Papa's Helper

 After Bridget returned from Pre-school, her and Tor had smoothies and lunch outside with Brock.  It was Tor's idea.

 As soon as Tor saw Papa outside working on the wall and putting sand behind it, Tor grabbed a little rake and went right to work with Papa.  When Papa needed more sand he jumped on the tractor for rides.

Then I got him a little scooper so he could help dig out the sand and throw it behind the wall.  He worked right beside Papa until Papa stopped for the day.

Outside Guy

Tor was acting shy when I wanted a picture right before Tierney went back to CWU.  He showed Tierney his water he played with all morning.  Tor loves to play in water and he is always wanting to go in the fountains or ponds.  He has this large bin in the sand box so I put in water so he would have his own pond.  He floated a boat, put frogs and other animals in the water.  Later he wanted to play with the Civil War set which he usually does up at the table inside.  But today he wanted to play with it outside on the patio table.  Everything he wanted to play with, he would point to the outside and take it out to the deck. 

Mother's Day

We celebrated Mommy starting on Saturday when we took her to Tsugawas Nursery so she could pick out a hanging basket. The kids' favorite part of that is seeing and feeding all their Koi fish. On Sunday morning, Mommy had breakfast in bed with all her kids snuggled next to her. Mommy had her coffee and cinnamon roll, while the kids ate chocolate muffin and drank hot chocolate. Plus, they watched old episodes of "Popeye the Sailor Man" on the tablet. Since the kids never get to eat or watch shows in bed, they consider this such a special treat that Mother's Day is one of their "big" holidays that they eagerly look forward to. After church, we had a Mother's Day bruncn at the Pancake House with Auntie Greta and cousin Adam. Then, we went to Castle Rock for the annual BBQ at the fire pit with the Woodruff family. The kids ate hot dogs and s'mores (unfortunately, Bridget wore most of it in her hair) and rode scooters down the path.

Olympic School Carnival

The kids couldn't wait to go to this year's carnival with Mommy and Daddy. The weather was beautiful, and the lines weren't too long. The kids tried hard, but the games were pretty difficult to win, so they got mostly candy instead of toys. Still, they had lots of fun.

End of Swim Lessons

It was another successful swimming lesson session at Briarcliff this spring. The kids had a free swim at the end, with Daddy getting into the water with them. When we left, the kids got their report cards.

Tor continued in the Arm Bands class. The instructors usually took off 2 arm bands and made him swim with just one on each arm. You'd think this would make him swim with some more urgency / speed, but he still preferred to relax and enjoy the water. The head instructor worked with him, and told him that he needs to get his motor running. By the end, Tor's report card said he needed to be in Arm Bands again.



Bridget got a good swimming workout each time, since they moved her to the "no-floatie" class. She swam everywhere without arm bands, mostly trying to keep her head above water. She got good enough that she could swim all the way across the deep end without help. Now, her next challenge is to put her head under water when swimming and diving. Her report card said she should be in Level 1.5 next session.



Jillian swam lots of laps across the pool, working on all kinds of strokes. Her big focus was on trying to dive head-first (she tended to jump in feet first on her dives) so she could move up. Finally, on the last lesson, she figured it out and made a correct standing dive. She was VERY happy. Shortly after, she dove off the diving board. Her report card said she should be in Level 3 next time.

Bridget's New Kitty

 Here is Bridget holding her new kitty for the first time.  She has been wanting her own pet for a long time and she was thrilled but a little apprehensive over holding her so Tierney was showing her how.

 After all the attention, new kitty fell asleep on Bridget's lap.  I put on a show for her to watch but it was still hard for Bridget to sit still for long with all the excitement.  Bridget has been talking about names for the kitty for a long time but was stumped to come up with one, so she said she wanted to wait for Jillian to get there after school.  Bridget still couldn't decide on a name even with Jillian's help. Finally she came up with one.

 This is Anna Ashley Woodruff.

 After Anna's nap she was playful with Bridget.

With all the attention of two girls, Anna curled up with Jillian for another nap, just like a new baby.

My Half

It was so nice out and they were playing in the sandbox for awhile when I heard fussing.  Bridget had made a scene with giraffes and Tor wanted to play with it too.  So after a talk that got nowhere I drew a line in the sand to divide the sandbox in half.  Here is how they sat for awhile just looking at each other-Had to laugh at the typical sibling fighting!  Later they were back to playing together.