Last week at First Steps

We have finally hit our last week with First Steps Early Learning Center, Abby's daycare center in Woburn.  Abby started with First Steps when she was a little more than 4 months old- in August of 2011.  It feels like ages ago now.  She's been through 3 classrooms- the dreamers as an infant, the busy bees as an "older infant" and now the jungle monkeys (who have recently become the caterpillars).  Every teacher in the center knows Abby- really knows Abby.  They've watched her grow, start to crawl, walk, speak, dance, and sing right along with us.  Abby has been surrounded by the same wonderful kids for a couple of years now- Luke, the little boy who first held her hand, Mia, the little girl who was always so excited to see Abby, Declan, the little boy who started with the center shortly after Abby and who always yells, "Abby!" when I drop her off in the morning, I could keep going- she's had special connections with each of her classmates. The center has been wonderful to Abby and to our family.  I feel very shaky about having to say goodbye this week- the center has absolutely become an extension of our family.  I know that Abby's moving to a wonderful new center where she will be happy but it's so difficult to leave a place that we've become so comfortable with.  On Friday, her classroom will throw Abby a little goodbye party and Abby will bring in gifts for the classroom and for her teachers too.

First Steps recently created cards for the MBTA officer and who was injured during the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and the Boston police.  The MBTA officer lives in Woburn and the town has been showing him a great deal of support and appreciation. You can see Miss Abby's handprint on this sweet card.  :)

On the brighter side, Abby is sick of the commute back and forth to daycare.  She'll be starting in a center much closer to home and we can tell that in the long run, she'll be happy to spend less time in the car.  ;)  

New House :)

We are officially moved in to our house.  :)  We've been living there for over a week now- the commute is not glamorous- but the yard and neighborhood sure are.  :)  Abby loves her new home- she loved it immediately.  Orion needed a couple of days to settle in but he's happy now too.  ;)  Abby's still in her daycare in Woburn right now- we didn't want to change too many things for her at once- but she's starting with her new daycare June 12th.  She'll visit the center a week before then to meet her teachers and play with her new classmates- this was a suggestion from the director- and it's brilliant and also our first concrete example of why my cousin Jen just loves the place so much- she recommended the center to us.  We already feel a sense of community and family radiating from them.

We've been exploring Westford some too- Mandy and I brought Abby to the Apple Blossom festival parade Saturday morning- it was adorable and warm and we felt like members of the community.  Abby loved the parade- waved and clapped for everyone in it- and cites the free candy and firetrucks as her favorite parts.  Leif and I took Abby to the bird sanctuary down the street from us later in the day and we had a good hike along what used to be a railroad track that ran from Acton, MA (where Mandy now lives) all the way to Nashua, NH.  There is a beautiful stone arch that we particularly enjoyed and though the sound of our barreling wagon scared most of the birds away, we saw a couple flint from here to there as we walked.  Abby's favorite was the duck we spied in the stream.  :)

We are learning a lot about time management and how to keep up with everything.  We spend 3-4 hours a day commuting now and on top of working full days, it's been an adjustment.  But we manage to sit down to dinner together every night, keep the house looking somewhat presentable, and we're slowly picking away at the boxes that need unpacking.  We're tired but we're so happy.  :)

This weekend we're going away to our family's cottage in Western, MA.  We're looking forward to unwinding, relaxing, and spending some time unscheduled.

We love you all!!!  :)  and here are some pics of the new house! :)

 Our refinished hardwood floors- Leif and I pulled up the old carpeting ourselves.

 another shot of the floor and our new wall color, "Toast"

 The former color of our family room walls.

 The purple accent walls that we repainted "toast"

 What our floors looked like when we pulled up the carpeting

 our house

 Abby's new playhouse and one of her favorite playmates- Auntie :)

 The new color of the family room- "bread basket" and our family plaque given to us by friend Nikki & Francis as a wedding gift

 The new color in the family room

 This beam was purple- now it's bread basket brown ;)

 My tiny strawberry patch

 our lilac bush we planted

 We have TONS of lily of the valley growing in the yard

 our fireplace. :)  It still needs to be stripped of paint but we can use duraflames in it currently ;)

another picture of the walls painted "Toast"

Easter and Abby's 2nd birthday

Nanie is quite sick now and we're all struggling so I thought some sweet pictures of some magical Nanie moments might be in order.  :)  We were lucky enough to spend Easter afternoon at Nanie's.  We went to church in the morning, our beloved family church where Nanie is a charter member, and prayed with our congregation for Nanie.  The love was strong (and Abby made it through the whole service like a champ).  After church, we headed to Nanie's to visit and had a lovely easter egg hunt for Abby and my cousin Mikey.  Nanie was beaming and looked good dressed in her favorite color- purple- and all dolled up for the occasion.  We spent the afternoon in the sun soaking each other up until Nanie was tired and it was time to pack up.  Here are some pictures from the afternoon:

