Spring Break in Florida

Brian's mom and dad took our family and Brian's brother's family to Magic Kingdom, on a Disney Cruise and then to Legoland!  It was their "retirement trip" :)  and something they have been planning for many years - and what a great trip it was.  Here are some highlights...

Day One - Magic Kingdom.  We got there when the park opened and left when the park closed!  The kids loved the rides!!  We didn't do Space Mountain with our kids this year, but they did every other roller coaster.  Aliana was just tall enough to ride on them, phew!

Days Two-Five - Disney Cruise.  We enjoyed visiting with the Princesses, swimming in the pools, watching shows at night, eating soft serve ice cream at random times throughout the day and eating amazing food!

 One of our stops on the cruise was in Nassau, Bahamas and the other was here on an Island that Disney owns.  Melissa, Sydney and I ran a 5k race and after we enjoyed the day on the beach!

  

Day Six - Legoland.  We spent our final day of the trip at Legoland about an hour from Orlando.  Carson really enjoyed seeing all of the life-size figures made out of tiny Legos!  It was pretty amazing.  Aliana wanted to ride all the roller coasters :)

What an amazing week we had!!

Sweet Freebies

Our new neighborhood has a google group, and neighbors will post things for sale or free they want to get rid of.  We scored two amazing (FREE!) deals this week and are praising God for the blessing!

Freebie 1:  Outdoor Playground

And here's the finished product!  Brian put some major work into taking this thing apart, hauling it to our house (with some great help from Brian's brother and some of the high school students) and then building it back together.  It's been finished for about 1/4 of a day and already the neighbor kids on either side of our house have come to play - it's awesome!!

Freebie 2:  A new bedroom set for Carson!

Here it is in Carson's room... get a good look, his room isn't usually so clean and neat but we had to move everything out to get this in.  Again, Brian did some amazing work building this back together (he basically had to re-build the bunk bed from various pieces).

We have also been enjoying some great outside time with the neighbor kids.  The weather has been on and off with the nice weather but when it's sunny, we go outside!

Carson, Aliana and the two boys that live to the right of us. This afternoon they were playing in gutter water... awesome :)

Aliana, her cousin Sydney and the little neighbor boy (such a boy, right??  He wanted to hear the story Sydney was reading but wanted no part in the tea party :)

Carson, Aliana and the two neighbor kids that live to the left of us.  We really just started playing with them about a week ago (and we have been living here since October!)  and the kids get along great!  They are on their trampoline.

Carson and Aliana being sweet together... yes, it does happen! :)

Wedding fun

We went to Omaha this past weekend for Brian's cousin's wedding.  There are 9 cousins on Brian's mom's side (all boys) and Jeremy was the last to be hitched!  The craziest part about it all is that he married a girl (Shannyn) we went to Luther with!  I lived with her twin (Jenny) when I studied abroad in England.  Shannyn and Jeremy are both ELCA pastors in the Omaha area and the wedding was so much fun!  We haven't been to a wedding in a LONG time (maybe that's because we are getting old) and the kids had a blast!  And we got to drive out with Brian's brother's family so the kids enjoyed the long drive with their cousins and in our new van!  It is amazing.

Aliana and Daddy :)

The cousin's wives (minus a few)

Hubby and me :)

The next generation!  They had a blast together all weekend!!

Sydeny and Aliana - these 2 are so sweet together!! 

Sister-in-law :)  Love this girl!!

The 8 boy cousins (the 9th lives in Germany)

Shannyn & Jenny, my sister-in-law Melissa on the right and Brian's cousin's wife Suzy, on the left

Sharing a little love...

Happy February!

Red shirts for Valentine's day!  The kids didn't have school (teachers had a work day) so Oma and Opa took the kids to Monkey Business! (an indoor bounce-house place, they LOVE it!!)

Carson showing off his first missing tooth.  He lost it shortly after Christmas, but enjoys showing it in pictures :)

Cute kids :)

Homemade meatballs!  We went to the neighbor's house down the street and he made meatballs with our 2 and the 2 little boys next-door - the kids had a blast!  And they were yummy!

Getting dressed up for Brian's cousin's wedding.  This was the practice shot ... the wedding is coming up soon!  And if you are wondering why Carson's hair looks a little weird it's because his mohawk is back! And flat in this photo :(

Cousin Bryce's birthday party.  The boys and girls are getting their cousin love :)

Hope you are having a great month!  Can't believe this month is over at the end of the week, yikes!!

Happy New Year!

We enjoyed a WONDERFUL 2 week vacation from school!  Now it's back at it :)  But here's what we were up to over the break...

Enjoying sweet treats

Time in the mountains at Loveland Ski Area

Christmas Eve Service

Nutcracker Ballet performance in Denver (thank you Nana & Grandpa John for our tickets!)

Rainbow Loom (& more Rainbow Loom) plus extra time for snuggling and watching movies, and playing with our new things - thank you to all our grandparents, aunts/uncles and cousins for our gifts!

Happy New Year!  We hope you all have many blessings in 2014!

Girl time

We took a break from the kitchen remodel and housework this weekend to just hang out - it was wonderful!  School settled down a bit for me (not so much paperwork to do) and we took advantage of the time!  The boys in the house cut down a dead tree in the backyard, played Legos, watched football, wrestled and shot each other with Nerf guns.  The girls in the house played babies, went to Walmart and the Dollar Store (my favorite), and went on walks to the park.  Here's a couple of pictures of our windy park afternoon.

Carson is 6!

Carson had his birthday a little over a week ago, and with parent-teacher conferences, gearing up for Halloween, and working on the house, I didn't get a chance to post anything!

Here's a little about our big guy at 6...

Carson is super active and loves to jump, kick, run, bike, scooter ... you get the idea!  If he had the choice, he would wear shorts to school every day, even when it is 40 degrees!  

He has made some very sweet friends at school.  He has kindergarten in the morning and Kinder Enrichment in the afternoon.  Here are some friends that came over for a birthday celebration a couple weeks back.  Overall, he seems to enjoy school - I try to stop in and see him at lunch or in the classroom once a day.  I love that he is just downstairs from my classroom!

And even though he has made new friends at school his first choice for a playdate or sleepover is still his cousin Bryce!

         

Carson is a super loving big brother, sometimes it seems like he has to put up with a lot from little miss Aliana (like any good little sister!), but he will still search the house for her blankie when it goes missing and help mom and dad out when Ali is needing extra attention!

Carson, we love that you are sensitive, caring, kind, considerate, and that you have a heart for the Lord and people!  We are so thankful that God gave us you!  It has been a joy to watch you grow physically, emotionally, and spiritually over the last 6 years!