got milk?

princess play

In case you were wondering what princesses look like when they have playdates.

too slow

You just have to laugh at her delivery, especially with hiccups and how cute she sounds..."gimme five..."

cuteness

3 years and some change

I realized shortly after taking Anna's one year pictures that I had forgotten to take Maria's 3 year pictures.  SO, I took a couple of outfits, and set to work to remedy that.  She is at a stage that you have to find her in just the right mood in order for picture taking to happen easily.  We went for a walk up at the lake house and made use of some random peoples landscaping to get some good shots.  I think I had just over 200 when I was done.  I have whittled them away to only 58!...some of which are better than others.  Here are a few of our favorites...not sure if anyone is really up for looking all of them, but the second one is all of the ones I kept!  Thanks to Uncle Andy and Aunt Therese for the cute dress that Maria just insisted on wearing!

faster, faster

Yep, finally Maria has shown a bit of interest in her bike.  Maybe spurred on by a friend of hers that she has seen ride by on her bike on several occasions.  Whatever the cause, it is fun to see her pedal and figure out the steering all by herself.  We took her over to the high school track and rode around...much easier than the narrow sidewalk she kept trying to drive off of!

Our Anniversary

Missed posting our anniversary last Friday, May 28th.  5 Years already...seems so quick, but what a great 5 years it has been...a look back.

Our wedding day

One year~DeMotte

Two years~DeMotte (Maria 5 weeks old)

 Three years~on vacation in New Jersey(Maria 13 mo old)

Four years~Culver(Maria 2 years, Anna 6 days)

Five years~North Webster at our lake house (Maria 3, Anna 1)

We have plenty to praise God for; we are well on our way to 50 years!  Here's to celebrating many, many more.

grandma's got talent

The girls got matching outfits made by grandma for their birthdays.  Don't they looks cute all matchy-matchy?

strawberry heaven

Not only did we go strawberry picking and get 13 lbs. at a nearby farm, our own plants have been producing well.  We have had about 6 pints in the last 5 days.  So I froze lots of the the berries we went to pick, made a bit of strawberry sauce, good for ice cream, and a fresh strawberry pie.  We also had shortcake and strawberries added to everything imaginable.  I made freezer jam with some of the ones from our patch and plan to make some strawberry popsicles tomorrow. 
Maria was helpful for about the first 20 minutes or so of picking, and then it was more fun to find clods of dirt and break them apart, kick dirt around with her shoe and of course EAT the berries.  Hmmm, good thing they don't weigh you prior to picking and after to charge you for consumption during picking.

Anna thank you

it's going to be a LONG summer

Just one of the tricks Anna has up her sleeve.

A Spring Day, or is it summer??

Maria got to try out her puddle jumper floatie.  She likes it, but really likes playing in the sand.

Anna had fun putting sand on a friend's blanket...sorry Marcy! 

 Maria was trying on Amy's shoe.

 Our playgroup met at the beach for the morning.  It sure was sunny and bright!  Spring, right, more like summer!

Emily came up with the boys to spend part of the day with us, since they had to leave early from Anna's party.  They got here just as the beach was getting it's sand delivery unfortunately!  So we headed back to the house for a dip in the pool.

Zach was happy...especially to be out of the car and his carseat!

Maria and Joshua were great playmates.

May I serve you?

all gone! (is it that bad Joshua?)

Zach looking in on the house fun.

This big boy turns one on Monday...Happy Birthday Zachariah!

It's fun having cousins so close in age to our girls...they had so much fun together.

peek!

Do they really have to leave?

We have plenty to praise God for; family that make an effort to see us and spend time together making wonderful memories.

12 Months

I had some fun taking Anna's 12 month photos.

Here are some favorites, and the collage has the rest, which are pretty adorable too.  (You can click on pictures in the collage to make them appear larger.)
Enjoy!

A free picture collage by Smilebox

a sweet day

How quickly the past 12 months has flown by!  We had an amazing time celebrating Anna's first birthday.  Thanks to all the family who made it a special day.  Due to many, many pictures, I made a slide show to share our day with you. 
Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Make a slideshow

A year of firsts

At one month I learned to smile.
At two months I slept through the night(8 hours).
At three months I know my mom and dad.
At four months I learned to laugh.
At five months I am trying to sit up and I sleep 12 hours.
At six months I started eating some real food and figured out rolling.
At seven months I had gotten two teeth, loved playing peek-a-boo, and said my first word, dada.
At eight months I surprised everyone by trying to whistle and sitting up, and I like to feed myself.
At nine months I am all about clapping my hands and waving bye-bye.
At ten months I am scooting backwards well, like to give kisses, and tell people "hi".
At eleven months I finally started crawling, like to dance to music, and sign "milk" and "yes".
At twelve months I can pant like a dog and I am getting used to standing and falling.

We have plenty to praise God for; a year full of firsts to celebrate.

will there be a cow?

Thankfully, yes, there was a cow...and goats, chickens, turkeys, ducks, guinea fowl, ponies, rabbits.  Our playgroup met up at Prairie Winds Farm near Lakeville, IN.  Farmer Charlotte led an excellent fun-filled day for us, from holding/petting/feeding the various animals to riding the pony and milking the goat, taking a nature hike by the pond, where they made mud pies, through the woods, while checking out the stick houses and along the prairie, watching for the birds in their boxes, and we finished up by having a picnic before our drive home.  I think it is safe to say that the kids had a great time. 

Maria ready to feed the goat her turnip.  Later she got to try her hand at milking a goat...she wasn't too excited about that chore.

He is not too interested in her turnip.

He did like the oats however, but licked Maria in the process of eating and she wasn't too sure she liked that.

Here, try some grass.

She tried out...every....single....brush in the bucket.

seriously!  Both on the cow and the pony.  So I guess a good farm chore for her would be to brush the animals.  This is the cow that she was anticipating being there.

Anna decided to check out the chicken...good thing I was holding it and not her, since she doesn't quite understand the meaning of gentle yet.  She was SO good all day though, but with only an hour nap on the way home she was more than ready to head to bed tonight.

Off we go on a pony ride.

On the nature hike.
We have plenty to praise God for; amazing creatures to learn about and explore.

a wagon built for two

Daddy was giving wagons rides to two cute little girls.

trapped!

I promise, they put themselves there!  But sometimes I wish I had a padded cell to put either them or myself into!

Happy Mother's Day

We have plenty to praise God for; mothers and those that take care of us like mothers.