April Happenings

Batter up!  This was Kaleb's 3rd year of baseball.  It's coach's pitch for 5 or 6 balls, then they bring out the T if the kids need it.  Kaleb needed the T just a few times in the beginning and was getting so much better at hitting from a pitch this year.  I can definitely tell he is getting stronger because he could swing the bat with some force this year, too.  As always, Kaleb had a blast playing baseball (and talking with his friends, playing in the dirt, trying to slide into home, etc).  Keith enjoyed being able to coach Kaleb's team for the 2nd time.  Coaching 6 yr olds is a lot different than coaching 4 yr olds!  I have a feeling this won't be Keith's last time coaching:)  He really enjoys teaching Kaleb about the game and telling him stories from when he played.

Go Volcanoes!!!

We had a terrible storm here in April...I mean so bad we thought a tornado hit!  I was watching all the hail come down through the back door window when all of a sudden the hail started coming right at the window.  At that same time Keith was looking out the front door and saw a huge gust of wind/hail sideways.  It freaked us both out enough that we ran upstairs, grabbed the kids out of bed, and took cover in the downstairs bathroom.  Just a few minutes later it all stopped.  We put the kiddos back to bed and went outside to check things out.  That's when we found out the the storm destroyed one of our trees, Karson's plastic playhouse, and the kids wooden playset.  

Here is a picture of all the hail.  It was still there the next day!

Our poor tree totally ripped off it's trunk and the playset upended and twisted.

Luckily this tree didn't hit the deck or the back window.

This playset had no chance.  Mind you, it was all the way in the back of our backyard...now it's right up against the neighbors house!

Morning after the storm.  It's hard to tell from the pics, but the playset just wasn't knocked over.  It was literally pulled out of the ground, twisted, and broken.  The monkey bars were all torn off and the screws were pulled out of the wood.  Crazy!

Tons of leaves covered everything from the ground, house, driveway, etc.  Just plastered.

This is now our new "modern" tree art:)

Thank the Lord it was just a really bad storm and no one was hurt!!!

On to happier things...making pizza!!!  The kids concentrated very hard to make their pizza perfect.

Time to eat their creations:)  Needless to say, they ate every bite!

Every month the Principal chooses one child's writing from each grade level to display on the Principal's Writing Board.  They are chosen from the work displayed outside of each classroom.  They are posted in one of the main hallways for all the kids to see and read.  Kassidy was very honored to be chosen in April!  It was a cute little story about Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Anyone who knows Karson knows he LOVES Cars!!!  So as a late b-day gift we got him Cars bedding and decals for his room.  He absolutely loves it:)

And speaking of Karson, here's our little Superhero!

Stay tuned for May Mayhem:)

Easter 2012

 Easter is a great time to teach our kids about Jesus.  We try to keep our focus on that, but we also do some fun, traditional Easter activities from our childhood.  My parents always hid our Easter baskets around the house which was so much fun:)  The kids seem to enjoy hunting for them.  Kassidy found hers in the dryer, Kaleb found his inside the little ottoman, and Karson's was under a table.

Enjoying some yummy candy and small toys. 

 Off to church!  If you know Kaleb well, you know that he is not great at taking pictures with people.  He has so many faces...silly faces, straight faces, really cheesy smily faces, etc.  This is best we could do that morning without being late for church!

 Karson really loves his new mohawk!  Kaleb wanted one, too, but Daddy accidentally cut his hair too short.   

 After lunch we headed out for an Easter egg hunt at the church parking lot by our house.  We could not be very creative in hiding places, but they still had fun anyway.  We definitely need a better spot next year!

 Too bright for Kaleb.

We are so thankful for Jesus and everything that entails.  How amazing that God had to endure such pain for us...he loves us that much!  It has been fun teaching the kids more and more each year.

Early Easter with Grandma

 We had a super fun weekend with Grandma.  My pics from bowling are a little blurry but you can see them in action.  I forgot how much fun it is to get out there and bowl!  Here's Karson bowling with Daddy.  Notice how happy he is that he got a strike in the next pic!

 Grandma surprised the kiddos with Easter baskets:)  They loved their new crafts, candy, Peeps and cool beach towels.

 This pic just cracks me up!  Can you find Karson?  He's pretty much climbing in the bag to get his goodies:)

 Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!!

 It was a beautiful, sunny day so we grabbed our 5 loaves of bread from the Dollar Store and headed out to feed the ducks.  Boy, do they love bread!  The ducks and geese were swimming all the way across the pond to get some food.

 Look closely in this pic above Karson's head and you'll see why his loaf of bread didn't last long...he was throwing the whole piece at once!  Haha!  I had to teach him the proper technique so it would last longer.

 We even saw a curious little turtle:)  I don't have a picture of this, but Grandma did happen to catch it on video.  I was just minding my own business feeding the ducks when suddenly this goose decides to take off flying, right at me!  Of course I screamed and ducked down luckily so it missed me.  Grandma was taking a video of the kids and got the tail end of the attack.  That will be a lasting memory for sure!!!

 One last stop downtown before Grandma had to head back home to Ohio.  It's always such a pretty background for a pic and the kids get to enjoy some water fun:)

Thank you Grandma for coming to visit us!!!  We had a great few days with you.  We love you so much:)

Look, Mom! No training wheels!!!

 That's right!  Both Kassidy and Kaleb learned how to ride without training wheels...all in the same day!  Kaleb really wanted to try and was so determined to do it that it only took 1 or 2 tries.  He was even starting, stopping with the brakes, and turning like a pro in no time.  Kassidy saw Kaleb do it and decided she could do it, too!  After a few tries she caught on and now they're both riding like they've been doing it forever:)  It's so nice to be able to go on a bike ride and have them actually make it all the way around the block without stopping now.  I can even jog slowly with Kassidy riding her bike beside me.

Karson is still too short to ride a bike but isn't he cute on his Raptor?!