A Visit from our Dear Friends

We enjoyed a visit from our dear friends, Keith, Aimee, Abby, Mason, and Sophia this past week.  I told myself over and over I need to make sure to take lots of pictures of the kiddos together, but of course I failed at that once again.  I also wanted to get a good picture of Denver and Abby together to put in a frame in Denver's room, but didn't get that done either.  We didn't have enough time to chat and play enough, but hoping God provides us with another visit with them again soon!
We didn't get a lot of time of all of us together as the boys had to do a favor run for me, and then they had to go get bait for their fishing endeavor in the evening, and Aimee & I made a trip to Hobby Lobby for some things she needed for a shower she was doing and to help me pick out some decorations for my kitchen (another blog to come, if I remember).  The kids of course ran and played the entire time and were sad when it was time to say goodbye.

Abby in Denver's superman costume!

Denver with his arm around his BFF, Abby

A fun night in the tub, with easy cleanup.....glow lights!

I originally thought the little 2 would take a bath and then the big 2, but the big 2 couldn't wait and crawled right in.  I think they had a good time, and they still fit better than I thought they would!

I realize the picture is blurry, but it showed the glowing lights the best, and then I didn't have to worry so much about what was showing. :)

We are so thankful that God has blessed not only Evan and I, but our kids as well with such great friends!

Malena Ann

We are happy to have another little girl in the family.  Evan's cousin Jordan and his wife Ann, welcomed Malena Ann on April 17th.  Denver's so excited to have another baby in the family and Makenna couldn't be more excited to have a little GIRL cousin!  We didn't visit long and the little time I got to hold her I was fending off the kids so I didn't get any close ups of her sweet little face, but here are some pictures of our family enjoying our first visit with baby Malena!  We hope and pray they have an easy transition into a family of 3, and are so thankful for the little blessing that God has placed in our family.

Believe it or not I got to hold baby Malena for a couple seonds before Makenna wanted her, and as soon as Denver saw her holding Malena he was right there begging for his turn.

Makenna, Denver, Malena, and off to the side is Malena's daddy, Jordan

Evan, Denver, and Baby Malena

1st "Big" Injury

We had our first injury that required a visit to the doctor's office.  This injury actually sent us to the eye doctor.  Denver was at softball practice with Daddy on Wednesday, they were playing in the outfield when Denver caught a fly ball smack dab in the middle of his right eye.  The poor little guy looked rough that night, but I felt terrible for him the next morning when more swelling had set in.  It was a school morning so there was no time for pictures as he needed some convincing he was okay to go to school, and I spent some time looking up when the eye doctor's office opened, besides our normal morning routine for school.  After school we went straight the the eye doctor where they looked at his eye and even dilated it.  We were disappointed, but yet happy (that it wasn't worse) to hear that he had iritis (swelling of the iris).  Denver was sent home with some steroid eye drops to put in his eye four times a day and another appointment was made for next week to see how its healing.  After the eye doctor I took the kiddos and 2 of their friends to McDonalds to eat lunch and play and a little before we left I noticed the swelling had dramatically decreased in Denver's eye.  We quickly ran home and got our picture taken, so while we don't have it at its worse swelling, it still doesn't look pretty.

He could finally open his eye better.

This is a little more of what it looked like in the morning before the swelling went down.  He was blessed with squinty eyes when smiling, thanks to his mother.

I thought the bruising was a little worse today (Friday), but he didn't complain of it hurting at all so his eye drops must be helping!  Both Mommy and Daddy (especially Dad) have a lot of guilt over this, but we are so thankful it wasn't any worse.

It won't be long now...

It won't be long now and we'll have a LAWN!  I can NOT wait.  It will be so nice to be able to be out in our lawn and not have to invade our neighbors lawn.  Denver can then invite all his new friends over to play.  We had a paver patio installed this week and Denver watched them do the entire thing.  I think he only missed while he was at school one morning.  The guys doing it said he'd know how to do one by himself when they were all done.  They were amazed at his patience and interest in what they were doing.  Quite sure all my dad's side understand how he did this, as its the Haney in him coming out!  Denver kept asking me to sit out on the deck to watch with him, but unfortunately or maybe fortunately I told him it was boring and cold out there and I had things I needed to get done.

Makenna also took interest in the "building" of the patio, but she wasn't a persistent in watching the entire time.  But, she did find after sitting on the back of the couch to watch them (because she didn't want to be out in the cold either...don't let her dress fool you, it was cool outside) that it was also quite fun to do acrobats off the couch.

Here's the final product

Now we just need some rocks, sprinkler system, plants and trees, AND grass!

Happy Easter!

Easter morning we did Resurrection eggs.

We've done these in the past at Church, but I came across a toddler one on Pinterest this year and thought the kids would possibly get more out of this one.

After they were done with their eggs they went on a little scavenger hunt for a couple special treats.

Here's Denver finding his first one in the dryer.

Kenna with her last one in the garage on her trike.

And our beautiful babies in their Easter outfits.

We hope each and every one of you had a very blessed, and meaningful Easter this year.

Sonrise Saturday

The day before Easter our Church has "Sonrise Saturday" which consists of activities to help the kiddos learn more about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, a light breakfast, and an egg "hunt".

