*la niñez

*childhood*

I read this post recently and I got a little lump in my throat it was so sweet.  Everyone tells you how fast it goes and how you have to hold on and appreciate them when they are small.  Lately I have been letting Edie especially just be a kid - when we go on walks I try to not be in a hurry and let her walk along every curb, climb up on the fence, look at the bugs, push the stroller.  After school I try to let Vera play in the school yard as long as she wants with her friends - they go back by these trees and have some sort of hidden treasure they collect and protect.  I feel like Vera - despite a crazy difficult emotional and sassy stage we are in the middle of - still has so much childlike innocence about her and I love when I see it.  I just went back and tried to find some recent pictures that capture the essence childhood... the sweetness, the innocence, their little ways of being a child  :)  Just a few:

One such morning in Boston, walking along the curbs:

Taking a picture to show Tia how she painted her own nails - with markers:

waiting for their ice cream at the neighborhood shop:

cracking themselves up by spinning and throwing grass in the air:

little huddles around chalk:

extreme excitement over these prepackaged snowcones from the ice cream truck:

*la futbolista

Vera started soccer on Saturday!! It was a very typical and cute first experience. She was more timid than I've ever seen her and didn't quite know what to do with herself - though she was definitely happy and excited. She kept picking up the ball to put it where she wanted it and during the 3 on 3 she and her little friend from class just stood there holding hands, not knowing at all what they were supposed to do :)

*el domingo

The church we've been going to is right in downtown Boston and so after church every week we stay for a little while and hang out in Boston Common or go get lunch nearby. Today was a beautiful Spring day and we had such a great time! After playing at the playground and having a little lunch, we walked over to the Boston Public Garden which I've been wanting to explore. I was so content watching the girls play with their sticks in the water, watching the ducks and all the people [lots of people]. I borrowed Make Way for Ducklings from the library this week as our copy is in storage. So neat to be there where it takes place! Edie wasn't interested, but Vera and I pored over it tonight, noticing where we sat, the State House, the bridge, the boats ... such beautiful illustrations and so fun to have the connection :)

  

The island the ducks in the story live on is just to the right of the boat:

walking back through Boston Common. Ben wanted a picture with the girls, but Edie would only get this close. She was passing through nap time and feeling a little delirious I think:

*Edie at 2.5!

Edie is seriously the funniest little girl. I guess they all are at this age :) Today I was trying to talk to someone after church and she tried to escape the building - Vera was trying to pull her back in while Edie screamed that she wanted to GO OUT IN THE SUMMER!!!!  She makes me laugh.

I should make an "Edie lately" post, but for now I have these photos I've collected over the weeks of her sleeping. She is going through a major transition and every day is completely different from the last. I seriously don't know what to expect. Well except I can expect that it won't be easy :) and that she will crawl in bed with us somewhere between 1-5am.

I think this sleeping on the floor started as a way to just be contrary at nap time, but hey, if she falls asleep it's fine with me. Vera never ever got out of her bed!! Till she was like 4!

or sometimes she will stay awake during quiet time and pass out in the car, like this on the way to swim lessons. I think I already posted this one?

or she falls asleep in the car and I bring her in and she lies comatose wherever I put her:

this is just a cute one of her 'reclining':

and another:

here's one where I thought she was just playing during quiet time but then it was really quiet and she'd fallen asleep right here.

or she was so exhausted from skipping so many naps, she falls asleep here at 11am and sleeps through our whole DMV wait:

Today she did not nap at all, and was a total crazy lady at bedtime. That's when I just "let go" and let her do whatever works to get her to fall asleep. She wanted to sleep on the floor next to her dresser - I just moved her to bed :)

*cotidiano

Just some quotidienne moments from the last bit:

art projects that are all over our floor:

going to her office, trying to lock the door.  she is one of those kids who you need a lock at the top of the door or she'll escape.

Vera overcame her fear and held a sea snail on the beach - this is to show Sam and Mimi who love snails:

They are always so cute when they play together on a playground - this is in Boston Common where we've been letting them play after church each Sunday:

making a mud cake on the beach - we live about 1/2 a mile from here which is pretty cool! It's not the prettiest or cleanest beach ever, but it has sand and sea creatures and shells so they are happy!

nice enough to ride her bike to school today!

some artwork she was proud of [also wearing her most favorite outfit that she'd wear every day if I didn't hide it under laundry]:

*night out

Ben and I were able to go up to Boston on Saturday night for a little date which turned out to be my favorite night out so far here [at the time... quite a bit of sadness mixed in now].  We took the train and got off at the first Cambridge stop and then walked from there along the water, crossing the bridge back into the Back Bay [I think that's what it's called].. we walked along the beautiful Commonwealth Avenue lined with gorgeous, historic red brick mansions.  There was definitely a festivity in the air with the marathon two days away - lots of runners, lots of people wearing past years' "Boston Marathon" jackets, supporters already carrying their signs.  We had a really amazing dinner at the Island Creek Oyster Bar and ended up talking a while with the older woman next to us who was running the marathon for her second time.  It's so sad to think how happy and excited everyone was and how horribly it all ended, how this event will never be the same and many many lives will never be the same.

