along came the ducks and the cows...

Also our Easter weekend was filled with visiting the animals at my parents. My sister has added a few animals to the barn and we get the enjoyment of watching/visiting them. :-) No pictures of the horses or chickens, bummer indeed!

the ducks... just because...

they come up each day to check out

if any grain has been dropped from the horse/cow feed.

the 1st baby calf of Myra, about a year old.

poor thing, has to live the the pony and that pony is not nice!

Myra and baby calf #2.

And one more activity, tree climbing for CMW!

Easter

Easter, a weekend full of visiting family and friends and most importantly remembering Christ, who died for our sins and we have been set free because of him!

Can I hear an 'Amen'?

We managed to see all the grand & great grand parents on Lexie's side and visit with the cousins. We tried to see the aunts & uncles but with CMW's ear ache (not a fun experience) we passed and headed home.

Lexie also got to see a friends fresh new baby. It was such a joy to see both of them as parents to this baby boy. It helps refresh that children really are blessings and gifts from our Heavenly Father. And I saw Miss SJO from WI, didn't know if she'd be home but I got out my handy dandy phone a sent a text. I'm glad I did, we had a wonderful visit and worked out a little more of our possible summer trip we'll be taking. Oh what fun! Besides this, we had fun on the farm and a little Easter egg hunt to end the weekend. :-)

Eleanore didn't go hunting for eggs, but she sure was curious of those noise makers.

CMW hunting though Mawga's garden!

Checkin' out her eggs, didn't really want a picture taken. In between the pain of her ear ache, she managed to get out and hunt!

The cousins hunting too!

The littlest buy almost blends into the garden, can you find him ? :-)

The Doll house every girl wants ...

It's it just so cool?

There are even chair cushions, table cloth, bedding and the people can really bend at the knees and sit. :-}

CMW spends a lot of time playing with this little house and actually pretends to play. If it was me as a kid, I would have only practiced setting up each little room over and over in different arrangements. Hence why I rearrange my own living room 4 times a year and all the other rooms of my house!

She gives the people baths and puts them to bed. We talk about each room and what goes in them. She has a great time! And we only try to play when EKW is sleeping since she does not like when Miss E gets in the way, but that little sister just can't resist checking out her stuff.

I'm am sure some of you can relate to this, right?

All the items out to be put in, each day we start like this. Once we are done, we pick up each piece to make sure no little ones are left for EKW!

Thanks Auntie JK & Auntie JW for this great gift!!

The What ?

What have the Waa's been up to?

The Waa's are always thinking of something, creating, engineering, cleaning, feeding, playing, fixing, sewing, practicing, giggling, planning, helping, sharing and the list goes on.

Let's start with what takes up most of Jim's day: work. His 7-5 work day and Friday's he home by noon. Yea for us!!! Especially CMW because when her dad is home, she is attached to his hip. I'm sure he likes this but some days it's just a little over kill. He continues to play guitar and always drum up something new to engineer / design. In December he found a repairable van to fix. A pretty simple fix, some creative ways to make it happen and it's done. We are waiting for an inspection and then I'll be added to the group of 'mini van drivin' mama'. I'm super okay with this since I want to carry my stroller and groceries at the same time (some the Mitzi does not do very well) and one day hold friends of my children. Jim also has the itch to build again, so he is working on (in his mind) how to build a swing set for our girls. Nope, he can't just find the best deal, buy it and put it together, he is going to engineer one and build it this summer. Or at least this is his hope.

Now for the lady who is 'head of domestic affairs and poultry'. Yes, the new batch of chicks are here. Along with keeping up with the girls and her ear appointments, (they are getting old but need to be done.) Lexie is reading a few good books, decorating at church, teaching piano, sewing capes, aprons, diapers, dresses and of course the feed bags and finishing up her bible study from this winter/spring semester.

Claire who is 3 and is turning into quite the girl, does an awesome job with her little sister. She is working on matching, we match everything, color to color, object to object, it's always turning in her brain. She is also learning to take turns while playing Candy Land. (her mama found it for $1.79 while out thrifting, nice!) Her kitty Sage is still a pretty good friend, even with all those scratches. I think Sage is waiting for her to figure it out, when she snarls or bats at her, to just leave her alone. This has yet to happen.

Eleanore is going on 9 months, oh where does the time go? She is a mover, good at balancing, free standing, pulls up, explorer, and little bit mischievous. And she eats, it seems she can eat and eat and eat. It must be those 4 teeth she has. I run out of ideas of what to feed her, since we make mine our own food which right now isn't that tricky, she is eating non-pureed items. I do need to be careful of allergy foods and lay off from dairy and grains.

And besides the chicks, we have one more furry friend to add to our family. Her name is Macy and she is a Pug/Boston Terrier mix.

So, there ya'll have it, The 'what' of the Waa's. We are here, alive and since we know how to keep ourselves busy, we are practicing laying low and just hanging out as a family.

We are adding to the family!

Meet Macy

the newest member of our family. A Pub/Boston Terrier mix and boy Am. I. excited! We welcome her to our home with lots of love in hopes we can do the same for her as The Erhardts have in the past. You see, this family, our friends, will be moving to Africa in a few short months to start a baby home and I asked if my family could be put on 'the list' of options for Macy. I am a huge fan of receiving an animal that needs a new home vs. an animal that I need to start from the beginning with. I also appreciate the fact that I will know the history of the animal. We tried her out for a weekend, we visited her at her house, I asked countless questions and then we talked and talked and prayed over this decision. And now she is ours which is exciting but I feel for Lindsay and her family as it's a hard decision to make. But they are trying to make one transition at a time and this is one of the many.

So, here we are, 6 days into having Macy as our own. As we make her family, we are learning and loving this new furry friendship. Macy loves to play fetch or frisbee (this is bonus for Jim), she is a little chubby so the lap dog part doesn't goes over well yet. But she really would love to snuggle and be loved on as much as one can give. Macy does pretty well on walks but Lexie thinks she can improve, so we'll be working on this. She is good with the girls, she's snorter, a grunter, she listens very well, and always is excited to see you when you come home. Oh, did i mention her bark is super cute? It's soft but loud enough, kind of like it's muffled. The only down side, she adds to my dust bunnies that run around my house, I guess the vacuum will be getting a bit more use. :-)

Miss Macy is going to be a great addition to our family and we are glad to call her ours!

Coming up to 9 months

Our Eleanore is already 9 months and she is active.

Standing, crawling, balancing,

eating on her own, exploring, up and down and up and down,

crawling up stairs and loves to explore her sister's toys.

E also gets into water where ever it may be, the water dish is a challenge.

We love our baby girl and littler sister!

The Who ?

No, I am not talking about the band. But i am talking about us, the Waa's!

Miss Eleanore

3.25.11

Miss Claire

3.29.11

the Mama with baby E.

the Dad (picture taken by CMW)

More to come about the 'what' and 'where' of the Waa's!