A rough morning:(

So, the going has been a bit rough this morning. First off, Easter/Spring break has started, so I have two extra kids at home and no plans to go anywhere. Kellen just can't seem to get along with James and he picks on Brennen constantly, so all I hear is crying and fighting. Oh joy! Then, I am hurrying trying to get everyone ready because Kellen has to go to the dentist. What happens? My toilet floods...and I mean floods. Not only did it flood my whole bathroom, but it instantly went through the floor down to the level below. I don't understand how so much water went through so fast! Anyway, I quick clean it up and then run to the dentist. Brennen, of course, poops in his diaper from home to the dentist (about a 1 min. drive) so now I have to sit with stinky boy for the whole visit (I didn't bring a diaper because I was only going to be gone 15 min). Apparently, Kellen knocked his front two teeth sometime (I think I remember when) ago and his front two teeth are dying and turning gray. Oh yeah, he also has the beginnings of a cavity that needs to get fixed. Oh, did I mention it is only 9:30. Aggg...I better run and save Brennen from Kellen's treacherous clutches!

Family Fun Night with the Kragt's

Every year, the family across the street takes Skylar and James to Family Fun Night at their church. It is like a little carnival and the kids always have a really good time. They get to play all kinds of games, get their faces painted, eat yummy food, and so on. Here they are with all of their prizes!

Outside at last!

Today was a really nice day out (finally!) and mom had worked hard all day cleaning up all of the winter poop in the backyard, so we really got to enjoy outside! It was a little windy (when isn't it in northwest Iowa?), but who cares?

Kellen and Brennen played a long time together on the see-saw. These two can be best friends, but they can also fight like crazy. Lucky for Mama, they were having an "on" day.



James and Mama played some football.

Skylar and a friend played on the slide and monkeybars!

When Papa got home from work, it was Hop on Pop time!

Weekend update:)

Sorry group, no pictures! I left my camera at home. On Thursday, Ross (JT's brother) came up to visit us for a night and we had a really nice time just talking. Skylar and Ross and a fun time together and she wrote a poem for him which I thought was really cute (I kept her spelling).

Lets take a vacation
With lots of genaration.
And swim in the pool
And be so cool!
And we'll go to the ocen
With lots of sun locen

Ross drove them to school on Friday morning which they thought was pretty cool (why I don't have pictures, I don't know!).

Anyway, then we went up to the lake house for the weekend. Jt had a big list of things that we wanted to get accomplished and he did a really good job of it. It was really nice weather and the kids had a lot of fun just throwing stuff into the lake. JT got our water pump all cleaned out (the metal buoy had broke and there was a disgusting amount of rusty gross debris in there), our water tub filled, the tractor fitted for moving instead of scooping snow, and all of our Adirondack chairs put together! The kids broke out their new bikes that they got for Christmas and tried those out. All and all we had a lot of fun. We just can't wait for when we can actually get in the lake! Apparently neither can Piper. She escaped from the house and ran right into the freezing cold lake. She didn't stay in for very long, but then she ran away soaking wet for a few hours. She must of been freezing! Oh well, her own fault.

Midwestern's weekend has arrived!

The big weekend finally arrived. We took just Skylar and James to Omaha for the weekend and we all had a really good time. We started out by going to the Olive Garden on Friday night on our way down to Omaha. The kids really love the breadsticks and Skylar is crazy about their calamari. When we got to Omaha we had to go right to the hotel and get to bed since Skylar had to be up early for the big meet. She did not swim very well this weekend, but it was a good learning experience for her. She had a awesome first swim (25 breast-she placed 12th overall and dropped 1 1/2 seconds-that's out of 50 kids,most of them 8) and last swim (100 IM-dropped 2 seconds!). All the rest of her swims were, ah, pretty bad (added between 3-4 seconds). Not really sure what was happening, but oh well. Anyway, here is the pool where she swam.

Getting some encouragement from the coach.

More encouragement from a teammate.

On the blocks, ready to swim!

Kicking a little butt in her 25 breast!

After her Saturday morning swims, we went to the Amazing Pizza Machine. It was really great. The kids just loved it. It is like a Chucky Cheese, but 100% better. The food is much better and there are rides and so much more for the kids to do. They really loved it! I would recommend anyone with kids that is going to be in Omaha should go there. It was a lot of fun! A little bowling. . .

Skee ball...

A very serious game of Deal or No Deal...

Agggg... I just opened the case with 400 tickets (the highest)!

Gopher Bashing...

Riding some rides...

Meeting Coswell...

More Rides...


It really was a ton of fun! After that, we went to a movie (Percy and the Olympians), then we had a delicious dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Then when went back to our hotel and the kids swam in the pool for a little bit and then we all crashed in bed! Back up early and to the pool on Sunday! Skylar was swimming really bad, so JT tried bribing her in her 100IM. If she beat her time, he would buy her this stuffed animal that she really wanted. Guess what, she was moving in the water. I guess we found out what gets Skylar motivated! We were really happy that she finished on a good note. A little disappointed in the swimming, but overall, we had a fun weekend!

A sick Kellen:(

Of course, since JT is gone, I get a sick kid to take his spot in the bed at night. He is coughing so much that I don't want him to keep Brennen up all night, so he gets to sleep with me. OF course, then I really don't get to sleep that well...

A do nothing weekend

It's been a long time, but we had one of those weekends where we did absolutely nothing! It was relaxing, except for the fact that the kids usually completely destroy the house and it takes me a whole day on Monday to clean things up. I would show you a picture of the mess, but some of you might faint at how bad it gets (and I might be just a tad embarrassed!). Anyway, I did manage to catch a rare moment of all three boys playing well together!


Hey Brenne, the 80's called and wants their hairstyle back....

A picture of JT's new farm. This is where JT will be living this summer. There are currently two houses with 308,000 birds in them and another will be populated next week. The breaking plant is scheduled to be up and running in September.