Happy Easter!

How did my Easter Lilly know that it was Easter today...weird! One of the two buds bloomed the other one is a little late.

The easter bunny brought Kenna a small watch, some candy, a bell for her bike and some small garden tools. We are going to plant seedlings later today!

Zachey got a water bottle, some candy and some big boy underwear (we can only hope :)

Happy Easter all!

Chloe's Birthday

Saturday was busy! After Living History Farms, we had Gona, Baca, Auntie Em, Mark and Kade over for lunch. No real reason, just everyone was going to be in Ankeny so thought it would be fun!

After that was nap then off to Chloe's birthday at the playground. Its an inflatable party place, and the kids loved it. The kids slept well that night! Not sure if it was all the business, or the two meals of pizza and lemonade they had that day, but they were tired!

--there are three rooms, bouncy houses and slides-- 

--then a treehouse with slides and obstacle course--

--kenna knew some friends from school, so she really had a great time!-- 

--kiddos eating pizza and cake--

Living History Farms

On Saturday we went to the living history farm easter egg hunt/easter celebration. We tried to get there early, and this year the weather was not much better than the last time we went :) It was windy and chilly, but the kids didn't seem to care. We had to pay to get in, but once we were inside there was tons to do and eat. Everything from popcorn to breakfast burritos to milk and brownies to soda. The kids both got to do an egg hunt, we saw animals, went on a horse ride, and met the easter bunny (a couple different ones, a few different times...)

 --waiting in line, sporting her bunny ears from Eski--

--meeting the easter bunny-- 

--pausing inside where it was warm for a snack-- 

--kenna's egg hunt was ridiculous.  She filled her whole bucket with little toys and candy--

--after kenna's 5-6 year old egg hunt we went to the smaller kids one, Zachey got his eggs and was almost blown away-- 

--big sis helped-- 

--the petting zoo was almost comical. The larger animals were knocking over kids to get the food and cornering the bigger kids. Josh got attacked by a lama and a large sheep got Kenna...surprised no one was more upset :) -- 

--another easter bunny-- 

 --going on the windy horse drawn wagon ride eating popcorn, the kids ate a lot of crap that day--

Not sure it was worth the $20, but the kids seemed to have fun! I think I would have been more into it if it wasn't so darn windy! Maybe next year?

Zachey Sings

Zachey LOVES to sing. He is actually quite good at harmonizing and picking up on words. This is a very crude video, but caught him this morning singing to himself. Often when he goes to bed he will sing a few songs while laying there, and he and Kenna are often caught singing along to Disney tunes or Glee in the car. They both know all the words and harmonies to "Don't Stop Believin'" Very cute!!!

Earth Day

Kenna must have been learning about saving the planet on earth day. She has been extra excited about recycling, taking short showers etc. The tip of the iceberg happened yesterday. On the way to soccer I forgot to grab her soccer ball so we drove home quickly to get it. I just opened the car door, ran to the garage and grabbed it and jumped back in (never closing it.)

I get a lecture when I get back in the car! Mom - you should have closed the door! There are only a few polar bears left! You left the door open and let the hot air out and it is melting all their ice! You don't want them all to die do you? I love polar bears!

Between giggles I asked how we could help the polar bears? She said that we needed to keep the earth cool and make more ice for them to sit on. Or we could raise some as pets in our garage and buy them lots of fish to eat, digging them a pond in our backyard.

I didn't do the conversation justice as she was.so.intense! But I am glad she is concerned about the polar bears and the heat that is escaping from my open car door :)

Are you a Doggy?

Today Zachey and I stayed home from Eski's. He was coughing last night around 11 and coughed so hard he threw up a little....I thought, oh no...is this the flu? Well today he has been nothing but energetic and fun, so I am thinking it was a fluke.

He was upstairs playing in Rylee's kennel, locking himself in and saying "ruff ruff." I asked "are you a doggy?" He says "no momma." I said, "are you a boy?" He says "NO momma, I Zachey." Well, I guess he told me!!

