Time with Grandparents

Over the last couple of weeks both girls have been able to spend a lot of time with all their grandparents.  Amma regularily watches them during Wednesday night volleyball and sometimes during the week when Brett has errands or running camp.  Shay and Alyssa have also headed up to the cities for a few days at a time too.  The most recent time they were able to meet up with cousin Taylor and go the Children's Museum to see "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" with Papa Mark and Grandma Stacy.  They went to the library, got ice cream cones and watched movies.  How fun! 
They have also been able to spend some time at the lake with Papa Bill and Grandma Ginger- swimming, eating outside, playing on the swingset and yesterday meeting the neighbors new puppies!
Thank you to all our extended family who have been supportive and a great help with the girls, it is much appreciated.

Popcorn and movie time... a favorite!

Ice Cream Parfaits

Kindergarten Camp

Shay was accepted by lottery into a public choice school here in Rochester that has a year long schedule (45 days on 15 off, and a 6 week summer break) with full day kindergarten.  Her first "official" day is the last Friday in July.  Wow.  We are pumped she got into the school, but not as excited as Shay was to go to KinderCamp today.  She gets to spend 4 hours there, including eating lunch. The hope is to assess the kiddos and group them accordingly into different classes.  She picked out her favorite dress to wear and couldn't wait to see the "inside toys" (Brett brought her to the "outside toys", aka playground last week to check it out). 
She was even glad to go to the doctor and get her shots (okay, not too happy about the shots), but knew it was part of getting ready to go to school.  At her appointment we discovered she is a pretty average kiddo- 49% for height and 50% for weight.  Go Shay- she may be the tall one in the family!

We are very proud of her today!

Fun at Ms. Caryline's

Both girls have enjoyed the spring weather that is finally here.  Days have been filled with riding bikes and scooters, going on walks, playing at the park and picking flowers.  We have dropped off scooters, bikes and helmets at Ms. Caryline's so they can ride even  more.  Shay has biking down now and we like she is training wheel free.  Lyssa is taking off on her scooter (the old one, not the new, bigger one we got her for her 3rd birthday).  The pictures below are a few taken by Ms. Caryline over the last week.

Happy Birthday Alyssa!

The baby of the family turned 3!  She is full of spunk, has a huge vocabulary, is quite the cuddler and loves to laugh.  Each night her new phrase right before bed is- "I love you, I love you so much"- a great way to end the day. We have enjoyed watching her grow and her personality is shining through more each day.  .  Happy 3rd Birthday Alyssa!

Movies, Swimming, a Jump House and Skating... What a Fun Weekend!

Shawn, Elicia, Breck and Cullen made the long trip to Duluth to hang out in Rochester for the weekend.  We had a blast doing several activities.  The kiddos got to swim at the pool, jump in the bounce house the Burn's brought, watch a movie on the wall, go to the children's museum and end the weekend with ice skating (where the Burns boys had much more talent :).  Whew.  We were so busy with activities, all the kids were asleep by 7:30--- a first in the Carroll household! We have so much fun with them (and have for years), looking forward to our summer vaca!  Thanks Burns' fam!

Mall of America

Since Brett and the girls were on spring break last week, I took a day off so we could all enjoy a day trip to MOA.  The girls didn't know about it much in advance, and it was a nice surprise for them.  We hit UnderWater World first, then off to lunch at a Mexican restaurant that over looked all the rides.  The girls loved being able to see what rides they wanted to go on.  Our biggest surprises of the day was how much Shay loved the big roller coaster and that Lyssa loved the log chute, including the 2 bigger hills.  Thank goodness, makes us feel a bit better since we just booked a trip to Disneyworld in November!

Happy Easter!

We were able to celebrate Easter 2 times this year, once with Papa Mark and Grandma Stacy and then with Amma.  Saturday we headed to the Sturm's house after spending Friday with the Pengelly family.  Our girls had tons of fun playing with Kailey and Taylor while the adults enjoyed good conversation.  All the kiddos went on an awesome easter egg hunt that included both inside and outside of the house.  Each egg had a picture of where the next egg was hidden and the last egg to be found was a picture of where all their baskets were.  I think the girls liked the hunt better than the candy, which is saying a lot!
On Sunday Shay was able to sing in church and after the service we headed over to Amma's.  A lot of dress up happened with cousins Millie and Olive, while Gus hung with the grownups most of the time.  We got home Sunday night tired, but very happy with our weekend.