Father's Day

Father's Day Breakfast in Bed Menu:

Omelet (FOUR eggs, scallions, red peppers, and hot sauce)

Hash browns cooked in lots of butter

Muffins

Bowl of Fruity Pebbles (courtesy of Lars)

Coffee

Dad of course LOVED it, and the awesome cards the kids made with all my scrapbooking supplies. Well done kiddos!!

No Lazy Days of Summer Here!

School has been out almost a month and I can't even begin to understand where the time has gone! Well, ok, that's not true--it has been filled with travel, camps, days at the pool, and baseball for all three of them. WOW! Whoever coined the phrase *Lazy Days of Summer* DEFINITELY did not have three young kids in their house!

Anyway, when I came home from work yesterday I was greeted with two big announcements from my kids. The first was from Lars. He announced that he had passed the deep water test at the pool and showed me the signature "yellow band" that they wear (see pic). He was grinning from ear to ear! In my mind he's still too little to swim in the deep end! He was so proud and he even jumped off the high dive. Way to go Lars!!

The other announcement was from Drew. Yesterday was his last day of Iowa basketball camp and at the end they always have an awards ceremony. Well, he had already won an award for Hawkeye Camp Hustler of the Day earlier in the week, and his team didn't get off to a very good start in their tournament so he assumed he would not be getting any awards on the final day. Much to his surprise, his team rallied back on the final day and ended up winning the whole tournament so he ended up getting a trophy! Drew had a blast and can't wait to go back next year!

While I don't see any lazy days ahead, we sure are having fun amongst all the chaos! Before I know it I'll be stocking up with school supplies...but not before we set out on at least a few more adventures!

Denver

Snacks and new books for airplane =$30

Airplane tickets for 4 =$1000

Hanging out with family and friends in Denver = PRICELESS!

My kids and I had the best time in Denver these past few days and even though dad didn't get to come and we didn't do any *mountain* things, we definitely enjoyed our trip! It was nonstop from the moment we touched down...

swimming pools

parks and playgrounds

watching movies with friends and family

staying up waaay past bedtime

having Uncle Alan go through his baseball cards (he literally has hundreds of thousands of cards! and over 300 signed baseballs!)

trip to the zoo--the hail storm was no extra charge :)

dinner at Casa Bonita

a ride on the light rail--which my children found comfortable enough to sleep on!

and losing a first tooth. FYI--the Tooth Fairy pays more in Colorado

Whew!

When do we get to go back???

Upper Iowa River

For Memorial Weekend we went to Decorah, IA for some camping and kayaking on the Upper Iowa River. Except for a little rain Saturday morning, we had perfect weather and were able to do a four hour trip each day. All the kids and our dogs had a great time and we finished the weekend off with some pizza at Mabe's and some Dairy Queen to "fill in the cracks" as my friend Tina likes to say :) You are talkin' my language girlfriend!!!

Kinderfarm Graduation

On Friday, May 22, 2009, Maddi graduated from Kinderfarm Preschool! She was so excited to walk across the stage with the homemade graduation hats they made. She really had a blast there and during the final week of classes they got a new pot bellied pig. They named her Pearl because she is white. Maddi came home from preschool telling me all about Pearl. I told Maddi that one of her teachers had told me that she was named Pearl because she was white. Maddi immediately disagreed and said, "No mommy, she's pink!" I assured Maddi that the whole reason she was named Pearl was because she was white, but Maddi became insistent that she was pink. Not wanting to cause an argument, I waited until Maddi went back to school a few days later and was telling her teacher this story and she laughed and said, "Well, she is supposed to be white, but she got SUNBURNED over the weekend!" Ahh...pink, of course.

T Ball Blast

Lars and Maddi are on the same t-ball team this summer. Truth be told, Lars could have moved up to the next level but since Drew also plays baseball, I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of three kids in three different leagues. Lars is probably the biggest kid on his team and always whacks the ball to the outfield. He thinks that's pretty cool. Being in the outfield doesn't really interest him that much though, maybe his future is in pitch hitting. On a side note, he did tell me he wanted to sign up for wrestling camp this summer, because he wanted wrestling shoes. As long as he has a reason I guess!!

Maddi actually loves t-ball, and is so proud of herself when she doesn't need to use the T to hit the ball. The coaches pitch to them 3 or 4 times first, then only bring the T out if needed. Maddi has also toned down her game day outfit, but still insists on wearing pink Hello Kitty socks. Hey, at least we got her to not bring a purse. Baby steps here, folks.

Unfortunately my pics are not that great but you can appreciate Maddi's socks in one of the pics at least. Maddi is number 1 and Lars is number 12. Also, both of these pics actually show them MISSING their pitches--after I just bragged about them above! Go figure!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

I have officially decided that I have the best family a girl could ask for! I'm not sure how a day could have been more perfect, or how a mom could be made to feel more loved than I was today.!

We started off the day one of the best ways I know how; in church worshiping an AWESOME God that is so willing to take care of our every need if we just let Him. All He asks is that we seek Him out and place our trust in Him. "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." Matthew 6:33-34. In the words of Beth Moore (for any of you that have done her bible studies), "Can I get an Amen?!"

After church, Jamie took the kiddos out to do a little shopping for mom. We were kind of sneaky this year as I had gotten a free iPod nano with some credit card points I had redeemed, so I saved it and told Jamie to have the kids "give it" to me for Mother's Day. Since he didn't want me to know everything I was getting, he took the kids out and had them pick out some accessories for it, and then they each picked out a plant/flowers for me. Drew got me an asiatic lily to plant (one of my favorites), Lars got me a huge pot of gerbera daisies (another favorite!), and Maddi got me a planter filled with a bunch of different annuals that is perfect for the morning sun I get on my porch. I also had SEVEN Mother's Day cards from them that they had made.

After gift opening we went to lunch at a mexican restaurant where we needed to get confirmation (for Lars' sake) from the waitress that Ole! and Hola were in fact two different words with two different meanings. Apparently he thought they sounded similar enough depending on where you put the emphasis (I guess??) He of course didn't believe me... Anyway, with him satisfied, Maddi then reminded me that for her birthday lunch last August we went to a different mexican restaurant where they put the "muchacha hat" on her head. She of course meant a sombrero, and they did in fact put a huge one on her head while they sang to her. Maybe I should ask Santa to bring Rosetta Stone for my kids next Christmas!

After lunch I got to spend my dream afternoon in the yard planting my new plants, and then it was time for brats on the grill, cooked by chef Jamie! They were awesome! Unfortunately, he had to go in to work tonight so after he left I just hung out with the kids watching a movie until bedtime. Lars sat in my lap, and Drew laid down with his head on my leg. Maddi was also close by, and the love that I felt for my kids and from my kids was truly amazing!

It was definitely a Happy Mother's Day!

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!