This doesn't happen...

at 2418 Buchanan-Delaware Avenue in Masonville, Iowa... until at least the end of May!!! Sure, sure... in town, even at my in-laws house where her gardens are established and the acreage is protected from the wind... spring flowers do appear, usually in April, here in Iowa.  But definitely NOT at our house in the middle of a field. Until THIS year... b/c here we are, Friday, March 30th!!! (worth taking a picture of if you ask me ;)

And I enticed Lydia outside with a pair of scissors so she could cut some of the "pwetty fowers!"

A touch over-board w/editing, but it was fun :) This is her "cheese!"

Unbelievable Iowa!

This is Sunday, March 25th... and I have to keep pinching myself, b/c this is just not normal! :D  Same goes for a lot of places I realize... but I'm in shock.  It LOOKS like spring. Iowa doesn't usually 'acknowledge' that it's spring, until at least mid-May! We started the day by taking a walk down to the 'creek'.... .2-miles down the road. And I just asked Chris and he said, "it is a creek... I just don't know if it has a name.  Well, we'll have to name it L-creek.  I mean L4 creek." :-)  The water winds itself through several pastures, and does eventually ends up depositing into the Buffalo Creek about 4-miles away.

They walked down into it... nice that the grass isn't too tall. Here they are splashing sticks. :)

And it lent for a cool back-drop taking pictures 'up' to the road...

Here is Ms. "Wiam" at 1-yr... SO HAPPY!  Always giggling & laughing...  lots of fun :) And actually taking naps now! It's great :)

She loves to point... Imitates whatever Lydia is pointing at for the moment.

Lauren video-taping :)

Trying to get a pic of the 4 of them ... pretty hard to do.

it was really bright!
LeaAnn 1, Lydia 2-4mo, Lindsay 5-7mo & Lauren 6-11mo

walking back... had to keep this one, Shena's in it :)

Oh yes... and what else do you get to do when it actually turns spring... mow the grass of course! :D  Chris said he didn't mow until May 1st last year! Might have been a stretch though... he was trying to prove a point to Ryan Kress ;)  Notice the Ipod?? Only b/c his 'work tunes' were in the skid-loader he said. ;)

And nice enough to have a grill-out!  Impromptu, but they're always the best ones. Here is Kyle & Lydia on a 4-wheeler ride. Lydia completed her outfit w/the helmet. :)

Chris said, "give her a kiss Kyle!"

and he did!!

Lydia looks smitten ;)

Hmmm... maybe not ;)

trampoline fun

and even sandbox fun!

Neighbor Craig brought his 'Traeger' grill for everyone to enjoy... cooks AMAZING food! We had pork chops & steaks.

Ms. Markia taking great care of LeaAnn :)

There was no water involved... but the girls tried to get us to let them swim. Thought wearing their bathing suits would talk us into it.

and the cook-out would not be complete without s'mores!

Craig ended up feeding her the s'more ;) such a sweet guy!

the finished product...

waving, "bye-bye!"  She's getting good at it :)

Love this picture :) w/Godmother Kris!

Carter happy to show off his marshmallow, or what's left of it! ;) We certainly can't wait to do this again! And w/any luck... mother-nature will continue to provide us w/great weather so we can!!

Lindsay's class field trip

On Monday, 3/19 Lindsay's preschool class took a bus to Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center in Cedar Falls to watch, "Twinkle-Twonkle."  Kids were great, and it was a super cute performance that incorporated  nursery rhymes and learning about the planets.  

Here is Lindsay with her classmates: Gavin Reck, Owen Recker, Ms. Dimples, McKenna Wilgenbusch & Jordyne G.

Trying to make sure I get pics w/each of them individually :)

Waiting patiently for the performance!

It was fun to ride on the bus with her too. We played hang-man, tic-tac-toe & rock-paper-scissors. Lindsay outright beat me at tic-tac-toe 3 times!!! Lindsay just said, "that was a really fun day, Mom."  So glad I had the opportunity to go with her.

March in Iowa?!?

Crazy weather we've been having around here! For example, this is Wednesday, March 14th... and yes, you see right. Tank tops, shorts & sandals! We decided to take full advantage of it, grilled pork chops and ate outside. It honestly felt like a summer evening.... no wind, HEAT, fully expected lightning bugs to start popping up :)

And dad was way over-due for a hair-cut, so we took care of that too :)

And to show everyone the opposite extreme that we've had here in Eastern Iowa, this is March 8th, 2008! Lauren 2-11mo & Lindsay 19-mo

Four years ago we had blizzard after blizzard... there was snow in the ditches till the end of April! So not that we always have THIS much snow in March... but it has NEVER felt like summer before... well not since I've been here :)  In my opinion, we'll take all the warm weather we can get!

Lauren's spring concert

Tuesday, 3/5/12

The East Buchanan Elementary Spring Concert was a Disney theme this year. Lauren decided to wear the Cinderella dress that Grammy gave Lindsay for her 3rd birthday... and she asked to wear eye-shadow, so I let her :)

and to have curly hair again :) Thanks to Sara Dolan for the tip on how to do that! (soft curlers that are easy to sleep in)  The curls start out tight in the morning and loosen up throughout the day. However, 2-recesses plus a lot of wind did not help our cause for this evening ;)

And to complete the outfit, costume rhinestone jewelry, also given to Lindsay from Grammy. It was a necklace from Great-Grandma Lorraine Beyer (Jim's mom).

Super concert... so impressed with Mr. Brown, the elementary music teacher. He does such a nice job with all the kids. And it helps that Lauren loves to sing. We had to print off the lyrics and put them in her Buc-binder so she could read them & practice the words. :)

Lauren continues to love 1st grade. She loves all subjects, but especially reading... "but mom I love art, and music, oh, and recess too!"  She came home yesterday, Thursday, 3/22/12 and said, "Mom! I did it! I went all the way across the monkey bars all by myself!!"  She has been practicing for quite a while evidently. :)