The Big Birthday Party

Every year we have a birthday party for the girls with the grandparents and any of the aunts and uncles who can make it.  The girls love it!

The girls sitting amongst all their gifts.  I don’t know why they decided they needed to sit so close together.

Princesses dresses for dress-up were a hit.

My parents and brother brought a ton of gifts that the library had to clear out of their storage space, so the girls have more craft supplies than I could ever have imagined.  We also requested secondhand clothes for dress-up, which both grandparents provided in abundance.  They also received several books, a bug keeper (for live bugs), and several other things that I can not recall at the moment.

This was Bria’s decorated cake.  It was supposed to be a picture of a tiara, but I am not very good at drawing on frosting.  She still loved it and that is what matters.  For Bentley’s cake I just made an ice cream cake.  Doing two cakes for the party, and a cake or treats for their actual birthday is getting to be a lot of work.  Next year I may have to eliminate some of that work.

The girls are just about to blow out their candles.  Bentley is wearing one of the dress-up dresses.  She ended up wearing it the rest of the day.

Getting gifts and having cake is fun, but the girls favorite part was the memories they made with their grandparents and my brother and his fiancé.  The girls wanted to put their bug holders together right away.  After they were put together they needed some bugs to live in them.  My brother’s fiancé spent much of the afternoon catching bugs for them and teaching them how to catch bugs.  What fun!

An exciting and full day!

Bria’s Birthday

I thought I would get to this a lot sooner, considering that over a month has already gone by.  Bria is now 7 years old.  We did a small family gift opening on her actual birthday and sent birthday treats to school for her to share with her class.  So far, she hasn’t asked to have a birthday party with any of her friends.  That is all right by me!

She easily guessed that her gift was a set of books just like what Bentley had gotten.  She didn’t know that the books came in two separate packages to make one total set of books, but somehow she still guessed.  The most exciting book was the sticker book.

4 Years Old

Yesterday was Bentley’s 4th Birthday!  She seems like she has grown up a lot in the last couple of months.  We just had a small immediate family party on her actual birthday.  Next weekend we will do a big party for both of the girls’ birthdays.  That means we will have a lot of cake around our house!

Bentley’s cake.  She changed her mind about 10 times as to what she wanted on her cake.

Blowing out her candles.

Opening her gift from Dad and Mom.  A set of educational books.  One of the books came with stickers that can be moved over and over again, which was the highlight of the gift.  She and Bria have already played with it quite a bit.

The party wasn’t anything big or fancy, but Bentley still had fun.  Happy Birthday Bentley!

Getting Harder

The busier we get the harder it is to keep updating the blog.  Here are some pictures from the last couple of months that are not attached to an event.

Bria was brave enough to jump off the diving board to the lifeguard during her swimming lessons this summer.

Both girls got hair cuts so their hair is easier to manage and Bria can wash and brush her own hair now.

The sunflowers in our garden when they were in bloom (several weeks ago).

Some of the corn and tomato plants in our garden.  The corn is taller than David, and the tomato plants are now taller too.  The big bushy plants in the back and the short plants in the front are both tomatoes, just different varieties.

We painted, with the help of David’s parents, the shop/man cave over Labor Day weekend.  It looks much better.

Bentley entertaining Grandpa with a tea party while we were painting.

Bria learning to ride her bike with my mom on Labor Day.

David helping Bria learn to ride her bike when Grandma needed a break.  David has been helping her after school as well.

As September moves forward, we should have some pictures of all the birthday festivities!

Preparing for Change

We spent 4 days in the last week at David’s parents’ helping them get ready for their big move; coming up at the end of this next week.

The first step in the process was cleaning out all the farm buildings, including the house, of all the items that went on an auction.  The house they are moving into is smaller, and doesn’t have the storage that the farm house had.  His parents have inherited a lot of furniture over the years, and it was more than they wanted to move.  Plus, when you have lived most of your adult life in the same place, you just accumulate things.  David’s parents had most of the items organized, they just needed to be pulled out to the yard and set up for the auction.  We spent a good portion of two days moving everything to get ready.

The auction items were all lined up.  Only about half of the line would fit in the picture.

A panorama of all the items.  Taking a panorama with an iPod distorts the picture.

During the auction.

The weekend also included a brief farewell to David’s parents at their church.  The kids provided a cake, and the pastor opened up a time for comments and goodbyes from their friends.

The pictures on the cake represented different areas that they were involved in throughout their time in the community.

The grandkids all had one last hoorah with tractor rides, whacking weeds with sticks in the feed lot, and working on their forts in the out buildings.

