Decorating

We are finally getting around to decorating the house a little bit, with a little help from our friends and family of course. Geof picked up a pool table for us and brought it out. It was a very generous gift and we can't thank him enough. It was fun to watch him assemble it as I've never seen one taken apart before. Jason and I keep sneaking in games whenever we go downstairs and man, we are out of practice. It's been years since we've played and it shows.

I finally got around to painting and decorating Piper's room. She picked out the color and I made her go one shade lighter (if you can believe it). Mom came over and helped me paint, she actually did all the worst parts, taping and doing the trim around the woodwork. She saved me hours of work. She even was brave and patient enough to let the girls take turns doing some painting. I just have to pretend they don't have a brush in their hands without a drop cloth otherwise I freak out. Not Mom, she's as cool as a cucumber.

In addition to picking out the color, Piper also picked out the bedding and the bean bag. We had a lot of fun picking everything out and she's been so excited she's made her own bed all week without having to be asked. I hope that continues but know it won't. Thank you to Niki as most of the wall decorations have come from her, some several years ago and most of it recently as left overs from Vienna's room. I will have to post a picture of her curtains when I finish the last panel. It involved sewing which I am not that great at but I got the job done and they look pretty cute.

We love being outside

We are enjoying being outside in the yard and pool. Jason has been hard at work getting the barn all cleaned up. He has finally got it looking really nice after putting in several weeks of sweat and tears. Ok, I don't think there were any tears from him but there were definitely some from Piper when he gave her the task of sweeping the barn floor. It was too dirty of a job for her and she was not a happy princess.

The girls are getting brave in the pool. Piper has finally realized she can touch the bottom and has started working on learning to swim. She does a modified dog paddle/treading water technique and it works for her. Reagan is working on holding her breath and sliding into the pool with a noodle. Most of her face is dunked and she just pops up and takes a breath and goes on swimming. It's so much fun to watch them.
The neighbor's horse which we call "Pretty Boy" because he doesn't have a name that we know of. The neighbor kind of grunts and says call him whatever. I haven't figured our neighbor out yet even though we've had several conversations. He's a nice guy but doesn't say a lot.
So, Pretty Boy comes up to the little bit of pasture in our back yard and we get a chance to pet him and talk to him. He's a nice horse and we love seeing him around, I am so glad we have him around but he's not our responsibility.

Jason loves to vacuum the pool, it gives him a good excuse to jump in with the girls and keep busy while they all swim.

4th of July

Well it was the first 4th of July in our new house. We wanted to explore Lonsdale and Northfield and see what activities they had close to home. On Saturday Lonsdale had their big festival/games/baseball and fireworks. That was the day Joe came out to visit with his kids and so we stayed here to visit and missed all the activities. That was fine, we enjoyed visiting with Joe. We did go to the top of the hill in our pasture to see what firework displays we could enjoy from our own yard. Unfortunately we spent most of our time defending ourselves from the mosquitos and saw a few different firework displays, only far off in the distance so we couldn't get the full oooh and ahh effects of the noises. Oh well, we decided to go to Northfield on Sunday and enjoy their's up close and personal. The kids parade and carnival happened about 6pm and we went to that, it was cute and the girls had a great time but I was kind of bummed, it was not a big thing, just a small parking lot with kids games and facepainting, no food or anything like that. After we finished that we had 2 hours until Fireworks started in the park and it was like a ghost town, I have no idea if people wait around and then walk down to the park before it starts or what the deal is, there were all of 60 people milling around the kids area and then nothing, just ducks and crickets for 2 hours. We decided to pack it up and come home and go to bed. I think next year we will continue the tradition of going to Excelsior and watching fireworks from Mom's steps or perhaps go up to the cabin and watch them on the boat.

See Jason and the girls fighting their way through the crowded sidewalks???

We waited in line for almost an hour to get the girls faces painted, they were so patient and loved it!

They even got to pet a bunny during their wait.

Here it is, the big event! Sorry for the sarcasm, we did have fun I was just a little let down, I tend to get myself all excited for these things and then get let down when it isn't quite as exciting as I expected. I don't know why, I hate crowds and waiting around, this was the perfect size for me.

Piper got dressed up for the occasion, we couldn't find Reagan's red shirt.

So cute!

