Spring Fever.

Gorgeous, Beautiful and Amazing.  These are the words that I use to describe this weekend.  It was definitely a taste of summer.  Kevin took advantage of the nice weather to start building the storage shed.  He made quite a bit of progress.

I took advantage of the nice weather to plant flowers.  It is risky as the weather could still take a turn for the cold, but I just could not wait any longer.  At least with the potted plants, I can bring them inside if necessary.

As for the others, I will just hope for the best...

Our friends, the Nelson's came by on Saturday night and Rebecca left me with so much inspiration that I headed to the nursery again today.

I set up the fountain which was my Mother's Day present from last year and Kendall helped me plant some pretty white and pink flowers around it.  The flowers are the "creeping" kind, so in my mind I picture loads of flowers eventually around the fountain...we will see.

One of the best things this weekend was the sound of children's laughter coming from the backyard.  At one point, we had six kids in the backyard.  The girl's have been making friends with the neighborhood kids.  It is great to watch them play and run back and forth.

I pulled out the girls summer clothes this morning.  It was like Christmas.  Sidney was having a great time changing her outfit every 10 minutes while she explored all of her "new" things.  I let her be, but came upon an interesting surprise later that morning.  Her and I were out grocery shopping and she said she had to go potty (YES!).  Off and running we went.  Once in the bathroom, I discovered she had on a long sleeve shirt and capris.  Under that she had shorts and a tank top.  Under that she had a swimsuit.  Under that she had underclothes.  What?!?!  I thought that her pants looked a bit tight, but who knew?

Let the Home Projects Begin!

Last week the weather cleared long enough for us to begin the long list of house projects we have made.  We moved into our  new home at the end of October and had all winter to dream up lots of crazy ides for the yard.  We were very excited that the yard is pretty much a blank slate.  I have said in the past, and often think, that we are not yard work people.  Yet time and again we find ourselves obsessed with transforming our yard into a backyard retreat.  First on our list was the concrete work.  The house came with a small covered patio.  We decided to have that taken out and a large stamped stained concrete patio put in its place.  The men came last Monday to start the work.  Here is Kevin surveying the scene after day one.  This would also be the last day that the dogs would be allowed in the backyard for six more days. 

We had them pour a slab for the storage shed that we (by "we" I mean Kevin) will be building.

While we were at it, we put in a pad for a dog kennel.

After several long days of a large Golden Retriever and a Chocolate Lab being cooped up in the house, the patio was complete.

It is beautiful!  I was certain that the minute we put our large table and chair set on that it would look small.  Instead the table and chair set (that I thought was "large") now looks small.  I will have to post more pictures once we get everything situated.  Now to start building the shed....

Our Week in Photos.

Last Sunday we got out a few of the Easter decorations.  The girls had a lot of fun decorating.  Yes, they are sitting on top of the dining room table - EGADS!  Grandma Juanita sent them each a new spring dress.  I think I was doing the wash every night as they wanted to wear them every day.  They still LOVE dressing alike.  I wonder how much longer it will last?

I could not resist this picture.  Even their little hands are precious.

The girls have been doing a lot of imaginary playing together lately.  They have taken it to a whole new level from setting up classrooms and grocery stores to playing doctor to their dollies and stuffed animals.  A couple of weeks ago, they were playing hide and seek with Kevin before church.  They are getting VERY good at it too.  Kevin and Sid were found hiding in the shower one round.  Naturally I had to join in on the fun.  When it was my turn to be it, I even checked a room that Kendall was hiding in and she did not make a peep.  It was only after my second check of the room that I heard her start to giggle.

The cuties also received some beautiful hand-me-down dresses from one of Grandma Terrell's friends.  The dresses are gorgeous.  I believe I have already removed a spaghetti sauce stain from Kendall's.  They certainly do get their wear out of the dresses they have.

We made our first yard purchase.  We bought a spruce tree to replace a dead tree in our front yard.  It is a bit small right now, but we are excited.  Note the dead tree in the background that we still need to remove.  We trimmed the beds in our front yard this weekend and filled up 4 garbage bags and a trash can in the process.  I figure the neighbors will either be grateful for the clean up or we will be the recipients of a landscaping service package.

The girls found signs of the first ants on the sidewalk.  They have met a few of the girls in the neighborhood and have been having a lot of fun running around on their scooters, blowing bubbles and acting crazy.

The Easter Bunny came by the house Sunday morning.  The girls were thrilled to open their baskets.

After a few pieces of morning candy, we got ready for church.  The girls looked beautful in their dresses from Grandma Karen and Papa Mark.  They picked out the dresses in January when we were visiting up North.  They have been waiting in anticipation to wear them.  To speak to the fact that they love to dress alike, they each had originally chosen a different dress.  But as soon as they realized this, they quickly went back to the rack to pick one out that they both liked.

Our feisty little Sidney would not take the bucket off of her head for a pretty picture.  Hmm.  Well, a silly picture will do.

 Kevin set up the tripod for our annual family Easter Picture.

After church, the girls joined in the Easter egg hunt.  Sidney was checking out the competition before the race.

Kendall is off and running.  At one point her and another girl were going for the same egg and she spilled her entire bucket.  The other little girl was very sweet and helped Kendall gather her eggs up.

