Beautiful Pre-Summer Weekend

We had such a wonderful, beautiful weekend. It truly felt like the start of summer vacation. We started the weekend early on Thursday when we went for a walk with granny up at her house. We tried out the new double stroller on lend from friends. It was great except Lanie didn't really want to ride. She was much more content dawdling along picking up rocks and noticing every little thing on the side of the road. At the turn around spot, Lanie and Jack both spent a good 15 minutes throwing rocks into the creek before we headed back to meet up with David at granny's house.(He got to go on a real hike sans kids) Friday David and I took the kids for a walk. The idea was to go in the woods so Lanie could look for flowers. Unfortunately we hadn't renewed our Tribal Permits and got turned around by the only Tribal Game Warden I've ever seen up at the Dam. So that lead to plan B which was a lovely walk along the canal path. Lanie still got to see plenty of flowers, and we came across a mama duck and 6 or 7 newly hatched babies (or I should say Pipps and Tucker came across them!). Saturday morning was the town clean-up. Lanie was very excited to pick up trash and tell "all those people to stop throwing trash in my town" Sadly, only about 4 other people showed up, so there was no one to hear her on her soapbox...Saturday we also broke out the sprinkler from great grandma, and Sunday was the official 1st day of the swimming pool. I'm worried about what I started here. They both loved splashing around, and I'm sure it will be the request every day from now until December. We finished the weekend off Sunday night by working in the garden, if you can call it that. We didn't have a garden last year, so now we have to dig through a giant patch of weeds to reclaim our area. For some reason this just filled me with hope and anticipation. I cannot wait to see our yard in full bloom nor can I wait to spend an entire summer home with the kids. All in all it was the perfect weekend and I only have 2 1/2 weeks of school left!!!

Mother's Day

On Mother's Day we took Granny Lou to our favorite place, The Bison Range. It was opening day and was a great trip. The highlights included seeing twin antelope born and spotting tons of wildflowers in bloom.















Lanie woke up just in time to see her newest favorite---Shooting Star!

More Birthday Fun

Fiesta Numero Dos

Lanie and Jack had such a good time with all of their friends at their party. They played in the sandbox, tried the pinata, had cake, opened presents, and ended the night with a game of kickball. (I think this was more for the grownups, since some of the kids, including Lanie, were already inside at this point) JAck was almost able to keep up with the rest of big kids after his dinnertime nap. He really is turning into a little toddler, much to Lanie's delight and horror.

Happy Girl

Party ready in her "pretty pink dress" from great grandma and grandpa.

A Busy Day

The day of Lanie and Jack's Montana birthday, Lanie and I were in a 5K "race" to raise money for the school. She was so excited to be in the race and cross the finish line. She rode in the cart with barely a peep the entire way and then got out in time to cross the finish line. She was doing great until everyone started cheering for her. Then she got super shy and hid behind my leg and almost started crying. Despite that one moment, she had a great time and I know this will be a tradition we keep up!

A Rough Day

The Friday after we got back from Washington, Lanie had to go in for a small surgery to remove a cyst on her forehead. The surgery was minor, but I was a nervous wreck! I hated the idea of anesthesia and was so worried something would go wrong, or Lanie would be too scared. As it turned out, I was worried for nothing. Aunt Suzie had bought her a mini-dvd player and so we brought it with us to occupy her while they were doing all the prep. She had only used it on the trip to Washington, so the novelty was enough to keep her totally occupied. Then they gave her a "happy drink" and were able to wheel her off with out a bit of protest. Before we knew it(about 30 min) the dr. came and got us and told us she was finished. When we got to recovery, she was more than a little ticked, but they said this was normal for young kids coming out of anesthesia. By the time we got up to her room, she was starting to relax and once again the dvd player came in handy, not to mention mom and dad's total devotion. After 2 or 3 hours they sent us home and by that evening Lanie was back to her high energy self.




Early morning trip to hospital.
























Looking beyond cute in her surgical outfit





























There's nothing a little Jello can't fix!

Lanie has become the official birthday baker in our family. Here she is making yummy cupcakes for Jack on his "real birthday"

Headed Home

The return trip was much more pleasant than the flight to Seattle!

The Aftermath...

Let them eat cake?

Trust me I was not the one that thought this was a good idea. Lucky for them, dad was in charge of handing out cake and apparently it was a free for all!

At Last!!!

The Fiesta went off without a hitch. We all had a great time and it was so good to see all of our family in one place. Lanie and JAck were in heaven, once again being the center of attention.

Pre-Party Fun

Making lots of cupcakes with friend Gabe.

Dinner at grandpa Randy's house