Jacquie & I took the girls out on a surprise adventure day for Lydia's birthday. We at lunch at Mc Donalds, went bowling and played in the arcade, then stopped at the DQ to pick up the cake for the evenings festivities and of course had a treat while we were there. 
Lydia and Ellie were resting between turns.
They're so cute! I can't believe she's seven!!!
I haven't updated in a while, so I had a few pictures. The girls were starting to get crabby and restless, so mom packed up the car and we headed to the bike trail. We parked at the new library/Washington County building. The trail is easily accessible fro the parking lot but the trail is not at all shaded in this area. We got our wiggles out!
Ava is in a serious pose. She takes swinging very seriously. Her hair is growing in nicely!
I was having fun taking pictures while they were swinging. I think my memory card is having issues. Her head looks a little detached.
Lydia was in her modeling mood. She had me taking pictures of her all over the swing set and from all angles. 
This was a very cute picture. Darn technology!
I can't believe my baby is done with first grade! I'm not ready for second grade.
The house with the garage and the front porch.
Chad and my dad have been working very hard on getting the framing finished. This is the front porch.
The porch is almost finished. The concrete should be poured this weekend and another beam is on it's way to replace the horizontal board that's there right now.
We have a garage! The service door is on the left. Two windows on the back and we added a window on the right due to having an extra. That story has already been told.
It's not the grand canyon, but it's close! Thankfully the house is fine, but fill needs some help. We have spots like this all around the foundation. On a positive note, the yard down below has never been so even!
We didn't have daycare last week, so Ava and her cousin Eleanor spent most of the week at our house. Lydia was able to read books to the girls before being escorted to the bus stop by her greatest fans. 
Ava and Eleanor thought that my idea of painting pots for Mothers Day was a great idea! I think Ellie was more excited at the idea of going to Menards to get the pots and flowers. Ava knows better due to the fact that she's there quite often. For some reason they don't think outlet boxes are fun! Go figure.
We have the worlds largest sand box and the girls are taking full advantage of this. Most of our sand toys are at the cabin so thanks to Grandma Hazel, we have a couple of cool things for the sand. I'll have to grab some more. Now if only I could keep the sand out of my car...
For Mothers Day, we decided to get the grill that's been sitting down by the lake going and have our first house bbq. We cooked hot dogs and had chips. The girls thought this was pretty cool. We did forget all of the necessary grilling tools, so we improvised. A pry bar for a grill brush and a window shim for a turner. It was pretty fun. 
Chad and my dad worked on the garage this weekend. Thanks to our neighbor Bill's new idea for the garage, we were able to start on this part and hopefully get it framed. Then we can poor the floor after the garage is framed. (It's handy having an architect for a neighbor.) They're putting block along the edges so the membrane that sits on top of the pre-stressed floor will run up the walls and hopefully keep any water that could get through to the basement garage out and running outside to the driveway.
I only went in for a second...She was so proud of herself because she helped mommy cut her hair. Not quite what I had in mind, but what do you do?
Chad & I put the last window in the house last Saturday!!! Not a lot of fun house pictures. The plumbing is done and signed off. The heating stuff is almost done. The wiring is being run and things are really starting to pull together! I think the garage should start soon and we're going to look for lighting.
Ava is dressed up in her Dora clothes with her fancy sunglasses dancing around the house.
A while ago, Jacquie and I got tickets from my uncle to take the girls to the ice skating championships at the Xcel Center in the suite. Little did we know that people are very quiet during this deal. At least the girls had fun and we were the only ones in the suite that night.
The girls & I played in the snow for hours. The paused for a picture. We made some really cool snowmen that melted shortly after.
Hey Lydia, Where are your teeth?
