Spring break in photos

 Our spring break plans were to enjoy the days as they came. Mackenzie spent many  mornings in her jammies and we spent lots of warm afternoons in the sunshine playing at the park or at Grams and Papa's.

This is the pile of weeds I picked on the last day of winter.

The kids soaking in some sun on the last day of winter.

Lots of time for board games! Mack's technique for buying every property she lands on prevails again.

Mack was in "Need" of new high heels since her others were too small. They grabbed the attention of this little boy.

"Here's Mase. You can wear these"

More treasures mailed from Grammy

" What will we do today, Gunner?"

Spring break included LOTS of park visits. We did a park tour of sorts, visiting lots of different area parks.

And trips to Grams and Papa's. Mason is quite the climber.

A shadow heart we found at the playground

An afternoon on the farm

Mike had worked a pretty stressful stretch and I thought he would enjoy the silence that comes with an empty house. Off to the farm we went! What a gorgeous day we had helping Gram's prepare the garden and Papa gave horseback rides.  Kaleb was there to play, too, which is always exciting for Mackenzie who daily declares that Kaleb is her best friend. Grams taught them the general rules for throwing horse shoes and they had fun doing that and looking for early emerging toads. Mason, who was still battling a cough and running nose, wandered a bit and following Papa as he worked around the farm. There were several fits in the sand, though, which drove us inside to give him a long warm bath.

My dad loves to lead the kids on horseback rides. He keeps saying that he thinks Mackenzie won't need him to lead the horse much longer.  She'll be doing it on her own.

What a great big sister!

Down the road with Buddy dog

I took this photo for my sister. Over the hill is my parent's drive and each time I turn onto their road at this spot and I hear the gravel beneath my tires I always feel a sense of " Home".  Home would be even more home-y if she were here.

A country moon. I couldn't pass this sprinkler with out stopping for a picture. Good thing my Littles are used to " photo driving" with me. They even point out things to take pictures of, too.  Like this:

Mack liked that you could see the calves in the field.

Starring MASON!

I cannot believe that Mason will be two in just over a month! With his long torso but " barely there" butt, his height matches that of a two year old. He rarely stops moving and is far too busy to sit and eat any thing more than what he can stuff in his mouth with in a two minute window at meal times is proven by the fact that he is barely 24 lbs.  But he's a chatterbox and can express himself quite well.  It's fun to watch him discover the world and see that he can make people laugh.

In the first video, Mason has discovered himself in the reverse camera on my phone. He's eaten a full cup of partially frozen blueberries , accounting for that sweet but messy face. The second video, he's putting his raisins to bed.

Photo a day fun

Half

Cut

nature

Chair

" I am"

sweet

Vegetable

Fresh

Magic

Snip snaps- this and that

If Mack doesn't feel like cuddling, Mason makes it impossible to ignore him.

Mason's slushy snowman.

Snoopy dog

Look what Cass made me!

The best use of birthday balloons

Mack added some cool little crabs to her fish tank. Each of spends some portion of our day checking out what's going on in our little section of sea.

Snoozy girl

Mason's creative vase

These two are peas in a pod

Uncle Andy and Aunt Andie sent Mack brand new crayons, colored pencils and coloring books. She spent DAYS doing nothing but coloring whenever she had free time.

Mason's nightly ritual is putting his cars to bed before he goes to bed and then waking them up again in the morning.

Warm weather means we get to walk to pick Mack up from school. This day, she had a case of after school grouchies and wanted to walk alone.

Birthday parties a plenty!

Sarah, one of the March '08 birth group , recently moved to Colorado. We are so excited to be able to celebrate special occassions with her and her family. Grace is her original Marchie and Charlie came two years later , a day before her big sister's second birthday. Tammi lives in Brighton , about 10 minutes away. She has Mason ( her 08 Marchie ) and Emmersyn who is just two months younger than our Mason.  We've enjoyed attending each others birthday parties. Grace and Charlie had their party at the aquarium! Imagine Mackenzie's delight! Mike kept Mason home with him and we girls went down town to spend the afternoon with our friends! The party package included a guided tour where we learned all sorts of things about the aquarium we never knew in our trips before. An early dinner and cake followed with lots of play time ( oh...and they got to meet a SLOTH!) . Birthday party success.

Quick! They're still!

Mack's been gobbled up. She seems ok with it.