4 o'clock

One of our favorite times of day is when it's time for the neighborhood grade schoolers to walk home from school. It's more fun now that it's warmer because more of them walk (or ride bikes or scooters). The girls have always been in awe of them as they run and skip down the sidewalks with their huge backpacks filled to the brim.
Today we happen to be walking the babies on the sidewalk when 4 o'clock rolled around. The girls stopped walking and watched in awe as the kids whizzed by us.
Little Bird shyly waved to each of the kids and beamed when they waved back. Little Pie loudly said "hi" to each of them and asked them, "how was school today?".
And when they picked Amanda (our 7 year old neighbor with whom they are obsessed) out of the pack of kids and waved excitedly at her as she called them out by name, their day was met.


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When I realized I had forgotten to buy the cheese we needed to make our pizza tonight, I thought we could make a fun quick trip to Target.

The girls have really been into taking care of their babies and bringing them all sorts of places. Since the baby strollers were still in the car from when we brought them to Faribault, I thought it'd be fun (and hilarious) for the girls to take their babies shopping.

They had a blast!


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Preschool Open House

Last night we had the opportunity to visit the preschool the girls will attend in the fall. Since the preschool is at the church we attend it wasn't necessarily a scary or daunting experience for any of us. In fact they use the same classroom the girls use for church school so it was a bit tricky explaining why we were actually there.

The building was recently remodeled and additions were made to the preschool area to make the atmosphere absolutely wonderful. The girls eagerly and easily followed a teacher as she showed them around and explained some of the things they will get to do in the fall. I'm really excited for the program and I know the girls are absolutely ready for it.

I was never completely thrilled with the infant and even toddler stage, so this new endeavor that we are all embarking on is really exciting for me. If I could make those stages shorter and the preschool stage longer, I would. I can't wait to talk to them about what they are experiencing and to watch them grow and learn.

(And I'm secretly looking forward to the five hours a week I get to myself.)


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frog and toad

First of all, do I need to even mention that Little Bird LOVES frogs with everything she's got? 

So you can imagine her excitement when I informed her we were going to go to the nature center and learn about frogs and toads. For the entire drive there and for the entire walk up to the building, all I heard was "I'm sooooo excited to learn about frogs!"

As people arrived for the little lesson, kids could test out their own leaping skills by seeing if they could leap as far as some of the frogs out there.

Little Pie testing her leap with H & M.

Little Bird's leap looks more like a stride. ha!

 We continued with a little circle talk about some differences between frogs and toads.

Who out there likes frogs?

The lesson went on with a puppet show to further demonstrate the difference between frogs and toads.

This is pretty cool.

I LOVE this.

The puppet show was cute and I wasn't really surprised when Little Bird asked immediately where the people were. She knew right away that people were actually making the animals move while I'm not sure what Little Pie thought. Unfortunately both of them FREAKED out and jumped in my lap when the mosquito said she was going to come out and bite one of us. I was shocked they got so scared!

After the puppet show, the kids had a chance to see a live frog and a live toad. They weren't allowed to touch the frog (apparently they have very sensitive skin), but they could look at him up close. They did however get a chance to touch the toad, and Little Bird even asked to touch a second time.

 

The lesson concluded with a little outdoor hunt for frogs. It was actually just a little hunt for plastic frogs, but the girls thought it was awesome. As you can see, they got out their "goggles" to help them hunt.

And of course we had to read a few Frog and Toad stories tonight!!

easter celebrations

First off, the girls sang in church on Palm Sunday. It is always so adorable to watch little kids sing!! Rob and I thought it was interesting because this time, the girls didn't stand by each other or any of their friends. Everyone was focusing too much on singing to care who they were standing by.

 

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Easter was different this year. It was our first holiday to celebrate since Gramcracker passed away. The girls still have questions about her. I am very proud of them for how they handled the experience of the visitation and the funeral. I try to answer questions as best I can, and watching their complete innocence as they try and process my answers is so precious.

We were all so fortunate that our family from afar (Mississippi and Louisiana and Colorado) were able to come to the funeral. This meant that the girls got to meet their second cousins, Laura Beth and Julie Ann. And boy, did these girls love Laura Beth!

We dyed some eggs together and had a little egg hunt in my parents' backyard. It was fun to experience some traditions with family we don't see often.

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On Good Friday we attended an Eggstravaganza at Fish Lake Regional Park. There were games, face painting, Easter bunny photo ops, live bunnies, and a scavenger hunt/egg hunt. Rob got to come with us and we met some friends there. It was really fun and the girls are at a perfect age for the experience.

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Easter morning we woke up bright and early and drove to Faribault to go to church and have brunch with Auntie B and her family. We spent the day at my parents' where we checked out Easter baskets and had another egg hunt. But we had to leave a bit early because Little Pie was not feeling well. It has been a chaotic few weeks and I think it is all now catching up with the girls (as I type, Little Bird had to go to bed early because she has now come down with the cold). 

This picture gives me endless giggles.

Easter Bunny brought soccer balls! (in red and yellow of course)

Little Bird's favorite item in her basket were the scissors.

I LOVE watching her use her scissors because her mouth opens along with the scissors!

Little Pie invented a new game: peeling the shells off our dyed eggs

Showing off their loot.

After it seemed as if they would not stop eating the jelly beans they found in their eggs, I suggested they share some of their findings with others. (surprisingly Little Bird who sometimes has trouble with this, jumped right to it).