Summer Vacation 2013

Breakfast at the bar in our Kentucky cabin

Ready for our tour of Mammoth Cave

Mae and Mommy riding the bus to the cave tour

Cora loved riding the bus.....in fact, during our cave tour, she kept repeatedly yelling "Ride bus! Ride bus!" She could have cared less about the cave....she wanted to get back on the bus!

Cora and Mommy inside the cave

Our tour guide was super

Cora getting ready for our campfire

A really fun night in Ky.....we made pudgy pies and smores and sang songs around the campfire

Hiking in Brown County State Park

Beautiful scenery in Brown County

Ella rode Buster the pony

Niko rode Macaroni 

Our little cowpoke

Our vacation this year was quite memorable. We started our trip in a beautiful secluded cabin in Kentucky, close to the Mammoth Cave National Park. The cabin was spacious and well-appointed but we quickly discovered there was a pest problem.....a biting, indoor pest problem. A few of us received enough bites to determine that we needed to spend the rest of our vacation somewhere else.....so we made lemonade out of lemons and spent the second half of our time in Brown County State Park. We had a great time hiking, riding ponies, playing in the indoor water park.....Niko went down the water slide a record 75 times!!!

Summer memories 2013

June 28--Mae's got her piggers in and she's ready for the zoo!!

Mommy's favorite stop.....the giraffes

Cora also sported piggers at the zoo

July 8--Niko working on his "Our Environment" 4-H project

It was lots of fun for me to get to work with Niko on 4-H this year

The finished product.....he traced and cut out all 50 states using cardboard cereal and cracker boxes. Great job, Buddy!!

July 26--Niko's belated birthday present....attending a Cincinnati Reds game!!! Papa Don, Papa Carl, Niko and Lenn had a super time at the game.

Springtime Fun 2013

April 21--ready for church

Niko played for the Phillies this spring during Little League

May 2--Mae's preschool program

Mae posing with the decorations in Fellowship Hall before her program

Ready to perform!!

Niko working on his 4-H woodworking project in Papa Carl's woodshop

Easter 2013

Good Friday.....we celebrated by making Resurrection Lapbooks.  The kids put so much effort into their lapbooks and they were very proud of the finished product.

The inside of the Resurrection lapbooks.

Our other Good Friday activity was coloring Easter eggs.  What a fun day!

Cora in her Easter dress at Mimi and Papa Don's house in Columbus (Easter Sunday).  Mimi made a wonderful meal and we got to celebrate Pappou's 94th birthday!

Mae in her Easter dress hunting Easter eggs in Mimi and Papa Don's yard.

Niko strutting his stuff

Ella on an Easter egg search

Cora's first Easter egg hunt......sooooo cute!

Oooh....this is fun!

One baby is 16 months.  One baby is 14 months.  They are related but definitely not identical.   Can you tell which babies these are?

Winter Fun 2013

Happy 9th Birthday, Nicholas!  What a big kid!!

January 11

100th day of school self-portraits

January 18

Cora managed to squeeze herself into this baby doll bed

February 19 (also Daddy's birthday and the peak of stomach flu round #2.....ugh)

"Helping" with the dishes

March 17

So much for spring break!!  Here are 2 of my snowbunnies in 9 inches of fresh snow in the middle of March.  

March 25

Cora's first time to play in the snow....so fun!!!

2 happy girls in the snow

The Big 3 scaling/eating their very own Snow Mountain

December 2012 Memories--pt 2

Santa brought Lalaloopsy dolls to Mae and Ella

Cora checking out the stash of presents that Santa left on the hearth

The coolest hoodies ever.....from Aunt Lalia and Uncle Jess in Florida

Ella and Mae sledding at Meemaw and Papa Carl's house....it was very strange to be in Nappanee and just receive a few inches of snow while down south in Avon, they got 7 inches!!  Wow!

It took almost as much effort to get a decent picture with our snowman as it did to build it!

Ella painting with her new easel that Papa Carl made her for Christmas