Our Backyard

On a daily basis, we have a number of wildlife animals in our yard. There are tons of bunnies with little white cotton tails, chipmunks, cardinals, frogs, snakes, ground hogs, and tons of deer. The best part about living in a four seasons area is seeing all the new animals come out in the Spring time.

Momma and baby deer.

This mama and her baby have been in our yard several times. The girls love seeing them. And the other day, out by our shed, we saw just the baby.

It was precious! At first, I thought maybe it was injured because it was just sitting there letting us stare at it. But the second I got too close, he got up and ran away. I was curious why the baby was left alone. Apparently, it is normal for the moms to leave the baby while they go off to get food.

And don't forget the bear! Mr. Bear was actually in my front yard a few weeks ago! Sorry, no picture. I was too anxious and excited to think to turn off the flash so none of the pictures turned out. It was really amazing and exciting to see this wild creature just strolling through our front yard! Luckily, we were all inside when he made his visit. I think I would really freak if I saw it while we were hanging out outside.

My Little Pianist

Alli had her first piano recital.  She was so nervous - she had the butterflies all night, but you would never know! She did awesome! She played perfectly! We are so proud of her!

 

Our New Pond

When we bought our house we inherited a pond full of fish.

This is what it looked like when we moved in.

And then in the Summer, it looked like this.

It was pretty crazy with all the plants and lilly pads- and the ridiculous filtration system....which only someone who knows about ponds would know. We did not know about ponds until this past Spring. As the water started to melt, it was apparent that our little fish did not make it through the Winter. We set up a heater, but the snow sitting on top of it made it sink....so the fish froze. It was pretty gross and something had to be done.

Pete schooled himself on ponds and started the process of draining it and removing all the dead fish along with lots of thick sludge..... a pretty stinky process!

 

Doesn't that look fun!?!

Once the pond was drained, Pete was ready to make his own pond.

A little help from Alli.

Let's see if it holds water...

and if the water fall will work.

It works!

Time to add some fish...

then the landscaping.

The final product - and it looks great!

 

 

this is a cool pond. by alli

(Our little pond helper wanted to leave a note! Of course, I have a little girl sitting on my lap while I am trying to do something...)

I think Pete did an awesome job! I love our pond and love looking at our little fish.

At The River

This past weekend we went to visit our good friends Pete and Jami in Virginia. We headed down to Jami's parents house and spent the day at the river. The water was freezing, but the kids did not mind at all.

 

Tori - doing her favorite thing- reading! I love it!

That night the moms and dads got to go out!

 

We are loving being so close to Pete and Jami. They have been great friends of ours since we've been married.

Trout Derby

 

A co-worker of Pete's invited us to a Trout Derby for kids. It was so much fun! The girls were a little reluctant to get up early and go fishing, but they loved it! Pete and I were so thankful that Greg had invited us. It was a great day. It was out near the Poconos so it was a beautiful drive and a beautiful day to be out doors. The girls fished for two hours, then they had lunch and then came the prizes. Prizes were given out for most Trout caught, smallest Trout, biggest Trout and a few others. The girls caught 13 fish altogether and Alli got the prize for most Trout released back into the water.  Tori and Katie also got some prizes just for participating.

      

Alli loves to hold her fish!

I definitely would not say that I am an outdoorsy kind of gal. I was pretty paranoid with all the poison ivy and ticks. I was just certain that every plant was poison ivy! We did see a couple of ticks on the girls. Since moving here, I am an expert at spotting them on the girls. But, like I said, we all had a great time.

I cannot believe how my girls like to touch fish and worms and snakes- YES SNAKES! Greg picked up a grass snake. Alli grabbed it right out of his hands and then Katie grabbed it right out of her hands. Tori is a little more hands off- like her mama! She touched it, but was not interested in holding it at all! It was a perfect day and a perfect way to spend time with my family for Mother's Day.

Playing with the worms

  

And the snake

 

A little bored and tired.....

  

W00-HOO

IT'S HOT!

And we are taking full advantage of it!

It will be back into the 60's tomorrow, but it has been wonderful for the past few days to feel 90 degree weather. I think we may have been the only ones in NJ that were not disappointed by the high temps. It was a little too hot for the folks around here, but I have been loving it!

SEVEN!

My big girl just keeps getting bigger- and is now seven years old!

We celebrated Alli's birthday this year with a bowling party. It was a lot of fun. And I was so glad that my mom was here to help Pete and I out with all the kids.

On her birthday, Pete took her to pick out her new fish. She cried and cried because all she wanted for her birthday was a gerbil. Pete and I are not ready to add any more animals to our family. So when she decided she wanted her own Beta fish, I was thrilled and glad to get her one. We waited for our good friends from DC to drive up and then went to see the new Hannah Montana movie. She thought she was so lucky that the movie came out on her birthday.

The girls put on a fashion show for us later that evening.

Happy Seventh Birthday to my Sweet Girl!

 

Yesterday morning we headed into the city for some more fun.

Their first NYC subway train ride.

Sweet sisters in Times Square.