Annual Neighborhood Campout

Our annual last-day-of-school campout this year turned into MUDFEST '11! The field was so soggy that every step you took stirred up more mud. We had to contain the twins inside our tent to keep them free of it. Ben and Maggie ran around getting covered. Maggie probably changed her clothes three or four times before I left for the evening. Brian, being the champion dad that he is, still camped out with Ben and Maggie for the entire night.

Maggie, in her jammie-pants eating some popcorn.
Ben with his friend, Jacob, the following morning. Jacob's face is covered with ink from some of the stampers he won playing kids-games. So funny!

Maggie's Goddard Graduation

Today, Maggie graduated from Goddard, where she has been in daycare/pre-school since birth. I have really mixed emotions about this milestone. I'm SO relieved to be free of the bills to a daycare center for one more kid. However, primarily, I'm sad to see this era end. Goddard has been so good for Maggie. And, she loves her most recent teachers, Miss Adea and Miss Tricia. We'll miss them in the Mondays and Wednesdays to come!

Ben's Trike Race

After Maggie's bike parade yesterday, Ben had the opportunity to show off his stuff today at Woodbrook Elementary's annual Kindy 500! This event might actually top the cuteness factor of the Seton bike parade. It was so well-organized! (They do this event year after year...) The entire school comes out to the playground followed by the kindergarteners who are wearing shirts of various colors to represent their teams. Each team competes against the other teams in a trike race around the circle. It's done relay-style. The entire school cheers them on. I loved it! It went so fast that I almost missed a photo of Ben as he zoomed past me! I think his team won!

Annual Bike Parade

Today was Seton Preschool's annual end-of-year bike parade and family picnic. It's just about one of the cutest events I have ever attended. The kids are allowed to bring anything with wheels (even including pushing a doll stoller if they so desire) for the parade. They are supposed to decorate their vehicles. They come outside and parade around the parking lot a few times while all the parents snap photos. Maggie wanted to ride her pink Barbie scooter. She had it fairly-well decked-out with pink ribbons and her name. We put bug antennae on her bug helmut. Pre-school is over for the summer. One more year at Seton for Maggie before she becomes our big kindergartener!

Our New Stroller!

It seems like we have waited forever to get this stroller. This is the newest model, just available this month, and it's about 20 pounds lighter than the original model. I gotta say that 20 more pounds might be a deal-breaker for me. This thing weighs a TON! The girls love it, though. I think it's the only stroller available that allows the girls to face each other. Pushes LIKE. A. DREAM!!!

kids looking out the window

Brian has this "thing" for taking pictures of the kids at the window when they're first learning to stand. I admit that they look so cute standing there. For this shot, he put them in their matching monster-jammies, and I stood outside with Java waving my arms like some idiot to keep their attention on me. Oh, the stuff we do for good photos!

4 for breakfast

This morning, Ben and Maggie came downstairs for breakfast while we were feeding the twins. Brian said it really hit him hard that we had FOUR kids at our breakfast counter. Please ignore the fact that Maggie and Ben were eating Fruit Loops! In the picture above, they were holding the cereal in front of their eyes and looking through the little holes. Goodness, we're blessed!

Easter Sunday

Easter morning. Bree is out in seach of plastic eggs filled with Kix cereal.

Ben is making artistic creations with the plastic eggs.

And Maggs is checking out if the contents are worth keeping (chocolate, jelly beans, etc.), or if she should give it up to pay the "Daddy Tax."

Betsy & Bree discovered that Easter baskets can hold a lot more than candy!

The twins get their first taste of Peeps...
Peeps are S-T-R-E-T-C-H-Y!

Check out Betsy's face in the photo on the left and Bree's face in the photo on the right!
They weren't sure what to make of Peeps. Eventually, they both fed them to Java.

We rushed to Batesville shortly after our egg hunt to make it for 11:00 Mass so we could hear Grandpa Hank sing with the choir. It was nice to be home for Mass on a holiday for a change.
As soon as we got home from Mass, though, the Easter outfits were destroyed. I was so bummed! So much for a family photo. We'll have to try again another day!

Maggie and her turtle that she found in the lawn.

Then began the muddy egg-hunt in Grandma and Grandpa's yard. It was so muddy from all the rain we have gotten that everyone wore boots to slosh around in the grass. There were quarters in the eggs, so there was great incentive to look around!

I think Will said that he collected $2!

Seriously, could Anna look any prettier in this picture?
It looks like a magazine photo for Country Living.

Falls Park

We visited the most amazing park today in Pendleton. We went for Krista (Wenning) Hausig's wedding reception, and, most unfortunately, I didn't get a single picture of myself with Krista. Hopefully, some of the pics snapped on her camera came out.

Because we have had so much flooding, this creek was at a much higher level than usual. The kids were mesmerized! It WAS pretty cool.

I want to come back here later this summer for family photos.

Twins' first trip to the zoo

Bree and Maggie in "The Desert"

It seems so obvious that Uncle Dan loves being UNCLE Dan!

I THINK Maggie is pretending to be a lizard????

Maggie's first time on the zoo's roller coaster.

It was definitely one of the hottest April 10th's EVER! 90 degrees! The zoo was hoppin' with people. The babies handled the heat well, but it really tuckered them out!

Maggie is 4!

Maggie wanted to go to Culver's for her birthday dinner. Brian and I took a deep breath and tackled it... our first dinner out with all four kids. Granted, it was only Culvers, but it was a big step for our family!

Maggie let the twins taste their first french fries.

Then, it was back to the house to open gifts!

We gave Maggie some new gardening tools. Plants, flowers, rocks, bugs... everything outside has been her big thing lately. The kid is always outside. We planted some seeds in the house, and now, she'll be ready to help plant them when it's time to transplant outside.

The twins have learned to "army crawl," and they are into EVERYTHING!
(and they're always losing their pants)

Maggie's only request as a birthday gift: a PINK booster seat for the car
(because she's a BIG GIRL now).
Happy 4th Birthday, our big girl!