Petting Farm

 We spent four full animal-packed hours at Green Meadows Petting Farm in Waterford.

They had the cutest little kittens. Lydia whispered to me, "Can we take him home?"

 The grey one fell asleep on my shoulder. Who wouldn't want to take one home?

The fun thing about this place is that it's so hands-on. They let you pet the darling ducklings, 

walk into the chicken coop and check for eggs,

 milk the pregnant cow, for real, 

and enter almost every pen. The signs encouraged you to "come on in," but I have to say, I felt strange and not always welcome. The turkeys gobbled real funny at me, I felt outnumbered by the bleating goats, the pigs nibbled on my shoelaces, but they were so cute and playful that I didn't mind.

Plus, they have tractor pulls, toys, sand pits, sensory bins, slides, toy duck races, cars, play farmer's market, adult tricycles, music bus, play laundry, a short maze, hayrides...

Abigail's Memorial Day fun glasses on the hayride.

Abigail loved the sound of her voice in this tunnel.

And in case that wasn't enough...Pony Rides!

Lydia rode Bunny and now she wishes she had her own horse to ride at home.

Abigail rode Lad and held on better than she usually holds on to Daddy, thankfully!

We had a nice picnic lunch in there somewhere, and before we left, Lydia wanted to stop one last time in the Kitty Barn. Reminds me of a picture of a young Ben...

Working at the "Car Wash"

These cuties worked and worked, and the bottom half of my car got clean.

At the car wash, woooh 
Talking about the car wash, yeah 
Come on y'all and sing it for me 
Car wash, woh, car wash yeah

Birthday and Mother's Day

 

 It was my big 3-0 birthday this week. For my birthday activity I picked mini-golfing with the family. Mini-golfing with three energetic little girls and a stroller really takes the game to about three new levels. The spinning windmill's got nothing on them.

After a hole or two, we got Abigail to focus on keeping track of her orange ball, instead of everyone else's. But with Lydia being the social butterfly/roamer that she is... half of the time, I didn't even know where she was. Like where was she when I took this picture?

and this picture...

Oh, she's behind Sarah.
Keeping track of that girl requires laser focus, but somehow I managed to score a hole-in-one and not completely loose Lydia. When is it not too soon to get your daughter a cell phone fully equipped with GPS tracking? Just asking.

And then on Mother's Day we were in Sheboygan and it was a beautiful day! I love being Momma to Lydia and Abigail. They are the best girls in the world. And I am so happy to be loved so well by my Moms. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Easter 2014

We dyed eggs with Stacy, Aaliyah and Violet. We like all of the pastel colors, but only the pink and purple cups had a line.

Lydia made designs with the white crayon.

 This year we went to the local grocery store's Easter Egg Hunt. It turned out to be a lot of fun for Abigail. The 2-3 year olds found their chocolate eggs in the paper products aisle.

Lydia enjoys decorating her cross cookie with care.

 We also went to our church for a kid's message, an egg hunt in the playground, and adorable cutout cookies.

 The girls found eggs in our basement among the toys, in the play tunnel, play kitchen, Barbie's car, etc.

(Hiding them in the basement made it possible to hold off the hunt till after church.) 

 Of course, the sorting of candy commenced immediately after (just like after trick-or-treating). But there were also puzzle pieces in some of the eggs (my favorite egg idea!); so putting the puzzle together was another fun activity.

 At Grandma Linda's, the girls broke out their new paints from her.

 Abigail, Lydia, Aaliyah...so cute!

Lydia "scooching" Abigail outside after a lovely brunch at Blackwolf Run with Grandma, Stacy & Greg, Sarah & Matt and his dad, step mom, brother and step brother.

After that we stopped at Aunt Debbie's house to see all the cousins and 13 second cousins all together. I think at this point we don't even try to get a group picture. What fun anyway!

Today's Craft

Baptism Birthday

Happy happy happy day...

was the day you were baptized, Lydia Marie!

Shower Surprise

I have to tell you a little about last week so we can better appreciate the surprise I got in the shower this morning. Well, everyone in the household was sick. One morning Dad got Abigail when she woke up and let me keep sleeping, but then he had to shower and get ready, so Abigail ended up screaming, and I mean SCREAMING bedside into my ear to go downstairs. I was so exhausted I was willing to pay damage to my hearing for five more minutes of lying in bed. This is just a taste of what last week was like. Okay.
This morning was a stark contrast:
I was up out of bed, had my coffee and cereal, and even read the newspaper. Through it all, the girls were both still snug in their beds, well when I say snug, Abigail's legs were actually hanging off her bed, but they were both wonderfully asleep nonetheless. So I decided to take a peaceful shower. In the middle of washing my face though, the bathroom door creaked open, I think I see a little hand, and it's Abigail. But she's not here to insist, "hold me, hold me" or "downstairs, downstairs" or "I want yogurt." Instead she breaks into an incomprehensible HAPPY rant. It was a relief; it made me laugh. She continued with this happy babble till I was ready to go downstairs. It was my pleasant shower surprise that I find symbolic of the fresh break into Spring. Winter is so last week. ;)