big sky

Okay, these pictures are long overdue! Packing things up at home, cleaning and single parenting haven't left much time for getting my photos off my camera! We took the train out to see Jamie in Great Falls May 6th-11th. In hind sight I wish we'd gotten a sleeping car for the trip out there. We left Saint Cloud at 12:40 a.m. The girls fell right to sleep, but then were up again at 7 a.m. when people started moving around. With the lack of sleep we all had, the ride out there was too long! We got to Shelby, Montana at about 6 p.m. On the way home we left Shelby a little before noon and got back to Saint Cloud at about 6 a.m. The timing of the trip back went much smoother!

Ava is holding her ticket, excitedly waiting for her first train ride

We ate breakfast in the dining car

{{{BIG HUGS!!!}}}

We played some disc golf

Here we are on top of a hill that overlooks the city

We went into the mountains and Jamie fished a little.

Ava sent her first text to her daddy, telling him one more "i luv you daddy" She had a harder time saying goodbye this time. It took a lot of consoling and I was so glad this was the last time we'd have to say "goodbye"

The lounge car was great to get some play time in.

There was quite a bit of wiggling around before getting comfortable enough to fall asleep.

Whoo-Hoo!

Zoe has decided that she's ready for the potty and has it mastered! She goes all the time now! No more diapers at home except for bedtime. Yipee! She doesn't even want to wear diapers or pull-ups. "I want unduhweah!" She doesn't want to go at daycare yet. She also doesn't want to stop playing to eat or anything else either! I guess home just isn't as fun as daycare! :)

30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39...30!

Ava can count to 30 again and again and again and again... She counts up to thirty, then skips 31 & 35 goes on through 39, and then next is...30! she repeats this multiple times until I start giggling and she starts giggling and Zoe starts giggling, and then we're all laughing too hard to count any further! :D

Here is another map Ava made at school. This time she even wrote in the names of all of the countries! Ava has really learned a lot in school this year. Her favorite activities are in anything creative and artsy. She has even been told by her teacher that she needs to explore other areas too, because she would spend her whole day creating masterpieces, or "making art" as she refers to it. She also loves writing and has been adding captions to her art lately. I admire her persistence in writing, she just sounds out word after word and keeps going, she fills pages with words without asking how to spell a thing. Another new interest is Spanish. She got a magazine with some Spanish words in it and will pick it up daily and say, "I think I'm going to learn some Spanish for a little while." I'm going to need to brush up on my Spanish or she'll pass me up!

slip slops & flushies

Do you speak Zoe? She's come up with some good ones lately...
slip slops...flip flops
bataenoes...tomatoes
sohluh!...have you seen Up?...Squirrel!
magnetnoodle...magnadoodle
slum...thumb
flute...fruit
flow flake...snow flake
flushies...slushies

i wanna soak up the sun

We love the sun! What an awesome day for a walk to the park. We picnicked and played for hours! It gave true meaning to the word "Sunday" :)

30

On the 9th I celebrated 30. Jamie, Ava, and Zoe gave me a gift card for a massage so I snuck that in after work. I went out to dinner with my two favorite girls and then we did our typical Friday night movies and popcorn. They even let me choose the movie since it was my birthday. :) Oh, and Ava wanted me to bring her somewhere so she could buy me flowers. Isn't she the sweetest thing? This is what she picked out.

eggs

The girls had fun dyeing eggs at our house...















...and at Grama Donna and Grampa Jeff's



We had fun snuggling up to watch a movie on the big screen too

Grampa brought Ava and Zoe to the butterfly house. Ava had fun putting her sticker on her nose!

...and looking for the eggs that the easter bunny hid at our house too. They had money in them!