Kicking Off Summer

We are soooo excited to finally have warm weather! We are basking in it every second possible and loving it. I have tons of fun summer plans I'm working on and we are looking forward to lots of extra-special memory making moments over the next few months.

We will still have Drue coming two days a week this summer, but we are done watching Allie and Aubree as their mom is a teacher so they get to spend their summer with her! Thankfully Drue is a trooper for most things and really seems to appreciate and enjoy getting time at the park, playing in the sprinkler etc. As long as weather cooperates we will likely have park days most "Drue days" as we call them. (Mondays and Wednesdays for those of you who may not know!) She also has two grandmas in town, so her parents are great about any days we will need to be gone.

(Just a disclaimer these pictures are spanning at least two weeks...just took a while to get everything up that I wanted in this post!)

Trampoline Time

Sprinkler Fun

Home-Made Pudding Pops

Umbrellas and Rain Boots

Library Fun

I'm thrilled that Columbus Public Library has some great activities for kids this summer. We get an entire schedule of events! You will see many more to come, I'm sure, but we are starting out with some animals from a local zoo that were brought in for kids to see up-close. The kids were infatuated with the alligator. They also really loved the hedgehog and how he was wiggling his nose.

And...their first magician! He was so fun, GREAT with the kids and really knew how to make them laugh and ham it up. I was quite impressed.

Treasure Hunt

We went a little crazy getting excited about summer this year...a treasure hunt and bucket list...I must have time to think straight and look up stuff on pinterest now. ;) They LOVED having a picture hunt for the summer treasure. I tried to take the pics of objects up-close thinking it would take them a while to figure out, but only one of the inside of a basket slowed them down even a second. They would make great pirates. ;) It was mostly new sand toys, squirt guns and cups. I'm excited to start our summer bucket list items soon!

Enjoying some of their new items. Their were some horses with princesses/knights with one set of sand toys and those have been such a huge hit. Great for those imaginations too! :) We enjoyed a lemonade and book picnic in the backyard.
The day before this Lorelei and I got some great girl time sitting in the shade, drinking lemonade and reading Little House On The Prairie books (Which we were thrilled to find in picture book form at the library!!!) while Makin napped (she gets up earlier most days). Just a fun memory I want to remember but didn't have my camera. :)

Summer Fun Bucket List

Just a few of the fun things we want to make sure and do this summer!
(Except strawberry picking might be out because of the cold snap in May! :( )

Have a feeling we are going to keep plenty busy and it will go way too fast!

Memorial Weekend Visit

We decided to take make a family visit to Western Nebraska since Brad had Monday off. Here is a bit of the fun we had...

Trampoline Time

My kids can't get enough time on the trampoline so this is always a favorite at Grandma and Grandpa's. Hannah and Karter play with them a lot. These top pics are of them playing "Dead Man, Dead Man".

Lorelei and I get some good one-on-one jumping too if Makin is still napping. :) She still doesn't think her mom jumps enough for her, though!

Golf

Brad loves hitting golf balls for practice at the farm and Karter loves joining him and getting some pointers as he is just learning. He was doing great!

The whole family went on a golf outing as well, which was lots of fun.

Our Carts :)

(Nobody wanted to ride with the snack lady till they got hungry later, then I was very popular. ;) )

Just a few "action shots" of the crew. Grandpa joined us a bit late. (That is why he isn't in the cart pics.)

 Don't you love Lorelei being Grandma's "helper" from her cart? :)

The Wii

Lots and lots of wii played during our visit! Can't believe I didn't get Makin playing...of course he played the most out of everyone I think. This is Lorelei bowling...can you tell? ;)

Cousin Moments

Especially the first couple of days, Karter and Hannah are Super Cousins to L and M. It's so fun to see!

Playing puppies...one of their favorites! What a set up eh?!

Water Fun

We had fun with the water slide, water guns, water balloons and watermelon! We were so thankful it warmed up enough to do this!

Grandpa Being Attacked With Waterballoons!

Cook Out

Aunt Sarah hosted a cook out complete with marshmallow roast for s'mores. Yum!

Makin thought they were a bit too messy. Thankfully Grandpa was up for helping him with the gooey treat.

He had two quotable moments from this...seeing the marshmallow that got a little on the burt side he said "There's poop on it!" and then when he saw Grandma with half a bar of chocolate, "What is THAT!?!?" and promptly scooped it from her hand and ate it up.

Time With Pets

Lorelei is always so happy to get so much animal time.

There were two new batches of brand-new kittens to check out as well. :)

Pool, Picnic and Park Trip

The kids enjoyed swimming at the indoor pool followed by a picnic lunch and some time on the playground.

The whole group playing various games of catch the last evening we were there.

Miss Brooklyn

Grandparent and Grandkids Pics

Hard to pick a favorite!

Thanks for a fun visit!

T-Ball

Miss Lorelei is pretty much up for trying any and all activities, so narrowing down where start was generally up to Brad and Me. We decided to sign her up for t-ball through the YMCA.

