Soccer!

Molly has started playing soccer with the Peoria Park District. Soccer is her first attempt at a team sport. She had fun at the first practice and was quick to tell us she learned to kick the ball with her heel. It was fun to watch her learning to be a part of her team, of all four year olds, poor coach!

Margot spent her time at the soccer practice picking dandelions. Jeff has assured me that she is way too girlie to play sports. We will have to wait a couple years and find out!Molly has a fun loving coach who has made the season fun. Here she was giving him a high five during their first game. The first game was great most of the kids did not get the point of the game. They had no idea what to do they all just ran up and down the field in a big herd. The coaches had to be out on the field pointing the kids in the right direction. So fun!

Molly, in her bow, taking a break after playing hard during the first game.

Easter Egg Hunt Anyone???

Spring Break 2009 was a collection of egg hunts. The kids, Jeff and I packed up and spent a few days in Rockford visiting friends and family and enjoying the pool at our hotel. We also had three egg hunts. Our girls were a littel timid at the first hunt but by the third they were truly pros at finding all those colorful little gems!

The first egg hunt was at Lena Manor Nursing Home in Lena, IL where great-grandma Wilson lives. She and grandpa had a great time gettimg to see the kids enjoy the egg hunt. The only down side was that the Easter bunny was there too and Margot does not like the bunny. She spent all her time making sure that the bunny stayed far away!

Our second hunt was at the Children's Discovery Museum in Rockford. We met our friends the Hiser's at the museum and enjoyed our second hunt. Margot could not figure out why the eggs were all over the floor. She was hilarious!

In Rockford Molly was able to hunt with the big kids which required a little more speed and precision than our previous hunt but as you can see she was up for the challenge!

Molly was quite the egg hunter by the third time around. She was running everywhere and snatching them up as fast as she could. She also enjoyed checking out her loot and trading with her cousins to make sure she had the best eggs!

Margot needed a little help from Daddy to coordinate the picking up of the eggs and placing them safely in her large paper bag. She would have been quite content to pick up one egg and eat its contents before going on to the next egg.

It was so fun to have all the cousins together for the egg hunt this year. Even our youngest member little Ella Grace enjoyed watching all the action. I think that they were all happy with the money and candy that was contained in all the eggs that they found. My mom had even hidden a few camoflouged eggs which were a challenge even for the big kids, and adults to find.

Molly really enjoyed her chocolate Easter Basket from GG. It was a basket made of chocolate that contained even more yummy chocolate treats. She was overjoyed when we let her have it as a treat after dinner. What's a little more candy after three days of a menu concsisting of purely sugar!

Margot dug right in to her chocolate basket as well!

Five, Six Pick up Sticks!

What is more fun than picking up sticks on a sunny Spring day. We all went over to visit a good friend today and she offered to pay the girls a quarter to pickup sticks in her yard. We started out just picking up a few little twigs and one thing led to another and we were eventually hauling huge pieces of wood.
Molly loved the challenge. She wanted to carry the biggest stick and throw it into the ravine all on her own. She is really going to be a hard worker!

Margot joined in on the effort as well picking up all the sticks that her little hands could hold.

Here are Molly and Margot helping our friend Terri drag a whole tree down to the ravine!

We love Terri, our Peoria grandma, and were happy to have the chance to help her out with a little yard work this afternoon. The girls each got their quarter and an ice cream treat for all their hard work!

We want spring!

Right now it is pouring rain in little old Peoria, but we have had a couple of warm days this week that have made us anxious for Spring. The girls are loving riding around the neighborhood in their Barbie jeep. Molly is actually a pretty good driver! It is also comical how we never see the neighbors all winter and then the first nice day it is like folks come out of hibernation and we all get to reconnect! How fun.....

Florida Re-Cap!

Finally a recap of our wonderful vacation to Santa Rosa Beach Florida! We had a wonderful time and here is a little glimpse into our adventures on the Emerald Coast.

The beach was a major priority. We did not have true beach weather, usually in the low sixties but it did not stop us from enjoying the sand and the water. Molly loved jumping in the waves. Margot liked digging in the sand and just getting her toes in the surf.
A great day on the beach was one where there were very few waves so the kids were able to safely play in the water. This was one of those days and the girls were living it up!
The pool was objective number two. Both Molly and Margot were little fish when it came to swimming in the heated pool. Another fun part of the pool was feeding the turtles that lived in the pond surrounding the pool. We would bring over some bread and we could feed 6 or 8 turtles. They are probably hungry now that we are gone!
Margot was the crazy swimming girl with her little pink floaties.

