friday at MOPS too, and sends her home with the best crafts every time!

 I need to get the photo with all of us at Easter dinner, but here is the place setting. :) 

Siri invited us for Easter Dinner at their new home.  So lovely!

Cora's new Easter Dress from Germany

 Aaron gave a great presentation as DEAN KAMEN, inventor of the Segway.

At Aaron's request, Scott had his colleague print him a model Segway on his 3D printer at work.

The little blue model in Aaron's hand is the Segway.

The kids were "wax figures," which meant that they were still life until you pushed their button.

Then, they came to life and would tell you about themselves.

Happy Springtime Everyone!  Hope you are enjoying the warmer weather!