On The Road Again...

We were happy to pick up our German friend Esther from the airport last Thursday afternoon. She flew to Minnesota to celebrate Jamie's parent's 40th wedding anniversary with us. She stayed at our house on Thursday night, and she was able to experience the full wrath of our girls. Olivia decided to throw a huge fit at suppertime...we had no idea what got into her. The only thing she wanted to eat was ketchup, which has never happened before. I think it was good birth control for Esther. :) We did get to spend some time outside together though, which was fun. We all drove up north together on Friday morning (Jamie & I had the day off from work). On our way up, we stopped at Jamie's sister Janell's house to meet our newborn niece Claire. She is quite an adorable little girl. Olivia & Violet both loved her; they kept pointing to her and saying "baby" over and over. The girls slept for only 20 minutes on the drive up, so we tried to lay them down for naps at Janell's house. They slept for only about another 15 minutes, so we tried to forge ahead basically without naps.

From there, we went to Jamie's sister Jill's house to see her and her kids. It was fun to visit with them for awhile. Jamie & Esther stayed at her house while the girls and I headed to my parent's farm for the evening. We arrived at my parent's around 5:30 pm, and we had left the cities at about 9:30 am, so the girls were very sick of being transported in and out of the vehicle. So they were happy to run around outside for awhile! Their cousin Emma took them for a spin in the motorized Escalade, and then we all had supper together. The girls ended up staying awake until almost 9:00, which was pretty good considering they basically didn't have a nap.

On Saturday, we had a big 40th wedding anniversary party for Jamie's mom and dad in Millerville. It was a lot of fun! We served almost 300 people, so there was a great turnout. We had an open house from 1:00 to 5:00, and around 2:00 we had a little surprise for Jamie's mom. A priest came and renewed their vows and provided a marital blessing. Paul & Gayle stood up front on a stage with the best man and maid of honor, which was very special. We all got a little teary-eyed! My mom and dad brought the girls to the party after their nap, so they arrived around 3:00. Thank you to my mom and sister Rhonda for getting them ready...they looked very cute! They were quite overwhelmed with the hall full of people, so they wanted to spend most of their time outside. We tried to take a few pictures, but they had no patience for it. At least we got a few where they weren't crying!! It was a fun party, I think everyone had a good time. Around 6:00, I headed to the Suchy farm with the girls to feed them supper and get them ready for bed while everyone else stayed to clean up the hall. It was a late night for the cleanup crew - I appreciate all the hard work they went through!!

On Sunday morning, the girls helped Grandpa Suchy feed the chickens on the Suchy farm. They totally loved it! They had handfuls of corn that they would throw onto the ground for the chickens. Olivia got into it the most, she was trying to chase down chickens to get them to eat the corn out of her hand. She finally gave up and threw the corn on the ground with force.

We left the Suchy farm around 10:00 am, and headed to my sister Nikki's house. We really made the rounds! The girls played outside with their cousins Maya, Alex & Evan, and Nikki & Brian made us a very delicious dinner. We had a very nice visit. The next time we see them, they will probably have a new baby in the family! My sister Nikki is due with her fourth child on June 3rd. We left their house around 1:30 and got home around 3:30. The girls conked out for the whole drive home, I think they were pooped. I don't blame them!! They were all rested up for Grandma Thronson, who arrived at our house shortly after we did. She stayed overnight at our house and headed out the following morning to visit my sister in Madison, WI, who just had a baby boy. The girls had fun with Granny, they went to the park and played in the sandbox. They were in bed early though because they were extremely tired!

Our niece, Claire Elizabeth Kraemer, born May 8th:

Olivia, Jamie & Claire:

My hubby & me:

Me, Jill, Gayle, Janell & Esther:

The Suchy family:

Grandpa & Grandma Suchy with their five grandchildren:
Violet & Olivia:

Jamie & Olivia, me & Violet:

Olivia feeding the chickens:

Violet, Chelsey & Joey feeding the chickens:

Maya & Olivia going down the slide:

Alex & Violet riding in a Jeep:

More Babies To Love!

First of all, we just have to say how proud we are to welcome two new babies into our family. Jamie's sister Janell & her husband Luke had a girl, Claire Elizabeth, on Friday morning and my sister Terri & her husband Aaron had a boy, William Stephen, on Saturday night. We are extremely happy and proud to be an aunt and uncle again! We are already trying to teach the girls how to be kind and gentle to a baby....but their curiosity usually gets the best of them, so we'll see how it goes in real life.

Otherwise, we had a nice weekend. We took the girls to get their first haircuts on Saturday. They did pretty well. Olivia cried a little bit at the beginning, but she got over it pretty quickly. They just got a trim, I figured it was time since their bangs were hanging in their eyes. We also spent a lot of time outside. Both girls have learned how to go down our slide on their own, so they have worn out a path in the grass from the end of the slide around to the ladder to climb up the slide again. We help them climb up the ladder, but they go down all on their own. They could be outside for hours between going down the slide and riding in the swing.

They have also started being able to pick out things and say the name of it on their own, both in books and if they see it live, without us saying anything. Mainly...banana, duck, puppy, ball and tractor. They also love to say hello, bye-bye, Granny ("Nanny"), Grandpa ("Ba-Pa"), and each other's names ("Dee-yah" for Olivia and "Dad-it" for Violet). They will repeat pretty much anything we say now, so we have to start being careful what words come out of our mouth. They also know what a donkey says (they say "haw-hee") and what a crocodile does (they clap their arms up and down like jaws). We are so lucky to have two very fun girls! We are quite proud of them, even if they do have spunky attitudes sometimes! :)

Olivia & Violet brushing their teeth:

Violet getting her first haircut:

Olivia getting her first haircut:

Our Weekend

We had a very nice and enjoyable weekend. Jamie & I went out on Saturday night to celebrate our 7-year wedding anniversary. We hired a babysitter that the girls hadn't met before, so we were a little unsure of how they would react. The babysitter is somebody that Jamie knows from work, and the girls took to her right away. Within five minutes of her arrival, they were sitting on her lap and reading a book. We were very relieved that they liked her right away. We went out for a nice dinner at Red Stag Supper Club, and then we walked up to The Bulldog for a few drinks. We were home by 10:30, but it was nice to have an evening out together. We aren't able to go out on a date very often, so sometimes I forget how much fun it can be hanging out with my hubby!

We paid for it the next day though, because Violet was up at 5 a.m. Maybe that was our punishment for being gone night before! Sunday was a beautiful day, so we spent most of our time outside. In the morning, we took the girls to the park by our house. They were like little monkeys climbing on all of the equipment. They loved the slides, and the swings were quite popular too. We also went for a walk, Violet was so tired she started nodding off in the stroller so we decided it was time to go home. The girls had their afternoon snack outside on their little picnic table, which was fun. Then we took them for a treat and got custard from Culver's. The girls get sweets very seldom, so they loved getting a few bites of our custard. They would take a bite and then do the sign for "more" right away.

Today was our actual 7-year anniversary. It turned out to be quite an interesting day. Olivia was sent home from daycare in the afternoon because she was sick, I took her to the doctor and found out she has an ear infection that is probably causing pink eye. So she had to stay home from swimming lessons tonight with Daddy. Violet & I went though, and she had a blast. She did not cry at all this time, which was awesome. She was leaping off the edge of the pool into my arms, splashing around like crazy, and letting me help her learn some floating techniques. She absolutely had a blast. It was so much fun.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Violet & Olivia having an afternoon snack:

Olivia:

Violet:

Violet: