May!

Hooray for May! May brought lots of fun, trips to Columbia, beautiful weather, Mother's Day, and the end of school! Here are some highlights from the month!

They are growing up fast!! Grampa Bill made a growth chart/measuring stick a few years back. The girls love to measure themselves and see how much they've grown. Here's Greg making the official Sharpie marks on the stick...right before Lauren apparently stole the Sharpie :\

 Hannah's last day of preschool!! Hannah's year at Second Friends preschool has just been wonderful. We're so thankful for a great preschool, amazing teachers, and just a really caring atmosphere. She's had such sweet kids in her class and we are looking forward to another great year next year!

Sorry Lauren...I had to include this one. Lauren cried when Hannah got out of the car approximately 95% of the days of preschool this year. She didn't cry for long, but she hated when Hannah had to go. She loves her "Hannie" so much :)

Hannah's classmates signing "Jesus Loves Me" at their end-of-year program. So sweet :)

Hannah and her teacher, Ms. Marti!

Hannah and her teacher, Ms. Nicole!

All 12 in her class! Such sweet kids!

More scenes from May...

Lauren-Lou eating Hershey's kisses in her car seat :)

Playing with her teddy bear and dollies at the park

Popsicles!! One of the best parts of summer :)

Checking out their popsicle-eating reflections in the window

Macken Park playtime--Hannah is getting to be such a great helper to Lauren, especially at playgrounds. It's so sweet to watch them play and laugh together :)

Hannah holding hands with Lauren and guiding her around the playground equipment. Such a great helper!

Mother's Day! Hannah's class at school had a very sweet Mother's Day Brunch. The kids served the moms muffins and juice and all of the moms got several gifts from the kids. A homemade bracelet, little decoration with their pictures on it, and a bookmark with their fingerprints on it :) All the kiddos were so proud of all of their creations. Such a fun time :)

Hannah and her friend Harper

Hannah and I at the Mother's Day Brunch :)

Mother's Day! Each Mother's Day, I like to get a picture of me with the kiddos. This is easier said than done...after awhile we just kind of gave up ;)

During a couple of weeks in May, we helped take care of the neighbor's dog, Diesel. This was fun for all of us and the girls looked forward to it every day. We would go over a couple of times a day and let him out and play with him in the yard. Lauren learned to say "Dee! Dog!!" and they both absolutely love dogs.

Playing in the mud at a Mom's Club playdate. My friend, Karen, has an awesome toy kitchen outside that the kids can make mud pies in :) They had all of the mud, sand, and water a kid could want. Perfect! Hannah wasn't too keene on getting messy that day, but Lauren loved it.

Swinging in the backyard. I think this little swing set has been one of our best purchases ever! It has seen a lot of use!

Hannah took this picture of Lauren in her carseat.  It was one great one out of about 35 other ones that she had taken of random coloring book pages, her own teeth, and the back of my car seat :)

The Dyer and Alexander cousins at the Mother's Day celebration!

Such a sweet picture of Papa A and Lauren-Lou :)

Visiting GGA on a bright and sunny Spring Day. Hannah had a great time picking bunches of flowers from the yard.

Yummy ice cream cones on the deck...while wearing leotards/tutus, of course!

New Panama Canal shirts came in the mail from Gramma Jan and Grampa Bill!

Playing outside with the sand/water table. After an hour or so of playing, it was mostly water, but they have so much fun with it. Definitely a favorite summer pastime.

Lauren-lou just up from a nap. Snuggly in bed with her blankies and penguin. She is a slow waker-upper and sometimes likes to lay there for awhile before she's ready to go.

Lauren Holm, Hannah's babysitter and best (high school-aged) friend graduated! Hannah got to go to her graduation party and also went over to Lauren's house before she left for prom. Hannah was excited to stay up extra late to go to the big party and Lauren let her sit at the table with all of the other teenagers, and oriented Hannah to the "candy buffet," which of course was the best thing ever!! Hannah had quite the time.

Hannah and Lauren Holm before Prom :)

Headed to Lauren's graduation celebration!

 

Playing at the neighborhood park!

Fun with great friends, water, and the new/broken swimming pool. I don't think they even cared that it was broken!

During the last couple of weeks of May, we had some friends staying at our house. They were finishing out the school year before they had to move to Indiana. It turned out to be a great time! The kids loved having playmates all of the time and I think us moms enjoyed having extra adult help around during the day too! We will miss our friends!

Storytime!

They introduced us to indoor smores! And they introduced us to Nutella...Yum!!!

Hanging out with Cadence before Cadence had to go to school. So fun for Hannah to be the "little sister" for a couple of weeks.

Lauren and Ryan having fun before dinner. Lauren has devoured an entire ear of uncooked corn on the cob.

Killing time at the pediatrician's office before Lauren's well-check appointment. Daddy is definitely a fun Daddy!

More outdoor playtime! We had great weather when the Ast family was staying with us, so we spent many hours playing outside and enjoying the sunshine. Much easier for four kiddos to play together outside than inside!

Hannah with her new helmet, getting ready to ride her new Razor scooter! Candence introduced us to scooters and Hannah seems to be a natural. She loves it!

Fun in Columbia!

 Getting a picture of all 5 Mees cousins is always an adventure!! I think we actually might have a couple of keepers here, though. Such a sweet silly bunch of kiddos!

Gramma Jan reading a book to the girls :) Both girls love books and Gramma Jan always has some great books on hand for visits.

We got to see Maggie's softball game and Hannah and Sam got to run around the bases afterwards. And then snowcones for all...quite a fun evening!

Lauren-Lou hanging out on Gramma Jan and Grampa Bill's porch...eating a cookie and sipping her milk. What could be more fun on a nice Spring day?!

Yes, this is her new "scary face"! We read a book about making a scary face. She loves to do this one and also another scary face where she growls and puts her hands up like she's going to claw you :) She will often say for example "Daddy! Look!" and make this face. She knows it will get a laugh and she seems to love to make people laugh :)

Walking her dog :) Yes, it is a little sad that this is the closest thing she has right now to a dog. But it makes her happy, and it is oh-so-much-less work!!

Watering Gramma's flowers!

Lauren-Lou hanging out with Aunt Carla and Gramma Nell during a visit to the Dyers. 

 Going to Kate and Grace Dyer's dance recital!  Hannah has been looking forward to this for quite some time. She got to stay up really late to go and actually ended up falling asleep on me about 2/3 of the way through. But she had so much fun. She did her own hair for the occasion and would not allow help. She used ALL of her new headbands :)

Rounding out May with a few more shots...

This is what happens when Daddy takes Lauren-Lou on a trip to Lowe's. Guess who got to ride on the big cart with the new lawn mower?! She was in heaven.

We happened to be over at Zona Rosa during the big Italian Festival, so of course we had to get some Italian Ice as a pre-dinner treat :) The girls thought the blue raspberry was fantastic :)

Fruits of our labor...strawberry jam finally ready to enjoy on some yummy peanut-butter sandwiches!