Sunday, March 31, 2013

Easter


Our Easter weekend started with egg coloring on Saturday.
  Here are Candace and Eyasu stretching their creative muscles.


Zachary and the twins



Sarah and Candace adding some artistic details.


Thomas studying the instructional diagrams.


The boys made these awesome ninja eggs, chosen by Alli.


Alli picked out these princess-y jewel eggs for the girls.



Next we attended Mass in our Easter finery...


followed by an egg hunt.


It wasn't super challenging!



The littles were pretty pleased with their treasure.



Next was brunch followed by a lazy Sunday at home.  I got the kids to pose for a nice photo before they ditched their good clothes.  I think they look pretty nice.  :)



Thursday, March 28, 2013

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Ready, set, go!

 These are packed and ready...


to go here...


to work with all of them...


and help mamas to blossom and families to thrive... why?


Because... every mother matters.

Spring Trip 2013

Monday, March 11, 2013

Birthday girl

Twenty-two years ago today, this squawking, slightly yellowish bundle of joy came into our world.

Baby Emily, fresh from the womb.


She grew up into an accomplished, loving and talented young lady who will graduate soon from Iowa State University and will be pursuing a masters' degree starting in June.

Emily... photo by Abbey Marie Photography
 (find Abbey's photos on Facebook)


Happy birthday, Emily!  Thank you for lighting up our lives for twenty-two years... we love you so much.

The birthday girl!


Saturday, March 9, 2013

Two young authors

 We were very proud of Candace last year when she was selected to represent her class as a Young Author for AG elementary. This year, we are proud to have two young authors! Candace was selected once again, and Thomas was chosen for his class. Thomas was also selected as one of the three school wide winners, with his story chosen as the best from all of the kindergarten and first grade classes! In addition to these fancy certificates, winners also received smiley face pencils and enjoyed a special pizza party.  Each child will have a poster of him/her hung in their classroom, promoting a love for writing.  Honors and benefits already- at the ages of six and eight!

Young authors Thomas and Candace.


AG Elementary Young Authors of 2013


Winners for the three age divisions.

The three age group winners will have their work published by our local newspaper sometime in the upcoming weeks... we can't wait to see our little boy as a published author.


Monday, March 4, 2013

Hot pants

The story goes like this:

The twins are getting ready to take a shower.  While taking out  Candace's braids, I survey the pajamas they have brought to wear to bed that night.  Acceptable, but missing a pair of clean underwear.  I send Sarah back to my bedroom to get a clean pair.  She returns in a tardy and lolly-gagging fashion several minutes later.  I undo her hair and a few minutes later, both girls are in the shower.

But wait, what is that smell?

It smells like something burning... did Tom accidentally do something weird with the oven when he was cleaning up the kitchen?  No... so where is it?  The burning smell intensifies and Tom comes running in as I am babbling about how there is a FIRE somewhere, yikes oh mighty.  We finally notice smoke pouring from our bedroom ceiling fan and quickly turn the fan and light off.  As I help the twins finish their shower, Tom gets the step ladder to investigate.

Here is what he found:

Exhibit A

In case it isn't clear, that would be one pair of little girl's Barbie underwear, burned to a crisp, and the corresponding light bulb aforementioned undies landed on when tossed nonchalantly over the shoulder of the cotton-headed ninny muggins sent to get another pair.  Wow, where did they go after she tossed them?  Little Missy saw no sign, so she fetched an additional pair and went on her merry way.

Feeling pretty glad about two things:  1) I was in the room the entire time things were heating up, so we kept the damage low (one pair of undies and a light bulb) and 2) we managed to clear the smoke quickly enough that the dang smoke alarms didn't go off.  Oh, and I guess I should add 3) my house wasn't burned to the ground due to hot pants.