St. Patrick's Day 2012

We were fortunate enough to spend St. Patrick's Day in MN this year celebrating my sister-in-law, Heidi's 30th birthday!  We attempted to surprise her, but I think she's a wee bit smarter than all the rest of us! 
The gorgeous weather made for a beautiful night to spend together out in Nathan & Heidi's yard.


 

Cousins hamming it up together!  Jeremiah 4, Brooklyn 6, Savannah 2, Hadley 5

Piper chose to observe the silliness from the comfort of Grandma's lap. 

Much like Asher (6 months) who was content to be loved up by just about anyone, especially his daddy.

Meanwhile, Hadley was off talking her cousins into rolling down the leafy hill with her!

And then onto showing Savannah just how to make Kenzie (1) laugh!

Monkey see, Monkey do.  Exactly what Hadley was going for, and exactly what Kenzie was hoping for!

Ooo, watch out guys, you might start the backyard on fire with all of those candles!

Quick, who can pull out and lick the most candles?  Even Piper was game for this kind of silliness!

Spring at the Lake

Prior to and following the St.Patrick's Day party, the girls got to fully enjoy the Lake in all of its early spring glory. 

Hadley, taking advantage of the docks that are currently on shore...

In the spirit of Grandma & Grandpa's upcoming adventure in Hawaii, Hadley donned a few leis.

Onto bunny hopping, with excitement.

Piper, as usual, was a bit more cautious...

Nothing a little love from Grammie & Grampie couldn't solve.

And this just might be the weirdest series of pictures I've ever taken... When my dad trimmed the maples earlier this week, the unusually warm weather was apparently very conducive to leaking sap.  Very tasty sap, to be more exact!

The tree was left with dry spots & maybe even a few tiny 'squirrel' gnaw marks as well!

And finally, a little running in before the long car ride home.

What a lovely last weekend of winter!!

Daddy Day

The girls had a fantastic Daddy Day this past weekend.  Kyle really packed in the fun - sledding & cutting branches at the Land, taking outdoor Christmas lights down, perusing the Gun Show in town, dinner out, and finally a local playoff basketball game.  Wow!

Apparently Piper was content to watch Hadley sled in the remaining snow from the truck.  But was eager to help cut branches afterward (see below).

Crazy enough, that is the very same hill we slid down just last weekend with my parents!

MOA

The girls and I ventured to the Mall of America for the first time this week!  My dear cousin Katie & her two little girls invited us to join them for the Toddler Tuesday festivities.  Despite being a little anxious about trying to take the girls into such a large place (Piper could be heard several times saying, "I can't belive how huge it is, Mama!"), we had an absolute blast and hope to try it again sometime soon! 

We started with the day's first attraction, a Dora meet & greet that Piper wanted nothing to do with, but Hadley & Audrey thought was pretty cool (and isn't Katie a good sport!).


 

Little crafting time, with tons of wet sticky glue to put into the stroller!

A visit to Legoland!  Can you spot sweet little 4 month old Cece in the stroller? She was a trooper!

And finally on to some rides!  This ride was their favorite, reminiscent of Paul Bunyan Land this summer.

While it was a great day, it was slightly exhausting!  With all of the hoopla, Piper was unable to nap in the car on the way home making for a pretty tired little girl.  One who was only able to eat 3 bites of her dinner before tearfully begging to go to bed!  Thanks for the fun day, Katie & Girls!

Winter Visitors

We were blessed to have Grandma & Grandpa come for a winter visit this past weekend!  Much to the girls delight, we even got them out to the Land for a little sledding.  Despite the cool breeze and snowflakes in the air, we all had a hoot sliding the down the big hill together.

Probably the most entertaining ride down the hill was with my mom!  I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, and I think we made Piper laugh equally as hard as we wizzed by.

While the sledding & eating out was really fun, I think the girls were most intrigued by all of the books Grandma brought with on her iPad!  She's definitely the techiest Grandma I know!

And two weeks back, we were further blessed by a visit from Auntie Kara & Uncle Frank (not pictured, as he & Kyle were out tractor shopping.)

Thanks for the awesome visits - You made our winter special, but most importantly go by quickly!