Klondike Park

We are organizing a camping trip at Klondike park with some friends from church.  Before making our reservations we wanted to drive out and look at the area.  There were some good options for where our group would fit and I am glad we were able to go see it in person.  We are excited to go camping there!  We hope it will be a better camping experience then our last one at Holiday World.  We wanted to do a little walking around after we were done looking at the campsites but it started to rain.  As we were leaving there was a beautiful rainbow!  As we drove home we could still see it and it was so pretty.   

Blues Game

Saturday evening we went to the Blues game with the Hunters.  They are so nice to invite us to do fun things with them.  We haven't been to a Blues game since Clarkson Eyecare hosted an evening.  I was pregnant with Nolan so it was like 4 years ago.  We had really good seats which made it even more fun.  We got there early so we were able to see them warm up a little before the game started.  It was a really excited game and they scored 3 goals pretty early on.  At one point they almost tied the game and would have mostly likely gone into overtime.  They reviewed a play and took a way the other teams point.  It was an exciting end and the Blues won!  When we got out of the game it was raining so we walked quickly back to the car.  It was a fun date night and I am glad we were able to get out and spend some time together.  Life is crazy so its fun when we get to spend time together. 

Soccer

Garrett is so excited to be playing soccer.  He has been such a good sport supporting Lucy as she has played basketball.  We have all attended lots of her games and he usually sits there reading a book.  Its finally his turn to play a sport.  He loves soccer and is on a fun team with some friends from church.  He loves going to practices during the week and was excited to have his first game.  He played really well and had a really fun time.  It is fun to see him play, I know he plays a lot at school during recess.  I am happy that he has something he is excited about! I look forward to seeing his games this season.

 

We celebrated the first day of spring with free ice cream cone from Dairy Queen.  We had a busy evening with mutual so it was a late night getting our ice cream cones.  We went with JJ to his office with the Priest and Laurels.  They are learning about different careers.  Lucy had an activity at the church.  JJ is so busy these days that we felt like in order to spend time with him that day we needed to tag along to the office.  It was fun to have a little treat in the middle of the week. 

 Nolan and I went to the dollar store for a few things and he saw some Easter crafts.  He picked out this little egg to paint.  He did a really good job working on it.  He made a pattern with the paint colors and only asked me for a little bit of help.  He was proud of his egg and put it in his room as an Easter decoration.  

Come Follow Me

We have enjoyed the new "come follow me" curriculum put out by the church.  It has been a nice change in the way we study in our home.  We have continued to do our Book of Mormon reading as a family in the morning.  Our evenings are busy and we aren't often all home together.  The nights we are home we try to do one of the sections.  We have tried to make things interesting for Nolan so he can sit still and understand the stories better.  We watch a lot of videos and then try our best to individually do the reading.  Sometimes we do the reading as a family, we are still adjusting and figuring out how it will work best for us.  We have been covering most of the material on Sunday afternoons.  It is nice to sit around together and discuss our Sunday lessons and finish coving the materials.  It is neat how every family is doing it differently but we are all still learning.  I teach Sunday school and its neat to hear the way each family has taught the material.  We all learn from each other as we discuss.  The kids liked our visual lesson about the sower.  We dumped beans to see where they landed, then discussed how they would grow.          

New Melle Park

We love that the weather is warming up.  We have been able to go for some nice walks on Sunday afternoons.  Its so nice to be able to get out and get some fresh air after being in church.  I wanted to check out a new park in New Melle.  It recently opened last summer and there is a place where you can put non-motorized boats in the lake.  I was curious to see if that would be another option for us to take our kayaks.  The park use to be a golf course but they have made a big disc golf course.  There are paved trails that wind through the park and are a nice workout with lots of hills.  We walked almost all the trails.  We enjoyed exploring and plan on going back with our kayaks when it warms up more.  We are thankful for so many nice parks where we can go enjoy the outdoors.   

Happy Birthday Heather

I feel like I celebrated my birthday for a few days which was fun.  Tuesday at the gym my instructor did a special "Happy Birthday Heather" workout.  Since I am turning 36 we did 36 reps of everything on the list.  It was a great workout and very challenging.  Those pull-ups left me sore for days.

Nolan is on spring break this week so he didn't have preschool.  I thought it would be fun to go swimming together on my birthday.  He was so excited to go!  He had a blast swimming around and we did the lazy river together so many times.  He wished so bad he was tall enough to do the big waterslide.  We borrowed a puddle jumper which made swimming in the deeper waters more fun.  I had a fun time having something to do during the day.  Nolan asked if we could go back again with the family.  He loved it and I wish I would have thought to bring him more often during the winter months.  It can be hard to think of things to do inside.

For dinner we went out as a family.  It is always a treat when I don't have to cook dinner.  They recently opened a new Mellow Mushroom restaurant and we decided to go there.  We have only eaten there when we were visiting Natalie and her family in Nebraska.  It was busy for a Wednesday evening.  We ordered 2 big pizzas and a salad, it was way to much food for our family.  We had leftovers for a whole other meal.  We came home and opened cards and a gift from JJ and the kids.  It was a nice day doing lots of fun things!

