Earthfest

Today was Earthfest in Boston along the Charles. Under the guise of teaching about reducing, reusing, recycling, there was a free concert and lots of free goodies. It's put on by a local radio station and Whole Foods. It's our second year going and this time we went a bit later in the day and it was so crowded. But fun nonetheless.

Hannah getting her face "painted" as a kitty. Same as last year.

And with a pig.

Part of the time, we just sat along the Charles hanging out and so that Emme could eat.

In case anyone was curious where Emme got her good looks....

Hannah and Mommy.

Hannah loves taking pictures and so took this one. Funny thing, Joe was holding Emme and Hannah just cut her right out of the picture. So maybe we still have a few jealousy issues to work out. : )

Another of Joe and Emme. Notice her cute little sandals with the matching hat. They were a gift and oh so cute (although maybe a 2 month old doesn't really need shoes?)

While we walked around, etc. we heard the free concert at the Hatch Shell, but as we were leaving, we stopped to listen to the Lemonheads for a few songs. Hannah loved dancing around to the music.

I should mention it was a beautiful day after a week of fairly cold temps. So nice!

Emme smiles

Up until now, Joe has been able to get a few smiles out of Emme, but they are few and far between. And then just the other day, she started smiling. She still makes you work for them, but they are coming much more readily! And they are just so adorable!!!! She's also babbling much more these days which is fun!

She really thinks it's funny when you blow raspberries so here Hannah is blowing raspberries so I can snap a few pictures.

My girls!

Here's a video of her smiles....

Cape Ann

More outings....Friday, we went to Gloucester and Rockport on the North Shore. We started our day at Fort Stage Park or was that Stage Fort Park? Either way, it was great. There was a huge playground for Hannah and then a trail along the water that went down to a small beach. Unfortunately, we didn't think to bring our bathing suits as it was a HOT day and it would have been nice.

Walking to the trail.

Along the trail.

As usual, Joe took us off the beaten path. So as we were navigating the rocks, I tripped (surprise, surprise) and out of the diaper bag fell my cell phone and keys. And as luck would have it, they fell right through the crack.

Joe had to figure out a way to go and retrieve them and luckily he did.

At the top of the biggest rock! Hannah is very into funny faces these days!

After the park, we headed into town for some lunch, stopping off at the fisherman statue for a photo op. The fisherman looked remarkably like the Gorton's fisherman and as it turns out, it is. Who knew?

Hannah's favorites...mussels! An expensive date!

After lunch, we stopped at Halibut Point Park. More walking trails to the ocean, this time through a quarry. Very picturesque.

At the ocean were tide pools.

And finally onto Rockport. A quaint little town.

Both of the girls did great. Hannah was her usual trooper self. And Emme turned out to be quite the trooper too. She slept a lot of the time, probably due mostly to the hot weather. But managed to wake up at the end for a few photos and time on the grass while Hannah had some ice cream.

Boston Children's Museum

Yesterday, we went to the Children's Museum in Boston since Joe has the week off. While Hannah and I have been many times before, Joe had never been. Hannah was very excited to show him around.

First stop, the bubble room. Hannah's favorite!

Riding a bicycle with her hands to generate electricity.

Hannah in the climbing structure. She climbed really high.

Standing at the shadow wall. If you stand still long enough, the butterflies start to land on your shadow.

Emme slept for most of the visit, but did manage to wake up to nurse and play a game of tic tac toe with Daddy and Hannah.

Simulating what it would be like to be blind.

Emme hanging out in her stroller.

After the museum, we walked over to The Barking Crab for dinner on the water. It was such a nice day that we actually got to eat outside. So lovely! We, of course, got crab legs for dinner....Hannah unsure of how to go about eating the crab legs. (OK, so we kind of egged her on)

Daddy and his girls!

Such a fun family day!

Emme - 2 months

Our baby girl is already 2 months old. As Hannah would say "you can believe it?" I can't believe it! And growing like a weed! She is now 10 lbs 15 oz. and 23.5 in. per her latest check-up.

The last couple weeks we've seen big changes... She is awake much more, for longer periods and is much more alert. She loves watching her big sister! She also moved into her crib in the girls' room and while some nights are challenging getting both of them to sleep, they are both doing great. Hannah is so excited to finally have Emme in the room with her. We can often hear her singing to Emme on the monitor. Too sweet. And having Emme in her own room has helped me to get more sleep!! Making all of our lives that much better! : ) Joe has taken over the 10p feeding and then Emme usually wakes up around 2-3a and then maybe 5-6a to nurse.

She also started taking baths with Hannah. Emme has never liked bathtime and while I wouldn't say she enjoys it now, she is tolerating it much better in the bathtub with Hannah.

Staring at Hannah.

Emme also doesn't mind being put down to "play" more now, both in her swing and on her playmat.

Swing time.

Tummy time on the playmat. Trying to get the whole head control thing figured out! And doing a very good job of it, I should add!

Belmont Town Day

Today was Belmont's annual "Town Day" in the town center. We go every year and it's super fun for Hannah.

Face painting.
We met up with our friends Aled and Kerry with Cai and Amelie. Both Amelie and Emme slept through the whole thing. Hannah and Cai riding on the rockets.

And then on the viking ship.

And then onto the bouncy thing. Joe and Aled had to go with the kids as they didn't meet the height requirement. The kids loved it and it was so funny to watch Joe and Aled come down after them.

Sword fighting with Cai.

And last but not least, pony rides on the walk home.

Hanging out...

Just hanging out at home this afternoon. Emme is awake for longer intervals these days and thought we'd take advantage of it. Hannah taking a picture of Emme and me. Hannah loves when she gets to use my camera. Hannah and Emme playing with Emme's new playgym from Uncle Rob and Aunt Danielle! Well, Emme is really just laying there, but she's not crying so that's a step in the right direction. And Hannah loves it (most of the time) when Emme's awake now and she can "play" with her. She'll say the sweetest things to her...which is why I took the video in the first place because Hannah was asking Emme...."who's that pretty baby in the mirror? It's you Emme!" Of course you can't replicate that so we have a slightly boring minute of the 2 of them, but you can see how much Emme has grown! And I should mention, my stubborn 3 yr old decided she didn't feel like wearing her shirt. That's about all I can say about that. I don't fight the small battles when we're in our home (I wouldn't let her out like that, but somehow I feel it's OK to post it on the internet...makes no sense at all I realize).

Mother's Day

We started our Mother's Day celebration with dinner at Mr. Sushi and dessert at TCBY on Saturday night. So yummy.

Here's Hannah eating her shrimp tempura. Such a ham!
We ordered the sashimi deluxe special which is chef's choice of sashimi. On the menu, octopus. Hannah tried it and liked it. Salmon...not so much. She mostly stuck with the tempura, edamame, miso soup, and rice.

Emme, at 7 weeks. Hanging out in her swing.

Today, the day started out with Emme awake at 5am for the day, as usual, but my loving husband took the early shift and kept her occupied until I had to get up to nurse her. He then made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. It was a nice lazy day where I actually got to nap! So wonderful! And then Joe grilled scallops and shrimp for dinner. Such a wonderful Mother's Day with my girls!