Spring has sprung!

We have had a ball hanging out outside for most of the last week or so. Alan was gone at a conference so my Mom came to help me with the girls. We kept 'on the go' as usual. The highlight of the week has definately been the activity at the Avondale Lake. It is a half mile from our house and we frequently go and feed the ducks. Well, spring has sprug for sure! There are both duck and goose babies! I'm surprised you did not hear Meredith squeal "baaaaaaaaabies!" all the way at your house!

Here is the Mommy duck and her babies. There were 10 and now there are 8 which makes me sad =( A nice lady we stopped to chat with told me that the male ducks do not help the female ducks protect their babies. She said the only interest they show is trying to mate with the female again as soon as she is back in the water (darned male ducks ...) They are so incredibly cute! The photo does not do them justice. She hides them pretty well and I had to sneak to get their little faces ... usually as soon as they heard or saw me they swam in the opposite direction.

The same lady told me that the male geese DO stay and help protect their babies. Every time I see the goose babies, they are surrounded by a whole posse as opposed to just with the Mommy all by herself.
Here, they are following Mommy ...

So stinkin' cute!

Turtles ... hanging out

Hey baby, how YOU doin'?? Wonder if he did the 'yawn and stretch' move?

Again, trying for a good pic of the girls together ... (H right, M left)

One night while the guys were away, the other Fellowship widows and I decided to have pizza at our house ... here are Hannah and Braden hugging ... so cute!

Post-pizza Dora ... from L to R ... Meredith, Braden, Katelyn, Hannah. They look like they could all be sibs with their hair color!

Here is Meredith eating Fruit Loops (or Fruit Hoops as she says) at the Zoo

Oh my goodness, do they love to hug!!! They are very sweet to each other! Even during tantrums one will sort of hover over the other like she wants to help somehow. Sometimes, Hannah will just keep bringing random things to Meredith when she is crying ... binky, blankie, snack, random toy, crayon ... she will aquire a pile ...

Hannah

Checking out the vulture with Grandmama ...

big girl booster chairs!

Hannah has found a new passion. She loves for you to lightly tickle her on her legs, back or belly. She will get sooooo still. In fact, sometimes she will demand it! She will take your hand and put it on her leg and say "tick, tick ..." She rested here on my Mom for a good 10 minutes and let her tickle her back. She had a little pool of drool when she got up! That is what Grandmas are good for right? Finding what you like when Mommy is too exhausted to be creative! Oh, and catching drool, too!

Guess what? Daddy does exist! We went out of town for the weekend of Easter then he went out of town the Friday after and didn't get back until this past Wednesday and you would have thought that he and Hannah had attracting magnets. She cannot rip herself off of him ... he leaves the room for one minute and she cries "Daddy" like her world has torn apart. Meredith is happy and plentiful with the hugs but is being a Mommy's girl right now ... but Hannah ... she really missed her Dad!