Mother's Day weekend

We had a lot of fun playing with our Hazen cousins and Grandma and Grandpa last weekend. We had a picnic at the park and then some play time at the house.

Here are the little matching blonde cousins.

The girls did some magic tricks for us. First no Ella...

Then suddenly, Ella appeared!
A break for some food!

and back to playing
The girls also did some stunts

of course there was sword action

the other set of matching blonde cousins

Some more eating was needed after all that playing.

Ella has a couple of bunnies that were a big focal point of the day.

and of course the trampoline

Some bubble blowing, the perfect ending to a fun outside day.

A trip to Grandad's (or Great Grandad's)

I took the kids down for a visit at Grandad's house this week. We had a fun time and it was a beautiful day. We got out to the pond right away, and the geese that live there had a beautiful family to show us. Grandad gave the kids some cracked corn to toss and once they did that the Geese were right in front of us.

Kole kept checking in with Grandad, telling him about the geese.

Once back inside the girls gave Grandad the poems the had written that morning in their language lessons. We have been studying Japan and this morning we just happened to be studying haikus, and they wrote one. Graggy was a big haiku fan, so I knew that Grandad would appreciate the girls first tries at writing these poems. He also brought out a notebook of Graggy's haikus for the girls to look through a little.

Grandad had a pretty good idea of what things would be pretty cool for a 5 year old boy. He showed him how to use the remote to turn on his electric fire place. It was pretty cool and they all watched the flames. Then Grandad turned the coolness up a notch when he told them to grab a log, cause the don't get hot.

He also taught the boys how to use the remote to his cevia picture machine. They were scrolling through all the pictures on there and having some techno fun.

Canes and hats.

Ari had a fun time at the snack table after everyone else left and she had free reign over the cute little cup and the juice bottle.

One last peek at the pond from the covered deck. I like Ari, mid jump and tongue sticking outl

Spending some time in the hall of ancestors explaining who is in all those pictures and how they're all related.

also a couple peeks into the garage, which they were fascinated by.

A lovely trip indeed.

Father Daughter Dance

The girls and Papa got to go to the Father Daughter Dance this weekend, and just like every year it was a wonderful time! They had a lot of fun and danced the night away!

Ari got to wear her flower girl dress from Allison's wedding, so she was very much a belle going to a ball!

Papa and his 3 girls!

The boys and I went out for dinner and a movie (well, actually we came home for a movie, and sundaes, but it was a lovely date night)

For a little fun you can click on the label "Father daughter dance" right under this post and see the posts from previous years. I guess I didn't post last year's pictures, but this is the girls 5th year to go, so there are some cute pics from the past!