Progress

This is something new on the ND landscape...
They just installed street signs on the roads out to my parents place. I thought it just looked so funny...this little old school house, all weathered and worn, along dirt roads, right next to a brand new street sign. I guess you could call it progress.

A night at the lodge

The last night at my parents place was spent at my dad's hunting lodge. Justin made dinner for everyone, we had a campfire, fireworks and even a little sing-a-long time with Kimberly and Jeff on the guitar.
Here is Nolan with his very first sparkler!
Ty & Justin being goofy.

Aidyn with a sparkler. It took her a lot longer to warm up to the idea than it did Nolan.

McKayla & her daddy.

Grandma toughing out the "rain" (it was about 14 sprinkles...) with the grandkids.

Jeff & Nolan enjoying the campfire.

Grandpa roasting his weenie. :)

A beautiful ND sunset...

We had a great time at the lodge. Thanks for planning everything Justin!

On to ND...

After our visit with Jeff's family and a short stint in Fargo, we headed out to my parents place. The kids had the run of the place and enjoyed every minute.
There was lots of cousin time...
Justin giving Nolan a wheelbarrow ride...



Aidyn & McKayla

Nolan trying to wrestle with Justin...

We got to spend some time with Great-Grandma Bowerman which is always a special treat!

And of course lots of cuddle time with Grandpa Jerry & Grandma Sharon. How could it get any better?!?!

Golfing with Daddy

Sunday was a beautiful day so Jeff and the kids spent some time hitting around some golf balls. Both kids did really well, they must have their parents athletic abilities. :)

Visiting the Lewis Lodge

We have been gone for a little over a week now, so my blogging is way behind, but I'm going to try to get caught up!
We left home last Saturday morning and headed up to lakes country to visit Jeff's family. We had the pleasure of being invited to Donna & Craig's cabin for dinner Sat. night. (Thanks for dinner Donna!) After dinner, Craig took us on a boat ride around the lake.
Here is one of the important things Nolan learned about the boat...it has a horn!

There were a lot of smiles on that boat ride. Thanks Craig, we all had a fun time!

Visiting friends

We had a very fun day on Tuesday. Aidyn & Nolan got to play with their friends Campbelle & Christian and their cousins Maddie & Will. There was so much playing to be done, it was hard to fit it into 4 hours, but they managed.
Here Campbelle was helping Nolan with his hair.
Aidyn & Campbelle just being silly.

Christian, Nolan, Aidyn & Campbelle

Christian giving Nolan lots of love...

It was so fun to see everyone. I got in a great visit with Jill and Tammy got home from work early so I got to see her too! We all had a great time and are already talking about when we'll get to see them again.

The Big Day...

The big day has finally arrived at our house. As most of you know, Aidyn has been growing her hair out to donate to Locks of Love. She's been asking for awhile now when she can get it cut off. I've been the one holding off because I knew it would be kind of emotional for me. Well, we decided today was just as good of a day as any other. So away we went!
Here she is before the big cut! (In case you're wondering, you need 10 inches of hair in a ponytail in order to donate.)

Measuring where to cut...

Look at all that hair!!!!

Now it's time for a new hair style.

A view so you can see the back.

Adorable...

I couldn't be any prouder of my little girl. She was so excited to do this and was so brave when we got it cut. When we got in the car afterwards she said "Some little girl is sure going to be happy to get my hair!" I know she is right. I feel so lucky to have such a sweet, caring, giving daughter. And she's only 4! Oh sorry, 4 1/2 (she'd want me to get that straight!)

Cheering on Daddy

When Jeff plays golf on our Nintendo Wii, he likes to be cheered on. Which is good because the kids have taken a liking to cheering him on. The cheers are usually "Go Daddy, go daddy, go daddy!" "Go in the hole!" and "You can do it!" Here is the commotion on Sunday morning...

Basketball Dunker Shoot

Nolan and I drove by a garage sale today and low & behold there was a "basketball dunker shoot" for sale. (That's Nolan's term for it.) Since ours is completely shot from overuse and a bit of abuse, we grabbed this one. After lunch we took it apart and the kids cleaned it up. They are thrilled to have a new basketball set to play with. Nolan would stand there all day and shoot if I would let him. Aidyn is just glad she doesn't have to keep trying to fix the old one for Nolan. I hear ya Aidyn!

Bible School

Aidyn had bible school this past week. The theme for the week was Avalanche Ranch: A Wild Ride Through God's Word. Everything had a fun ranch theme and the kids were kept very busy with crafts, games, bible story, snacks, songs & free play. Aidyn's favorite part each day was snack time. (I can't blame her!) At the end of school today they had a short program where they sang some of the songs they learned. Here's my little performer singing her heart out...

T-Ball

Aidyn started T-ball tonight. She's been looking forward to this for awhile, partly because she likes baseball & partly because her friends Lydia, Julia & Daisy are all on her team. It rained a bit at the beginning of practice but after that everyone seemed to have a good time.

Here's our slugger in action!

Neighborhood Excitement

We had big excitement in our neighborhood over the weekend. One of the valves in the water line broke and there was water shooting out near the fire hydrant. A crew came and fixed it right away (by "right away" I mean it took several hours). But it made for good entertainment watching them dig up the road and our neighbors lawn. Everything is back to normal now.

Shrek

We took the kids to their first movie on Saturday, we saw Shrek the Third. They both sat really well through the whole show and chowed down lots of popcorn. Nolan would repeat lines after they said them and then he'd laugh and laugh. Very cute!

Preschool Graduation

Today was Aidyn's last day of preschool for the year so they had a very short, very informal "graduation" ceremony.
This is Aidyn's class waiting to get started.

Here is Aidyn receiving her certificate from one of her teachers, Miss Patti.

Afterwards Aidyn got to pick where she wanted to go for lunch. She picked Applebees & we even shared a dessert in celebration. A pretty big day for a pretty big girl!
(In case you're wondering, she does have 1 more year of preschool before Kindergarten.)

Tadpoles

Aidyn's preschool class has been raising tadpoles this spring. We finally remembered to take the camera to school yesterday. As you can see from the picture below, the one on the far left is pretty much "frogified" just a little tail left, one is still pretty much a tadpole and one is a complete frog. It has been interesting to watch them grow!