spying on daddy

Last week we met Daddy for a picnic since he is working right across from a park.

After lunch, he went back to work, and the kids wanted to play and "spy" on him.

Dave's the one on top of the roof waving.

And since these days I'm trying to find any excuse to snap some pictures, I used this chance to play around.  The park gave me a great chance to practice with lines and thirds.

And Dave working in the background was the perfect opportunity to practice some things I had been learning in my online photog course.

We're crossing our fingers that Daddy gets to build another one here soon.
Once the sprinkler park is open.

end-of-the-year programs

I'm not used to so much happening in one month that I should keep up on.

Taylor finished her 2nd year of AWANA Cubbies and Mason finished his first.

And then we had Taylor's spring program for preschool.  It was simply adorable.

Our little girl is a performer for sure. She got every word and every motion right on. And her voice is the one you could hear above all others.  She loved being up there, and it was so fun to watch and HEAR her.

It was either on this night or their preschool graduation that Ollie told Taylor,

"I'm not going to see you again."

I guess he forgot where he lives.

I'm glad they will see each other plenty more

Gavin's been such a good little tag-along this month.

 And last but not least.

Pre-K Graduation. And our official start to summer.

They sang a cute little song about being ready for Kindergarten.  Definitely tugged at my heartstrings.

And definitely glad the camera was shielding my eyes.  I can't believe this has begun already.

Can it be?  Our first-born is ready for Kindergarten.

Good thing Mommy and Daddy don't have to be ready, quite yet.

some preschool fun

Where in the world did May go? 

What a busy busy BUSY month we had, with just about as much packed into our days as possible.

The month started out with Taylor's first ever fieldtrip.

Her preschool went to the zoo.

And Mason and Gavin got to go along too.

Who would have thought that getting the boys back out to the car would be so difficult and full of drama.  Mason was so exhausted he didn't want to walk. How wonderful.  Nor did he want to look at the camera.  Man, the zoo is such hard work.



That same week, Taylor's preschool got to join the rest of the elementary school for Field Day.

Mommy spent the whole morning setting up stations and then got to go around with Taylor's group during the afternoon.  Daddy even got off work early and drove out to hang out for a little bit too.



 Oh man.  If I could only explain the anxiety I had just seeing her stand in this lane ready to run a 50m dash.  I stood in that lane so many times in high school, and there is NO other sport that tore my nerves and emotions up more than track.  Crazy how just standing out on a track in those lanes can bring back so many memories and feelings.  I will be totally okay if neither of my kids ever run track.

Thank goodness this is preschool.  And just for fun.  And she didn't have a clue what she was doing.  Nor what place she came in.  She was just told to run!  And when she did, she smiled all the way. I definitely do not remember smiling like that when I ran.

 And then we had the last day of Pre-K.

 We are definitely sad to say goodbye to Mrs. Helsel.  We had hoped she'd be Mason's teacher too, but she won't.  Taylor loved her SO much.  We were so thankful and so blessed to have a teacher who loved Taylor back so much too!

Stay tuned for a few more end-of-the-year events.



a year ago this week

A year ago this week we were on the beach.

We talk about our Florida vacation ALL the time. Still.

The kids have so many fun memories and ask when we'll go back all the time.

The kids always wonder if Gavin was in Florida with us.  Kind of funny that they remember so many things but yet can't remember if we had a baby with us.

We always tell him he was with us, just in mommy's tummy.

I had been sick for 12 weeks. And this week in Florida (by the grace of God) was my first week to feel good again!

A few other memories from this week...

*watching the news of the Joplin tornado every night

*our DELICIOUS and oh so expensive crab leg dinner!

*the 18 hour car ride that went as good as could EVER be expected with a 3 and 4 year old

*our Florida song "Knee Deep" by Zac Brown Band. (we still have fun and crank that song up and sing it as loud as we can and remember Florida!)

Best. vacation. ever.

We talk already about going back someday.

As fun as Florida was though, we are super excited about this year's vacation to see aunts, uncles and cousins!!  The lake in Michigan is always such a great vacation too - it can't come soon enough!

And this year we get to stop in Cincinnatti to see baby Alice!!  WHOOOHOOO!

For the last few days Taylor has been saying that she is going to ask Aunt Rebekah if she can keep Alice.  As in bring her home and KEEP her. Forever.

We'll have to see what Aunt Rebekah says.

And speaking of travels...we are packing Dave up and sending him off to Africa tomorrow.

And then starting the 12 day count down for his return.



a mother's day hike

Mother's Day evening we took a hike.  Mostly because I wanted to do a little photo practice as I was finishing up my online SnapShop photography course.  What an AMAZING course! I still can't believe I WON it in a giveaway!

  Ashley's course was seriously so easy to follow.  ANYONE could learn to shoot in manual and get the most out of your camera, with Ashley as the teacher.  She explained things so well, and included examples as she went.  It was self-paced.  Which of course meant that I was finishing a lot of it up the night before it ended.  But when I was zoned into the course, I didn't want to stop, I was always so pumped for the next lesson.  It's been so fun learning to shoot in manual.  I don't think I could ever go back now.

And then our trail ended and we came out to this.



Wheat fields.  Evening sunlight.

What a great photo opp.

But then my camera battery died.  So I pulled out my phone for this last shot.