1. We started out the month crazy strong with a visit from our sweet friends Courtney and Clara. I can’t believe it has only been just over a month since you guys left – it seems like so long ago already. Time to plan the next one!
2. A giant mountain of balloons in our bedroom that would become the centerpiece of a pretty fun party.
3. The happy birthday girl with her wonderful Uncle Steve. Sweetie pies!
4. The supplies we used to make the rainbow craft at the party made for an excellent school of jellyfish the next day.
5. I ordered these ah-mazing Alice in Wonderland cookies from The Cake Bake Shop for Caroline to take to school for her birthday. They were perfect!
6. Andrew is pretty interested in all kinds of animals and gets pretty excited about them. Here, he’s giving Ben a lecture on how bats use “ecolowcashen” (echolocation) and how they hunt. I love this kid.
7. One of our first nights grilling for the season. It’s hard to believe that the trees were so bare – everything is completely green and covered in leaves now!
8. Picnic with pals. So sweet!
9. We have been getting into a weekend routine where we head to the public library to get new books for the week, come home and then read them in the yard on a blanket. Offering a snack of regular ol’ fruit makes this the most exciting activity ever, or so it seems.
10. When we moved into this house, I decided to make a goal to decorate the walls with art from local artists and not just random generic pieces from who knows where. This painting is a piece by the late Susan Hodgin. The story of why I have loved her work for so long and what I love in particular about this painting is waaay too long to go into here, but suffice it to say, I am beyond thrilled to have this in our living room. It makes me smile every time I see it.
11. Warm weather meant sprucing up outside, including new flowers for the pots on our front stoop. I thought I was going to plant but Caroline “CAN DO IT ALL BY (HER)SELF!” I love her independent spirit, exasperating though it may be at times.
12. The woods behind the house grew a carpet of incredibly gorgeous wildflowers. It is like a dream back there.
13. Cookie time is sometimes unavoidable. In this case, peanut butter oatmeal sandwich cookies.
14. Relaxing in the hammock with a good book is quickly becoming a favorite pastime of all of us. The only problem now is having to share the hammock. Thankfully, it holds at least three of us :)
15. Our evening walks are sometimes slowed down by the kids lying down in every other lawn we pass. I can’t really blame them though. We are so happy spring is here!
16. New shoes are so exciting, we jump around and hug each other!
Most of these images are from my personal (private) Instagram account. You can follow my public stream here: user annieseats.