Dawson and Kortney

When Dawson and Kortney saw that daddy was taking apart a wagon they jumped right in to help. They were both sure they could take off metal pieces and nails. They tried for quite a while before heading off to check on the kittens.

In the past three weeks we have had two litters of kittens born and a set of baby goats! This is Dawson and Kortney with the new born kittens.

These are the two older ones.

And the little brother and sister baby goats.

We're still waiting on the guniea pig to hopefully have babies in the next few weeks. We'll update with pictures hopefully soon!!

Saturday

Well Dawson has a new hobby that he's constantly asking to do.....cut the grass! Afew weeks ago he begged to try, and now is driving me crazy asking if he can cut the grass! At first I walked beside him and helped him steer around the trees, but he's getting that I can walk away a little bit if he is just going around in a rectangle. He is very proud of himself! It does make almost 2 hrs of cutting grass take even longer though, but eventually maybe he'll be able to do more on his own.....we'll see!

May 2/4

Missed this pic! Here's Kortney and Shayna in the tent!

The kids couldn't wait for the weekend to have the first camp out back at the pond for the season. Pam, Steve and the boys brought their new trailer to sleep in so they managed to camp out in the rain Friday night while we stayed at home and went back Sat after the rain! The rest of the weekend was fantastic!! The kids played hard all day both days. They kept busy riding bikes, playing soccer and of course catching pails and pails of frogs! Here's some pictures of the weekend.

Kortney and Kevin stuck together all weekend. I don't think they were apart for much of it!! My girls fit right in with all the boys!
This picture is hard to see, but Dawson and David were in the window giving me peace signs!

Kortney and Kevin again!

The card sharks - Pam and Kaitlin playing Skip Bo. Kaitlin won most of the games!

Kevin, David, Kortney and Dawson with some of their frogs.

Our friends Laurie and her 4 boys came along with Kim and her 3 girls. Here's Chandler and Kortney!

A bunch of the boys playing Sorry Slider.

Kaitlin not noticing Dan coming to take her perfect marshmallow!

Travis and "his fire". He spent most of the afternoon and night tending to it.

Kaitlin and Sydney relaxing by the fire.

Kim and Laurie chatting.

Cameron, Travis and Chris.

Travis showing Grandpa Hoggart his stick and jack knife.

Pam and David.

Sara and her burnt marshmallow!

The Wizard of Odds and Ends

After months of practices and rehearsals the day Kaitlin couldn't wait for finally arrived. Today was the Contemporary Steps Dance Studio's Concert! I have been hearing about this all season and I was excited to see how this years concert was going to be. For the "ballet" this year Melanie April chose to do the Wizard of Oz, which at first I was a little disappointed about. (going back to my childhood I HATED the movie and was very scared of it!) But, we borrowed a copy of the movie so the girls could see what the story was they would be dancing. Very surprisingly the girls liked the movie.....I still didn't like it much. So anyway, being a parent I have been in the dark all dance season to how exactly this concert would go. At the studio ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, hyland, and modern dance is taught. Usually there is a showcase dance for all the classes then the Ballet story for the girls that take ballet. Last year was Swan Lake. This year however everyone including the young girls were going to be included in one show called The Wizard of Odds and Ends, which did a wonderful job of including all the dance styles! Kaitlin was excited to be in more then three dances. She was part of the tornado, a guard, and a flying monkey with a few other little dances as well. Since she helped Kortney's class all year she also got to be on stage with them while they danced. Other then dancing she got to help move props around and help back stage. She was thrilled to have that responsibility. Even though she started feeling sick later that day (which turned out to be strep throat) she continued to do her best and did an amazing job! Kortney was a little excited about the day, but not quite sure how it was going to be. It helped that she loved her costume, and her big sister would be with her. In the end she did great too and had lots of fun on stage and back stage with her friends.
The whole show was so wonderful and fun this year. We can't wait to get the dvd of it so the girls can watch the whole thing too!
Here are some of the pics. (taken without flash)
Hannah and Kaitlin as the guards.

The flying monkeys. Kaitlin is the first one on the left.

Kaitlin capturing the lion!

Kortney's group. The Fairy Dust Fairies. Kortney is the second from the left.

Pointing their toes.

Kortney doing a little spin before leaving the stage!

Just afew of the other dancers.

Kaitlin in her tornado dress back stage.

Kortney in her costume with her flower!

Dawson's 7th Birthday!

April 26 Dawson turned 7! In some ways it seems like so long ago that he was little. He has always been driven to keep up with his older brother and his older friends. Our little guy just didn't stay little very long. Dawson has skipped all together some things that his age of kids are doing thinking he's to "big" to watch certain shows or play with certain toys. He is always trying to prove that he can do what the big kids are doing. In kindergarten he played with the grade one's and now in grade one he plays with the grade two's. Dawson is energetic, determined, and silly boy who loves to make people laugh. For his birthday this year his best friend Chloe and him wanted to have a combined party again. They both love swimming, and chose to have a swimming party with friends and family. Dawson was so excited that day and loved every minute of it!

Here is Travis and his friend Chandler playing in the pool.
Dawson (he's always very lovable) with Dan!

Kaitlin and her friend Avery. These two are little fish in the water!

Of course Dawson showed everyone the sauna room!

Brody, Owen, Dawson, Colin, Avery and Cameron.

Kiera and Brianna.

The two birthday kids!

A silly group picture!

Sara, Jarod, Chloe, Dawson, Brianna, Owen, Cameron, Avery, Kiera, Brody and William.

Dawson and Chloe! The bestest friends!!

A Sunday on the farm

Today was a beautiful day to spend on the farm. Dan's secret plan was to build a treehouse for the kids. Off we went to the barn (the kids thinking we were going to do chores) Once there Dan showed the kids the wagon he had taken apart and the wood from it. The kids were thrilled to find out the secret and we got busy collecting any unusable wood to bring back to the house. Kaitlin and Travis wanted a rope ladder for the treehouse. Dan happened to have a bunch of rope they could use. Here's Travis cutting some with his jack knife he loves to use.

We took a turn heading back through the fields to the creek. The kids were amazed to see how many big fish were there right now. The really wanted to come back fishing, but that has to wait for another day.

Here's Kortney showing how big the fish was she saw!

Finally we're back at the house behing the shed where there is one lonesome tree big just right for a tree fort. Slowly we began building and planning.

Kortney hammering.

And Dawson's turn.
What's Kaitlin doing.....drawing on old logs!

Grandpa arrives just on time to help hoist up the frame to check.
Now at this time, friends of ours came and the girls left the boys building while we scrapbooked at the house. When we came back, here's what they had done. The base is secure in the tree. Travis decked it out with a blanket, pillow, and a basket on a rope full of snacks! At the base of the tree is a tipi fort.

Some of the 13 kids that were here today in the tipi!

There is more work to be done on this project, but with chores to do and cattle to move this was it for today. Everyone was thrilled with the progress so far!