Catch up: March

March was a month of fun...we had to stick around Milwaukee (baby coming soon, and although it didn't snow, it was about 20 degrees all month), so we went on a few field trips:

The Milwaukee Public Museum...Anna loved the butterfly exhibit. Hattie was to paranoid she would accidentally smash one, and Niels thought...who knows what he thought but he kept running away from them. But Anna could have held that butterfly all day.

 But Niels did enjoy dressing up like a butterfly...

 ...and sitting on a huge dung beetle.

 We also went to the zoo...

...and the Milwaukee Art Museum. Glad I did all these things before the baby came...and before it gets warm and they'll want to be outside all day.

The art museum is right on the lake. They have a great kids exhibit that lets the kids do lots of hands-on art.

Hattie lost tooth #2

 The kids snuggled Paul whenever he was home.

And of course, St. Patrick's day. Honestly we didn't go all out this year...no trap building party with friends or making green bread. But we bought Niels some fancy green suspenders for church...

 ...and the girls, who had been planning our trap for months, spent the entire afternoon decorating it.

 They filled it with beautiful green and golden things...

 ...and then placed a golden marshmallow on the floor and glued it there. They then placed Glue Dots on the floor all around the golden marshmallow, so that when the leprechaun tried to pick up the marshmallow, his feet would get stuck and we would trap him.

Sadly the next morning, we had no leprechaun. But we did have his shoes! Glued in place :) Despite having not caught the real leprechaun, the girls were pretty thrilled to have some shoes out of it.

 We also did swimming lessons...again, something to do while it's still cold and before the baby comes.

And Paul got the goose-egg of his life while playing Marshmallow Wars in a friend's basement. He ran into a basement pole.

 Immediately after

 Day #2 morning

 Day #2 evening

 Day #5

 Hattie lost tooth #3

And the best purchase of 2014: A king-sized tempur-pedic mattress. We have talked about getting a new mattress for the last 6 years, when our queen-sized one got moldy on the bottom when we first moved to Texas. But we've procrastinated and postponed, and now, almost 3 pregnancies later, I finally said we had to do it. And we love it. I made this quilt almost 3 years ago in anticipation for the day we had a king-sized bed and I love it. I've been sleeping so much better, and that's coming from a woman who is 9 months pregnant.

 Coloring, iPad, headlamp, and fort-building.

 And I ran into a friend that I haven't seen since I was 10 years old! She is in my stake, but moved about 2 weeks after I ran into her. Strange to run into someone from my past - from 22 years ago! I'm getting older...

And the kids favorite part of March was going to the park again! Ready for spring!

May flowers

May. Also went ridiculously fast. Temperatures rose, daffodils and tulips bloomed, and we started mowing the lawn every week. It rained a solid week or two, so we got a slow start on some spring-time fun.

 The girls beaded some headbands

We blew bubbles on the deck

My dad came to town for a few days...he had a business meeting in Chicago, so he spent three days with us. And we put him to work. He built me two planter boxes, 3'x10', which after he left, I ever-so-painfully-and-slowly filled with 2 cubic yards of topsoil. I had to take the dirt from our driveway to the far corner of our backyard, where I thought we would get the best sun (and least amount of interference from children). My back is still in pain. But my garden is planted. More photos of that to come.

After Dad's meeting in Chicago, we went to the Shedd Aquarium. Photo dump follows...

After Dad left, we started having marvelous 70 degree weather. So we went to the beach whenever possible. One reason I love the location of our house - one mile from a nice little-known beach on Lake Michigan. If it weren't for getting so sandy, we would go every day.

Once when we were there with friends they actually found buried treasure - a total of about 65 cents - so it was hard to pull Hattie from that spot as her pirating dreams were literally coming true.

When Dad was here, he got started building a swing set, which Paul finished up throughout the month. The kids pretty much live outside now.

Random, I know, but while cleaning the laundry room, Niels discovered the hole in our floor, designed for flood drainage (I think), which is usually covered by a rug. He couldn't stop putting stuff inside it. He hasn't been that entertained in months.

And my silly Anna-bug, who, when being baby sat at a friends' house, preferred to sleep on the kitchen floor rather than in bed with Hattie.

 And who, a few days later, conked out naked on the floor after a bath. I love this little bug.

Springtime fun

My friend Nicole heard of something fun to do here in Lubbock...and we are always looking for things to do since it isn't the most eventful town. So we gathered our girls in the car and went to the local tractor supply store to see the baby chicks, ducks, and rabbits. The girls loved it. Hattie would reach toward the chick, I would pick one up, and then she would be too afraid to touch it. But she loved looking at them! She would love to be at my dad's house now with his new bunch of baby chicks.

Danielle was brave enough to hold the bunny

I think this will become a springtime tradition!