Spring

 Apologies to those of you who check often only to find my recent lack of activity.  No great explanations to give.  I think the wet soppy weather has drowned my blogging initiative.  We are, of course, busy, but we are generally always busy.  Wayne has been working 65 hours a week since January and I suppose the hours are getting to us, let alone him.  Good news came this week when he found out he could drop to 50.  Still a lot, but after 65 for so long, quite an improvement.  And not a week too soon.  We will all be happy to have him home more especially if he's awake for those hours;)

But to update the world(all 6 of you), here are only a few of the things that have occupied our time...

 Both girls had art pieces in the school's art show up at the local Mall.

Wayne and I have been busy trying to plan our first block party.  This has proved really great in that we get to meet a lot of neighbors we hadn't known, but also hard in the fact that I'm much more of a big picture planner and the details sometimes overwhelm me.  

Mother's Day brought 0 pictures, but Wayne spent 5 hours the day before running the electric for  my new water feature:)  It was either this urn fountain or a Koi pond.  For once I thought I would start small.

Of course after all this rain one would think we needn't any more water but once Adalyn learned how to turn on the hose, it was puddle city.  This requires many baths, many outfits and many tantrums about when a hose can and can't be turned on.

This weekend is the girl's  dance recital and this is truly big news as they have been practicing harder than I have ever seen them!  A whole post, complete with innumerable pictures will soon follow, but here is a little taste...

Niagara Falls

For Willa's birthday trip, she chose to go to Niagara Falls.  For those that may not remember, we don't get the girls presents anymore.  (we have enough stuff) But we do let them pick anywhere(within reason) to go for their Birthday.  And so, Niagara was Willa's choice.

For those of you not from around here, this may seem like a huge deal.  After all, it is one of the 7 wonders of the world.  But Niagara Falls is only a little more than an hour away from us, making it a perfect day trip.  The Falls is best viewed from the Canadian side, so across the border we went. 

 There were quite a few options for the tourist thing but Willa chose The Journey Behind the Falls.  This is a path that leads you behind the Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian Side.  Here, you see us in a tunnel of sorts, the white behind us is the Falls, crashing down.  It also lets you observe the Falls closer to ground level.  The Falls is immense and we could feel the power in the air as we walked around.

 No we didn't sell off the little one.  The day before we left I took her in to the Dr. to find she had a double ear infection.  While it was still tempting to bring her along, we decided to let her stay with Gran and Pop.  She was a stinker for them so I can't imagine what she would have been if we had tried to drag her all over the Falls with us.  I was sad she wasn't there, but it worked out well, since we were able to focus on the other 2 way more than what we would have been able to if Adalyn had come.  One day, we'll have to start bringing her to these fun family adventures.

At night, they shine immense lights onto the Falls and this was one of the things on Willa's list to see.  The Falls consist of two waterfalls, fed by the same river, interrupted by an island.  Above you see the American Falls, and below is the larger, Horseshoe Falls.  This is when they remembered they could take pictures with their DS.  They have about a hundred pictures like these:)

 The surprise of the trip was an overnight stay at The Great Wolf Lodge, an enormous indoor waterpark.  Literally, 5 minutes away from the Falls, it was a perfect way to cap Willa's birthday trip.  I would put up more pictures, but we were so busy having fun, and being wet, that the camera didn't come out too much.

They were asleep within minutes of crossing the border back into the US.  Wayne and I just wished we could do the same.  Kids love hotels but they don't actually sleep long or well while there.  We haven't been this tired in a long time.  Well worth it though.  

Willa Turning 6, Continued...

For her birthday, Willa wanted a couple friends over for a mini-party.  There was some last minute doubt(and I admit I freaked out a bit) when I only had heard back from 1 out of the 3 girls she invited.  After a lot of unnecessary stress, just the 1 friend came.  But, it is her best friend, and as it turns out, I think that's all a girl of 6 really needs.

I covered her Pink Lady(strawberry) cake in fondant and let them use food coloring and paintbrushes to paint the cake.  This was really turning out cool until, like all painting with small children, they combined all the colors to make a darkish purple that covered everything(including their clothes).  But a cool idea I will keep in my Cool Idea Closet(a space in my brain that I can sometimes find for special occasions).    

