April Photos

Selfie with Wyatt ~ Cousin Sleepover ~ Movie date with Kindie Friends

Magformer Fun ~ Hammock Time

Easter projects ~ Trash Truck vs  Millie ~ Egg Coloring with cousins

Kindergarten Goes to Kaleidoscope

I love the Kindergarten to Kaleidoscope tradition! I did it in kindergarten, Grant did it, and now it was Wyatt's turn!! What made it really special was that they got to be gone ALL DAY! A special thing for those half-day kids! They got to walk to school with the big sibs that morning (also special!) and then hop a bus to Crown Center! Us moms met them there, since before our Kaleidoscope fun, they got to see Elephant and Piggie at the Coterie Theatre! I wish I could've been in on that because we have LOVED Elephant and Piggie for years now!! We greeted them outside the Coterie and then headed to Lunchland for lunch!

I love their little class family! All sitting together at one giant table! This was such a great group of kids! They were are a little family!

 After lunch, we meandered our way through Crown Center to Kaleidoscope!! We had the place to ourselves for a little bit until another school showed up, so that was nice!! Wyatt and I had been earlier in the fall with my mom's group, so he had a few things on his checklist he knew he wanted to do, so he ran from area to area and I just followed his lead.

By the time our hour was up, Wyatt was definitely ready to go. This whole all-day thing is tiring for him!! So they hopped on the bus and headed back to school. They had the option to stay for the rest of the day, but he insisted he wanted me to pick him up when they got back to school. I did, but then he and Rex just played at Angela's until it was time to walk back across the street to get the big kids! 

This will always be one of my favorite memories of my kids in kindergarten! I can't believe the year is already almost over! Kindergarten is just the best!

Grant and Mommy Movie Date

Grant and I have gone to see most of the Disney Nature movies when they come out each year. He loves them all, especially if a monkey is one of the characters!! This year, the movie was Born in China and he'd been wanting to see it since we first saw the preview a few months prior! So we picked a time, and made a date! To the movies we go!

We practically had the whole theater to ourselves! We were able to snuggle and giggle as loud as we want!! And we did- that monkey TaoTao was hilarious and oh so cute! Grant asked for a Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey as we were walking out!

I love special date time with my big fella!

Last Meet- Regionals!!!

The boys had their last meet of the season and what a great season it has been! They all were pumped and ready to rock! Their confidence in themselves and in their confidence as a team just grew and grew this season! It was so much fun to watch!! All the boy did SO great! 

Wyatt placed 1st out of 9 in his age division. He had his highest score of the season with a 55.7 and he had a personal best on rings with a 10.3!

 Grant placed 5th out of 6 in his age division. He finished with his highest score of the season with a 50.8 and he scored his personal best on vault with a 9.2.

 Their team placed 2nd overall, just two points away from 1st place! 

 Grant got to bring home the team trophy because he got his back hip circle on the high bar for the very first time! It's a skill he's been working on for two years now and because his legs house 2/3 of his body weight, its always been hard! He was beaming from ear to ear when his team chose him to take the trophy home!! So proud Bub!

We are SO proud of our boys and how hard they worked ALL season long! I love gymnastics because while its a team sport, your individual achievements keep you working and striving to get better and better! We can't wait til next meet season!

Mommy Journals

I started journaling with the boys. Each one has a spiral and we write notes back and forth to each other. After we write in it, we will put it under the persons pillow and then we just keep swapping back and forth. Wyatt's first few entries were like, "I want to go to Great Wolf Lodge," or "When we can we go to Build a Bear?" or "I like swimming." I had to tell him it was a place for us to discuss things or tell special things to each other- not what's on our wish list!! After a few days, he got really good!! I teared up most nights as I went to read his entries!! Here is a small sample of his cuteness!

To say I will treasure this journal forever is an understatement!! 

My Birthday!

While I don't make a big deal about my birthday, its always a fun day with my family! I had to work that morning and while I was at work, Wyatt and Mimi planted some pretty flowers for me! Wyatt even made me a cute sign!

 Mimi and I were able to run to BoLings and TeaElla before I had to get the boys from school, since it was early release. After I picked them up, we went to Mission Southside to drop off donations and then I took the boys to Chuck E Cheese because they had been wanting to go FOREVER, so it was a great day for that (plus, we had the whole place to ourselves!) Wyatt hit a ticket jackpot- woohoo!

 After Chuck E Cheese, the boys had gymnastics practice and then we headed to Pizza Shoppe for dinner!

 During homework time, Wyatt made me a cake :)

Birthdays are fun, no matter how old you're turning, but spending special time with my family is what I love most!!

