Spectacular . . .

. . . . is one of many words to describe the landscapes we saw this weekend at the Badlands! We spent our camping season opener near Interior, SD at a very nice campground, and spent much of Sunday trekking around the Badlands - climbing, ooohhh-ing and ahhh-ing, and taking way too many pictures. Us adults enjoyed soaking up the breathtaking views while the kids were on cloud nine climbing all over every hill, nook and cranny they could find. The place is like one giant, never-ending playground for kids. I haven't seen Jack that "lit up" in a while - he's definitely found a passion in climbing. We couldn't keep him on the ground for anything, and he was SO HAPPY and animated, it was really fun to see him like that (as he usually tends a little more towards the serious, focused side). He literally would have stayed there for many days and remained quite entertained. Noah was a little more cautious (thank heavens!) and focused on Tori (our friends the Altstiels went with us, and Tori is 5). He recently told me there was one "big" thing he wanted for his birthday but he knew we "wouldn't get it for him." When I asked what it was, he said "I want Tori for a sister." Cute or what?!? Anyway, the weather was great, the company was awesome and we just had a fantastic time. We are so blessed to live in this area and have all of these amazing places so close by. We HIGHLY recommend the trip there - if you need info on where to go, we're happy to be of service.

This week is the first week of summer for us!! No school, no MOPS, no Awana, no sorority for me - we just don't know what to do with ourselves! It was such a great feeling this morning to wake up and know that we don't have one obligation this week (other than a t-ball game, I guess, but that's it!). Just leisure time to be together and that's what summer is about! Today is cold and rainy, so we're having a relaxing "veg out" TV day - the kids are pretty wiped out after this weekend and I'm doing laundry - tons of it.

Hope everyone had a great long weekend!

Preschool Graduates

We had Jack and Noah's preschool "graduation" this morning - oh my goodness was it cute!! We had regular chapel, then the little ceremony, so it was a lot of fun for all the families. But as I sat there, it really struck me how fast the next 12 years will go, and how I will never make it through their REAL graduation!!! I'll just be a puddle on the floor. I'm trusting that God will prepare me through the years and I'm sure I'll be much more ready to let go when the time comes - we're not supposed to be ready YET, right?!? So today I am SO rejoicing in the fact that my babies are still my "babies" and that their Daddy and I are still the most important people to them in the world.

After gradution, I took them out for "coffee," thinking they would be really excited, but as it turns out they were rather glum - they said they think Kindergarten will be really hard and they're going to miss all their friends. They were all reflective about this year, so it was pretty cute.

This afternoon we head to a birthday party and tomorrow we head for Badlands - camping with my mom and dad and some wonderful friends of ours. We're hoping it will be a nice, relaxing weekend! And YEAHHH, I can eat again!! :) What fun is camping if all you can eat is yogurt, right?? So, I'm pretty happy - although in one week, I lost 8 pounds, so it didn't turn out to be a bad deal.

Hope everyone has a great long weekend!!!

Oh - the kids had t-ball pictures last night, so I posted a picture of them in their "uniforms."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLBY & ISABELLA!!

We have a nephew and a niece that share the same birthday! Colby is Anne's sister's little boy, who turns THREE today, and Isabella is Mark's brother's little girl, who was born exactly two years later and turns ONE today!! Colby is in Iowa and Isabella is in Minnesota, so while we can't celebrate with them, those sweet little peanuts are in our thoughts, and our hearts are with them today. We miss you both, we love you so much, and hope you both have a GREAT DAY!

Thank God for Laughter

We had the BEST weekend! Nothing planned, just a soccer game on Saturday afternoon, but we had a lot of fun as a family just being together the whole weekend - went for a drive Saturday morning, visited some friends, ran errands together, heard a GREAT sermon in church (you could listen to it too, at www.rcefree.org), went to a birthday party, played games - and for some reason, we all had the giggles all weekend. So tonight in our bedtime prayers, Mark thanked God for laughter, which was so appropriate. It felt good to laugh together so much, and it just bonds you.

This week ends Jack and Noah's preschool career - they have regular school tomorrow, then a big field trip on Wednesday and a short "Graduation Chapel" on Friday morning. It's a little bittersweet for me, as next year my babies will be in all-day kindergarten and I'm not sure what I'll do with myself - being alone all day!! And believe me, it will be NOTICEABLE not having them around. But I have all summer to figure that out . . . . This week also marks the beginning of CAMPING SEASON!! We go pick up our camper on Wednesday, and are headed to the Badlands for Memorial Day weekend. I'm hoping my mouth has recovered by then - this recovery period has been grueling - my mouth is still quite sore, and I'm still not able to eat very well. On the bright side of it, though, I've lost 5 pounds since Wednesday!! I call it the "molar extraction diet." Wouldn't recommend it, though!

Bear Country!!