Mark Twain Project

Garrett worked hard on his famous Missourian project.  He choose Mark Twain and had to put together a power point presentation and a 3D model.  He was unsure about how well he would be able to make Mark Twain out of modeling clay.  I told him to just do his best and his teacher would appreciate any effort he made.  I think it turned out really well!  Lucy and Nolan were happy to help make the lily pads and water ripples to add to his project.  Garrett got 100% on his project, he did a great job on his presentation, essay, power point presentation and his teacher really liked his 3D model.     

Birthday Celebration

Sunday we had my family over to celebrate my birthday.  Lauren came in town with her kids and they joined us in our ward for church.  I was speaking and the kids were so excited to have their cousins to sit with them.  Nolan took Addie to primary with him, Griffin had fun in nursery and Clara slept while Lauren and I went to relief society.  They came home with us after church and played before everyone came over.  I had fun spending time with Lauren and her kids!  We had a yummy dinner with French dip sandwiches and everyone helped bring something to go along side it.  I made a chocolate peanut butter cup cheesecake for my birthday cake.  It was rich and very yummy!  We had so much fun playing BINGO last year that we played again this year.  We got a new BINGO game with the metal cage that you turn.  We had fun picking out prizes at the dollar store.  We made sure to include some non-candy options this year.  It was a fun day and I am thankful for my family coming to celebrate with me.  I had fun decorating the house with lots of balloons.  I enjoyed them for days leading up to my birthday.  They sure made the house cheerful.  I am looking forward to a great year being 36!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STEM activity

Garrett's group won his classroom STEM competition.  They were invited to go to a larger competition at the high school.  JJ took him since it was later in the evening.  JJ said their group had a hard time working together.  One of the boys was doing it all on his own and not listening to the other boys. At the last minute he finally let the other boys jump in and help since his idea wasn't working.  Garrett and the other boy hurried and put together their original design just in time.  They ended up winning! JJ said he wasn't sure how legit the final competition was but they weren't watching everyone well.  The boys were super proud and happy to go home with a certificate and medal.  

Coloring with Nolan

 

I feel like the moments when Nolan wants me to sit down and do something with him are pretty rare.  They have been talking about weather at school for the past while and each day they decide if the weather is a lion or a lamb.  He had some coloring left to do on the pictures so he asked me to color with him.  We worked together coloring both sides until they were full of lots of color.  He always asks a lot of questions like what's your favorite color and what's 10+1.  It was a nice time sitting with him and coloring.  I told him I was sure going to miss him when he went to kindergarten in the fall.  He told me he would miss me too but I could close my eyes and think of him and he could close his eyes and think of me.  It was so sweet! 

 

Nolan has been asking lately to take a stuffed animal to school with him.  I have been hesitant because I don't want it to cause a problem.  I finally let him the other day and he was so excited.  He picked out a little cat.  I told him he would have to leave it in his backpack so it wouldn't cause a problem.  He zipped it up halfway in his backpack so it was hanging out.  He said this way his cat could see what he was doing at school.  I thought that was so cute.  

 Fridays are grocery day for us and sometimes Nolan likes to help and sometimes he doesn't.  He generally is pretty happy to be my helper and pick out food with me.  I usually let him pick out something he would like.  He usually opens it and eats it while we shop.  He also likes to cross things off my list and draw in my notebook.  Although it is easier to shop by myself we have fun shopping together.

 Grandma and Grandpa Smith sent the kids this cookbook for Christmas.  Lucy has really enjoyed looking through it and finding something she can make.  It has some great recipes and I am looking forward when she can make the family dinner.  She wanted to pick something out to make over the weekend.  She picked this chocolate cake completely from scratch.  She did a great job and followed the instructions by herself.  It was delicious! 

We always appreciate a warm sunny day in the middle of all the cold and cloudy days.  As soon as the kids got off the bus we loaded up and headed to Zachary's playground.  The kids had so much fun running around and playing.  A little girl made friends quickly with Nolan and they had fun playing together.  None of the kids were ready to go home when it was time.  We can't wait for more frequent warm sunny days.

 

Visiting Grandma

A few days after my Grandma came into the office to pick out new glasses she got sick.  She was in the hospital for about 2 weeks.  While she was there the hospital threw away her glasses with her food tray.  She was glad they were her old pair and not her new pair.  It did make her excited to get her new pair as soon as she got out.  She didn't want us to bring them to her in the hospital and have something happen to them.  We kept hearing that she would be coming home but then more time would pass.  When you are 94 you don't bounce back as quick.  She came home and was so excited about it.  JJ and I went to visit her and take her new glasses to her.  She was so excited to be able to see well again.  They look great on her!  We brought her some flowers to brighten her room.  The home health nurse was there getting everything set up.  My Grandma was still sounding congested around her lungs and was running a low temperature.  The nurse was afraid she would have to go back to the hospital.  My Grandma didn't like that but thankfully the on-call Dr. told her to wait until Monday and see how she was.  We had a short visit with Grandma and then my Aunt Therese came.  I haven't seen her in a long time so it was good to see her for a short minute.  She was going to spend time with Grandma and had brought her dinner.  She is a nurse as well as my Aunt Janet and Aunt Margaret, my Grandma is in great care.  Thankfully my Grandma was feeling better on Monday and has continued to improve over the week.  She is a fighter and we are thankful she is feeling better!