Grandma and Gpa's visit

Boat-Mama and Grampa came down to visit for their spring break and we kept them pretty busy! They had four kids so they are used to a little chaos. They always jump right in and start helping out from morning to night. They changed diapers, babysat the girls while I ran errands, went strawberry picking, colored Easter eggs, restained our bench out front, and even went hog hunting (I will spare you those pics, but everyone got a hog!).

Grandma took most of the pics and I did not get copies of her pictures yet, but here's some pics I took at the berry patch. We've picked berries with them in Wisconsin and in Texas before, and picking is something that the girls associate with Gma and Gpa. Just the other day Larkin was eating some cauliflower and said, "We should go cauliflower picking sometime with Boat-mama and Grampa!"

flowers

 The wildflowers are in full bloom this year! They both love picking but Larkin especially gets excited about all the flowers. Her favorite flower is the Indian Paintbrush and she was so disappointed last year when there were hardly because of the drought. All year she's talked about which flowers would be growing and how she just couldn't wait to start picking them.

We headed to the trail near our house and brought some butterfly nets too. We rounded a corner and came upon a field filled with flowers and butterflies.  Willa gasped and said, "Mom, it's a beautiful world today."

Willa excited about catching a butterfly--
"I GOT HIM!!"

monarch caterpillar

The only pic I took of all three in the bluebonnets, but it's pretty good!

 Note to self--check for prickly pear cactus before telling them to sit down! Larkin got a bum-full of prickers!

iphone pics

 I forgot that I had some pics on my iphone. Here's a few more!

Rolling over now--both ways--but only when she feels like it, which is hardly ever!

We've been busy gardening! Everyday the girls spend at least an hour in the front yard tending to all their little seedlings and plants!

working to get the dirt "just right"--hours of mixing, shoveling, watering...and this is before we even planted anything!

snoozin

Delicious toes

Creek in our neighborhood finally has water again! Yea!

Fishing in dresses--caught an alligator gar

March

Here's some pics from March--Sadie is five months in all of these. She's growing so fast!

She's sitting up with support now. She loves to be on her tummy though and that's something her sisters both hated!

Girls busy working on art to sell at their lemonade stand (plan to have one soon). With a lemonade pricetag of $12 I'm not sure that they'll sell much!!

Bath required after every feeding!! She tries to grab the spoon with each bite. Larkin and Willa did this too but not until much later. Sweet potatoes are her favorite!

We are on day 10 of Larkin's ear infection...two types of antibiotics and nothing is working yet. She wrote me this note one day and I thought it was sad but cute!

Joel and the girls scootered to the pool! It's about two miles round trip, and the girls loved every minute of it.

lots of entertainment during tummy time

three!

Lately the girls have been playing "nest" for hours on end. They pretend to be birds or dinosaurs and build a nest out of blankets and keep their "precious eggs" warm. So needless to say they were super excited to paint real birdhouses. Willa always tries to do everything "just like Larkin" --hence the same rainbow rooftop and even same headband!!

Late Feb/March

Sorry for the long break in posting! Here's some pics from last month. Sadie started solid foods and it was a hit...for the big girls, that is! They were so excited to try the rice flakes and gobbled up huge handfuls of it. Sadie was not that impressed and let most of it dribble down her big cheeks. 

Over the past month I've been making pureed baby food and Willa always wants a bite. She watches me feed Sadie and then usually says something along the lines of, "Did you make enough of that for me too, Mom? I want it!"

Wait, how old are you girls?!

First taste of rice cereal. It's a month later now and she still doesn't like it!

Ready for takeoff!

My favorite pic!

almost 5 months old

sitting up is so fun!

recent pics

painting the playscape with mud

no more training wheels!!

They are leaving me in the dust now! I must get this baby into a jogging stroller!!

Everyday we drive by a motherload of dandelions--and finally we stopped to pick some

Willa was covered in seeds after blowing!

We've had a very warm winter--sitting outside on an 80 degree day in February!!

water balloon fight!

Look who's big enough for the bumbo chair

Storytime

There's a mirror for her to look at on the top of this swing--and it always makes her smile

Princess Larkin taking a break to snuggle Sadie

Willa pregnant with baby doll and Doctor Larkin is using a special tool (crayon) to see if it's a boy or girl

Willa's birthday party

It's hard to believe that Willa is four already! We did a camping themed party and she had a lot of fun "camping" with all her little girlfriends. We set up a tent, a canoe, a firepit, and fishing in the backyard and just let everyone run loose. Here's some pics from the party--

Willa said her favorite part was when everyone sang to her

Party Dog

Building the campfire

Fishing

"I caught a big one!"

Blake the "monster" scaring all the girls in the tent

row row row your boat

As Gramma Mary says, "Brown-y cooky, blackie done!