Palm Sunday.

Another week has flown by, and spring is no where in sight. It is technically spring, but we continue to get snow and cloudy days in the 30s, so it's not quite what we have been hoping for. Hopefully, sunshine and warmer weather is around the corner.

This past week was pretty typical with work, workouts, and entertaining children in the evening. We did have one really nice evening in the 50s where the kids could play outside and blow bubbles and run around the the backyard. They really enjoyed an evening outside the house, and it helped burn off some of their endless energy!

We stayed pretty busy this past weekend. Elliott's daycare had an Easter Eggstravaganza on Saturday morning. I took the kids, while John stayed back to work on some other things. The kids had such a good time. We started with an Easter story, and then there were Easter crafts, games, prizes, tattoos, and they even had Easter eggs hunts for different age groups. We were there for the full two hours, and the kids never stopped moving. They loved it!

After the Easter party, we headed home for lunch and then went to Lewis Drug to see the Easter Bunny. It was the Grand Opening for the store, so there were treats, face painting, balloons, and special deals going on all over the store. The kids did really well with the Easter Bunny, and they enjoyed shopping in the store with us. They each had their own little kid shopping cart, and then proceeded to run into people constantly. They also got their faces painted. Emma got a kitty on her cheek, and Elliott got a dinosaur. We all had a really good time.

After Lewis, we had to run to Pet Smart to get Poppy some cat food, and we ran into another Easter bunny! It didn't seem to bother the kids any, so we took some pictures again, and called it a day. The kids were pretty pooped after all the activity, so bedtime was pretty easy and kids were asleep by 8:30pm.

Today was a nice, relaxing day. We had church in the morning for Palm Sunday, and Emma and Elliott participated in the palm branch processional march before the service began. They were both so proud to participate. Emma also sang in both services, so it was a busy morning.

We spent the rest of the afternoon having naps and just relaxing at home. It was great. Then, we went out to eat with Jim and Barb for John's birthday (which is tomorrow). It was a great weekend!

Working at the greenhouse

Emma lost another tooth!!

Backyard Bubbles

Emma's Birthday List

Easter Games

Easter Bunny

Easter Bunny #2

Palm Branches

St. Patrick's Day!

We have been celebrating St. Patrick's Days all day today, and having a good time. I made a trip to the Dollar Store earlier this week and got some fun St. Patrick's Day gear, and the kids have been having a blast with it all.

We started off our day with a Train-themed birthday party for Rory and Jacob. It was pretty fun. They had it at the Train exhibit on the Fairgrounds. The kids just went nuts for it. They were able to touch some of the trains, watch them all drive around, and even go on the inside where all the men who run the trains are. Elliott and Emma loved it all. There was also train crafts, a scavenger hunt, and lots of good food and cookies. It was a great couple of hours.

After the birthday party, we headed downtown for the St. Patrick's Day parade. It was a little chilly, like 33 degrees, but we dressed warmly, and huddled under a blanket so it wasn't too bad. It was a really fun parade. It lasted a good hour and 15 minutes. The kids loved it. They were jumping around, dancing, and just loved watching everything. They did get a little bit of candy, which of course was a big hit for them.

Both kids passed out on the way home, they were so tired! I enjoyed curling up with a book and having a little quiet time on a Saturday afternoon.

Yesterday was a really fun day as well. Emma had no school, so I took the day off of work, and kept Elliott home with me. We dyed Easter Eggs in the morning, which the kids thought was the greatest thing ever. They really did a pretty good job with it, and kept the egg cracking to a minimum. We also did some crafts and made a birthday card for Rory and Jacob, and all of this was before 9 am!!

We bummed around at home for quite a while before heading to the library to get the kids out of the house for a while. The kids had fun playing, and we happened to catch the Kazukes at the library, which was a little band made up of some elderly people. It was cute. And the kids enjoyed it for a little while. We made it home before the sleet/ice storm happened and then just enjoyed a quiet evening at home. We watched Angry Birds in the evening, and then called it a night.

