Wisconsin trip!

Shortly after I cleaned up this incredible messy baby, I texted Joel: "I'm thinking of driving to Wisconsin tomorrow. Crazy?" After talking to him he convinced me that yes, driving would be crazy. He said that I should fly instead!

I needed a break from the cooking, cleaning, baby chasing (Sadie is crawling now!), more cleaning, and oppressive Texas heat. Plus Joel had a busy week of work and I knew we wouldn't see him much anyway since he had to travel that week.

I called Joel's mom and asked her if we could come visit in less than 24 hours, and also asked if she could drive the five hours to the airport to pick us up (five hours away was the closest I could get with my flyer miles). She pretty much hyperventilated and then immediately said, "Of course! Get on that plane!!!!"

The night before we left, Joel read books to the girls and then kissed them goodnight. He left the room, and then I came in and Willa said, "Mom, when I go through that thing (security), I'm going to give Daddy the biggest hug and kiss because that will be the last time I'll ever see him." Then she started bawling uncontrollably. I explained to her that we were only going for a week and that we are definitely coming back. Then I noticed that Larkin was hiding under her covers and I thought for sure that she was there because she didn't want to listen to me talk to Willa. Then I looked closer and realized that she too was crying. Suddenly they both were hysterical saying they were going to miss Daddy so much. I had to go get Joel to come back into their rooms and we had to sleep next to them until they fell asleep!

Joel told Willa to bring him back a maple leaf, and she found one right after we arrived and said, "Take a picture and send it to Daddy!"

On our drive to Three Lakes we stopped at a park for lunch and Larkin built this fairy house. The weather was amazing and it was such a nice change to be outside in 75 degree weather!

Heading down the driveway for berry picking!

One day I found the girls in the bathroom trying to curl their hair with a toilet paper tube. I knew it was time to buy some real rollers--they were a huge hit!

Their very own pink BB gun!

Driving the truck in the backyard

Shirley Temples

Mowing the lawn with Grandpa

Sadie's first marshmallow roast! No she didn't eat it! :)

Needs no caption!!

Love Willa's face

Sadie's first word was "cat" and her second word was "buck"!!! She was mesmerized by the buck mounts and would point and say "BUH-BUH-BUH!" everytime you walked by them.

Blackberry picking

My favorite quote from Willa -- "I'm picking raspberries AND blackberries! Look how many red ones I have!" (The red ones were unripened blackberries)

We have a picture of Larkin "feeding" Boat-Mama berries a few years ago. Willa has always been jealous of the picture and said, "Take a picture of ME feeding her berries!"

 I have a zillion more pics but I'll stop here for now and will post part two later!