Zoo Time

Thursday was a beautiful day so I told the girls to grab an after school snack and we were off for the zoo.  We didn't have a plan so we just walked around, checked out some exhibits, petted some animals and stopped at the gardens for a couple pictures.  It was the perfect last minute decision.  

All the Nice Days

Sandwiched between the rainy days and humid days, we have some gorgeous weather.  We try to capitalize on every nice day with "mandatory outside time."  My proclamation usually gets a little resistance (ahem, Eden) but we almost always have fun family experiences.  

There's always that one year with every kid when my friends are off chatting and I'm chasing around a squirelly toddler.  I'm officially there with Indie and this time around it's pretty awesome. 

Cora is becoming a rock star at the monkey bars!

Sometimes Dave has to adult while we run off and play.  This is a little project on the front of the house that turned into a big incomplete project.  Of well, that's owning a fixer upper, I guess. 

This little Tankini is supposed to fit over Indie's belly, but I think it's way better this way!  

And a close-up of this belly because I just couldn't resist. 

Look at Indie's face, "I'm just coming to help you, Cora."  Cora knows better though....

Nap time snuggles.

Everything is a microphone around here. 

We were driving home from the Girl Scouts Bridging Ceremony and saw this beautiful field of yellow flowers.  It was going to pour any minute, but the girls wanted to jump out and play for a second, so I stopped and grabbed my camera.  Milan liked exploring and Cora liked hiding and could have stayed forever if she wanted to (luckily she didn't!)

After School with Eden

Most mornings when I ask Eden for a hug and tell her I love her, she says "thank you" for the love and "no thank you" for the hug.  Of course I don't listen and smother her with love to start her day.  But is a little sad that I have to chase her down.  (Hopefully it's a phase.)

After school is a different story, Eden is so excited to tell me the highlights of her day.  I love hearing what is important in Eden's day like an approaching AR goal, treat at lunch, extra recess, or what's going on with the other first graders.  This day she got a windmill from Miss Sindelar's drawer and played with it all afternoon.  Plus, we blew Dandelions on the walk home from Girl Scouts so we had a happy camper.

5 Year Old Pictures

Followed Cora around the park for 20 minutes and captured a little bit of  her 5-year-old awesomeness.  

Cora's Fairy Party

Cora's birthdays are a pretty big deal around here.  She usually starts talking about it 11 months in advance and gets extra excited around the 1 month mark.  The best part is that Cora really wanted to celebrate her birthday, but didn't really care about a theme or lots of friends.  Every time I asked Cora about a different theme or activity, she got a big smile and said "sure."  

After lots of discussion and agreement, we decided to have a fairy party with a homemade "Pin the Wand on the Fairy" game and her favorite cake from the Baker's bakery.  I surprised Cora with cute fairy sets for her and her 4 friends.  

Cora's only birthday request was a Boy Barbie, which she got from Grandpa Bob.  She loved all of her gifts and was a very gracious birthday girl who said "thank you," shared her toys with her friends, and made sure everyone was having a fun day.

Cora brings a crazy amount of joy to our lives and I loved celebrating our special girl.   

Stormchasers

Friday night Dave was in the middle of replacing siding on the front of our house and I had things to prepare for Cora's birthday party the next day when our neighbor invited us to a Stormchasers Game with their family.  We thought we were too busy, but decided to put the to-do list on hold and enjoy a beautiful evening together as a family.  It was so fun!  The girls stayed busy running around and doing cartwheels down the berm, while Dave and I got to chit chat with neighbors.  Cora saw her favorite steak and corn characters and surprised them a bit with her sprinting hugs.  I'm not sure any of us watched a singly baseball play, but the night was a total success.  

As a disclaimer, the house siding was definitely not finished for Cora's birthday party and the door handle locked up when parents came to pick up her friends.  Plus, it has rained most weekends since so that project is still underway, but we still stand by our decision to choose family time over work once in a while.