Memorial Day Parade

We were invited to join a bunch of friends down at the Memorial Day Parade yesterday, and did the girls ever love it!  It was SO fun to see the excitement on their little faces as the parade marched by.  The last time we attempted a parade, the noise was too much for Hadley's uber sensitive ears.  But has she ever grown!  She plugged her ears a couple times, but was never frightened by anything.  When asked what her favorite part was, she said, "All of it!"  And when Piper was asked, she quickly reported, "Kermie the Fwog [frog] on a motorcyle!"  Piper waved at pretty much anything that went by, and Hadley managed to snag a piece of candy for both her and Pipey as well as a mostly frozen freezie pop that they devoured instantly (note: Kyle was not there).    



Vaccinating Cattle

We got to spend the weekend up on the farm with Kyle's family, and what a hoot it was to be a part of vaccinating the cattle!  Back in his woo-ing days, Kyle treated me to a couple of vaccination weekends, and his rugged farmer boy looks mixed with cow snot, blood, and poop certainly won me over :).  But Piper has never been privy to this messy but interesting weekend.  Hadley assured her that it was really fun, as she 'helped' with the vaccinating last fall while Piper was in potty training boot camp. 
It made such an impression on Hadley last fall, that when her preschool teacher asked her to tell a story about something fun she had done in the past (for her spring conference), she told of her special vaccinating weekend.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
All of the girl cousin helpers - Paige, Sydney, Hadley, Piper, & Ava
 

With the real farmer of the bunch, Grandpa A, who turned 70 last week!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Kyle, Sydney, Kara, & Paige busy straddling fences, and corraling cows into the vaccinating chute while Ava & Hadley look on.
 
 

Despite a bit of wind, it was an absolutely beautiful day and the rain held off until just after they were finished.  The rainstorm, much to the girls' delight, even produced a brilliant rainbow!

With the vaccinating complete, we got to spend Sunday finishing up a few farm chores and then checking out all of the animals with the cousins.  That's a brand new baby chick!
 
 
 

For some reason, Piper really had her heart set on petting a calf.  Thankfully, Uncle Frank takes such good care of his long horn cows, that he was actually able to bring one in for her to touch.  Pure joy and wonderment on her face.  She is still talking about that brand new baby calf.

It was a lovely weekend!  And such a treat for the girls to spend time with their cousins on the farm.

 
(Hayden, Ava, Piper, Hadley, & Sydney)
 

Lucky Guy

The girls were thrilled to be a part of big cousin Paige's exciting dance/moving weekend.  We not only got to see her light up the stage, but also got to 'help' her move into her new apartment (by borrowing her the truck & not being there to get in the way, hehe).  As an added bonus they got lots of extra lovin' from Auntie Kim & Auntie Kara.  And Kyle, surrounded by 6 beautiful women most of the weekend, was one very lucky guy...

(Out for pizza above) We caught Paige right before the recital began.

Hadley loves wearing dresses and anything girly, but I resorted to bribing to get Piper into a dress.  It took extra jelly beans to go without pants or socks!

Sunny Days

After what has felt like weeks upon weeks of chilly weather and rain, we have finally gotten some gorgeous sunny days!  The girls want nothing more than to be outside soaking it up (me too!).  We've had lots of backyard swingset fun...

Hadley B the monkey.

Piper is now the proud owner and wiggley user of her own 'big-kid' swing (the baby swing has been removed!).

She and her curly locks are gonna love humidity :) 

Checking out the daffodils they planted last fall; with really silly faces?

















Having a special picnic snack with Kyle out at the land (note the warm hats covered by the sun hats - what a good dad!).  Hadley told me that there were "millions of hundreds of dandelions out there."

Gathering corn cobs from Kyle's old food plots to feed our backyard squirrels (a fun & creative way to stay busy while Daddy plants more trees).

Watching & cheering on cousin Brooke at her softball game (she really is number #2 up to bat!). 















Ahhhh.  Bring on the spring and all of the extra baths, bug bites, and scraped knees that come with it, because there is nothing like being outside after a looooong Wisconsin winter!

Spring Program!

Last night was a lovely night to be a mom (or a dad).  Really, it doesn't get much better than going to a school program and getting to watch your beloved child up on stage singing their little heart out.  Hadley was just beautiful up there.  Serious as all get out, but loving every minute of singing and acting out all of her favorite preschool songs from the school year.  Just look at her eyes all aglow with anticipation before we left for the program...

 

Just a wee bit taller than her classmates.  (Pardon the red eye.)

















Special ice cream treat afterward, and then time to visit with some of her little friends.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of her perfectly wide darling little feet, black toe and all (and no I did not do that to her, just in case you were wondering;  but don't look too closely at Piper, she still has a trace of that bonk!).

Piper was such a little trooper at the program, even when it did go much beyond her bedtime... back home was another story.  This two year old is getting mighty good at tantrums!

And look at that, even as we were about to head home after a long night, she still has that fantastic grin on her face.  It was a good night for our little family. 

Twenty

This past week we celebrated Paige's 20th birthday! The girls were anxiously awaiting 'Party Day' with Paige and her roommates, and when it finally dawned Hadley's first thought was to pick out orange clothing; as orange is Paige's favorite color.  They enjoyed all of the party excitement, and especially the brownie sundaes...

We just LOVE having her in town, and now that she's been accepted into the nursing program (YAH!)  we know that we get her for a little bit longer!  Happy Birthday, Paige!