Cordelia in the lime light

I don't which is most funny: my mom's commentary in the background, my niece singing along to every song, or Cordelia. You will have to decide for yourself.

Grandma sprung for the water park

Cordelia started out worried about getting her face wet as you can see she got braver.

Lily helped her to shoot the big water guns. She had fun crusing the pool with Lily.

The older kids Alex, Zach, Noah, Jadin and Kristin all played ball in the water. Looks as though Kristin is having a hard time managing all of those balls. I never could get all the kids in one shot.

They had a little pool that swirled around and around Cordelia and Sean seemed to enjoy this the most.

Jadin took Cordelia, Emily and Lily down the lazy river. They liked the freedom of hanging out with the older kids. They got to be more on there own.

Here Jadin and Kristin are coming down the water slide that they named the toilet bowl. This slide goes down a tube and opens up into a big swirling bowl with a hole in the middle. You swirl around and around until you get sucked down the hole. The older kids still talk about that slide and laugh. Everyone had a good time. The only complaint was that the floor was pretty slick in some spots. I would have the kids wear water shoes next time and bring our own life jackets for the kids 42" and under. Thank you Grandma everyone had a great time!

The mad dash for eggs.

The kids are ready and waiting. Everyone is getting the cameras ready for the second annual egg hunt at grandma's. The kids could see eggs while we were waiting so as a distraction we had them wear the Easter baskets on there heads.

Zach is off and running trying to keep up with his cousins and little sister. Cordelia and John are quick.

Everyone posed at the end with their full baskets. There are still more eggs inside that nobody told them about. They will be off and running again in minutes.

Holy week and Pascha

Natalia enjoyed the services for Holy Saturday. The rose pedals and bay leaves were her favorite part.

The boys enjoyed serving during holy week. Pascha night is their favorite time to serve.

Over the week we had fun staying with the Bassetts. The little girls liked playing together. We got to see what it felt like to have only two children. The older kids stayed at the Lotti's, played games, and had a blast with their friends. We met up with them for all the Church Services of Holy Week.

I Love Potatoes

Mom and Dad like putting me in this silly Potato Head outfit and then they let me have at these Potato heads. I thought I was sitting down to eat potatoes but these were all just toys. Next time maybe they will understand I like the real stuff.

Getting a little love

There is almost nothing Emily loves more than babies. She loves her cousin Natalia a little more than just any baby. Every time we see her cousins she get to get some love and experience new things.

Moving to the beat

Cordelia is moving to the beat. I know it doesn't look like it since the girls are doing completely different things. Cordelia is just moving to her own beat.

The little girl next to her is doing the dance perfectly. Cordelia a little taken back by all of the parents watching is still doing her own thing. We are still so proud. By the recital I am sure she will have it down.

Fun times with the Knockes!

In October Katie and Annie came out to visit for a week. We enjoyed our time by going to the State Park near our home. We hiked around the whole lake and spent time playing games and visiting. A fun time was had by all.

During Holy week we went to visit them. Our family spent the night and enjoyed visiting and walking around Cannon Falls. Jadin and Annie went on an adventure of there own. Joan got to rock Natalia to sleep; something she had been hoping to do.

Firing up the grill!

It is back to our favorite time of the year: cooking on the grill. Vince fired it up for the first time in the end of March. Since that time he has grilled at least three more times. Even more exciting is that he can cook meat now that Great Lent over. The cats are extra nice to Vince hoping for a scrap or two to be thrown there way. Better luck to them next time.

Science Fair! It's just not fair!

Alex worked hard for about two weeks building his catapult. We were using delicate basswood carefully notching the wood so we wouldn't break it. He glued it together and clamped it making sure it was level with every added piece. Then came the waiting. We waited for 24 hours and then worked some more. This being his favorite homework it took a lot of patience on his part and Cordelia's (who was also learning patience waiting to see what Alex was building). In the final hours before his project was due we only had to test his Fling Thing, run the experiment, and finish the poster board. We tested the Fling Thing twice and decided to move the swing arm up. Then the side of Fling Thing one broke. We could still fix it but not in time for the science fair.

Alex had thought for a moment that his whole project had gone up in flames. No, no only kidding Alex is working on bending the medal rod. In the a moment of desperation and looking for a fix we found some more wood that would work for the project. We would be able to screw it all together this time.

A couple hours later and with a little more help from Mom Fling Thing Two was born. The project went well into the night (remember that my kids usually go to bed by 8:00pm sharp) trying to finish the poster board and running the experiment. Alex is happy with his final catapult or is he? He mentioned building a bigger and better one after the science fair.

Natalia is 9 months old today!

Natalia's many achievements over the past month include crawling a little, eating more solids, gaining another tooth with one more on the way, pulling herself up, Saying Mama and knowing what it means, and making it through Holy week. She also loves playing with Cordelia and all of her friends. Outside has also been a wonderful discovery in the past month with our fantastic weather.