Birthday Bash Road Trip!

Over the weekend we hit the road, in search of a good party. Low and behold, we found one at Uncle J and Aunt L's house...Cousin A was turning 3! To give Aunt L some credit, here is a picture of the beautiful spread...the VERY PINK spread!

Cousin A got a new bike for her birthday. She was pretty pumped. Bennett was equally pumped to have access to a teeny, tiny plastic scooter-trike.

The girls had a birthday scavenger hunt that led them both indoors and out. Aunt L! Watch out for the bumblebees!!! Fear of stinging bugs is a family trait.

Ah, the scavenger hunt prize was found in the mailbox. The girls loved all of the little pink treasures they received.

Leave it to your cousin to steal the show at your birthday party. Cousin A wouldn't wear her birthday hat. No problem! Bennett would LOVE to wear the party hat. Bennett would also love to wear your pink dress-up poodle skirt. Bennett would also LOVE for everyone to see her wearing the party hat and poodle skirt. Who is having the birthday again?

The party was complete with a pinata! Here is Ainsley, taking a swing while wearing a wedding gown and big eyelashes. When is the girl not thinking about getting married!??!

Cousin A has a bounce house! This was another huge party hit!

Cousin A received a Disney princess nightgown for her birthday. She was so, so happy about it. Ainsley appears as though she thinks Cousin A needs to tone down the happiness a bit. Actually, Ainsley was thrilled to be "twins" with Cousin A.

Before heading back home from the fun birthday weekend, we stopped at a fabulous greenhouse. This greenhouse is so fabulous, it makes me want to move, just so I can go to the greenhouse any time I want to. Here are the girls in a sea of geraniums.

When we arrived home, we found a surprise by the garage door. Grandpa, who had to miss the birthday party because of field work all weekend, had dropped off something special for Bennett and Ainsley. They each received their very own bag of pop cans to cash in! They were so pleased...replenishment of their garage sale spending money! Thanks, Grandpa!!!

First Fire!!!

We had our first campfire of the season at Grandpa and Grandma's this weekend, complete with a weenie roast and smores! It was really fun! Here are the girls, roasting weenies with Grandpa.
The girls took some breaks from the fire to explore the cornfield....in flip flops! They loved looking for treasures out there.

Ainsley found something unusual out in the cornfield. A glass Christmas ornament. I bet if she'd left it alone, it would have been tilled into the soil and grown into a Christmas tree!


Bennett and Ainsley were THRILLED to spend time with Baby Cousin S. at the campfire. Ainsley gave S. and Bennett a ride in the little red car.

Now here is the picture of a perfect grandma!

Prom!

Several area schools held proms over the weekend. Our local high school had a "promenade" where the public could go to watch the ladies and gents arrive to prom, all snazzy. We decided that Bennett and Ainsley would enjoy attending this event. Bennett and Ainsley decided that they MUST wear "prom" dresses if they were attending. And here they are, all dressed up! Ainsley is wearing my senior prom dress with the help of several safety pins. The girls also had semi-fancy hair styles and a touch of makeup. Ainsley took a corsage she had purchased for 25 cents at a garage sale just that morning. Perfect timing. And of course, Cardboard Brian was forced to attend as the girls' date. He was really happy about it, as you can see.

Here they are, headed to the prom!

We arrived to the promenade a little early. It was hard for the girls to wait patiently, but they found ways to pass the time. One way...pencil sword fighting!

We saw many beautiful girls in fabulous gowns, most of them accompanied by extremely awkward-looking teenage boys who were trying their darndest to look cool, bless their hearts. This was Ainsley's favorite dress.

We did actually run into one teenage boy who really is cool. He had a sweet ride and he let the girls have their photo taken by it! Thanks, ML!

The prom theme continued after returning home. The girls had to dance with Cardboard Brian and his brother, Cardboard Grant. The song they chose to dance along to at prom? The Gambler, by Kenny Rogers. Nothing says beauty, romance, a magical night like The Gambler.

Camp Earn-Your-Badges

This morning, the girls decided to play "summer camp" with their cardboard family. It was a really fun time and it kept them occupied for hours! Here is Ainsley, hanging out in her "cabin" with her cardboard buddies.

While at camp, the girls spent their time earning badges. That is why Bennett named the camp "Camp Earn-Your-Badges!" Ainsley earned a cooking badge by making this delightful applie pie!

Bennett and Ainsley each earned their inventor badges by creating vehicles out of Tinker Toys.

Crafting badges were earned when the girls made paper kites.

This is a sight we're seeing more often around the house...Bennett reading to Ainsley. This activity earned them each a reading badge.

