Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful that Kase is excited to share about his school projects.  He had so much fun building with "smarshmallows" and toothpicks at school that he asked me to get some to so he could do it at home.  It was the perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon!

I'm thankful for sweet friends for Kylee.  

They decorated these gorgeous cookies!

I'm thankful the kids all still have so much fun together decorating Easter eggs.

I'm so thankful for a sweet message from a neighbor, making a special effort to tell me how sweet and kind and patient my kids are with her young children.  It totally made my night! 

I'm thankful for a gorgeous day yesterday! And the day before! The kids have been getting so much fresh air.  It's sooo good for the soul.  Kase slept until 8:30 Wednesday morning- I think being outside so much is finally tiring him out!

I'm thankful Kylee's trip to the dentist went ok yesterday.  She had to get a couple teeth pulled and I could tell she was a little anxious about it.  The procedure went quickly and smoothly and she was surprised at how easy it was! Once the numbing stuff wore off though, it was a different story.  She was in some pain for a little while but back to feeling better later that night.

Have a great weekend, all! 

Weekend Wrap-Up

What an awesome weekend! Kael and my parents left early Friday morning for Omaha for the basketball games.  Kael was so excited to get out of school and to get to spend some quality time alone with his grandparents!

They had a fun breakfast on their way out of town.

And had fun exploring Omaha!

Meanwhile, back home, Kase practiced jumping rope all.day.long and got pretty good!

Kael and my dad at the NCAA tournament! So cool!

He was so happy and so very thankful for such an awesome trip. He got to see some great games too! What a fun, special weekend for Kael.  He's such a good kid and I'm so thrilled he got to experience this.

Friday  night we went to Kylee's end of the season volleyball party.  What a neat group of players, coaches and families.  We had a great time celebrating these awesome girls!

How cool is that cake?! Kylee's coach had such nice things to say about each and everyone of the girls and I was very proud of comments she made about Kylee too.  It was a really special night!

Kase got to go along to the party and had fun playing with Kylee's teammates' siblings. 

Saturday morning Kael and my parents made it back safe and sound.  (It was snowing all morning and really the better part of the day.) We enjoyed hearing him telling all about the weekend.  We spent the rest of the morning hanging around here and the kids came up with a new game for us to play- a combo of hide and seek and Nerf gun wars...so we had fun playing several rounds of that.  Later we went to the gym and the kids swam.  My dad joined us and gave us a few racquetball tips! Later we had family movie night and went to bed early.

Sunday after church we went to Collins to visit Kent's family.  It was so good to see his grandparents, especially as we hadn't made it up to Sunday dinner for quite awhile.  Came home and Kylee decorated Easter cookies at a friend's house while Kase played outside with friends.  Kent and Kael went to the gym to play basketball.  It was a great weekend!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for Kylee.  She is so appreciative of everything I do for the family.  Over Spring Break she told me I should win an award for time management and flexibility because of all the fun thing we were able to fit in!

I'm so thankful that Kael has an awesome weekend ahead.  I had been talking with my parents about some fun ideas for Kael's upcoming birthday- he will be 13 on the 13th! I had tossed out the idea of getting him tickets to a TimberWolves game, then my dad had the idea to take Kael to some March Madness games in Omaha this weekend! Kael was surprised and so very appreciative.  It really meant a lot to him that we took the time to plan something special for him!

My dad made an awesome printout of the games they will get to see.

And my mom got him this fun cake that looked like a basketball going in a hoop!

Kase was glad to be part of the action and got some of his favorite banana bread from Grandma.

We had a fun night celebrating and talking about what all they will do while they're in Omaha this weekend! I'm so excited for Kael and so thankful for my parents who are going to take him on this fun trip!

Weekend Wrap-Up, Spring Break Edition

Whew! It's been a busy end of our spring break! 

Kase helped me get out the Easter decorations while Kylee had a friend come to play.  Kael and I watched a lot of March Madness games!

