Ahhhh... to the PARK!

So... the weather the last couple weeks had been beautiful! We are loving the warm spring temperatures. We have spent as much time outdoors as possible which means lots of trips to the park. It seems like we had a looooong winter so getting some fresh air has been rejuvenating!! Bring on the HEAT!

Run, Forrest, run!

Apparently, swinging on your tummy is the funnest way to swing!

The girls are so funny on slides now. They only want to go down TOGETHER!

Anna's new skill this park season is climbing up the rock wall! Last year she was still a baby in so many ways and now she's doing big girl things!

We've also been eating lots of ice cream! YUM!

I love that my girls are playing together now! It's so sweet to watch them!

Off to Illinois

Over the weekend, my mom, Claire and I took a trip to Illinois to visit with my older brother, Shawn, SIL, and nieces & nephew. We had such a fun and relaxing time just hanging out at their beautiful home! I hardly even saw Claire while we were there because she was off playing with her "big" cousins the whole time! She had so much fun! Thank you for your hospitality Shawn & Kristen! We love you!!!

They spent a lot of time on the trampoline!

Lauren & Jillian could do a lot of flips!!!

Claire with her big cousins (Connor, Lauren & Jillian).

I took a photo like this of the four of them on the slide over 2 years ago! Boy how they have all grown!!

Shootin' some b-ball!

Jillian made a hop scotch on the drive way and Claire loves hop scotch!!

The kids being very silly and WILD in the evening!

Even Nuna got in on the action!

Claire tackling Connor! The girl cousins love their only boy cousin!!!

Ollie is so cute! We were laughing at how he matches their furniture... he blended right in!!!

On Sunday morning we went to church with them and had the pleasure of hearing Shawn sing! There is honestly no one I'd rather listen to! He can sing!!!!!

This pretty much sums up our visit... just sitting around and chatting! So fun!!!!

Anna's 1st Haircut

This evening I took the girls to go get haircuts with Miss Whitney. This was Anna's very FIRST haircut! She has a ridiculous amount of hair and it definitely needed to be trimmed! I LOVE her hair so I only let Whitney even it out and put a couple long layers in it. I wasn't quite brave enough to do anything drastic at this point! It turned out really cute and she was a perfect angel. She just sucked on her dum-dum and didn't make a peep! Such a big girl!

A before shot of her pretty, long, thick hair!

She loved the sucker!


The "after" pic! You really can't tell from the picture, but it definitely looks more even and a little shorter! Maybe next time I'll be a more daring!

It was also time for Claire to get a haircut. Whitney took about 5 inches off! WOW!!!

I love Claire's hair in a bob!! She looks so much older!

Girlfriends

Tonight I was able to go out with some of my girlfriends for a much needed girls' night out! I went to school with these girls at Dayton Christian and have known many of them since I was a little girl. Dayton Christian was truly more like a family than a school. I am so thankful that I am still friends with many of my classmates! We try to go out every couple months and we always have a great time reminiscing. There is a lot of talking, laughter and every once in awhile... a few tears! Love you girls!!

WICKED

My mom and I went to see WICKED tonight at the Schuster Center and I have only one word to describe the show... AMAZING! It was such a great musical. It was funny, sweet, sentimental and well performed. Many of the performers were right off Broadway and they were beyond talented. My mom and I have been to most of the big shows and this one ranked at the very top! If you have a chance to go, I highly recommend it!

Sledding with Daddy

Today Daddy took the girls sledding while I worked. They had a ton of fun and were at the sledding hill for almost an hour and a half! Ben said that Claire got very brave and sled down on her belly! She refused to let Ben help her up the hill and climbed up with her sled all by herself!

Notice Anna following close behind? She has to do everything Claire does! Thankfully, Claire is usually a very good example for her baby sis!

Valentine's Day

Just some cute pictures from our Valentine's morning! Before church, Ben gave the girls their Valentine's gifts!

I hid their little Valentine's boxes (I put candy in them). Claire's new thing is to have me hide anything & everything and search for it! I knew she's love it if I made a treasure hunt out of it!

Daddy passing out gifts!

The heart shaped PEZ dispenser and coloring books were a huge hit! It doesn't take much!

Sweet girls!

They really do love each other!

My Valentines!

Roller Skating

Grammy & Papa took the girls roller skating over the weekend so that Ben & I could go out for Valentine's Day. They had so much fun and Grammy said they got the hang of it very quickly! I bought Claire pink roller skates for Christmas and both girls practice with them a lot at home! We appreciate Grammy & Papa taking the girls on a fun adventure so we could have some time together for V-Day!

Claire started out holding onto the wall, but quickly progressed and...

...was skating all by herself! GOOD JOB, Claire!

Anna skated all by herself as well! Such a BIG girl!

Having so much fun!!!

SNOW DAY

We have gotten close to a foot of snow in the last week. So, the girls and I ventured outside today for some fun in the snow! I got Ben's old Radio Flyer wooden sled out and pulled the girls along in the yard. I definitely got my exercise in for the day! Sophie ran around like a maniac, Claire shoveled and the girls actually played on their swing set for a bit! It was nice to get some fresh air... even if it was just 15 minutes!

Who says you can't swing in the snow???