The Promise of Spring....

Last fall, Grace and I pulled up the spring flowers and planted Pansies for winter!

Not too many.... just a few!

I wanted a little color to last through the winter months and Gracie loves helping me plant!

And while we planted..... I dropped several tulip bulbs into the ground, hoping for flowers in the early spring.

Then.... I completely forgot about them.

Until today!

That's when I noticed this.... a little spout, erupting! Bursting though the cold soil and looking for sunshine and warm spring days!

And it gave me hope!

Hope that spring will soon be here.

Along with afternoons in the park, picnics and fun times!

And then SUMMER!

The perfect season!

The only thing it's missing is Christmas!



Tumble Time!

 Brilyn invited Grace to join her for a play date at Tumble Time!

 They have playtime from 11:00 to 12:00 and children are allowed to play freely in a gymnastics gym!

 I think both girls had a good time!

Our favorite thing was probably this huge pit full of oversized sponges!

You can run and jump into it!

Ot - you can swing a kid and toss them into it!

Or - you can pretend the blocks are rocks and chunk them at each other!

We'll have to keep this in mind for cold rainy days!

Olivia Joins the Party!

 
I got a new Banana Bread Recipe from Diana over at Nana Diana Takes A Break , and it looked so good that I just had to try it out!

Only... instead of making bread, I made muffins!

Itty, bitty, teeny, tiny muffins!

Just the right size for a tea party!

Because Grace and Olivia were coming over so their Momma could go to the dentist. And Grace loves tea parties!

Olivia decided to join the tea party, too! She wanted her own tea cup! The little girls normally use sippy cups but Olivia wanted one like Grace's, so we let her have a big girl cup! She was super careful with it, too!

And after she had her refreshments, she wanted to read a book!

And will you just look at that!

Could she have chosen a better book for the occasion?

Playing At The Mall

 This is what we like to do when Heather shops! Our mall has a play area that is just big enough to keep the girls entertained.

And sometimes we find someone there to play with!

Here... Grace is playing with Lenae.... a really good friend of Brilyn's!

And Olivia is playing with a sweet little girl that we just met! Actually, I don't even know her name, but she was a sweetie pie! Maybe we'll see her again another day!



Great Minds Think Alike!

One day while Grace was shopping with her Momma at the PX, I was picking up a few groceries at Country Mart!

She saw gum!

I saw gum!

It was right there in the check out lane of both stores, along with lots and lots of other impulse buy items.

She bought gum!

And I bought gum!

And when she got to the car she called me to tell me what she had bought!

(she hadn't had this cool tape kind before)

Then, I told her what I had bought!

Then we met at the mall so I could watch the girls play on the playground while Heather got some shopping done.

And we compared our gum!

It looks like great minds really do think alike!

I had bought Grace the exact same little prize that she had just purchased for herself!

When Grace Spends the Night!

 She likes to wake up, watch a cartoon and have some chocolate milk! With whipped topping, extra chocolate and a straw. And don't forget to let her choose her straw. Some days she likes pink, other days she likes blue and she might even choose green or orange!

 She likes cinnamon and vanilla French Toast Sticks!

These are super easy to make, too! Just add vanilla to your batter and sprinkle with cinnamon!

Then cut the French Toast into sticks and arrange on a plate with a small condiment bowl of syrup for dipping and a few little puffs of whipped topping to make it all pretty!

 She prefers to have a tea party and skip lunch!

But - that's okay if you serve carrot sticks, apples and a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich at your tea party!

And she likes a variety of pretty tea sets!

This is one she and her Mommy and Daddy sent to me while they were living in Okinawa, Japan!

I hope her Momma thinks to bring me a new set from Germany!

(hint, hint)

Giddy Up, Giddy Up, Giddy Up, Giddy Up!

 Look at Olivia go!

 We put away the baby toys and put this in the family room for Olivia and Brilyn to play with while they are here!

 Olivia loves it!

It plays music and makes horsey noises and it can either be bounced like a spring horse or rocked on like a rocking horse. Olivia prefers bouncing!

(and Olivia left for Germany yesterday! I wonder how much she will grow and change during the two weeks she will be gone?)