Taylor's 1st Dance Recital

Taylor's first dance recital (tap/ballet) was last weekend!  I wasn't sure how it would all go, but she was very brave and went on stage without any major problems. :) I was definitely more nervous than she was... she has loved ballet all year, so I was happy we ended on a high note!

The girls right before they went on stage for the first time...

Performing "Frosty the Snowman" 

Ballet was "Peter Cottontail."  Taylor decided to hop when she forgot the dance moves... which meant she basically hopped the whole time.

She loved getting flowers from her Daddy... "just like Fancy Nancy."

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a jam packed Memorial Day weekend.  Brett's birthday was on Sunday, and the poor guy was on call all weekend.  After about 3 hours of sleep, he came home to watch the kids so I could go to the Vermont Marathon.  My friend, Luiza, invited me a while back to be on her relay team "Momapalooza."  We each ran a leg of the 26.2 miles.   I was so nervous the day of the race, but it ended up being a lot of fun.  I can't believe how popular it is around here... wait, yes I can considering where I am.  :)

Action shots...

Brett surprised me with the kids... they made signs for me and cheered me on!  It really made my day.

That night, we grilled out steaks, and the kids and I made Brett his favorite homemade ice cream cake.  No party is complete without party hats these days... 

On Monday, we went for a hike at Mt. Philo.  It's a local state park about 20 minutes away, and we heard it's a great little hike for kids.  It took about 30 minutes, and the kids loved every minute.  Of course, we had to pretend to be Dora characters for most of the trip up.  

The views just don't get old...

We made it to the top and had a picnic lunch... Taylor said she was ready for a break because she was "starving" and "exhausted."  But she's already asking to go back... it really was a lot of fun. 

Spring is here!

We are so excited that spring is here.  Here are some pics of what we've been up to lately... 

We just planted a vegetable garden in the back yard... hopefully, we will have more success here than we did in Memphis!  We planted 3 different types of tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, zucchini, squash, cucumber, pumpkin, and herbs.  Taylor and Brett had a good, muddy time building the garden borders.  Meanwhile, Will wanted nothing to do with it... what little boy doesn't like playing in mud?

Everything was great until Brett offered to hose Taylor off to get clean... she was not happy with that option.  Fortunately, her kind mother offered to put her in the shower instead.

The preschool organized a play date to make "worm gardens." Here she is with the lovely thing.

Taylor has been obsessed with dandelions.  I am constantly trying to do something with the abundant dandelions that are given to me or that show up in pockets, backpacks, etc.

Finished with the project!

Taylor started swim lessons, and she is loving it.

Will got to attend preschool one day for Sibling Day.  He loved every minute... he thought he was such a big boy!  Here they are at snack time...

Taylor invited a couple friends over for a tea party and a craft... I think they enjoyed pouring the "tea" as much as they did drinking it.

 Taylor talked Brett into doing a "camp-out" one night.  They watched a movie outside and slept all night in the back yard.  I think it got down to the 40's that night, but it didn't phase them.

 Here's Will at Burger Night at the Bread and Butter Farm just down the road from us.  They serve food grown on their farm and have live music.

 Last week, we went on a preschool field trip to Shelburne Farms!  Taylor couldn't wait to get her hands on a chicken after the chicken parade.

 More dandelions!  Taylor discovered that this donkey loved being fed dandelions... after about 15 minutes, Will worked up the courage to try it!

Mother's Day with my babies...

Spring Breaks!

Here's some pictures from the beginning of our springtime... never mind the fact that it actually spit snow today.  We've had a ton of warm, sunny days, but the past week has been cold and rainy.  Come back spring!

In March, my mom, Aunt Susan, and my cousin, Rachel, came to visit for their spring break.  It was so much fun to have them here... it was like a mini-vacation for me to have 3 live-in nannies.  :)  My goal was to not change a diaper for a week, and I think I came pretty close to it.  Here we are at Ben and Jerry's...

 We went to Stowe one day... ski season was winding down, but everyone still got to see some snow!

Will had a small accident that left him pant-less for the rest of the day... he went into Champlain Chocolates and Cabot Cheese with only a coat and a diaper.  We kept going, "whose kid is that?"

 Will got very attached to Ray-Ray.  He wanted her to put him to bed every night... it was too cute.

And Bailey got attached to Aunt Susan.  He had some dental surgery during their visit, and Susan was his personal nurse.  :)  She literally chopped up wet dog food every meal and fed him his medicine.

 Movie night!

The week before Easter, we went to Destin with Mimi and Grandaddy for their spring break.  Taylor was so excited to go to the beach.  It actually took us less travel time flying there than driving!

So Will was not thrilled with the beach experience.  He really didn't want to touch the sand, nor get in water.  This is Will on the beach... or rather on the lounge chair.

We went over to the Sandestin Village for two nights to play and eat...

Look at Brett's face... he's so excited to dig into the bounty of seafood. 

We had a great time... thanks Mimi and Grandaddy!

We got back to Vermont in time for Easter weekend... here are the kiddos before church. 

We hunted eggs in our backyard later that day... Will loved his Elmo ("La La") eggs!

Opening the eggs...

With the nicer weather, we've been going on bike rides every night... Will is loving his tricycle.  Hopefully the warm weather will be here to stay soon...