our new guest...and fun Easter times

We have a guest that has made herself at home in our yard. A female mallard set up a nest at the base of a tree in our backyard, just outside of our deck door. We've had a blast watching her over the past few weeks and have enjoyed watching the egg laying process at work. Every morning for the past two weeks, she has been sitting in her nest, laying an egg and then leaving by the afternoon. She sits on the nest through rain, snow and shine. Jamie and Olivia left some grass by her nest, which she used to cover up and protect her eggs. Jamie also built a little roof over her head so she does not get wet. We have counted about thirteen eggs, although it is getting difficult to count them because she buries them so far down in the grass. Just this past weekend, she started to incubate her eggs. She sits on the nest for 23 out of 24 hours, and uses the other hour to go get something to eat. The incubation period will last about 30 days. Jamie is getting a little worried about how he is going to mow the lawn without scaring her away, but she has gone through so much work that we hope we can see the babies!!


Olivia and Violet have become fairly helpful with some chores around the house. They like to set the table and help "clean." I say "clean" because their idea of cleaning really doesn't cut it, but I am certainly not going to discourage them from trying to help! Olivia set the table for supper one night. I gave her a bowl of pears to set on the table, but she decided to pass them out on everyone's plate. Guess whose plate got the most pears?

We had a great Easter weekend. Jamie's parents, sister Jill and Chelsey visited us on Good Friday. Our daycare was closed, so Chelsey and I hung out with the girls all day while the rest of the group went to a medical appointment with Jamie's dad. Chelsey was a great help! We decorated Easter eggs, played games and even scrapbooked a little bit.

On Saturday, my sister Rhonda and her family stayed at our house. My sister Terri and her family came over for supper, so we had a great visit with everyone. It was fun to see Olivia, Violet, Emma and William play together. On Sunday morning, the kids looked out the window when they got up and saw eggs outside! They were so excited that they dashed outside in their pajamas to go on an egg hunt. Olivia, Violet & Emma had a great time finding eggs! Later in the day, we went over to Jamie's aunt and uncle's house. Olivia and Violet went on another egg hunt with Athena, Mason & Faith. The weather was so beautiful that we spent hours outside and the kids had a great time playing together.

When the girls woke up on Monday morning, they asked if it was Easter again!

Olivia: "I found one!" Violet: "This is a little one!"
Violet and Olivia:
Violet and Olivia "shaking their booties" (their idea):
Violet, Emma & Olivia:
Opening eggs at Debbie & Al's house:

fun times

We had a lot of fun last weekend. We traveled up to our hometown for the first time since Christmas. On Saturday, we went to a waterpark with my family to celebrate our nephew William's second birthday. The girls had a blast with their grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles in the waterpark. As soon as we got there, Olivia took off with cousin Alex to go down one of the bigger waterslides. She didn't hesitate, and when she got to the bottom she stood up and yelled, "I went down the big waterslide and I wasn't scared!" Violet was content to just play in the water and ride down the Lazy River in a tube. She didn't want anything to do with the waterslides, but that was okay! After supper, Auntie Rhonda walked her around the Lazy River for over an hour while I went down the waterslide with Olivia and her cousin Evan. We had a lot of fun.

On Sunday, we went to Auntie Jill's house for breakfast. Olivia and Violet met cousin Nick's 70 baby chickens for the first time. They enjoyed petting them, but they didn't want to hold them because they were too squirmy. After seeing the chickens, Olivia declared "I want to name them. The black ones are Butler and the white ones are Florida." These two teams were in the recent NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, so we cracked up that they remembered those teams from watching the game on TV! Later, she named the brown chickens "Yogurt." We really enjoyed seeing our families and spending time with everyone!

Alex and Olivia heading to the waterslide: Olivia going down the waterslide: Olivia: "I went down the big waterslide and I wasn't scared!" Riding down the Lazy River: Nicholas showing Violet & Olivia a baby chick: Nicholas, Violet, Olivia & Chelsey:Chelsey & Olivia:

march madness

March Madness usually pertains to the NCAA basketball tournament (which we have been enjoying), but it has been a somewhat crazy month for us as well. Here is a recap of things we have been going through this month.

1. Sickness. Over the past two weeks, we’ve been hit with strep throat. Jamie is the only one that has avoided it so far. Hopefully he does not get it!

2. Visitors. Brian visited in early March with his four kids. The cousins all had a great time playing together and Olivia & Violet still talk about baby Owen (even though he is not really a baby anymore)! We played hide-n-seek, Simon Says, red light/green light, and went to the park. We also enjoyed a visit later in the month from Granny and Grandpa Thronson. The girls hadn’t seen them since they got back from Arizona, so Olivia and Violet were super excited about their visit. Unfortunately, my dad wasn’t feeling the best, so they cut their visit shorter than they were planning. We also enjoyed an afternoon visit with my cousin Kelley and her five kids. It was great to catch up with her!

3. Persistence. How many times can a 3-year-old ask the same question? Hundreds, it seems.

4. First nightmare. Olivia woke up last night screaming hysterically. When I went in her room, she said that a mousie bit her on the hand and it hurt really bad. She never really got back to sleep, so her dream must have been pretty traumatizing!

5. Foreign languages. Olivia and Violet have developed their own language (or so it seems). They will talk to each other in nonsense that Jamie and I can’t understand, and then they will giggle and go off to do whatever they were talking about. Already conspiring against mom and dad? Probably!!

6. High energy. This would be Olivia and Violet – not me and Jamie! They have been so hyper at times that they just get goofy. They run around like crazy kids and all sense of listening and reasoning go out the window. This usually results in one of them crying eventually.

7. Daycare fun. The girls’ daycare class had a visit from a sneaky leprechaun on St. Patty’s Day, who left them a pot of gold. Later in the month, Olivia and Violet dressed like cowgirls on Rodeo Day. They ate baked beans, biscuits and s’mores. They had two helpings of beans and couldn’t finish their s’mores. They also roped cows and rode horses (for pretend of course). They often ask on the weekends if they can go to daycare. I guess mom and dad must be boring!

And best of all.....
8. Best friend status. I was going to take Olivia to the grocery store last Saturday because Violet got to go with me last time, and Violet started sobbing hysterically that she wanted to go to the store too. I thought it was because she wanted go to with me, so I decided to stay home and Daddy was going to take Olivia. She started crying harder and then I realized she wanted to be with Olivia – not me – when she started sobbing “B-b-b-but Olivia is my b-b-b-best f-f-f-friend!”