Salem Sue

When we decided to move to North Dakota I remember creating a post on my Cleveland Chronicles blog that included pictures of things in western North Dakota. Salem Sue was one of those things. She is a giant fiberglass cow on the side of the road. We have driven past her many many times but we had never actually driven up to the cow to see just how big she is in person. So, we decided to take Gina and Evie to see Salem Sue on our way to Bismarck.

Jami Turns 6!

That's right. Our crazy cute kiddo Benjamin aka Jami aka Hugasaurus turned six this month. We had
a little family party at home with German chocolate cupcakes (he didn't like the coconut frosting for the record) and plenty of presents.

Shoo Shoe

You know that sinking feeling when you've dropped the ball? Those moments when you give yourself a sarcastic "mother-of-the-year" award? That's been happening to me a lot lately.

Enchanted Again

We did the Enchanted Highway while Gina and Evie were in town. This time, we drove to Regent first, played at the park and then did the Highway South to North. Evie really struggled with getting in and out of the van a lot even with lots of sucker bribery. She loved being out, but she never wanted to get back in. We drive the Enchanted Highway probably at least once a year with out-of-town guests but it still amazes me. Here are my favorite pictures from this go-round.

The Great Bison Hunt

We wanted Gina and Evie to have the full North Dakota experience so, of course, we took them hiking in the Badlands. We stopped at the awesome playground in Medora first. Gina was really hoping to see a bison in the wild. Usually, that's not a problem but sometimes wild things don't cooperate.

A Very Evie Easter

We had the great privelege and pleasure of having my amazing sister-in-law, Gina, and my adorable niece, Evelyn, at our house for Easter this year. The boys adored little Evie and always wanted to sit by her, play with her, read to her, etc. They all think she is super smart, which she is, but they might overestimate what she can do sometimes. Evelyn says "hello" but it sounds more like "hi-yo". David John heard this and exclaimed, "She said, 'Hi, yo!' That's a sentence!"

Aunt Gina took everyone out to Pizza Ranch one evening while they were here. Evie loved all the attention she got from her five big boy cousins.

Scary Snack

The boys are in a serious apple and peanut-butter snacking phase right now. I think the main reason is that they can make fun creations like "apple chompers" where they put whole almonds or peanuts on the apple to look like teeth. Elijah just took it one step further and created an evil snake apple. I'm a little terrified. And impressed. I hope he eats that quickly so it doesn't haunt my dreams. Although, maybe if he does eat it it will haunt my dreams. Oh dear.

So Long, Farewell

We took Gina and Baby Evie to the airport today. We were super sad to see them go. The boys are already saying, "I miss baby Evie." We are hoping they will come back next year which seems so far away. Until then, we'll always have the science museum.

We went to the science museum before heading to the airport. I love this picture of Gina and Evelyn playing with tiny particle of iron and a strong magnet.

Bum, Bum Bum Bum, Buuummm!

David John's class just had their spring musical. It was really cute. There were a variety of musical numbers about various professions that the kids might have when they grow up. David John was cast in the role of the bum. That's right. Bum. It was like a dream come true for him. He got to wear a loose-fitting shirt and no other costume and got to say a potty-related word (even though it was in a completely different context) multiple times during the performance. In fact, his line was also the last line of the whole musical. All the other kids sing things like, "I'm gonna be an astronaut!" "I'm going to play football!" "I want to design computer games!" and then David John pipes up, "I wanna be a bum!" Nailed it.