Jillian and Steph's Wedding!

Way back in June we celebrated Jillian and Steph's wedding in Washington D.C.  Despite the picture above, Will and Kate were beyond excited to fly to D.C.!!!  Will just has a tendency to fall asleep in the car.

Our flights were on time and great!  I have admit, my kids are great travelers.  They are use to the airport craziness, security and  proper etiquette on an airplane. 

After we landed in D.C., we took the Metro to the hotel. Nothing getting the true planes, trains and automobiles experience :) 

Our room wasn't quite ready when we got to the Marriot Hotel, so we took a walk and found a great little pizza place to grab a slice and enjoy a little picnic in the park. 

We enjoyed a fun dinner with all the family that evening and then found a yummy ice cream shop as we walked our way through Georgetown. 

The day before the wedding was a girls day!  We headed back down to Georgetown for manicures and pedicures.  Kate and Teagan really had a lot of fun!!

On our way to lunch, we walked by D.C. Cupcakes.  We didn't quite feel like waiting in line so I just snapped a pic instead. 

The rehearsal went well and then we headed to a fun restaurant for yummy appetizers and lots of fun and laughter.

June 26th was the BIG DAY!  We awoke and started to get our fancy wedding clothes on.  I may be biased, but I think this little guy looks pretty handsome :)

All of the kids looked great!!!

Off to a beautiful park for wedding pictures;

Darcy and I were in charge of making sure the pics went quick and smooth.

I don't have any pics from the actual ceremony, but it was beautiful!!!!  Jill and Steph were awesome and the kids read a children's book together and sounded great!

The food was really delicious and the dancing went well into the night.  We all had SO much fun celebrating together!

The kids probably would say the candy bar was their favorite food of the night!  Can we say SUGAR HIGH!!!!

Last Day of Kindergarten and 3rd Grade 2015

Catching up again....... Way back in June we celebrated the end to another school year! 

Will graduated from Kindergarten!!   Their school had a super cute little ceremony for the graduates and he loved every minute of it. 

Will absolutely LOVES Mrs. Miller!  She was the perfect fit for Will to get him excited for learning, yet keep his high energy spirit under control as well.  Thank you Mrs. Miller!!!

Will and Pax definitely made a name for themselves their first year in the building.  Not only are they next door neighbors and best friends, but they look like twins and were in the same class this year.  I think a few of the teachers confused them a bit.

He really was excited to have me at the celebration.... REALLY!

And we carried on the tradition that we started with Kate with a trip to the Dairy Queen afterschool to celebrate the end to a great year!

And Daddy was able to join us for ice cream!!  Not many pics of Kate with this post.  She has reached the age of "it's not cool to have your mom in the classroom taking pics on the last day!" stage of her life.  She had a great year with Mr. Hoover.  It was definitely a new experience having her first male teacher, but she truly enjoyed it!

And later that same week, Kate finished up her spring soccer season.  She started on an all girls team this spring with her same Coach Cory.  They did really well and had a blast playing together. 

Way to Go Fireballs!!

Fun and Be Fit Day!

This was the first year I had two to watch at Fun and be Fit Day at school this year.  Will has been a spectator for many years now and was so excited to actually get to participate now!  He loved all the fun events!

Will has made so many great friends in kindergarten and always loves his time to play with them outside.  

Despite his stature, he did pretty well at flag tag!

We have a new P.E. teacher this year and she expanded to include water events!  The kids absolutely LOVED soaking themselves and others. 

Will and his buddies :)

After the Lunch on the Lawn picnic, the older grades came out for their afternoon of fun.  Kate's first event was a dress up relay.  Lots of giggles all around.  

And some Tug of War!

The water games were a huge hit with the older kids too!

Kate and her friend Avery had a great year together!  They always have so much fun !

Mother's Day!

This year,  Mother's day was a bit different.  I had to go in and see a few patients at work early that morning.  I was a little bummed about it I have to admit.  However,  me being gone some of the morning gave the kids LOTS of time to get ready for my celebration.   I arrived home to this wonderful sign and some pretty excited kiddos!

Kate had made this beautiful cupcake at school and saved it to show me that day. 

Will make me this fabulous Pinata or  "Pee Nada" as Will says it.  And when I softly shook it open (so it wouldn't break and destroy all his hard work)  a Starbucks gift card fell out onto the floor!  I'll take that kind of  Pee nada any day!

After being served a delicious lunch of turkey roll ups, crackers,  carrots & ranch and grapes  made by my wonderful children, Kate and I worked on our flower pots too.  Kate decided to go with Hot pink and Bright orange this year to match her pretty shirt in this picture.   It turned out beautiful.    Hands down,  one of the best Mothers Days EVER!!

May Day and Tulip Time

Major catching up here!    Back to May 1st we go.  WE LOVE MAY DAY in Clive!  It is a huge perk living in a neighborhood full of friends...... the only downside is we have to make A LOT of May baskets every year :)

I use to try and get really creative and cute with our May baskets.  I even pulled out the hot glue gun a few years ago!  Now it's all about he assembly line and how quick we can get through it. 

I had it all set up for the kids to tackle when they got home from school and it actually went pretty smoothly.  I was impressed!

By the time we were ready to leave for school there was already many rings of the doorbell from our friends with lots of tasty treats (aka sugar at 8am!!) to tempt the children before school.   Kate and Will were so excited to give Ms. Patty her basket when she pulled up the bus.  

My parents called me and asked if we wanted to go to Tulip Time with them this year.  We hadn't planned on it, but the Germans really wanted to see what this Dutch party was all about :)   We were a bit late on our arrival, but actually managed to snag front row seats for Nana and Papa's parade experience.  

It was a beautiful day with many fun kids activities for the kids to do. 

We haven't been to Tulip time in a few years.  We were really excited to see all the additions for the kids to do. 

Will fell in love with this race car track in the park.  He played and played and played and never got tired of it. 

We enjoyed a lot of yummy food and the kids loved playing in the park with all the other kids.  I think the Germans really enjoyed themselves :)

April 2015: Easter Fun

Easter 2015 was a little more low key this year.  Brett and his mom took a long weekend and drove to Washington D.C. to deliver some wedding supplies to his sister Jillian.  So, the kids and I spent the Easter holiday with Nana and Papa.

Nana always comes up with fun things to do.  This year she found these crazy Bunny hats to wear as we decorated our eggs.

I decided to go out on a limb and make my deviled eggs look like baby chicks hatching from their shells.  They turned out pretty adorable, BUT were A LOT more work!  I think I will go back the classic presentation next time.

The weather was great for the annual Easter Egg hunt.  With Kate and Will being the only grandkids on my side, they usually end up feeling like it's Christmas by the end of the day.   Maybe that's why Nana kept her Xmas tree up?
 (see previous photo!!)

Kate's baskets keep getting higher and higher each year.



Will was SO excited for "The Feast!"  My mom sets up a big long table for everyone to gather for holiday dinners and Will absolutely LOVES it!   And Papa caved and let Will have one of the turkey legs this year!  Will was in HEAVEN! 

He chopped on that turkey leg for quite awhile.  Kate just stuck to her sliced turkey and mashed potatoes :)

Finally,  we had the swim team banquet in April.  This was our first year and really didn't know what to expect.  The event was formal with great food and wonderful awards and recognition.  It was so fun seeing how cute these swimmers look all dressed up without a swim cap and suit on!!