Memorial Weekend, part one

Today we hit the road after church and headed north to Houghton Lake to spend some time with Dan's family at the cottage. Since life is quite hectic right now with the final two weeks of the school year, it was nice to get away, even for a short time.

Happy 6th Birthday Seth!

This afternoon we attended our nephew Seth's 6th birthday party. The party had a dinosaur theme and was a lot of fun. The kids participated in relay races, searched for dinosaur eggs, geocached, and gave their best swing at a dino pinata.And, of course, every party thrown by my sister includes a very impressive cake. Seth requested dinosaur carnage this year. Impressive, huh?
Happy Birthday Seth!

Creativity

Caleb had fun trying on the hat from Dan's Murder Mystery costume.And Lillian was wholeheartedly committed to painting a wooden dolphin craft that she received as a belated birthday present from my aunt and uncle. The girl loves to paint!

Dress up

Caleb started the day by playing dress up.
Dan and I ended the day by doing our part! It's time for another Murder Mystery game night!

Playtime outside

Our kids LOVE playing outside and I love it that the weather is getting warm enough to do so!

Giving Sandy a workout

Caleb has reached the age where he enjoys riding Sandy the Pony just as much as his sister. We like to test Sandy's stamina by making her rock two kids at a time!

Planting the garden!

This weekend we planted our vegetables for the season. We already have a very prolific supply of strawberries that multiply each year, some raspberry bushes, and two blueberry bushes. But we went out and bought tomato, yellow squash, zucchini, and cucumber plants. We also decided to expand our garden a bit because of the aforementioned strawberry plants. Hooray!
Look at all of those strawberry plants!

Unplanned photo shoot

Tonight we enjoyed the beautiful weather by taking a trip downtown. We started by stopping in at Tip Toes and Caleb discovered a hat that he looked quite dapper in.Our next stop was one of the fountains downtown. I love how the natural light made it so easy to capture pictures of our sweet kids!
We walked further and had our final stop in the park. Lillian was feeling especially photogenic (and silly) while Caleb went exploring. Our kids sure are cute!

In bloom - at last!

I'm probably one day past it's prime, but our second flowering tree is currently in bloom! I always find it interesting to compare dates with previous years - last year the same tree was in full bloom on April 26! I guess all of our cool days this spring really had an impact on the flowers!

Caleb's new do

Caleb and Dan got a hold of the bandana that was still out from Lillian's birthday party. Isn't he stylish?

Lillian's checkup

Today we took Lillian to the doctor's office for her four-year checkup. We found ways to keep Caleb entertained while we waited for Lillian's doctor to arrive.
Lillian is healthy as can be and passed all of the developmental tests with flying colors. Lillian has always been a talker and today's doctor's appointment was no exception. Dr. Miller didn't ask any questions about Lillian's verbal skills because Lillian was talking the entire time. At one point Dr. Miller just commented and said, "Well, we know that she talks just fine!"

Chicken Soup

Dan has been a bit under the weather lately, so Lillian made him some chicken soup.

Lillian's 4th birthday!

Today is Lillian's 4th birthday and since her birthday falls on a Saturday this year, it is the day of her birthday party too! We started the day by letting her open the presents from us. Apparently they required shaking before opening.We had fun playing and eating lunch together. Then, while the kids napped, I assembled Lillian's Princess Strawberry Shortcake cake.Since Lillian's favorite meal of the day is breakfast, we served "brinner" - breakfast for dinner! The menu consisted of our favorite cinnamon rolls, egg casserole, and fruit. Most of our family members were able to join us for the party and we had a great time celebrating together!
It's hard to believe our baby girl is 4 years old! Lillian is so sweet, silly and joyful and we love her very much! Happy Birthday, Lillian Joy!

Tulip Time, take two

Tonight we went back to Tulip Time to meet up with some friends and try once again to see Alani Dutch dance. We ran into some friends of ours with their new baby too!