Reflecting

Tonight after posting I went back and look through some old posts. I can't believe I've been blogging for almost four months. The time as gone by so fast! Because I love to scrapbook and preserve memories, I enjoyed going back and reading my journals. It seems like those memories were just yesterday and yet the calendar says they were awhile ago. As a writer, I cringe at the typos I see, but I've decided it's too late to go back and fix them. To me this blog has done what I wanted: given me a place to journal about the girls and what they are doing. I have a place to come to and reflect until I get the scrapbooks out and updated. I also hope those of you reading it are enjoying keeping up with our family. 

It's spring or is it?

It's definitely spring in Idaho and by that I mean it's cold in the morning then gets to near 70 in the afternoon then cools back off at night. We'd had some really nice warm days, then back to 40-50's. I wish it would make up its mind, but then once it becomes warm, it moves to hot and then we're sweating all the time. Everything is finally green around here, but that also means my weeds and lawn are already out of control. Hopefully we'll get to all that this weekend. It's hard being in between houses as I want to work on the new yard, yet not let this one completely go either. Ohhh! 

I hope that didn't sound too negative because really things are quite lovely here. It's been a nice week; seems to have gone fast.  Monday night was music class. Only a couple more weeks left. I'm not sure if we'll take a class this summer or not. The girls really enjoy it though. Tuesday and Thursday, the girls were at daycare. Since I am in between deadlines, I worked at the house both days. I patched a fist-sized hole in the drywall downstairs and am pretty proud of how it turned out. I actually cut new drywall and put it in the hole. Gotta love spray texture in a can; it was my saving grace. Wednesday was our day out. We went to the library then to Walmart for groceries. After putting groceries away, we headed back into town to visit the ladies at the nursing home. I think this was our best visit yet. Mackenzie talked the entire time just telling them what she'd been up to. She's never at a loss for words. Emma gave out hugs to everyone. The activity director brought some large wooden beads and gave to the residents. Then Emma would go up and get them or trade or whatever. One gal put one on her finger so Emma did that too. It was nice to see the girls interacting with them. I think everyone enjoyed the day. The girls were happy to hand out more hugs too when we left.

Tonight I gave the horses their shots and wormer so the girls enjoyed being outside while I did that and we fed them. We grilled hamburgers and I made oven fries for dinner. 

I have a few work things to do tomorrow, but we'll probably just hang out at home. If it's nice I hope to get to the yards. Zeke's coming out for the weekend to stay and help Josh around the ranch. The girls will be excited to see him. They always have a good time when they are together. 

Tooting her horn and queen of her throne

Emma has seen MJ put something up to her mouth and pretend it's a horn enough times that now she does it. The other day she wrapped a pen in paper and started making noises with it. 

She wanted to wear this new crown she got from a friend of mine, and yes, she happened to need to go potty too. 

Pigtails and Blackie

Yesterday when I picked the girls up from daycare, Emma had pigtails. They looked so cute! She's finally keeping something in her hair for longer periods of time. I just had to take some pics. I didn't realize her hair was long enough to do that! 

Mackenzie wanted to play outside with her cat, Blackie. She loves this cat. I have to admit, he really is a nice cat. Now up until just about a week ago, Emma has been afraid of most animals. She likes to look at them from a distance, and talks to them and about them, but she didn't want them to come near her. The other day, she started helping get Blackie's food ready. She started sitting next to him. She even tried picking him up to take him outside! This is a huge step! Yesterday, she tried to take him out of MJ's arms. For those of you who have seen her around animals, you can attest to what a milestone this is for her! 

A few more things

Here is MJ's quilt in the beginning layout stages. We got the top all stitched together and Mom took it home to finish quilting. I had Mackenzie help me a little with the stitching, but I realized 4 is probably a little young to start sewing. :) She did help me pull out pins though. It's a start.

Time with Grandma Jo and Granddad Brock

The girls really enjoyed their time with my folks. I love watching them all interact. I especially loved these photos of my dad and Emma, as I have ones of MJ and my dad in the same spot when she was this age. It was from the last time they visited when Emma was born. It's neat to see how Emma is growing and changing and starting to interact with everyone more. She's got her own little personality. Both girls enjoyed being outside. They fed the horses with my Dad and ran around in the yard. Emma would bring everyone their shoes when we talked about going outside. Sometimes she'd bring her jacket and shoes to us even when we weren't planning to go out because she just wanted to. 

Mom and I enjoyed an afternoon of shopping in Ontario. There are several little shops that I hadn't visited yet, so we took a tour and had some coffee too. I think my dad enjoyed his babysitting duty with the girls. 

Mom and I worked on MJ's quilt and Dad helped me with the dining room chairs and some other projects. My mom jokes she's just like my Grandma Rosina and can't sit still, so we always find lots to do when they are here. I can't say enough thanks to both of them for all their love, support and help through the years. Fun, fun times! Thanks for the visit!

Hugs for sister

I took these photos of the girls before we picked up my parents last weekend. It's so fun to see them give each other love. (Sorry for the bad background. Oops!) I took a few of just Emma. She's started doing this "cheese face" for the camera. She has the funniest expressions.