End of May {Claire and Courtney Visit!}

The end of May brought some warm days of rain . . .

. . . and plenty of sunny days enjoyed on the trampoline!

I don't think it was even in the 80s on this day, but the kids were convinced it was warm enough for the hose!

The end of May also brought more time with dear friends!  Claire and Courtney are special friends from our time in England.  Their husbands were both in the Air Force, and we all landed in the UK around the same time.  If you have followed this blog at all, you will have already seen many pictures of these two beautiful ladies and their families because they were such a big part of our lives while living in England.  And I was floored with excitement when they said they were BOTH coming at the same time to visit!  Our few days together were relaxed and fun.  I had been needing a good dose of both!

We did some shifting of beds to make room for everyone, so one night I found this sweet scene in my bed before crawling in next to her.

We like to take selfies together!

I showed them the music studio where I teach.

We painted rocks one morning and Gretchen made a little display of them in the tree bed.

We spent one afternoon at the playground.  Having a one adult to one kid ratio is not a bad way to play! =)

And then the meaningful weekend was over and we drove to the Bismarck airport and said goodbye.   

The kids and I headed to the Dakota Zoo for the rest of the afternoon.  

The girls thought these pop-in scenes were hilarious!

We talked a little about Memorial Day and posed with a flag before driving back home.

These last days of the month we have been anticipating starting our little garden.  I have LOW expectations.  I mean, WAY LOW.  If we all get to eat a carrot and Gretchen gets to enjoy a tomato, I'll call it good!  But it's fun to get our hands dirty, and we are all hoping for growth to happen.  Just don't tell the plants I'm the one tending to them, or they will surely die!

Beginnings of May {Tricia Visits!}

We started the month off with another Home Depot free builders workshop.  The Camerons were Mommy's the kids' building helpers this time!

After lunch, the big kids got to ride in Steve's jeep with the top down!  We took ice cream to a park - a perfect sunny Saturday activity!

Getting the above shot!

Cinco de Mayo craft activity and fun with friends! 

I had the pleasure of welcoming another dear friend for a visit!  Tricia brought along her three-month-old, Baby Aubyn.  It was fun to meet another Aubyn! =)  Tricia was one of the very first friends I made at OBU and she has stuck with me since.  She is a loyal friend who will geek out on music with me, loves God passionately, and always makes me laugh!  The highlight of my time with her was the long talks we enjoyed late into the night (probably too late!).  

Tricia brought some fun craft things to do with the kids, which they thought were great!

Gretchen and Aubyn getting to know each other!

Tricia stayed with the girls so I could enjoy the "Muffins and Moms" breakfast with Rooke at his school.

The weather finally cooperated for us to try out our new Stomp Rocket - so fun!

It's hard to say goodbye to a special friend, especially if you don't know when the next time will be that you will get to see each other.  But I was grateful for the time Tricia and I did get to spend together.  And look forward to our next visit, whenever that may be!

These kids have a great daddy who helped them make Mother's Day special for me.

Pretty Gretchen

Spunky Bridgette

Goofy Rooke 

Jenga was our game of choice one week 

Our record-breaking tower of 32 complete levels! 

Rooke took part in a fire-safety exercise on base and made the right choice: climb out the window if smoke is coming under the door!

It's not uncommon for us to head to the fitness center on Saturday mornings, after our big breakfast has worn off.  We started in a racquetball court, and then moved to the gym once the basketball game cleared out. 

Rooke made a batch of cookies almost entirely on his own.   

And . . . . it snowed.  Because it's the middle of May.  And we live in Minot.  I still haven't packed away our snow boots.  I'm beginning to think we should probably have easy access to them year-round!

April Fun {Jessie Visits!}

Rooke's class invited us to their "music presentation" where they sang about ten different songs with instruments and actions - I loved it! 

Rooke read some ideas for April Fools in one of his magazines and really wanted to pull a trick on someone!  So he came up with a way to trick Gretchen at breakfast: make orange jello and pretend it was orange juice!  She tried to pour her own orange juice and nothing came out  =)   Then she wanted to get him back, so we offered him a yogurt treat after school; his favorite: key lime.  We had pressed the foil lid back on the yogurt cup, so when he opened it, he got orange yogurt instead of lime!  I loved the ideas they came up with!

Posing after one of her gymnastics classes

Trying out the neighbors' trampoline to see if he could remember how to flip!

Precious sleeping boy.  I had forgotten to go tell him to turn his light off and he fell asleep with it still on (and his magazine still by his head!).

Trying on the new sun hat Daddy bought for her.

We joined up with some friends and went to the circus!!  I don't have any memories of going to a circus (Mom? Dad?), but it was fun to go with my kids.  The animals were my favorite, Rooke liked the clowns, and the girls thought the graceful ladies swinging on the ropes to the music from Frozen was the best!   

The girls spent an afternoon setting up a "clubhouse" in the bushes outside. =) 

A massive indoor fort

Handsome Rooke

Silly Mommy!

And at the end of the month, my dear friend, Jessie, came for a visit!  Her gracious husband kept four of the kids, so Jessie brought precious Paige (one of the twins in their fab five!).  I knew having Jessie here was going to be wonderful, but it was an even better visit than I had hoped!  The depth of encouragement I received from our time together was needed, and the amount of talking we did was insane!  We mostly just hung out and did normal stuff. . . like staying in our pajamas long into the morning! =)  

Gretchen was so proud of her organization and wanted to take her own photos of their set-up:

One night we enjoyed a "storybook walk" of Peter Cottontail (Bridgette is jumping like a rabbit would through a "garden gate"!)

And afterwards enjoyed some activities inside the youth center where Rooke finally got to try the climbing wall.  He was a rock star!

Jessie convinced me we could set up the trampoline . . . just putting the last springs, and - success!

I think Jessie just wanted us to set it up so she could jump on it! =)

We introduced Jessie to a fun treat spot: Tutti Frutti

The kids loved having a baby in the house.  Paige was a super star traveler and so fun to have around.

We even had a little mom's night out on the town.  Don't ask us what we did. . . . our wild and crazy fun would blow your mind (I'll just say that Walmart was one of our stops!).  So grateful for this treasured friend.