The birdies. 12/52

Posted on March 23, 2014 by BeSquirrely

Portraits of Wren and Phoebe each week, every week of the year.

As it turns out, I’m not very good at editing. A couple pics of each girl, plus a couple of them together.

Chris knew I didn’t quite get enough winter, so he got us out of the house today for a glorious return to the ice caves. The sun felt so great on our cheeks even though the thermometer didn’t get above twenty. Kind of strange when 20 feels warm enough to take your coat and mittens off… it was so quiet and still. No wind at all. We all needed some fresh air and had an unforgettable time playing around. We love you, winter! More pics later this week. Just a sneak peek now…

Phoebe loved to sit and eat the fresh powder. Um, hello, this is a once-in-a-lifetime (um, now twice) experience!

Watching out for polar bears.

Wren was putting on an ice show for us. Bummed we didn’t bring her skates!

Wren is peeking her head over the top. Gives it a good sense of scale…

And a couple more pics of our time on icy West Bay earlier in the week before the recent snowfall. Sisters:

Don’t worry about the cracks, lovelies. The ice is at least 18 inches thick. Yes, it’s been that cold. We’re going to be swimming here in three months?!

Country Bunny – Special 75th Anniversary Edition!

Posted on March 21, 2014 by BeSquirrely

Guess what arrived on our stoop yesterday? A perfect Spring surprise: a special 75th Anniversary edition of our very favorite Easter book: The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes!

I wrote about it two years ago in this post. It is a true classic with a wonderful message. If you don’t have a copy in your library, you should. Click on the book link above to order the special edition through Amazon.

What’s your favorite Easter book, lovelies?

bye bye, winter

Posted on March 20, 2014 by BeSquirrely

The thing is, lovelies, I really love winter. And this has been an epic one. This is the one we’ll be talking about for years. Well, we’re still talking about it because we’re still buried deep in snow and were blessed with a few fresh inches last night. Although I’ll be happy to see the snow pants, mittens and boots go away and the ease of life that flip-flop weather brings, I’m truly sad to see this winter go. It has been a real northern Michigan winter with its record-low temperatures, consistent snow cover, perfectly groomed ski trails, ice cover and quiet, beautiful blanket of white. And more than two weeks of total school days were missed to “snow days” for the school kids! Crazy.

As we welcome spring into our lives with its mud, muck and the hopeful planting of peas, I’ll share a few pics from our winter. The year we “survived the polar vortex!” The year we really did not see the ground between Thanksgiving and well, I’m guessing early April given how snowy it still is. You gave us one helluva good time, winter. Cheers!

A few highlights…

We ice skated with family.

We visited the northern Michigan ice caves. Full account of our day here.

Wren made the most of the Winter Fest by playing three rounds of frozen putt-putt golf.

Phoebe ate her weight in snow. The kid loves to eat snow. It must be how she stays so slim.

I skate skiied the 27K VASA race. Absolutely one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

Phoebe learned to play in the snow for more than three minutes at a time.

Our nest got buried. And Chris kept on shoveling.

And shoveling.

Wren learned to downhill ski. She’s beginning to make some good turns.

Our indoor snowman kept us happy because we still have yet to make a real outdoor snowman. It’s been too cold! The snow is tough to pack. Maybe this week!

I ran a race with a fun group of ladies. This was a VERY cold day.

A few snowballs were formed.

Our snow bunny.

I participated in SheSkis this year – a great group of female skiiers. I got 4th place in our paintball biathlon! The week before I purchased a paintball gun – since cost of an average paintball gun was covered in my budget.

The week after, Chris got to ride a fat bike out and around Power Island! He said it was like riding on the moon.

Daily scene in our nest…

This snow bunny is ready for spring. I told her it was spring today and she made sure to wear her rain coat.

I took the girls skating on West Bay this week. It was incredible!

Although we didn’t go, we had fun watching the ice boats on West Bay last weekend. Incredible stuff.

