I walk in the flowers and feel better

When I was a child, my mother would take my sister and I to the Tulip Festival in skagit Valley every Spring. we loved it. As an adult I started planning an annual Seattle trip with my friends in Moses Lake to attend the festival and get our tulip on. 

When I left Washington, I knew I would miss attending the Tulip Festival, getting delicious ice cream at the local stand, taking funny pictures in the cutouts, and having fun with my friends. I knew I would miss the flowers. 

Luckily, Thanksgiving Point gardens has a little tulip festival every year, and I hoped that it would give me my little fix for fresh tulips. Kim and I took our girls on a gorgeous day last week, and it was just lovely. They didn't have the delicious ice cream, or the cutouts, or the rows and rows of tulips that filled filed after field, but they had tons of beautiful flowers, and we just loved it. 

 (q's in this weird smile phase)

 this was a new flower that we hadn't seen before...but loved!

 the gorgeous rolling hills off the clubhouse...the girls enjoyed rolling down a couple times.

 (true story: the girls were just standing there smiling, and then Q goes "pose" and this is what happened)

 Elsie wanted us to walk up the fountains...it was way too hot for that..but Elsie went up without us. 

 the girls LOVED feeding the Koi fish

 We loved the "rainbow" fields. 

 (my hair was extra big that day...i blame the heat)

how you feelin...hot, hot. hot

We sure have been loving the upswing in weather, and love getting out and enjoying the sun. 

We've hit up some parks...

 Played with water...

And of course Q has started her annual job of picking every "flower" (aka dandelion) that she sees. 

Welcome Spring!

I'll be yours in springtime when the flowers are in bloom...

my Spring shelves...

 Thank you Pinterest for giving me the idea for the burlap nests and robin eggs.

 Of course, my yellow loving daughter choose the tulips for the vase. I'm hoping to keep fresh flowers in there throughout the Spring.

listen...to the words here in my heart.

I did a major month of April (so far) catch up. so check out my last 3 posts. :)

and enjoy this little video of Q singing a song she learned in school.

tradition....tradition!

I love that Q is getting older and starting to really appreciate holidays, because it gives me a reason to be festive. 

This year Q and I decorate our first easter eggs (of course no pictures, cause my hands were all dyed too), but Q loved it and she made her share of yellow easter eggs (her favorite color).  

Saturday morning Q found some magic jelly beans on our doorstep. We planted them next to the bushes outside, with the hope that they would turn into suckers the next morning with the magic of the Easter bunny.  Q was very excited about this idea. 

(sidenote: I had found the cute idea for the "magic jelly beans" online, and had every intention of doing it this year. Then I got lazy, and couldn't motivate myself to buy a whole bag of jelly beans (something that both Q and I do NOT have a liking for) for just 5 beans to plant. Then early Saturday morning (before Q woke up) I remembered that I had jelly beans in a vase on the easter shelves, so I ran out to the family room, grabbed a few jelly beans, printed out a cute picture of sucker growing from the yard, and made a note for Q to find outside...oh the magic! haha)

Saturday afternoon we joined the Wise crew for some Easter festivities. So fun! Of course we had the traditional Easter egg hunt. Q had chosen this basket because it was yellow, but I knew it would fill up fast. That girl is getting quite good at finding eggs. She was so happy running around Gary and Sylvia's beautiful yard finding eggs.

Then we had an Easter Pinata. The kids took turns giving the chick some swats. it was hilarious. Elsie was so strong that she even knocked the chick off the string, and Gary had to figure out a way to rehang it. When Cannon finally cracked it open, so many awesome candies and toys came falling out,,,the kids were in heaven...and so were the adults with all twix's, milky ways, and snickers to find. :)

please excuse my awful voice....

Kim and Piper both came with some awesome games for the kids! Piper had the fishing game, with the kids taking turns fishing off the deck for laminated fish. Q thought she was quite hot stuff!

Kim came up with this cool team relay game, with tasks written in eggs the kids had to open. Q opened up one that said she had to crab walk back to partner...and the girl got down on the ground and crab walked like a pro...where did she learn that?  It was so funny. 

Then we all sat down outside for a delicious easter dinner with hamburgers, deviled eggs, cheesy potatoes, baked beans, chips, and finished off with some delicious strawberry pies!!  man was I full!  Then Gary started the traditional crazy string fight. we all got hit pretty good. Q kept asking everyone to spray her...what a weirdo. 

Then of course we spent a long while just chatting and laughing with family, with the kids enjoying each other. 

Gotta love the holidays!