Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for my book club.  What a great group of ladies.

I'm thankful for some great conversations with Kael lately.  He's seemed so grown up.  Now that he's driving to school we talked about paying for gas, how exactly debit and credit cards work and things like that.  Teenagers are fun.

I'm thankful for Kael's spinner wheel.  We have had a lot of fun playing with it and dreaming of a summer vacation!

I'm thankful for a text from my sister reminding me that I didn't post a Thankful Thursday yesterday.  I didn't know anyone really still read this besides Kent!

I'm thankful semester test week is almost over. Kael has been studying and working hard.  I'm so glad he gets out early today! Can't wait to spend the day hanging out with him.

I'm thankful Kylee's volleyball season is in full swing (see what I did there?!) because she loves the sport, her teammates and their families and her coach.  Her grade level is just full of talented volleyball athletes and I can't wait to see what they can do.

I'm thankful for Kase's friends' parents who have already been bombarding Kent with, "How can my kid get on your baseball team" texts and it's only January.  We have been super lucky the last few years with a lot of Kase's closest friends landing up on his Little League team.  Crossing fingers we have the same luck this year.  We just love the group of families and are looking forward to a fun season.

I'm thankful for the snow that's coming! I'm ready to play some fox and geese with my kiddos!

Happy weekend!

Weekend Wrap-Up

We've had a big few days around here!

Kael drove to school Friday.  I was so proud of him and he was so happy when he got home from school.  He is loving his independence! Way to go, buddy! I hope I never forget the way he walked from his car into the house saying it was one of his favorite days of his life.

When he got inside, he gifted me this cutting board he made in construction class.  I am honestly so impressed! It's beautiful!

Even Kase couldn't believe how smooth and perfect it was! Kael was so proud to show it off.

That night, each kid had a friend coming over so we used Kael's spinner wheel to decide where to get pizza from.  So fun.

Kase and his buddy Clay were happy to be part of the sleepover crew! Neither one had done many sleepovers before this.

Kylee and Genevieve always have fun together.

Most of Kael's usual sleepover gang was at a show choir event, so had just one friend over and they had a lot of fun.

My partner in crime, making popcorn for the kids.

We were so happy with how the night went.  They all got along great and spread out around the house and shared spaces too.  The next morning everyone slept in until 8:30! Kent and I couldn't believe it.  Later Kylee and I got pedicures and the boys did some errands. Later we all went to the gym, then Keith and Cindy came to get the kids to take them for dinner and a movie while Kent and I had our Edward Jones Regional Holiday party.  The kids had so much fun with Keith and Cindy and we were thankful for their help.  Meanwhile, Kent and I had such a nice time with our friends. We don't see everyone from the region often enough so it was great to catch up.

Sunday morning I was so proud of Kael- he bundled up and went to church early with Kent to help with parking duty.  Kael has just seemed so grown up lately and I just love the young man he is growing up to be.  Later that day Kase played with friends and everyone else pitched in and helped me clean the house then we watched the Viking win! Later some of us went for a walk then in the evening Kylee had volleyball practice.

I'm not sure everyone feels ready for a full week back at school but we had a great weekend so I hope we have a great week too!

Thankful Thursday

Christmas break went way too fast! Here's what we've been up to.

We cheered on the Hawkeyes with some friends. Kase was so proud to wear his Riley Moss jersey! 

Kase had his last regular season basketball games.

He was super excited to wear one of his new pairs of shoes!

He played hard and had a lot of fun.  Always thankful for the family who came out to watch him, too!

Oh, Kase.  He loves his llama shirt.

Saturday morning everyone helped me take down the Christmas tree then Kent took Kael and Kylee to his office to help take down the tree there.  It was a productive day! Later that night Kylee had a friend's birthday party, Kael had friends sleepover and Kent took Kase to Pizza Ranch and a movie.  It was a great night for everyone!

Sunday Kylee used her massage gift card while the boys went to see Star Wars.  Later that evening Kevin, Kaity and Kellen came for a visit.  Kase really wanted to show Uncle Kevin all his new shoes and the kids all had fun playing together.  They stayed for supper then we had an early night watching the old Clue movie together as a family until Kase got kind of creeped out! We all love playing the game and have been playing it lots lately but the movie wasn't everyone's favorite.

Monday I took the kids to the gym for awhile.  Kylee and Kase swam and Kael and I got a good workout in too. Later that afternoon Kylee had a team bonding outing at the Escape Room! They almost got out and had a blast together. Love this group of girls.

Then to the coach's house for pizza!

That day, Kase's Pokémon organizer came in the mail and he was so excited to sort all his cards! Later that day, while Kylee was gone, the boys and I met aunt, cousins and their kids, my mom and Tam and her kids at Urban Air! They all jumped for a long time and it was good to catch up with my Pella family.

