We officially celebrated our own spring break this year instead of tagging along with someone else’s break. It was nice to celebrate several spring breaks with different people when we didn’t have school constraints on us, but alas those days are over. We did a local activity everyday of the break and Mama enjoyed just spending time with her girls.

Playdate with friends! – We enjoyed playing with someone else’s toys for a morning and having lunch. The kids are getting old enough that they really play on their own. The littlest is having to learn to voice her opinion and keep up with the bigger kids. They are working it out for sure.

They have formed a band. Watch out! For a concert just contact their booking agent.

This might need to become a career option. It appears she has the personality to go with the instrument.

Swim Time – No photos from this event because Mama forgot the camera in the car. We swam in the heated indoor pool and loved it. We didn’t have to share the pool with anyone else and had a lifeguard to keep an eye on us. Emily enjoyed showing off some tricks for the lifeguard including sit diving. Emily figured out how to swim under Mama’s legs in the pool. Julia enjoyed freedom in the pool and being able to walk fairly deep into the pool. She would would play right at the point that it became too deep to keep her head above water and would bounce between the sides. It sure kept the lifeguard busy until he figured out that she was doing it on purpose and could get herself out of trouble.

Playdate at Grammy’s – Grammy watched the girls for a morning and Mama brought lunch back for everyone to enjoy. The girls were supposed to take care of Grammy while they were there, but they forgot their purpose once they got playing. They are only six and four though. We finished out the day with dress-up playtime. Always a good day when the princess dresses can come out.

Photo Day and Consignment Shopping – Emily had not gotten her six year old photo taken yet so we knocked that one off the list one morning and then hung out at a consignment sale and the mall until they were collapsing and ready for a nap.

Playdate at the Children’s Museum – We met friends at the Children’s Museum for some enjoyable playtime. The only thing that would have made the day better was if Daddy had been able to join us. The kids did all their favorite things!

A stack of good friends and giggles

Really it was a beach vacation. Getting four kids to look in one direction is still tough even though they are now older.

The puppet performance of the Ladybug and fish.

First Friend Sleepover – Our friends invited the girls over for a sleepover and then we met them at church the next morning. All four girls had a blast and they did get some sleep. They went to sleep around 10 and were up by 6 the next morning. That wake-up time might just be Julia’s fault. They just enjoyed playing with each other and toys. They are ready for the next sleepover, I guess it will be at our house.

One of the best photos ever! These are the moments that really define childhood.

Sunday Afternoon Church Picnic – This activity just happened to fall during our spring break and worked out for a fun time to spend with friends. Some out-of-town friends came in to visit and everyone converged on a park to enjoy fellowship and a little catching up. All the girls church friends were able to make it and they all enjoyed a sunny time at the park. Of course our girls were the best dressed girls at the park, but despite being told what we were doing they wanted to dress in their finest for church. It didn’t seem to slow them down.

Really not sure if they ware playing get the ball or get the Jeremy. Way to go Dads for keeping all the kids running on the field!

Christmas break is in full force for Emily and her Mama is trying to enjoy her as much as possible before school resumes. To enjoy a beautiful sunny December day we planned a day to visit the zoo, see Santa, run errands, make a holiday craft, buy Mama a sweater, drive through a light show, eat dinner out, and visit with kid friends for most of it. At the end of the evening two tired girls were carried in from the car and put directly in bed. Tomorrow has been declared a PJ day with lots of Christmas story reading.

The ZOO!

So much fun just hanging out playing with our friends. The weather was beautiful and sunny. We might have encouraged a kid to skip a little school today to join us. Julia’s top animal choice for the day was the beaver (who was awake and playing today) and Emily’s top animal choice for the day were the bats.

We have called the combo of Julia and Maeve by the title of “the littles” for 4 years now, but it seems like maybe this pair will take the title over.

Santa!

Emily loves to talk to Santa and will do so every time she gets a chance. Julia passed up the opportunity to speak with this Santa. She told Mama that “maybe next year I would like to”.

Holiday Craft!

Making a fun Santa ornament. Thank goodness Ms. Ashley was around to help Mama. There was some tight threading and small knots to tie that she seems to be better at. 😉

Julia loved it, obviously. She is just too cute when excited. Check out little Thea in the background.

The girls loved driving the racecar around the track and trying to stop and start it exactly on the start/finish line. Kids are fun.

Carousel!

