Look What's Hatching!

I found a cocoon in the garden last week. After showing it to Emily and Megan, Emily decided that we should keep it to see what hatched from it. I had my doubts but didn't want to dampen her obvious enthusiasm over the great mystery. So, we kept it and within a week we had a surprise! We let him go after some fun observations, and are currently hosting another cocoon to see what will become if it! 

20 Extra Pounds, and 6 Weeks to Go!!!

We can't wait to meet our little Eli David! 

Just Got My Ears Pierced

We just opened up a whole new world of accessories for our sweet 7-year old! She was THRILLED to get her ears pierced this afternoon, and is already thinking about what new earrings she wants to get. She picked out the cutest little rainbow daisy earrings. Megan was going to get her ears pierced also, but after witnessing Emily acquire two new holes in her lobes, she decided to wait a bit longer. No hurry!

On the Way to Becoming Fish

Emily and Megan took swimming lessons this week at the YMCA. They looked forward to lessons each day, and are much more confident in their own skills in the water now. The instructors were outstanding! Today they did some boat safety. The photos aren't the best because I had to zoom quite a distance, and take photos through glass. 

A Day of Play

I have heard of a fun day trip that I'd like to try sometime. One mom takes her kids on a "progressive" park day right before school starts at the end of the summer. They travel around to as many of the local parks as they can in one day. We just might try it this August. It sounds like too much fun! Although we didn't dedicate an entire day to playing at the park, we visited two different parks and had a lot of fun. 

Cool Shirts for Eli

To welcome Eli this summer, our family all surprised us on Easter Sunday with a family baby shower and made personalized onesies for Eli! How special they are!!! Can't wait to see him in his own custom shirts!! Thanks for being so thoughtful!

Happy Mother's Day!

Here are some of the beautiful flowers I got for Mother's Day this year. I am NOT the best gardener, but love to add color to the yard and around the house. My favorite color is orange, so I was thrilled to receive some beautiful orange flowers this year. 

Emily and Megan love to pick flowers for me. So, the kitchen is usually full of the aroma of freshly picked flowers. Emily and Megan made the small vases at Girl Scouts. Emily painted and potted the pink flower in Sunday school for Mother's Day. What a cheerful reminder when I am working in the hot kitchen of how loved I am. : )

Kumquats

We were getting groceries last week and Megan saw a fruit she didn't recognize. Actually, I didn't recognize it either. We checked the label and discovered that we had found kumquats. We had heard of kumquats before, but never knew exactly what they were. I have always been an advocate of trying new foods and broadening your culinary options, so I told her we could try them. We got them home and anxiously tried them. If you have never tried a kumquat, I'll describe them to you. They are, in my opinion, the perfect combination of sweet and sour. The outer peel is sweet and the inside is very sour. Emily is not fond of them. Megan prefers hers peeled, leaving only the sour part. Then she slowly (I emphasize "slowly") sucks the sour juice out of the flesh. Matthew and I love popping them into our mouths. So, if you see kumquats in your local produce section and you enjoy sour foods, give them a try!

Megan SLOWLY sucking the juice out of her kumquat.

Farm Girls

I love all the fun experiences that our girls have out on the farm. They love to spend time with Matthew after they get done with school. Whether it is mowing or harvesting or feeding or checking cows, they always want to know what Daddy is doing. Sometimes they will take books with them on long rides and read to Matthew as they drive up and down the field. It is a completely different upbringing than I had, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. The special times they spend with Matthew is priceless.

Matthew planting 

Emily taking lunch

She loves having lunch with Daddy in the tractor (or anything else that runs on diesel fuel)!!

Yes, those are our girls helping Daddy grind feed in their Sunday dresses!! (Just to clarify, the girls are in their Sunday dresses -- not Matthew!)

Parts of Speech Game

We've been working on four parts of speech -- nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs -- during grammar at school. I made up this game that the girls LOVED. I labeled four small gift bags with each part of speech and wrote words on small cards. They would draw a card and decide which bag the word belonged in. That was lots of fun in itself and a great way to practice. I printed 3 mad libs and we used words from our gift bags to fill in the blanks to make some pretty funny stories! 

Feeding Time

More Tulip Time from Pella, IA

We had to stop by this bakery before leaving Pella. The aromas that were coming out of it were unbelievable! We weren't disappointed with the pastries we found there!

These are butterfly cookies. So tasty, and not too sweet!

An apple pastry

Cinnamon swirl bread, which made the perfect breakfasts!!

Our little momento from the trip!

And a windmill thimble for my grandma, who has a collection of thimbles from all over!

Spring Piano Recital

Emily and Megan worked so hard to prepare musical pieces for their spring recital. Both girls really did well, and we were proud of them. Thanks to Grandma Kathy for providing such valuable musical education for the girls!

Grace, Emily and Megan waiting for the recital to begin.