In the Capitol

I hope I tired out the exchange students.

My favorite place in DC.

Hard

It isn't easy to leave these guys got a week. I don't know how some people so it with regularity. At least I know they are in good hands!

Never a more welcome sight.

When I was a teacher it felt like it was almost as much work to prepare lesson plans for a day off as it was to just go to work. Going away feels about the same. Between the greenhouse work, the house cleaning, the logistics of the trip(I have 16 people coming with me to DC), and preparing my kids for my departure, today was a long day!

Other signs of spring.

I love getting to dig parsnips in the spring!!! Remick was my little farm helper for digging and I look forward to munching on their roasted selves for dinner!

We also did the spring toy swap out today. It is like a holiday for me. I came up with the idea of having out toys be seasonal a year and a half ago when I was at my wits end with cleaning up toys constantly and having them play with such a small fraction of them to begin with even though they were cool toys. I also read about the concept with books in a book called "Simplicity Parenting". My kids now play with all the toys because they are "new" again each season. It i awesome.

7 years

We celebrated 7 years of marriage yesterday eating Brie Dumont style, biking with our kids!!!, having dinner together. It was just right. We feel so lucky to have each other and to be in life we are.

Loon Mountain is THIS fun!

Crazy Bunny

That crazy Easter Bunny told the kids that they had to do exercise in order to find their eggs. There was a lot of sit ups and push ups and skipping and crazy twisty jumps this morning. And of course bunny hops:)

Bike trail

Transitioning from ski season to bike season involves standing around in the woods with your hands in your pockets. Apparently.

My new chairlift buddy

We went skiing as a family yesterday. It was really fun and now I have two sufficient skiing children. It is pretty amazing! It is also amazing and weird to ski when it is 50 degrees out. I guess that is what you get when you get into skiing at the end of March.

So happy to not be an only child!

Remick is so happy to have his brother home. Makili on the other hand keeps asking to invite a friend over.

Missed this guy SO much!

I can't believe he left me for 10 days and it didn't bother him a bit.

We celebrated his return with a brownie at Flatbread.

My favorite time of the year

Less wood to haul. No grass to mow. No weeds to pull. No food to can. No bugs. THIS is my favorite time of the year.

My boys are getting too big.

They ride bikes. And travel to Florida without me. It's weird.

Tis the season.

Never mind the snow on the ground and the ski boots in the back of the car...

I love

Friends who don't mind a messy house. Who bring food to share. Whose kids play together and bring us joy. Having friends nearby. Period.

Can't get enough

Nothing like waiting until the end of march to decide to get into skiing. So we are just filling our plate with skiing and friends and much fun.

Cutest skiers ever.

New things to love

It is amazing when you live somewhere for a long time and still find things to amaze you. Remick in his current obsession with skiing brought us to Powder House Hill in South Berwick. How could we have never been there? 5 dollars. Rope tow. Volunteer run. 25 minutes away. Perfect place for kids and learning. And honestly the perfect place for someone who hasn't skied in 15 years to get back into it:)

We went with good friends and when we arrived they were short one volunteer and couldn't run the tow. Lucy realized that and immediately charged her way up the hill skis on her shoulders. If the tow wouldn't work she would just walk to the top. Which she did. She was unbelievable. And remick really didn't like that he was not immediately as good as her but he did great too. It was awesome.

Friends you don't see enough

Having friends over for dinner used to seem overwhelming. But the fullertons have sort of trained me to know that they will love us no matter what the shape of our house or the behavior of our children. So I've been feeling a little more adventurous lately and inviting other dear friends for dinner. And it feels good to be able to do that. And so glad to share that time with friends.