Monday's trip to Benton Lake...

Benton Lake is this great Wildlife refuge that isn't too far from Great Falls.  Every spring we head out there to see all of the ducks that come there to nest and raise their young.  We are a little early this year so there weren't very many ducks yet, but we still had a great time.

Here is Kimber checking things out!

 There are lots of fun things in the water to catch!

 Minnows and freshwater shrimp were the main things that we were catching...

 The kids were intrigued by all of the little bugs that were flying around. 

 Gotta love the long boardwalk!

 On Tuesday, Dane got to take all of the fun critters to St. Thomas to show off!  He thought that was pretty great!

Our little tadpole is now a guppy!

Fearless...  That was the word that several people used to describe Dane during his last set of swim lessons...  Jumping off of things and going down the "big slide" were his favorite parts!  He had a great instructor named Zach who was super patient and let Dane have some fun.  When he started out he was a "tadpole" now he is a "guppy"!  Here are some pictures of the fun!

You will see he has two little squares on him...  they are called butter cubes and give him just enough floatation to help a little.  If he doesn't paddle and kick, he will still sink, but if he works a little they help him out.

 Look at those muscles!

 Last week we were on a drive and I saw this...  I didn't realize that there were Hauptmanns in Montana! :)

 Last Friday was Dane's eye surgery.  The procedure was pretty simple, they just put a stint into his tear duct to keep it open.  In 3 months they will pull it out and the issue should be resolved.  We took him to Missoula to have it done, and he did have to go under General Anesthesia.  I must say, he did great with the whole "you can't eat after midnight" part.  We thought he would complain a lot since his check in time was 12:45, but we talked to him a lot about it and he was great.  He didn't complain about being hungry once, even when it got delayed another 1.5 hours.  Of course Clint and I were both starving because we couldn't eat or drink in front of him!   

Here he is enjoying a movie on the way over.  Holy cow, when did my baby become such a big boy?????? 

 Dane was pretty nervous when we got there and was more than happy to just relax with Dad while we waited.  (He did hate the "tiger pajamas"!)

 Then they came and gave him the "silly juice".  We could really tell when it kicked in.  Our quiet, nervous boy started giggling and thought he was so funny!  They said it makes the separation part a lot easier so he doesn't get super upset when they take him, and it did seem to help.

 Coming out of the anesthesia was pretty awful.  He wanted the IV out and we had to physically hold him, which made him more angry, upset, and combative.  The nurses kept saying, "this is normal"...  well, a kicking, crying, inconsolable boy is not normal to us!  But, eventually he calmed down and they let us go home.  The nurses were all really great though and helped us as much as possible!

Then we all went to McDonalds for some chow!  Holy cow, Dane made up for missed meals!  (I think we all did!)

 Sunday my mom came over and showed us this cool trick with a broom.  I just had to post the picture!  It is literally standing up on its own and stayed that way for a while until one of the kids knocked it down.

Fishing and baking fun!

Last Thursday I took a vacation day so that we could have a family day.  After being out of town for 6 days I was badly in need of some quality time with the family.  The weather was nice so we headed upriver to see if we couldn't catch some trout. 

Here are the kiddos ready to go fishin!

 I didn't notice it until I was looking at this picture, but I'm sure whatever Kimber is putting in her mouth is totally sterile and clean!

 Here was a nice brown trout that I hooked and Dane landed.  It's all spawned out though so it looks really skinny.  We always do catch and release with these brown trout...  we have a good time catching them, but it's best that we put them back!

 Here's another little brown...  this one Kimber actually hooked.  (kind of...)  I would cast out and then help her reel in.  I thought that she was stuck, but then realized she had hooked a fish!  Dane helped her bring it in and then wanted to hold it for a photo op! He loves to be the one to put them back! 

 Kimber helping her Daddy!

 The last couple days have been about 34 degrees with freezing rain and fog.  Just cold enough with the rain to make everything kind of icky, but just warm enough that everything is a muddy mess...  so we decided to bake.  I only had both kids helping for a little while.  Then I called "mayday, mayday" and Clint came and took Kimber to do something else.  We were making a butternut squash coffee cake and it was truly too messy for all the help!  :)

 But she did get one taste before being taken away! :)

Love it!

Occasionally people post pictures on facebook that I have to borrow....  This one was too good not to share, and it reminds me that we might be doing something right with our kids!

Good to be home!

Friday evening I got home from a 6 day trip to Alabama.  I went for training and really enjoyed the class.  They kept us super busy...  not a lot of downtime, but that made it go fast and we learned a lot!  I can say that I was super glad to be back to the family though! 

Clint and Dane made some progress on the playhouse.  Aren't they doing a great job?

 We had traditional fare for St. Patty's Day...  Yummy corned beef and cabbage.  Here is Kimber sportin' pigtails!  Not all of her hair makes it up, but it's just long enough that I feel like we need to do something with it. 

 Helping Daddy...

 Then Kimber pulled her hair out of the pigtails...  and this is what we got!  :)  Clint said this will be one of those pictures that we threaten her with when she is a teenager...  "Don't make us pull out the picture!"

Little man is 4 years old!!!!

The weather here has been very odd...  Warm and windy or cold and windy, but pretty much always windy!  Ice fishing with the kids in high winds doesn't work very well, so the last couple weekends we stayed closer to home and made sausage and snack sticks, did art projects, etc. 

Here is Kimber enjoying some paint.  It's actually on the paper in this picture! :)

Dane painting as well.

One day we thought it was going to be cold and windy, but it actually was a pretty nice day. So, we went down to the River and went for a hike looking for "treasures"!  Here is a fox that we spotted.

Kimber hitching a ride!

Little man looking devious! 

 

Friday was also a big day around here!  Little man turned 4! 

We made these cake balls to send as treats to school on Thursday, then on Friday he stayed home and had a special day. 

More of the decorated treats!

Dane really had a good time on Friday...  Grandma took him to the store in the morning and he got to pick out a toy.  He chose this remote control police car. It was a hit!  Then they went to lunch and he got to play in the McDonald's Playground! 

Here he is showing off his new toy!

Kimber did a little artwork to celebrate!

 

Dane had outgrown his old bike helmet and Grandma hooked him up with this brand new one!!!  He wore it for quite some time!  Here he is admiring one of his new presents with Kimber's help!

Grandma and Kimber enjoying a moment.

Dane got a little toy cash register.  Here Kimber is stealing all of his money... :)

As one of Dane's gifts we got him some tools.  Clint is going to build him a play house and let him help so it is a father/son project.  Dane is super excited! 

More CAKE BALLS!  Look at that smile!

Thinking of his wish... 

and blowing out the candles!

It was a really great day!  Thank you to everyone who sent cards, texted, and called.  He had a wonderful day and can't wait to see all of you!