All the grandkids on the tractor.

All the families now have iDevices, so most of these pictures were just shared by David’s family via Photostream.  There were some really great pictures taken of the farm.  I think some of them are even art gallery worthy.

Thanks Jeff, for memorializing the farm through art/photos.

This coming week, our family is headed back to the farm to load the remaining household items into a truck for the move.  Then at the end of the week, we will be headed the opposite direction to help unload the truck into the new house.  It will be another big, busy week, but we are so excited about the new experiences and memories we will be making at the new house.

July 4th, A Quick Overview

July has been, and continues to be, another busy month.  The girls were with my parents for the last few days of June until we went to my parents' on July 3rd.  They enjoyed their time playing at the youth center, picking cherries on my parents’ cherry tree, camping at the river, and all the fun things that come with camping (i.e. Smores, swimming, etc.)

Bentley helping Grandpa with the cherries.

Bria enjoying a Smore.

The beginning of the month started off with a race.  David, my dad, my brother, and another friend went to Sprint Car races the night of July 3rd.  It ended up being a long night due to the huge crowd (3 times what there was seating for) and track delays.  They drove to my parents’ after the race and didn’t get home until 4:30 am on the 4th.

At the race.

July 4th brought fun at the river (a family tradition) and fireworks in the evening.  This year we were prepared for the girls’ fear of the noise and brought ear protectors.  My brother bought most of the fireworks, making for a bigger display than we had ever done at home.

My sisters and me. We all unintentionally dressed almost the same.

Lunch at the river after some swimming.

During the fireworks.

July 5th brought a baby shower for my sister, who is expecting their first child at the end of October.  We also played a really fun game of baseball due to Bria’s insistence.

Cupcakes for the shower.

Tonia with her gifts.

Our game of baseball.

The last couple of days at my parents were much less exciting.  I helped my mom out by working at the youth center for a few hours.  Bria came with me, and we had some good one-on-one time.  Later in the day, Tonia brought Bentley down and Chris took Bria back to Grandma so that Bentley and I could have some one-on-one time together.  David and the guys worked on the combine, Chris came back early to catch up on some of his own work.  I ran into an old high school classmate, and we caught up some.  (It has been 15 years since I have seen most of my classmates.)  On Sunday we attended church and then headed home, just to get ready to leave again on Friday.

Summary of the Last Month

The last month has gone by so quickly, and I don't even have pictures to show for it.

Once school got out, the girls spent a few days with David's parents. A week later the girls and I headed to my parents' for VBS (it is three days from 9am to 2pm). The Monday after was VBS at our church. Summer didn't really feel like it started until after that first week in June.

The following week at home that wasn't too eventful. It consisted mostly of yard projects; like cleaning out the landscaping rocks. Then we headed to my parents for a little less than 24 hours. We wanted to spend some time at the river and needed to see the chiropractor. Ahhhh!

A few days later, we were on our way to David's parents to do some work around the farm, getting it ready for his parents' move. David wasn't able to accomplish all that he had hoped.

During our time there, most of the state had some very bad weather. At home there had been some hail and strong straight line winds. My garden was in shreds and some of my flowers are in really bad shape. It has been about five days so the plants are starting to look better. I decided to pull up the corn and replant because it was just to depressing to look at from my kitchen window.

Monday evening, we spent picking strawberries at the same farm we did last year. This year, we brought home three gallons and that wasn't even all that we picked. We have enjoyed pie, sorbet, and ice cream. Tomorrow we will have fresh jam. Yum!!!

Sorry if this post looks funny, it was too nice to be inside so I tried posting from my iPod.

Kindergarten Graduation

Kindergarten Graduation is a huge event here.  David and I estimated that over 100 people attended the graduation for a class of twenty students.

Bria about to walk up to the stage at the beginning of the ceremony.

Bria receiving her diploma.

A panorama of the gift tables and the audience.  Each child had a large pile of gifts.

The kids performed a special farewell poem, a couple of songs, received their diplomas, presented their eighth grade buddy with a special gift, presented their high school helper with a special gift, and had a reception following the whole ceremony.  It was an exciting moment for Bria.  She is ready for 1st grade!

The Last Week of School

The last week of school was packed with activities.  We were very busy the whole week.

Special Awards Ceremony

Bria received the Character Award for Responsibility (equivalent to student of the month)

Spring Concert

The Kindergarteners sang a really cute song called “Tony Chestnut” (from The Learning Station).  The actions that they did with the song made it the talk of the town.  They did an encore presentation at their graduation.

Track and Field Day

Bria doing the standing long jump.  She is just about to jump.