The zoo carousel was closed today (much disappointment) and then we found this one later in the day to ride. I think the wild bear, moose, and elk make for a fun ride.

We enjoyed a pleasant fall day together with our friends at the pumpkin patch. The day was fantastic. The kids enjoyed playing and being together. For all the fun things to do at the pumpkin patch the kids seemed to enjoy a big green grassy field just as much as any of the the rest of it. This Mama loved being with both her girls and playing, it seemed just right. We enjoyed their slides, animals, climbing hill, corn maze, bouncing pillow, rolling pipe, lunch, riding a wagon, picking pumpkins, and a bit more sliding.

The girls posing for a photo in front of a real pumpkin that was over 1000 lbs. Wow!

The girls worked together to get the very large pipe to move along the track. Natalie was along for the ride and had a blast sliding along. The big girls enjoyed jumping together on the huge bouncing pillow.

The kids were playing in the field and they decided to dance a little. Julia was thrilled to get to dance with a boy. Aiden was a great sport about it.

I can’t imagine a better shirt for Natalie. She shared a lot of smiles with me. Aiden was so excited to get to drive the bike-car. He was awesome at it.

The Mama’s got into the sliding action! Julia would race around to get to slide over and over again.

The kids could have raced each other down the slide, but for the most part they went the second they got to the slide. This time they were close to the same start time. Everyone seems to have their own way to go down.

Thea was a good sport for the day. There isn’t so much for a crawler to do at the pumpkin patch. She soaked up the sun and gave away smiles. In the corn maze we had to find posts with animal prints to make rubbing of. Eventually and with the help of each other we found them all!

Seven kids standing on a pillow, one started to bounce and . . . grins spilled out!

The height photo is the best grins the girls gave me together in one photo. Julia wanted to find a pumpkin that she could pick up. She had to look a long time because they were all pretty big. All six of the bigger kids in the corn maze all spread out. They were really good to stick together this year.

Good friends hanging out by Emily’s pumpkin choice.

Maeve shared smiles too. Natalie found herself a chicken to watch. She was so intent while watching. I wonder what she was thinking?

The last laugh of the day. We tried one more photo of the kids together before leaving and got 4 kids to laugh at the same time. A great finish to a great day.

We went to listen to Ms. Caryn read another story. We were running late, enough late that we missed the story. Our lovely friend had a second reading for us! There were other kids in the store that enjoyed the book another time. Emily has been missing out on time with Elena so we invited them to meet us at storytime. After the story there was plenty of little girls wandering and reading books in the store.

Little Thea was so sweet to hang with Ms. Rachelle for quite a while!

Our Friday morning playdate took us to the zoo. We were joined by our friends plus one who was out of school for the day. The weather was great and the whole trip was lots of fun. Here are some photo highlights.

"Hello little one, how about we play for the day?" She was a great sport, played in the sand, and took a nap during lunch time.

Introducing Mr. Bieber. He was awake and playing instead of his usual sleeping pose.

Mr. Giraffe was closer to the fence than usual. Actually, he was right up at the edge when we came over, but of course got shy for his photo op.

The three silly girls who just hatched from the super egg.

I like to think that Maeve is the queen of this nest.

The girls checking out the new lion exhibit fence-side.

Elena on her pretty pony.

Julia’s choice was the Red Panda. She appears excited with her choice.

Maeve’s choice was a Zebra, I wonder if her tights influenced her desire for a striped animal.

We spent a while in the sand. It seemed a fun activity and one that Thea could also enjoy.

Welcome and Hello Thea!

Life doesn’t get much better than this! We lounged together on a warm spring day getting to know each other. She is pretty perfect. She studied everything, did not mind a new person holding her, got down and played in water and rolled around on a blanket, helped look for other kids, did not fuss about how she was held as long as she could be a bit squirmy in whatever position she was in, and had such happy faces. This mama took pity on her and kept two sets of little hands off of her today, but the moratorium is off now and she will have to suffer love from two more girls. We are so excited to watch you grow little one! So glad you are in our lives.

All the bigger kids had fun doing their favorite kid things together. Lots of wonderful busyness.

Emily is trying to catch water drops on her tongue. She was pretty busy enjoying herself and wouldn’t pose for any photos.

Wet grins!

Of course Julia had to swing. While she can swing in the bigger kid swing she would prefer to swing in the more secure swing and beg for “underdog”. Geez, the things that Uncles teach little kids. Uncle Doug had better watch out.