Came across this little scene today while hiking in some Southern New Hampshire woods. If you look closely you can see the beaver lodge, built from these downed trees, on the opposite shore.

Here’s just a handful of the awesome kids that we have been skating with since November. They all started their skating careers slowly, and on wobbling legs, but have all grown confident and capable on the ice.

Throughout the winter they’ve played on the ice, they’ve crashed into one another and they’ve challenged each other. They have also taught each other new skills and heartily encouraged and cheered the newer skaters amongst their ranks.

Such a great group of kids. I had a blast skating with them!

We celebrate Easter in a fairly subdued way. You’ll find us at church on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We read the Easter story and talk about Christ’s sacrifice. We also boil, dye and hide a dozen or so eggs, eat candy for breakfast and dress up a bit nicer than on an otherwise ordinary Sunday.

There’s nothing in the Bible that prescribes a special meal on Easter, but somehow it just seems nice. Or as Esme said earlier this week, “We should have a special dinner on Easter. Jesus did rise from the dead, after all!”

We left church today, after a warm and rousing service, and headed into Boston for a, somewhat non-traditional, Easter dinner at Fire and Ice. It was fun and different and everyone got to choose just what they wanted. It was lovely and relaxed and just what the day called for.

Without double checking the weather first, we went for a walk around the Public Garden after lunch. It was cold and dreary by then, but the park was swarmed with people. People desperate to get out of the house!

All Eastery photos can be found here!

The age old tradition of having trouble falling asleep before exciting days is rearing it’s ugly head tonight.

But cute and snuggly girls are always welcome to burrow down and fall asleep with us. That is, after they sign a photo release…

“I’m an octopus!!”

How yesterday’s egg dying supplies became today’s chemistry lab.

Some days I get to the end of the day and discover that the only decent photo I’ve taken all day is a super boring shot of my odometer. Today was one of those days.

I was tempted to hop up and go and photograph something around the house, just to have something a little better to post. But when it comes down to it, I was actually pretty excited to see 15 16 17 come up on the dashboard. Sometimes it’s the small things that make you smile!

So, boring photo wins and gets to stay in today’s post.

Found this little gem at the library yesterday. Someone was pretty excited about it!

A couple weeks ago I posted a photo of our staircase in the midst of getting refreshed. After lots of hard work (by Dad) and lots of grueling paint color decisions (by me), the stairs and entry way to our second floor look amazing and new and not a whole lot like they did before.

Some notes:

The walls are now a very light cream- “not too yellow” as I told Dad as he went off to get the paint.

We went darker with the trim and stair color, a mossy green. The grayish blue was too light and dingy!

The dark brown stair treads are just nice to look at! We’re still on the look out for the right kind of tread covers.

After lots of thought, I decided we should leave the horrid paneling. It is in really good condition, for starters, and It doesn’t collect small people handprints or scuffs from bags and gear hitting it on their way up.

The floor a the base of the stars was some kind of wood-look vinyl tile and it was awful. Dad expertly laid in some awesome slate tiles. They’re gorgeous!

The bannister and the hardwood floor in the upstairs hall both got a nice sanding and new refinishing.

So, in short, in the words of Carley Rae, “I really, really, really, really, really like” our new stairs!

For the full album of photos, click here!