I Enjoy Being a Girl

Costume? Check.

Makeup? Check.

Tights? Check.

Ballet Shoes? Check!

Hair in a bun? Well, almost!

Dance recital time is here again and today was the big day for our little Maddi Belle! This year there was a change of venue due to the horrible flooding last summer, so the performance was held at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids. The girls did SOOO great and it was so fun to watch her in our "VIP seats!" (ok, we got lucky and scored some awesome box seating with lots of leg room and great views). Even her brothers were so excited to watch her dance and were troopers throughout the *long* program. Afterwards, Lars went up and told Maddi that his favorite dancer of the whole show was her! WOW!! How sweet! Makes a mom proud! And who can forget the flowers that Lars gives her after every show as well. That has sort of become "his" thing for her and it is pretty darn cute! Anyway, here are some pics of the whole process, including studio rehearsal and pics *post* recital! Enjoy...

T-Ball Practice, Here We Come

So this afternoon I told the kids to go get ready for our marathon 3 hours of back-to-back baseball practices. As I was getting myself ready, Maddi came into my room and announced that she was, in fact, "...ready to go!"

Continuing Education

So last weekend I had to go to Des Moines for a continuing education meeting. Lucky for me, one of my dearest friends lives in Urbandale so she hooked me up with a bed at her house and Friday night and we had a GNO (girls night out) with some other high school friends that also live in Des Moines.

We had a great time catching up, as a few of these girls I hadn't seen for years! Thanks to Facebook I do get to at least know a little about their lives but it was definitely more fun to see them in person. My conclusion is that I should do more CE in Des Moines so I can see everyone more often! :)

Thanks for a great night Kelly, Stacey, Steph, Brooke, Christy, and Tristin!!

Nickelodeon Universe

We spent the last day at the mall going on rides and then capped off the day by going over to our cousins' house for dinner. The kids had a blast playing with Abby and Ella and Jamie and I always enjoy time spent with Jen and Todd. It was the perfect way to end our stay in the Twin Cities, and Lars already wants to go back to LegoLand (doesn't really matter WHICH Lego store, quite honestly). We had a blast watching the kids have so much fun and can't wait to decide what's in store for next year's Spring Break. I vote tropical...stay tuned!

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls...

So Tuesday evening we went to go visit the Hahns, some good friends of ours who used to live in Iowa City. They now live outside Minneapolis in Hudson, WI and we decided that it would be fun to go on a little 1 1/2 mile hike which ends at this awesome waterfall. Sounds great!!

When we got to the trailhead we didn't realize that the trail would still be covered with snow...which was melting...which made it slippery...on a trail that went *steeply* downhill. You get the idea. The big boys and Hannah thought it was a blast, little 3 year old Eli, not so much. Maddi did ok because daddy helped her, and of course I had on capri jeans and no socks with my shoes. Good idea!! At one point, Nikki gave me a piggy back ride through a whole bunch of water because her feet were already wet. I must say that rocked--thanks!

That being said, we made it to the bottom with no major catastrophes occurring, and the waterfall really was amazing. You could tell lots of snow upstream had been melting because the run off was pretty intense, but to be outdoors, hiking in the woods...that's good enough for me!

Mall of America

Well, we finally made it into Minneapolis on Monday evening so after we ate dinner we headed over to the MOA to scope out our plan of attack for the next few days. We had given each of the kids a certain amount of money to spend at the mall or wherever they wanted to on our trip so they were very excited to start throwing those bills around. Lars only cared about one thing---LegoLand, (and for some dumb reason I took no pictures of him at his beloved store!), which is the one place we probably visited the most at a whopping 5 times in 2 days time. Can you say, "Indecisive"? Jamie and I also had to laugh because Lars was the first one to have all of his money spent. Jamie tried to tell him to spread it out and make sure he got to look at all of his options, but there was no changing his mind. By mid-afternoon Tuesday, he had a new lego set, a new webkinz, and 3 new Bakugan. Wallet empty, he was thrilled!

