Happy 30th Birthday Dana!

Last week, my sister turned 30! Happy Birthday Dana! I'm so glad you are my sister! Love you!
To help her celebrate, we went out for supper. Doni even came back for the occassion (well, really she came back for work, but who's counting!)














Here is a cake she got from a friend that makes cakes! Yummy!



















Well, I thought we "had to have cake" for her birthday, so ordered a cake from a neighbor. (surprise)



















A girl can't have too much cake on her birthday!
Luckily Dana has lots of friends to share both yummy cakes with!

Easter

Easter Sunday started out early for us. Our church has a sunrise service, so that means church starts at 7am. I also was a part of the Easter choir, so practice was at 6:30 am. Wow - good thing we went to bed early!
After church, the youth group has a fundraiser and serves breakfast. YUM!
A picture of the kids with their Easter clothes.



















While we were at church, the Easter Bunny left some goodies for the kids.
(Allyson knows that it is mom and dad - because she saw one of the gifts in my room - but she still thinks its fun!)














I love the kids facial expressions in these pictures - Caden is super excited to find the "Alvin and the Chipmunks movie with girls" and Allyson loves her new American Girl Doll (Bitty Baby) outfit (just the one she wanted!)














Next, we went to my grandpa's house for dinner. It was great being with family.
Allyson and Aimee playing Polly Pockets while waiting for dinner to be ready.














Great Grandpa helping Allyson reach some eggs during the egg hunt.



















The weather was gorgeous, so we also had part of the egg hunt outside.














Sorting out the candy from the eggs...






































Let us not forget the real reason we celebrate Easter!
He is Risen! Hallelujia!

Welcome Brayden

Just before Easter, our friends had a baby. Allyson and I and Kara and Elsie went to visit them at home and bring them some goodies. The girls wanted to play with some tractors. (shh! We won't tell that they only had red ones - both of the girls families are GREEN tractor people!)














Isn't Brayden a cutie! What a precious gift from God!

Feeding lambs

A little over a month ago, the kids had the opportunity to bottle feed lambs. They thought it was so much fun!















































Caden was a little disappointed that Allyson's lamb drank most of her bottle, but his lamb wasn't that hungry. On the way home, they were asking when we could go back and do that again!
Hopefully we will get the opportunity again.

Visit with Santa

I have been MIA for a while now - rather than play "catch up", I will just start posting again.
Last week, we went to a festival of trees. There were so many pretty trees.
This one was decorated in NightHawk colors - the school colors of the school the kids attend this year.



















This one was so creative. It is tires decorated with lights around them. The business that decorated it is a Tire shop. (The kids wanted this picture for daddy - how thoughtful!)



















The visit with Santa was fun.
Caden told Santa he wanted a Hot Wheels Race Track with cars for Christmas.
Allyson told Santa she wanted a Hannah Montana doll with blond hair. (she already has a brown haired one).

Zhu Zhu Pet shopping

The kids have Zhu Zhu Pets on the top of their Christmas wish list this year.
I received a tip from Candi that Wal-Mart was going to have them featured in their Sunday ad, so I did some calling and found out that a somewhat local store had some and was going to be putting them out at 12:01 am. A friend and I ventured out on Saturday night at 11pm. (that is late for this mom!) We found out that they were giving out numbers, and there was a limit of 2 hamsters per person. Well, my friend didn't want any, but she got numbers anyway because I was trying to get some hamsters for Candi as well.
Yeah - they had 32 hamsters and we both got 2!



















What a fun adventure. I couldn't do that every week because I was sure tired the next day, but I would say it was worth it. My girlfriend (Amy) and I had some great girl time!

Sunday Dinners

Sunday dinners at Grandpa and Grandma's are always good. It usually means grandma's homemade mashed potatoes, some sort of meat (usually roast) and lots of good sides.
This past month, we had our last dinner at Grandpa and Grandma's house before they moved to the condo.
It was so nice outside, that after lunch, the kids (big and little) played outside. Allyson kicked the football with my cousin Jesse, and had fun spinning with my cousin Trent. (Caden was home sick with daddy).




















































I was even able to get a picture of Carly in her "cute outfit".

Halloween photos

Wow - it has been almost a month since I have posted. Where have we been? HERE!
just keeping busy with life.
Here are a few pictures from Halloween.
The kids didn't have school on the Friday before Halloween, so they were able to go trick or treating to the hospital with their friends. They had a great time. Since I work there, I was able to be the "guide".














Allyson and her friend from daycare - Maddie



















Here are the 3 Scooby Doo's! Braedyn, Mitchell, and Caden.



















Caden was sick (H1N1) on Saturday (Halloween) so we stayed home and just watched movies that night. He was also sick the whole next week, so we pretty much laid low and tried to get better.

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight, we carved a pumpkin. The most fun for the kids is digging out the "guts" and saving the seeds to eat later. They both do a great job. Caden digs right in and gets all dirty. Allyson is a little hesitant at first because the "guts are slimy" but soon she is digging in too.






































Here is our finished pumpkin.















Caden was so excited after taking this picture - he looked at the pumpkin and says "Mom, it's like a Jack-O-Lantern".

What we've been up to...

This past week, Allyson was sick with mom/nurse diagnosed H1N1 flu. She had fever, cough and runny nose. She was out of daycare for a week, so daddy stayed home with her in the mornings while Caden was in preschool and I went to work. Then daddy would go to work in the afternoons and me and the kids would be home. Thursday, Allyson went back to school and has been doing well since. She still has a little cough, but it gets better every day.
By the middle of the week, I had to think a little harder for things to entertain - Lite Brite was a hit - also iron beads kept us busy. I think we made 4 cats and lot of other random things.














It has been rainy and this was the view out our window one day.














The kids wanted to take a couple pictures of each other.