Thankfully we did not go up to see the marathon, though I considered it after hearing that it is the best day of the year here, that it is just so much fun.  I don't know anyone that was injured, though the little boy who was killed lives in the neighborhood where I attend a Bible study and I'm sure I know people that knew him.  I don't really have any words, just a deep sadness and loss for words.  I am really looking forward to church on Sunday - our pastor is really an amazing and smart man and I know he will have encouraging words.  Meanwhile just praying and praying for the families affected and for this world to know the peace of Jesus Christ!


Anyway, here are some pictures - the city looked just beautiful and we really enjoyed getting to know it a little better.

This place had like 20 different species/locales of oysters to choose from!  It was really a fancy, swanky place and we had a great dinner, a great night.  Thank you Mike and Rosie for gifting us a date night ♥

*

Just some random pictures from the last little bit....

Vera made Edie this folder just like the one she is supposed to keep in her backpack. A spot for papers for parents and a spot for homework:

Vera had her first real swim lesson last week and was sooooo excited. Counting down the days like it was Christmas.  

Edie at the swim lesson. Her naps/no-naps are all over the place. This day she hadn't napped and threw an eNORmous fit in the car ride which ended abruptly when she fell asleep.  I could not wake her and ended up finally putting her on the bench here so I could take pictures of Vera : )

This was so cute.. I wish you could have heard her adorable little voice reading out loud here.  She likes to start each page saying, "..and the next day.."

Vera watching a kissing part on Tangled:

Edie was being a grump and went to hide out in the corner here. We seriously can't get over her cuteness sometimes:

making lemon merengue pie like Amelia Bedelia [who she calls Abedibia]:

*en casa

We just picked Ben up at the airport after a week away promoting the Boston Semester program he's developed [he is now at his office with them for an hour: GLORIOUS silence and solitude for me].  He commented on the way home that it was so nice to be back ... even though this place still feels so foreign and "not home." And I have to agree.  To be quite honest [and I do thank you all for mentioning that I seem so well adjusted haha] it sometimes just sucks to have moved here, to be so far away from the communities of friends and families that we love. To have everything be so freaking expensive that we can't afford a one bedroom dorm and my dreams of simply staying at home with my kids is fairly out the window.  To have a rabbit living in the closet who scratches and shakes her cage and sometimes makes our tiny apartment smell like bunny pee [imagine it, please].  Where daily stresses like this make for a *slightly* delicate and argumentative phase of our marriage.  Daily I go through hills and valleys of depression and contentment here but the constant truth is that nothing happens without God's hand in it, that He protects and provides for us even when that doesn't look like how we want it to. That He uses these things to teach us, to make us more reliant on Him than say.... large kitchens and our own bedrooms and the box of socks that we need but is buried in storage. We - this little family of four is together.   Home is this spot where He has us and thankfully He has given us each other!


He is good!:::::::::>>>>>>>>............



*I don't want to discount the friends and community and experiences we've had and are thankful for and who deserve a future post... : )

*La Pascua - 2013

We had a really wonderful - and quite busy - Easter this year. We went to two different Easter "eggstravanganzas" at local churches over the last two Saturdays, which were tolerable for me and incredibly fun for them : )

Do you know how happy Vera is to have her face painted like a bunny??  Edie had a little Hello Kitty on her hand which she was real proud of too.

Painting eggs at home Saturday morning:

Liz and Stephen arrived from CT (3 hour drive) on Saturday. We had lunch at our apartment and then took the train up to Boston to walk around and have a little snack in the North End.  I am only posting this picture because I am in it!  A rareity.

Making snowflakes back at the apartment. I am so embarrassed to have guests in this place, but everyone so far has been very gracious :)

We headed up to Park Street Church in Boston for Easter service. It was really really beautiful - such an incredibly meaningful and joyous day Easter is.  I could barely sing the words to the hymns because of the lump in my throat!

You could hear the music and the trumpets loud and clear from outside. Made me happy.

Afterward, we walked a bit in the Boston Commons and let the girls play at the playground. It was the warmest day we've had so far which was so welcome.  I am SOTIRED of the cold. so . so. tired.  :)

Vera wore this little dress when I was pregnant with Edie!

They were so cute playing together - Vera can be such a loving, wonderful, protective big sister.

Liz and Stephen left at lunch time and we all rested.  After a crazy night before [puppy went missing!! he was found after church] I was gifted with a nice nap from Edie.  Of course we paid for that at bedtime but that's another story. I was thankful for the afternoon break.

We had a really nice dinner with the McCoys and a few other couples from the college.  The kids had tons of fun hiding eggs over and over and over.  So thankful for them here - they feel like family.

A very memorable first Massachusetts Easter!