Spring Play/Softball/Soccer

 We are in full spring mode here, and I think the weather is going to finally start cooperating as well. This past week has been filled with softball practices a couple nights a week, and Elliott had a soccer practice, and two games this past week, so we have been running around. 

Elliott had his first soccer game on Thursday evening at 6:00pm at the Sanford Field house. It was nice it was inside, because the weather outside was terrible. Elliott's team ended up losing 0-4, but they had fun and they are learning as they go. 

Friday evening, was Bethel's Spring Play Table for 5,000. It was a really cute play about Jesus and the feeding of the 5,000. Emma was Mary Magdelin, and had a speaking part, and Elliott was the disciple, Andrew, and he also had some speaking parts. They did a great job singing and telling their story to us and we really enjoyed it. They also had their piano recital before the concert. Emma played two songs and did a really nice job, and so did Elliott. They both seem to really enjoy piano, which is nice. 

After the concert, we visited for a while, and then Emma all of a sudden decided she wanted to sleepover at Lily's house, so she went there for the night. We enjoyed a quiet evening at home with Elliott. 

Saturday was a busy day. We went to church at 9:00am for spring cleaning. We spent a couple hours doing some deep cleaning of the church, inside and out. Then, we left at 11:00 for Elliott's soccer game at the Sanford Field House. Elliott's team lost again 0-2, but they looked better, and they were so close to scoring a goal multiple times. I can't wait to watch them get better and better each week. 

After the soccer game, we picked up Emma, and then had lunch at Gilibertos. It was super busy in there and took a while. Then, we headed to the East side of town and handed out flyers for the Avera Caner Race coming up. It was nice to have the whole family hand out flyers, and we were done in no time. But, it took a while to drive across town, and then back again, Sioux Falls on a Saturday is no joke. Then, we stopped at Target to get Elliott a new carry-on luggage for our trip to Hawaii, and then we picked up Jacob and brought him to our house for a sleepover. It was quite a day. 

Today, was also busy, but not quite as bad. We went to church, dropped off Jacob, and then we went to Brandon to see their Beauty and the Beast Play, It was really, really good I'm always so impressed with how well these high school students can put on a play. It lasted about 2 hours, and then we headed to Costco for some groceries, and then we finally made it home for the day. 

It's been quite a weekend. The kids are pretty crabby because they both had sleepovers this week, and they are just tired from all the activity. So, we are in wind-down mode here. They are both Ipading right now, and John and I are enjoying some relaxation, and preparing for another week. 

We have plans to finish our Peter Pan and Wendy movie, which we started last night, and then we are putting the kids to bed early. The wind has been blowing like 45 mph today all day, so we are all tired and sick of the windy weather. 

Here's to a less-crazy week next week, although I think we have something going on every day of the week next week. These last 3 weeks of school are going to be crazy!!

Emma learned how to drive 4-wheeler!!

Piano Recital 

The Spring Play

Spring Time

 I totally fell apart, and forgot to blog for over a month. Oops! We have been busy, but mostly I just forgot. 

Emma wrapped up basketball at the end of March. Her YMCA team actually ended up winning the Championship Game, so that was very exciting. It was especially impressive since they only had 5 girls at each of their last games, and they still managed to win. Emma really improved throughout the season, and it was really fun to watch her. I hope she continues to want to play, because it was a really fun season, and she has some natural ability for the sport. And I think she enjoys it as well. 

Emma also recruited Hannah T to play in a YMCA Tri-State Basketball Tournament here is Sioux Falls. The girls ended up playing against some tougher competition during the tournament, and they lost all 3 games by quite a bit. But, they played as a team, and it was still great experience for them to build on for next year. 

We also had spring break for one of the weeks in the March. I took the whole week off, and the kids and I had a good time just finding things to do. We completed my lego Orchid, we had a Fizoli's date one day, we worked on some 4-H projects and posters, and we just enjoyed some downtime at home. The weather was terrible the entire spring break, so we weren't able to spend any time outside. We did make a couple trips to the greenhouse and put in some hours shoveling dirt and planting. And we also got all our dentist appointments done over the break. We had plans to go to Mall of America and visit Grandma and Grandpa Kiecker during break, but a giant snowstorm put a halt to that, and we just stayed home. It was a great week, and I got some things done around the house that I had been meaning to do, but it would have been nice if the weather could have cooperated a little. 

Easter has come and gone already. On Easter weekend, we went to Jim and Barb's to have a Sutton Easter. It was pretty low-key, but we all had a good time. We had good food, had an Easter egg hunt for the kids, and checked out all the beautiful flowers in the greenhouse. Emma also learned how to drive a 4-wheeler now, so that is her new trick and she is loving it. Thankfully, she's a fairly cautious driver, so she's done pretty well so far. The weather for Easter was pretty chilly, so we spent most of the time inside. This spring weather has been pretty gross. The whole next week is 40-50s, and it's already April 20th, so it's kind of depressing. 

This past weekend, we celebrated Easter with my side of the family. We went to Rachel's house for Easter/Elena's birthday party. We got to Rachel's house around 11am on Saturday. Rachel was hosting a party for the neighbors and Elena's friends, so we just kind of hung out in the basement for a while. Eventually, John, Ryan, Emily, and I ran out to the Mankato Brewery for a drink (and some quiet). Then, we had Easter supper and some family time, before we headed out to spend the night at Mystic Lake Casino. We thought it would be a fun place to spend the night before heading to Minneapolis to go to Mall of America. 

On Sunday, we woke up, had a great McDonald's breakfast, and then went to the mall. I thought it opened at 10am, but on Sundays it opens at 11am, so we had to kill an hour. So, we went to Ikea. It was a happy accident. I really enjoyed spending some time in Ikea and we found some great steals. After Ikea, we went to the mall and went on some rides. Emma was a daredevil and wanted to go on every single ride. Elliott was the opposite, and had to be convinced to go on rides. It turns out, he's not really into rides. So, once we got him to go on as many rides as he could tolerate, we hit up Legoland, and then had some lunch at the food court. We had plans to leave around 3pm, because the weather was bad and we wanted to get home at a decent time. However, some nice lady gave us free tickets to mini golf because her group couldn't handle another activity. So, we decided to play some free mini golf. 

We had a great time playing mini golf, but it took a while and we didn't get out of the mall until 4:15pm. So, we headed for home. It was snowing, 32 degrees, and the wind was blowing like crazy, so it made for a terrible drive home. There were cars in the ditch and it was slow going for a while. But, we made it home in one piece around 8:20pm. We had two very tired kids to put to bed, and we unpacked the best we could, and then called it a day. 

It was a great, busy weekend. This past week, we have shifted gears and are starting to focus on the spring/summer sports. Elliott had his first soccer practice, and he loved it. He's going to have a great season. Emma also had a couple softball practices this week, and it sounds like she's going to really have fun playing fastpitch this summer. I can't wait for nicer weather and spring sports. 

The school year is winding down, and we continue to be busy with school, piano, sports, and work. I feel like our weeks are just crazy! Hopefully we can slow down a little bit this summer. And I will try to keep up on my blogging!!

Mid-March at the farm

First place finish!

Spring break 

Ferris wheel at Scheels with Katie 

Buff City Soap 

My beautiful Lego Orchid with my beautiful children 

Lenten Mediations 

Celebrating Dad's birthday 

Greenhouse Work 

Easter 2023

Mall of America