More Soccer

Benjamin has become quite the little scorer! Off he goes....

to the goal!

Love the fierceness in his face.

Anna was really cute in her Purdue sweatshirt that she wore to the game.

Benjamin as always did great and had a wonderful time!

Tent

The kids had Easter money from their grandparents and when we went to the store to let them pick out their goodies, Daddy got an idea. He asked if they would all put their money together so that we could get a tent. I was surprised that he convinced them, especially Anna. We had yucky weather for a while after we bought it, so the kids were so excited to finally put it together. Dave and Benjamin ended up doing most of the work, as Collin and Anna had other things they needed to do (see Collin in the background).

Collin is fascinated by bugs, ones that crawl I should specify (he is ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED of anything that can fly...even the smallest gnats!). When Dave and I went on our little trip I got the kids each something from the museum and found this little bug catcher for Collin. Here are Collin and Anna after they discovered their first "catch".

He was so excited!!

Collin decided to help once he realized there were large sticks involved....

Good job guys!

Discovering all the sleeping space we'll have. It's a huge tent!

The kiddos are very pleased with their purchase!

I imagine there are going to be a lot of adventures that take place inside there....

Here's an example of how much they anticipated building their tent. They played "camping" the afternoon before building it. They used an old pull-ups box as a camp fire and each came up with their own creative ways to make a bed.....

Sheep Farm Field Trip

After a cold early morning soccer game we came home and had hot chocolate. It was a hit!

Collin would always stay in his bed when he woke up and cry for me and Dave just like it was still a crib. Then he all of a sudden realized that he's free to come down whenever he wants. It was a cute milestone at first as he was very proud of himself (that's the picture below), now it's kind of a hardship as he knows he can get out of bed when he wakes up and when he gets put to bed. So we've been spending a lot more time working on that and hopefully will win the battle before the baby comes!

We took a field trip to a sheep farm on their shearing day. We were so fortunate to get there just in time for the baby cows and lamb to be fed. Anna was in just the right place and got to feed one of the cows with her big brother's help. I like how Benjamin has such a serious look here listening to all the info on the cows and Anna just has a look of pure joy!

The big kids got to have their first horse rides too. They've both been on ponies a number of times but never an actual horse. They were both fearless and loved it!

Anna, my little cowgirl, was in heaven!

Collin was terrified! He has been getting so scared of things lately....strangers, animals, flies. The animals (especially the sheep making all their noises) really upset him. My mom and I took turns holding him a distance away from all the big animals. He did enjoy making a crown from the weeping willow branch.

 

When he got scared we would come over and visit this little guy. He would pet this bunny and talk to him. It was pretty sweet.

You can't see it very well, but here are Benjamin and Anna watching the sheep get their summer cuts.

Anna wanted me to take her picture with these cows because she thought her Daddy would want to see that they were longhorn cattle.

* Special thanks to my mom for coming up and giving me back up so we could visit this beautiful farm!

A Rare Parents Only Trip

We wanted to go to Cincinnati for a homeschool convention they have there. It can be quite overwhelming looking through all the curriculum so we decided it would be easier without the kids. So we left them at home with the grandparents and enjoyed a couple of days just the two of us. It was really nice to have this time especially with a baby on the way! We stopped by a small town on the way there that Dave has always wanted to go to because they have a tree growing in their town hall.

We left in the morning and spent all day at a museum center they have in Cincinnati. It was a lot of fun to spend time doing adult stuff at a museum at once! (no children's museum for us this day!!!) We also caught an IMAX film while there.

We went through a traveling exhibit on Pompeii that was really intersting and then went through a mock cave and ice exhibit.

Couldn't resist being silly even if the kids weren't there.....

After the museum we got to hear Mike Huckabee speak at the convention which was a really amazing experience!! The next day all we did was homeschool stuff, but it was still a great time being together just the two of us and exciting to plan our next school year.

This & That

We went to a wedding that had a photo booth with dress up items. The kids LOVED it!!!

Of course the boys boogied down!

Anna is in love with weddings and even got to dance with the bride. See the joy on her face?

Aunt Kelly and Cousin Luke came to Benjamin's soccer game with Grandma and we all enjoyed a yummy ice cream treat afterwards.

Benjamin is doing amazing at soccer and loves it so very much!

Dave bought Anna some shin guards and soccer socks so that she could start participating in practice. There's usually at least one kid missing so she makes it even teams when they do a mock game. She's pretty pleased about this development!

Anna is pretty impressive out there too. She's a year or two younger than all the other kids, but she isn't shy or scared out of participating. She stays right there in the thick of it and tries her best!

Easter Festivites

We had a fabulous three-day weekend celebrating our Savior. On Saturday we had a busy morning with a pancake breakfast and Easter egg hunt at church. The kids love this!

Collin took off this year and went to town finding as many eggs as his little hands could grab. When I caught up to him though he only had three eggs in his basket. The poor guy must have dropped all of his eggs when he was bending over at some point! He didn't waste time though and quickly started refilling his basket!

Anna took off to an area by herself and quickly got to work!

We came home with plenty of candy!

The Easter Bunny is kind enough to go down to our basement to fill the kids' baskets and hide eggs. Here they are coming down the stairs all excited (after waiting patiently for us to let them wake Collin up)!

Benjamin is really into Angry Birds right now and was overjoyed to find this in his basket!

Her brothers keep breaking her wands, so Anna was pretty excited to find a brand new one!

Collin enjoyed looking through all of his new things, but he was so very confused. He just kept asking where the bunny was. We had told him the Easter Bunny was going to come the night before and he thought there would be an actual bunny when he woke up!

Gotta have a chocolate bunny!

Collin has been wanting his own cowboy hat (to keep up with his Jessie-loving sister) for quite some time and this one is even red (which he still LOVES)!

Three happy & blessed kiddos!

Collin thought he was pretty big stuff when he found his very own Spider Man!

After some yummy breakfast (which Dave was kind enough to make for us while the kids and I explored their basket contents some more) and plenty of sugar, it was time to get pretty for church. Anna looked so adorable in her dress!

And the boys were so handsome in their matching shirts!

I think this is one of my all time favorite pictures ever!

Collin has so much personality! Sometimes that leads to frustrating fits, but most of the time it just brings lots of smiles!!

Benjamin is seeming so much older. He really understands things now and loves reading his Bible and learning all about Jesus, which made Easter even more special!

I think this face says it all!

Collin and his girlfriend Avery enjoying an Easter kiss!

That afternoon we had lots of fun coloring eggs.....

We had a very blessed Easter!!