totally awesome totally cute updates!

kaelyn and ben got to go to a daddy daughter dance put on by girlscouts! It was 80's theme. we had a lot of fun picking out her outfit. she and ben got ice cream after the dance, i think that may have been her favorite part!













we have a new addtion to the family! we adopted a 2 year old peekingese named Phoebe. She's been a wonderful addition!




Chloe's hair is finally long enough for pigtails! it's no simple task getting her to sit still for them, but it's worth it!






kaelyn was a pig in her school musical. she even had a speaking part!

we decided to send carter to kindergarten this fall. i had reservations because he'll be so young when he graduates highschool, but his preschool teacher seems to think that he will be bored in AK, so we're giving it a go, he's super excited!

The kids' last day of school is june 10th. they're really excited for summer to start. they'll be participating in a summer program again this year for school age kids. they will get to go swimming, and to movies and do crafts and play games and such. it's a great thing for them to have since it's hard for me to do those things with all the little ones i have during the day. Also, the girls have girlscout camp this year. 3 days and 2 nights in the wilderness! Kaelyn is super excited and Abby is a little nervous she will wake up with a snake on her bed, im sure she'll have a good time!

easter 2010

Easter was fun. Kaelyn got to sing at church, rather do the hand motions because she was too shy to sing...but she did them very well! We had easter at john's parents on saturday and my parents on sunday. This resulted in about 10 pounds of candy (i'm being slightly sarcastic) 2 ice cream buckets worth is too much for me! They enjoyed the easter egg hunt. when my mom told me she had 180 eggs i thought it would take all day, but that many eggs and far less hiding spaces made it go pretty quickly.

sledding!

the girls had a great time sledding this last weekend! Carter, not so much! he wiped out his first time down the hill and didn't want to go again. he has bad luck on the sleds! he enjoyed the hot chocolate when he got home though!

every one is doing well. Kaelyn got into a gifted program at school, so we're excited about that! Abby and Kaelyn got to go to a skating party this last weekend for girlscouts. even though they couldn't figure out how to stay on their feet, they still had a great time!

Chloe went to chucke cheese for the first time, she liked the rides, but didn't like that she couldn't get down and walk around. so we didn't stay long.

the girls had a good time filling out their valentines for school.

Daddy daughter dance

today was the 8th annual Daddy-Daughter dance at the cedar rapids country club. The girls had a great time! Picking out the dresses was fun...it was like prom dress shopping! Each girl tried on 4 or 5 dresses. Kaelyn fell in love with the first one she tried on, so she got that. Abby couldn't decide, she liked them all! She finally decided on a pretty yellow one.

Abby's dad brought her down from waterloo and Kaelyn chose to go with John. They got to dance, they had face painting, they got their nails painted, they got to make crowns, have cookies, and meet princesses!

brain noodles

brain noodles were a big hit! The girls were also really excited to get to sunday school so they could take their new bibles!

thanks grandpa and grandma!

chloe's 1st birthday and winter fun

chloe was a lucky girl this year, she got 2 birthdays! John wanted the party on her birthday (jan 2) and i wanted it on the 9th so all the kids could be there. so i planned 2 parties! The first party on the 2nd was at his parent's house. his grandparents and sister got to come as well. and the kids were there since their weekend plans were cx. she wasn't that interested in the presents, but very excited about the cake!

at her second birthday party we went to bishop's buffet in waterloo so brittany could come. we all had a good time, wygles and parkers and melissa and brittany came. no cake this time, but she seemed more into the presents. hard to believe she's a year old already, a little sad, and a little excited to watch her grow.

The girls reading their books before bed in their cute new matching pj's.

the kids building their snowman...Chloe was loving the snow her first time out. she especially loved sledding!

The most wonderful time of the year

this year Christmas was a blessing. With the fear of the winter storm, I thought for sure christmas would not be able to be celebrated at either of the parents' houses this year. God heard my prayers and we didn't see the storm they were predicting. We got to spend our time with family, and it was great! 2 days of family, 6 hours of opening toys and inserting batteries, then we had to leave for a wake.
My grandma passed on Tuesday before christmas. It was hard to lose her, but it also a happy time. 64 years happily married to my grandpa who passed a few years back. since his passing she suffered terribly with alzheimers. We visited her often, as she was staying in the nursing home in manchester ( where john's parents live) It was so hard watching her slip away. she was very ill and suffering the last week. I think her christmas gift was being able to spend Christmas with Grandpa at last. She was a devoted and amazing Christian woman, who is finally home. We will miss her. We all went to dumont to say goodbye. The wake on sunday, we stayed in a motel sunday night. The kids played in the pool, and had a great time. Then on to the funeral monday morning. We hadn't seen that family for a couple years, and it was nice to see them all again.

God sends us blessings in all kinds of ways, it's a great thing when your eyes are open to see them. He blessed us abundantly this year with family, with friends, with our church. he's provided us with everything we could possibly need and then some. Many wishes that your year is filled with many blessings and many precious moments with the people who mean the most to you. Every day is a gift, as well as a challenge. Can you make a difference today no matter how small? We are so blessed and looking forward to the next year! Merry CHRISTmas!