Our friends down the street just cannot get a break lately. After their dog Cash passed away a few weeks ago, their other dog Molly was hit by a car yesterday and passed away from her injuries. Our hearts are just broken for them. Losing one animal family member is hard enough. But 2 in less than a month just down right stinks! Lucy decided she wanted to make them some chocolate chip cookies.William was all for that, and helped her along the way.She was great at mixing.Only a few time did I catch her trying to sneak a bite. “Lucy, you’re not eating the dough, right?” “No Mom! I’m just making sure we have mixed it enough.”

We are trying to make Sunday’s our dedicated Family Day since we don’t see each other much right now. Today we decided to take a “hiking” trip to Dripping Rock.It was Beautiful, but the water was much too high and fast to wade in the river.We enjoyed skipping rocks from the shore……and checking out all nature’s creatures.Sam found a daddy long legs spider on a branch, and everyone had to come to check it out.Lucy was so sweet and kept climbing up the banks ahead of me so that she could lend me her hand and “pull me up” at the end.She kept making me so nervous because she wanted to get so close to the water. Last summer, we were able to climb underneath the caves and stand in them:…but definitely NOT today!We just took time to take pictures, watch Lucy pose over and over again,and make “chocolate milk.”Brie found a really neat darkling beetle. It rolled over and played dead when we came up to it. Super funny to watch this big just flip over on its back. I enjoyed it from a distance. Just can’t stomach having a beetle crawl on me!William really wanted to fish, so we headed over to the ponds. There is something about William’s luck with fishing and rainstorms. They don’t work very well together!Lucy wanted to play in the sand, and THAT she did! We’ll be washing this out for a LONG time!At least she thoroughly enjoyed herself!Of course, after a bit, the rain really started coming down! There was quite a bit of thunder and lightning, so we decided it was best to leave. We tried, but as we were heading to the car, the kids ran over with a terrified soaking wet dog that they found under our van.There was no way that I could leave it in the pouring rain. So, we called animal control, which of course was closed. Then we contacted the non-emergency police number. They were super nice. As we waited for them to come and pick up the dog, another dog from across the street joined us.They kids were begging to keep the lost wet dog. I think we have plenty of critters! Finally, the police came and we were happy to know that the dog would be somewhere safe until it found its owner. Always excitement on family outings! 🤣

I sure LOVE this little peanut! The projects are just stacked high around here lately. As I was frantically trying to clean up all the sawdust from framing, Lucy came behind me and swept up all my piles. I didn’t even realize she was in the basement until she came and showed me her dustpan. She was SO proud of herself and told me, “Mommy, I’ve helped you out so you don’t have to do it all by yourself.” She must have heard that statement one too many times. I cannot wait until May is OVER!Then, later on, she decided to get out of her dusty jammies and dress herself. Usually, she plays the youngest card and “can’t do it!” But today, she did it pretty darn well. Even if her jumper was on backwards.

We had our princess party today at the library, and boy was it princess overload!There were princesses everywhere!The main princesses that came to visit were Cinderella, Merida, Snow White, Rupunzel, and Ariel. They were Fabulous! Lucy was so excited to see them.Each princess had their own station with an activity to do. It got super crowded, very quickly (since the activity room at the library is REALLY small) but we were still able to visit all the stations, gather our magic jewels, and creat our special crown.Ariel had a fishing game. Merida had a bow and arrow challenge. (It was the most popular because you got to keep your bow and arrows. Rupunzel had a make your own wishing lantern station. Snow White read fairy tales. And lastly, Cinderella had the crown making station. Once you gathered all your jewels from each station, you could put them on a crown you could keep. Lucy was very intent on making a wish with her lantern. I actually thought she was crying for some reason at first. But then when I questioned her, I got, “Mom!! I’m making a wish, remember silly.” Oh this girl! When the party ended, Lucy noticed the incredible tulips outside the library. The flowers here are just amazing! I LOVE how they stay, because there is no hail to bear them to smithereens! Lucy was fascinated! I just had to keep reminding her to look with her eyes only.