Bowling Mania!

Celebrating two April birthdays can get a little tricky when you throw Easter in there so we decided to celebrate the boys' birthdays with family by bowling. I honestly think this might become a yearly tradition - it was a blast. Poky has the nicest bowling alley and since both families are fairly close in proximity, we had a great crowd. I'll let the pictures do the talking!

He Hit Double Digits

Since I'm still behind on blogging, way back on April 29th, Mason hit double digits! As he gets older his birthday celebrations seem to get a little smaller. This year he decided to take a couple of friends to Planet X in Cedar Rapids. Mason, Luke, Quinn, and Connor had a blast. Who wouldn't enjoy bumper cars, laser tag, and more?

Mason is such a good kid and he's had a great year. He took on the job of watching his brother before and after school and proved to be very responsible and even had an extra friend here every once in awhile. Homework was even done before we arrived home from work too...usually!!!! I think we're off to a good start! Mason continues to focus lots of his energy on sports and he loves every minute of it....football, basketball, baseball, track, you name it! We are very proud of him and hope this year is as great as the last.

Spring Football

Connor played a little spring football this year through the local YMCA. The program is much more relaxed than through the rec department. With only a handful of eager players signed up they switched the teams around each time and just played each other. Since the older kids had even fewer players, our 1st and 2nd grade group played them a few times as well. Overall, Connor had a good time even though the weather didn't always cooperate. Those spring activities tend to be a little cold!

This game was played on April 23rd. Check out the stocking caps, sweatshirts, pants, and just plain ol' gloomy weather!

Then just a short month later on May 18th, we had beautiful weather. Hence the sunshine, shorts, and short sleeves!

Owen is the Big 4!

As usual, our spring has been super busy and unfortunately, blogging got put on the back burner! However, we've been busy for a lot of reasons and we can't forget to share them.

Way back on April 2nd, Mr. Owen turned 4. Hard to believe this little man is four already, and I must admit on the verge of acting like a little teenager!!!! He has had lots of important "firsts" in the past year. Starting preschool was a big accomplishment and he did such a great job. According to his teacher he is mighty fine at coloring & cutting and very social! Finally being able to participate in a sport (more on that in another post), instead of watching his big brothers was a big step too. For the first time, he made it to all of the UNI football games (he's finally able to sit through an entire game now)! Owen has really come out of his shell this past year too and will talk to just about anybody and has great conversational skills (in other words he never shuts up)! He also thinks he can speak in Spanish, however he always uses the same phrase and it translates into whatever he wants it to mean.

We enjoyed a birthday supper at our favorite Mexican restaurant...to sharpen those Spanish speaking skills. It's a tradition to put a large sombrero on the birthday guest and sing Happy Birthday in Spanish. Thankfully, Owen liked it this time, even if it was a little too big! We'd gone there for Connor's birthday previously and Owen burst into tears when the big "hats" arrived!

Owen also had a little friend party at our house with Sydney and Hailey. He was so excited to have friends over:) BOTH camera batteries were dead that night, so no pictures to share!

I'm sure the next year will go just as fast and I can't wait to see how he grows and changes!

80 degrees in April!

Not often do we have an 80 degree day in April! So, one might ask what do you do on such a beautiful day? Well, in our 'hood if you're under the age of 10 you might be found

playing on the slip 'n' slide...

sun bathing...

or eating popsicles!!!

Notice how I said under the age of 10. The adults just sat and watched - too scared to show our white legs!

Who can resist these guys?

Aren't they both cute? Gotta love the Panther Pals program and the activities they provide for kids. Connor loved learning from the athletes, but I think it was TC who really made his day!

Familiar Territory!

Owen is spending a lot of time here...

on the steps, in Time-Out!!! He will truly give Ron and I more gray hairs than the other two kids combined!!!

Time-out in his room doesn't work because he can find entertainment pretty easily in there - the stuffed animals talk, books to read, color at his desk, build with his Lincoln Logs, put puzzles together, change his clothes. With more time I'm sure he would come up with even more stuff to do. Heck, he's even trying to explain why he did (whatever it was that sent him to time-out) with his hands. And if that doesn't work...

then he'll blame somebody else. Here he's letting me know it's not HIS fault!!! Oh, my dear Owen, thank you for my 1,000th gray hair today and my monthly trips to get those grays colored!!!