Sidney was a fierce competitor this year and had a blast running around finding the eggs.

After the hunt, we found a seat on the grass to open the eggs and see if we had the "golden ticket".  Each year they hide a golden ticket in one of the eggs for a "special prize".  No golden ticket for us, but I would call ourselves winners anyways.  I say "us" because I did have my share of Easter chocolates.

This Easter marked a first in the Strong household.  It was the first time I let the girls go hog wild with the candy.  Up until now, I ususally let them have only a couple of pieces then we spread it out over the next few weeks (or months) until it is gone.  This year I dumped the candy in their baskets and told them to go to town.  They lasted until about 3pm, at which time they seemed pretty done with the candy.  I gathered up the remaining candy to be used as after dinner treats (and shared with mom and dad, of course).

It was a very nice weekend.  The best part was talking with the girls about the real reason for Easter.  Kendall was particularly inquisitive this year and had a lot of questions about Jesus and what the Easter holiday really means.

Lots of excitement!

Kevin and Sidney just returned from a spring break trip to Grandma T's house.  They spent the week packing her house and cleaning up to get ready for the house to go on the market.  Where is she going you might ask?  She is coming here to live.  Not in our house per say, but VERY close by.  We are absolutely thrilled.  She has decided to finally retire from her current job and take a new job being "Granny" to the girls.  The girls are very excited.  Sidney in particular is going to do very well.  She is at a point that the close attention and loving is exactly what she needs.

So what did Kendall and I do while they were gone?   Non-stop girl time and loads of fun.  We had girlfriends over (both young and old) for bubble blowing, crafting, wine drinking, long walks and lots of laughs.  On Saturday night, we attended the flower show with our friend Bridget.  Kendall had a great time and when asked for a picture she gave us her best mermaid pose.

The girls have each received a digital camera.  Kendall got hers from Grandma T at Christmas and Sid got hers as a potty reward from Grandma Karen and Papa Mark.  They are quite the photographers.

Almost Famous.

Last week the girls and I stopped by the library on the way home.  As it turns out they were just starting an afternoon art class, so we decided to jump in.  The girls were the only ones in attendance.  The three of us along with the two teachers had a great time coloring and listening to the girls' stories from the day.  At the end of the class, one of the teachers asked the girls if he could hang their pictures in the library.  After much deliberation (they did not necessarily want to part with their new creations), they decided he could hang their art up.  They are very excited to be "famous" and cannot wait to take Dad to the library so he can see their projects.  Here are the girls watching the pictures being hung.  Notice Kendall has her hands on her hips.  Yes, she has officially entered the bossy stage.

Sweet and Sassy!

Those are the perfect words to describe Sidney right now. She is quite the character as she finds her independence. 

Gotta love the green nail polish.  The other day I let her choose two new colors for herself and two new colors for Kendall.  She picked blue, green, purple and pink.  Go figure!

She is such a beautiful little girl.  Everything about her is so full of life right now.  It is contagious!

So much to catch up on!

WooHoo we finally got our computer back.  I have a whole list of stories to catch up on, but where to start?  We last left off with the Bachelor, but before that Kevin had returned home from New Orleans with a suitcase full of Mardi Gras beads.  Of course he claims that he just found them laying on the ground.  Sure!  The girls had fun modeling them.  Then they each took a bagful to school to share with their friends.

Then there was Valentine's Day.  We decided to use our new candy molds to make chocolates for the girl's friends.  The girls decorated tags and stuffed the bags.  They each had about 30 treats to hand out, so it was a good thing we had started early. 

Kevin and I are debating about whether we should up our health insurance as Kendall has the grace of her Aunt Stephanie.  In the last week I have received three phone calls from the pre-school.  First she split her lip open.  She claims that she was on top of the slide and one of the boys was showing off his karate kicks and landed one right on her face.  Kendall tells me that she just started sliding down the slide and saw her teacher running over.  Her quote, "I didn't even know I was bleeding, but it tasted kind of good."  My response was "Do not tell anyone that, Vampire Girl."  The second call was when she ran into another girl in the ball pit.  She had a goose egg the size of a baseball for a week or so.  The third incident happened while I was picking her up.  She was crawling out from under the play set and knocked herself silly on one of the metal rails. 

Kevin took Kendall to register for Kindergarten last week.  Where has the time gone?  Apparently they get tested at registration.  Kendall was smart as a whip.  One of the things she needs to learn is to tie her shoes (which she has already mastered within the past two days) and she could only count to 12.  Kevin and I both found this very strange since she counted to 130 last night.  Stage fright perhaps?

In Sidney news, she is still quite the character.  We received some hand me downs from Hannah and in the bag was a tank top and knit shorts.  She has dubbed these her "exercise outfit" and puts them on every morning to do yoga with me.  I must say she has mastered the downward dog.  It  must be the new tank top!

Kevin typically drops the girls off at school.  The last couple of weeks, Sidney has been going through a clinging phase.  Kevin has been telling her each day as they go into the school, "Sid I am not playing this game with you today."  So last Friday when he dropped her off, she turned to him and said, "Daddy I am not playing this game with you today."  Then she turned around and walked off.  I guess she told him.