We love the woods.
Bennett was ready in her bandana and Ainsley in her camp shirt.
Ainsley found some treasures today. Shells...the kind from snails and the kind from guns! 
It looks like we need to work on building someone's stamina. We're hoping for many, many, many more hikes to come!
Here are the girls in their Easter dresses. I decided to go with a more practical dress this year so it could be reworn frequently. And it didn't hurt that they were on sale at Target for $7.48 a piece! I love a bargain Easter dress! Too bad it was such a chilly day...we had to cover up in cardigans, but oh well. It was still a lovely, sunny Easter Sunday.
The girls participated in a couple of egg hunts on Easter. This cousin egg hunt is INSANE. There are so, so, so many eggs. I believe Bennett found 77 eggs this year and Ainsley found 55. And of course, each egg had multiple pieces of candy in it. A few pictures down you will see the winnings. CRAZY!
They had a smaller egg hunt at Grandma D. and Grandpa C.'s house, but it was just as intense because Grandpa and Grandma's eggs have money in them! I tried to take pictures, but these little egg hunters wouldn't stop long enough for a photo. They are running in every picture I took. I think each of them pocketed about sixteen bucks! Grandpa and Grandma, will you please have an egg hunt for the grown ups next year? Pretty please???
And the Easter candy. This is just some of the candy we came home with. If you come to our house any time during the next 12 months, we will most likely offer you some Easter candy.
And unrelated to Easter, but exciting nonetheless, Bennett received her new specs the day after Easter! She is so thrilled to be able to see objects beyond five feet of herself clearly. These puppies came in the nick of time, as her class watched Mary Poppins in music class on Tuesday. She said, "Man, was I so glad to be able to watch Mary Poppins without the actors being all blurry!"And a major part of our Easter weekend was having Uncle B and Aunt J home for a visit. We don't get to see them often, so when we do it's a special treat. Uncle B. and Dad did some jamming in the basement, and the girls joined them on harmonica, kazoo, and a variety of percussion instruments. Here's a short snippet from their jam session.
Here is the prize winning coloring page. Nice job, Ainsley!
And the prize...oh my, the prize! 
First of all, our little winner got this gift basket FULL of goodies. You cannot even see the half of it in this photo. Ridiculously awesome basket of things we have here.
And next THE BUNNY. The bunny, who has been named Fluffy Delano Rabbit (F.D.R.) is larger than life, literally. F.D.R. is overwhelming. Here he is, overwhelming the back seat of our car. If every we needed an SUV, it was when we picked this fella up.
Where does one keep a mammoth bunny? We have yet to figure that out. Ainsley has made him a bed though, on the lid of her toy box. He overwhelms this space quite nicely. Move over Cardboard Brian. Make room for Ainsley's new love, F.D.R. Hooray for coloring contests!!!
Each week after I go through the coupons from the Sunday paper, I pass them on to eager little hands and the cutting begins! Usually the girls cut out the coupons and pretend play with them. They also enjoy cutting out pictures that appeal to them. This week's most appealing pictures are...
A spiral-cut honey ham? Of course! It's almost Easter, you know!
And the two cutest coupon photos of the week: A ceramic grandma/grandchild keepsake box and a Baskin Robins bunny rabbit, ice cream cake. Darling girls. Just darling.
(Sorry about the sideways picture...that happens randomly, on occasion, with my new camera.) Not surprising, some collector coins were clipped from the coupons. Here we have some uncirculated, colorized quarters featuring different national parks. We also see some special Abe Lincoln pennies. Coupon clipping occupies my girls for lengthy periods and it's fun to see what they cut out. Fun times!
The game board is set up and we're ready to go!
We are so not about letting our kids win every game we play. They need to learn that sometimes someone else wins, and that is great! Cheer them on! Don't be sad and pouty. Well, these girls are not about letting their parents win either, let me tell you!
And who is the freak who lines their little game pieces up all neatly in a row? That would be Dad.
Game night always seems to bring out the super silly side of the girls. Here is a funny face from Bennett. Nice bunny rabbit teeth going on.
And...the pouty, sad face comes out on game night at times. Lessons about winning and losing are still a work in progress at our house.
And what is this!? A midgame shoulder massage? I don't know what made these girls think Dad needed this at the moment, as he sits with his stash of cash. Poor Mom at the other end of the table had about $4 to my name at this point in the game. I wasn't too envious though. When asked how the massage felt, Dad said it was like a couple of butterflies had landed on his shoulders. Obviously not a deep tissue massage. I don't think I missed out on much.
And with $44, we have a winner! Ainsley won her second consecutive Monopoly Jr. game. Her strategy???
A bit of luck and purchasing all ticket booths of the same color, as to collect double the fees from other players, in this case her mom, when they land there. Bennett used the same tactics and game in second place with $42. Good thing Dad and I had mastered the art of losing gracefully on this occasion. One of these soccer playing children doesn't seem quite like the others. It's like she might be too old to be in the littlest kid league or something. She's so tall and quick and attentive and coordinated. Could it be...the big sister who said she didn't want to go out for soccer this season and now she sees how much fun her little sister is having and so she regrets her decision? It just might be! Thanks to Ainsley's very kind coach, the team was missing a child on Tuesday so she let Bennett jump in for a quick game/drill. Bennett was very pleased to participate, Ainsley didn't mind, and I think we might have two soccer players signed up in the fall instead of just one.
Well, well! Looking good, Cardboard Brian! Brian is stylin' in his fluffy dress up scarf. He also has a small, furry animal and his book of Bible stories on his lap. Such a nice young man he continues to be! 
On this particular day, Ainsley decided a monkey coming halfway out of a cupcake that's wearing a crown would be a nice decoration for her bed. 
She also enjoys decorating the roof of her dollhouse when she cleans. Baby bibs and bracelets are common sights up of the roof. 
And lastly, we have a baby balancing between two salon chairs on a bean bag. My guess is that it was too far for Ainsley to walk five steps to her toy box to put the bean bag and the baby away. She might be a cooperative cleaner, but her cleaning stamina could use some work. 
With the warm came some incredible wind! Temps in the high 80's don't feel so summer-like when you are wet and the wind is blowing 40 mph. 
Too windy to be wet? It's cool. Just head inside to Grandpa and Grandma's basement. They will let you swim inside even though it's an outside pool, and Grandma will even fill the pool with toasty warm water from the tap. Only a grandma would think to provide indoor, heated swimming opportunities. Clearly this is not something this mom would promote, but that's what makes grandmas grand. Their ideas are completely impractical and completely fun! 
If you have a little girl or know someone who does, come to my house this Thursday or Friday morning. I have a little bit of 6-12 month (mostly dresses,) quite a bit of 3T-5T (all seasons) and a few 6x-7 items. I also have a few toys, puzzles, books, videos. Everything is CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP! Come any time on Thursday or Friday between 9 and noon. If you need my address leave me a comment with your contact info. and I'll get it to you. If you don't have a little girl but you know someone who does, tell them they are welcome to come! 
We took our first trip to a local, seasonal ice cream establishment. Welcome back ice cream topped with twinkles! We've missed you! 
The first violets of spring have appeared in our yard! So exciting! 
Bennett found her first worm. He was a tiny but speedy little fellow. 
