I like to feed myself!

6.3.14

Claire has really started to like feeding herself. 

It can be messy, but she loves it!

 Avocado - her favorite!

Mallard downtown Alex

6.14.14

Grandma Deb and I took the girls to town on a rainy morning at the cabin to get a few donuts and this mallard was hanging out in the street... 

the girls thought it was so cute!

Silly Kaelyn

6.2.14
Kaelyn made this "tiger" mask.  "Take my picture mom!"

Claire 6 Month Pictures

2.13.14

Our sweet little Claire had her 6 month picture with her auntie Christy.  They turned out amazing as always! :)

Check out her site:

http://christybode.com/claire-mankato-baby-photographer/

Pool time!

5.30.14

First time in the pool for the year :)

Mushroom Hunting

5.31.14

While Joe was busy with field work, the girls and I went morel mushroom hunting down by the Minnesota river on what we call "Riverland".  We'd already found around 150 mushrooms the week before and this trip we found a bunch more.

We used grandpa Tim's ranger so we could strap Claire's seat in and have enough room for everyone. Claire loved getting a front row seat and faced forward! She was all smiles.

Loula Ladies

 This is just one of many we found. Picture perfect!
While I was climbing on a steep hillside the girls decided to share their pouch of apple sauce with Claire and let her try to feed it to herself. She was covered in applesauce! This picture doesn't do justice to how messy she was.   She didn't mind obviously!

Daddy & Kaelyn lunch date

6.4.14

Joe took Kaelyn on a lunch date to Arby's.  Kaelyn has been asking to do things with "just her" so it was perfect!

Mya swimming

6.3.14

After the 3" of rain we got, Mya had fun playing in the water of our neighbors field down the gravel road on our walk. 

C&K

6.2.14

These two have enjoyed hanging out together while Ashlyn is at school. 

Bathtime for Claire

5.31.14

Claire loves bath time! 

She usually cries when it time to get out!

Claire hanging out on the patio

5.29.14

Finally some warm weather to enjoy the patio!

Sibley Park

5.28.14

We visited Sibley Park and the girls all had a great time!

Fishing at the cabin

5.25.14

We went to the cabin with grandma Deb while daddy was still busy planting. After we got the lawn mowed the girls wanted to go fishing. We had a great weekend, got a few projects done, transplanted a ton of plants that grandma brought up and even had a fire. Only thing missing was dad!

The girls did great fishing off the dock. They were biting like crazy!

Ashlyn with a rock bass.

Kaelyn with a sunny

 We made homemade pudding pops. 

Delicious and messy!

 Ashlyn fell asleep on the screened-in deck... 

its hard work playing all day at the cabin!

(She denies that she ever fell asleep!)

Cabin

5.24.14

Another fun day at the cabin!

Banana with a pretzel :)

Claire napped outside

 Mommy and Ashlyn fishing

Got one!

Ashlyn Gets Her Ears Pierced!

5.14.14
Ashlyn has been asking to get her ears pierced for over a year.  I finally surprised her and told her we were going to get her ears pierced... she was so excited!!!
She did awesome, didn't cry even though they had to try twice with each ear. (They said that the pack of earrings that come in the guns must have been defective... poor kid!) I'm so proud of her. She has been reminding me every morning and every night to clean them.  She looks so grown up now!



Kaelyn earned a quarter by waiting patiently and being quiet.   She also used that time to try on a few things!  Claire sat quietly in the stroller and was a good girl as usual :)

Busy day!

5.18.14

We had a busy day looking for mushrooms.  

The girls enjoyed picking flowers for me :)

Happy Claire!  Best baby ever :)

In the woods down at Riverland

When we got back home, we found a nest of baby bunnies in our patio flower pots. We let them have one more week in there before we planted our flowers.

We also got to chase these guys around giving rides, bringing parts, food,

and whatever else they needed :)

Kaelyn put on a fairy rock concert that night for us!