Here are some highlights from April and May. We attended a couple of fun birthday parties, went to a butterfly exhibit and embarked on some culinary adventures by joining a produce co-op! Harper also finished her first year of preschool.
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| Our niece Addy turned four and had a princess party...right in Harper's wheelhouse right now! They colored some coloring sheets... |
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| ...made tissue puff balls... |
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| ...and had a dance party! I love that Holton is right in the mix. |
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| Brian and Jenevieve with the birthday girl |
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| Harper loves cake! But then again, who doesn't? |
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| Owen at Addy's party |
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| Lydia also turned four and had a fairy garden party! |
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| Two decked out fairies at play! |
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| Brent (who is always entering local contests and thus often winning random contests) won tickets to the Texas Discovery Gardens. They have a butterfly exhibit, which Harper was very excited to check out. Mimi and T-Pa went with us, and Harper wanted to hold Mimi's hand on the walk to the butterfly house. |
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| Great Grandma Grace went with us too. She is 97, I might add, and sure doesn't look it!! |
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| Harper pored over the butterfly specimen guide and tried to find the specific kinds of butterflies shown. So cute. |
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| Butterflies like it warm and humid though! Owen had a smile for the camera despite the heat inside! :) |
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| "I can almost touch it." |
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| Harper checking in with Owen |
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| One tired baby at the end! |
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| Our park was renovated this spring, and the finished product is incredible! There's some really cool playground equipment now that you don't see on other playgrounds. And it's huge! The parking lot can be full of cars, and it doesn't even feel crowded. We had a playdate with some friends and a picnic lunch and Harper is swinging on this fun swing with Lydia. |
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| John David is getting so big! He is one year older than Owen. |
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| And the park has a sand area too, which it had before, but I am glad that they kept it. |
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| Attempting a group picture--ha! Owen looks very comfortable, huh? :) |
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| For Mother's Day, Brent let me sleep in and then they brought me breakfast in bed and a card. I felt very special! |
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| I also attended Harper's sweet Mother's Day Tea at her school. We had muffins, orange juice and chocolate covered strawberries. |
In May we joined the Urban Acres produce co-op. I had never wanted to join one of these before because I always wanted more control over what I ate. But Brent finally convinced me to give it a try, and so far, I have been pleased. We pay $30.00 for 15 pounds of all organic produce every two weeks. In each bin there has been some more unusual produce that I wouldn't have bought at the store (bok choy, turnips, beets, fennel, broccoli rabe, dandelion, etc.), but there has also been lots of "normal" produce that I would have bought on my own.
So we get our bin and plan our recipes for the next two weeks around those ingredients. We are definitely eating more vegetables than before, and I like that we are supporting local, in-season agriculture. And we have stumbled upon a few delicious recipes that we will make again! It also helps to have a baby around to help us eat whatever produce we can't quite eat ourselves! In the last bin, there was a head of cauliflower I didn't have a plan for, so I steamed and pureed it for Owen and froze it in small portions to feed to him later.
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| A picture of our first bin |
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| Harper loved helping to shell the fresh garden peas, which we used (along with the carrots we got) in a homemade chicken pot pie. |
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I did open my Etsy shop back up, and this is a recent painting project I did. It coordinates with the Pottery Barn Kids Spiderman sheets. :)
Harper has had a great first year of preschool. She has learned a lot and enjoys going. I am thankful for Harper to be able to spend two days of her week in a positive, Christian environment. Often, Harper would say, "I'm going to tell Mrs. Shelley about that." So cute. |
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| Harper's school picture back in October |
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| Sorry for the "picture of a picture," but here is Harper's class picture taken in the spring. |
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| Spring Musical -- Princes and Princesses for the Kingdom |
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| Harper sang along quite a bit! It was cute to see her smile when she spotted us sitting in the audience. |
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| Nana got to come to this one, and we ate at Jason's Deli afterwards. |
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| Daddy wouldn't miss it either! |
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| Last day of preschool for this year -- showing off her favorite Home Living Center |
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| Harper making a silly face with Mrs. Shelley |
And here are a few more miscellaneous shots...
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| One day Harper walked in the bedroom and said she was dressed like Daddy. Love it! |
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| One of Harper's big sister jobs is to brush Owen's hair, and I think he kind of likes it. :) |
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| It's hard to tell in this picture, but Harper and Owen were underneath the crib playing "tent." I pulled up the bed skirt and quickly snapped this picture of the two of them. It's very dark under there, but Harper always brings her flashlight along. Owen JUST started pulling up to his feet, so we had to finally lower the crib, so the tent days might be over. :( |
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| Playing in a real tent at Nana's house! Harper would get distressed every time Owen would start to crawl out and would try to lure him back in with a toy. It's tough when your play mate is nine months old. :) |
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| Love my two babies! |