And the most magical of moments happened at Abby's 2nd Birthday party.  We had her birthday party at Drumlin Farm this year- it's a wonder farm in Lincoln, MA full of sheep, chickens, goats, cows, pigs, varying species of birds, and all sorts of other wonderful farm animals.  In the midst of setting up for Abby's party in the hall, my Auntie E came in with the best surprise imaginable- Nanie! :)  Auntie E had planned out the surprise for weeks and it meant more to us than she'll ever know- it was truly wonderful.  Though exhausted by the end, Nanie had a wonderful day at the farm- as we all did.

Happy Earth Day!

Here's a pic from Miss Abby gardening in her new back yard. :)  Happy Earth day, everyone!! :)

Tomorrow :)

Tomorrow we're buying our house.  We're finally on the eve of our closing date and we can't wait for everything to be signed, sealed, and delivered.  ;)

Leif and I have been through the most draining, stressful, and busy period of our lives that we can remember but we're still kicking.  ;)

I have wonderful pictures to post from our special Easter and Abby's 2nd birthday and I promise they're all coming soon...  as soon as we make it through tomorrow unscathed.  ;)

We will be doing our final walkthrough of the house tomorrow morning and we're set to close at noon. We're heading up to spend some time in the house after the closing and soak in the fact that we bought a house.  Our house.  :)  We can't wait to show Abby.  ;)

In the mean time, here's a couple teaser pictures of little Miss Abby from her 2nd birthday party at Drumlin Farm.  ;) :)

 She was thoroughly digging the cupcakes

(Leif picked out Abby's birthday outfit- it's an annual tradition now)  :)

Abby and her friend Jonathan.  They enjoyed sharing a wagon, a water, and the view of this turkey.  ;)

Happy Easter

We're wishing everyone a very happy Easter.  We're feeling the miraculous nature of this holiday with our own little miracle- more time with our Nanie.  My grandma, Nanie, is very sick.  Her breast cancer has spread throughout her body now and my family had to make the hard decision to start hospice this week.  We cried some good tears, that's for sure, but we're now moving on to the good part- cherishing Nanie and thanking God for every precious moment that we have left with her.  On Sunday we'll be visiting her after church service and having an easter egg hunt at the Leland home where she lives (followed by a nice family dinner at my Auntie E's). We're going to hug and kiss her as often as possible and remind her of how much we love her.  Please hold my Nanie and our family in your prayers.

Happy Easter to everyone.  We love you all so much and moments like this remind us to let our loved ones know just how important you all are.  

Here's a sweet little pic of Nanie and Abby.  We'll be sure to capture some Easter moments and will post them after the weekend.

Quick update :)

Oh my goodness, I'm not sure how this happened but we're about to be the parents of a 2 year old.  ;)  It is amazing how time flies by so quickly.  Abby is growing up so quickly and she is the most lovable, hilarious, bubbly, artistic, athletic, bookworm in the world.  ;)  This morning she was snacking on a couple cheerios before we went in to school.  She pulled one out of of her snack cup and said, "Tada!  I love cheerios."  I laughed the whole way in to school.  She keeps us in stitches.  She has quite the vocabulary and isn't afraid to voice opinions such as "I don't want to," or "No thanks."  We're proud of her strength and confidence.  Drop offs at school have gotten easier and pick ups have gotten more rewarding- she literally runs to us every day we pick her up from school with the biggest smile on her face- and that's not to say she isn't having fun, we usually interrupt her mid-dance, but boy it's good to feel that love after a long day at work.

Abby's recently been interested in dress up too- my Auntie E bought Abby a box full of dress up clothes for Christmas that we've thoroughly enjoyed and Abby doesn't go a day without putting on all of her necklaces that we have around the house. :)  Here is a picture of dress up the other day:

On Friday night we're driving down to Virginia.  We're spending the first weekend with Dianne and are driving out to the Virginia Tech campus to see Lauren on Monday.  We'll spend a couple more days at Virginia Beach and then will drop in on cousin Amber in Philadelphia over the weekend.  :)  We're really really excited to take a vacation and visit family.

We're having Abby's birthday at Drumlin Farm this year and on the morning of her actual birthday. :)  We really loves farm animals so we thought it'd be fun to spend the morning of her birthday touring a farm and celebrating her.  :)  Pictures to follow for sure!

Sending love to everyone!!!

xoxoxox