We enjoyed many nights out to dinner. One night was Valentines dinner at PF Changs, YUM!

Another sunny day on the beach relaxing and working to make one major sand castle.

Margot running from the waves, how dare they get so close!

A chilly day on the beach. Even the cold couldn't keep us away. It was windy so we went out to fly a kite with Papa.

Molly and Papa working hard to keep the kite in the air. Papa had taken a kite flying lesson last year so he was quite the expert. The only funny part was that when trying to get the kite down he was knocked over by a strong gust of wind. Unfortunately for my dad the girls loved the kite flying but all they talked about was seeing Papa face down in the sand trying to keep a hold of the kite!

Molly and Margot posing for one of many pictures that we took to send home to daddy who had to stay home and do taxes!

Eating at Stinky's fish camp! We love Stinky's. It is a fun restaurant on 30-A which serves wonderful seafood and has a pretty fun name as well.

New nighties. My mom had gotten the girls new nighties and they wore them every night. They were adorable but it did make for lots of laundry.

One rainy night we decided to go bowling. It was not quite as easy as really bowling but still fun. Molly actually beat all of us fair and square. She did have the advantage of the bumpers but watch out she may be the next queen of the pins.

Showing of their I'm a Stinker shirts from Stinky's fish camp!

Our last sunny day spent on the beach. It was a little chilly but we had to take advantage of the suns rays before heading home to chilly Illinois.

Two sisters loving the beach. This year our vacation was very low key and we loved it. We loved heading to the beach and the pol everyday and just having fun in the sun. The girls were a joy and I especially loved watching them on the beach truly enjoying one of God's amazing creations! We are so blessed.

We had lots of family with us on our trip. My parents and my moms two sisters and one of their husbands. We all stayed together in the condo which was great fun especially for the kids. They really like that communal living. One night we celebrated my dad and my uncle Bill's birthdays with a cake and balloons. The girls loved the party!

Margot especially loved chocolate cake. Margot's favorite person on the trip was Uncle Bill. She would follow him all over the place asking a million questions. He was so patient to answer and play with her. He has one huge fan!

Our last day we headed to the Gulfarium on the way to the airport to check out the dolphins. The girls loved standing at the window and watching the dolphins.

Dolphins were definitely a highlight. We loved all the tricks.

All and all we had a wonderful trip. We are so grateful to my parents who graciously invite us to visit them every year. The kids love the time spent with Nanu and Papa and the memories that they will forever have of their time spent together on the the beaches on Florida. We love you Nany and Papa!

She can SWIM!

One of Molly's main objectives in Florida was swimming every single day. She had been taking swimming lessons at home and she was going to use her time in the sun to perfect her skills. She would work each day on all the skills that her swimming instructor had shown her. It was so amazing to see her pushing herself and really progressing each day. Today when we went to the pool Molly was truly swimming on her own. It was like she broke through a little barrier and she was swimming all over the pool on her own. It was AMAZING! Mommy is very proud!

Florida!

Since just after Christmas all the talk at our house has been about Florida. My parents are snow birds and spend the winter on the white sand beaches of the Florida pan handle. Each year the girls and I make a trip to visit them. Typically we go down at the beginning of January but this year we waited until February. Everyday my mom calls the kids and tells them about the beach which fuels their conversation about Florida. Yesterday we awoke at 3:15am and headed to the airport, finally headed for FLORIDA!
Margot was a little trooper on the plane. On our first flight she happily played with all the toys that I had brought. We checked out lots of view mater reels, colored a little and even bothered all the surrounding passengers with a little flashlight.

Molly was very excited about flying. She wanted to know what all the little lights meant. She was very brave and sat in the seat across the aisle from Margot and I. She was the perfect little traveler watching her movies and playing the DS.

When we arrived in Florida the first place that the girls headed was out on the beach. They loves playing in the sand and jumping in the waves. They did not let the slightly cold and breezy weather deter their fun. By the time we headed back to the condo they were both soaked up to their necks.

Today we again we out to enjoy the weather. We played on the playground and even got out our bikes and took a little ride around the parking lot.