Happy 40th Anniversary Dad & Mom

Today my parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.  They are currently on a mission trip in Uganda with some great friends of theirs so we had a wonderful anniversary party a couple weeks early.

The yummy lemon/raspberry, chocolate & white cupcakes along with the other delicious food. :)

A photo collage of my parents throughout their years together.

Their 12 biggest blessings in order by age - Jaren (10), Luke (9), Bethany (8), Reagan (7), Erica (6) Drew (5), Lauren (5), Hailey (4), Brynn (4), Kate (2), Klayton (2) & Makayla (8 months)

The happy couple - the pink and green hearts behind them were decorated by the grandkids.

A great day with lots of fellowship and catching up.

 

Happy Anniversary Dad & Mom!  Praying that God blesses you with many more years together!

Spring Happenings

Well, I really should be cleaning up around the house, but instead I'm enjoying listening to the birds chirping and the sound of all kids sleeping.
Spring activities are in full swing over here with field work, baseball/t-ball and just everyday life.  Jaren informed me yesterday that they are on the downhill slide for school, which made me stop and think about what I'm going to do with the kids this summer to keep us all sane. :)  Enjoy the pictures!

Jaren is raising hogs for the county fair.  They are the biggest rascals and enjoy chewing on your shoes and pants while feeding them.

Jaren's class lead chapel for the month of April.  They did a terrific job.

Erica (in maroon shirt) singing during the k-4th spring program at school.

Bethany (in orange) - same program

Jaren played the roll of Jesus in the program.

We just got two little kittens to add to our family.  The kids are spoiling them like crazy!

Trashbag is the brown one and Mittens is the gray one. (we did not name them, but the sweet kids that tamed them did). :)

Baseball is in full swing (haha).  Jaren has played a couple of games already and Erica is just starting practices.  Most weeks we have ball 4 nights a week.  Thankfully their is a cheap concession stand for quick suppers. :)

 

A few years ago, Kurtis had an Easter egg hunt in his livestock trailer for the kids.  He decided to do another hunt again this year since the kids keep telling him how much fun it was - closer to May Day than Easter, but they didn't mind.

 

Kate & I hanging out on the porch after lunch.

 The kids participated in the K-4th track meet this week.  Even though they are not the fastest runners, they had a great time and tried their best.

Of course, I had to dress Kate up in a Dutch costume for Tulip Time.

Kate & Aubrey - best friends!

Easter Egg Hunt

The kids enjoyed their annual Easter egg hunt again this year with their cousins.  Now that there are 12 of them we were very thankful that the chaos could be outside. :)

Here's a picture of Aubrey & Kate after their Easter Egg hunt at our house.

The crew ready to go hunting

Lauren, Drew, Hailey, Brynn, Klayton, Kate

Jaren, Bethany, Reagan, Erica, Makayla with Grandpa & Luke

The adults helping those that can't read...everyone can only pick up eggs with their names on them. :)

Bethany spotting one of her eggs

Jaren still on the hunt (they asked for us to make it harder this year and I think we succeeded)

Daddy helping Kate

Kate was very proud of her basket

Kate, Jaren, Erica & Bethany after the hunt.

Finger Painting

I decided to be brave and let Kate & Aubrey do a little finger painting yesterday.  They did an awesome job and loved it.  Kate kept telling me, "I know play mom, I go to paint."  One paint mess a day is enough for me so she has to wait to paint another masterpiece.

It was so amazing to see their personalities come out so strong in their painting styles.  Kate's was very organized with the colors not touching and Aubrey was all over mixing her colors. :)

The tongue of concentration! :)

Very focused...Aubrey was content using just blue until Kurtis mentioned that other colors would be pretty also.  She then started using all the colors. :)

Just a cute picture of the two girlies reading books together.  Don't mind Kate's pantsless state, she's just going through a phase. :)

Cadets

This year, Jaren was privileged to be part of our church's Cadet group.  He had a great year and thought it was awesome that Grandpa Wayne was willing to be one of his counselors.  He was able to earn six badges this year and is already starting on one for next year.  It helps that some of these badges can double up for 4-H projects for the fair also. :)
This past week he participated in the church car races and then also Cadet-O-Rama where they race their cars again and also bring badges that they've worked on.  His cadre received blue ribbons for both their badges!

One of the races for his cadre

Jaren won 3rd place for speed in the 4th grade cadre and Grandpa won 1st place in speed for the counselor group - :)  Jaren also won 3rd place at Cadet-O-Rama, but I was not expecting it so I didn't have my camera ready for a picture.

The cadet group from our church

6 of the 8 cars in the 4th grade group

Getting ready to race at Cadet-O-Rama

Closing ceremonies - a bunch of counselors and cadets from Hawkeye Council