Happy 40th Birthday Bryan!!!!

Well, we've been doing a lot of celebrating round these parts!  Bryan turned 40 today!!!!  So . . . for the past 10 days, he's been getting all kinds of birthday gifts/greetings!

You just never knew when slips of paper like these would show up . . .

 . . . or cards from friends we haven't seen for a long, long time . . .

 . . . or yummy homemade sugar cookies . . . (that disappeared WAY too quickly!)

 . . . or a "family" celebration to a future Chuck E Cheese visit  (never mind the blankets . . . we had just finished family devotions before bed and we just HAD to open the last envelope!

]

 . . . some nostalgic Milwaukee apparel . . .

 . . . a couple of these along the way . . . (He loves Burger King vanilla iced coffee right now!) . . .

 . . . pics from friends from A LONG time ago . . .

 . . . creative ways to display FORTY quarters! . . .

 . . . and a big thanks for Grandma Varner for holding down the fort last night and this morning . . . Bryan and I made a quick overnight trip to Kansas City -- just the perfect end to a celebration of Bryan's 40 years of life!  I love you Bryan!  So thankful for the years God has given us together and can't wait to see what He has in store for us in the years to come!

Beginning of May . . .

We've had a lot of Batman sightings lately . . .

Just cracks me up . . .

I guess Batman likes Oreos too . . .

Kayla's kindergarten class had a Spring program on Friday -- centered around the theme of "When I grow up . . ."

Kayla said she wanted to be a teacher because she likes to read to kids!

Kayla with her kindergarten teacher, Miss Patton, who she just adores.  

We've had a lot of this going on lately . . . we finally broke down and bought a 

pitching machine  -- it's much more accurate than we were:)

Kayla -- always ready to give a smile!

Joshua

Today was a big day for Joshua -- the ball says "HRB" -- "Home Run Ball!"  He hit his first "out of the park" home run!  He has been living, eating, breathing and sleeping baseball lately so 

this was a big deal!

Cousins, Piano Recital, Awana

So the week after Easter, the cousins from Indiana came to KS during their Spring Break from school!   We tried to carve out every niche of time that we could to spend time with them!  

A little hoop action between Joshua and Max!

Kayla, Grandma, Max

Miss Emmy -- just always along for the ride!

Where did all of those kids come from????

We had my Spring Piano Recital on April 7th.  I had three new students to perform -- one of which was Kayla.  It's always amazing how much they improve from year to year!

Joshua playing . . .

 . . . in his typical "I'm concentrating" pose!

Kayla introducing her piece.

A little duet with mom!

Last night of AWANA -- Mr. Tyler finished his first year of Cubbies.  The irony of this picture?  He wouldn't wear that crazy vest all year (even with LOTS of pleading) until I decided to take his picture -- silly boy!

Kayla finished her 1st year of Sparks -- finished her book, reviewed her book, and finished the Frequent Flyer cards -- way to go girl!

And this is the "I'm almost done with Sparks" boy -- He also finished his book, reviewed it, 

and did his FF cards.  Hard to believe he'll be moving up next year:(

All three cherubs!

Easter and Tyler's B-day

We had two special days on March "firty-first" . . . Easter and Tyler's B-day!  And . . . Grandma and Grandpa Nelson came to visit so there was lots of partying going on!

Tyler especially enjoyed the "dipping" part . . . yowza!

Getting ready for church on Sunday -- not quite sure what Tyler and Grandma 

were discussing but it sure looks intense!

All ready for Easter Morning!

Then everyone came over for Lunch!

So much fun to shoot a few hoops with the uncles!

How is it that 4-year olds can figure out those things out?

This would be why mama's phone has NO games -- only calling and texting!

It was FINALLY time to open presents!

Digging the "put together" car . . .

 . . . not the clothes so much!

More Thomas!!!!  And we even have tracks that hook together!

And a right-handed glove for our "lefty."  It's amazing how much better it works 

when they have the correct glove!

Mario was all the rage around his birthday (although he's been on a strong Thomas kick for the last month) -- so we did simple, easy Mario cupcakes!

Love that grin!

Joshua hot to trot on finding the Easter eggs . . .

Grandma helping to divide the loot!

Those first warm days of Spring -- they're just the best!  Nothing like a 

neighborhood picnic on the driveway!

  . . .or a neighborhood demolition party on the driveway!