T-ball

We thought we'd give t-ball (or "baseball" as the girls called it) a shot this year.  I don't know that we were convinced it was really worth the time and money. Some people are a little intense and there were kids as young as four on the team.  At least they let us put all of our girls on one team.  The weather was either ridiculously hot or freezing and windy.  They loved playing in the dirt and climbing the dugout fence.  But they sure look cute.  

Cora at bat.   

 Sydney knocking it out.  

Katie ready to slug it.  

Yellowstone

We planned and had an amazing trip to Island Park and Yellowstone with Grandma Vicki, Grandpa Jeff, Aunt Lori, Uncle Russ, Adi, and Blake.  We found a little cabin (unfortunately with too many dead animals in it that Jeremy was allergic to) in Island Park and split our days between beautiful parts of Idaho and Yellowstone.  We found a ranch that let us canoe, ride horses, do some archery, and have a great dinner. 

 This was a magical moment for me.  Fifteen years earlier I was playing this same guitar close by at Badger Creek for many camp fires.  This amazing old Idaho family took great care of us that day and the patriarch of the family played his accordion while I played and sang.  Then the thunderstorm came in.  It was beautiful.  

We spent our next couple of days enjoying all Yellowstone had to offer.  

Lots of buffalo, and we were careful to not get ourselves gored.  

 We made it to Old Faithful with perfect timing.  I think it went off 3 minutes after we arrived.  We barely made it out of the bathrooms in time to see this.  

 This was a beautiful hike, we just had to park a ways away and walk down the road.  

We were very excited that we were able to see a bear.  

Perhaps our favorite was floating down the river.  Pregnant me didn't dare stand up on the paddle boards with the kids, when I finally did, we went in.  But the water was so clear and beautiful that it was wonderful.  

Those girls did so well on the river.  We had a raft also that we took turns rotating out of.  This is the best therapy for anything that ails you!

Mountain View Talent Show

Katie completely surprised us.  She decided she wanted to audition for the talent show and did without telling us, then we were told she was in the talent show.  She played and sang "We Three Kings," the song she had learned for her Christmas piano recital.  We were so proud of her for so fearlessly getting up there and doing it.  

Preschool "Graduation"

I've never been that sentimental, and tend to feel like a "graduation" ceremony for preschoolers is just a little over the top.  But they were excited to wear their pretty dresses and it has been a great experience for them.  They really loved their teachers - Miss Kassy, Miss Carolle, and Miss Wendy in particular.  Those ladies did a great job and we're excited to move on to Kindergarten.  

 Sydney thinking hard.  The best part was when they performed their songs for us, especially the zoo phonics song.  

Putting in the Garden

We put in the sweat this year, dug out another spot, and Jeremy built a couple of boxes to try to appease my drive to grow food.  Kate loved to help us, and so did Sydney when she realized we were working on it after we put her and Cora to bed.  Cora slept through it, but we got our work done. 

 We planted a big strawberry patch, 25 roots and 4 plants to be exact.  We just had to keep it covered so Pele didn't lay on them. 

Tomatoes (zebra green, hillbilly, sun gold, chocolate cherry, solar flair, and brandywine), peppers, onions, peas, cucumbers, squash, and zucchini.  

The empty box in the back is for the raspberries.  We even planted to honey berry bushes, which are supposed to be the Montana version of blueberries since they just do not grow here.