All Things New

Spring time is always wonderful here.  The daffodils are usually the first bit of color we see and they signal the end of winter, ushering in new growth and life and warmer days.  After all the rain we've had this year we were especially excited to welcomed these longer, warmer days, and the chance to be outside to play and work. 

At the beginning of April we brought home another group of bummer lambs.   The kids are always so excited and Hazel is absolutely loving getting to be a part of it this year.  I think we may have another animal lover on our hands :)  

We had great success with our first 2 years of lambs.  Unfortunately this year we lost a few before we got our final group.  This little guy was in our first batch and sadly we lost all but him.  So Daddy being a bit of a softy ended up letting him out to play A LOT and he became like a little puppy dog following him everywhere.  Cooper had chosen him of the group and named him Joe but then we introduced the boys to Mario Brothers and his name was changed to Yoshi and then again to Bowser.  Therefore he is now affectionately called Joe-Yoshi-Bowser.

Hazel helping to feed her babies.

We found time to decorate eggs this year, which is always fun for the kids, and Mommy is learning to just roll with it.  They don't care what they look like and neither should I.

These are our Easter pictures.  Mommy thought it would be nice to have a picture with everyone dressed up.  Daddy humored her, Wyatt did not.  See him hiding behind the tree...little stinker!

He did not find this to be in any way an enjoyable experience until...

Mommy brought out Joe-Yoshi-Bowser.

 He's still not sure he wants to cooperate but its hard for Wyatt to stay grumpy with a baby animal around.  

 So it was Joe-Yoshi-Bowser for the win!!!!

 And the cat and dog because why not??

After nap time it was off to Grammy's house for dinner and an egg hunt.

We also made it out to the Woodburn Tulip Festival on one of the kids' days off.  I think Mommy may love this outing more than the kids and a few of them may get left behind next year.  They just don't appreciate the flowers the way I do.  Go figure :)  They do humor me a little though as the pictures prove.

 Nothing like fake smiles and a screaming baby to make me feel crazy.

 Whelp this is the best we're going to get with this bunch.

Cow rides on the other hand were a big hit!  Something to climb on and a place to run around... Now we were speaking their language and having fun.

Finally we ended April with one last new thing ...  KITTENS!!!  Daisy had her first litter of kittens in late April.  We'd made a little spot for her in a cupboard in the garage hoping she'd have them there and to our great excitement I opened the garage one afternoon to the sound of little meows and looked to find Mama with 5 little ones.  The kids cannot wait to play with them!!