On a lighter note, because he is fine, we are still going to have a date night tonight. Eski is going to keep the kids overnight and we are going to dinner and then to the broadway show Rock of Ages (with tons of 80s music.) Supposed to be hilarious! Considering we have something every day and night for the next two weeks..will be nice to at least see my husband :)

Kenna's Dance Photos

Saturday morning was Kenna's class appointment for their pictures. She looked so cute in this year's recital uniform. Her class was quite adorable :)

--what a cheeseball-- 

--she ran into Chloe and Abby, friends from another class--

This dance studio is so large there are 3 classes of 20 girls this age...can't wait to see them all perform this year at steven's auditorium!

Kenna's First Sleepover

Yesterday Kenna had her first official slumber party. She has spent the night at Gona and Baca's, Auntie Em's and Eski's, but never at a friend's house without Josh and I there playing games and taking her home prior to the next morning :)

Sadie and Zowie are two friends (who just turned 4 and 6 respectfully.) They used to go to Eski's house before Sadie started preschool, and their little brother Quinn still goes there. They have been at Eski's a few times over the last few weeks and have really had a great time playing with Kenna. Well Jason (their dad) asked if Kenna wanted to spend the night. Kenna agreed, but I asked him if he knew what he was getting into....4 kids under the age of 6?

Well, we took her over there at 4:30 yesterday and it sounds like they played hours of dress up, made home made pizzas, played outside and with their dogs, and watched the Swan Princess. Then they stayed up way too late with Kenna and Sadie creeping down at midnight!!

Jason did say she had great manners and was one of the best pick-er-up-ers he had ever seen..so hopefully she gets an invite back, despite the late night :)

We didn't get any phone calls, I am happy that we raised such an independent little girl, but it was a little too quiet and slightly sad this morning to wake up without her in the house!

Some of My Favorites

Zachey has a few catch phrases that just make me smile:

"Shut/Open da door"
"straw-da-berries"
"tank you"
"mamma/dadda/nenna where are you?"

We caught a few on tape :)

80s Day

So in sort of typical Josh fashion, he ventured out last night at 8pm in search of 80s clothes for a theme day at work. I think he rocked the look quite well :)

--his hair wasn't quite long enough to rock the flock of seagulls look, but he mastered the wave--

 

--not bad for a quick trip to goodwill and walmart ;) --

Zachey Moments

I did a lot of reflecting today. My back has been bothering me so much that I haven't been able to play as much as I would like with my kiddos, but it really shows me how truly independent they have both become! I can ask Zachey to go upstairs and get his socks and he will, I can ask him what he wants for lunch and he can tell me fairly clearly...where did the years go?

All this reflecting hit a high point as I was most likely "nesting" and going through all the little boy baby clothes. I put all the 0-3 month ones in Baby 3's closet today and I came across the outfit that we brought Zachey home from the hospital in. I burst into tears...not a cute nostalgic trickling tear cry, but a whoa is me my baby is 2 cry....

I don't know how I am going to handle the third, and most likely last, baby hitting the same milestones. Fairly certain I will be a tearfilled mess at those times....sorry hun....:)

Kevin's 4th Birthday

For Kevin's birthday this weekend we went to Outdoor Adventures. It is an indoor showroom for large playgrounds that closes on weekends just for birthdays! We had cake and pizza and subs and the kids ran off all their energy, was quite fun :)

--It was a superhero party so they wore their superman shirts--

--Zachey shooting hoops--

--kids eating pizza and cake (preggo Brandi in purple shirt) --

--baby Katie (Kevin's sister) getting in on the action--

After Kevin's party we headed to party #2. Tali turned 18 and we went to Gona and Baca's to celebrate. The kids rode four wheelers with Baca and Auntie Em, we had snacks and ate cake and Tali got a laptop and trip to Mexico...pretty cool for an 18th birthday!!

--Kenna thought it was hilarious that she had to hold Baca's belt--

--found the action setting on my camera that let me get some jumping shots of the kiddo--

Today it is 75 degrees outside and I have like every window open. Kenna and Megan washed our car and are running around getting all sweaty. Had to take a picture of our first day of shorts!!!

I Guess Its Officially Spring!!!

Although we have only had a few really nice days this year, Josh is braving the wind tonight for an after dinner bike ride...considering Z weighs almost 30 and Kenna weighs almost 40, and the bike carrier is probably close to 20lbs....he has quite a load to pull!!! I just LOVE that they both fit in there though, what fun!