The Glasses Kid

Hadley has her glasses!  And not only do they look great on her, she LOVES them!  She told me quietly the other night as we were getting ready for bed, that they are like all of her accessories - they make her even fancier.  And for the 'fancy kid' that is a good thing!  She's been noticing little things that she hasn't seen before (e.g; The yellow things on the grass outside her car window are dandelions!, The cardinal has black around his eye!, There are houses on that hillside!, etc.).  And, in typical older sister adoration, Piper has told me several times that she can't see very well anymore either :). 

Modeling the purple pair before she wore them to school for the first time.

Not wanting to leave Piper out.

Before bed, modeling her favorite pair, the pink shiny ones.  I think its safe to say they are a hit! 

Turkey Hunting Time

Its that time of year again, where those Turkeys, er I mean Hunters, get to try and shoot a wild turkey!  It began at 4:30 a.m. early Thursday morning this past week. And yes even me, the rapidly growing pregnant mama made it out that early too!

Hadley, the veteran turkey hunter was all smiles.  Especially when I was quietly reading our current book, Where the Red Fern Grows.

Piper surprisingly popped right out of bed that morning too, with all of her blond hair a flying!  She was not about to wear that crazy black head gator that Hadley, Kyle & I donned.  While she was a trooper, her experience was drastically improved when Daddy pulled out her blankie and she could suck her thumb quietly :).

I'll have to admit, despite the early hour, there was something pretty special about seeing the morning sun come dancing across their expectant little faces. And equally amazing to see how silent & still they could suddenly be when a hen walked right up to our ground blind!

See, I really was there.

The rest of the hunters arrived later that evening; Sydney, Hayden, Jim, & Kraig, and they set up 'camp' at our house for the remainder of the weekend.  They were up late preparing each night & then up early to hunt each morning, but seemingly had a great time together.  The two birds above are ones that Kyle shot on their last day of hunting.

And while the hunters were out, we did a little 'girly' shopping (picking out glasses & summer jammies) and spent time at Irvine Park with good buddies Jack & Ty. 

Easter 2012

The girls had a great time, down in MN this weekend, celebrating Easter with Grandma & Grandpa, aunties & uncles, cousins and even the Great-Grandparents!  The weekend began with a special trip into Uncle Nathan's office, to have Hadley's eyes examined.  She was a trooper, and Dr.Graham was professional & loving all at the same time.  Later this week we'll be off to pick out some glasses for her, and while she is still not quite so sure what to think about it all, she is quick to say she's looking for 'purple ones with butterflies' on them.  She was very brave, but did want to sit on my lap for the exam. 

While the weather was not particularly warm, we all spent some time outside enjoying the fresh air and the crazy kiddos playing together on the evening of Good Friday.

Hadley's cousin, Sydney who will be 12 this week, wore the darling Gap dress that Kenzie is now wearing!  Quite the succession - Sydney, Ava, Hadley, Piper, Kenzie... and who knows?

Piper could have played football ALL weekend with her uncles!

Saturday dawned cold as well, but that didn't stop Hadley & Piper from checking out the dock with Grandma & Grandpa, and tossing a few rocks into the lake as well.  Thankfully, Hadley didn't toss herself in this time!

Look at all of those Easter beauties!  Piper 3.5, Savannah 2.25, Hadley 5.25, Kenzie 1, Brooklyn 6.25, Asher almost 7 months, & Jeremiah 4.5

Happy little cousins.

I love the look on Piper's face, as Jeremiah has a blast with his slinky.

Sisterly love (with a little coaxing from Mom).
















Uncle Mike, always entertaining the troops.

And finally, out for the much anticipated annual Easter egg hunt!

Piper & Brooklyn racing around with the wind in their hair.

Showing off their collections, but very anxious to get inside and eat the contents...

You are making us wait too long, Mom!

It was not lost on any of us, as we sat around our growing table, that none of this would be possible without the selfless sacrifice Jesus made for us on that first Easter.  And we are all ever so thankful.

Computer Up Again!

Whew, after a looooooong two weeks without our computer, its back up again!  I'm quite certain only my Grandma (bless her heart) noticed my blog absence, but I worked hard over naptime today to get a Kodak program re-downloaded, the mass of pictures I'd taken over the past two weeks uploaded, and a few blogs posted.  Yeah!  As a stay-at-home mama, having the computer down is a bit like a missing link to the outside world, especially since we don't have TV (ask my mom... I had to call and have her look up the weather for me a couple times!). And while I did read quite a few incredible books (thanks to my brother Mike borrowing me 'The Hunger Games' on my Kindle) I hate to admit but I really was anxiously awaiting the arrival of this crazy laptops return!

Como Zoo 2012

We spent a beautiful Sunday at Como Zoo this past weekend.  Spring was in the air, and it seemed the perfect way to spend the day as a family. We started in the Conservatory with all of its luxurious jungle warmth.

Almost hard to differentiate between the colorful flowers and the girls!

The highlight of the day for me was listening to Hadley laugh at the orangutans hamming it up for us outside.

Piper was much more content to sit safely in her stroller holding Kyle's hand.

Whew, a tuckered out Little Lu by the end of the day. But what a wonderful family adventure it was. 

Let's Go Fly A Kite

Upon returning from the zoo, we headed out to the Land to fly our kite.  It was a gorgeous sunny and perfectly windy evening.  In the past, Kyle has always gotten the kite up and flown it himself, letting each of the girls 'help' him a little.  But this year, they were actually able to try it themselves!

Piper got a little help in the beginning from Kyle to pitch it up to Hadley.

And just like that, Hadley was flying her own kite and thoroughly enjoying herself!

When it was her turn, Piper got a little on the crazy side!

Yes, Piper did run forward in her silliness, and moments later the kite did come crashing down, but thankfully not on anyone! It was a wonderful end to a perfect family day.

Learning Experiences

The girls were blessed with a weekend of not only spending time with aunties, uncles, cousins, and Grandma & Grandpa A, but also of getting a couple new learning experiences under their belt.  The first was greeting Auntie Kim off of a private airplane, and getting their own peek inside the plane (pictured with Ava too)! 

The second was a 'field trip' to Uncle Frank's welding shop.  Kyle had a much needed repair that Frank was kind enough to fix, with an audience to boot!  Hadley later told me very quietly, "Uncle Frank can fix anything."

Auntie Kara kindly held Piper while she plugged her nose!  The smell was actually quite nice to the rest of us who don't have a hyper sensitive sense of smell like she does!

Hadley wanted to be up close and personal for everything Uncle Frank was doing.

I think its safe to say they both enjoyed it.

And there was still plenty of time to squeeze in some playing & coloring with cousins as well - Hadley 5, Piper 3, Sydney 12 (this week), & Ava 6 (this week).