Celebrating Liesl's birthday all month.

This week we have been at the cottage celebrating Liesl's birthday. A bunch of her friends came to play (with thier moms and grandmas) and she has been having campfires and boat rides and hikes. Yesterday mom and I took the girls to hartwick pines for a hike, which was really nice to see again, and Liesl enjoyed herself seeing all the old trees and her reward was the 50's diner and the hamburger and ice cream she was promised. It was super cute and had all kinds of Coca-Cola paraphernalia. Jeannie made some friends there who she charmed with her cute little smiles she awards people. We also found a park to play in for a short time before it was time to go home. There was a pretty little bridge over the river in Grayling right next to the park. Liesl did a little climbing on thier tiny rock walls before it was really obvious it was time to go. We have always wanted a paddle boat so mom and I decided we would go to the WiFi at McDonald's to explore Craigslist. We came up with a winner in no time and within a few hours we had it propped up on one end with mom's liftgate and bike rack and Clara and I were carrying the other end behind the car. The kids are loving it. We had Dee and I paddling and Kayla, Colton and Liesl in the back and Grady between us. That along with all the floating toys, kayaks, and the pool with slide the kids have been way occupied. Oh and I can't forget the face paints. All the kids wanted this butterfly that was on the front cover of the box, which made it easy on me but the blue in the paints stained thier faces and took a lot of scrubbing to get off. They all looked so cute. Liesl as usual is quite the fish this weekend. She has been in that lake or pool as much as she can. There is a really cool huge turtle that Oma bought her that I towed her around the lake in the kayak with. It was her version of tubing. She has been telling every person that she meets that she is celebrating her birthday all month starting now... And we have. Today we baked cupcakes and all the kids tried to blow out thier trick candles and we sang happy birthday. I made the girls each a quilt from Oma and Ota's clothes. Both are very pretty. I can't wait to embroidery them and quilt them and get some backing on so they can be used by my girls to cuddle with. Jeannie's has a bunch of shirt pockets that I am going to put ribbons in and so I have a binkie on hand and such. It is very sweet. I also made a big blanket out of one of Oma's nightgowns for Jeannie which also has a "binkie pocket" and I am finally making myself a teddybear from the rest of that nightgown for myself. The kids have been having a great time together and getting along fabulously. Here is hoping tomorrow goes as well. Jeannie had a rouh day today with sleeping. Thinking she either had a tummy ache or teething issues or both. She has been doing great playing in her jumper, bouncing all over and loves her walker. She still hasn't rolled over but it is coming soon. She really wants to be mobile. Mom has been an awesome help with getting the little one to sleep and so have the other mommies and grandmas. Thank you all.