"Dance"

Laura just finished a week long "dance" class. It was mostly just songs like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and animal movements, but she had a great time. She is dying to try the next step up, which is more ballet based, but that is for 4 1/2 year olds. Sorry, kiddo! Not until the fall.

The class and Miss Paula

The teensy tiny spider

(lives next door to the itsy bitsy spider and the GREAT BIG SPIDER)

"Hi Mom!"

And she finally mastered skipping, which she has been working on for a year:

Fantastic car trip

Our trip down to Kansas was by far the best long car experience we have ever had as a family. We did it in a straight shot. Left about 2:30 pm and arrived 9 hours later at 11:30 pm. We stopped 3 times, and the kids only got out to wiggle twice. The kids were awake until 10:00 pm, which was a surprise to us all, but everyone was so easy going the entire time. Laura spent several hours coloring quietly and Adam was completely astounded by several small toys that he hadn't seen in a while. Laura and I imagined shapes in the clouds and asked every trucker between MN & KS to honk, with about 50% success. We each got an Oreo at every new state, which was something exciting every once in a while. It just went plain old great!

Fancy Schmancy

The morning of the first day of our trip, I let Laura pick out some polish and paint her nails for the first time. We weren't leaving until 2:00 pm and I guess I was tired of packing.

I had to get in the fun too!

And by the time we got to Gramma Ann and Grandpa Phil's, we needed another coat.

Gramma Ann wanted to be girlie with us!

Strawberries

So much to catch up on, but this is all I feel like posting.

The day before our trip, the kids and I picked strawberries in the rain with Michelle and Odin and made jam. It went surprisingly well and now we have a start on our year's worth of jam. Much more jammin' to go, though! Next up - raspberries.

Road trip!

Take 2 preschoolers on a road trip alone? Sure! Why not? Hahahahah

Just got back from a very interesting trip.

Dropped kids off at Jim's parents while Jim and I spent 3 days alone in Tulsa at a college friend's wedding.

Spent one day at Jim's parents.

Dropped Jim at the airport to come home while the kids and I headed down to my parents' house.

Kids and I took a leisurely 3 days to return home via Nebraska and South Dakota.

Here are all the pictures since its going to take me some time to pick out the good ones and blog about them. Browse as you wish...

Sweet smile

I don't know why he isn't wearing pants or why they are on top of the table, but I just love her smile.

Comfy

He wasn't sick or anything. Just brought the blanket in the kitchen and made himself comfortable.

More bike

And later that same day...

Determination

Remember the post about Laura's persistence? Check this out....

Changes

Some changes/additions to our house recently:

Uncle Bob and Aunt Kate came to stay a few days while Mom and I were off galavanting at Jeff's. They apparently worked the entire time. Not much a vacation for them! They installed a gas line so I could have a wonderful new stove. Thank you!

And they started a project that Jim and I have been talking about for 3 years. Here's the completed railing after Jim and I finished it this past weekend:

We are really happy with it and grateful to Bob and Kate for getting it started so we would be motivated to finish it.

Also, the garden is filling in and looking pretty. Next year should be even better after the new plants get bigger and I've learned which plants are the bunnies' favorites .

And these two have really reached an understanding lately.

Some sort of male bonding happened while I was away for the weekend and its really great.