An eventful weekend

Our house was very busy this weekend.  We enjoyed the company of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents along with many friends to celebrate Dane's 4th birthday.  Along with all the fun, we spent lots of time moving Grandpa and Grandma's stuff to their new house and bringing our things out of storage after 4 months!  Our littlest movers.

The cake and cupcakes for the party.

Getting ready to blow out all his candles in one swift puff. (I love little Benji's face as he peers over the table!)

Grandpa and Grandma spent the first night in their new house on Friday!  After four months of living in a household of 6, it feels a bit quiet with just the four of us here!!

Our big 4-year-old!

Today is Dane's 4th birthday! He has waited so patiently for his birthday to arrive since the beginning of March. We will have a party for him Saturday when more of our family and friends can join us, but we celebrated with Grandpa and Grandma and a few presents this evening (plus some yummy chocolate cupcakes).

Country kids

They absolutely love this warmer spring weather and running their hearts out in our yard!

Daddy brings them in for supper.

An evening walk to the creek yesterday.

Nora's first braids. (It gives my fingers quite the workout!)

Silly girl likes to run around in swim goggles!

On a completely different note, these are my newest gadgets- they make the cutest poached eggs!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

This little leprechaun was rather shy and didn't want Mommy to take her picture this morning.

Dane gives Sister some love.

The beautiful foggy view out our kitchen window this morning.

All girl, but not afraid to get dirty!

Our little diva!

Daddy reads Nora her favorite book.

"You said you wanted to do more laundry, right Mommy?"

Handsome Dane- he will be four years old before we know it!!

Zach and Ellie were so excited to catch Cali while they were visiting last weekend.

Of course a girl's gotta talk on the phone, too!

Water everywhere!

Between a week of temps above freezing and lots of recent rain, things are very wet here. Mike's parents' new place is now lakefront property!!

We all got new rain boots last night for trudging around the farm.
The little creek that runs under our driveway is currently a pond!

Our new boots!

A patch of green grass popping through.

So much fun to run around in new boots.

Nora discovered the joy of puddles!

Looks like she could use a pair of hip waders for this one!

So much fun to splash!

More splashing in puddles.

We're ready for dry ground any day, but for now my consolation is wearing cute boots out in the mud.

Evening with Grampy and Grammy

Grammy and Grampy came over to Alexandria last evening so we could do some shopping together and go out for supper. The kiddos brought their umbrellas out in the rain.

As soon as we entered the restaurant, Jim, the owner and chef, spotted Dane and told him he would let Dane help cook his supper. We all ordered, then Jim brought Dane back to the kitchen. First things first- handwashing.
Dane dropped his mozarella sticks in the fryer.

Dane and Jim.

So proud of his meal!

Prior to supper, we went to Fleet Farm where Grammy spied some pink cowboy boots. Then Nora saw them and had to have them on her feet immediately. She left the store in her new boots and walked around so proudly!

Showing Grammy her bellybutton!

It's always so much fun to just spend a few hours together!

Mostly kid pictures!

Last Sunday, we stopped to visit Roy at the care center. Roy turned 92 yesterday! Roy used to live in the house we are living in, and he also built and lived in the house that Dane and Nora's baby-sitter lives in. It's a small community here!

On Daddy's day off last week, he took the kids to the local John Deere dealership. Does anybody else have childhood memories of sitting on lawnmowers in the showroom?
Nora loved this "bridge" at the park in Glenwood.

Nora spotted the last candy cane still hanging on Grandma's china cabinet, so she got her step stool around to see if she could reach it.

Grandpa and Grandma's new front porch.

Working on "projects" around the house.

Playing out in our still-white yard.

Dane on the old Ford pedal tractor that cousin Zachary has stored here.

Daddy and Nora play soccer in the big red shed.

We met Tyler, Kim and Avery at Caribou Coffee this evening as they drove through.

Dane and Avery look like they have a serious game going on!