Here are a few more pictures of the kids from when Kyle and Julia came over last week.

And early St. Patrick's Day surprise for the kids.

Love how Kylee's volleyball pictures turned out!

Friday morning I had coffee with a friend then the kids and I got all packed up and headed out of town! Kylee, Kent and I went to Carroll to stay with Kylee's volleyball team.  Keith and Cindy very graciously offered to take the boys to stay in a hotel with them so Kylee could enjoy time with her team. The girls had a blast swimming and going out for pizza!

And making slime, of course! We thought they could be called the Jag Slimers instead of the Jag Slammers. Ha!

After breakfast at the hotel, we got a call from Keith that Cindy had fallen on the ice and hurt her wrist.  So Kent dropped Kylee and I off at the gym then hurried to get the boys from Keith and Cindy.  We found out later Cindy had broken her wrist.  We felt so bad and we knew how badly she wanted to be there to watch volleyball.

My parents came up to the volleyball tournament.  The weather wasn't great at all so we were happy when they made it safely! They helped entertain and feed the boys and also cheered Kylee on!

Kylee's team played well and faced some tough teams. It was a really long day- we got to the gym at 8:15 that morning and played until nearly 7:00 that night.  The girls ended up third overall! It was a great day of volleyball.

She has such a fun team this year and really awesome coaches. I'm so thankful for the wonderful year and experience we have had with AVBA!

My parents had taken the boys home for us which was so helpful because we didn't get home until nearly 9:00 that night, after a victory stop at McDonald's, of course.  The boys were troopers all day and we are always so thankful for our village of helpers!

Six of the eight teams left were Ankeny teams! And two finished in the top four!

Sunday we spent getting back in the swing of things and catching up after a fun-filled Spring Break.  Then we went to my sister's house for Berkley's birthday party! Hard to believe this sweet girl is one already.  The cousins all had fun together.

Later that afternoon we went to Trail Point to swim and shoot around.  Then we finished the weekend with a family movie night! I'm not sure the kids are excited to go back to school tomorrow but getting back into a routine will be nice.

Thankful Thursday

I am SO thankful for Spring Break! 

Spring break has been so much fun this year.  I feel like we have fit in a lot of family fun and friend fun! 

Monday we went to Perfect Games with my mom and my nephew.  The kids had so much fun together and with Grandma. I'm so thankful for moments like these and just want to freeze time.  We did bowling, pizza, laser tag, arcade games...all the fun things! 

Kylee had a friend sleepover who we had been trying to connect with for a long time! These two girls keep a busy schedule and it's sometimes tough to get them together but when they are together they are just the sweetest.  They had fun twinning and playing volleyball at Trail Point!

Kase wasn't sure he wanted to laser tag but when Huston did it, Kase convinced himself to try it! They all had a blast! (And beat the ultra-competitive red team. ;)

Tuesday we packed up and headed north.  We stopped by my grandpa's house for a visit.  Kase LOVED these pictures he found of Grandpa Dean holding a huge fish and wanted to hear the story of how he caught it.  Such a special time just getting to listen to my grandpa talk all about some fun memories!

After a visit with him, we headed to Minneapolis to Great Wolf Lodge! We knew several other Ankeny families who were going to be there so we decided to head up for a day. The kids loved these fun bunk bed rooms!

And they really loved the water park.

We also had some fun playing cards in the room!

And just enjoyed spending time with our friends.

When we got back, Kyle and Julia came to visit! The kids were SO excited and surprised to be asked to be a part of their wedding this coming August! They had the sweetest gifts for the kids- a Ring Pop for Kase (to be the ring  "security", a flower headband for Kylee to be the flower girl with cousin Kellen, and an Orange Crush for Kael, who is going to "crush" it as an usher).  We had the best night with them- had some pizza for dinner then spent the gorgeous evening outside playing basketball and football. 

The spring break fun continues today, then we head to the state volleyball tournament this weekend!