Tuesday morning we went to the Underwater Aquarium which is in the mall and also decided to take a special *behind-the-scenes* tour and see the kitchen where they prepare and store the different types of food for the animals and then go see and watch them actually feed some sharks. Drew really loved the aquarium! We topped of that day's visit to the mall with lunch at the Rainforest Cafe which the kids thought was awesome!

Next Stop...

Minneapolis here we come!!! Apparently they DID burn enough energy to get them a little sleepy for the 3+ hour car ride to our next hotel...

Family Pics

Just some random pics of the aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Climbing Ropes

The second day at the Dells brought refreshed levels of energy for those age 9 and under, while the parental figures were dragging something fierce. The dads and Uncle Matt were courageous enough to take the kids back to the waterpark for about 90 min while the girls packed us up for check-out, and then we met everyone in the indoor amusement park for a few more hours of fun before we left.

One of the coolest things there was a ropes course that Drew tried out and had a blast on. He was very brave and made it all the way up to the third level! The littler kids did the ferris wheel and carousels, and all had a great time. Thanks goodness the parents could sit down and watch because we were all worn out!

PJ Time

All worn out after a long day at the waterpark, the kids were ready for bed--just a parting shot to show you how exhausted Gabe and Lars looked before bed...

oh yeah, and note the *matching* High Scool Musical pj's aunt Penny bought for Lily and Maddi--a big hit with "my-life-is-a-musical-because-I-break-into-song-and-dance-any-chance-I-get" daughter.

Braid Away

Maddi was *thrilled* when she saw the braid station--she wanted one instantly although I wasn't even sure they could get one in her hair because it is so fine. Once we had confirmation that they could, in fact, put one in her hair, it was all systems GO!

Here is Maddi with her hair braid! She was so proud to wear that thing and fling it around like it was real hair! Ahhh...the simple things.

Kalahari

The first stop on our Spring Break adventure was the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells. We were originally supposed to take this trip at Christmas with the Kain Family, but it had to be postponed due to weather. It worked out great adding it to the front end of our trip to Minneapolis and the kids got to spend some time with their cousins.

The kids are finally tall enough to go on most of the rides and of course Lars likes to do all the slides his brother does. The favorite was the "Master Blaster" and I am sure that those three flights of stairs to the top were climbed at least 30 (no kidding!) times in the 8 hours we spent there.

Basketball

Drew played basketball again this winter and was on two different teams--a rec league and a more competitive league. Needless to say we kept very busy running to practices and games and such, but it was fun to see how the boys' skills improved and to watch them grow as a team, run actual plays, and just have a good time.

At the end of the season the coaches threw a very nice party for them and gave each participant a trophy and a certificate with a nickname they had picked out just for them based on their performance. Drew was named "The Glove" because when he played ball he was always right on everyone with his defense--he stuck to the opposing team like a glove!

Next up...baseball, which starts next month and will have all three kids playing. Drew will move up to the next level where the boys will actually start pitching to each other, and Lars and Maddi will be on the same T-Ball team. Look out ballpark, here we come!

Happy Valentine's Day

Lars at his school Valentine's Day party! Looks like they need some more candy!!

Winterfest

I realize it has been awhile since I have posted on my blog, but it is not for lack of news. Probably quite the opposite--I have been too busy to sit down and write. Unfortunately the stuff I have been busy with is not really newsworthy as most of my free time has been getting all my tax documents ready for my accountant. Talk about dull!! Anyway, I'm done now so hopefully more "newsworthy" moments can fill my brain to write about. (Also, I have been receiving threatening emails from the Grandma person wanting to see pics of her grandkids!!)

Last weekend our town had it's 2nd annual Winterfest celebration. We decided to go check it out for something to do on a Sunday afternoon. Being that the thermometer couldn't make it past about 15 degrees, we were thankful that there were indoor activities as well.

I took just a few pics of the kids with the random snowman guy that was walking around, and the kids did enjoy climbing into the old fashioned cars that were housed in a museum where winterfest was being held at. Not really sure what the connection between late model cars and snow is, but the kids had fun and it got us out of the house. Anyway, enjoy!