Up, Dressed, and Out the Door!

Up, Dressed, and Out the Door describes my big, school kids everyday....however, today at 7:15 AM this describes the younger two also. They took their breakfast of champions (cinnamon rolls!) to the tree swing to eat. They were worried about the wind (this explains the hats) and the dog getting ahold of their food. Noelle says, "Chief not eat my cinnmn roll.". They make it look fun to be little!

Little League Opening Day

Baseball Time! WooHoo!
Yesterday was team pictures, a little leaguers parade, and hot dog picnic in the park to kick-off the Little League season. Josh is the coach for Caden's team this year.


They are having fun!


Papa Trent and Grandma Joy came to Bloomfield to eat a hot dog with us in the park.

Julia the mean/funny sister

Noelle was sitting on my lap nicely. Julia gives her a big, ol' shove to the floor and says, "Get the cat off of the table! I hate red cats, and Noelle is a red cat!"

What? I have no idea where this came from!

A Priceless Friend and A Busy Bunch of Kids!

My friend Jamie from Dubuque and I met halfway between our houses yesterday to hangout. The kids enjoyed several hours of play at the Children's Museum in Coral Ridge Mall. We had a yummy lunch and enjoyed being Mommies together for the day. We decided that in 10 years we would miss "mommy trips" like this when you drag 5 kids into a consignment shop just to have longer girl time with a best friend!

Isaiah taught Noelle about baby owls...


Julia was very proud to get to the top of the climbing wall.

An attempt at getting the kids to sit for a picture. Minus Naomi, who had a head on collision with Noelle resulting in a lot of blood, tears, and a fat lip.
This farm room was definately a favorite spot.

Levi is precious! I got to hug and squeeze the new China boy! He is such a happy, fun little guy! He is 5 months older than Noelle and they are very similar in size. They enjoyed following each other around. I enjoyed the chance to encourage Jamie (in person) in her new mothering role. She is doing a wonderful job! Levi seems well adjusted and very comfortable with his Mommy and Siblings. We have cryed and prayed and cryed and prayed over the phone in these last few months. God has blessed my friend!

And of course....a new pink/fluffy JuJu dress equals a successful trip to Iowa City!!

Garden Time!

Noelle awoke from her nap on Sunday afternoon to rows and rows of seeds not yet covered with dirt. Notice she has her back towards Dad while investigating. Josh and I spent from 1-5:00 yesterday afternoon in the dirt. This is a $50.00 garden, and will feed us vegetables from May-next April. The work is sooooo worth it!! I encourage you to garden!!

Lazy or Clever?

Well, my husband thought it was CLEVER! Our grass needed mowed, so he opened the gate and let the sheep mow. He was pretty excited about work getting done on Sunday without him having to lift a finger! He will not be the one stepping on turds all week while pushing kids on swings!!!

What did we do tonight?

Josh tilled, Caden mowed, and the girls showed their bellies to the sheep.

Gettin' Ready

Our neighbor plowed up our garden spot for us, so I am anxiously awaiting for my hubby to finish tilling so we can plant this years garden. It is one of our favorite family activities and teaches the kids about planting/harvesting/and healthy eating. The girls enjoyed playing in the tractor tire tracks today. They wore their white dress shoes and dresses and played "Grandma (Julia) and Grandpa (Noelle)".

You can see in the distance the beautiful countryside of which we live in Southern Iowa. It is such a fun time of year watching the hills turn green and the distant trees growing color. Here Julia is hollering out, "Come on, Grandpa!". What a hoot they are to watch!

Today Noelle said to me, "Mom, I happy!". Hmmm....maybe she saw me digging through the cupboards just to get my "make me happy" chocolate fix!

Videos of Noelle

I am mainly posting these for myself for future reference. I think Noelle is transitioning right now into a "big" girl! She eats up reading and repeating. So cute, so cute!!!!!!!!!

"I Dressed!"

Everything lately is, "All by Myself!". This morning she disappeared and came back to announce, "I dressed!". As you can tell, she is picking up her sisters style!

What a nice day!

I hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday! We had a beautiful family day! The weather was nice, church was great, we ate way too much food at Grandma's house, and we had fun with our kids. What a great day and a marvelous God!

All will be made ALIVE in Christ. 1 Cor.15:22

After eating Empty Tomb muffins and searching for the #12 empty resurrection egg, we gave out Easter baskets and since that consisted of baseball equipment....everyone headed outside at 8:30 AM for a baseball game!




At last....Julia has her own fishing pole....no more fighting now, right?!!! We'll see about that!

1st Fishing Trip of the Season

What great weather to go fishing! We are very fortunate to have access to ponds on Great Grandma's property where we live. We loaded up the back of the truck tonight and off we went!

Noelle disturbed the fish by throwing rocks into the water.


Miss JuJu-little Miss purple polka dot pants-bugared up this fishing pole somehow. I turned my back for just a second! She spent most of the evening pouting, because Macy has a pink Barbie pole and she "wanted her own pole!!". Little does she know that the Easter Bunny is bringing her one in the morning, HA!


And the first catch of the year! Caden was pretty excited! He caught a big Bass...

and a little one!

We watched several geese come and go from the pond. Oh boy, summer will be great!!

Sunday's Comin