We couldn't help but crack up, they told Piper to move up closer to the board and then she started pitching these bean bags, almost hitting one lady in the head and tossing them over and to the side of the board at full speed. I think she has my crazy throwing arm.

Reagan opted to have her face painting on her arm so she could check it out.

Piper opted for a sun and rainbow on her cheeks

Some new firsts

Here are a couple of new firsts for each of the girls. This is Reagan's first official haircut. Piper has given her some unofficial cuts in the past which were definitely not Mommy approved. I thought it was a good time to finally do away with her mullet and tame it up a bit. She looked nervous at first but was such a trooper and sat exceptionally still for the lady.

And now for Piper's first. Her tooth fell out. Jason got home early one day while Piper was still in her "quiet time" aka Reagan's nap time and Mommy's do whatever she wants time. Piper ran up to Jason and said here Dad, here's my tooth. Jason came downstairs and asked if I knew she lost her tooth - uhh - no, news to me. I thought when the time finally came it would be a big dramatic production complete with wiggling, pain and blood. Nope, she didn't know it was loose, just all of a sudden it popped out and she caught it. No blood, no pain, nothing. What a cool way to loose your first tooth.

Reagan's after shot from her haircut

Piper's was getting pretty long too so she got a trim, not that it is that noticeable to most.

Of course Piper's had several haircuts before so she knew the drill.

Reagan's nervous look -she didn't know why the lady was putting the funny clips by her ears.

Visitors

We have been enjoying our many visitors since we moved in. I cringed at having people over to the old house, there just wasn't a comfortable space to hang out in. Out here we love having people over and love the fact that when people come out they stay for a few hours rather than a quick drop in visit. This is a great place for kids to run and play too, it's so much fun to watch the girls and any little visitors they have explore and play.

Nate and Lisa came out and brought their son Harley who was all smiles and giggles.

The barbie jeep is just another fun thing for the girls to show their guests and give them rides around the yard.

Jason's old buddy Joe came out with his three kids. We haven't seen Joe in probably about 8 years so it was a blast catching up with him.

Joe's twin girls are 4 and quite the little character's, they orchestrated a fashion show

Shearing day

Last Saturday was an exciting day at the Kocina Homestead. Jason went out and bought a pair of shears and with a little help from Google and YouTube away he went. Luckily he had Rob and Nate to assist. Here are just a couple of photos. I will have to let Jason come back and write his narrative later.

Last but not least I sent Layla out for her turn. She's never had a haircut before, she was not thrilled.
Goody after

Saki after (Jason did go back and clean him up a bit after this photo)

I love how accomplished he feels!

Here is a before shot of the boys earlier that morning. Calvin was rounding them up for us.

No, that horrible sound is not coming from the clippers, that was the noise Saki was making pretty much the whole. Jason did get a spit to the face at one point. Rob ended up covered in green goo too but I think he just rubbed in it somehow.

My Birthday

So I am a few weeks behind, life will get boring in no time and I'll be able to stay up to date on our adventures - right? Hopefully not!!! I had another wonderful Birthday this year. I really like our tradition of going out to Dad's, jumping on the boat and jet ski and going to Maynard's for lunch. Mom, Niki and Brecken have been joining us as well. Now if I could somehow get Jason and Bill away from work and join us it would be perfect.

The girls decorated a very tasty cake for me. Piper and I whipped up a chocolate cake complete with cookies and cream icing and then I was kicked out of the kitchen while the girls decorated with very litte help from Jason. It said Happy Birthday Mom. I love you and had a golden retriever on it. I was asking for a golden retriever for my birthday but after moving in and seeing how busy I was going to be I decided now would not be the ideal time for me to train in a new puppy. Perhaps later in the summer we will get one or maybe we will wait until Layla gets a little older. Then again, maybe never, we will see.

Golden Retriever (or yellow elephant, you be the judge)

Girls looking at the carp and geese at Maynard's.

Piper is the happiest when she's out and about with other people. She loves the stimulation.

Without making a fuss and asking people to take pictures I just whip out my camera when everyone is in the middle of something else and take a quick shot.

Mom knew I was taking a picture, she just tried to pretend it wasn't happening.

The girls on the 4 wheeler waiting for Grandpa and Jill to get all packed up. They just looked so cute waiting patiently.