Mother's Day

 the amazing gifts that I woke to (after getting to sleep in until 8:15! ) Once again Doug, wonderful driveway artwork!

 The two reasons I am blessed to be called MOM!!!

What a fabulous Mother's Day weekend I had!  Saturday was spent relaxing after running some errands with the family.   Sunday morning my request to sleep in was granted, then I went for a long walk and we all headed to church. Pastor Mike moved me to tears once again preaching about life, love and the amazing Lord and Savior that we are blessed to have.  We headed downtown for dinner that evening, then Kate and I attended the Lion King performance at the Civic Center. It was fantastic and I just LOVE spending some one on one time with "my girl" while the boys do their thing (-;   Thanks family for an amazing day!!  I thank the Lord each and everyday for the blessings of motherhood -- XOXOXOX ~ Mom

Picking out our puppy

I guess that you can say our "puppy adventure" has officially begun!! After many months, maybe a few years to be honest, of seriously talking about getting a dog, the search is over.  We drove to century farms today and met our little guy for the first time.  Is he sweet or what?? So tiny....only about 6 weeks old and 100% precious!!! We are able to bring him home the first week of June which will be perfect timing for when school gets out.....let the CRAZINESS begin!!!!

Ben - Challenge of the books

 Fairmeadows Team

 Ben (second from the right) and the orange team 

 Ready to go!!

All of the teams in action

Ben participated in Challenge of the Books this year at Fairmeadows (much to his dismay). The kid LOVES to read, but he did NOT like missing recess for the book discussions over lunch hour. So with that being said, we told him he just needed to try it this one year.  We enjoyed reading all of the books (8 total) throughout the year, and he had a great time at the challenge...however, he was bummed that they lost in triple overtime and came home with a 2nd place trophy.  I thought the kids did GREAT and was very proud of them ~~ good job Ben!!

Happy Birthday Doug

 Evening out with friends

 opening his "50" packs of gum from Cairney West

Doug likes to keep his birthday under the radar, often heard saying "It's just another day" (-; Which drives the kids and I absolutely NUTS!!! We LOVE celebrating the day he was born and are so thankful to God for him in our lives.  The kids and I treated him to dinner, oatmeal raisin cookies, cards, and then dinner out with friends and a trip to the escape chamber downtown (which we did not escape - but we had fun!! )  All in all, I think he had fun day and thanks to everyone for celebrating with us and sending cards and/or phone messages. Many more birthdays Doug/Daddy....we love you!!!

Spring Break trip day # 1

 staying entertained watching a movie - I have no idea why one looks happier than the other??

 a little foggy as we were leaving O'Fallon,  IL Thursday morning

 Welcome to Kentucky

 downtown Nashville, TN

 loved the spontaneous waterfalls that just come down the side of those beautiful Appalachian Mountain ranges

the Ohio River

To change things up a bit, we decided to drive to Florida for Spring Break this year. I must admit, I was a bit apprehensive about how we would all do in the car for the 20+ hour road trip, but it went very well! We were able to leave on Wednesday after the kids got out of school and drove to O'Fallon, IL for the first night (knocking 5 hours off of our trip already). Thursday our goal was to make it to Chattanooga, TN to be able to take in a few sites before dark. On our way there we drove through downtown Nashville, the kids loved seeing how much the terrain changes from the Midwest into the Southeastern mountains. Beautiful country!

Look out Mountain

 Family road trip "selfie"

 Ben's glass bottle coke souvenir

 the Tennessee River winding thru Chattanooga

 lookout Mountain "family selfie"

Ruby Falls

various stalactites and stalagmites

 the light show of the falls

It was very close, narrow quarters on our walk through look-out mountain to Ruby falls but we made it and it was beautiful!  The falls measure at 145 feet tall, and the power and sound coming from the water was remarkable. We were not able to head up to the top of lookout mountain due to the rain that started, but we did have a fun evening enjoying dinner at a local pizzeria (Mr. T's), plus ice cream for dessert and then went back to the hotel to cheer our ISU cyclones onto another basketball tournament victory -- YEAH!!!

Day#2 - Florida here we come!

As soon as we arrived we headed to the beach.  Kate thought the water was a bit chilly at first, but then they both got into a rhythm with the boogie boards.

 the first sand art had to be for our CYCLONES -- GO STATE!!

The rest of our drive went smoothly besides minor slowdowns with the CRAZY traffic in Atlanta and rain off and on the in the morning.   A fun surprise at the hotel that morning was when we ran into one of my powerlife girls (Dayna) and her family at the hotel. They were driving to Florida also, what a small world!!  Leaving Chattanooga that morning, it was 50 degrees and we enjoyed a warm up to 86' when we arrived at Papa and Gramma Cairney's condo. around 4:30 Friday afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and I was anxious to see the ocean so we headed straight for the beach. Celie made a wonderful pasta meal that evening and we ended the night watching more Iowa State Men's basketball -- another win!

Putt-Putt of course.....almost EVERY DAY!!

 Immediately, Kate and Ben began asking "When can we go to Fiesta Falls?" and we managed to go there almost every day. They love to challenge Gramma Cairney and she beat them almost every time! 

 Proud of their many hole in ones

Day # 3 - Saturday

Papa and Kate - relaxing and watching some basketball

Beautiful Saturday morning here in Florida. While the kids slept in, I went to the Farmer's Market with Celie and her friend Jan, then spent the afternoon enjoying the sunshine at the beach...a little too long for me (my poor little feet paid the price for sun exposure ---- they got a little toasted )-;  ) I was so concerned about getting enough sunscreen on the kiddo's, I forgot about my feet.....typical Mom right??  We played shuffle board that afternoon, watched more basketball, took the kids to the park to play baseball and basketball, and of course, went to Fiesta Falls....AGAIN!

Sunrise

I could never tire of these beatiful sunrises -- so majestic ~~ God is an AMAZING ARTIST!!!