Here Denver and Makenna are lifting up the cross to see how heavy of a cross Jesus had to carry.

They also had a baby lamb and baby chicks for the kids to see and touch.

Picking up eggs on their egg hunt.

The kids had a blast and enjoyed their eggs filled with candy and treats when they got home from Church.

Oh Pinterest....Practicing their Names

Thanks to another pinterest idea I made doted letters making out the kiddos names, laminated them, and then gave them white erase board markers and they set off to work on practicing their names for quite some time.  It was so fun watching them so carefully connect the dots to make their names.  Prior to this I finally captured Denver's attention span long enough to teach him how to spell his name.  He could recognize the letters before and tell you, but couldn't do it by memory.  We are so proud of all the accomplishments he's been making lately.

Summer Fun....IN MARCH!

We have been having some beautiful weather lately, and the last day in March was so hot that the kids were outside playing with the neighbor boys with water guns, and water from the spicket.  Evan and I were staining our deck while listening and watching the fun, but I had to stop to take some pictures, as I'm quite sure we won't have many repeats of this day in future March's to come.  The following day the kids actually went swimming with both our neighbors next to us and across the street, but I was at work so I didn't get to capture any of those moments.

All 4 kiddos playing in the water.

Makenna, Landon, and Denver

Denver and Landon especially had a lot of fun.

No more training wheels!

The other night Evan said to me "I bet you, I can have Denver riding his bike without training wheels in 10 minutes".  I said prove it!  Sorry, Denver, but I really didn't think Daddy was right, as I thought your fear would kick in and you wouldn't want to keep trying, but you showed me WRONG!  Around the 10 minute mark we were able to let go for short time periods, but Denver would look back to see if we let go and immediately break.  We decided to call it quits, and then took him out the next night....in footed pajamas and cowboy boots none-the-less.  Evan helped Denver balance in the beginning and I ran in front of him to make him keep looking at me and not worry if Dad had let go or not and it didn't take long and he was going, going, going without training wheels and without Daddy's help!  (So I just got the first night video recorded as I didn't even think of it when I was running down the street until we got in the house.)  We are soooo proud of him and its so fun watching him hop on his bike with no fair and drive away.  We've gone on several bike drives around the block and he does really well and obeys our street rules for him.  Way to go, buddy!

So excited!

Determined.

Makenna wanted right in on the action.

Fishing Trip

I keep wanting to put "our first fishing trip of the year", but really, it was only MY first fishing trip this year.  Evan has been to the river with Denver and his Grandpa, and he's taken the kids several times to go fishing either when I've been at work or trying to get stuff done around the house in peace and quiet!  Its so nice that the kids are finally the age where Evan can take them to do things and I can get stuff done without it taking twice as long, and or doing things not once, but twice. :)

The first fish on this trip, of course it was caught by Denver!

He was sooo excited!

Makenna's first fish on this trip, which was also the first walleye caught on this trip.

She wasn't too interested in a picture with her fish.

Kenna and Papa fishing.

This fishing endeavor took place when my sister was here the 2nd time, and Jacob joined us.  He was excited to catch a fish too!

Daddy and Denver with the 2 biggest fish from the trip.

Sisters and Cousins.....and PINTEREST

A blessing all too often taken for granted is a sister AND cousins!  We had the privelege of spending lots of quality time with my dear sister and her 3 boys on two seperate occasions (back to back weeks) in March.  I'm so thankful that God has blessed me with an amazing sister who loves and cares so much about my family and me; along with 3 awesome little boys who have melted our families heart and created so many precious memories for our children.  We had an absolute blast having them stay with us and hope the next visit entails Jeff, as well (and Evan hopes a finished basement, but I say they better come before that happens!)!  I'm not quite sure how Kim and I managed to keep functioning as we ran and played hard while they were here both times, but we spent lots of time playing, and lots of time as sisters catching up while the kids napped or played.  Our play time of course included lots of Pinterest activities which you'll see pictured below.

One of the Pinterest activities included shaving cream painting in the shower.  The kids had an absolute blast, but I learned a good lesson....put a limit on the amount of shaving cream of they'll be too tired to clean it up and you'll spend time scrubbing down the shower yourself.....kind of exhausting.

Another adventure was home made finger painting!  I don't have a lot of pictures of this as they got a little wild and needy and didn't have enough free hands.

The before picture.

...and a shortly after they started photo.

We spent a day out at the farm, running around, feeding the calves with Papa, tractor rides with Papa, and of course Denver had to have some snuggle time with Baby Malachi.  He absolutely adores him!

This was from the next week visit and I caught Makenna attempting to change Caleb's poopy diaper!  I kind of had to laugh to myself as there's a similar story about myself....ahhhh it can be difficult to see yourself in your child some times!

Not many pictures were taken this visit and it was spent a little more low key just enjoying each other's company.  The last day they stayed at our house we had a picnic out on the deck. 

LOVE this picture of Caleb, his full plate, and his cute face....AND look at Caleb and Denver, couldn't they pass as brothers? :)

Thank you God for blessing me with such a wonderful, loving, caring, and ambitious sister, and THREE absolutely adorable, and precious nephews.  Thank you for the relationships we have, and how you will bless us as they continue to grow!