Easter fun

A flashback to our Easter fun...

The girls had so much fun with Easter festivities this year, that I'm going to dedicate the next few blog posting to them. Come on--its a good chance to reminisce about the nice springtime weather while we're sweating out the summer heat...

Anna had her first experience of dyeing eggs this year--she had so much fun with it! In retrospect, I think buying the dye kit on clearance the year before may have been a bit of a mistake--a few of the colors didn't really "take". But, she still loved the whole thing!

She also loved getting to garden with Mommy this year. Having a "Garden Party" for Kate's 1st birthday (the weekend after Easter) was good motivation to go ahead and get everything planted pretty early this year. Looking at this picture makes me smile--this flower is still blooming here in the heat of August, is now covering that entire bed, and is about 3 times the size of Anna. Looks like our little Doodlebug may have quite the green thumb!

Very pleased with her work...

And, what could be more fun than cutting out Easter cookies?

Decorating them...of, course! There are no limits when it comes to decorating cookies at our house--the messier, the better! I think Anna knows this and takes full advantage...

She was quite pleased with her rainbow colored butterfly...

A very joyful and blessed Easter weekend!

Book worms

Just a few pics of Anna and her cronies at a field trip to the local library in February. They had such fun listening to stories, singing songs, and then getting a tour of the library. Even pretty "simple" field trips like this are so fun with these little ones because of the fun they have together! Seeing them all be such good friends is a neat thing to watch...

Making lollies

So now we're venturing all the way back to February for a blog posting...

Anna was so excited to get to help me make decorations for her Strawberry Shortcake birthday party. One of her favorite treats are, as she refers to them "lollies" (lollipops), so it seemed only fitting for the tables to have strawberry "lollie" baskets on them. And, I'm thinking I may have a future little candy-maker on my hands. After me just showing her one time how to fill the molds, she did the rest of the lollies by herself!


As you can see, she was quite proud of her (yummy) work...

Little blossom

Kate was my shopping buddy this spring as we visited my local favorite, Maas Nursery, to spruce up our beds for the season. Looking back at this picture makes me remember the thicker "baby" hair that Kate used to have...before it gave way to her now thinner and a bit lighter toddler hair. Oh, how much difference even 3 months makes at this age!

Kate had a great time looking around at all of the different flowers, and I don't think ate THAT much potting soil...

Catching up...

So, let's admit it, the rate at which I've been updating the blog since, well, our Disney trip in May has been nothing short of sketchy (get it?? :-)). BUT, I am turning over a new page this month, and am committing August as my blog "catch up" month. Some of the pics will probably be more recent (like the one above), and some are as outdated as this past February. Seriously ridiculous, I know...

Party animals

A few weekends ago, we all got to go to the birthday party of one of Anna's friends and classmates at the Zoo. It was a great time!

As you can see, Kate thought the whole event was a hoot!

Anna having some kolaches and fruit with one of good friends, Alex.

The more serious side of Kate...

I think the kids enjoyed being at the zoo with their friends more than they enjoyed the actual animals themselves. Oh well--its a pretty rare opportunity for Anna to have that many friends with her at zoo, so we pretty much just let them run around and play and do whatever they wanted. Animal appreciation was encouraged, but not enforced.

At the end of lots of playing, lots of running around, and lots of animal viewing, our little gang was pooped. We were able to rearrange the wagons so that all four of the "big kids" that were still with us at this point could cram in together. A comfy ride, some shade, and a fan...I mean, can you blame them?

The girls took advantage of the fact that they had removed the "please do not climb on this" sign from this structure, and used it as their playground at the end of the trip. (Of course, Anna did fall and bonk her leg...maybe the sign was there for a reason?).

Overall, a wonderful day!!

Carnival

Firstly, I have to apologize for the ridiculousness of how seldom I've been updating the blog recently. I'd give lots of excuses about being busy, traveling, being sick, etc., but the bottom line is I'm just quite far behind but committed to catch up!

This past Friday was the carnival at Anna and Kate's school. Oh my did they have fun!

Seriously--is there anything better than a snow cone on a hot July day??

(BTW, Kate, you better count your lucky stars for being the second-born on days like this. At this age, Anna was still on a pure organic, pure healthy diet. I think giving her a snowcone would have made me pass out. Your getting to reap the rewards of a more laid-back Mommy...:-))

A snowcone AND spray-painted hair? One happy girl...

Getting to ride the "ferris wheel" with her best bud/future husband, Owen...

This may have been Anna and Owen's official "first real date". In a moment of potentially poor judgement, we loaded the two of them on the train and sent them on their way. Unchaperoned. I think between Owen drumming his fingers and the conspiring look on Anna's face, they weren't even waiting til we were out of view before they started planning some trouble...