Friends Keith and Grace visited from Arizona with their sons Vincent and Drew. Joining us from Maryland were Jerry, Carolyn, and their daughter Corinne
Corrine and Caroline bonded in Puerto Rico last fall and Caroline fell right back into her motherly role
Vincent and Caroline are close enough in age to play together
Little Drew missed out on the playing but proved to be the chillest 1 year-old we have ever seen
Let's hear it for the boys
Erin is in a sweet spot now and is now easier to deal with than her older sister
On Mother's Day we went shopping in the morning but aborted early because of Caroline tantrums. We rallied on the way home and discovered that the local fish market has great lunch deals
That's 100% lobster meat
Our afternoon excursion to find orioles was a huge success. Three sightings meant three oreos per person
but not until we'd eaten our veggies. Yes, we do count artichokes slathered in butter as a vegetable.
More on oriole hunts
Caroline's story of the sphinx
Erin has gotten wise to Dad's video demands
Caroline's been listening to enough pop radio to make up her own song
Erin loves to go outside these days. We kicked off the spring planting season with a huge leaf mulch delivery. She kept Dad company and overall was not unhelpful.
Our final house project was to restore the fireplace to working condition. Of all the furnishings from our old house the fireplace and living room woodwork are the things that we miss most. In our new house this fireplace was covered over in ceramic tile and filled with an electric insert that blew hot air. It blew all right. We tore that all out and replaced it with...
rebuilt brickwork, a bluestone hearth, new gumwood mantel, and a matching electronics cabinet (wires buried in the wall). Much better.
We went to New York for Easter to see grandparents and Claire & Peter's family
Erin loved to fish for leaves off the dock
The girls completed a small treasure hunt to find their chocolate bunnies
Daddy's girls
Another happy baby in Grampa Ed's lap. Rowan is a cutie.
Finally we had good weather for the Easter Egg hunt.
Some kind of animal (we suspect it was the crows) got into the Easter Eggs that the Easter Bunny laid out.
The glassy-eyed look from the TV, Madeleine in this case
Here's a photo puzzler. Can you count the total number of plant removals and additions from before...
to after. Answer below.
The post-maple area is complete. Four new viburnums and a patch for summer vegetables.
Heather also received her long-awaited pink dogwood.
Answer to puzzler:The five evergreens against the house were removed. In the new plantings a holly was added next to the steps. The andromeda against the chimney was moved from the front row to the back row (tricky!) and next to that a mountain laurel was added. Net minus 5 and plus 2.
We walked into the Arlington Heights for brunch one Saturday and on our way back made a rare nature sighting
Baby mallard ducks! Make way!
Caroline wrote a book that she calls "Caring for Your Life"