I’m getting a bit teary just reviewing these photos from our incredible winter. And I’m also left thinking, “we didn’t ski enough!” and “We didn’t sled enough!” and “We didn’t skate enough!” There’s always April.

Happy spring, lovelies.

The birdies. 11/52

Posted on March 16, 2014 by BeSquirrely

Portraits of Wren and Phoebe each week of the year.

This week’s captures:

Wren plays outside in a sundress. Still mountains of snow in the back yard, but it hit the mid 50s that day! Today? Back to single digits. We know this dance well, don’t we?

Some indoor bowling fun! Of course she chose the pink ball. Pink everything these days for Wrennie Pie. She wanted to look “really pretty” for celebrate her best friend, Maddie.

Phoebe Jane reading a Maisy Mouse book. She LOVES Maisy as did Wren at this age. It was too quiet in there so I went to check on her. I’m thinking she’s either drawing on the walls or pooping on the floor because you guys, these things happen as you know. THIS kid…

And one more of Phoebe. My napping angel.

help self!

Posted on March 13, 2014 by BeSquirrely

The littlest birdie is getting feisty. Could be that she’s got a mild (!) case of spring fever or maybe, well, yes, she IS two. Very two right now.

Me: Phoebe, may I help you with that? Phoebe: Me. Help. SELF, MAMA!!!!

She’s been picking out her clothes.

And melting our hearts. Because she’s mostly sweet with a side of feisty. A great combination, don’t you think?

The Birdies. 10/52

Posted on March 9, 2014 by BeSquirrely

A portrait of my birdies, Wren and Phoebe, once a week for every week of the year.

The week of the Phoebes. This kid.

Playing dress-up.

Lying down in the tub. Chris took this one.

Smelling our Christmas cactus.

Wrecent Wren. Really into LEGO these days. She’s mostly abandoned the kits and builds her own now. This is when LEGO gets real.

take a picture of this

Posted on March 7, 2014 by BeSquirrely

Wren’s into the camera now. She loves to set up a scene and direct me to “take a picture of THIS.” Here’s one of her recent scenes. She orchestrated the entire happening, including the arrangement of all the items, wardrobe and getting Phoebe to do exactly what she wanted her to do. This is no easy feat.

Voila.

Wren was very pleased with the outcome as you can see in her proud face. Phoebe? I’m not quite sure. But she’s getting used to playing with her sister. No worries; although she’s tiny, she’s very assertive…

Another way we’ve been keeping ourselves busy this winter. You?

this and that

Posted on March 2, 2014 by BeSquirrely

The Polar Vortex continues here in northern Michigan, although we’ve got less than three weeks until spring. It’s been in the single digits almost every day for a while. This has meant that we’ve had A LOT of indoor time. It feels like we’re at school/work, car, home, store, church, repeat as needed. The windchills have been so low that we just don’t last too long outside, especially the littlest birdie. So we’ve been trying to embrace our indoor time (cabin fever…) with some creative activities (lots of painting and drawing) and lots of free play. Oh, and about five thousand YouTube clips of Frozen. Ahem.

Sight word study. Great use for plastic eggs from last year…

Wren made me a sticker set from little white Avery labels. Oh my, my hands are dry.

The girls have been playing pretty nicely together. Most of the time. They made a big forest scene then ran the train through it.

Then all hell broke loose. Well, not really, but you know how it goes… all this indoor free play gets, err, messy.

How is your cabin fever, lovelies?

The Birdies. 9/52

Posted on March 1, 2014 by BeSquirrely

Weekly portraits of Wren and Phoebe. Every week of 2014.

Phoebe Jane playing with the train.

Wren Sabina with her “twin.”

The birdies. 8/52

Posted on February 24, 2014 by BeSquirrely

Portraits of my birdies, Wren and Phoebe. Once a week for every week of 2014.

Chris took these carousel photos of the girls this week. We spent Saturday morning at the mall and Wren declared it “the best day ever. Better than a birthday.” It’s nice to know that a hot dog, fries and a few turns around on the carousel could make them so happy!

Be Squirrely

creating a nest worth sharing

Author Archives: BeSquirrely