Spring?

Hello??? Are you there, spring?

(No reply but the sound of falling snow.)

Saturday morning, we awoke to a winter wonderland.  Except that's it's really not so wonderful when it's the middle of April...

 Tulips poking through the melting snow.

 The snow was melted by today, and I spied these hosta buds (and dead ladybugs).

 Nora helping to paint the shelves of her new wardrobe earlier this week.

 Dane tries out the new putting green.

 Swinging diva.

 Tea party with Daddy.

Shots of Early Spring

After a long winter, I think spring has finally sprung.  We have been spending many hours outside the past few days.  Our snow is nearly gone after today, and the driveway is finally firming up from the muddy pit it had become.

It was warm enough to have a picnic lunch on the deck earlier this week.  I haven't gotten our patio furniture out of winter storage yet, but the kids didn't mind sitting on the deck.  You can still see the big snow drift in the background that has since melted.



The sun was so nice, and the deck was dry, so they played for quite a while.

Mike "inherited" this batting cage and pitching machine recently.  He rigged it all up in his dad's shed, so now his has his own personal batting cage.  Dane loves to feed balls into the pitching machine, and Mike is living his dream!

As I got home from work the other day, this was the sight I saw as I was driving up the driveway.  The whole crew (pets and all) out gopher trapping.  They have only caught one so far this spring.

Dane somehow got onto this swing over the water the other day.  He thought it was great.

We had our first bonfire last evening.

The kids got more of their toys out today.

Gardening

Sunny

Rosie.  We are awaiting the arrival of her kittens in the next few weeks.

First snake sighting of the season.

Isn't Teddy beautiful?

Baby Olive

We got to babysit our nieces this afternoon, and I couldn't resist taking some pictures of this little dolly.  She is perhaps the calmest baby ever...

These chubby cheeks and big baby blues remind me so much of Nora as a baby.

Pretty big sister Morgan, too!

Hints of spring

I am going to apologize in advance- I found the Retro Camera app for my Droid and got a bit carried away.  I love the look of these pictures though, and I didn't have to do anything but point and shoot! No further editing needed! 

The very full creek is running under our driveway once again after a quiet winter.

A pair of geese enjoying the open water. (Look closely!)

The seeds are here!

Monday with the kids

I feel so fortunate to have many Mondays off of work.  It's pretty great to have an extra day off while most people are back to the grind, and I enjoy my time with the kids so much.

Yesterday, we took our two outdoor cats, Sunny and Rosie, to the vet to be "fixed."  It seems that we may have missed the boat with Rosie, so kittens may be in our future.  We will keep you posted!

Dane wondered why our male cat needed to be "fixed" since only girl cats have kitties. I told him it was so he didn't make any girl cats have kitties. His response: "What?!? You mean he's got MAGIC in him?!?"

Rosie rode nicely on Dane's lap in the car.

We went to the cafe next to the vet's office and shared a couple of caramel rolls.

 When we got home, we played outside for a while.  This large puddle had frozen nicely overnight, so the kids decided to give the skates a try.

We also spent a lot of time playing with Dane's expanding train set.

Dane turns 5!

I can't believe I have been a Mommy for 5 years now!  Here are some pictures from Dane's robot-themed party this year.

The invitation

A cake based on this picture I found online.

Some of our "robot snacks."

Party favors

Coloring robots

Our goofy 5-year-old!

All the Anderson cousins.  It's such a privelege to be close enough to celebrate with family after living so far away!

No girlfriends!

Snowboard from Daddy and Mommy

Zach read Dane his cards.

Ellie read a few too.

Now it's time to clean the playroom to make room for all the fun new toys he got!!

Bowtie