Big weekend around here! Wednesday and Thursday Kael spent some time with my parents in Clear Lake and at the A frame. Kael got to drive the boat which he loved! He also had fun catching fish.
What a good big cousin.
Working hard!
Captain Kael!
Thursday Kase had his fifth grade awards ceremony. Proud of him for his Safety Patrol captain award and also his citizenship award! He begrudgingly gave me a smile- all of us moms were trying and failing to get our kids to look at us and actually smile then Kase finally did!
Friday was Field Day! Kase got to run a station which he was so excited about. It was a beautiful day for it and he came home tired!
Friday evening was Kael's grad party! You guys. I am SO happy with how it all went. Huge shoutout to my setup/cleanup crew! Couldn't have pulled it off without them and also everyone who helped refill food and stuff during the party. Truly thankful for our village.
The church was the perfect location to have the party and Kael had a playlist all made for it!
These two were a big help too!
Central table- go Dutch! Shoutout to Connie and Cliff for bringing donut holes from Pella- they were a hit!
Kael looked so handsome and so grown up and he did such a great job receiving guests and chatting with everyone.
These two have such a special bond!
The fam!
Jethro's and Crumbl were great! We had just about the perfect amount of food.
And what a turnout! It was a steady stream of people all night. Kylee declares it to be the best grad party she's ever been to. Best food, best location and most amount of people.
Happy to see some of Kael's good buddies!
So many friends, family, neighbors- what a great night.
The tall ones!
Best friend Gabe.
Crew boys! Their families totally showed up to support Kael and even stuck around to help tear down at the end. Thankful these guys came to help entertain Kase and get a little ball game going during the party!
Cliff and Connie were just rock stars all night. Helping with setup and tear down and listening to Kael play guitar- so, so special. Love these guys and Kael can't wait to visit them when he heads to Central this fall!
Kael's youth group mentor stopped by at the end too! Love how many people made the effort to come see Kael.
Wow! I think Kael was surprised and thrilled with the amount of cards and gifts he got.
And then, the perfect end to the evening- we got the mail and found out Kael had gotten four scholarships from Central!!! So cool. I couldn't be more proud of him.
So happy for a successful party for Kael. We had a great night. Saturday morning Kael had to work and the rest of us stopped by my nephew's baseball game for a bit. Then we had several grad parties to hit. Later that day I took Kylee and her boyfriend and his little brother and Kase to the Briarwood pool. They had fun but the pool heater was broken so they ended up going back to their house to swim for awhile then all came over to our house to grill, play wiffle ball and ride Kase's scooter. Fun night!
Sunday we all five plus Garrett headed to the A frame. It was such a beautiful weekend and we caught so many big fish!
Kase had the first fish of the day.
A nice bass for Kylee!
A huge Northern that Kylee caught!
Squad. Kael named us the Patterbears. Because we call Garrett "Gar-Bear". So when you add the Pattersons plus Gar-Bear you get the Patterbears. So clever, Kael!
Kase caught one off the floating dock!
I taxied it in to Kent to take it off the hook.
Kids all swam a little when it got hot in the afternoon.
It was such a beautiful day for pictures!
Simms and Mom and Dad came over for a bit. Cute cousins!
Then we all went for ice cream and to visit the condo in Clear Lake. So blessed to have this crew and these fun places to visit!
When we got back to the pond Kael caught a Northern right away!
Sunset kayaking.
The twilight pictures are always the best!
At Grandpa Dean's favorite spot.
We had a fun, easy night catching a few more fish and looking through old photo albums in the A frame. Kael had to go home since he had work the next day but the rest of us stayed over.
Kylee and Garrett each caught some nice bass right away this morning!
Then Kase went out on the kayak and we heard him get really excited- he had a HUGE catfish on the line! He got it into us so we could help get it off the hook. So cool!
Kylee and G had fun driving the gator around for a bit.
Kent on the board with a Northern this morning too!
Then Kylee, G and I headed for home since they had afternoon plans. Shortly after we left I got this picture from Kent. Kase caught a big walleye! Wowza!!!
Happy guy. He loves this place. He and Kent headed home midday and Kylee and Garrett were having a pool party with friends at his house for his birthday.
Aren't they cute?!
Fun group of friends.
Meanwhile, the rest of us went boating with our friends! It was a beautiful day on the water.
We tubed, swam and just had the best time.
We all grabbed dinner together in Polk City after then of course, ice cream at The Creamery- our favorite way to end the weekend! My heart is full and my people are tired. Excited for the last day and a half of school to be done and be in full time sumemr mode!
