Outdoors!

We are just LOVIN being outside this spring…  We love smelling the fresh air, feeling the warm sun, running in the green grass, and seeing the pretty flowers everywhere!  Spring is truly an amazing season after the cold, dark, dormant winter! We LOVE the change of seasons!

A few weeks ago we went to The Stufflebeems to celebrate Sherri’s birthday… here are the kids on their horse!

Even Josiah wanted a turn to ride… we were SHOCKED!!!

Then, of course, there are all the fun times outdoors at our house….

Hannah had just hurt her lip so she didn’t feel like smiling!

We LOVE being outside… I am so thankful for a fenced in yard so the kids can play and play without having to worry about them much!

Terrible pictures, but great program!

I truly wish I could have had better pictures of the closing program of AWANA, but we will just had to live with the ones that I have.  (We have great memories of that night but lousy pictures!)

A few weeks back, we had the closing program of AWANA. We were so proud of the effort of our girls learning Bible verses and doing their sections.  We are so blessed to have children who love the Lord and desire to learn His Word.  Hannah finished her Cubbies Book and will go on to be in the second year of Cubbies in the fall.  Hannah and her group sang the Cubbies song… she did the best of the class, of course!  We had a little video of this as a great way to remember her and her little friends!

Grace finished her Sparks book, then finished the review of her book, then she finished the extra credit cards, then she memorized Psalm 23, then she memorized Psalm 1!  She had a FANTASTIC year!  She would have done MORE, but I didn’t let her finish her first book until right before Christmas – I would let her only say 3-4 per night –- what a mean mom!  :)  She got a special Sparkie pin for her extra chapters that she memorized!  She is a dream student!  SO PROUD!  She will be headed to the first grade Sparks next year… she already working on memorizing the books of the OT so she can know that in the fall!  Working ahead… what a girl!

 

Here is Caleb with Glenn.. one of the men in church who serves in nursery each week….we are blessed to have friends who love our children!

Then he was snuggling with another girl from church during the program… had to get that picture too!

A T Rex named Sue…

We had been waiting and waiting for Nanna and Grampa to arrive in Des Moines so we could go to the new Dinosaur exhibit!  The kids and I had seen the large dino from the glass windows as we passed the Science Center on our way to the Library for weeks, but we FINALLY got to go inside to see it with Grampa and Nanna.  Check out these fun times from the Science Center.

Digging for dinosaur bones… and then identifying what they found!

We tried to keep Caleb from eating his weight in rubber mulch!

Off to the other parts of the Science Center!

We worked together to build this arch…

I LOVE Dad’s face… He looks so proud! HA!

Saying Goodbye! :(

We had a FABULOUS time!  We didn’t have the weather that we were hoping for, but it was restful for my parents and we have a great time altogether!  I think this should be a post-tax-season event EVERY year!! 

It's Time for Veggie Tales...

Josiah is in LOVE with Bob and Larry from Veggie Tales.  From the time we talk about going some where to the time I am backing up the van to leave the garage, he is asking to listen to Veggie Tales.  He loves them... even though he has only seen a handful of the videos.  He loves the music and can be heard singing them over and over.   Yesterday, he woke up from his nap singing  LARRY BOY... which would have been cute if he didn't wake up Caleb!

This morning he was singing and singing the songs, so I decided to get a little video of him.  I had Caleb on my lap so it is a little wobbly in places -- SORRY!  But I think you will get a little glimpse into the heart of our third born!  :)

He Even Does Play-doh?

I don’t think I have ever seen my dad play with Play-doh, but I had heard that he was pretty good at it when he plays with it at church.  Now was my opportunity to see him in action!  He WAS pretty good.  He makes some great golf clubs, a golf bag and a fantastic golf cart.  We didn’t make him do much else!  Even Josiah was impressed… that is really saying something!  :)

Grace showed Grampa all about Tangrams as well… they worked together to get the REALLY hard ones too!

Games, toys, puzzles, snacks, movies, outings… what a fun-filled time with Grampa and Nanna!  There was SO MUCH spoiling going on… the kids hated that!