Presenting...the coveted badges! In addition to the above mentioned badges, Bennett and Ainsley earned some for fashion, pets, childcare and karate. It was quite a rewarding camp experience for them!

Easter!

Easter weekend was crazy busy for us. I think we are still recovering from it a bit. It was lots of fun...here are some highlights! Disclaimer: I forgot my camera when the girls got Easter baskets from Grandpa L and Grandma L! I'll try to post pictures when I get them from Grandma's camera! We celebrated Easter at Grandpa C and Grandma D's house a couple days early. Here are the girls, posed with their first round of Easter loot!

Ains was a bit concerned as little Cousin S made several attempts to bombard her Easter goodies.

Uncle C helped Ainsley retrieve an egg during the backyard egg hunt.

Bennett proudly displays an egg she found by the disfunctional satellite dish in Grandpa and Grandma's yard.

Two silly girls, posing by the Easter bunny cake Grandma D had at her house.

At church on Easter morning, Bennett and Ainsley got to serve by passing Easter candy out to people as they entered the auditorium. They were thrilled!

The girls took in another egg hunt at Aunt K and Uncle C's house. The competition was pretty stiff with so many cousins competing!

This is the ridiculous amount of candy that we acquired by the end of the weekend!

Dead-Defying Stunts A.K.A. Grandpa Trims the Tree

We are so easily entertained, especially after a LONG winter. Yesterday Grandpa offered to bring his boomtruck over to trim our tree that received lots of winter storm damage. A thousand time, yes! Come over, Grandpa! We loved watching him work. Bennett was a bit concerned for Grandpa's life. Rightfully so! I thought it was funny that before Grandpa came over, he called Grandma to see if she wanted to come over to our house to "watch him die." She declined. He did a good job though and came out unscathed by the tree-trimming, I am happy to report!
This stunt took some time to complete. The girls even broke out their beach chairs so they could lounge while they watched him work.

Once a large limb was down, it became a balance beam.

The mulching machine!!! Pretty cool, and pretty loud!

What do you do with all the little twigs that fall as a tree is trimmed. You build your first "campfire" of the season! Ainsley was so pumped about this that she got our camping chairs out. We hope to take a real fire in some time soon!

Maple Syrup!!!

Some fantastic friends invited us over on Saturday for a little tree-tapping, sap-collecting fun! Here is the crew, ready to head into the timber to collect sap. No walking for us...we had the luxury of riding this trailer!

Riding through the timber was fun in itself!

Ainsley is checking out one of the lines running from where the silver maple was tapped, down to the bucket.

Happy little kids, tasting some sap on their fingers.

Dad and Ainsley posed by the old tractor that hauled us to the timber.

Ed and Mary taught us all about tapping the trees, collecting sap and making maple syrup. Here, Ed is telling us about the boiler.

Mary made some maple sugar candy for us to sample. It was super sweet and delicious!

While the sap boiled, we couldn't help but enjoy what we hope is the last snowfall of the year. We learned that the dads in the bunch are really good at making LARGE snowballs. The one pictured is not even the biggest one they made!

The kids worked hard to create this, um, what is it? I was told it was a horse pulling a stagecoach. Sounds good to me!

Road Trip!

It was spring break week for us, so we took a little road trip with Grandma D. on Thursday! We enjoyed a fun museum and some shopping. Notice, I didn't say "fun" shopping. Shopping is not fun for the girls, but they tolerated it as part of the trip. Below are some museum highlights... Shopping is only fun if it's at a miniature store. Ainsley loved buying groceries at this tiny market! You see healthy pineapple and milk in her cart, but don't be fooled. Behind it she had lots of cookies and cake mixes. She's our junk food junkie, for sure!

Purchasing goods. What a friendly and helpful cashier!

The museum also has a tiny pizzeria, television station, bank, post office and hospital. Ainsley was a big fan of the maternity ward. Here she is, examining the reflexes of a newborn.

Ooooh, creepy x-ray!

Bennett tried her skills as a dentist. Ainsley observed...notice she still has that baby!

The girls also enjoyed dressing up as postal workers. Bennett weighed Grandma D's purse. Oh dear! It measured off the scale, you can't even see the needle because it's so far over to the side! Grandma, what is in that thing?!?!

There was an exhibit about flight. The girls really enjoyed the air traffic control tower-slide!

They got to climb inside a real hot air balloon basket.

Bennett and Ainsley also put on bomber jackets and "flew" in a Cessna plane. Pretty cool!

The museum had a small climbing wall. Bennett gave it a try, but she was quick to tell this boy next to her that she had simply failed to wear appropriate footwear. I overheard her say to him, "Now these are just not working. I should have brought my climbing shoes." I'm thinking, "What climbing shoes?"

Ainsley enjoyed making a fish in the museum art room.