An Iowa "Spring"

Living in Kansas for most of my life, I was used to the weather changing day-to-day. Now that we live in Iowa, things are not much different, just colder.  In the past week we have had some pretty radical weather changes including the first snow day from school... on April 11.  And that came three days after I went ahead and pulled all my flip-flops out of storage for the season and we were playing outside without even jackets on.

 

It started with an ice storm; lighting and thunder filling the sky while freezing rain covered the trees.  Had it not been so devastating to our community and the beautiful trees that our city is known for, it would have been absolutely beautiful!!!

We were very fortunate not to lose any of our trees.  It was an absolute miracle our birch tree survived and has pretty much bounced back to normal this week.

After the ice...not looking too good

4 inches of snow on top of the ice...hanging to the ground

Many of our friends in town lost some of their beautiful trees and it has definitely changed the landscape of many neighborhoods.

Just one example



This has been the scene for several days around here

Limbs have been piled up in larger areas...not sure what they will do from here!



Luckily the temperatures were at least nice enough for us to get out and enjoy the perfect snowman building snow that fell.

Our snowman is a K-State fan too!

Then this week, all the snow had melted and we were once again able to start enjoying our spring weather.

Only to wake up to more rain/snow mixture yesterday with a winter weather advisory through Friday...will it ever end?!?!?



 

Easter and getting older...

Being a parent is sometimes hard.  Like when you have to tell you crying two-year old that his older brother gets ice cream but he does not because he did not eat enough supper.  Or when you have to make the decision to stay home instead of going to a much-needed playdate because of a runny nose and a little one who really just needs to cuddle with Mommy.

And while there are many more things that make this journey of parenthood a tough one, there is nothing more important than knowing you are molding and shaping your child to be someone who makes you proud. 

 A few weeks ago it was Easter and while the past years it has been mostly about finding eggs at the egg hunt, this year I really feel like Ben started to understand the story of Jesus dying on the cross for us and how this means our sins were forgiven.  What a joy to see his young mind think about how God has forgiven us for everything...before we even do it!  It has definitely made us think twice about forgiving our little brother for silly things like taking a car out of our hands or running into us with a tricycle!  What a blessing in our lives that we have the opportunity to hear the story of Jesus in the small town where our church is and then have a safe place to celebrate this day.
Now enjoy some pictures from the weekend:

Such handsome boys

The race begins

Found a well-hidden egg

A much higher view to find some eggs!

Good form for the football throw

A bit different form than his brother's



Grandma Shu helping Cooper dye eggs