Thankfully they also had the option for her to take t-ball readiness (one day a week of teaching them basic skills) and we signed her up for that as well. I was amazed at how great the coaches are through the Y and so glad she had time to get the hang of it before games start. Many of these little ones (ranging in ages 4-8) just needed to understand to drop the bat and run to first base after hitting the ball. :)

She had a great time at the practices each week and is excited to have real games each Monday starting in June.

"I wish I was out there."

Our Happy Place

I wrote part of this post way back in November and didn't end up posting it. Because of the timing of last weeks events it seems like now would be a good time to go ahead and post it.

Last week my mom, her three brothers and coordinating spouses cleared out my grandparent's house in Wisconsin. I can't even let myself think about the fact that this special home is no longer in our lives and if I do I just cry.

Here are my thoughts from November...

So, I thought it would be fun to have a definition of happy place here. Apparently most definitions of that have to do with going somewhere in your mind...

Heather, A.J. and I are blessed to have had an actual physical, wonderful, happy place we could go to. Our grandparent's house is our happy place.

Because of health issues, my grandparents have decided (probably with a bit of nudging from my mom and uncles) that they are moving to an assisted living facility in Florida.

And the selfish part of me thinks. No more happy place.

My sister, the unlicensed but mostly schooled psychologist, reminds me to be thankful that we "have been blessed with so many wonderful, amazing, amazing years in such a lovely home filled with so many memories. So many people never have that." and to be thankful we still have my grandparents to love.

So, while I'm still in my sulking state, I wanted to just put down a few of the things I think about when I think of their home.

 - The Bless This House chime playing each time you opened the front door

- Fresh donuts on the table every morning from Grandpa

 - The screened-in patio and all the yummy Grandma's house snacks we had there

 - Ice cream on the tablecloth on the floor and the constant supply of ice cream snickers in the freezer

 - The hill

 - How happy Mom always was there

 - The clock

- Grandma wouldn't like me putting this one but, wine time! :)




Back to May thoughts...

This house was the perfect homey place we so looked forward to going each summer. There are nothing but happy memories here and I never wanted to loose such a special place. I'm just trying my hardest to remember all of my favorite things and cherish them in my heart.

Summer Sundae Sundays

A tradition Brad and I have been wanting to start for years. 

Finally had our first Sunday Sundae's and the kids were ecstatic. :)

Mother's Day

I have to say I very much enjoyed my Mother's Day this year! For this chapter in my life, this is my idea of a perfect Mothers Day! In ten years, I'm sure I'll be begging the kids to spend time with me rather than wanting a break. ;)

Here were my gifts for the day...
Sleep in.
Breakfast in bed.
Afternoon off. (Including hiding away down in the basement and FINALLY watching Saving Mr. Banks!)
Our At-Home Red Lobster meal made entirely by Brad.

I know. Good day. :)

I am so thankful for these two kiddos God has blessed me with.

A Little Mini Golf

We can walk just a few blocks and get to Columbus' mini golf course, which just opened back up for summer this weekend. :) We had a VERY productive Saturday morning and then treated ourselves to a family outing of mini golf. :)

Lorelei got two holes-in-one!

Soaking Up Spring

After a week last week that reminded us of the rough winter we were just getting out of, we were extra-thankful for the gorgeous weather this week! Boy have we been soaking it in!

A friend from church dropped off May Day baskets!

The library is determined to improve my black thumb by sending home flowers on multiple occasions
...so far they are still alive. ;)

Brad and I decided a simple sandbox was worth the effort. We got this one together and stained pretty quickly. Our kids just love time in the sand, so were hoping they would get many hours of enjoyment out of it. So far, this has been true and they have been loving it.

Remember the adorable little two-year-old Lorelei saying, "Tum here birds!!!"? Well, the poor bird house has been waiting for a couple of years for any feathered visitors, but at this house, they finally came! She is so glad her bird house is finally getting used. :)

Another backyard entertainment addition...medium-sized trampoline! They are loving it. I eyed it at Sams a while back but waited to think on it and then when they tried it out at Amanda's house we were sold on the idea. So much energy! They are having a blast...and I'm thinking basement in the winter!?! :)

New Favorite Snack - circle apple slices, peanut butter, oatmeal sprinkled on top and then chocolate chips. :)

Bubbles!

We are having snacks and lunch out on the patio often!

We went for a walk with our magnifying glasses. I just love how much young children love to learn and be little explorers. They even found some mushrooms to get a close look at!

It was actually warm enough for some sprinkler time one day! Hours of time with the sprinkler. The look on Makin's face is so precious after he runs through it. So happy! In the picture of him spraying Drue...they did this over and over again and he was cracking up. She told him to spray it into her mouth. :)

Our last family night for the school year! We are so thankful for this opportunity to spend time with other families in our church and for our kids to learn more about God through their teachers.