Continuing my no toy birthdays, Willa has chosen to go to Niagara Falls, Canada for her birthday trip.  Wayne even took a day off from work(insert the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus) next Thursday.  This turned out to be a bit more complicated when I realized at 2 weeks out, that my passport had expired less than a month before and I could not find Denver's birth certificate.  Long and very expensive story short, I now have a valid passport and Denver's birth certificate.  What the girls don't know(so no one blab!) is that we are surprising them with a stay at The Great Wolf Lodge, conveniently 15 minutes from the Falls.  I am so excited I could burst.  And since they both can read and have now awoken from their royal slumbering, time to end this.  But I'm sure there will be lots of pics to come of her birthday trip:)

#2 Turns #6

 Willa turned the big 6 yesterday.  Looking through the last 6 years in photos, it's hard to find one with her not smiling.  She is as her middle name suggests, Joy-ful.

About 6 months old here.(yes, I could not figure out how to flip it the right way, really blogspot should  make that an option when adding pics)

Around 18 months here.  She and Great-Papa were good friends, though sadly she doesn't really remember him too much now.  

After these there is a gap in photos since my comp. crashed and I can't figure out how to transfer from an online photo store back to my comp.  Is that possible, does anyone know??

Always Happy, even the day after she had the stomach bug.  Every time I see this picture I think about how skinny she seemed from not eating for a few days last Spring.  But, still happy.

We happened to pull out her scrapbook at lunchtime and found her exact time of birth to be while we were eating.  So we quick stuck a candle in her PB&J and sang Happy Birthday to Willa!!

Willa has been saving up for a particular toy(I'm sure a pic will be updated to this soon) and Denver counted out the exact amount Willa needed, $3.64, from her piggy bank and wrapped it up(with a lot of tape) so Willa could get her much anticipated toy.  We are heading out soon to go purchase it.  Much to her dismay we could not go there in our pajamas within the first 5 minutes of wakefulness.

Willa Joy, a beautiful, happy thoughtful 6 year old that we are so very blessed to have in our family.

In the Meantime...

Winter is almost over, Thank God!  Although as I write this we have heavy snowfall and are expecting 2-4 inches.  I don't care how much snow you throw, Mother Nature, I refuse to shovel one more ounce!  Not. One. More.

  So while fighting our cabin fever here in Upstate New York,  we have...

Turned 24 yards of Tulle into 3 tutus...

Cleaned out the pots and pans for Mom(without being asked) but...

forgot to leave a path to get out.

Snuggled often and long with our dollies and sisters.

And have kept our eyes out for signs of Spring.

#3 turns #2

 Adalyn turns 2 today.  Many people say they can't believe how fast it all went but really, with all the not-sleeping she brought to our house, I felt every day of that 2 years.  Now that we are in the happy world of normal, healthy sleeping habits, I can look back on the past two years with a more jovial heart than I might have had going through it.  I am thankful every day that she is healthy, happy, and part of our family.

Here is a brief photographic journey of this year...

 At her 1st Birthday Party(note flat hair, not so sure of the whole party thing)

Peace!

 This is about a month after her first birthday and when we first started noticing the change in her hair.

 This delightful shot reminded everyone in my family of me.  As a tot I would crawl around at picnics swallowing up the remains of unattended adult beverages.

 On vacation in Virginia Beach(one of the few shots with me actually in the picture)

 Silly with her sisters.

 Pudding!

 Peek-a-boo

Stickers!

The princess had home made pizza for her dinner, and decorated her own brownie for dessert.  Course, she only ate the decorations, but no one seemed to notice.  Happy Birthday Adalyn.

Princesses

 We Stumbled Upon this website full of fun princessy hairstyles.  The author does a nice job with the instructions so I felt empowered to try something new with their hair.

 So for a local High School production of Cinderella we had two princesses, complete with princess hair(Denver in the Cinderella do and Willa in a Belle style), glitterfied with spray hair glitter of course, and two Grandparents as escorts.  Along with their dolls too, who yes, did get to sit through the performance.  The girls had a great time, even getting to participate in a 'parade' across the stage at the end of intermission, followed by a sleepover at Gran and Pop's house.

My ASIL came over and watched Ady while Wayne and I snuck out to a dinner that had no interruptions.