Uh-oh!

This morning, I heard Aliya happily babbling in her room. When I opened the door, she looked at me and said, "Uh-oh," (a word she started saying yesterday) and this is what I saw. Apparently, she'd "accidently" taken off her pajamas...oops!

Yesterday, Breanne met a milestone of her own. She had her pre-kindergarten check-up with her pediatrician...complete with three shots. I haven't taken pictures yet, because she's been wearing long-sleeved shirts. The best parts are that she didn't cry (she thought that minus the shots, the doctor visit was "fun,") and we got to go to Dairy Queen to celebrate. Nothing tops of a shot like DQ icecream!

On a more serious note, please be in prayer for Becky's dad who was admitted to the hospital with blood clots in his lungs. Love you dad!

The hunt is on!

This morning the girls were up bright and early, eager to see what goodies would be in their Easter baskets. Aliya was tickled with the new cool sippy cups (Breanne wants to get one like Aliya's). Madison & Breanne got new necklaces with extra charms and of course lots of candy. It's maybe amounting to even more candy than they had at Halloween. At this rate, we'll be set on candy UNTIL next Halloween! Oh well, candy lasts a long time!

We were blessed to have some friends from small group join us for lunch and an Easter Egg Hunt this afternoon. It was a pleasant, relaxing, sunny day. Aliya got the Egg Hunting a little more today, but still was more interested in sliding down the slide than searching for those silly eggs. Breanne was content with a bucketful, but Madison was upset that I might suggest that she leave the rest of the eggs for our friend Peyton to search for. "Mom, it's not even full yet!"

No...

Today was the Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Castle Rock Park. Aliya knew something was up and she was excited to tote along her bucket like her big sisters. As we arrived, in Montana fashion, it started sleeting/snowing. By the time the horn blew to start picking up eggs, Aliya was freezing. I taught her how to pick up eggs. She picked up 4 or 5 eggs and then just looked at me. I picked up an egg and said, do you want this egg? She shook her head no. "Do you want to go find sisters?" She promptly turned around and headed back toward the big kid area. Apparently we needed to train her before hand. Not that there's a lack of eggs in our house!

This afternoon the girls did Easter crafts including dying Easter eggs. (Which is something I've never done before.) Maybe Aliya will like finding eggs and treats tomorrow now that she knows eggs usually hold treats.

For real?

Last week Sunday morning, Madison walked into my bathroom and I got down next to her and asked if she'd like to go to Minnesota over spring break. Her eyes got big and she got excited. She couldn't wait to tell Breanne whose reply was, "For real?" The DeWilde girls packed up and headed out of town for a few days with family.

We drove to Mitchell, SD and stopped in for a visit with my friend Tracy Burggraff. We had a great time of connecting and even set up the camera to take a silly picture.
On Monday, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Great's house...more famously known as the Duct Tape Grandma. We got to visit, Grandma Great had a blast with the girls, and got a tour of the "cottage" next door. From there we headed to Grandma Great in Luverne. We were tickled to see that she was watching Ana and Leah (whom I got to meet for the first time-she's 7 months.) Ana is 4 like Breanne, so the little blondies hit it off right away. They spent lots of time playing outside under grandma's big pine tree, climbing and even hiding and finding easter candy.

On Tuesday, Madison and Breanne kept Grandma hopping! They made Easter cutout cookies (the best!) and Easter cupcakes. It was an all day affair. They wrapped up their day with a nap, swinging on the hammock (which grandma and mom broke) and a trip to the Dollar Store to pick out a toy.

Wednesday was a day for me to hang out with my girls. We make pancakes for breakfast and walked to the hospital to visit Grandma Barb and to visit Grandma Great Edna who is in the nursing home there. After returning to the house (the weather in MN was unseasonably warm for March!) Aliya retired for a nap while Madi and Bre played. Meanwhile Grandpa came home from work and iced his shoulder before heading to PT. The girls are telling us to be quiet, grandpa's resting.After Aliya's nap, Madi and Bre had appointments to have their hair braided. They sat so still; it took an hour to do the braids. The girly girls were in their glory! We followed Grandma Barb home afterward where we played a game of softball outside and they couldn't wait to get inside to check out Grandma's toys again.

Thursday morning, Grandma Barb played with the girls all morning. After a quick lunch, we went to play with the cousins. They swang, climbed trees, rode bikes, 4-wheeler ride, wagon rides, hay mounds. Aliya was even excited to see Abigail (she gave her a hug when she first saw it.) After a busy afternoon, we all went to Dar's for pizza in Pipestone.

Thursday evening the girls got to see uncle Bryce. Aliya loved him and wanted him to hold her most the evening (even when I was in the room.) She also really took to grandpa Verlyn.

Friday we headed back to Billings to see daddy. Aliya got the award for best behaved. I was totally surprised at how great of a rider she was.

Before we left, Madison bought herself a new 20" bike with a kick stand!

Those tricky leprechauns

I can't possibly let another day go by without blogging in regards to those tricky, sneaky leprechauns the girls got to encounter last Wednesday, St. Patrick's Day. I must admit, it's not a holiday I've ever even considered celebrating. I don't drink green beer or dec the house in green. I do wear green (a least a tiny bit) so no one has rights to pinch me, but that for 30 years has been the extent to my St. Patrick Day traditions. This year, I got a book from the library about St. Patrick to read to the girls. However, the education system totally outed me...

Breanne came home excited from preschool. Apparently, there were some leprechauns who snuck into their room and messed it all up. They did hide some gold for the kids to find and like magic, inside each piece of gold was a green bead necklace. She got to see the green milk and eggs the leprechauns had made in one of the girls' homes and she also got a shamrock painted on her face.

