May!

 It's May! What a busy month! Hannah finished out her career at Second Friends preschool and we seized the opportunity to do some fun things before she started summer school Kindergarten! Zoo trip, a park trip, church picnic, Mother's Day, visits from family, special birthday parties, school picnics...lots of times for fun :)

Poor Lauren got hidden in this picture at the zoo (see pink skirt in back!) but it's a good one of Hannah and her friend, Rollins.  Rollins is one of her oldest friends--they met when they were one! There aren't too many pictures of the two of them together.  Probably because they are usually running too fast for me to snap the picture!

May means that the Farmer's Market is open! Here's Lou sitting by the fountain on one of our weekly trips to the market.  We take a couple of loops around the square, get some veggies and baked goods, then sit by the fountain and enjoy a cookie :)

Washing the car...one of those awesome summer activities where the kids could be busy for hours and not even realize it.  The girls love washing the car, and on this day the neighbors joined in too.

More fun with neighbors...these pictures are of a spontaneous nerf gun fight and game of "capture the flag" right before bedtime :) The girls were armed and dangerous...

Papa Ralph turned 97 and had a big birthday party in Columbia! Such a fun time to honor a wonderful man.  So glad we could join in the fun and celebrate along with other family and friends. 

On one of Hannah's days at preschool, Lauren and I ventured out to Overland Park for  a trip to the Johnson County Museum, which was a cute little place with great exhibits for preschoolers.  Lauren loved the doctor exhibit, of course, and also the stage where she and some other kids put on a production of Frozen :) We hit the great park across the street afterwards, and decided we will definitely need to make that trip again!

Mother's Day! The kids (and Greg!) always do a great job of making me feel special on Mother's Day.  This year, they picked out a bunch of new plants and flowers for me, and then Hannah and I planted them together.  It was a great idea and a special thing to do together.  We went downtown to the fountain and ate donuts there, and then went to church.  Afterwards, we headed to Deanna Rose Farmstead for a family outing.  That place is pretty far away (50 minutes or so), but every time we go we have a great time.  It's a perfect place for Mother's Day. 

Lauren being the "goat whisperer" :) She talked to the goat for a little while. Both girls love animals and really got a kick out of feeding the little goats.

Random pictures from back at home :)

This is a "burrito", where we wrap the girls up in a blanket and they giggle and think it is the funniest thing in the world :) And on this particular night, that's how they headed off to their rooms for bedtime.  Once you do the burrito once, you usually end up doing it about a million times...such silly and fun-loving kiddos.

Do you see the carrot in the middle? And the little brown thing below it? That's Lauren's pet moth :) She asked if she could keep a half-dead moth that she found in the garage.  I said yes (what better pet could you have?!).  She gave it water (and it became fully dead).  She also gave it a snack...carrots, cheese stick, and a mini bag of chips.  This girl is a hoot! A couple weeks later, she befriended two very large earthworms and kept them in a cottage cheese container.  :)

Strawberry season is here!

more strawberries!

More gardening!

Lauren working on a Lowe's project in the basement.  She loves tools and "woodworking" projects, following after her Grampa Bill! She would do one of these projects every day if we let her!

Hannah's last day at Second Friends! This has been such a wonderful preschool experience for her.  Caring teachers, sweet friends, lots of fun experiences and memories.  We will be sad to leave Second Friends but she is looking forward to Kindergarten! The last day of school, they had a sweet presentation in the sanctuary where they sang songs for the parents and showed what they had learned throughout the year.  Then the parents went back to the classroom, where Ms. Margaret had a video of the year, and the kiddos served us refreshments.  Such a cute way to end the year :)

After the last day of school, Hannah chose to go to Chuck E Cheese for dinner to celebrate! 

Later in May...a trip to SeaLife Aquarium and Crown Center...

On a beautiful Spring day over Memorial Day weekend, Greg and Grampa Bill built an awesome swingset for the backyard! The girls love it and play on it a ton! So thankful for their handy woodworking skills!

Hooray! A swingset...almost!

Lauren hanging out in the driveway painting herself :) She had to do something to pass the time, I guess!

And the swing set is done! Hooray!

More random shots from home...

The girls always play so well with the nieghbors and they concoct the best plans...fashion shows and theatrical productions and dances and art projects and crafts galore...just good old fashioned playing.  So thankful for these great playmates!

Lauren washing and then getting ready to paint her Cozy Coupe :)

Slip and Slide fun!

They picked some strawberries and now concocting their plan of how to sell them...

Riding bikes...a favorite pastime on a nice day.

A HOT day at a very cool splashgrounds over near Grandview.  We also went to Brumble's partk, which was really great, although super hot! I think the girls liked the splashgrounds better on this 95 degree day!

This is just a shot of Hannah and Lauren reading nicely together when we were having dinner at a friend's house.  The friend didn't have kids, so the girls needed to play with just a few toys.  They did great and we were proud of them. Sweet sisterly moment :)

A community movie night at the park...Frozen, of course! On this particular day, Lauren had taken a 3 1/2 hour nap and we were wondering what we would do until 9 or 10 when she would finally go to sleep! We heard about the movie, thanks to our neighbors and good friends.  What a great night and a HUGE turnout!

Amazing, but this is about the only picture I took from a weekend of fun with the Drymalskis! We went to Waterfall Park, down by Bass Pro Shop, and we also went to Shatto Dairy.  A great weekend with great friends :) Benny and Lauren have become quite the little buddies, too, which is so sweet.

 Phew! What a busy month! And on to June---the start of summer school and lots of summer fun!