Tuesday I took the kids to try a new Mexican restaurant in town and everyone liked it! So that was a win.  Later that night we rung in the New Year with our dear friends.

The kids are at such fun ages to play Minute to Win It games.  They are all pretty competitive kiddos and they made it really fun.  We also played lots of ping pong and darts! Love our tradition of spending New Year's Eve together.

We made it to midnight then everyone slept in the next morning.  Once we were up, my family all came over to hang out.  It was such a nice, relaxing day just catching up and having time to talk and watching the cousins play together.  We did a puzzle, played some games and ping pong, of course.  We spent the rest of the afternoon after they left going for a walk, playing outside then having a
family movie and popcorn night.

Feeling thankful we have a short two days of school before the weekend! I don't think my kids are ready to go back to school!

Christmas Wrap-Up

I have a ton of pictures to share today!

Thankfully, none of the rest of the family got the dreaded stomach bug so Kase was able to go bowling with his buddies.  What a great group of boys.  Kent and all  the dads went along and had a fun time!

Monday we spent the afternoon at Urban Air with some of our neighbors who moved away a couple years ago.  Kase and PJ had so much fun seeing each other again.  It was the perfect way to spend the day!

Kael went undefeated on this jousting platform! Currently this other kid is asking him, "Can you let me win?" Kael said, "No but you can take the first shot for free." And he still won.  Ha!

The next day was Christmas Eve! Suffice to say all five of us had been looking forward to this day for a long time.  We love our time together and the kids were all so excited about giving gifts to each other and also excited about the gifts they had for Kent and me.  We started the morning with breakfast burritos and coffee cake.

Then the kids gave gifts to each other.

Kase loved his magic set and wowed us with a few tricks!

The kids opened books from Grandpa Dean and spent the next long while reading them.  What a cozy day.

They all got personalized ping pong paddles so we had to test them out!

Kent surprised me with a KitchenAid mixer so we baked a red velvet cake.

It was pretty nice out so we went for a family walk.

Then set out snacks! Kylee loves a good charcuterie!

A few more presents were opened.  Kase was SO excited about his Riley Moss jersey and I'm glad because we had to jump through a few hoops to get it! And our awesome school principal even offered to have Riley sign it once he gets home from the bowl game.  So, so cool.

We made a quick run to Starbucks as Kylee had a gift card just burning a hole in her pocket and Kael got in one last practice drive before his test (see below). Then, we got dressed up and walked to church.  Sitting in Christmas Eve church, seeing my family's face all lit up by candles was just so special.  I love my people so much and was so proud of them.

We came home for one more quick set of surprises before dinner- we told the kids we're going to Universal and Sea World over spring break! Then we had pizza for dinner and watched Polar Express while having hot cocoa before the kids all snuggled up in Kael's room for a slumber party.

Christmas morning was the best! The kids are at such great ages- taking turns opening gifts and ooh-ing and aah-ing over each others presents.  What a special morning.

Kase scored some pretty great kicks!

Kylee was happy with all her presents.

Kael desperately wanted this speaker and was so happy to get it!

Then we loaded up and headed to my mom and dad's.

We had breakfast and played Clue and hung out for a full hour and a half before anyone even mentioned opening gifts! That's how excited all the cousins were to see each other!

Berkley was so fun all day.  Chatty and smiley.

The cousin crew!

Kylee had painted a canvas for grandma and grandpa.  It was so awesome!

Grandpa had fun with his new game.

The cousins all had gifts for each other and they did so great! Everyone was thrilled with their gifts and Huston had even decorated the inside of the box for Kael.

Kase was really sweet this year and so thankful for every gift.

Kael is always a good sport about the funny gifts.

Oh, Kent.  My parents know you so well! 'Merica!

Kylee was excited about her pedicure gift card!

Kent was the first one to figure out the game!

These two played outside a lot!

Kael got a fun spinner and worked hard putting it together on his own.

Cousin buddies!

We had fun with this thing!

The girls snuggled up on Kylee's new blanket.

We played more games- Battleship here.

And had a long football game outside!

Can you believe it was nice enough for Kase to run around without a shirt on?!

We also went for a walk and Kylee drove my dad's tractor around.  These two won the football game and it was so sweet- Huston kept wanting to sit by Kael after that and they kept high fiving and calling each other "winner".

Matching hats!

Matching glow in the dark baksetballs!

And of course, a walk out back.

The next generation of "Peter girls" enjoying a mind game and being slightly competitive.

It was such a great day spent with family.  The next morning Kylee was ready to try out her new waffle maker!

We spent part of the day at the doctor as Kase has been complaining of knee/hip pain.  Haven't heard anything back yet but wanted to get it checked out.

Lastly, Kent left work early to take Kael to the DOT for his drive test and he PASSED!!!!! I am so, so happy for him! So now he will have his school permit!! Way to go, Kael!

Looking forward to spending the rest of break with my people.