Overall, it's been a great weekend. Tonight, we plan to just keep it low-key and enjoy another quiet evening at home with the kids. No green beer for us tonight. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Me and my little man

Decorating Easter Eggs!

Train Birthday Party!!

Spring is coming!

Slowly, the weather is warming up around here. It has been in the high 30s this week, and it has felt  like a heatwave and it is melting the snow around here.

We had a lot of fun this past weekend just spending some time with the kids. On Friday night, we went to Brandon to eat some Pizza Ranch Buffett, and then we let the kids play in the county fair area afterwards. They had so much fun bouncing in the bouncy houses and running around. For $3, we had Emma put on a sticky suit and try to velcro to the wall. It didn't really work because she was too light to stick to the wall, but it was pretty funny to watch. We didn't get home until after 8pm, and we had two tired little kiddos with us.

Saturday was a pretty fun day. In the morning, Emma and I went to the movie "Peter Rabbit" while the boys stayed home. The movie was pretty cute, and Emma had the best time (and the best treats!)

After the movie, we met up with the boys at Gavin and Carter's Pokemon themed birthday party. It was actually pretty cute. They had crafts and activities for the kids, and then some cake and juice boxes. Everyone had a good time. About halfway through the party, John and Elliott left with Grandpa Jim to go to the Outdoor Show, and Emma and I played dodgeball with the rest of the kids. It was fun!

 In the evening, I went on a party bus for one of my coworkers. We went to a couple bars, drank, and just had a good time. I didn't get home until 1am, and it was daylight savings time, so that was kind of rough, but it was a fun night.

Sunday was sort of a catch up day. We went to church in the morning, and then in the afternoon John took the kids to his parent's farm so I could catch up on some sleep and some housework. John and the kids worked in the greenhouse while I caught up on some things at home.

Overall, it was a great weekend and I am enjoying that the days are getting longer and warmer!!

King and Queen Day at school 

Such a handsome boy

Getting ready for the Velcro Wall 

A Pokemon Birthday 

Cake!!

March Snowstorms.

This past week flew by pretty quickly! Last week, Emma had dress up days at school. Monday was Bethel Spirit Day, Tuesday was Pajama Day, Wednesday was Dress up like your favorite teacher day, Thursday was Career Day, and Friday was Mother Goose/Dr. Suess day. Emma had a blast figuring out what to wear each day.

On Friday, after school and work we headed to Minnesota. We arrived at my parent's house at around 9pm and didn't get the kids to bed until after 10. On Saturday, we went to church to help set up for the pancake feed. It was a nice turnout for setting up at church and it was nice to visit with everyone. Best of all, we got to sample all the good after we were done setting up.

After church, we just hung out at my parent's house and played some games and visited. After a nice steak supper, we headed back to Sioux Falls. We got home around 9pm, and everyone was pooped and headed straight to bed.

Sunday was another busy day. We went to church in the morning, Emma sang in both services, and we had bible study/Sunday School. It was a busy morning. After all that, we headed to Jim and Barb's to help work in the Greenhouse. We filled some flats with dirt and planted some spikes and geraniums. It was a fun afternoon. The kids were very tired after the busy weekend, and they were both in bed by 7pm, which was kind of glorious.

Yesterday, we had a pretty bad blizzard come through town. It got really windy, and snowed, so the visibility was pretty poor. Emma's school got out at 1pm, so John went to pick up kids early. Thankfully it wasn't too bad in Sioux Falls, and we all made it home just fine. Today was kind of bad in the morning, so school was called off for Emma. John and Emma got to have a day to stay home together, while Elliott went to daycare and I went to work.

Emma actually got to go to work with John for a little bit this afternoon, and she thought that was pretty neat. It was a good bonding day for them. The roads are finally cleared in Sioux Falls, and I think the weather is shaping up and hopefully that's our last winter storm of the year!!

Bethel Spirit

Emma dressed up like Mrs. Knuth!