Grandma came to see us!

Well, we have no proof that Grandma came since she isn't in one single picture we took. But, my mom did come for 4 days to celebrate Hattie's birthday with us.

Grandma got here on the red-eye on a Wednesday morning. She takes the commuter train from the airport to a nearby town so we only have to drive 10 minutes to get her. We are so grateful she does that. The kids like picking her up at the train station too. Choo Choo!! There's grandma!

We immediately put her in the car for a shopping trip to Idylwilde Farm for groceries. Then, for a treat after lunch, she got to help rake 5 cubic yards of mulch into our new playground! After having about 30 minutes of sleep in 2 days, I'm sure she was thinking her trip wasn't off to a very promising start.We just loved having her here though. And for once she came to New England and got 3 days of nice weather in a row. That never happens to visitors.
The next day, we took Grandma to Davis' Farmland. It is a really cool place where you can see, pet, and interact with baby animals. In the summer they also have a really cool itty bitty water park for kids, but it wasn't open yet.
We were going to go into Boston with Grandma, but after weighing our options, we decided we'd get more bang for our buck and happier kids if we just stayed local and went to the farm instead.

On Friday, Grandma got the dreadful job of helping me take the kids in for pictures. Well, Hattie's 2nd birthday pictures anyway. Now that Gracie is a big kid, she got her picture taken at school! This project turned into a long morning, but we were determined to do something fun in a "historical" setting, so we still took the kids into Concord for lunch and shopping. This turned bad quick. Hattie had enough by the end of lunch and her melt-down builded up through a couple of stores until we left the last one with her shoes off, bags dragging behind, and a store owner very grateful to see us go!

David and I took advantage of Grandma and free babysitting and went to dinner AND a movie that night. We have not been to both in the same night since, I really don't know. We also have not seen a non-animated film in the theatre since we moved here.Grandma's last day here was Harriet's birthday. We went to Grace's soccer first and then spent the day making Hattie's cake and getting her little party ready. We had a really simple little party with just the 5 of us at home. It was really perfect and easy and most of all, I got to enjoy it. I hate it when I am so busy doing all the work for a party that by the time I get to sit down and take in what is going on, it is time for the party to be over. This time, I just got to be with my Hattie and the rest of my family. It was great.
Harriet loved her cake. She blew out both candles all by herself after a couple of tries.

(Hattie taking her birthday phone calls.)

Hattie had an awesome time opening her birthday presents. She wanted to play with each thing after she opened it and forgot she had more work to do. Grace got impatient because she wanted to get everything opened as fast as possible. But, it was really so cute. She LOVED every single thing that was given to her. She was excited about her new clothes and shoes, her new babies, her puzzle, her books, her elephant, and her shirt with Tinkerbell on the front. She even loves opening a card with money in it. She knows she can take the money to the paper store in a purse and get something fun.

Grace says it was the funnest birthday party.

Thanks for coming to Hattie's birthday party Mo Deb! You made it perfect.
We love you and we were so sad to see you go.