Bria running the 25m dash.  She also ran the 50m dash.  It is so funny to watch kids this age run a race.  They slow down before the finish line because they are afraid to go through the string.  After the first group runs then the kids are not afraid of the line and they do much better.  Bria got 3rd in her first race, and 1st in the 50m dash.  The kids are only allowed to do three events, and Bria’s last event was the cone race (weaving through cones while running).  At the end of the track meet all the kids get a special treat.  Bria wanted to wait for the treat, so we hung out for another 1 hr and 15 min.

Clean Up Day

The day before school got out the kindergartens cleaned out all of their cubbies and collected any papers that were theirs.  Then they got a special ice cream treat when they were all don’t.

Graduation

Friday was the Kindergarten Graduation.  Check out the next post.

To Grandpa’s and Grandma’s

Immediately after Bria’s graduation we headed to David’s parents.  They had a special event they wanted to take the grandkids to at the Children’s Museum.  Cousin L was also at their house, and the girls were excited to go.  David and I came back home Saturday night so we could attend the high school graduation and all the parties we were invited to.

That made for a busy weekend.  David and I have most of the week without the girls.  Grandpa and Grandma will be bringing them back in a couple of days.

Working Cattle

Working cattle is something that happens every spring here.  Once all the calves are born it is time to give vaccinations to the cattle and brand them.  Our good friends ask David to participate and allow the girls and I to come watch.  It is always a great family atmosphere, training the young generation in ranching.  Kids are always welcome, whether they are old enough to participate or not.  We want our kids to know what hard work is, and get some farming and ranching experience like David and I both did.  After all the work was done, we were all fed a great meal.

Bentley made a new friend.  Here they are standing on the corals looking at the calves.

Bentley getting a front row view to “working” the bull calves.

Bentley and her friend waiting for the calves, which they helped herd into the coral.

This year Bria was not able to participate because she was in school.  The following day they worked a few more calves and David was able to take Bria with him to be a part of it.  She was so sad that she couldn’t attend the big day, but she did enjoy getting her own special time to go out and help.

Snow Fun

We have been having snow since Monday evening, and it has accumulated to more snow than we have had all winter combined.  The girls have had tons of fun with the snow.  They especially love the large pile of snow at the end of our church parking lot, which is right next door.

I know that you can’t tell from the picture how big the pile is, but it is the biggest pile we have had there in the three years we have lived in this house.  Our first winter here was the only time, since moving here, that we have had this much snow.

Hints of Green, Signs of Spring

A couple of days before the Easter weekend, the weather started to get really nice here.  We traveled to north central MN for the weekend, where the weather was still nice, but not quite as nice as it was at home.  Even though the weather was a bit cool, we really enjoyed getting together with David’s family. 

Seeing his sister’s family’s new (7 months ago) house was great, and we had tons of space for everyone.  Although, our brother-in-law who had to work via his computer and the wireless router, may not agree!  The kids had their own space in the huge basement, and the adults had their's in the comfortable upstairs.

Activities for the weekend included playing in the snow, playing cops & robbers (or something similar), pretending to hunt, celebrating recent and upcoming birthdays, dying eggs, Easter egg hunts, good food, card games, and on and on.

All the cousins dyed eggs together.  The youngest even had to try tasting the dye since it was in a mug.  He insisted, and since it is nontoxic, we let him give it a try.  Since he fought so hard to get a drink, he had to take two before he decided vinegar didn’t taste that great.

The dresses grandma made and gave to the girls for Christmas worked great as Easter dresses.  Actually, I am not a big fan of getting the girls new dresses just for Easter.  Easter dresses usually are not warm enough for the still chilly spring.

The kids weren’t sure which camera they were actually supposed to look at.

This is what it looks like when the Easter bunny throws-up.  The picture doesn’t look nearly as sugar-loaded as it actually was.

Now back to what I had intended with the title (I decided to fit two posts into one, since they were somewhat related).

When we came back home, there was what seemed to be a slightly green hint to the grass than when we had left.  I thought my eyes were just used to seeing the snowy or brown grass of the areas we traveled through and that our grass just looked greener because of it.  As the next couple of days passed, we could tell that the grass was actually getting greener every day.  Yeah!  Not only is the grass greening up, but my daffodils, tulips, and some of the summer flowers are coming up as well. 

Last year, we were spoiled with the very nice Spring weather.  That made it really hard for me to wait for Spring this year.

From March 17, 2012

From April 1, 2012

I just hope that this cooler Spring means that we won’t get as dry as we did last summer.  We still need tons of moisture (not all at once) to recover from last summer.