Date with my Big Boy

Last week I was able to travel to Kansas City with my boys while Daddy was on yet another road trip during this busy season of his (I say busy season...but I can't remember a time when it wasn't usual for him to travel for several days each week)

Ben and I were able to sneak away, just the two of us, to enjoy my dad and step-mom's partial season tickets to the Royals.  It was a GORGEOUS night, especially by June-in-Kansas standards which are usually not so nice!  It was Ben's first MLB game and he loved it.

 

We ate lots of yummy food, enjoyed the 70 degree weather, a WIN for the Royals and just being together in general.  At the end of the night, Ben told me "it sure was fun to go on a date with you!"  Melt my heart!!!



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

 

I can be crafty!

Mrs. Heidi has been our Kindermusik teacher since Ben was 4 months old so it was only fitting that as she prepares to have her 4th boy, our class wanted to throw her an impromptu "shower". There wasn't much time to have a big to-do but we thought she at least needed a cake and some toys for the new baby.  I had seen diaper cakes before and thought that I could easily whip one out that would work.  Here is what I came up with:

Not too bad for a first-timer...and it only took me about an hour and a half!  I would be happy to do this again!



A new family tradition

Two weekends ago, we decided to make the trek to Kansas City to watch our Cats play in the Big 12 basketball tournament.  It was meant to be a fun-filled weekend; basketball, family time as we were staying with my brother and his wife, and alone time for Matt and me (along with thousands of other basketball fans at the Power and Light district).

As usual, our boys decided to throw a bit of a wrench in things!  We started by making it just in time to watch the Cats play in the first round.

 They won so we were pretty excited for the next round!  The plan was to hopefully leave the boys with my dad and stepmom or possibly with my brother and his wife.  No such luck!  Both boys ended up with quite the stomach bug the next day so while my husband had a nice "date" with everyone at the P&L, I was cleaning up...well, you can imagine.

Luckily it hit 80 degrees that day because this is how Cooper spent most of Friday evening - poor kid!  I was just trying to imagine what people were thinking if they happened to walk by my brother's house and Cooper was standing at the front door in his (almost) birthday suit!



Saturday was a much better day for everyone so we gave bowling a try.  It was surprisingly not busy so we had a great time letting the boys get out of the house for awhile!  Excuse the shot of Ben in front of the bar area, apparently it's the only picture I was able to get of him that day!

Overall it was a pretty good weekend - just not one I want to replicate anytime soon!  I am hoping to make the Big 12 tournament a new family tradition however because both boys had a great time watching for Willie and doing their KSU cheer for everyone around!