Spring 2014

Spring Came! Wahoo! Our yard has come alive with lots of beautiful flowers and there is lettuce starting to grow in the garden. I've actually been outside in short sleeves once or twice, and Josh feels like he is in the final stretch for school since the math MCAS exams are almost here.

Our neighborhood stream flooded with one of the initial rainstorms. We got a bit of water in our basement from the rain, but luckily I've practiced vacuuming water several times over the last couple years. It was fun to see the ducks swimming around in the pond that appeared in our backyard.

Life around the Myler house has been pretty quiet. Its been nice. We've been playing outside a lot and we've been in a nice routine. We took a quick trip up to Canton for my father's birthday. We've had our first Early Intervention meeting for Eli and I'm trying to figure out what is going on with my body so I feel more like myself again. We've finally made it out of the winter sickness cycle and that has been glorious.

I've been amazed and so proud that my kids like playing together so much. They take such good care of each other. They have both been going through a fair amount of toddler turmoil, which is less pleasant, but I'm working on finding coping mechanisms for them and us. They do so much better when we follow a predictable schedule and they get lots of quality one-on-one interaction. Surprise, surprise :)

Josh has finished a couple woodworking projects over the last month. It is so neat to watch him create these unique designs and then magically his plans actually materialize. First was Hadley's amazing convertible bookshelf-desk. 

Then he built a beautiful picnic table. Its kind of hard to see in this picture, but it has a couple typical Josh details that make it so much nicer than any other picnic bench around. Now it just has to get warm enough again to actually use it.

We bought a new family tent and inaugurated it the first night of spring break. It was below freezing that night and we didn't get much sleep, but it was so fun to watch the kids being so excited about sleeping together as a family. There was a fair amount of penguin-waddling around inside the tent too. Good times. 

Then while Josh headed west for a Myler Mountain Men Excursion,

I enjoyed a quick trip down to DC to catch up with the Mumfords. I love visiting their colorful, light filled home. And we love the chance to have cousin time as much as possible.

Preschool, other friends and inevitable cultural exposure has started to work their toll on my daughter and she asked me to paint her nails yesterday. Luckily, I don't have any fingernail polish around to indulge her with. It is interesting to watch her observe and process the world and yes, I do realize that eventually she will probably go through a "girly phase", but for now, I love her unisex simple understanding.

 I have been reading Clayton Christensen's How Will You Measure Your Life recently, and it has led to some useful reflection about what type of family we are working to create. Who knows what challenges life will bring, but for now I am incredibly grateful for the last 5 years of relative peace and happiness I have had in my marriage. My kids and my husband are really filling my life with joy and I am so grateful for that.

A few final pictures of the happy kids.

Hadley has taken her first couple solo bike rides around our neighborhood circle (yay for quiet suburbia!) She's becoming quite the independent and courageous kid. She loves collecting rocks and digging in the dirt and is so incredibly helpful around the house. 

Eli has such a tender manner and is so involved in everything around the house. It is amazing how much he can express with just the sound "oh". He would be outside every moment if we let him and I just love watching him toddle around exploring life in his own happy way.