Summer!

I am so excited to have this summer off with the girls! We are going to have a great time. The girls and I definitely enjoy our time on the go and doing things rather than just playing at home, so Elise and decided to make a list of fun things we can do this summer. Some are specific to our family, some cost something, and a lot are relatively cheap to free and things most kids would enjoy. If you have others we should add, please let us know! Here's the list in order we came up with them:

1. Go to Holiday World
2. Go to Columbus, IN for children's museum and indoor playgroun
3 Indianapolis Children's Museum with friends
4. Paint a canvas
5. Outside tea party
6. Go to the Splash Pad
7. Visit Blythe, Uncle, Tim, Aunt Molly and Colton in Chicago
8. Potato Stamps
9. Make Giant Bubbles with the kiddy pool
10. Invite friends over to swim
11. Go to every public playground in Bloomington (there are 15)
12. Visit Nana and Papa J
13. Invite Katherine down from Indy to swim
14. Go to the zoo with Katherine
15. Go to the Paynetown Beach for a picnic and splashing
16. Go on a nature hike
17. Visit the animal shelter
18. Go to a farm
19. See the True Story of the Three Little Pigs (http://www.indiana.edu/~thtr/productions/ift2012.shtml)
20. Go to Jumping Joey's when it ops
21. Walk to Bruester's (hopefully we'll do this more than once this summer!)
22. Swim lessons
23. Vacation Bible School
24. Ride bikes on the B-Line Trail
25. Ride city bus to the Chocolate Moose
26. Lunch with Papa T at the IMU
27. Read all 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know - At least the ones we haven't already read(http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended2.cfm?ListID=61)
28. Build ice cream sundaes
29. Make fruit pizza
30. Visit the Pioneer Village at Spring Mill State Park

Preschool

Elise is wrapping up her first year of preschool... I had a hard time enjoying the first year of Elise's life - mommyhood was a harder transition than I had anticipated. I was tired, hormonal, and overwhelmed. These days, I just wish time would stand still. My baby is growing up so fast! Here are a few pictures form Elise's field trip to the goat farm and her end-of-the-year music program.

Lilah was delighted to watch Elise and kept yelling, 'HI SISSY!'

Elise's best bud Molly

Mother's Day

I am so blessed to be Mama to Elise and Lilah. Not in a rose-colored glasses way. My kids aren't perfect and neither am I. But, in an even though this is really hard there isn't anything I'd rather be doing way. Thanks to my hubby and kiddos for giving me a wonderful Mother's Day!

Easter 2012

"I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross."

It was a joyful day, as it should be - celebrating Christ's death and resurrection. A sacrifice we can never truly understand, we give thanks!

We celebrated with friends this year, since my parents were in Boston. The celebration included 16 kids for a Easter egg hunt - no worries, there were plenty of eggs to go around, and boy did the kids indulge. They consumed a mass amount of candy in a very short time.  Elise went for the full basket, while Lilah's strategy was find one egg and dig in!

Easter morning before church - I will have to see if I can find a picture of me in Lilah's vintage dress

All the kids - ready to hunt!

Lilah with her one egg

Elise's goods

Chocolate Face!

Elise and Rebekah - sugar high!

BANGS

 

After many years of trying to train Elise's hair to not fall straight forward into her face, we have finally succumbed to bangs. I think they maker her look so grown up. It is wonderful to be able to see her face again....

Perfect Weekend

You thought I had given up on blogging, didn't you? My motivation did seem to run out, but I am refreshed by the marvelous spring we are having, and I am back! We had a perfect Saturday, really a perfect weekend, that included celebrating Christi's birthday, a daddy-daughter dance, and a cookout with great friends (on what turned out to be a beautiful day after a morning of rain). Enjoy just a couple pictures.

Elise and Wes before the dance

Elise with Aunt Christi (the birthday girl!). Elise was excited about her first curls with the curling iron. She stood very still, which is quite hard for her.

Elise and her buddy Blythe. The curls are already gone!

Alert!: Daddy posting...

Unfortunately, I don't contribute much to this blog. I wish I was better at writing because honestly, I love that Google commercial where the dad creates an email account for his daughter and sends her emails detailing her "growing up." I think that would be awesome for the girls to have. But, I can't focus on anything for more than 10 minutes at a time.

I digress. I wanted to take a couple minutes to chalk up some thoughts because I have had 5 special daddy-daughter days with my baby girl, Lilah June. If I'm being honest, when Erin wanted to take Elise and visit her brother, sister-in-law and their new son in Boston, I was skeptical. I have not typically enjoyed spending time with little (2 and under) kids, because I don't know how to entertain them. Lilah has proven me wrong. We have had a great time together. We've danced, played at the park, read at the library and Barnes & Noble, played with bubbles and taken long walks in the beautiful early Spring.

While on one of our walks, I listened to a sermon about how the church needs to be better about focusing on and integrating young people. Although not necessarily about parenting, parts of the message challenged my selfish side. I love my children more than life itself, but I'm a pretty selfish guy when it comes to my time. The past 5 days with Lilah, have shown me that I can set aside my selfish desires, just be a dad, and have a great time. I plan to prioritize my time with the girls from here on our.

Erin comes back tonight with Elise, and we will welcome them back with open arms, but we had a pretty great time ourselves.

Right after eating bubbles instead of blowing them

I just liked the funny expression