Memorial Day Weekend and 1st Day of Summer School

This Memorial Day we had somewhat of a "stay-cation" in the Columbia area.  At least we didn't go any farther than 1 hour in any one direction.

Our first stop was at the Firefighter Memorial.  We drive by this everyday and have never stopped in so with all the extra flags the girls were intrigued and we stopped there Friday evening on our way home from daycare.

Abby is always quite the poser

On Saturday we went out to the farm so take our friend Colleen out there so she could see it and we brought Tim lunch.  He's been working on 30+ acres to get it ready to plant beans.  He has done a lot of brush hogging and tree removal.  Hopefully this weekend they will plant some beans.  We did make some circle bales of hay though on Saturday - you can see one on the left side.  It's our first official act of "farming".  The girls loved how the bales were "pooped" out of the machine.  Colleen enjoyed her tour and 4-wheeler ride.  I enjoyed the fact that the "shouse" has AC.

First day of Summer School  - Megan is packing up her bag too!

Abby is very proud of her backpack - had to have a photo of that all by itself.

Today was also the first day of "all day school" as Abby likes to call it.  Summer School for Kindergarten started.  We had all our outfits picked out and lunch packed and were ready to go this morning.  We all walked (Megan too) to the gym for the first day's roll call.  Abby was pretty excited but I think was getting a little hesitant the longer she had to wait.  Her name was finally called and she got in line - Megan ran after her to giver her a hug and a kiss, it was too cute for words.  Then Megan and I walked back to daycare and discussed in detail when preschool will start as that is her next concern in life.  So tonight we'll get all the details of "all day" school. 

That wraps up our weekend - we all enjoyed the sun, a little too much probably, but got some good outdoor time, swimming, and boating done.  We probably didn't do hardly anything off of our lists of things that actually needed to be done - but they'll still be on the list tomorrow.

Abby Lost Another Tooth

This morning while brushing her teeth Abby lost her 3rd tooth.  Out of the 3 it was the most dramatic by far.  It was ready to come out since just with brushing it popped out.  However as she spit, there was some blood....(insert drama here) there was instant screaming and crying and Tim raced in to save the day.  She washed out her mouth and even finished brushing her teeth afterwards.  So tonight the Tooth Fairy will be summoned once again.

Bottom tooth to right of center teeth

The tooth is safely in a zip lock bag until tonight

Megan is still amazed with how and why this happens.  Her comment to Abby this morning was "you have a hole in your mouth".  She was happier to hear she has probably 2 years until she has to worry about losing any teeth.

Last Day of Preschool

Today is Abby's last day of preschool.  Kind of a bittersweet moment for Tim and I.  We're very proud of her of course and all that she has learned, but can't believe how quickly it is going.  We're also a little proud of ourselves for surviving parenthood for 5 years :).
Abby was very ready for "Graduation Day" as she liked to call it and had a special dress picked out, along with earrings, make up, hair accessories, you name it.  I had to kick her out of the bathroom this morning so we could get going.  She is going to be one of those girls.....

This past weekend we picked out our "big girl" backpack and lunch box (Megan got hers too, she's ready for preschool in August already) so we would be ready for Kindergarten Summer school which starts on May 29th - only 7 more sleeps!  Abby is pretty excited for this and will be walking with the other kids (even though I might be there the first couple of days) and then walking back to daycare after school.  Don't worry - it's not even a block, she won't be going far.  The days of napping are gone, it's now just "quiet time" while Megan is napping, plus her 3rd tooth is about to fall out.  She is definitely growing up faster than we can imagine it would happen.

Cuteness

We are enjoying our farm and new neighbors that are out there.  Abby, Megan, and #3 will have quite a few kids to play with that are their age.  One of Abby's friends Carter was kind enough to take her on his 4-wheeler.  It was adorable to watch.  Megan was on the electric one going about .25 MPH if that.

Tim and I aren't quite sure if we should be worried yet.......

First Turkey

So Tim has been turkey hunting for probably 2-3 years.  First year didn't even really hear a turkey, second year started to hear them call back but never saw any, third year actually saw some but never shot.  So this year his luck has changed.  This morning he shot his first turkey.  He's like a kid on Christmas day he was so excited.  He had to hurry home so the girls could see it before school. 
Some quick stats - 10 inch beard and 1-1/2 inch spurs, it's a nice looking bird.

Abby was a little less fearless than Megan to get close to the bird, but wouldn't touch it.

After some convincing from Abby, Megan got a little bit closer.  Abby said "Look, it's eyes are closed almost."  Megan wasn't so sure.

The proud hunter and his kill

Now we'll see if Tim knows how to clean a turkey......

Today we Bought a Farm

Today Tim and I closed on our new "mini-farm".  It's plenty of acres for Tim to hunt on, some tillable land for him to be the wannabe farmer I always hear about, and in an area we both agree we can live in.

Our future garden, already tilled and ready to plant some sweet corn!

The "Shouse" or Man Cave

Just a front view, someday a house will be out there hopefully.

It's been a busy day signing a lot of paperwork but it's done.  Now we just need to build a house......

Easter & Some Excellent Customer Service

This Easter we hosted the Schmidt/Dietz family at our house Sunday afternoon. The girls got to spend time with their cousin Theo and have several egg hunts. As you can see in the photo below the baskets from the grandparents were plentiful.



That morning we had a mini-hunt before church. Easter Bunny gave a few nice things and a personalized card for the girls. Megan's two favorites were the Rio movie and soundtrack to Gnomeo and Juliet - I'm sure you can guess what we listened to in the car today....



The morning photo below before they were unleashed to look for eggs. Megan wanted to match Abby's outfit of course. Her dress is actually Abby's from last year and I had bought a bigger size for Abby on clearance since the matching sweater still fit. I'm not big on matching, but the girls are.


Checking out the goodies from the Easter Bunny.

Waiting to be unleashed for the outdoor egg hunt. Theo got a 3 egg head start, then Megan got a 3 egg head start, then we let Abby go to find egg. She's a little more motivated and aggressive than the others to find eggs.


Showing off the loot. Final egg count: Abby - 17, Megan -14, Theo - 10


Looking for that last egg.....


Abby hunting in the front yard.

Megan finding eggs in the landscaping.

One last picture of eggs.



Lone Star: A Customer Service Story
This past Saturday evening we went to Lone Star or the "Peanut Place" as our kids like to call it. We hadn't been there for a while and the last time we were there they had the peanuts in the shell in a bag for you to eat. Our kids love peanuts in the shell. Abby learned how to crack them at deer camp a couple years ago, and Megan - she just loves snacks. When we were getting ready to be lead to our table Abby asked nicely for peanuts and the hostess let us know they do not offer peanuts anymore. Unfortunately it made Abby cry. We made it to our table and quickly distracted her with coloring and rolls with butter. A little while later the hostess came back to our table with a bag of peanuts just for our girls. The manager had let her run to the store quickly to get them a bag. This not only made our girls extremely happy, but also Tim and I as we don't often see that extra effort. So our hats off to you Lone Star, and thank you for making our dining experience quite enjoyable.