Mutiny

When we made our move to North Dakota both of my Awana Cubbie Bears were happy to find that Grandma Mary's church had a Cubbies program, too.  Every week Grandpa Tim would load up both girls with cousins Cora and Evie and haul all four giggly, excited girls to Awana.  The last week of Cubbies we all joined in on the fun for the annual Awana Awards ceremony.

Xandra and Theia both got to walk across stage and receive their certificate of completion, a finger puppet and an award for their vest.  They were very proud.

Here's a peek into their North Dakota Cubbie class.  Cousins Evie and Cora are on the left.

The girls loved the Cubbies program at Grandma and Grandpa's church, but they also missed "Maryland Cubbies," as they called it.  Now they've begun discussing how excited they are for Aliyah to join them at Cubbies and how sad they are that Xandra will be a Spark and not a Cubbie next year.  All I have to do is figure out if an Awana program even exists in our new town.  If there isn't one, we may be starting one in our home.  Otherwise I may have a Cubbie Bear mutiny on my hands.

Musuem Goers

When you're living at Grandma's house, Mother's Day is twice the fun.  There are two moms to celebrate.  We decided we would give each mom their own day.  Joe and the kids spent the day with me on Saturday making me feel special, and on Sunday, we showered Grandma with some much deserved attention.  My day started with smoothie after my Saturday morning run.

Everyone helped.

After breakfast and a shower, we headed to Fargo to spend the day at Yunker Farm, a children's museum.

We had an unbeelievably fun time

dressing up

and experimenting with music,

and finding porcupines in the wild,

eating a picnic lunch,

and playing on the playground (even Tikvah!),

and waving at the passing train,

and showing off our annoying movie star sunglasses,

and running across a large field of dandelions,

and up big dirt mounds,

and conquering said dirt mounds,

with a little help from daddy,

and enjoying an unseasonably warm North Dakota spring day

as a family.

The girls also gave me flowers

and cards they made at library time earlier that week.

I also received a very mysteriously written, touching and funny note from Aliyah at church.  It's not pictured here.  I put it away in a box with other treasures, like the card pictured here, to reread and laugh about in years to come.

What Grandmas Do

Mother's Day this year involved breakfast in bed...for Grandma...after she was already up and showered (It's hard to get a running start on Grandma.  She can be a real early riser).

The girls made her necklaces and she wore them...all at once.

Then she feasted on Fiesta Quiche, fresh strawberries, coffee and strawberry bread. The strawberry bread looked like meatloaf, but I promise it tasted like strawberry bread.

I don't think she's ever had such an audience for breakfast in bed.

Nor so hungry an audience.  True to her kind nature, she willingly shared bites with each hungry little bird.  That's what moms (and grandmas) do!

Laundry Day

There's lots of laundry to do at Grandma's house.  It's a good thing she's got these guys around to help her out.

Nibblers

While Xandra and Theia enjoyed a morning adventure in town with Grandpa, Aliyah and Joey and I enjoyed the adventure of whipping up a pizza for lunch.

They were both very good helpers.

They also nibbled so much on pizza toppings while we prepped our pizza,

that when it came time to sample the finished product

neither of them were too interested.

Obsession

Have I mentioned Joey is obsessed with Tikvah?

He absolutely cannot get enough of her.

I don't blame him.