OK....well this is the last few days of April and all of May!! The kids and I decided (at the last minute) to run/walk the United Way/YMCA 5K in Osky. I pushed the two littles and Addie ran next to me. After the race their were inflatables, prizes, William Penn cheerleaders, lunch, etc. Lots to do! Addison also ran the kids race!
Here she is after the kids race....I think these pictures got out of order, but that is OK!
Here she is running by! Two laps at the PAC!! Great job Addison!
Addison waiting (in the purple) before her race started.
Nolan on the inflatables. He is blurry in all because he NEVER stopped moving! They had Penn athletes running the inflatables and he only wanted those boys to help him onto the slide!
Down the slide....NO fear!
AGAIN!
Here we are before the race. We survived. I realized after the race that I pushed 60 pounds of kids in a trailer with two flat tires. OY! That was NOT fun!
The very next day the girls and I were in DSM and a large storm blew up in Osky. A tree in our yard was completely uprooted and fell onto our shed and swing set.
The whole town was out of power until the next day. Trees were uprooted or broken all over town. They said straight line winds, but man.....that was some strong wind!
Nolan's baby swing was demolished. He told everyone was saw that his swing was "cracked and he had to get a new one".
Mess of the tree in our yard
We spent Sunday afternoon/evening outside since we had no power. We were cleaning up what we could in our yard and checking on our neighbors and helping them clean up their's as well.
The next morning my BIL and FIL came with chainsaws and a trailer and we cut up the top part of the tree. More firewood I guess!!
End of Monday with the tree and swing set mostly cleared. The rest of the tree was SO heavy and stuck in the ground that we couldn't lift it.
One morning Lauren and Nolan played really well together with little doll house. Nolan enjoyed putting his trucks in the house and for once Lauren allowed him to put his trucks in it!
Nolan had a rough day though and spent a lot of it crying like this on the couch.
A few days later we got Nolan's hair cut super short for summer. What a change for him! We love it!
My BIL, FIL and Adam worked again together to cut up the tree and then lift the root ball out of the ground. We are so grateful for all their help getting everything cleaned up and out of the yard!
Then they loaded it up on a flat bed to haul away.
Nolan kept busy watching and playing in the sandbox.
Then they worked on pulling the shed up and off the lawn mower so we could get it out.
A total stranger showed up and help the guys lift the shed off and helped them push the mower out of the way. We have no idea who he was or where he came from, but he was helpful!!
The mower just had some scratches on the hood and the seat was a little bent, but it was in good shape!
Then they demolished the shed and hauled it off in pieces.
Here is a picture from above of the root ball on the trailer. Not great through the screen.
Here was all the shed in the other trailer.
The next day Nolan and Adam worked on fixing the mower seat. Nolan was excited to get out his John Deere tool belt and "help" Daddy.
This was just another day in the sandbox. Nolan LOVES the sand and spends almost every day playing in it!!
Just a silly face from the little guy.
Bravely one afternoon Nolan tried scissors for the first time. He really did great with them. I know the girls were trying scissors at this age so we probably need to be doing more of this!!
Addison is playing little league softball again this summer. She loves it! Here she was at third base. She got two outs at third base at this game. She really did great!
Adam had been really busy planting and hadn't seen the kids for days and so we sent him a picture one morning while we were waiting for the school bus.
Lauren brought home a beautiful marigold in a decorated pot for Mother's Day. A great friend also gave Nolan the lilacs to give me for Mother's Day. Such sweet gifts from the kiddos.
One morning Nolan wanted to get himself dressed. He did a pretty good job until I realized that he had put both legs in one leg whole. It was hysterical!!! He had no idea anything was wrong!!
Our church hosted a wonderful Mother's Day garden party. We invited Mammy, our Mom and Grandma, to join us. Such a nice morning!! Lauren was being shy here at the beginning.
In our effort to have healthier snacks at our house we decide to try to make smoothies. Our first was banana/peanut butter. The kids and I loved it!! Adam gave it a thumbs down.
Another softball game. Here is Addison out in the outfield at Pella. We have had really warm and beautiful nights and really chilly games too!!
To celebrate Adam's birthday we went to Ames to Hickory Park for his birthday supper and then to Jack Trice stadium to watch Frozen with a few thousand of our closest friends!!
We were late so we sat on the hillside. It was still warm and a beautiful night for an outdoor movie!!
Nolan was mesmerized by the movie.
Finally Papa J and Daddy got the swing set rebuilt and back into commission. We made it a bit longer and added a couple new swings to jazz it up a bit. Now that we have three kids it is nice to have three different swings for them to play on. They love it!
We spent one very warm morning at the playground in Beacon with great friends. It has the rubber tire chips on the ground so these two were filthy by the time we made it home!!
Addison made a wonderful card for her 2nd grade teacher before the last week of school. I just asked her to sign it and write something if she wanted to. This is what is wrote above. It was kind of a rough 1st trimester day in and day out for Addison. Her teacher and counselor really worked with her to help her through everything. So I am glad that her favorite things at year end are "all the things".
Both girls have been SO blessed with wonderful teachers every year. This is Lauren's second year with Ms. R. Oh how she loves her. Here was Lauren's last day of 3 year old preschool. It was hard for all of us not to have some tears!!! She has really helped Lauren grow and start to come into her own!
On Lauren's last day of school we spent the evening out at the ball fields. One of our great friends from church had a ball game in Osky so we went out to watch her play and cheer her on!!
Here are all the kiddos together after the game!!
Then we picked up some Jimmy Johns and headed over to the Elementary school playground to eat and play. I can't believe they are all big enough to ride the tire swing together! Time is moving SO fast! After playing for a little while we headed to the Lacey complex for Addie's late ball game. It was a beautiful night to be outside!!
It was Memorial Day weekend and we really didn't have much planned since Adam needed to be in the field. Sunday afternoon he was finally home and so Addie and I took the opportunity to run to the bike trail for a quick ride. We both were surprised at how much easier it was than we thought. It was a great workout and we had so much fun just the two of us!
For the past three or four years we have had Momma robin birds build nests up under our awning. It is a really safe place for a nest and we have so much fun watching them! This year the Momma had FIVE babies! I couldn't believe they all stayed in the nest! Here is the last baby getting its feathers ready to leave the nest!
Just three kiddos clean and happy after bath time!!
Finally the last day of school! Addie had to go to school a couple of days after Memorial day because of snow days. Here she is with Mrs. R after the last day. She was a wonderful 2nd grade teacher and Addie really grew this year. We are so thankful for all she did to help each one of them learn and grow!
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