Deanna Rose Farmstead with Colin & Maria

Today, we went to Deanna Rose Farmstead. We have been here a couple of times before, but this was our first trip with Lily & Jackson's 2nd cousins...Colin and Maria. It was a PERFECT day! Weather was great, and kids were happy and having a blast. After a long winter, this was just what we needed! Here are some highlights:

Colin and Lily in the hen coop

"mining" for gold and various jeweled stones

Lily & Jackson outside the cow barn

pretty girl

playing in the playground
first there was Colin....

....and then Lily right after him!

cutest picture EVER!

Lily (& Colin behind) riding the ponies

the gang's all here! Maria, Colin, Lily, & Jackson
She was pooped! Sweaty head and all.
What a fun day!!

Play date with Madison

Lily has a best friend....Madison. These girls are 6 weeks apart in age and always have such a fun time together! It does help that us mommies are also BFF's too :-)

Here are a few shots of their latest play date:

4:00am with Daddy

I have resolved to the fact that my kids are early-birds. Definitely a Bolinger trait.

Here are some shots of the boys having some Daddy/Son bonding at 4:00am! :-)

"Let's see...what can I grab ahold of..."

"Hi Daddy!"

"Let me see what this eye thing is..."

Tried to capture the new-found "bedhead" that Jackson now has on his left side. Thought it funny that he now has enough hair to *create* bedhead!
And...I love the puffy-eyed look. Yes, son, it's EARLY!

Germ conscious or germaphobia?

I dropped Lily off at Awana last Wednesday and had forgotten to give her something, so I went back to drop it off at her classroom. When I peeked in, I just happened to notice her sitting by the door to the bathroom (attached to their room) on a chair. At first, I didn't think anything of it. But as time went on, I began to question if she had been sent to time-out? It just seemed odd that while the other kids were playing, she would be sitting in a chair.

So, when I went to pick her up, I asked her teacher, Ms. Kim. Her response surprised me.
"Oh no...Lily has not had a timeout. What she typically does is say "hi" to Mr. Josh (other Awana teacher), get out her Awana book, hang up her stuff, then grab the big bottle of hand sanitizer and sit by the bathroom to sanitize the kids' hands as they come out of the bathroom."

I couldn't help but chuckle at the visual of Lily stopping every child as they exit the bathroom for a mandatory disinfecting before returning to their playtime.

Apparently, I have ingrained in her the need to wash hands/sanitize and I realize this is a good habit to have. But to choose to sanitize over play....I'm not sure how healthy that is :-)

Jackson's 6 month photo shoot

Every time I look at these pictures, I just want to squeeze him! My happy little boy is so handsome :-)

Lily's first bike!

Justin and I were considering buying Lily a new bike for her 4th birthday, but decided it would be mean to buy her a bike that she couldn't ride for 4 months! December is not a good month for outdoor toys ;-)

I have been so ready for Spring to come, so we could find her first bike!!

I had been searching for a "princess bike" on Craigslist and found the perfect one last weekend! All the stars aligned and it ended up being the perfect fit for her!

We gave it to her Saturday afternoon. Boy...was she thrilled! Shortly after, we headed to the park to try it out.