Ball with the cousins

On Saturday morning we headed over to my brother and sister-in-laws.  Us girls had a cookie order to work on - stay tuned!  After we finished with the cookies, it was time to get outside and enjoy the sun.  We haven't seen the sun in what feels like forever!  The kids took advantage of the weather and brushed up on their batting techniques...

and bike riding techniques.

Can you believe this 3 1/2 year old is riding without training wheels!

Hair cut

Today was Landon's first haircut that he didn't cry through!  Another sign that my baby is turning into a little boy.  Ok, maybe Mom is in denial, he is 2 1/2 after all, he's been a little boy for a while now.  In all seriousness though, he did great.  On the ride to the salon, I was doing some serious bribing.  "If you're a good boy you will get a sucker."  We met Jenny (the owner of the salon) on our way in.  She asked Landon if he was ready to get his hair cut.  He said yup, and as we walked away, he said, "I ready for a sucker."  Whatever it took, he did awesome!

The before and after.  I held true to my bribe promise and gave Landon a sucker.

Strawberry Jelly

I headed over to my sister-in-law Cathy's this morning to can strawberry jelly.  This was a completely new experience for me, but I loved it.  I will definitely be doing some more canning this summer!  We used some strawberries out of my Dad's garden and ended up with twelve half pints and seven pints of jelly. 

Cousin bonding

Yesterday afternoon and evening we had the privilege of hanging out with my niece and nephew, Eryn and Nolan.  Landon and I picked them up late afternoon and headed to Decorah.  I gave them the choice of going to the State fish hatchery to feed the fish, or go to Phelps Park.  Eryn said, "Why can't we do both?"  Good point, so we did! 

We headed to the fish hatchery first.  I gave each child a plastic cup and $0.50 to buy fish food.  It was interesting to see how each one of them chose to disperse their fish food. 

After a good hand cleaning, we headed to the park!

The kids got to play and run, and play and run.  Parks are so much fun!

After burning off some energy, we picked up a pizza and headed back to our house.  The boys played some more and Eryn had a good time playing fetch with Elke!  Then it was time to unwind before Randy and Cathy came to pick up the kids.  Everyone got their jammies on and settled in for the Chipmunk Movie, or as Landon calls it, "Monkey Chips."  I honestly could not make this stuff up if I wanted to!

We all had such a good time hanging out!  It must have wore Landon out, because he slept in until 7:15 am.  I can count on one hand the number of times he has slept that late.