The Pledge

Another fine spring day

It really wasn't that warm out today, but we spent most of the day outside. It was overcast so good picture taking weather. We tried to capture some of the beauty in our yard for future wall hangings.This beautiful double tulip is in front of our house. I took lots more pictures, but this was a favorite.

Meanwhile, we are starting our flowers from seed this year so the girls learn how things grow.
I saved a bunch of egg cartons for our seed starting trays. We'll see how this turns out. After getting the soil in the trays, it was a mad dash to see who could poke the most seeds into the soil.
Annalise really was poking the seeds down deep. We'll see what eventually emerges.
Evie was very patient and deliberate about her seed placement. She will make a good agronomy undergrad someday. (although I was really missing Paul when I had to mix the soil)
Stinks did not like to wait her turn at the seeds.
They finally decided to work together. Tonight, the seeds will make their new home in our kitchen bay so they can soak up some warmth and sun and hopefully not get dumped over by curious little fingers. I hope I remember to water them. Again, I need a good undergrad for that task.


We headed outside for some transplanting of roses and making space for our future tomato garden. All of the sudden....

...we found some monkeys in our tree.
Evie was pretty cheerful and happy to be outside. Post lunch, she took a great nap!
When dad was digging holes for the roses, he uncovered a bunch of worms. Evie likes to hold them.
Annalise didn't want anything to do with them.
Here' the biggest apple tree in our yard in full bloom. The pear, cherries, and some other apples are also blooming. Our yard smells great!

During nap, Annalise had to take off her dirty outside clothes and got to wear her doggie jammies. What a treat for her.
Dessert tonight was ice cream cones. Judging by someone's meat log legs, we need to cut back on the ice cream around here.
Intense concentration to eat only the right half of the cone.
I guess it doesn't matter how old you get, you still get messy eating ice cream.

In Full Spring

Yeah!!!! We are having our first full week of beautiful sunny weather! We have been outside every day enjoying all of it with our SPF 50 ( you can't be too careful after a long winter--did you hear what happened in Wisconsin when Aunt Becky put on shorts? A 40 car pile up from the glare!)

We've been enjoying the swing set a lot this spring. Evie can finally pump with her legs to get the swing going. Too bad Annalise hasn't figure it out yet. That will be the day when mom gets to sit in a lawn chair and read a magazine!
Another rite of spring in our house is the ritual cleaning of the car. Things were getting pretty out of hand in the back seat with the 20 pounds of books and what looked to be an entire box of cereal. So, while I cleaned out the trash, Annalise practiced buckling herself in. lately, this is all she wants to do is Buckle, Buckle, Buckle. She will go up to stranger's strollers and try to buckle up the straps. It's great when we are on a walk and she is concentrating on buckling the straps instead of trying to crawl out of the stroller. When we are trying to go somewhere in the car, it's not so good when you have to wrestle the buckles away from her so you can get going.
Here's a picture of her intense concentration as well as her unconventional way of buckling herself in.

Mom has been majorly homesick for the Cup and Cone this week. Finally, we gave up and headed to the DQ for our first spring ice cream fix.

Evie enjoys her strawberry sundae. She also tried to order a chocolate cone too, but the cashier was too smart for her!
Annalise got her own cup of ice cream. It's a good thing too, because she's not into sharing ice cream. Must be the Seibert in her.

Good to the last drop.

Evie hula hoops. She is getting better at it.

Upside down Stinks

Aunt Becky called attention to the Stinker's nickname, Annalise. Uh, I mean Annalise's nickname. Anyway, we decided that Baby June's nickname should be J. Betty (for June Elizabeth). Some of the other nicknames we have for Annalise are Lee- Lee, Lee Lee Belle, Linky, and Lisey. We'll see what sticks. Unfortunately, at this point, it looks like Stinks is taking the lead.

Evie and Mike

Evie and Mike worked on this puzzle together after Mike's mom scored it at a garage sale. They were excited that all the pieces were there.

Fire Safety Day

Evie had fire safety day at school on Wednesday. The fire truck came and she learned all about smoke detectors and stop, drop, and rolling.Annalise was pretty excited to wear the official plastic hat of Department 47.
Evie also wore the hat of fire chief as she and Jim checked all the smoke detectors.
Today, we did a lot of playing outside. We did need to take a break to come in and eat dinner. While mom cooked a dished up dinner, Evie walked around and made monster prints on the carpet.
Stinks is being such a stinker. Jim has started calling her his Keg Can because of her cylindrical shape. Leading with the belly.
Aunt Becky, I think my belly is finally bigger than yours.

Photo Shoot

We recently went to get the girls' pictures taken for Evie's 4th birthday and Annalise's 18 month birthday. This is the best of what we got:What stinkers. Seriously, these kids don't need candy because they are so sweet. As a parent, I have to look at this picture every so often when it's about 5 pm and everyone is throwing tantrums on the kitchen floor.
We tried to get them both to smile, but Annalise wasn't so sure about the photographer (who I think did a really good job considering that Annalise wasn't intrested in her picture being taken)
This is the one for the wall. She is growing up so fast.
I think this one is pretty cute too, but at an angle???

If you are interested in seeing the entire photo shoot, send me an email and I will send you the link to the website.

Upside down

Evie has been practicing her gymnastic skills a lot. She can do a head stand with just a little assistance. Yep, we will have to invest in some cushy carpet.
Annalise also needs to do whatever Evie does. She still needs help with her headstand too.

Just a reminder, this week on the PBS series, Independent Lens, the documentary King Corn will be shown. JIm and I saw this earlier this winter and really enjoyed it. If you eat food, or know someone who does, I would recomend checking your local PBS listings to tune in to this show. I know in MN, it was on channel 2 at 9 or 10 pm on Sunday night and here it will be on channel 30 on Tuesday at 10pm. Set your Tivo or your VCR. You won't regret it.

When the kids are away...

...Mom and Dad will paint. First, the Colts Dining room got a makover: I don't often endorse products, but Porter Paint was probably the best paint I have ever used. If you can believe it, we actually got one coat coverage over the blue sponge painted walls. Normally, we're pretty picky about coverage and a second coat is a must, but this was outstanding. Also, we have lot more to do like getting stuff up on the walls, the curtains up, the plate covers. And we are getting a new light. If you are interested in this light for your home, let us know.

Next, the bathroom. It gave us some problems in the beginning, but we covered the green sponge painting with a color that looks like chocolate milk.

This picture and the lighting make it look more pinkish than it really is.

Next time the girls go stay with grandma and grandpa, we are doing something fun and relaxing like go to a movie. Check out what the kiddos have been up to by looking at Hank's, Natalie and Oliver's, and Grandma and Grandpa Seibert's blogs.

Turtle Sitting

While our neighbors are off on Spring Break, we are the chief Turtle caregiversHere's a picture shortly after Swany arrived. It was during dinner and after he got here, there was no sitting back down to eat. It was much too exciting to watch the turtle.
Here's the little guy, probably all covered in samonilla
Of course, guess that the first thing we had to do this morning was, check on the turtle. He's not going to perish for lack of attention in this house!