A Baptism and Multiple Birthdays

 April 18 brought 9 inches of snow, April 19 brought spring, we brought the lambs out  and this much snow was already gone (and so were Galadriel's shoes!)

Quickly melting

 Frodo playing with the lambs

 I am attempting to take Frodo's senior picture.

 Marigold, Poppy, and Kili sporting the t-shirts they made, thanks Mrs. Cork!

 Our newest niece MK was baptized on Friday the 20th!

 Congratulations!

 We attended the Celebration of Life Benefit Dinner.  Since we don't eat meat on Friday we were a little limited in our choices, however, we left very full. And the food was delicious. Mashed potato bar was amazing!  We also had tickets for 2 cocktails apiece... mine was a Shirley Temple (kiddie cocktail), I will never outgrow those! It was a very nice evening.

 On Saturday, April 21st (which also happened to be my birthday) we took the 4 middle boys to Milwaukee for a Chess Tournament. Arriving in Milwaukee at 8:00 am means little to no traffic (yay). We drove along Lake Michigan.

 I am very skilled and always seem to get a post in a picture as we drive by things.

 Finally arrived at the UW Milwaukee for the 13th annual WI Chess Tournament. We had a slow start as we rushed to follow the crowd to the tournament. We ended up in the wrong line (for freshman placement test) and then had to fly to the correct check in... for chess.

 After check-in the boys went to get their t-shirts.

 It's the European "second floor" which we tend to think of as the 3rd floor. Hence our confusion.

 Thought Samwise would like the repair job on this chair!

 This was a very disappointing chess tournament. There was so much cheating, attempts at cheating, and making up rules, etc...

 We arrived with smiles and great expectations!

 This was a large chess tournament and went by grade level

 Pippin finished his first match in 5 moves.

 Borrowing someone's chess set. A game with Dad.

We did not even stay for the awards ceremony we were so irritated by all the cheat tactics. Kids had extra pieces in their pockets, claims of legal moves that are just club rules, moving of pieces (like the bishop and horsey that were switched in position), etc... It was nearly every single game, too.  We aren't sure what their placements are yet as the results haven't come in yet. 

 The "wings" are up.

 The baseball field has now closed it's roof.

(Just odd things found in and around Milwaukee.)

 Today we had 2 calves born! This one is "Curious Georgina" - she does not have a tail (a little stump), not sure why but since Curious George didn't have a tail...

 CUTE!

 Another calf was born earlier in the day and is Potawatomi.  (We drove by a building with that name on it so I snitched it for the calf)

Lemon Meringue Pies from the Mixing Bowl Bakery... SO DELICOUS!!! Happy Birthday to me... and the 2 calves!

Snow and Other Things

 The cows wanted a romp through the snow (Part I - April Storm)

 We're really not into "earth day" (whatever that means) but we are into celebrating for a $2 sundae...

 We have the fun Culver's, and these photos are just reminders to take advantage haha! We can definitely spare a few books out of our barrage of them.

 Eowyn hopes to pass her driving test in May so she has a new pair of wheels, actually it's 2 pairs of wheels.  Naturally everyone had to check it out. Galadriel wanted to find the spare tire... ???

 Decided to do my grocery shopping early before the storm - Part II - April storm - April 18th. We go out just as it started doing this.

 I'm not sure if sledding down this embankment is really allowed, but it was being done and if the kids are quiet.... and outside....

 I got a big kick watching this chicken trying to romp through the snow. He had a really funny walk but soon as I tried to video tape it stopped and would not budge. Really!

 They thought this was a really good idea. I said, "Do you think this is a good idea? You could hit these concrete blocks."  In reply Bilbo said, "Oh we already did that." I was glad to know they were hitting the concrete safely at least... just didn't want the concrete damaged before we got to use it. *chuckle*

 I really like snow... and it's a good thing. And for the record, we do not live in the Arctic.

 April Angels

 Oh... yum... but it IS fresh.

 Walking in a Winter Wonderland (go ahead, start singing, I did)

 And Merry decided it was a lovely day for a bike ride.

We ended up with 9 inches of snow. NINE on April 18th.

 Blessed Mother statue with snow cape and cap.

 Aragorn had to drive quite the distance in this lovely weather.

 Snow! Glorious snow! (to the tune of "Food, glorious food" from Oliver Twist)

The lambs are 2 years weeks old today so they get to start on hay and water in addition to their bottles.  I decided to move them to the porch. That way they can just wear the belly bands around their middles and skip the double diaperinger since it is easy to clean up after them. They are eating every 6 hours (4 times a day) 10, 4, 10, 4 (or whenever I get up). Teddy bits (nips) and Vinny is trying to be cool and nip, too.  Any tips on nipping lambs?  It's really annoying!!!