Awana Awards

Last night we closed out the Awana year. Matt & I will miss our date nights, but it is always nice to have no schedule for the summer!

Here are a few pictures of the kids with their leaders:

Alex & Katie with Ms Lois

Maddie & Will with Ms Pam

Katie was given the distinct honor of holding the Awana flag for the opening ceremony. The Awana leaders chose two people (one from the older group and one from the younger group) who worked hard all year and are great representatives for the Awana program. Both girls went through their books 2x (including the review section). They all worked very hard and we are so proud of all 4 of them.

Easter Decorations

Leaving Grammy & Grandad's house today, the girls noticed the neighbor's Easter decorations (Aunt Barb & Uncle Willy). They thought the eggs were very colorful and fun, but mentioned that the eggs were silly (hanging from a bush).

Becki: Who do you think put those eggs there?
Katie: Uncle Willy
Becki: You don't think Aunt Barb decorated the bush?
Katie: No, Uncle Willy did because he is silly
Becki: Why don't you think Aunt Barb decorated the bush?
Katie: Because Aunt Barb knows that you put the eggs on the ground...but Uncle Willy is silly and he put the eggs in a silly place!

Alex's 5th...I Mean 6th Birthday!!

We celebrated Alex's birthday this past weekend. She turned 6 last Tuesday! We gave her a few options for her birthday party this year and told her she could invite some school friends too. She decided on a bowling party. I think the party was successful (in the kid's eyes at least!). It was extremely stressful with so many young kids...but we survived and hopefully we will laugh about it some day!

Getting ready to bowl!!

First attempts at bowling for Alex, Will & Maddie...Katie bowled last year at a friend's birthday party. She would get so excited (see picture).

Alex showing off her cookie cake...when I put the candles on, I only put on 5!! Big oops. I didn't even think about her being 6 now! So, we added another candle after the fact, lit it and had her blow it out!

Opening some presents...

When it came time to pay, Matt went up with credit card in hand. Who doesn't take credit cards anymore? Evidently this bowling alley doesn't!! Here are Matt, Becki's Dad and Aunt Barb pooling some cash together to cover the bill!

All in all a good party.

Family Night - Preschool

Every spring, Shepherd's Fold hosts a Family Night. The teachers do a wonderful job of picking some fun songs and hand motions. The kids sing and then we watch a video of pictures from their preschool time. We end our evening with dessert & drinks in the gym. Lots of fun - something we look forward to every year.

Maddie & Will got on stage and found us (evidenced by their excited smiles & waves!). They both started out really well with singing and dancing...but Maddie quickly decided she didn't want to sing! We think she finally saw all the people in the crowd! The crowd didn't deter Will one bit. He danced his little heart out!! With MUCH hip action!

They both joined us to watch the photo video (total hit!) and then off to the gym to admire their artwork and indulge in many yummy treats!

What an Honor!

Katie was recently honored for a book she wrote called Princess Goldie #1. The Butterworth Center in Moline honors students every year in "Literary Arts Exhibit". The center displays the kid's stories, gives the students a medal and a book and donates reading & writing supplies to each grade school in Moline. If you have followed our blog for a while, you may recognize the Butterworth center as the place we have taken the kids to get their pictures the past few years. It is one of the historic Deere houses (one of John Deere's daughters married a Butterworth).

Katie was one of 3 kids chosen from the 2nd grade to represent Roosevelt school (there were more kids but from different grade levels). We always knew she had a knack for writing...now she has proven this to many others. As promised in the back of the book, this is the first of a series! Mrs. Larvenz, Katie's teacher, just told me that Katie has turned in Princess Goldie #2 to be edited!

We are so proud of her & pray that God will use this beautiful gift for many years to come. We pray that her writings will bring glory to Him!

I Outsmarted My 4 Year Old!!

Matt & I worked on putting shelves in our now empty coat closet. It took us most of the afternoon yesterday. The kids were busy watching a new movie...so we thought they were occupied! As we were getting ready to leave for the evening, I noticed red crayon all over one of my cabinet doors! Here is the conversation that followed:

Mom: MADDIE & WILL, COME HERE NOW!!
Mom: Who colored on the cabinet door?
Maddie: Me not do it, Mommy.
Will: Uh, Alex do it.

So, I decided to try a different approach...

Mom: Will, why did you color the door with blue crayon?
Will: No, I color with RED crayon, Mommy!
Mom: (smiling, the trick worked) Maddie, why did you color the door with blue crayon?
Maddie: Mommy, I not do coloring.
Mom: Will, why did you color the door with blue crayon?
Will: Uh, Mommy, I not do that.

Yeah right! You are busted little Willy Billy!!

The weather is finally turning to spring! I realized (thanks to the helpful reminder by Alex!) that I hadn't gotten Maddie & Will's 4 year old pictures taken yet! There birthday is in January...and with the very cold & snowy winter we had, I had completely forgotten about getting their pictures taken! Our wonderful photographer friend, Kari, was able to meet us last week for some great pictures!

Here are a few of Maddie...

And some of Will...

Here they are, showing how old they are...

Couple of pictures together...

Sherlock Holmes

Katie & Alex decided that they wanted to start a "spy club" a few days ago. They went into their room and played "spies" for a while...only to be interrupted by dinner. After dinner Katie suggested that, instead of a spy club, they have a detective club! They were both very excited and asked Matt & I what mystery they could solve. I asked them to figure out why Maddie & Will wouldn't eat their fruit from dinner (fruit cocktail from can). Here is the interrogation:

Katie: Maddie, why didn't you eat all of your fruit?
Maddie: Is gross.
Katie: What part is gross?
Maddie: yucky juice. Don't like yellow or red stuff.
Katie (to Alex): I think I can figure this out. Let's go to our room to talk about it.

5 or 10 minutes later, Katie comes to the kitchen to inform us of her theory. (Maddie & Will are still sitting at the table begrudgingly eating the remainder of their fruit).

Katie: Mom & Dad, I think I figured out why the twins aren't eating their fruit.
Us: why is that Detective Katie.
Katie: the fruit is gross + fruit juice yuck = not eating!

I copied the last sentence from Katie's "detective" note pad...she asked questions and took notes...then came up with that conclusion.