April Adventures

April seems to have flown by. Here are a few snapshots of this month...

This guy is obsessed with our Turtle (spinach) Muffins.
We have to make them as soon as we run out. This particular day he had fun helping make them! 

We used the charcoal grill that was left at this house when we moved for nearly two years.
We finally got an upgrade! Makin loved helping put the new one together and we are all set for grilling!

Addie's Swim Party!
Nayeli, Cassie, Addie and Lorelei

Spring soccer wrapped up this month. This season proved more difficult to get pictures, so I didn't get many! It was a bit of a rough season, with the team not knowing each other as well and half the kids not coming to practices consistently, which seemed to affect them at games. Makin played varying positions but seems most comfortable with being the defender. He still learned a lot and we still love his coach, so he will continue to have practices and play a summer season (indoor games) in July and August.

Photo evidence he played this season...
This kid must be in the air a lot, he makes action shots easy. ;)

Because just practicing with cleats outside isn't enough. ;)

A lot of work went into the school auction/fundraiser, including Brad and I putting together a few videos.
It took over several of our evenings, but we loved helping and do enjoy these kind of projects. I helped with the kids during the auction and had K and 1st graders. Everyone waited their turn for Makin to fold them a paper airplane. :) They also performed and it was fun being "backstage" to see her get them prepped and smiling!

I usually don't bake cookies (because I'm the sugar police around here) but have this little bit of a desire to give the kids a cookie treat after school sometimes. Usually on T/Th I end up running around like crazy,
especially close to fundraiser time and on tumbling/soccer days.
Sometimes a Panera Chippy Chocolate cookie is just what we all need for a little smile! :)

We realized we needed to get our dates in for the month and somehow that turned into the boys heading to a baseball game. Both of them were thrilled with this extra-special date! Lorelei and I headed to enjoy some painting, a book store and then some outdoor time at a park compete with a small stream and waterfall leading to a pond - so relaxing and it was perfect weather! :)

We hope to get to the lake every Friday until its too hot! Right now it works perfect to go in the afternoon after schoolwork is done. We check with friends and see who would like to join us each week. So far we have really enjoyed our Lake Fridays!

Kaitlyn and Haley joined on their Friday off.
Great memories going with these girls when they were all much smaller. :)

Fun with Cassie and Ian.

Jaedynn, Riker and Keaan joined us and had a blast.

School Snapshots

 Math Is More Fun With A Nexo Knight Helper

FINALLY got some hands-on Lego math activities.

Lorelei's colony made me laugh.
She can't really give up her beloved spaghetti sauce,
 so since you can't kill animals in her colony, you can just get it from other colonies. ;)
Its hard to see the map key, but she has "Mom and Dad's House",
 which she made sure to put next to the water since we love the beach. :)

A new favorite author/series of books,
both comical and great for reading with expression.

Makin has been learning more about money.
He had quite the head-start after learning alongside Lorelei last year.
He loved counting change out for our little store and Lorelei loved helping set it up!

We are really loving meeting up with friends Wednesday mornings at the library.

Nayeli is a "regular" with us, and often we also have Amelia and Alex join us as well.

We moms take turns with whoever needs help and pitch in as needed and somehow it works out to help us all have a bit of a sanity break!

Snack break with a view.

They always have great hands-on activities for our recess breaks.

Scarves blown up by air...
sometimes the library activities are TOO fun and make it hard to get work done! :)

We opted for Starbucks when no friends could make the library one rainy Wednesday.
"Because of the special drink and we can hear the sound of them making coffee." -L

Learning how our bodies work and blood flows to and from the heart.

The school had their first awards assembly during chapel this year. Makin was chosen to receive an award, "in recognition of his leadership by example of Christian character." Each teacher gave out awards for each student in their classroom that afternoon as well. (I believe Makin's will be given out at his K graduation coming up...) Lorelei received a "Ray Of Sunshine" award from Mrs. McCorkle for "always having a sweet smile and great story to tell."

There is a lot coming up in May for school, so decided to go ahead and make one more school post after our last couple of weeks because this one was getting long! :)

Easter 2017

We enjoyed celebrating the Easter season!

The usual Easter prep...

A favorite game.

One of our favorite lunches of the year...egg carton lunch! The mystery and excitement is so fun.

A certain egg artist decided to skip the spoon and wire and ended up with green fingers.

After soaking them in baking soda and vinegar and applying some nail-polish remover we had normal looking skin again...

Michelle sent us an Easter book in the mail this year. It was written by a friend from our church in Columbus. "I love this one." was Makin's reaction.

On Easter day we enjoyed our usual finding baskets followed by Easter breakfast, and then headed to church. We thought it would be nice to enjoy the holiday taking time off from cooking and dishes so we went out for lunch. :) We did have friends we know through GCA meet us at Cracker Barrel, which made it a more lively lunch conversation!

As we headed home Brad threw out the idea of going putt putt golfing. It was a great way to spend the rest of our afternoon. :)

Hope all of you had a wonderful Easter!!!

Bluebonnet Photo Shoot

Apparently I'm considered an "official" Texan because I love getting pictures in the bluebonnets! They are just gorgeous so just cannot turn down a chance for that kind of photo! We hope to get out of town in another year or two and see even more out of the city, but we were super-thankful a friend found this location when I was looking desperately for a field rather than just a patch that would be closer to home. It was about a 45 minute drive, but we loved the field. The kids commented the next day how fun it was to run through. :) Grandparents, just let me know if you want me to print any for you! :)