Mission Southside

For the boys' birthday party, they collected travel toiletry items to donate. We had planned to deliver them to the Kansas City Rescue Mission, but couldn't find a weekend to get out there as a family (and its not in an area I'd like to go by myself with kids) so we decided to bring our donations to Mission Southside in Olathe. They typically have a "drop box" style of donating, but I wanted the boys to really see and understand where their items would go. So we came inside to drop off. One of the men who works there told the boys about how there are kids in our town, maybe even in their school, who can't afford toothbrushes, or soaps, etc. Their parents have to make the tough decision to buy food or toiletries and most often, the toiletries are luxury items. That was so eye-opening for them and I am so glad they were able to make a difference in another child's life! Mission Southside even wrote about them on their FB page:

Later that day, Wyatt said, "I was so close to crying tears of joy. I was on the 9th stage. The 10th stage would be tears of joy. I was on the 9th stage when we left the donation place because I was just so happy. I was so happy because this was just such a great day! Everything was so great!"  

They are already thinking about what to collect next year!!!

Easter Lego Story

A few years ago, the boys made the Easter Story out of Legos and they thought it would be fun to make one this year. They also did a "live action" video as they told the story. It was so cute! I love their understanding of the story and all the little details they don't overlook.  Like all the guards are the stormtroopers ;-)  Not pictured is the giant curtain since I took these pictures after their live action movie and the curtain was, of course, broken. 

This was the scene of the crucifixion, and the guards casting lots for Jesus' garments as the townspeople look on.

This is where Judas hangs himself. See- no detail overlooked. 

 This is Pontius Pilate talking to the high priests.

This is the angel at the tomb (and the guards passed out) telling the two women that Jesus is not here, He has risen!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter! We celebrated at church on Saturday evening and the boys wore collared shirts AND non-athletic shorts!! It was an Easter miracle!!! And even our church encouraged Levi and I to take a church selfie before service! I'm glad we did too!

 Sunday morning, we did our usual egg hunt. There were LOTS of eggs to find this year and the Easter Bunny did not go easy on those boys!  They literally had to hunt for them!! 

 We spent the day rejoicing in the miracle of the Resurrection. The boys each told us the Easter story in their own words and then we finished the night by watching the Easter episode of The Bible. We praise the Lord everyday for sending His Son for us!

New and Improved Fairy Garden

The boys and Mimi have enjoyed putting a fairy garden together over the last few years! Now that Mimi and PawPaw live with us, we've tried to find the best place for a fairy garden here. This year, its  in a new and wonderful place! The boys and Mimi worked SO hard to get a wonderful garden together. It took them a few weeks to tweak it here and there (and these pictures don't even show all the tweaks!) to get it looking beautiful! A few special visits from the fairies have also brought some fancy new items to the garden as well! It's a fun tradition everyone loves!!

GO FISH!

Grant's class finally had their musical and it was SO cute! There is just something about children singing together that gives me chills! But put kids in costumes, with choreographed movements, and catchy tunes- I'm hooked!! Their show this year was called "Go Fish." The premise was that a shark wanted to be friends with everyone in the ocean, but everyone was scared of her. That is, until everyone realized it was what made them different that made them all special! I mean- SO CUTE!!! Grant was a clown fish- very fitting! It was just the cutest performance and I'm so glad I have the video of it to watch for years to come. Because I'm sure I will :)

Sister Time in Chicago!

It had been 7 years since I'd seen my dear friend, Erin. 7 YEARS!!!!!! When Sara said she had booked a trip to Chicago to visit Erin, I knew I needed to do the same! We took a weekend and soaked up every second with our sista friend!!!! It was the most beautiful weather we could've asked for! We spent the day at a sitting on the front porch of winery just down the street from her house, and walking around their cute little downtown area. It was the most perfect getaway, immersing ourselves with girl talk, memories, wine, and friendship!! Can't wait to do it again!!

 Things may have gotten a little weird at this point....

 And that was all the pics we took! Not pictured- eating chinese and sushi later and rolling ourselves out so full, sitting on the front porch, playing baseball with Patrick, watching the new Ghostbusters as well as the originally, and a really long discussion about the movie The Skulls.

Miss you already Ginger SnaP*

A Beautiful Night of Play

We had quite a few beautiful spring days so far and we try to enjoy them to the fullest when they happen! This day was SO perfect, it was one of those days where it was so hard to pull them inside to shower and get ready for bed, since it was a school night. I wanted to stay outside til the sun went to sleep, but I resisted! It makes us so hungry for summer break! We can't wait!