happy easter weekend

sam took sofie and kye fishing saturday.
pretty sure this was kye's first fishing trip.
so he got part of his easter gift early-
a spiderman fishing pole!

of course within minutes it turned into a sword



they each had their own tackle boxes

lia stayed home with me.

she had a nasty head cold.

we started easter morning off with our usual scavenger hunt.

finally finding their baskets



our first attempt...

this one turned out much better

after church we headed to a park for a picnic.

and a little football

and some kite flying

thanks to lia for capturing a couple photos of sam and i

thankful that God loved us THAT much!

happy easter!!!

catching up...

...since i wrote last.

kye, lia and i got strep throat the week after sofie had it.

pretty sure it has been the only time i've ever had it and i pray i never get it again.

my throat burned!

we continued on with school after we were healthy.

kye is doing really well in speech therapy.

he loves to go visit joyce--his teacher.

we re-seeded our entire yard.

the family that owned our home before us, had a big dog.

the dog was tied up on a chain in the back yard and the area where the chain reached was completely dirt.  no grass was left.

our front yard had a lot of landscape throughout.  we tore it all out to make more yard.

so it just made sense to re-do the whole thing.

it was a very long saturday!



kye planted himself in the girls lawn chair and didn't move.

he loved the whole thing!

we moved the playhouse to a better spot and made it level.

i was super excited about that!



lia got her hair chopped!

about 7 inches---it's soo much easier for her to care for.

kye is still all-boy!

think this must be his kung-fu pose.

he continues to be his daddies mini-me

and this beauty loves, loves, loves to style her hair.

and she is actually pretty good at it!



can't believe she is almost 9!

we took a week off from school during grandpa bub's funeral.

we spent everyday that week celebrating his life with family members--it was such a special time.



the girls and i had a shopping day with my gram.

lia will be starting her riding lessons soon and my grandparents wanted to buy her first pair of boots.  lia had a ball trying on every pair of boots they had before deciding on a pink pair.

sofie needed a new swimsuit so we headed to old navy afterwards.

both girls had $10 to spend that day--i wasn't sure we were ever going to get out of claire's!

body glitter and hair color--i love my girly-girls!!!

grandpa bub

sam's grandpa bub passed away this week

the funeral was wednesday



he had 10 daughters, 30 grandchildren, 41 grandkids and 2 great-grandkids



we spent 5 days celebrating his life

with the entire family

it was an incredible time

grandma bub chose this beautiful pine casket to bury him in



he was 91 years old

the following are photos that were taken throughout the day of his funeral

lia and cousin esther

these 2 love each other so much

here's grandma bub

here's kye watering the tree

sam and his brother eric playing some horse-shoes

typical site at our family gatherings

kye was so happy to find these guys to play catch with him

aunt amy getting a fire started for the kids to roast marshmallows

sam and his cousin henry

a "few" of the family

cousin josie

kye and his cousin nate

sam with his uncle randy and cousin jake

lia had the best time atop her cousin jesse playing some b-ball

we love jesse

more cousins

a little wrestling

sof with cousin jordan from indiana

sam and his dad

this barrel entertained the kids for most of the afternoon

here's grandma bub with cousin joanna

these next 2 photos do not give justice to how funny this was--shy kye feeding almonds to cousin rick by throwing them to him like he's an animal

rick played along and kye loved it even though his facial expression did not change at all during the 5 minute show

sofie giving the barrel a go

lia with cousin debra

sofie and cousin charlie

praise God for the incredible life of grandpa bub!







this week...

*we enjoyed listening to dr. sharp from the creation history museum who was visiting our church for 4 days.

*sofie had basic skills monday-wednesday.

*kye had speech therapy twice this week.

*sofie got sick and threw up during the night on tuesday.

*lia went out to eat and picked out her birthday present with grandpa chuck and grandma susie.

*sofie continued to be sick with an off/on fever, chills, headache, loss of appetite, sore throat, and extreme fatigue wednesday and thursday.

*girls started enrichment classes again on thursday.  sofie had to miss due to still being sick.

*i am busy planning and researching curriculum for next year.

*lia went to a birthday party for a homeschool friend.  sofie had to miss since she was still sick.

*i made a trip to iowa city with my dad and stepmom to visit my cousin in the hospital who was diagnosed with ALL last week.

*we had our usual 2 little boys over for dinner and to play thursday night.  sofie was still sick, lia was at a birthday party and i was gone at the hospital--sam took it all on alone.

*finally took sofie to the doctor on friday when i started suspecting strep throat.  and it was.

*lia went to another birthday party on friday.

*sam took sofie out cruising for a fun treat since she's been stuck inside all week.

*sam had his very first appointment for the new company on friday. i brought home a movie and ice cream to celebrate.

*we finally headed outside to play 24 hours after sofie was on her meds.  it was wonderful.

*sam worked at an auction all day saturday left at 6 in the morning and still isn't home...it's 7:10.

*we celebrated an end to a busy week with chinese--our favorite.

*and maybe the best news of the week---kye is potty-trained!!!!