3 Years Old!!!

What a great weekend filled with family and tons of fun. Liesl turned 3 and we celebrated first at Auntie Alicia's cabin then on to Nana and Papa's. We are so lucky for so many things!

Swimming with Dad!

Our little fish is learning how to swim at the YMCA and she can actually move forward kicking now. That may not seem like much but we are so proud.

We are now confident that we can go on a boundary waters trip with Liesl. She is one heck of a paddler!

Feeding the chipmunks and squirrels at the cabin is one of the most exciting activities. At one point the squirrel nibbled Nana's finger and Liesl spent the rest of the weekend yelling at him everytime he came near.

This is the first time Liesl has ever roasted marshmallows and needless to say she loved them!

It is pretty great how we get to do fireworks for Liesl's birthday every year. What a great time for a birthday.

Yes there is a giant spider inside of that necklace!

It is real but this one is dead.

Liesl has a wonderful balance of princess and bug lover.

So, I have mentioned Liesl's love of bugs before, right. Well, for Liesl's birthday present Auntie Alicia found a bug holder necklace, this spider happens to be not living anymore but she had a live one in the bug holder for a couple of hours.

Once again Nana has pulled off a cake made to order. Here is Liesl's robin icecream cake as requested.

Our friends Erin and Esmae came over for popcorn and a movie for Liesl's birthday night. What fun hanging with the girls.

Auntie Karen sent a new raincoat for the birthday girl. As always our Florida family did not disappoint and sent the cutest Disney raincoat ever. Liesl wore it for the rest of the present opening. Thank you to everyone who made Liesl's 3rd birthday so very special.

Grandma's Marathon Weekend Fun!

I decided to post this photo first even though it is the finishing photo of the marathon. Dave did very well in the marathon this year especially considering the heat (it was miserable even for the spectators). After this photo was taken he showered and headed off to Alpine Valley to see his favorite band, Phish, in concert. Auntie Laurie ran the whole thing this year too but Liesl was napping at Jude's house when she was finishing so I did not get photos of her. You will have to check her blog for thos photos.

Happy mothers of the Whippersnapper racers, Liesl and Jude. Can you believe there is a photo of Laurie and I on a blog? That never happens!

There she goes! She got a ribbon and a bottle of water and some yummy snacks as a prize, it was super fun and Liesl has been asking to run in another race ever since.

Here we are at Jude's house on the morning of the marathon watching the racers from across the bay and cheering. Then we had a hearty breakfast of homemade power bars to get ready for watching the rest of the festivities and races.

Here is the runners' biggest fan. She sat there for over 1/2 an hour just clapping and cheering while we waited for Dave to arrive. Enjoy the following video of Dave at mile 25.5, looking great!

Fairy Girl with a Pill Bug (so perfect)

Hanging out in our beautiful fairy-like yard with our little fairy princess Liesl, digging for worms and bugs. Liesl can now tell the difference between millipedes and centipedes (I can't but she can!).

So, here she is once again with a bug in the bucket. This bug was particularly big and scary (in my opinion) Liesl dug this giant beetle up and promptly stuck it in my face saying "Look Mom!"enthusiastically. Now the bug was a little to close to my face and I proceeded to scream (it was really big) I scared Liesl and she started crying! I felt so bad. She loves bugs so much. So I then tried really hard to explain that I was just suprised and that it was indeed a lovely bug. We kept it in the jar all day just admiring it's largeness and creepiness and loveliness.

This photo is in here for Alicia and Heather. I don't know which one of you bought this interesting skirt, but in the bins of beautiful clothing that we have been handed down, this is the one item that she imediately needed to wear. She danced around all afternoon in this ensemble.

Happy Mother's Day to every Mama!

Beauty Queens!

Liesl loves to dig in my purse to find special lip glosses or lip stick. Liesl is very good at putting make-up on other people. Putting it on herself is a little more challenging.

The river is rushing now. We love to take walks down to the park.

Here is one crazy skiier who was hiking up the ski hill and then zooming down and gliding across the pond. He made it across every time (that we saw anyhow).

Another snowy day at the park.

Amanda and Cal were visiting and Amanda needed to stop by Amazing Grace to see if the scones were as good as she remembered!