Fun on the farm

Ainsley loves going to Bluffs with Joel, and always asks when she can go ride in the tractor with him.  Joel called one day and said one of their calves wasn't doing good and he was going to have to bottle feed it.  After picking the girls up from Lisa's that afternoon, we headed to Bluffs to see "Skuzzlebutt" the calf that was bottle fed.  Ainsley wouldn't get too close to it at first.

Lily kept her distance too, but didn't seem to mind it when Joel took her over to it. 

I'm hoping we'll be able to get out in the country sooner, rather than later, so the girls can run around all they want.  Ainsley seems to enjoy the "farm" life of checking the cows and riding in the tractor with Daddy. 

I was able to get the girls out to the field on the last day of planting beans.  I'd been so busy, and hadn't had a chance to take them out to the fields this spring.  Ainsley loved riding in the tractor, and Lily freaked out.  It took everything I had to hold Lily on my lap once the tractor started moving.  I swear, the girl is scared of everything!  We let Ainsley ride in the tractor, while we ate supper in the field waiting for Daddy to get done. 

Eating pizza on the go

One last tractor ride with Papa Jim before heading home

My baby's WALKING!!!

Lily started walking the week of Mother's Day.  She'd been taking one or two steps here and there, and I didn't think she'd be actually walking any time soon.  One afternoon before Joel got home, Lily took off walking while walking behind her Minnie train.  She'd never done that before, and I got excited for her.  Here's a video of her doing that.  I took the video to show Joel when he got home.

If I only knew that video wouldn't really matter.  When Joel got home, I tried to get Lily to walk behind her train again, but instead she just took off walking toward me.  Joel and I couldn't believe it.  She hasn't stopped or slowed down since!  Here are some of her first steps.  Ainsley was in the background crying, because she didn't want Lily to walk!  Here's another video of her "Bambi" legs.

Here's a video of her dancing.  Uncle Tanner got Lily Snow White's cottage for her birthday, and it's her favorite toy.  She loves turning the music on and dancing.  Here's a video of her dancing to the music from the cottage.  I love how she shakes her little butt and swings her arms!!!

Mother's Day

Ainsley thought Mother's Day was pretty cool, since she was able to give me a present.  Joel decided I needed a new plant for the dining room, so he took Ainsley into town and let her pick out a plant and flower pot all by herself.  She was excited to give it to me, (but not excited enough to put her snack down to smile for a picture!)

I had a pretty relaxed day, and was even able to go into the hospital to see Mom, since she was working.  Ainsley was excited about seeing Grandma Shelly at the hospital, and playing with her stethoscope. 

Dr. Ainsley

We finished the day with a get together at Jeremy and Kathleen's.  The kids (and guys) had fun playing basketball, and I was able to kick everyone's butt at "Horse", before the pizzas arrived.

Spring fun!

Flying a kite and rain puddles...sounds like spring to me!  Ainsley has discovered kites this year and, well, we all know, she discovered puddles a few years ago!  We have nowhere to fly a kite at our house.  I suppose we could always go over to the baseball field, but there's no way I'm stepping foot on that with all the drama surrounding it!  Luckily, all the grandparents have plenty of kite-flying skies.  Ainsley had fun flying a kite with Uncle Tanner one weekend at Grandpa Bill's.

I have to say, it was pretty entertaining watching them.  Tanner wasn't exactly the best at flying a kite at first, and we got to witness both Tanner and Dad running when Ainsley let go of the string and the kite went flying over the house, with the string dangling behind it! 

Lily was pretty easy to please.  She watched all the commotion, and had fun picking dandelions.

Once our cheap Walmart kite stopped flying good, Ainsley found a BIG mud puddle.  We only have small water puddles that accumulate in front of our house, but this was a very deep mud puddle.  She went to step in it and was immediately scared, because she wasn't expecting it to be so deep.  She thought the smaller one beside it was more fun.  Uncle Tanner decided to get in the deep puddle.  Tanner kept asking Ainsley if she wanted him to jump in the puddles with her, and Ainsley enthusiastically replied with "YES!"  She wasn't expecting what happened next. 

Uncle Tanner jumped in the puddle, and she didn't know what to do!  This video says it all!  The poor girl was so upset because she was all wet and muddy!

It didn't take her long to laugh about it and get right back in the puddles. 

She went straight to Grandpa Bill's bathtub when it was time to go in!

The girls have been playing outside quite a bit lately, but not as much as they both would like.  Ainsley's constantly asking me to go outside.  Ainsley and Hadlee had fun playing outside with Joel and Lou one evening.  Ainsley sure loves her friend "Hadwee", and Lily discovered Holden, and absolutely loves him.

Lily is scared to death of baby swings....she only lasted a few seconds.

We've made it to the park a few times this year, but it would be twice a day, every day, if it were up to Ainsley.  It's so funny how the girls are so different.  Ainsley has always loved the park, swings, slides, etc. and Lily is scared of all of them.  There are toys that are Lily's favorites that Ainsley didn't even look at when she was that age, and Ainsley's favorites don't matter to Lily.

Morning snack at the park

Music class, physical therapy, and orthotics

Ainsley loved the spring session of music class, and I'm actually sad that's it over.  We didn't sign up for the summer session, because it was going to be two days a week instead of just one day a week.  I took Lily one week to music class with Ainsley and Lily loved it, too!  Ainsley couldn't wait to see "Baby Alaina" each week. 

Poor Alaina kept getting attacked!

Ainsley's favorite part of music class is rhythm patterns.  She's always the first one on Miss Rachel's lap for her turn. 

We continued with physical therapy through the middle of April.  I didn't notice a big change (or any change for that matter) while we went to physical therapy, but we went once a week for an hour.

Duck walking through the 'car wash' at physical therapy

Around the middle of April, the physical therapist thought Ainsley may do good with orthotic inserts, so I made an appointment with a podiatrist in Springfield.  We stopped physical therapy at that time, and were given a few things we could work with her at home.  The podiatrist thought Ainsley should definitely have orthotic inserts to help with any future issues she may have.  She said she was too old to do braces, and her knees weren't bad enough to do surgery. Ainsley had her feet scanned, and we got the orthotics ordered.  It's amazing how every day is different with Ainsley, and she usually doesn't want to go to the doctor, but she was very excited about going to see the podiatrist and get "new shoes". 

Waiting for the doctor!

Mexican after our appointment

She tried on almost every shoe in one aisle at the shoe store afterwards!

There's nothing that will cure Ainsley's knock knees, and nothing that could have prevented it according to the physical therapist and podiatrist.  She'll have to wear orthotics for the rest of her life, which means no sandals (or limited) for her since she can't wear them with her inserts.  I'm hoping the rest of the year is pretty quiet when it comes to doctors, etc.  The first part of 2014 has me completely wore out!