Welcome, Lucy

We met the newest addition to our family today. Our baby cousin Lucy Marie was born a few days ago. She's about the cutest thing around and just look at all that hair. Unkie Tyler and Ama Jill are very proud, as they should be.

Mommy made them this pretty pink cake. Every part is pink, the cake, frosting and designs, all pink.

We're going to have an awful lot of fun with Lucy.

Cookie pride

There's nothing quite like the feeling you get after working really hard on something and being happy with the results.

We carefully frosted bumble bee cookies . . .

. . . and not so carefully ate them. They were delicious.

Farm field trip

On a cold, soggy morning, our preschool class took a trip to a farm.

There were even some baby animals there like this little lamb.

We tried to feed the chickens through the fence . . .

. . . but ended up playing in the hayloft instead.

Even Batman needs downtime

Fighting crime is exhausting and stressful. All superheros, Batman included, need time to relax.

The beach without the beach

We have a renewed love for the wave pool.

It's certainly fun when there are waves, but it's equally as fun for some when there are no waves. Pushing around an inner-tube, spinning it in circles . . .
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. . . or even relaxing in one and watching everyone else.

The newest discovery is letting the gentle waves flow around your toes . . .

. . . and simply sitting on "shore"

Another long weekend, another trip to the waterpark

Well here we are again, hanging out at the Wisconsin Dells . . .

. . . and just look who's here with us. Our awesome friends Will and Sean.

We had the best time swimming in the pools. Not a lot of water sliding going on, but there's always tomorrow.

One of the best places to be is inside the mushroom-looking waterfall. The sound drowns out everything and the rushing water obscures everything else. It's like you're the only one in the entire park.

After a day of swimming, sliding and splashing, it's time for a bath. And why not maximize the amount of time spent in the water? That's why we're here isn't it? It's also hard to resist the bubble monster.

Surfer dudes at a birthday party

While at a new waterpark, we took a couple turns on this thing called the FlowRider®. It's super awesome. It's a surfing simulator. According to the waterpark's he FlowRider® cycles through 24,000 gallons of water per minute; it's sheet of water moves between 25 to 30 miles per hour.

We were lucky enough to be invited to our good friend Will's birthday party. And it wasn't just because Mommy made this super awesome, totally amazing firetruck cake.

It was a little weird to see fire on top of the firetruck . . .

. . . and it couldn't have been easy for Mommy to cut into the cake.

After we all had our cake, the dudes, seven of us, headed to the waterpark.

Overheard: April 15, 2012

"What is that sound outside? It sounds like this ssssssssssss."
- Jax asked after getting up from his bed and coming into Mommy and Daddy's room.

"Jax, that's Charley snoring because he has a stuffy nose."
- Mommy said after going back into Jax's bedroom.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha."
- Mommy and Jax laugh at the revelation.

"Sssssssssssssssssssssss"
- Charley continues snoring.

"Maybe tomorrow we can tell Charley that he's a snake... a black polka-dotted snake."
- Jax suggested.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha."
- More laughing, this time at the idea.

"Sssssssssssssssssssssss"
- Charley continues snoring.

"No, he's a red snake with black and white and red polka-dots on him."
- Jax added, laughing as he climbed back into bed.

"OK Jax, time to go to bed."
- Mommy said.

"Sssssssssssssssssssssss"
- Charley continues snoring.

Baseball buddies

Today was a big day. We had our first baseball clinic. Baseball season is coming up and we needed to refine our skills for the season.

We learned that this is not the proper ready position.

We learned how to catch pop flies.

And we learned that his guy REALLY likes to talk about hitting.

Afternoon hunt

After church, we headed to Grandma and Bumpa's for lunch and another Easter egg hunt.

The Easter Bunny hid all the eggs we decorated on Saturday, plus a few more candy-filled ones.

They were hidden really well. Some were hiding among the rocks . . .

. . . others were tucked in piles of wood chips.

Eventually we found them all.

It was pretty great fun.

Afterword, we counted our haul in the kitchen and ate a few eggs, real and candy-filled.

We always have a great time and Grandma and Bumpas. Grandma read us a mesmerizing story . . .

. . . and we watched The Masters with Bumpa. It was just as mesmerizing.

Overheard: April 8, 2012

"Jackson, would you like to say the toast?"
- Daddy asked before Easter dinner.

"You can toast me a waffle."
- Jackson replied.

We all promptly toasted to waffles before eating dinner.

Candy, candy, candy. Play-doh, play-doh, play-doh

The Easter Bunny was pretty good to us again this year. He's getting trickier and trickier, however.

Morning hunt

We were too excited to sleep this morning, so we started the hunt early.

We found our baskets first, there was some pretty great stuff in there.

Some of the biggest spinny-light-thingy's ever.

But still, nothing compares to a good book.

We were lucky enough to eat our chocolate bunny as part of breakfast this morning. Surprisingly, the bunnies were hollow. We got a good close look at them just make sure there was nothing in there.

We also got some pretty cool stop watches from Aunt Lori. Let the races begin.

Easter Eve

Sometimes, the day before the holiday is just as good as the holiday itself. We had so much fun this morning with our cousins Katie and Olivia, Great Aunt Linda, and Grandma and Bumpa.

The day did start out with a bit of work to get the house ready and prepare the brunch for our guests.

But once they arrived, we had a great time creating dyed Easter eggs.

There were so many colors to choose from, this is only about half of them.

Each egg had to pass a careful inspection . . .

. . . before it was placed back in the carton with the others.

When the day was finally over, we had to let the Easter Bunny know what was happening tomorrow.

We're going to Grandma and Bumpa's house right after church so we won't be having an Easter egg hunt at our house. We each wrote him a note to let him know what the plan was.