conserving water

We've been staying at Craig and Jen's the past few days since we had to plug the drains in our part of town. The river is actually going down right now, but we have to wait and see what happens in the next couple of days. We are supposed to get a bunch of snow and have high winds which could really be bad for the dikes! Joel and Jen will be back at work tomorrow. All of the schools are out this whole week, and Katelynn's daycare is closed. Therefore, the boys and I will probably just hang out with Craig and kids. As soon as the weather calms down, we'll move back home (unless we get kicked out first).

Saturday...

was a beautiful day in Iowa! We spent the whole day outside!

bikes

Noah is showing off on his new hand-me-down. He will however get a NEW bike helmet. This one we found in Jennifer's garage. Eli is reading this as I'm writing and wants me to point out that Noah is standing on and riding his new bike. Yes, this is our wild child for sure!!!! Eli loves his birthday gift from Grandma Cathy and Don! Maybe one day he'll actually be able to use it a home.

My boys

Chase, Jake, Eli, Luke and Noah

final birthday party

On Sunday, we had the highly anticipated "Tranformers Birthday" at Grandma Cathy's. Grandma and Aunt Linda put on a fabulous birthday dinner!!! It was fun to have Grandma, Don, Jennifer, Rich, the cousins, Aunt Linda, Chase, Jake and Luke there to help celebrate. It's not a party unless we have a pinata. This one had strings to pull, so we didn't have to get out the baseball bat.

Thanks Aunt Jennifer for making the yummy cake!

0

Who needs dolls???

Ella: Eww... "You pooped."

Heidi: "Who pooped?"

Ella: "The triceratops pooped."

Noah took off for his room and brought back a diaper for Ella.

Spring Fever

Finally...... it's been warm enough to spend some time outside.

so much for being good!

On the drive to Grandpa Jim's, Grace and Eli started their own club. You had to be covered in marker in order to join.

Birthday Boy

We spent Friday afternoon at Chuck E. Cheeses with my family and some friends to celebrate Eli's 5th birthday.

Jennifer, Rich and kids got to our house late Friday to spend the night and left yesterday to continue on their journey. They are spending their spring break at Grandpa Jim's house, and they took Eli with them. Hopefully he's being good. It's very quiet around here. Noah cried for a few minutes when he realized that he wasn't going with, but then he got excited and announced, "I'm going to Eli's room!"

Girls' night

Thanks for the most random day ever ladies! As Erin said, next time, it's board games and coca cola!

Friday night fun

Katelynn was here for a sleepover on Friday night, and my awesome husband took over. First, he made this fabulous fort which the kids LOVE, and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to be able to take it down tonight (the fort has doubled in size and now takes up most of the playroom)! Then he set up his movie theater complete with popcorn and candy (Katelynn was a little disappointed that they got water instead of pop to drink).

Finally, he converted the fort into a sleeping tent where Eli and Katelynn spent the night.

The best day ever!

As Eli and Joel were driving home from "Donuts with Dad" at preschool, Eli said, "I can't wait until the next March 6th". He also filled up his sticker chart today, and recieved 4 more Magic Tree House books in the mail.

*His last shipment of books was for Valentine's Day, and this next set was supposed to wait for his birthday (next Friday). However, after he finished his last book, Eli informed Joel that they would now have to start over with #1, so Joel called "The Magic Tree House Fairy" aka Grandma Cathy!!! Thanks Cathy; we have one happy boy on our hands!

Dr. Jack & Dr. Noah

Jack and Noah decided to "fix" me today, so they got out this puzzle. After using the measuring tape to see how big I am (1 inch), my head, hands, fingers, and feet were taken off with the saw, my skin was scraped off with the screwdriver, my eyes were taken out with the pliers, and they hammered nails into my stomach. It must be time to invest in a new doctor kit!

A preview...

of the 2012 U.S. gymnastics team.

Joel, Austin, and Noah finished their routines before the camera came out.