A visit from North Dakota

My girl had her dance recital last week. She was super cute and was a big ham! This was at her dress rehearsal Monday. I loved her costume and song this year. It was called "No One Tells the President". It had some lines like "Unless he wants to be the next ambassador to the Moon!" and "Do you want a time-out for the next 4 years?". It made me laugh!

We've had some very odd weather lately. Some sunshine and lots of rain! When the sun is out, we make sure we are outside. These two love having a nice picnic dinner.

Avers has the nicest family :) She was thrilled with this very yellow bouquet and Good Luck balloon from our buddy Callie. Thanks again Cal!

Show night! She danced on Wednesday. We had to get a picture with her Zahler buddies. Reece is in an older class now, but Brooklyn is in Ave's class. Brooklyn is so little! She will be 4 in October. They all did a very good job!

Jordan came back to help me bobby pin Ave's giant bow down. I believe everyone knows that I am not good at fixing hair. This is such a cute picture!

Had to get one with Abbey Jean too. Abb and Jord are the best dancers. Abbey is a senior this year (No!), and she had an amazing solo. Amazing! Grandma and Grandpa Barsness came down to watch this year. It was so nice for them to get to see the show, and we appreciate it. Ave loved having a bunch of fans there.

I was tired after the show, but this guy was not... There is nothing like some peanut butter toast at 10 to midnight!

We got Ave a little present after the show. She looked stunning in stripes the next morning.

Like I said...the best family a kid could ask for. She has the most beautiful flowers, and they are all opening up. Our kitchen looks so sunny (all that lovely yellow) and smells delicious :) Thanks Mom, Terri, Callie, and Grandma and Grandpa Barsness.

Thursday we got to have a lovely day hanging out with Landon, Erica, and Sean. We are always happy when they get to come visit. Erica came in to watch dance, and they also watched Sean's brother's graduation from Tech on Saturday. We had a nice Frozen Yogurt snack, and the kids enjoyed the beanbag seats.

These two went up and down the sidewalk in every vehicle we own - these little cars and about four different bikes.

They sounded like the Flintstones. Their feet were flying! They are awfully close to being too big for these :(

These 3 decided to have a boys' haircut outing. Here is the before...

And after! Teague looks so much older already! We went bowling that night and had a blast. We go about once every two years!

Carter had some lovely form. He had quite a few that didn't hit the bumpers at all.

Some of the crowd: Jordan, Carter, Ave, Abb, Kyle, and Erica. Some of my pictures turned out kind of blurry unfortunately.

Oh yeah Ave! Abb must have been checking out her roll. She and Jord still have excellent form.

Abb and the Carterman

Jord and Teagie Pie

Erica and Sean. As you can see, Teague liked to sit at the empty lane's computer when he wasn't happily dancing after his turn bowling!

Our second game had a slight malfunction with the scoring. It was late though, so we just let it be. Look at those scores and turkeys everywhere!

Saturday was beautiful! These 3 had a wonderful time playing outside in the sprinkler. Lando was at the graduation, and Carter asked for him every 15 minutes I would say! Teague's face kills me in this picture. He looks like he should be in a Slim Jim commercial!

We had a goodbye breakfast this morning at the Hanging 5. It was delicious (thanks Sean)! We will miss our North Dakota buddies, but we'll have lots of visits this summer. They all look so cute together. Now we just need Mr. Lincoln in there!

Lastly we had a very quiet, rainy Sunday. We did a lot of puzzles together. My big guy did a good job :) Until next week...so long!

Happy Mother's Day!

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. It's a tough job, but so much fun! Here's a good time right here. Callie brought over the coolest popsicle maker when she came over for Easter. They had some delicious sea creature popsicles the other day. It works great! Thanks Cal!

Time for swimming lessons again. They are already getting braver!

Teagie Pie just has the best time playing in the shallow end by himself! I love this little face :)

3 kiddos. I'm not sure what Ave was checking out. She's usually always looking at the camera! My boys are both smiling so nice though!

Just a curly haired little man after a bath. He does not want a haircut yet!

My Boo Bear had her preschool graduation on Thursday. There was a cowboy theme. They sang one song called "It's Time to Say Goodbye to All My Friends, Yee Haw!". It was cute, but bittersweet too. She's so big!

She did a great job singing and smiling for the camera. She is truly an outstanding student as it says on her diploma!

Teague was very proud of his sister. He clapped for her a lot!

This little lucky Carterman won a bike at Emerson. He sold three packs of tickets (thanks Grandma Patsy!), and his name was drawn for a free bike from Walmart along with 3 other kids. It is pretty awesome!

I love this yellow dress. She wanted some action photos taken with it. Here is the start...

A jump! This makes me laugh!

Another one! She says she was jumping for her life whatever that means! Teague doesn't seem too impressed...

He did say that he loved her "the most" that night though and insisted on sleeping with her. They looked pretty cute together!

A typical weekend morning at our house. 3 kids with big imaginations, lots of toys, and a big mess!

We found a Super Hero Squad coloring book! They were enjoying coloring all their favorite heroes and villains! Carterman spent the night at Papa and Grandma's house.

Mother's Day! These three make me happy (and crazy) everyday! Couldn't ask for more than that!

A lovely week of sun!

This is a typical Monday around our house. These two stay in their pajamas until lunchtime and just play. They made the rainbow bridge (blanket) to Asgard, where Thor, Loki, and Odin hung out with some princesses! I love their imaginations!

Carter got this plane and the stomp rocket from Ken on his birthday. They had a good time flying it back and forth to eachother.

Avers figured out how to really make it soar! She looks so sporty in her shorts and Puma shirt too - I love it!

Teague in his favorite spot in the tree. He was laughing at Ave running around like a crazy person.

3 kids in a picture - Teague had to wear shovels around his wrists of course, because he's a goofball.

It was probably 65 on Thursday. They made me turn on the sprinkler! It was a good time to try out their new swim trunks (Carter's piranha trunks make me laugh!) and water shoes from the Easter bunny :)

Ave wore four different swim suits. I'm not too sure about this one... It was from a friend at KXLF. It's cute, but I'm afraid it's going to fall off her at any second.

All 3 again. The boys had shields, and Ave is doing an nice Kung Fu pose!

On Friday, they had an awesome battle with Papa. Teague wanted to be on his team. He looks so thrilled here with his homemade weapon of a stick and milk gallon!

They attacked Daddy when he came out of the house too!

Papa and Teague are making the same face!

On Sunday we were at the Jumparoo for Reece's birthday. It was a good time as always. Teague, Brooklyn (Reece's little sister), and her cousin Kendallyn are all 3. They all enjoyed some Frozen themed cake!

Avery had a good time too. She and Reece are good buddies. It was a fun party!

When we came back to Papa's, Ave dug into her new Alien book that Papa bought for her. They love to watch Ancient Aliens together on the History Channel!