Kids on Machines - YIKES!

Brock bought Isaac a little motorcycle and while I was at Women's Retreat they went riding. I must admit this all makes me VERY nervous so I did a lot of praying for safety for them! When I came home they couldn't wait to show me how "good they could ride". Madison had gotten a little 4wheeler for Christmas so Isaac rode that and Madison rode the motorcycle. We will get trailing wheels for Isaac before he can take off on the motorcycle. Brock, Hannah and I rode the ranger and the kids rode behind us. They did a great job, but my nerves were not calmed until we arrived home and the machines were tucked away :-)

Isaac giving the thumbs up! I was very impressed with how well he rode and how he could easily repeat the rules and even follow them :-)

Madison also did a great job - she is a little big for the bike but she didn't mind. She went through some mud and got kind of squirmy and did great keeping her balance! I am sure I was more nervous than her!

Of course Brock had to take it for a spin - yes, that is him and Isaac on the tiny motorcycle and Madison is on the 4wheeler

Madison riding the 4wheeler while Isaac and Brock continue zipping around on the motorcycle

Sorry the video is bumpy - I was filming while riding in the ranger :-)

Women's (and babies) Retreat

A couple weekends ago I went to women's retreat at our church camp and had a blast! I took Hannah with me and Brock stayed home with Madison and Isaac. I left Friday morning (about 3.5 hours away) and returned early evening on Sunday. It was such a treat to be able to really focus on God and spend time learning more about Him, to have prepared meals, a beach and just be with friends. I am so glad I had the opportunity to go.

My friend Denise also has a little girl Hannah's age and she brought her with. It was fun for the girls to "play". Greta works there so it was great to get to see her also!! During Chapel she and a few other counselors took the girls out for some fun and left us to enjoy the speaker (sooo nice - thanks Greta, Cassie, Amy and Pam!!)

The weather wasn't great but we still sat on the beach and enjoyed what sunshine there was. Hannah of course liked being in the sand.

Barb, Hannah and Greta

Hannah spending some time in thought :-)

Weekly Highlight - from Isaac's perspective

I was in the barn with Madison and Hannah and came out to see what Isaac was doing and this is what I saw. He thought he was pretty cool. After giving his best smile he got the bull bucking away :-)

Poor Woody was getting tired so Isaac decided to give him a shoulder ride. I was walking behind him and saw him do this - so cute. If only I had been within earshot then I would know what conversation transpired between the two of them!

Isaac has managed to establish quite a connection with the steer population :-)

Weekly Highlight

Madison's loves to go to her riding lesson. She can't get enough of horses and really likes her teacher ("we're best friends" - she tells me) :-) I also like to watch her ride, her ease and comfort on that big horse amaze me. She does a great job and has learned alot so far.

Getting Rogue ready for his ride. These pictures were taken at her lesson 2 weeks ago and it was sooo cold that day. It was low 50's and I even had to dig out her winter coat for her so she would be warm enough! Our weather here is always so crazy - it changes so much.

"Chasing" the steers :-)

Jumping Rogue

Riding AND a story :-)

Just Playin

Madison, her friend Jenika and Isaac playing house with their webkinz

Wow! Look at all those webkinz! Poor Hannah lost her stroller to them all!

She doesn't mind, who needs a stroller when you can play with mommy's shoes instead!

She is very interested in shoes, she gets them out of the closet (or wherever they happen to be left) and drags them around trying to slide them on and walk in them. It is really cute.

Can I PLEASE take this home?

Hannah is following right along with Madison and Isaac with her begging for a cat (you may not be able to hear the words but you can see the words!) She will have to learn just like the others that she will have to do her cat-loving in someone else's yard with someone else's cat. Sorry Hannah :-)

I give up

Although I tried - I could not get pictures of Hannah on the scale for her 1 year! She was either not looking, closing her eyes or crying. She hasn't gained too much this month (she was 17 lb 13 oz last month) but has changed a TON! She is like a toddler and not a baby. She is very independent and roams around the house playing and entertaining herself. It is crazy how quickly she has entered this "big girl" stage!

I love Flowers!

Freedom!

We are experiencing weekend freedom after 5 years of being physically or mentally tied to the theatre and it feels great! It has been an awesome experience owning the theatre and we really enjoyed it. However, we knew that it was time to be done and were ready to move on. It took a lot of praying and time to be "ready" (for me at least) but I am so glad that we sold it. I didn't realize that even though it was a good experience and was a profitable business it still had became a burden. We do not close on the sale until July 1st. I am going to post some pictures of what we started with and what it became :-)

We now have some time to do some projects on our house that are long overdue. There was some ceiling damage in one of the bedrooms that needed repair so . . . "Dad, how would you like to visit???" :-) We also took off all the wallpaper (check out the cool stripes we found underneath!!) and will rip up the carpet once it is painted. My parents came Friday and left Sunday. Even though it was a short visit it was really fun and we managed to pack a lot in - including delicious grilled steaks and two birthday cake feasts! :-)

Isaac is infatuated with all three of his grandpa's! It is so cute, he wants to be wherever they are. When he realized he got to sit by grandpa he quickly scooted his chair around the corner to get even closer! It was funny

It was a nice weekend so we got to do some outside projects also. Hannah is checking out our blooming tree - it bloomed so late this year because it hasn't been nice hardly. Oh well, it is always pretty no matter when it flowers!

Dad and Brock did some much needed repair on the playhouse

We celebrated Brock's birthday (with his beloved fruit pizza!)

Hannah helped me weed my flower beds - I will shock all you green thumbs because I hadn't weeded them yet!! YIKES!!

Not only had I not weeded them I hadn't gotten all the leaves out of them! I won't do that again - it was really hard to get stuff out when the plants were all in the way :-)

Hannah loves being outside and it was great to have a nice weekend - FINALLY - and for it to fall on our free weekend too was GREAT!

Madison even got to have her friend Micah come over! They had fun playing and also getting Samson all set up in a comfortable "bed"

The weekend is over and what better way to top it off than a story from Daddy!!

I think we are going to get used to this freedom REAL FAST!!