The other day, I was teaching Lucy and Cassidy's piano lessons when Katie called me into the other room. It turns out that Livi (who is not even 9 months old) was taking a little stroll behind the push toy I had just brought up from the basement. Looks like we might have an early walker on our hands!!
Over the past several months Eric has been working hard to get the new businesses (US Forestry and SP Distribution) set up and running efficiently. He's been doing such a great job and I'm so proud of all that he's learned and accomplished with this new opportunity. It's been fun to see how passionate he's become, not only about having a smoothly run company, but also about the machines and heads themselves. Today, Pioneer Equipment hosted a demonstration of the newest Rottne H21 machine, along with a brand new SP head. It was the first time that any of us, Eric included, got to see the machine "do its thing" and it was amazing. The finesse by which the harvester grabs a tree, quickly saws it, strips it of its branches, and cuts it into even, usable logs is awesome.
The kids and I were joined by our friends, Katie and Isaac. The boys got the opportunity to ride in the big machine. Isaac was fearless and excited to drive! Nolan (as expected) panicked and was too nervous to go for a ride. After a bit of coaxing, we did convince him to sit with Grandpa Steve up in the cab. He kept his ears covered the whole time because he was worried it would be too loud. He is certainly my sensitive boy!
Love those Northwoods boys!
After a hard morning of sawing down trees, the moms wanted to check out some of the plants and flowers at Hanson's. And wow, did it look like spring! So many beautiful plants and flowers to consider for this year's planting. Can't wait for the weather to warm up a bit so I can get to work on beautifying the yard!
I made cookies for the spring piano recital and left them on the counter to cool. Upon closer inspection, I realized I had a sneaky little taste-tester....This boy loves chocolate like his mama!
With the nicer spring weather, we've been spending more time outside. It is so nice to live across the street from Hodag Park. We frequently go on walks there or head over to the playground to play. It's such a pretty park with the beautiful blue lake there, freshly thawed from the winter. We're all getting anxious for boating weather!
We knew that fencing in our backyard was a must when we moved in, but every spring I'm reminded of how wonderful it is to have the kids be able to be outside without having to worry about their safety. Nolan has been playing out in the yard quite a bit and has been loving his sandbox and jungle gym. When Livi and I went out to join him the other day, he came up to me and said, "Mommy, it's a beautiful thing to be outside." Ah, the wisdom of our little ones...
Lately little Livi Lu has been pulling up on everything. And she is sooo proud when she does it, squealing and crowing to announce her accomplishment. Here is a picture of Olivia and Nolan both around the same age, pulling up on one of their favorite toys.
Olivia, 8 months
Nolan, 9 months
She really gets a kick out of Miles, so lately she's been crawling over to his gate and harassing him, pulling his hair and poking his eyes. Luckily he doesn't seem to mind, and happily accepts his fate as doggie babysitter. She is so sassy about pulling up on his gate and shakes and rattles it, squealing the whole time. Such a big personality in my little Lu Bear!
This past weekend, we had some special visitors! Ray, Abby, and Ada came to spend the weekend with us. It's always nice to see them, but this was especially fun as we just found out they are expecting their second child this November! We had fun catching up and it we enjoyed watching the kids play together. Ada was really enamored with Olivia, so I'm sure she'll be a great big sister. Eric and Ray attended the Hops and Vines event on Saturday night, which featured many unique brews from some of Wisconsin's best breweries. I think they were both in heaven. It was good to see them and we look forward to meeting the newest Mode this fall!
