The Princess and the Piers

This past weekend was a "girls" weekend and a "boys" weekend. Jason and Joe went up north to Rollingstone Lake to put in the piers at the family cottages. From what I hear, it was pretty cold with a lot of rain. That didn't seem to hamper their fun. When they got home, along came stories of laughing, playing, and even a few about worms and dirt. The usual up north stories. They always have such a great time. Great breakfasts, and great company from what I hear.

Back home, Kate and I were busy busy. Dressing up in this princess outfit, that beaded necklace (thanks cousin Lauren for handing them down). A nice, quiet weekend for us to hang out. Lots of snuggles, and lots of looking out the window for Da da and Joe.

Looking great! What a cool tower!

Are you three for hire?

Uncle Jerry, Joe & James

James and Joe (oh yeah, and worms)

The finished project

Mother Nature's Wild Ride

The weather this Spring has been such roller coaster, even more than usual this past week. A week ago Friday, the weather was just beautiful...so, I took the kids to the park for lunch and to play. It was at a balmy 70 degrees. They had a great time, Kate just wanted to be wherever her brother went. It was awesome! Then, two days later, on Sunday....

Snow!

The weather this past Friday, even more summer like with temps in the 80s. The kids were outside most of the day. Don't mind the "flowers" that Kate and Joe picked for me. Lots of yard work still to be done. This weekend the downpours haven't stopped. With all this rain, I'm pretty sure the first lawn mowing will need to be this week!

Last Friday

Last Sunday

This past Friday

Happy 32nd!

I wanted to get this picture all day, but somehow it wasn't until both kids were in their jammies and ready for bed before I finally got a birthday picture of Jason with the kids. He told me last night that the only present he wanted was to be able to sleep until 8 am this morning. It worked out great with his first birthday phone calls coming in about 8:03 am. Such a good sport, he worked out in the yard for most of the day, such great weather! We ended the day at a birthday party for the twin girls in Joe's class. A quiet, but nice day. The two of us did manage to get out for Mexican last night, that was a nice treat. Happy Birthday Jas.

Fish Sitting

My sister and her family left for a trip to the Dells this past Thursday. We had agreed to watch our niece's fish for the weekend. So, when we came home Thursday we expected the fish to be there, but we also got this adorable note. No worries Lauren, she has been well taken care of. And loved.

Itty Bitty Pretty

Ever since Kate was born, Jason has called her "Itty Bitty Pretty." Today, she's 18 months old and not quite so itty. It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone. Even harder to believe all that she can do and say now. She just yelled "banana bread" this morning at breakfast. That's our princess. At night, when we put her to bed, we'll usually hear her singing to herself in her crib before she falls asleep...she brings me my scarf every morning before we leave...and she grabs a kleenex from the box to blow her own nose. Such a big girl now. Still our menace (as we like to lovingly refer to her), but now truly a toddler and no longer a baby. Well, maybe she can still be my baby.

Our Kate and a Family Walk Tonight

Hippity Hop

Talk about having the weather that you pray you're going to have for outside activities in Spring...this weekend was perfect.

When I was growing up, we always went to my mom's cousin's house for a huge Easter egg hunt the day before Easter. Without (ahem) dating myself more than necessary, it's been twenty some years since they last held one. With all of us having little ones now, they decided to host again. And what a wonderful time it was (see slideshow above)! I can't decide what the best part of it all was...visiting with family that we don't see nearly enough or the looks on all of the kids faces as they ran from egg to egg gathering them into their baskets. The really little kids (Kate, TJ, and Parker), had their hunt in the front yard with color coded eggs. Too cute. Kate seemed to find her eggs quickly, although she did have about 10 cousins surrounding her pointing to all of them...

And afterwards, the bigger and then biggest kids in the back(Michael, Nathan, Lauren, Joe, Emily, Isabella, Ella, Adam, Kayla). That was all out fun. They all sprinted throughout the treasure ridden yard and scooped up egg after egg.

It brought back such great memories for me, and wonderful new ones too.

Thank-you Tom, Carol & Amanda!

This morning was an early one, both kids were up at 5 am. We tried to tell Joe that it was too early to get up to look for eggs and baskets, but that only lasted about 30 seconds. Actually, maybe only 1o seconds. The Easter Bunny was a little tricky this year, and it took a little longer than last time to find everything...especially Joe's basket in the kitchen garbage. Luckily, the Easter Bunny made sure that it was empty first. The kids wanted to call grandparents when we were finished, but it wasn't even 7 am yet. After church, we went to my granparent' s
house for yet one last egg hunt for the kids, and a nice Easter lunch. Joe played four square, football, and even tried croquet for the first time. Can you tell that all the kids want to just be outside? A thankful day, for so many reasons.

Lauren, Michael, Kate, Nathan & Joe at great-grandma's/pa's

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

So, Joe's instructions were that he was supposed to look forward, smile at the camera, and hang onto his sister no matter what. She seemed to have the same reaction to the Easter Bunny as she did Santa. Poor Joe. Sometimes, being the big brother isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Joe and I played the board game Sorry this morning while Kate napped, and he asked me why Jesus let the men put Him up on the cross...I told him that it was for him. He just smiled at kept playing. Such comfort in that.

More weekend festivities to follow...

To the Parents of Joseph Wilde

A manilla envelope came in the mail yesterday. A large, exciting, thick envelope. It was Joe's kindergarten packet. A letter from the principal, important dates to keep in mind...all the medical questions...you know, the normal stuff.

I thought that this day would never come, and then all of a sudden I was filled with emotion. Am I sure that I really wanted it to come? Our full days together will soon only consist of weekends, Spring Breaks and Summer vacations. Hmm, not sure about that. I kinda like hanging out with this guy a little more often than kindergarten will allow. But then I tried to look at it from another point of view. This is a whole new world of wonderful opportunities for him. Absolutely anything is possible. How fantastic is that?

And anyway...we still have five months for me to prepare to watch him get on the bus for the first time, right?