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!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Oh we're so happy it's Spring Break! We've already had tons of fun!

This little monster and I have had lots of Nerf Wars. 

Can you believe that hiding under that crazy mask is this handsome guy?

Kylee and her volleyball team made blankets to donate to On With Life.  I can't even tell you what an awesome group of girls this is! We love our volleyball family, big time.

We've gone to a movie, been out for dinner with my parents, had a volleyball tournament and gone to Trail Point to swim with friends. The big kids have also had sleepovers with friends and Kase found a buddy to play with at the volleyball tournament!

Kylee's team got to vote if they wanted medals or t-shirts for winning the tournament and Kylee thought she would prefer a medal until she realized the shirts said CHAMPION on the back!

Even though it was the time change this morning, and even though we woke up to snow, we are still very much enjoying a relaxing day around home and looking forward to a week of not having to get up and get ready for school!

Thankful Thursday

I'm so thankful for Kael having the opportunity to do a solo for choir.  He has been looking forward all year to the 7th grade choir and band visiting the elementary schools and he got to go to Ashland Ridge with his group! To make it even better, he tried out for a rap solo for choir and got it! He was really excited to perform and did a great job.  I'm so proud of him.

I'm thankful for this little buddy. He is still at that fun age where he gets super excited when Kent walks in the door after work and jumps all over him begging him to go downstairs and play.  

We are {still} so thankful for our Trail Point membership! We have been out there almost every day this week and the kids are still loving it.

I'm so thankful it's Spring Break!!! We are ready for some time off from school and activities and are looking forward to clocking lots of family fun time! And hopefully some warm weather!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Here's a quick recap of what we did this weekend!

Kase got to present all of his Star Student things at school AND he stayed on green all week for their behavior reward system at school.  It was a good week for him!

Friday night Kylee went to a friend's house while Kent and I had dinner with some dear friends who we haven't gotten to spend much time with lately.  It was so great to catch up.  Meanwhile, the boys hung out with my parents and had a great time.

Saturday was volleyball! We had such a fun day with lots of family coming out to support Kylee! We loved it- they also help to entertain the boys during the breaks in games! Kael has a friend whose sister plays on another volleyball team that we see often at tournaments so he was happy to have a buddy to hang with all day.  Kylee's team played pretty well and even got the win over a really tough team!

We came back home after the tournament and chatted briefly about an upcoming vacation with the Patterson side of the family.  We are really looking forward to it! Then we had a lazy night here and had a family movie night.

Sunday after church we went to Trail Point.  The kids had so much fun playing racquetball and swimming.

Later Kylee had volleyball, Kael played basketball with a friend and I made pumpkin bread for Kase.  Seriously it's all he eats lately.  Ha!

Hope you had a great weekend!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful my dad is ok after a fall on the ice last week.  It's time for winter to be over!

I'm thankful for a night at home last week.  We have been busy with kids practices, book clubs, library board meetings. PTO meetings and last week we finally had a night at home.  The kids had so much fun just hanging out together and making a scavenger hunt and playing family board games.

I'm thankful for a visit to Kase's music class last week.  It is so much fun to see how he is at school and be a part of that for a little while. His favorite part seemed to be banging on the wood blocks!

I'm SO thankful for the nice weather.  Kylee and Kase even went outside to do a Silly String war the other day!

I'm thankful for how much time Kase spends playing Legos.  He got some new sharks with a book from the Book Fair the other night and he has been having the best time playing with them with his Lego boats.

I'm thankful for how much Kase has grown! If you can zoom in on that photo of him at all he looks so young! It's from the beginning of the school year.  He's really grown up in a lot of ways.  I'm also thankful that he's Star Student this week.  He is so excited about sharing his pictures and facts!

I'm thankful for great conferences for all of my kids. They've all had a lot of growth and been challenged this year!

I'm so thankful for our Trail Point membership.  The kids want to go out there every day to swim, run and play basketball! Kase even loves the "Kids Club".  We've been having so much family fun out there and even played racquetball the other day!

Have a great weekend!

Weekend Wrap-Up

It was a good, long weekend! Friday afternoon the kids had friends over to play after school then later Kael had a youth group game night.  Kent helped set up for volleyball.

Saturday we had a long day of volleyball.  The girls played 15 games! We were in a tough pool but the girls battled their way to third place.  It was a fun day with good volleyball and great people to spend the day with! I was thankful for Keith and Cindy coming to watch the games and help keep an eye on the boys! 

She loves being part of the team!

I was so thankful to be at our home gym and for the boys to be able to shoot around in the extra gym next to where Kylee played.  Kael drained several trick shots off the catwalk! They played basketball for nearly 7 hours that day!

Kase also spent some time perfecting how to slide down the railings.

Right after the tournament on Saturday the kids went to Collins for a sleepover while Kent and I went to the Rotary dinner.  We had a great time and ended up winning a bid for a gym membership we had been wanting!

Sunday morning we picked the kids up then headed straight to Trail Point- they were excited to try out the new gym membership! They had a great time swimming and then we also spent a little time just shooting around in the gym and walking around the track.  It was a great start to our day.  After lunch, Kael and I visited my dad and mom for awhile- it was nice to catch up with them! Later Kylee had volleyball practice.  We were all pretty drained by Sunday late afternoon so we went to the movies.  The boys saw Black Panther and Kylee and I saw The Greatest Showman.  It was a nice relaxing end to our weekend!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for a super long weekend! My kids and I really enjoyed the Ice Day on Tuesday.  They all played so nicely together and we had a blast just hanging around home.

I'm thankful for banana bread deliveries from my parents. Kase is thankful too!

I'm thankful for my job.  Working part time is the absolute best thing for our family right now and I can't imagine how much busier our life would seem if I worked full time.

I'm thankful that winter has to be over soon, right? I'm itching to get running outside again.

I'm thankful for how much Kylee is enjoying volleyball.  We all look forward to her tournaments each weekend!