Maple bellyaches

Maple Open House Weekend has become a bit of a tradition with us.  It started with us stumbling upon a few sugar houses that had signs out, but now we have our favorite stops that we like to visit each year.  The steamy maple air and warmth from the wood fire in the crowded sugar house transports me back to my childhood visits to the Allen's sugar house.  While we visit much larger sugaring operations nowadays, that maple aroma and tradition remains the same.  It also reminds us that Spring isn't too far away!  The kids love it as much as we do, and we usually come home with a stomach ache from all the sweets.

I called this my "syrup baby" - it was still warm and had just been bottled that morning!  I snuggled that gallon the whole way home.

6,000 gallon sap tanks!  WOW!

At our last stop on the maple tour, we ran into one of the para educators from Evie's class, and she told me what a nice kid we have.  She said that Evie is so kind at school and is a good friend to everyone in the class.  I couldn't have asked for a nicer compliment!  For all the times I doubt whether we are making the right parenting choices, it was reassuring to hear that Evie is doing the right things when we aren't there to watch.

Face painting at Salon/Lego night PTO event

Salon night paraffin wax dip

Fun at Lego night with cousin Colby and friends

Noah is continuing through the journey of being two.  His days consist of moments of sweetness and hilarity, followed by explosive meltdowns, extraordinary stubbornness and being generally obstinate.  And lots of loud drumming.  The pictures only show the cuteness, because he's likes to throw my iPhone across the room when he's mad.

Random tackling while we played stickers

Noah shared his pacifier with the salmon in his crib

Where's Noah?

Very pleased to be popping bubble wrap

That is a very thorough zipper

Surveying the job site

Who needs pants when your boots look that good?

Very pleased to be playing with Bitty Baby

And a couple other cute moments from the week:

I've been trying to give Roscoe some extra snuggles every day.  He's thrilled.

Running off some energy on the St. Mike's campus after church