Madison's excitement after school was beyond words. She couldn't hardly spit the story out fast enough. Those tricky little leprechauns had snuck into her classroom during last recess, messed it all up and apparently raced down the hall into their 6th grade buddy's classroom. When the Kindergartners returned from recess, they followed the trail of gold to their buddy's room where they found gold coins and green bead necklaces. Their buddies saw the leprechauns and those Kindergartners were all determined to catch one. Oh, yes. She's determined that she'll find their gold at the end of the rainbow and all.

By the time we made the 3-minute drive home, my head was spinning as Madison and Breanne each kept re-living their leprechaun experiences. And then it hit them. Maybe we had leprechauns in our house. I assured them that I hadn't let any leprechauns in. "But, mom. The front door wasn't even locked. They are very sneaky. They could easily get in our house." I gave in. Yes, we might have leprechauns in our house. Suddenly both girls were terrified to go downstairs to see if the leprechauns had messed up their room. (Seriously, I'm not sure they would have noticed if a leprechaun had "messed" it up...it looked like a tornado went through there before they left for school.) Finally, they worked up the courage and were relieved to find out that the leprechauns had not visited our home.

Finally, by six o'clock, the girls had settled down. Derrick no more than walks in the door and again, they both become volcanoes of information, all about the leprechauns. Derrick looks at me with question. I nod. Yes, they've been like that all afternoon. And I thought they'd be excited about green jell-o for dessert. Good thing I decided against it. I don't like lime jell-o.

Don't leave out little Aliya just because she doesn't know what a leprechaun is. This morning, she started digging through our drawers and decided to try on Derrick's boxers. Oh, well. Madi and Breanne wore my underwear around their necks. Yes, they were all clean!

She knows where we live!

On Thursday, March 4th, Madison lost her first tooth! She left for school in the morning with it hanging by a thread. Derrick was sure she was going to swallow it. She was sitting "at carpet" in class when she had to tell her teacher, "Mrs. Watson, I lost my tooth!" She was given the famous "tooth necklace" that holds her tooth and she wore it around her neck all day. She was pretty excited. When I picked her up that afternoon, I knew something was up because she ran up to me covering her mouth. We didn't even know if the tooth fairy knew where we lived, but she found us and left Madison a dollar in exchange for her tooth.

The very next day at dinner, we had just sat down to eat pizza when she said, "Oh, I lost my other tooth!" She's talking a little funny now and loves to stick her tongue in the hole in her bottom teeth. She carried that tooth everywhere that evening. She and Breanne were messing around downstairs when SHE LOST HER TOOTH! We weren't sure what the tooth fairy would do this time. So, before going to bed, she got out a pencil and paper and wrote, "Dear TF," (short for Tooth Fairy), "I lost my tooth. Madison." Much to our surprise, the tooth fairy does give money for lost teeth in exchange for notes, in case you too were wondering.

A quick rewind....to Valentine's Day. All three girls woke up to having their doors decorated with valentines and treats. They also got a killer package in the mail from Grandma Barb...PURSES! Those purses were so full at one point that Derrick told them mom needed to give a lesson on what to carry and what NOT to carry in your purse.

Play dates are a big deal to the big girls lately. Breanne got to have preschool friends over one Tuesday. These three (Breanne, Kelcey and Grace) have been coined the 3-for-1 by their preschool teachers. Madison is also having girls over that go to the day care down the street and we've even struck up a friendship with Birkley, her mom and siblings. Birkley even got to join us for Fusion last week!

Not to leave Miss Aliya out, she is quite the baby. Silly, sassy and going on 7! She is surely a smart little thing and can follow any directions you give her...IF it's on her agenda. She's determined too. We had taken the girls bowling with friends and she got it in her head that she could bowl too. (To steal my sister's phrase..."Anything they can do, I can do better!") I didn't see any harm in it. I understood why Derrick said no after I let her roll my ball. I was terrified that the ball would stop in the middle of the lane. Thankfully, the ball made it to the pins...eventually. She didn't bowl anymore after that.

Let me describe our mornings to you...It could be cool, calm, under control. Or it could be rush, rush, rush, get a "crack-a-lackin'." Or it could be one of those days where they three girls just want to play and yuck around...preferably on my bed. If time allows, I try to remember to be the fun mom and jump on the bed with them.

Breanne is my side-kick for sure on Tuesday and Thursdays. Mostly, that drives me nuts (to have a living, breathing shadow.) She is definitely bored at home now and wishes she could go to school every day! She also has a new fear of being alone. So, where ever I am, she is. This morning, she told me she'd lick anything I was baking. Lick she did... No wonder her face is always dirty!

100!

YIKES! We can hardly believe that our Madison celebrated her 100th day of school last week! She came home with some groovy 100 glasses and 100 treats. What a day.

We also had a super time with our Sechler cousins last weekend. We did some sledding, swimming at the Reef, cousins read together, decorated Valentine cookies, played school, barbies and Wii (below Daniel, Madi & Bre all jump in celebration while they play M&M Beach Party on the Wii) and we got to take the cousins to church with us too.

And the highlight of Madi's day at school on Friday was that cousin Rebekah came to eat lunch with her!

Watching Madsion, Breanne & Rebekah interact was priceless! So many mental pictures in my head. My favorites? The three of them talking in the van on the way to dinner about camping together this past summer. When we got to the restaurant, Breanne says, "Guys, we can finish talking about this later." My other favorite "picture" was watching them walk all three hand-in-hand to the bathroom together at the restaurant. We referred to them as the 3 peas in a pod.

It was sweet to spend time with all five cousins. Abigail is quite the sweet little girl and she got along with Aliya very well. The only minor mischief was the markers they found and used to decorate the basement...oops!

I also enjoyed sledding with the three boys and playing Cadoo with Micah and Daniel.

Today, we are recovering from acute depression due to the Saints victory last night....There's always next year...