This year we spent our spring break at home playing.

Our first day was spent just getting chores done so we could play the rest of the week. This involved a trip to the grocery. Lately the kids have been making trips in the car-cart a lot of trouble, but after lots of pleading and promising Mama gave them another try. They were angels and despite not fitting well together we finished the shopping with peace. Hurray!

The next day we met some friends at the zoo and braved a cold morning. By the time we make it to the playground area it warmed up and all the jackets were off. The highlight for the day was playing playing with our friends and the second highlight was playing together at the playground. Never fear, we did walk past a few animals.

All the girls can fit on the lion, kind-of.

The next day we had big plans … then we threw them out and just played at our friends’ house. The mamas sewed these Elsa dresses while the girls played. Once they got the dresses on they sang almost every song from Frozen while watching videos of the songs.

What is a week of play without ice cream? Of course we had to go! We sat at the soda fountain counter and enjoyed milkshakes. Emily had a pineapple/strawberry shake. Julia had a strawberry shake. And mama had a cookie shake. While we ate them we discussed a movie we recently saw that had a scene where the girl did exactly what we were doing.

Our last day of break was spent with an evening at Frozen Head State Park. We picked daddy up from work and took sandwiches with us.

We made it to a stream on our hike and played around the bridge. We also looked for animals in the stream. There was a frog we found waiting for a bug to float by. When the hike was over we enjoyed our dinner and then an hour at the playground.

While we love to travel we enjoyed our stay at home too. It was nice for Emily to see friends she misses while she is at school. Julia enjoyed having Emily home to play with, at least most of the time.

It was a good year! Looking forward to the memorable and everyday moments of 2014.

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.

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.