Today we went with our MOPS group to Bear Country, and we hit a really good day there as the bears were very active and playful - just fantastic to watch!! I could roam around there all day and watch their antics. They really are a hoot, and it's so amazing to see them so close. The babies were the highlight, of course - all piled into a tree, half of them actually sleeping, and half climbing over the sleeping ones! Jack and Noah also LOVED the new litter of red fox babies and wondered if we couldn't PUH-LEEEAAASE buy one?? I ended up buying a season pass, so whoever comes to visit us this summer will get a free tour!! :)

I'm in recovery mode from my dentist visit yesterday - I survived, even though I was pretty sure I wouldn't. I really didn't feel much of anything, just HEARD the roots of my teeth being pulled away from my head, so THAT was interesting!! Yesterday I felt pretty good, but today the pain has set in, so I hope it goes away soon. I'm on a liquid/mush diet for a few days, but it's a good excuse to eat ice cream. Anyway, now I need to get my own little bear cubs off to bed!

Happy Mother's Day!!

We had a BUSY weekend! Yesterday we finally got the garage sale "out of the way" and sure enough, I was so glad I did it - all the work paid off! We had people lined up on our street at 6:40 a.m., and stayed busy until noon, when it tapered off. We sold a LOT of stuff. Many thanks to my mom and dad for helping us out! After cleaning up, we took the kids to the park for a picnic supper - it was so good to get out of the garage!! :)

Today I had a great Mother's Day - got a wonderful gift from my kids (see picture below - it's a shadowbox but for some reason the photo turned out really dark - it's my old license plate, a picture the kids drew of me, them, and God, and some seashells from our trip to Sanibel Island, FL), got my favorite coffee drink for breakfast, went to church, went to Deadwood for lunch with my mom and dad, came home and crashed on the couch in front of the TIVO to "veg out" for the first time in many days! It felt sooo good to rest for a little while. All the while I contemplated on how lucky I am that I get to celebrate this day - having been through a time in my life where I didn't know if I would ever get to be called "mom," I really don't take it for granted. Even through all the tough times, the disobedience, the sibling rivalry, the "mouthiness," the attitudes - there is nothing greater than the honor of being called "MOM" - especially by two ultimately very sweet, loving boys!! I am truly a lucky woman. I am also very thankful today for my own mother and the sacrifices she made for us while we were growing up, and also for my mother-in-law who did an amazing job raising my incredibly wonderful husband, and probably a couple hundred other kids throughout her life as a day-care mom! She and Mark's dad sent me the most beautiful flowers this weekend (see below) - so thank you to them!!

And now we begin another week . . . . . t-ball practice tomorrow, our last MOPS meeting of the year on Tuesday, and I get to spend an hour and a half in the dental chair on Wednesday having two molars pulled, so say a little prayer for me if you think of it!!! Ugghhh . . . . .

Have a good week!!

And so it begins . . .

Last night Jack and Noah had their first T-ball practice! It was really cute to watch, great entertainment! They decided it wasn't as "action packed" as soccer ("We didn't get to RUN very much, mom!"), but I explained it was only the first day, and they have to learn how to bat first, which was the focus of the practice. They are ready to just dive in - no interest in technique yet! :)

In other news, we are continuing to get ready for this garage sale tomorrow - uggh, what a lot of work!! I've already brought in $200 from early sales, so it will ultimately be worth the work, I know. Jack and Noah have several things labeled - once they learned they could make some money, they really cleaned out their toys - so they are very excited for tomorrow. Grandma Linda and I took a break from the garage yesterday and attempted to run some errands with them, but that turned out to be a real adventure - Jack ended up pulling up a mannequin's dress in Herberger's "to see what was under there" (I always thought "that won't be MY kids" - HA). Then in Target while I was checking out, I looked up to see them doing the limbo (literally) under the dividers in the customer service line.

Well I need to get the little dudes fed and off to school - only 6 days left!!

Giving this a try!!

We decided to take a technological leap and create our own blog since it seems to be a popular thing to do these days! We have fun keeping up with friends and family on theirs, so we decided we'd join in the fun!! It's a good way for you to easily stay updated with what's going on in our increasingly hectic lives, and if nothing else, it's an easy way for ME to keep a good journal of our family life. Here goes . . . .

We had a very busy/productive weekend! Friday night we took the kids to the circus, which they LOVED. Saturday morning I had my Education Team meeting at church, then Mark and I spent the better part of the afternoon "switching" clothes around - packing away the winter stuff, and getting out the summer stuff. We fit in a trip to Sam's Club where the kids learned you can eat supper free on Saturdays, just by running around to all the sample tables. It was so funny to see how excited they got about all the different samples. Sunday we worked in the church nursery during Sunday school, went to our regular church service and then spent the afternoon cleaning out the garage in preparation for next weekend's garage sale. Our garage looks AWESOME, I hate to mess it up now with garage sale stuff! This evening we had our usual Sunday evening routine - "pizza and movie night" - eating pizza downstairs in the family room - and tonight's feature was "Herbie: Fully Loaded" - a BIG HIT with the kids. We now have to track down the other Herbie movies. We learned today how much they value this little tradition we have - evidently they told their Sunday school teachers all about it today.

And now we're off to another week . . . this week brings the start of t-ball! Stay tuned! :)