Spring Break

We took advantage of J and K's "spring break" from school and preschool and made a quick trip to St. Louis. The kids are at such an age that we could have gone to any hotel in Topeka and they would have been pretty psyched . . . if it has a pool and they can watch TV in bed, they are stoked! And, if Tyler has an "ex-va-tor" (elevator) . . .he's good to go as well! That boy is INFATUATED with those things!

Who are those crazy kids???

Yep -- love the pool! Kayla made HUGE improvement in the two days we were there . . .she was without floaties the whole time . . . but definitely still under the watchful eye of Mommy or Daddy!

Tyler -- still isn't too keen on watching touching his face, but he is also getting more comfortable around the water!

We always try to take in one "outing" while we are there -- and this trip we tried the Science Center. Free admission -- so that way nice!!!! Overall, it was too old for K and T -- but J seemed to "get" most of the exhibits!

Mr. Math at work . . .

We decided to pay for the planetarium show . . . um . . . it was a little advanced (read -- boring) for most of our clan:) Live and learn, right????

At least Tyler scored a memorable 45 minute nap with his $4 planetarium admission fee:)

So there was a walkway that connected the two parts of the museum . . . and underneath the walkway was an interstate highway. So, the only thing between K & J and the highway below was that triangle of glass. My palms are sweaty right now just looking at this picture:)

Lots of fun with this one . . .

The "Dig-ger"

Of course, the main reason we chose St. Louis was to have a chance to visit Great Grandpa -- our first visit there since Great Grandma passed away in August. We are so blessed -- how many 3 year olds have concrete memories of hanging out with their 97-year old great grandfather????

Having a little piano duet action . . .

Always interesting trying keep everyone busy:)

The kids and grandpa

The fam and grandpa

Since great grandpa thought the idea of visiting McDonalds for lunch sounded good, we went for it! He insisted on treating with ice cream:) Super fun trip . . . just the right amount of time for us!

Mid-march

Several weeks ago (yes, I'm behind again!) we all gathered up at

Mom and Dad's to celebrate Dad's b-day. We rarely all gather there -- it was fun!

Like I said . . .it was fun.

Last weekend we checked out Going Bonkers in Topeka -- kids especially loved this big slide!

Yep, head first.

No fears for the little guy!

We are LOVING getting to love on our new nephews!

This was K's first time of holding "baby Jordy."

Tyler no longer seems like a "baby" when he's holding a real baby:)

Beg. of March

This is about all of of the "snow" pictures for this year so far -- and since it was 50 degrees the following day, it only lasted one day!

Pics from J's Valentines party at school -- K was right ready to tag along!

Playing "X's and O'x" -- (Simon Says) for his party . . .

Our Valentine meal -- heart pizza, heart jigglers, heart brownies:)

Not posed -- T LOVES his trains!

Our latest tea party . . . K set the table herself!

Last couple pics from J's ball game . . .

Love that grin!

Joshua tends to take his "guarding" very seriously:)

We got to hang out with my 6-week old nephew, Westin, last week -- lots of fun!

A couple of good hours to give me my baby fix!

Yep . . he was tracking!

Last weekend, the kids stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's since I had to play the next morning for church. We got a phone call that his front tooth was loose . . . and an hour later got another phone call that it was GONE! He was pretty pumped . . . especially when he discovered that the tooth fairy pays REALLY well at Grandma's house:)

And then one week later . . . he walks off the bus with a big grin . . . and BOTH front teeth were gone!

Joshua and daddy worked together this morning building a robot for school . . . affectionally named "Mr. Mustache!"

This and That

I've been so bad about blogging lately -- sorry:( Joshua has continued with his Upwards BB games -- it is quite amazing how much they learn in the first year!

We still see some of this stuff going on though . . .:)

But . . . he had a chance to shoot a free throw last week . ..

Ladies and Gentlemen -- it was his first basket! Way to go bud! And did we all get to experience it together? Nope . . . Daddy was assisting Tyler in a false alarm trip to the potty. Bummer.

The end of our sidewalk has been quite the gathering spot lately for the kids -- especially when the weather was more mild.

At some point, one of them got the idea to start digging. For what? who knows:) (7-year old boys!) But there was much excitement every day at the afternoon bus stop for what the digging expedition of the day might bring! Now that it's actually cold here, all digging operations have been suspended.

Yesterday we celebrated Bem's b-day . . . welcome to the great 30's!!!!! Baby Jordy due in 3 weeks!!!!

We also celebrated Carly's b-day . . . what a fine multi-tasking mama she has become in 6 short weeks. Feeding your baby . . . blowing our birthday candles . . . super woman!

A little computer time together -- can't tell . . . are they related?

Last week, Tyler abruptly woke up from his nap screaming. It was very odd. I brought him downstairs, snuggled, and then laid him back down on the couch to finish his nap . . .precious.

Daddy's fort building skills are much more superior than mine!

A Sunday evening tradition . . . Popcorn and apples while watching America's Funniest Home Videos . . . love it!



Speaking of lovin' it (or not, really!) . . . last month on a Saturday night at around midnight, Bryan went down to the basement to turn off a light before going to bed -- which was WAY later than we should have been up, anyway. When he put his foot on the bottom floor, there was A LOT of water on the floor. Like . . not damp, but sopping, wet carpet.

Not the best timing since he's up early on Sun. am, but what are ya gonna do? We removed trim, sucked up as much water as possible with the steam cleaner, pulled up carpet, cut away any damp padding underneath, propped up the wet carpet, and set up a zillion fans and de-humidifiers.

Tons of things to be thankful for . . . the storage closet only had rubbermaid storage bins in it . . . so nothing got ruined in the closet. The other floor space that got wet and NO toys/stuff/junk there -- it could have been much worse.

We determined that an outside water spicket had been left on for . . . um . . . more than a couple of days. The water just ran right down the foundation of the house for . . . um . . . a while with the sump pump in the directly opposite corner of the house. Hence the water seepage in the basement.

So, we bought some replacement pad, glued that stuff down, and we learned that there is indeed (according to KS Rental) an official piece of equipment called a "Knee Kicker."

The $11 rental of the Knee Kicker was well-worth it and Bryan did a great job getting the carpet back where it needed to be. Who knew you could learn so much from You Tube, right????