SPRING AT BEECHWOOD 2019

Our spring at Beechwood video for this year! Here are the videos from 2018 and 2017.

This year I recorded all videos on my phone and then put it together using the Splice app. I did miss some of the sharpness and effects of my DSLR camera, but it didn't outweigh the benefit and ease of being able to record of my phone at any moment, and editing on Splice is a breeze.

It's been quieter on the blog these days, and I have some things I want to catch up on and document here, but in the meanwhile, I've been posting frequently on instagram, jotting down notes and thoughts in a variety of other places, and having lots of good conversations over good food that get etched into my bones.

SPRING AT BEECHWOOD 2018 - VIDEO

I like capturing video clips around our home right as winter turns into spring, because it is such a magical and hopeful time for me.  Unfortunately, I lost over half the clips that I had collected due to an enthusiastic endeavor to make space on my laptop, but I gathered up what I had left to make this video and it is sweet and captures what I want and need, so here it is!

And our Spring at Beechwood video from last year if you want to see.

STRAWBERRY PICKING 2018

If you know me eve a little bit, you guys know how much I adore pick-your-own-fruit outings.  I relish them. It makes me happy. And all the fruit-picking opportunities in this region happens between May and October/November, so this almost 7 month stretch between November and May feels unbearably long and by the time May comes around I am itching to go pick them strawberries!

You've seen my friend Laura here on this blog a bunch both because we do a lot of things together AND we both love taking photos to document our events. I was happy to be able to meet up with her family and also have our friend Mignon join us for morale support. It was a overcast day, which was perfect for fruit picking, and it had stormed the night before so the fields were relatively empty while we were there. The girls did a splendid job picking little basketfuls of fruit that they transferred to the big box, and we went home with a lovely stash of strawberries to eat and turn into pies.

This was the fourth year of these girls strawberry picking together! 

Laura had the great idea that we actually take a photo together! we usually have a camera full of photos of our kids, but not very many of just us together. i love this lady.

This is an obnoxious amount of photos having to do with picking strawberries, but here it is nonetheless - pickings over the years! 2014, 2015, 2015 part 2, 2016, 2017.

SECOND ANNUAL KIDS TALENT SHOW

We had our second annual talent show this past weekend! It was a beautiful day, and we had it outside on the back porch of Laura's home, which ended up being the perfect venue for these performances. The kid were so sweet and I'm proud of all of them for their willingness to share!

These were the performances this year:

• Eden - sang to "Castle on a Cloud" (Les Mis)
• Sloane and Logan - danced to "Faith"  (Stevie Wonder)
• Sloane - blew a balloon 
• Logan - counted to 30  
• Alec - sang "Cuckoo" intro (Sound of Music) 
• Riley - sang "A Million Dreams" (The Greatest Showman)
• Simone and Imogen - tap danced to the French "Pretzel Vendor" song
• Imogen and Ira - their handmade puppets sang a song from The Muppets
• Loa - shared her drawings
• Owen and Lily - displayed their gymnastics skills
• Simon - showed off his sword skills 
• Winnie - sang "I'm Still Standing"
• Thad - built towers with blocks (to "Pieces from the Whole") 
• Psalm - did magic tricks 

Bravo to all our performers!

And here is the post and video from the first performance, if you want to see.

SLOANE'S SPRING BREAK: WASHINGTON DC

now that sloane is in school, she has things like a spring break...! it's been interesting, orienting ourselves to a school year, which means winter break, spring break, and summer breaks. there's a little it of transition that happens with each of them; the good news being, i think we all are getting better at them. 

 ken took that week off to be at home with sloane, to get some studying done, and get some work done outside the house. overall, it was a really productive week for them, with ken's mom coming up in the early part of the week and ken, sloane and my MIL all putting in some hard work doing yard work! sloane also got to have playdates with friends, and ken and sloane got some quality time together.  i couldn't take off that whole week, but i did take off on friday so that we could all go up to d.c. to visit the national museum of natural history for the day. i love the museums in d.c. and try to visit with the girls as much as i can. this time around, my mom was able to join us, as well as my cousin lois! 

we went up on thursday night to stay at my sister's place in silver spring, and the next morning we took the metro in. logan kept saying, "we're riding the train!!"  we spent the morning at the natural history mueum, and then took the metro over to gallery place to get burgers at shake shack for a late lunch, which we ate on the steps of the national portrait gallery - which is one of my favorites.  afterwards, we went inside for a brief peek and lingered in the indoor courtyard they have there, drinking coffee and eating sponge bob popsicles. my mom got these for the girls and while the girls have no idea who sponge bob is, they were obviously thrilled with their square-headed yellow popsicles.  

we headed back to downtown silver spring in the later afternoon to meet my sister and we took our time window shopping and sitting on benches outside, enjoying the last bits of the sun. (my sister got them unicorn hair clips, which they were very excited about!) traveling and wandering around with small kids isn't always easy and takes more leg work for sure, but it is always worth it for me, even if they are little trips.  i think travel and new experiences shapes our brains in amazing ways, but especially so for kids! and days like these are wonderful memory makers.