Grandkiddos!

Friday, April 5th - Wednesday, April 30th

We arrived in Helena on Friday.  Saturday Carter and I went skiing at Great Divide, which is about a half hour north of Helena.  Carter drove and we had a great time, even if he did have to wait for his poky old Grandma quite a bit.  Unfortunately, I somehow managed to delete my pictures from our first few days, so I have no proof of actually skiing.  I can hardly believe he's old enough to drive already.  When did that happen?  The next Friday we all drove down to Fairmont Springs near Butte for a nice warm afternoon of swimming, except for Grandpa.  He stayed home to hold down the couch and keep Digger company.  We had a great time and so did Grandpa, I guess.

Saturday we took the girls down the street to an Easter Egg hunt at a nearby church.  They had fun and Hilary had a challenge keeping them from eating their whole basket of candy all at once.  That afternoon the girls helped out the Easter Bunny by dying some eggs.

Tally was quite impressed with the job she and Tierney did.

Sunday morning Grandpa helped out the Easter Bunny by hiding the eggs all over the house and yard and the girls had fun finding them again, even if there was no candy hidden in them.  They had Easter baskets with lots of goodies waiting in their bedroom to surprise them (Carter,too) and later in the afternoon the girls and I baked some Easter cookies, little chicks and bunnies.  What fun! 

We were getting all geared up for Tally's adoption day, when the kids got a call to take in a two month little boy for foster care on Saturday just three days before her adoption.  Of course, we were all very excited and couldn't wait to meet him.  Perfect timing!

Mom!!  Is this really necessary?  It's only my Adoption Day.  You know how I hate having my hair done!

How do I look?  Do you like my new shoes?  They have ruffles.

Tierney and her BFF getting in on the action.  The adoption day is on the 5th anniversary of Tierney's, so it's a party for both of them.

On the courthouse steps.  This castle is pretty cool, but when does the party start?

I think I'll just go in here and chat with the judge for a bit, until you guys get organized.

Carter used to borrow Grandpa's smart phone.  Now he just wants to borrow the car!

BFFs waiting for the judge to get the show on the road.

Little tif, temporarily not BFFs, lasted about two minutes max.

Five minute presentation by the lawyer, a couple questions from the judge and done, with the judge ruling that we were all to go to the Carousel for ice cream.  Yeah!  

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the Carousel they were closed.  Turns out Tuesday is the only day of the week they are closed.

Oh well, we just went home and had ice cream cones with sprinkles on the deck.  The kids didn't seem to mind at all.  How can you go wrong with ice cream?

But Mom, I thought you said there would be presents.  And Digger is just waiting his chance when one of the kids drops their ice cream, but it never happened.  Poor Digger.

Presents, finally!   Now that's what I'm talking about!

Coconut purses from Jamaica and books.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!   Lots of other good stuff, too.

We took off for Sioux Falls right after the party on Tuesday to beat some nasty weather that was moving in.  We arrived at Dawn's Thursday afternoon and we will fly out on Wednesday for six weeks in Great Britain.  I won't be blogging while we are there, but will blog about our trip when we get back in mid June.

Have a great spring,

Tarra