April 2013

Easter was late this year and so we started off the month of April decorating Easter eggs.

We went to MA to celebrate Easter. Here are the kids opening their Easter baskets from Nana and Papa.

After mass on Easter morning.

Hunting eggs after mass.

Checking out the new exhibit at the Science Center

Celebrating Dr. Suess' birthday!

2nd grade puts on a biography fair each spring at SFA. Stella chose Jane Goodell as her icon.

We went to MN to visit friends and spent a night at near the mall of America. The kids loved riding the rides at the mall! Porter loves rollercoasters! :)

Enjoying warm weather at the park on rollerblades.

We spent the last weekend of April at Honey Creek Resorts with friends. It's a state ran resort and cabin area. Very nice place. They have a small indoor water park as well. Another great Groupon buy! :)

May 2013

We loved being able to be outside (despite the freak snow fall the first weekend of May). P got a bigger bike for his bday from grandpa and grandma.

I bought a groupon for Stella to try out horseriding lessons, she really enjoyed them!

Our little man turned 6!!! Enjoying an ice cream cone on his bday.

Stella decided to get her hair cut (I admit I'd been mentioning it to her for months!) Here's a before

And after! I love her bob, but she's growing it out again. Her hair, her decision! :) She looks cute either way.

It was the month for field trips and I'm blessed to be able to help out with my kids a lot. Porter's class went to the Raccoon River Park in WDM. Very fun!

Stella's class went to the Papajohn Sculpture Park in downtown DSM. Very cool place to wonder around!

They also went to the Des Moines Art Institute, another great place to check out.

Stella tried her hand at softball for the first time this spring.

With her teammates and coaches. She was on a team with kids from her 2nd grade.

Last day of school!

 

These are out of order since some where taken with my phone camera and some with my nice camera.

Celebrating Stella's 1st communion and Porter's 6th birthday. It was also the same day the Kentucky Derby was on TV! Very excited group watching the derby!!

With her cake

The whole group, minus Keith and Cheryl

Porter with his cake

We had a Mexican theme for dinner and so of course we had to have a piñata for the kids! As you remember there was snow on the ground, so we had to be inside. Wes was kind enough to offer to hold up the piñata!! :)

Porter and his friends party. He didn't want a big party, just his 3 best friends over for a sleepover. It was a really fun night! Great group of boys!

Watching a movie

On his actual birthday opening up his gift from Stella.

Stella's First Communion

Stella celebrated her first Communion on May 4th. She had been preparing for this all school year and could hardly wait for the big day!

 

She wore her cousin, Grace's gown and it fit like a glove!

With her 2nd Grade teacher, Mrs. Berrie. Stella absolutely loves Mrs. Berrie and it was so special that she was part of this milestone in Stella's life.

Grandpa and Grandma with Stella

 Bad photo of Mike and I with Stella!

Stella and her bestie, Berlin

Stella and her other BFF, Ally

Stella with our beloved Fr. Bob, who passed away from cancer this August

Stella with our amazing associate Father George, who is now a priest in the US Army and our entire parish misses him terribly.

Stella with our amazing neighbors, Cheryl and Keith!

Cousins! Porter, Hannah, Stella and Haydn

Mom and Dad with Stella

Some of the girls from Stella's class. They split the alphabet so half the parish had their ceremony on Saturday and the other half on Sunday.

Back shot. :)

A boy from Stella's class had to photo bomb! :)

And the weather is always topic of conversation in Iowa and this photo shows why!! :) Stella's first communion was on May 4th and the ground was covered with snow! Crazy!

June 2013

I'm trying to update all of 2013 before starting in on 2014! :)

 

The first weekend of June found Mike and I running the Dam To Dam, a 20K race from Saylorville Dam to downtown Des Moines. We lucked out with fabulous weather for the race! At the finish line, I think that was our 4th year running this race.

Porter tried out little league for the first time last spring/early summer. He ended up having a lot of fun and Mike was one of the coaches.

Stella went to her first sleep-away camp at the beginning of June. She was gone for 5 nights at the CYC (Catholic Youth Camp) in Panora, just 45 minutes west of here. She went with 3 other girls from her grade at school. She has a blast and can not wait to go back this summer! Here she is with 2 of her friends on top of her bunk.

The 4 girls outside their cabin.

The week Stella was gone was VBS at our church and I volunteered again to lead Porter's group. I had an assistant (high school kid) and we lead 10 kids around all week. It was fun and Porter had a great time. He knew a lot of people there from school. VBS was in the morning and in the afternoons we stayed busy, he didn't seem to miss his sister much!! One day we went exploring by the stream near our house. He was determined to catch a frog or turtle, but no luck that day!

My sister, Anna, and her 2 girls came back in June for a family wedding. They spent a weekend in Des Moines and Saturday morning we went downtown to check out the farmers market. They had balloon animals made.

The city of DSM is developing a river walk and it's coming along quite nicely! Here's dad with the 6 grandkids.

Stella on her scooter while P was at basketball camp.

Porter had a week of basketball camp that met for a couple hours in the mornings. It was through the school so he knew a lot of the kids and had a great time. Stella did basketball camp the following week, and I guess I didn't take any pics! oops!

Mom and Dad with their 6 grandkids before my cousins wedding. Hannah (9), Stella (8), Haydn (7), Vada (about to turn 5), Porter (6), and Isla (2), Mom and Dad (???)! haha!

They both passed their swimming lessons! Whoop!

Sleepovers are one of the best parts of summer! Stella and Berlin with the cats.

Porter and Eric (P was happy but going through a "I won't smile for the camera phase."

We went to the Des Moines Art Festival on Sunday afternoon. The kids top choice anytime they can choose a treat is snow cones!!