Girls

 One of Mya's favorite spots during the day is to lounge around in her baby bathtub with a blanket in it. It's the perfect little reclined seat for her to keep an eye on what Bryn and I are up to.

 Awww.....what's sweeter than a big sister head-butting her infant sister?

We're really working on the "be-gentle-with-baby" thing, but Bryn's got a long way to go.

I can't get enough of these two girls!

When in New England...

There's a great u-pick farm about 20 minutes away and we checked it out last week with some friends. We had such a good time! We'll be heading back this week for more blueberries!

Caught!

Our bucket kept getting filled up and then somehow the berries kept disappearing.....into Bryn's tummy.

I think she ate about 100 raspberries until I decided to get my own bucket so that we could have some left to take home.

 Two of her little buddies, Emma and Audrey

Yum!

Life Lately

 Bryn definitely has moments of being too rough with Mya (pinching, poking, stealing her blankets), but she also has cute moments of giving her toys and trying to entertain her. It's cute. And I'm hoping in time that Bryn's moments of being sweet with Mya will outnumber her moments of tormenting her!

 We've been going on lots of walks, trying to explore our area. We used to walk on the beach trail in Huntington Beach a couple times a week and I really miss that trail! But it's fun to be walking in such a woodsy area full of trees. Definitely a beautiful change of scenery.

 Mya loves being propped up enough so that she can look around. Something always cracks me up about seeing her buckled in next to Bryn, coo-ing and smile as we ride along.

 Bryn's been going through a lot of sidewalk chalk lately

 Hard at work

Bryn love, love, loves having a front porch. All day she asks if we can go outside and sit on the porch. You know, to sip lemonade and spy on our new neighbors. I'm not sure what was going on in the picture above....Bryn's in her pajamas and it looks like it's the middle of the night? We were probably just having a late-night cookie break on the porch. That seems to be a common occurrence around here! 

Free Craft #1: Hair Clip Holder

I've had a few projects on my list, but I needed to make them "free" projects because:

(1) We are paying for grad school tuition now! Yikes!

(2) My fabric stash is way too big.

(3) I'm still too scared to go shopping alone with two kids, so venturing out to the craft store for any new supplies is not possible yet.

So here is the first "free" project Bryn and I made last week with materials we rounded up at home.... 

Tada! A hair-clip holder!

Every mother of little girls has probably already made one of these, but we'd never had a place for Bryn and Mya's bows before! And we needed a project to keep Bryn busy for a little while.

I've seen adorable and stylish versions of this craft, but this is the simple version! :)

 Bryn was my little helper with this project and it's so cute how proud she is of our finished product!

(She slipped into this picture to demonstrate her "wink" face. It's a good look).

 We started with a cheap canvas that I have had lying around forever. We just used a staple gun to staple some fabric around it and then a few ribbon pieces around it. That's it! It should have taken about two minutes to make, but Bryn had to help with every step and every staple, so it probably took an hour!

 Bryn's favorite part was attaching the clips, of course. She's sometimes a little OCD about putting things in color order, so she was in heaven arranging them :)

Bryn used to change her hair clips all day long when they were within reach, so I hung the canvas up high in the bathroom. Just out of reach!

Hats

It's only taken a few days of classes to realize that grad school is busy! Ha! 

Josh is already busy with homework and study groups, and so I've got more time than usual to keep my girls entertained without his help. Today we had gymnastics class (cutest thing ever) and a play date to keep us busy. Yesterday we had no plans and no car, so we entertained ourselves with trying hats on Mya. It was Bryn's idea. And it was awesome. Bryn thought it was the silliest thing in the world, and Mya surprisingly enjoyed it, too!

I love these two silly girls!

Mya

When I was in Utah my talented cousin Diana did a little impromptu photo shoot with Mya. I think Mya seems even older than when these pictures were taken a couple weeks ago!

Thanks Di!

 Mya with her great-grandma Tueller

I love this sweet girl!

Back to School

Josh had orientation last week, but today is his first day of grad school.

(I'm sure I've already mentioned it, but he'll be attending Tuck school of business at Dartmouth College and working on his MBA degree).

It's kind of funny getting back into "school mode" again after a few years break, but here we go!

Utah

Did I mention we mention we moved from Huntington Beach to New Hampshire?

I have to be honest, it almost killed me! (Maybe I'm just being dramatic because I'm still lacking sleep, but really...it was hard!)

I've never been so physically and emotionally exhausted than the week of our move. A move is never fun, but especially not with a hyper 3 year old and a 6 week old baby. Oh, and a sleep-deprived woman who gets stressed easily (me).

Anyway.....once we loaded all of our stuff into the moving truck we drove straight to Utah for a break! We mostly just laid low at my parent's house and had fun doing nothing, but we also fit in a few fun things...

 It was h.o.t. in Utah, so we went to the splash pad a few times.

 Bryn tagged along with a few older girls and offered pringles as a bribe to let her play with them. It worked.

 Awww....my Dad and Mya had a good connection. He would get her to make the sweetest little "coo-ing" noises and lots of big smiles.

 My sister (who looks way too cute to be five months pregnant!) and her husband came up to visit us a few times while we were there and it was so great to spend time with she and her husband!

 All the girls of the family

 Mom and Dad

I think they liked Mya :)

 Marie and Devin with the girls

 Mya loved all the attention she got!

 One of my favorite things was hiking with Logan!

He just did his Eagle Scout project on this trail, so it was really cool to see how the trail had improved! 

 Mom and Mya

 Mya was totally care free, not realizing we were about to move her across the country from all these fun people who were making her smile!

 Bryn reading with my Grandma Tueller

 Logan was such a great help with Bryn and Mya

 He and Bryn made a pretty sweet fort in the basement with lots of tunnels and "rooms". Yes, Brynlee was in heaven!

 Mya and my Grandma Clarke

Bryn and Jordan

Josh was only in Utah for a few days and then he drove across the country with two of my brothers, to unpack the moving truck and get the furniture set up. (Thank you thank you thank you to those three!!!)

I stayed in Utah with the girls for a week longer and then I flew back once things were somewhat settled. 

I am so glad I had time in Utah before we moved out here. It was completely wonderful to spend time with family and have such a great break!