Wisconsin Trip

Ready for a picture overload? It's funny, because I didn't really take that many photos while up there, most of them are just randoms of Lillian and Claire. I do have a bunch more photos on my phone and eventually I will get around to downloading and uploading those, but for now you get the ones off my camera.

We started our trip up by spending a few days with my mom. While there the weather was much colder and wetter than we had planned on so we spent most of our time indoors. Here are a few silly pictures of the girls in my mom's yard.

 

The main reason for our trip to Wisconsin was to celebrate with my sister and her new husband at their wedding. The only pictures I have from that day was from when we were getting our hair done. Both my camera and my phone where put away the remainder of the day, so I don't have any photos of us actually dressed and fully ready for the day. I'm excited to see pictures from that day!

 The next two days after the wedding were busy with the opening of gifts lunch and then having a little bit of time to spend with my dad. The girls loved running through the yard and picking tulip and riding bikes up and down the street. That night, we went to Celebrate De Pere. Lillian and Claire had a blast going on rides, listening to music and being around all the people. We stayed up late and they were in awe of the fireworks we were able to watch.

 Monday, Memorial Day, was our last day in Wisconsin. My dad and Sandy have been working for the past year building a new cabin up there and I was excited for the chance to get up there and see all of their hard work. The new cabin is beautiful and I can only imagine how gorgeous it will be once it is complete.

 Claire found a "butterfly" and loved the little thing till its death. We had to have a little burial for it and made a headstone and all.

 We went for a walk down to the lake and all of the memories came flooding back again. I am pretty sure I said that late time I posted about going to the cabin two years ago. We were only able to spend a few hours in the north woods of Wisconsin, but we all enjoyed our time up there.

Tuesday morning we were in the car and starting our drive home at 5am. It was an early morning and a long drive, but so worth our time we had to spend with my family. It is amazing how quickly a week goes when you divide the time up like we do.

Here I Am

We've had a bit of a wild month around here and I have not felt like posting. No real reason, just a lack of desire to get on here and write. There has been a whirlwind of emotions for me over everything that has been happening in our family over the last month.

The school year came to an end and while I was sad to say goodbye to my students I have grown to love, I felt relief to be moving on from that chapter of my life as well. We had one week after school ended that was busy with appointments and catching up on life. That week was also spent preparing for our week trip we took to Wisconsin to see my family and to celebrate my sisters new marriage. I have some pictures from that trip I will hopefully take the time to post soon.

This past month, actually several months, I have been taking a lot of time trying to search for a new job. I have sent dozens of applications and resumes out, I have had a few interviews, and I continue to pray that the right job will jump out and smack me in the face so I can stop questioning where I am supposed to be and what is the right fit for me. One of my options I am looking at right now I know would make me happy and I would enjoy, but it is full time and a long commute. Another option is just a few miles from home, but it might not start for a month or more. It is a new career path, but I think I would enjoy it.

Anyways, life is crazy around here, but I am loving being able to spend my days with my amazing girls. Here are a few pictures from May showing some of the many faces of Lillian and Claire.

 

 

These are from way back on Mother's Day.

More Quilts

I have been taking on a ton of different sewing projects lately. I have been trying out my dress making skills and while they are wearable, let's just say, I have a lot more learning to do. I also recently finished a quilt I had made for my sister and her new husband as a wedding gift. I'm not going to lie, I bought this fabric to make her a quilt over a year ago, well before she was engaged. Her wedding was the kick in the butt I needed to finally get it finished so I could move onto my next project.

 

I don't think I have shared this quilt. I made this one as a baby gift last fall. Most of the fabric was from scraps I had already at home and they ended up working well together, or at least I think so.

 This is the finished quilt I had made for my sister and gifted it this past weekend. She loves hot pink and polka dots. The dark gray fabric has tiny polka dots. I love how the front of the quilt turned out and the backing fabric. I kept the binding neutral and love it al.

 On the back bottom corner I stitched a "W" for their last name and the wedding date. I probably should have rotated that photo. Oh well.

Princesses

Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty have been hanging around our house almost daily lately and have even made appearances at a few local store. These are the dresses I made for them last Halloween and they have been worth every minute I spent working on them to see how much they are loved by my little princesses many months later. 

 

"Take My Picture"

Lately anytime we are in the front yard Lillian and Claire will ask me to take their picture. Most of the time I do not have a camera with me since we are just coming back from a walk or heading in the house from the car. Really, the main reason they are asking me to take their picture is so they can sit on the front planters that they are not usually allowed on, but if they are willing to let me take their photo, they can do just about anything since it doesn't happen often. Anyways, they begged for me to take their picture this particular afternoon, so I ran inside to grab my camera and then they refused to smile and insisted on funny faces. 

 

Lillian

 

 Claire

After I labeled who is who in the photos,  realized their shirts are already labeling them.

Field Trip

Last week Monday we took a field trip with school to Paradise Park and to a small family farm of one of the students. I wasn't able to join the girls in their first Paradise Park experience since I was busy with my class, but Josh had the day off work and he was able to see all their smiles and excitement. After our time at Paradise Park, we loaded up and drove out to a small farm with the rest of the students and parents for a picnic lunch and play time. They had the most beautiful horses there. Lillian and Claire were a little nervous at first seeing them up close, but it didn't take them long to overcome their fears. They were picking up pieces of hay off the ground and giggled while feeding the horses.

The weather was perfect and we all had a fabulous day together.

 

 Lillian feeding one of the horses.

 Claire smiling for a picture with the two horses.

Getting Dirty

Since I just planted all of the seedlings into the garden, I supposed I need go post the photos of the girls helping me plan the seeds many weeks ago.

For months Lillian and Claire have been brainstorming over what type of veggies they wanted to plant in the garden this summer. Of course, they don't eat most of them unless I have everything chopped up in dinner and they don't realized what they are eating. The three of us went to the store and bought a bunch of seeds, soil and trays to start our plants in. We bought everything, but then had about a weeks worth or rain, so the planting had to wait.

I took the girls outside and they helped fill the trays with soil. After those were set, I gave each of them a pencil to poke little holes into the soil to plant the seeds. They thought the first few holes were fun, but then I ended up having to do the rest.

 

 Then comes the fun part of putting the seeds into the soil. I had to keep a very watchful eye on Lillian. She was trying to rush through the planting and was mixing the different seeds up. Claire, on the other hand, was very patient and took her time dropping one little seed in at a time.

 Finally they were able to water everything before running off to plan.

I planted all of our little seedlings in the garden this afternoon. I am hoping they continue to grow and produce some delicious produce for us this summer. This summer we have cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, green peppers, green beans (a first for us), cherry tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes.