cows, goats, frogs...

this week ella and i went to appleton for a hike. we saw all kinds of exciting things, from bluebirds to forget-me-nots, but the most exciting thing was seeing the cows out again. first there were two cows who ran right up to the fence and stood looking at us before galloping off to a sunny field. then on our way back to the car about 50 cows came running over to the fence and we got to see them up close as they ate grass and ambled about. ella kept exclaiming "what a good cow you are! i like you, cow!"

it was very sweet.

we also went to the wenham museum for the first time. they really do a great job displaying things in a way that would really interest children. they had a paper exhibit with a large giraffe made of paper. the also had a lot of miniature trains that are set up in miniature villages and that the children can start and stop by pushing a button. they have an antiques doll collection to look at and a big box of dress-up clothing right in the middle of the museum. downstairs they have a children's play room with an old-time town set up for kids to use their imaginations with. there's a log cabin that the children can go in and a country store that they can pretend to get groceries at. there were 2 little girls there who took ella under their imaginative wings and she was the "sister" and made a quiche. it was very sweet, and a good way to spend 2 hours on a rainy day.

j. randomly started asking ella the question "which number is bigger?" the other day, and he'd list 2 numbers and she would tell us the bigger number. i could not believe that she was getting them all right! really! i thought it was luck at first, but then she kept getting them right! and i'm talking numbers like 405 and 822. not just 1-10. amazing.

yesterday after ballet, s. and aurora went with us to long hill, and we had a picnic in the gardens. everything was in bloom--the flowers and the trees--and it was just so lovely. the girls ran about and found huge frogs in the lily ponds. elenora even touched one (gently).

in the afternoon we went to russell orchard for the opening day, and they had goats and sheep just roaming about the grounds freely, so elenora got to pet them, too. she kept saying "i like this little goat!"

i love this photo. she's so sweet.

here she's looking at little chicks.

this sheep let elenora pat her. she was pretty excited about it. maybe she'll be a veterinarian or something.

she has been such a good girl. maybe the "terrible twos" from a few weeks ago are past us. they didn't last very long, thank goodness.

she looks more like me these days. she's always looked so much like j. that i've never really seen my face in hers'. but just in the last couple of weeks i keep seeing "little b." in her face, and it is just so indescribable.

death and other goodbyes

yesterday morning ella and i got out really early and walked to the park in town, picking practically every dandelion we saw on the way. new england is just so beautiful in the spring--with just as many colors as the fall. the trees in MA all flower in various pinks, whites, yellows, etc. everything is in bloom.

after playing at the park all morning we trekked home. on the way we saw a dead robin on the side of the road. i wasn't sure how ella would react, but she was so interested. all the way home she kept exclaiming "i like that little robin!"

in the afternoon elenora attended her first wake. h.'s grandfather died this past week, and we wanted to go show our support and love. elenora came with us, so as we got ready to go we were explaining to her what a wake is and that auntie h.'s grandpa died. ella said "mommy, do you remember that Jesus died too?" and that led to a whole conversation about the difference between when a person dies and what happened after Jesus died... we talked about the resurrection and how special it was that Jesus rose again from the dead, and that it was only because he was God that he could do so.

on the way to the wake, ella asked where auntie h.'s grandpa is now, so that led to another discussion. since we've spent time walking in the local graveyard, and since in doing so i have explained to ella what a graveyard is for, it wasn't something she couldn't understand.

i love that i can just talk to elenora about real, deep things and she understands them.

after the wake, ella went home with momby for a sleepover so that j. and i could go into boston for the last service preached by reverend h. at park street. it was a very emotional service with a very teary goodbye at the end. j. and i both were more choked up than expected. reverend h. has meant so much to us, as he is the one who counseled us before we got engaged and during our engagement, and then married us in vt. the sermon that he gave at our wedding was so special and means so much to me--especially now that i've been married for almost 5 years and can better understand the deep wisdom of what he said.

there are some things in life that you just hope will always stay the same. and then as life goes on you realize that everything is transient. brothers move to guam. parents leave vt and go to sc, only to leave for papua new guinea a year later. grandparents grow older and there is the constant knowledge that they won't be there at some point in the too-near future.

j. and i are also moving on. we are moving to a new rental in June. which in many ways is a huge relief, but also a concession. we have tried for over a year to see if we could buy a house in this area, taking advantage of the tax credit. it just has never fallen into place. even finding a new rental in this area has been difficult, with nothing fitting our needs in our price range. this past year, and especially the past 6 months, has been full of ups and downs and rejections and hopes that are dashed in this area of finding a new place to live.

so i'm glad to report that we have signed a lease.

last week a townhouse in our town was posted as available, and i jumped on it. it's going to be a huge step up for us, but it is not home-ownership, and the price is more than we would have liked.

at the end of the day, you have to enjoy where you are living, and we have felt choked for some time now in our tiny place.

i do feel like things are looking up. j. and i have both felt lighter since the housing has been settled. i can stop looking online multiple times a day and stop worrying that i'm about to miss something.

and i can start getting excited about the first dishwasher i will ever use in my life.

a good try

there are books that i read to elenora that have characters who make up little songs, such as Frances or Pooh. i've gotten pretty good at making up ditties and remembering them to sing the next time i read the book, so that the song is generally the same. lately i have been informed that when momby or j. read those same books to elenora she tells them to "do it again, the right way." and then when they can't produce the same song, because it's in my head, she informs them "you don't sing it good. mommy sings it good."

on friday night of last week when momby was babysitting so we could go out to dinner, ella asked for "eidelweiss" to be sung and momby, who doesn't really know the song, stumbled through it with ella prompting her on the words. after singing it through a second time, slightly better, elenora informed her "mamaw, sometimes you don't sing it too good, but sometimes you sing it good."

which i think is very funny. but the other day i had a chat with ella about how she should be more encouraging to whoever is reading or singing to her.

so last night as i started reading a book that j. had read the night before and had been told he wasn't doing it as good as mommy, j. came in to give an example of how he would read the book, and ella listened patiently and started to protest his version and then she switched tones and very graciously said, "thank you daddy. that was a good try."

fifth disease

poor elenora woke up with bright pink cheeks the other morning. apparently she has a virus called "fifth disease," or "slapped cheek syndrome." awful. the good news is that she isn't contagious and isn't bothered by it and it goes away in 10-14 days. the bad news is that it looks just awful and her cheeks are all hot.

ella says, "my cheeks are a little bit irritated."

here we are before j. and i left for the symphony on saturday night.

Easter morning

i took these photos before church.

we drove into boston to park street's service and sat with momby up front. we were in clear view of r. at the organ, and at a quiet point in the service r. tried to sneak an altoid into his mouth and ella exclaimed very loudly "what is pop-pop eating?" otherwise, she was so good all throughout the service.

here she is in the car on the way home, reading wind in the willows.

Happy Easter Elenora!

Easter eggs with mamaw

work has been a bit nutty lately and i ended up working 2 extra hours on friday afternoon to make up for all the extra meetings, so momby took ella before her nap and then kept her over night.

while there, ella got to color about 18 hard boiled easter eggs.

meanwhile, when i got home from work in the afternoon, j. and i found ourselves childless on a gorgeous spring day. so we went to the beach and took a long walk by the ocean. then j. went to rehearse for a good friday service, and i met up with s. for a drink and appetizers before going to the service. j. played along with the entire mozart requiem, which was lovely. and afterwards we went to harry's for dinner and k. and f. met up with us. a very fun evening.