Higgins Beach

There is something so magical about spending a foggy day at the beach.

We were so happy to welcome Bob home yesterday from a 9 day business trip! I will be back blogging again tomorrow with some new pictures!

After I put Grace, Jack and Eve to bed tonight, cleaned up and got a few things ready for tomorrow I headed upstairs. When I walked into my bedroom I was very surprised to see this envelope on the floor. Here is what was inside...

I'll be back to post more pictures soon. Bob has been away on a business trip and we have been very busy having lots of fun!

A Fun Fine Motor Activity

Jack loves fine motor activities. Jack has been enjoying playing with marbles recently so I thought it would be fun to provide him with a fun fine motor activity using marbles and materials we had on hand. I gave Jack a piece of styrofoam and some of Bob's golf tees. Jack pushed the golf tees into the styrofoam and then balanced the marbles on top of the tees.

Jack loved this activity and he did such a great job balancing all of the marbles. Once Jack was finished he asked me to balance the marbles. It was quite challenging!

Each time a marble fell off a golf tee Jack covered his mouth with his hands and with a little giggle would said, "OH MY GOODNESS!"

Waiting for Butterflies!

Every spring Maddy sends us caterpillars. Over the past several weeks we have been watching our caterpillars eat & eat & eat and grow bigger & bigger & bigger! Last week five of our caterpillars spun a chrysalis. In the picture above Grace is pointing the five chrysalids.

Once the caterpillars make their chrysalids they need to be transferred into a butterfly net so that they will be safe once they emerge as butterflies. In the picture above Jack is helping to transfer the chrysalids.

Grace has really enjoyed watching the caterpillars over the past few weeks. She was so excited to transfer the chrysalids into the butterfly net because she knows that there will be five butterflies in just a few days! Grace wanted the butterflies to emerge into a beautiful home so she decided to decorate the butterfly net.

Grace decorated the butterfly net with purple ribbon, added flower pots full of flowers and wrote a very special message for the butterflies.

Grace wrote, "welcome butterflies" and she carefully cut out her sweet message and taped it onto the net with the letters facing in so that the butterflies would be able to read it once they emerged from their chrysalids!

Here is a peek into our butterfly net. The small flower pots are filled with flowers and Grace's message can be seen. Thank you, Grace, for making such a beautiful home for our butterflies. Grace was so excited to bring in the butterfly net to preschool with her on Friday to share with her class. We will be having a big butterfly release party several days after the butterflies emerge.

Butterflies!

Eve was such a big helper when we made these brightly colored "butterflies." To make these colorful butterflies we started by adding a few drops of food coloring along with one tablespoon of white vinegar into a ziploc bag. We added a few handful of farfalle or bow-tie pasta into the bag, sealed it up and shook it until all of the liquid was absorbed into the pasta. We put our butterflies onto a cookie sheet to dry. Eve had a great time moving the pasta around inside of the bag with her hands and she did such a great job spreading the food coloring to make beautifully colored butterflies! We will be using our butterflies in a sensory bin that we plan on making next week (once our butterflies emerge from their chrysalids)! I'll be sure to post pictures once it is made.

Tadpoles

We have tadpoles!

We found them right in our backyard.

This will be such a wonderful learning experience for Grace, Jack and Eve.

We also have five caterpillars in chrysalids about to become butterflies any day now...

More on that tomorrow!

Wordless Wednesday -- Raising Readers

I know this is supposed to be a wordless Wednesday post but I just have to say how much I love this picture. I love how focused Grace is on reading her book to Jack & Eve and how Jack looses focus for a moment because he just can't stop himself from touching that feather puff in Eve's hair! :)

Car Wash

We were planning on having a car and truck wash outside today but the rainy weather changed our plans. Rather than cancelling this big event at our household we brought it inside! We gathered all of our cars and trucks along with a bin full of water and lots (!) of soap. We had a grand time at our car wash today.

Baby Eve had a great time watching Grace and Jack at the car wash. Eve was full of smiles as she heard lots of laughter fill the room. Jack was very sweet to give Eve his favorite firetruck and cement mixer to play with during the car wash.

Grace loved everything about our car and truck wash. Her smiles and laughs got bigger and bigger as she got soapier and soapier!

It was serious business for Jack to wash all of his cars and trucks so they could be in tip top shape to do their construction work. His cars and trucks have never been cleaner after this car wash (and our art room floor too). Yeah!!! Our car wash was a big success.

Boston

We had been waiting for a warm and sunny spring weekend so that we could go to Boston. That day finally came for us on the last Saturday in April! In the picture above Grace and Jack stood perfectly still while watching the T (Boston's subway). They were so excited to watch the trains and even more excited to ride on the green train line.

Jack clapped, cheered, jumped and danced every time a train approached. I'm sure Boston's subway has never seen such an enthusiastic greeter of the trains!

I love how Jack's tiny hands are clenched in this picture. Jack was SO excited when he found out that the green train approaching was the one that we would be riding on to go to Boston Common.

Jack loved every second he spent riding on the Boston's T.

When we got off the T Jack stood at the top of the stairs to get a final glimpse of the trains and the subway station. I think Jack would have loved to have stayed at the top of those subway stairs all day!

Once we left the T we headed straight to Boston Common -- home to the Make Way For Ducklings statue. I love this picture of Grace, Jack and Eve on the ducks. This was Eve's very first time sitting on one of the famous ducklings!

Daddy and Eve enjoyed watching Grace, Jack and several other children on the Make Way For Ducklings statue from a bench in the Common.

Grace and Jack were fascinated with the swan boats. Next time we go back to Boston I would love to take Grace, Jack and Eve on one.

We enjoyed some time at the North End's Christopher Columbus park. Boston was so pretty when we were there. Everything was in full bloom.

We enjoyed some time at Quincy Market. Eve loved looking at all of the new sites in Boston, especially at all of the people and action in Faneuil Hall.

It was so much fun to watch the seals outside of the Boston Aquarium. I want to take Grace, Jack and Eve there this summer.

I love how Grace is looking up in this picture to admire all of the tall buildings in Boston!

Here are some pictures of our time at Boston Harbor...