Random Ramblings

A quick sneak peak at our week...

Dirty kids in the tub with LOTS of bubbles...

First campfire of the year, complete with roasted hotdogs and GIANT marshmallows!...

A trip to the Como Zoo with Becky and Lily for some much needed "little girl time". Sparky the seal got right up on the ledge and looked right at us...

Pictures with a penguin statue...

Watching the sea lions swimming...

My first attempt at a diaper cake for a baby shower this weekend. Pretty good if I do say so myself! : )

Off to Hawaii!

Recently, Maggie's class took a "trip" to Hawaii. This whole year they have been learning about different places in the world, but this trip took the cake. It literally was the coolest thing ever!

I took a few quick pics of her classroom all set up.

So, when we arrived at the "airport", her teacher, aka, the ticket agent, was there to take her ticket and get her checked in with her seat assignment.

Getting all the passengers boarded and situated on the plane. Even Maya wanted to go!

Mrs. Ringrose the flight attendant reading the passengers the flight rules and regulations.

All ready for take off!

It was a long flight!

Getting off the plane in Hawaii!

Arriving at the "hotel", getting changed into their beach gear.

Here are all the girls...

and the boys.

All the kids made lei's the week before and were "lei'd" as they came out of the hotel.

They had a super fun day. This is all I stayed for. They had sand in the classroom and even had a luau for lunch. So fun!!! I wish I could have gone. : )

Easter

Ok, ok, so Easter was like a month ago already, but here are some pictures anyways. : )

The Saturday before Easter we had our annual Cove egg hunt. The first one was for the 3 and under crowd. (Mags was "helping") The eggs were hidden in plain sight and they still couldn't find them. Seriously, they are the worst lookers EVER!

Next came the big hunt for the 4 and over crowd. This one spanned 3 yards front and back with actual "hidden" eggs. Finally - we actually had some old enough that we had to hide them!

Maggie wasting no time breaking into the candy. (And I take NO credit for her lovely outfit).

This is Easter morning. The baskets were found and unloaded.

This bunny was severly grumpy because Maya received the Princess and the Frog DVD...she only got a music CD (we were in desperate need of new car music). Boo hoo.

Sunday after church was when we finally got around to dyeing eggs. Grandma gave the girls this really cool egg decorating kit complete with stickers and the whole bit.

We also had an added bonus...not spilled dye!!! I made Maya dye eggs as a nudie for nothing! It was a good day!

Ok, I've been a delinquent (sp?) blogger, but I have a good excuse. Our desktop computer bit the dust...complete with HUNDREDS of pictures of the girls. In fact, every picture we've ever taken of the girls. Aaron took it to the Geek Squad guys at Best Buy to see if they could do anything with it, but it was a no go. So now we're on to plan B...giving it to a wife of a friend who does data retrieval for a living. Sounds like $$$$$ to me, but losing all those pictures is just something we can't stand to bear. So, now we're down to just the laptop, which actually makes this blogging thing easier since I can do it in front of the TV!!! There just might be more frequent posts...we'll see!

There have been a lot of things happening since I blogged last - Grammy and Poppy came to visit, Easter came and went and spring has sprung. We'll start with Grammy and Poppy's visit, which included a new big girl bed for Maya!

The crib had to go (into the garage sale next month). Thank you to Sam's Club for a reasonably priced matress and boxspring, and to Maggie's closet for the gently used bedspread. I still need to find a headboard and night stand, but haven't done anything about it yet.

Poppy read Maya her first book in her new bed. She thought she was the queen bee!

All ready for nighty-night!

Not to be out done...Maggie has been doing a really great job of reading. She gets a sticker every night after she reads and earns a dollar after 10 stickers. She's now moved from some emergent readers I found online, to easy readers like Frog and Toad. She needs help on some of the larger words, but is really doing fabulously for only being 5.

On one of the not-so-nice days we took a trip to the Mall of America and let the girls go on the rides. This one, Swiper's Sweeper (from Dora the Explorer) was their favorite. I've been on it before too and it's actually pretty fun!

Poppy got Hot Air Balloon duty.

Daddy rode the carousel.

This is the girls' new favorite...bumper cars. Maya was JUST tall enough - by the hair of her chinny chin chin - and had absolutely the best time! They went several times and Maya even went by herself one of the times.

This is all I can muster right now. More - while the computer died - pictures are on the way. : )