July

We've had a couple fun weekends at my parents' cabin this summer. The girls love getting rides on the 4-wheeler: Grammy and Lily could cuddle all day. I'm not sure who enjoys it more, of the 2 of them!

Willow and Lily both love "fishing" off the dock. Willow got mad at her pole more than once and chucked it in the lake. She is MUCH more reasonable, but I think will always be a little hot head!

You'd never know it looking at her smile sometimes, but she can turn on a dime!

We move into our new house on August 6: The highlights of the house are that there are 5 bedrooms (Lily and Willow will share until Ben graduates next year), an office for Marc who works from home, Lily doesn't have to switch schools for 1st grade next fall, and it's in the same attendance area for Marc's kids as when they're at their mom's house.

We're going to have a small, casual wedding/celebration in September.

We were all up at my parents' cabin for the 4th of July, except Ben (who had to work). The weather was perfect for playing in the water all weekend!

Willow is THREE!

Marc sold his house! He moved in with us 2 weeks ago. We're looking at a house, hoping to have a new place where we fit with all 5 kids as soon as possible. We'll set a wedding date after we have a closing date.

In this video clip, Willow is reading a book from Marc. She combines Polar Bear (what do you SEE) with Brown Bear (what do you HEAR) constantly! At the very beginning she hears Lily and I get home from shopping for her birthday gift and says "I hear my Lily best friend", which is how she always refers to Lily. Lily Best Friend.

Willow's birthday is Friday, June 4th. She is doing great!

Mother's Day

Marc's fixing up an old tricycle of his kids for Willow to cruise around on. She loved it! Grace, Tate, Lily, Willow:

Sam got Lily to ride her bike without training wheels:

Fear, excitement, concentration, pride. You know how you just know your kids' expressions so well you can recognize every emotion like that? The mouth holds one set of feelings, the eyebrows another. Even the hands... it's all there!

Marc picked the girls up early from school/day care one day to take them shopping for Mother's Day. They had a beach theme: sunscreen, beach blanket, flip flops, and nail polish. He took pictures and downloaded them to create a 8.5x11 souvenire for me. I really like Marc.

Marc sold his house! He's moving in with us a week from Friday until we either sell mine or find another that would work for us - whichever comes first.

Easter

Every time I think Marc has lost his mind for getting himself into this mayhem, I have a moment like this remind me that it's not all mayhem: I love this picture. We're leaving the Ordway and the girls need a hand walking on the ledge along Rice Street:

Como during spring break:

Lily loves her uncle:

Yaya and Willow have a special connection:

I know some kids hate getting all fancied up, but I had to beg these two to change into play clothes at Grammy's after church on Easter Sunday. They love wearing dresses and they love matching each other:

All business:

Very, very little business. Willow smashed about 3 eggs during this process:

March

Lily took gymnastics this winter/spring. I'd like to say this was her coming off a triple flip on the vault, but the truth is that she just flat out jumped off:

The bars are her favorite "event":

Check out the number of supporters she has! Megan was there too, but felt her hair day did not merit a photo:

We love going to the Children's Museum on Friday nights:

They have a cool dinosaur exhibit right now. Willow is digging for fossils:

But her favorite activity remains using the hand dryer. She's now mastered the backward maneuver:

I could RAVE about the current China exhibit. It was Lily's favorite this time. She claimed to remember practically everything that was there from her 11 month experience in China. She kept saying "Oh, I remember that." and "I already know about that."

We attended the Early Childhood class with the Easter theme recently. Willow loved the playdough and painting the most:

Lily loved everything, but she claims she's getting too big to participate.

We met a friend at the Maple Maze and Lily was big enough to get pretty high on the kiddy-climbing wall:

The activity of the spring has been pushing babies in their strollers. And, apparently, posing with an attitude and hand on the hips:

I've averaged about one showing a week - every week hoping "this is the week". I have 2 showings this weekend - Monday's showing will be my ninth. I get positive feedback overall, but no offers yet. One family commented that they would like to make an offer, but they have to sell their own home first. That is the reason Marc and I are not seriously looking yet - I don't want to fall in LOVE with a house and then have it sell before ours are sold.

Marc's house is on the market now too. He's had about 10 showings too, and lots of good feedback.

The girls are more attached to Marc than ever. They are sad on the days we don't get to see him and beg to go to his house when his kids are there. Just after this picture was taken they broke into the annoying 2-year old power struggle of "MY dad" then "No! MY dad". I noticed Marc didn't stop the argument - because he was busy melting. They don't call him dad, but Lily talks a lot about when he becomes her dad. I think they were just trying on the sound of the word. They had a similar argument in the car recently about Ben: "MY Ben." "NO! MY Ben" and on and on.

When they don't appreciate how I do something, they'll talk about when Marc can do it for them. For example, I am too rough and rushed when I do their hair. Willow said one morning this week: "Mom? You do Lily hair. Mart do my hair. O Tay?"

Say a prayer for two buyers to find our houses SOON!

January

Lily is taking gymnastics this winter. Parents can only watch on the first and last weeks, so grammy and papa came to see her the first night:


We visited the Children's Museum recently. Lily's favorite place is still the bubbles - it has been since she was about 2! She works and works on these bubbles, while Willow runs back and forth from the hand dryer to the water table - mostly at the hand dryer:




We celebrated Marc's dad's 85th birthday the other night. The girls had a blast with their soon-to-be extended family:


They both love Marc's brother, Bart:

I love when Sam takes pictures with my camera!

Willow and I went to see Sesame Street Live together, while Lily played at Marc's house:

We are getting closer to putting our houses on the market. Marc is hoping to have his ready by the end of February. I'm ready to put mine up as soon as he is!