March Fun

We enjoyed some unusually warm weather in March, so we took advantage of our Botanica membership and spent some time there with Gianna and Amy.

Claire, Melanie and Gianna

Making some music together!

Amelia, ladybug tamer extraordinaire!

We attempted (in vain) to get a picture of the three older girls.

Melanie was trying to keep the sun out of her eyes...

...which led Gianna to think she was supposed to hold her arm that way as well.

Amy recently told me Gianna will still do that for pictures.  I guess Melanie devised a new photo pose!

Amelia is a bit of a rough one. 

Melanie is very patient with all the wrestling her littlest sister inflicts upon her, and often encourages it.

Don't let that face fool you!

Here's another "post within a post" about some time we spent at Spring Creek.

This time we went out to help plant potatoes on St. Patrick's Day.

Festive feet for planting potatoes!

 Melanie's first ride on the tractor

She and Gramps even made up a song to sing while driving the tractor to get some dirt for the garden.
"Row, row, row your tractor

Gently down the road!

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

Now we'll pick up some cows!"

(This song is immediately followed by intense fits of giggles.  You know, because it's so hilarious.  Really, it is.  I'm glad it adds to their memory though, and that they can have so much silly fun with their grandparents.)

 Evening out the soil

 Our littlest big helper, getting the seed potatoes out of the bag.

 Making holes for the potatoes

 One in every hole

 This picture really is pitiful, especially if you can see the dirty tears streaming down her face.  When it came time to cover the first bed of potatoes, Claire was engaged elsewhere (playing? bathroom break?  I don't remember what) and when she came back all of the potatoes had been covered.  Needless to say, she was heartbroken.  Fortunately for her, she has a wonderful Grams who uncovered some potatoes so Claire could cover them back up.  We also made sure she was present when it was time to cover the second bed of potatoes to avoid any further meltdowns.

 She obviously recovered pretty quickly.

 Has anyone else noticed how hard it is to get a picture of a sweet sibling kiss at just the right moment?

 Burying the potatoes

 Claire's first ride in the tractor

Now that's one pooped little potato planter!

 Unlike her mother, Melanie does not have exceedingly ticklish feet.  In fact, they aren't ticklish at all really.  She has developed an affinity for asking my mom to rub her feet and rub her (grandma's) fingers between her (Melanie's) toes.  Gives me the willies just thinking about it!

 Claire, on the other hand, does have ticklish feet.  She likes being tickled though, and doesn't want to feel left out, so she often sits in on the fun.

 Baby bunnies in one of Matt's parents' gardens!

The girls were very excited to get to see this when we went to visit the chickens one evening.

 Silly girlies!

Drawing with the chalk instead of trying to eat it?

She's getting so big!