Kids & Flowers

I have a few pictures from the last few weeks that should have been posted awhile ago but time has gotten away from me once again!

Allison has started eating rice cereal, she does well and seems to enjoy it!

Anton cracks me up. The other day I found him sleeping on our front step like this. Elijah hated that I left sleep there, he needed to sleep in his bed, so after awhile Elijah finally woke him up, Anton wasn't a happy camper!

Allison giving us some sweet smiles.

Allison getting some company when she kicks her little piano.

Anton LOVES kitties, and surprisingly they tolerate his hugs and being carried around.

My hanging baskets are very simple, yet colorful and they attract humming birds which the kids and I enjoy watching. 

Another container I planted, we'll see how long it lasts before the kids and cats get to it. :)

Elijah was mad at me the other day, I heard him go outside so I looked out the window to see what he was up to I saw him peeing on my barrel of flowers! Like I said before, I'll be lucky to keep my flowers alive all summer, but I enjoy them and we'll hope for the best! :)

Tulip Time 2012

We enjoyed another Tulip Time again this year. Thankfully the weather was nice, the kids were fairly good, and we had Grandpa and Grandma to help! 

This is our view from the back of the pack during the Klompen Classic on Wednesday.

Ready to walk!

We made it to the parade last night. Here's my little dutch boy, he's the only one I could get to step in these for a picture. The rest were party poopers!

Allison during her first Tulip Time. Not the greatest picture of her or the dead Tulips. :)

Our attempt at a family picture. I'm not sure why Elijah always is pretending he's sleeping!

On the Mend

We've had a bit of a rough time here with a couple injuries requiring medical attention and several requiring a little TLC from mom or dad. Ethan was our first big injury with a broken arm. We got a call from school saying he fell off the monkey bars at school and his arm was hurting him pretty bad. I brought him to the doctor and yep it was broke. He was in a hard splint for a week, then on a a cast. We went back last week for a follow up and everything is healing as it should. The Dr. showed me the x-rays and he actually broke both bones, I thought it was just the larger one. Next week he gets his big cast off and moves to a new short cast for a couple weeks, hopefully he'll be cast free by the last week of school!

 Next injury needing medical attention was Mark. He caught his leg on the rutted track while riding motocross. Surprisingly he was able to keep the bike up and drive back to the house. I know if I caught my leg going around a corner at a high rate of speed I would fall over. But he's a lot tougher then me! :) He actually tore his MCL and LCL the two outer ligaments of the knee. He was supposed to use crutches for a week, but I think I saw him use them twice. :) It appears that he must have torn these ligaments in a past accident, because of the amount of movement in the knee, but the doctor thinks it should heal without surgery. 

  

Elijah was jealous so since he had a scab on his head he got to join the injured person picture. Anton wanted to join in as well, he actually smashed his finger very bad, taking off a thick layer of skin so he qualified too.   

Spring Fun

I am way behind in posting! This seems to be the norm for me and blogging anymore. Anyway with the great weather we've had over the last month our family has kept busy outside enjoying it! 

If you live in Iowa with small boys, you have muddy season and dusty season. This is Anton during muddy season. He left of jeans outside in the yard with his shoes, and yes those socks were once white. Can't count on the older siblings to keep an eye on him I guess.

Allison looking sweet in a little shirt from Auntie Ang.

Poor Allison has to put up with so much! I don't how she puts up with all the others so well!

I don't remember what they were doing, but they look like trouble. :) 

Must be a good cartoon!

Potty seat and Bumbo Seat, I guess they look alike. At least Anton thinks so, I caught him peeing in the Bumbo.  :(

Ethan broke his arm on the monkey bars at school a couple weeks ago. He was playing on the monkey bars and fell off the top. This is just a hard splint, he now has a bright green cast. We go back next week to see how it's healing and how much longer the cast will need to stay on. 

I've been trying to keep up with yard work and house work, and neither one looks very good at this point. But I'm gaining! Mark got rained out one day last week and played with the kids in the yard while I cleared off part of my garden.

Ethan trying to hoe weeds with one arm. It didn't work so well, so I used the rototiller and it looks much better!

We got seven chicks, this was Mark's idea to give the kids responsibility not mine. It will be amazing if they all live, Anton isn't very gentle. :)

Can you find the baby in the piles of laundry?

Aw, someone gave Allison a bear to sleep with.

The girls ready for church on Easter morning.

All the kids on Easter.

Don't you love when kids learn to dress themselves? 

Elijah is ready to go to grandmas in Anton's shirt on inside out and his pants on backwards. If he had on his boots they would most likely be on the wrong feet. Funny, you would think they would at least get things on right 50% of the time, but it doesn't happen. :) At least he's trying though!

Mark and Allison before Allison's first ride in the tractor. 

Spring Break

We had a fairly uneventful spring break last week. I was sick a good part of it and dealt with allergies the second half, so I wasn't highly motivated to do a lot. We did have fun around the house and took the kids out to eat and to the park one night, we had such wonderful weather they spent lots of time outside.

The kids all geared up to go riding. Elijah was especially excited about wearing his jersey from Christmas! We've got several motocross items from families that like to ride at our place. When their kids out-grow something they pass it on to us, as a thank-you for letting them ride here! It works out great for us, and keeps the riding cost down.

Elijah so cute, nice boots! :) 

Ethan had a friend over one day, and a cousin too. The little boys played well with them and Amelia was able to spend the night at a friends house, which was very fun for her.

I found an easy experiment on Pinerest that Amelia wanted to do. It's just covering an egg with vinegar for a couple days and the shell will dissolve. In the video the guy was kind of "bouncing" the egg without a shell, so Amelia thought she would try and it broke. She was told to clean it up. So she tried getting the cats to eat it, but didn't have any takers so she ended up using the hose to wash the sidewalk. :)

Mark finally filled in the 10 foot deep hole in the front yard. Hopefully now our basement won't leak and someday we can finish it for kids to have more space!

Anton will play in any dirt he can find! Yes, this is a plant filled with equipment! :)

Allison cracks me up, when she's happy she sticks her tongue in and out like a snake. Not the most flattering picture, but it's funny to watch her!

You may have noticed Anton wearing his church clothes in an earlier picture while everyone else is in old stuff. That's because he only wants to wear his PJ's or this blue stripped sweater or a combo of church/PJ's as in the above picture. He's so funny and insists on wearing that sweater all the time! He is always talking about going to church and "reading" the Bible. He'll look at the Bible and say numbers, "verses" like 3,9,9,9... Maybe we'll have a future career in the ministry with this one. :)  

Happy 9th Birthday Ethan

Ethan turned 9 years old this week. Wow, he's growing up fast! Ethan's interests right now are farming, he'll help Mark any chance he gets. He loves to ride his dirtbike. He's looking forward to riding in the warm weather since the pond never frozen hard enough to ice race this winter. He also loves to play with legos, he does a nice job coming up with new creations!

Ethan got to pick out a cake with Grandma and Grandpa. He said they mostly had girl cakes or really big ones so he picked a Harley one. :)

Not sure this was the safest gift for him, but so far so good. :) Ethan is enjoying shooting targets and pop cans with his new BB gun.

Last night he was able to have a couple cousins and friends over to play. They were fun to watch and easy to entertain. I was thankful they included Anton and Elijah as well!

 A little tackle football without the football.

Iowa Barnstormers

Over the weekend the Iowa Barnstormers visited our school as part of a fundraiser. We enjoyed a meal and  meeting the team along with a few competitions!

Here is Ethan posing with one of the players.

My nephew Johnathon helped Anton and Elijah gather a few autographs.

Ethan and Cody excited about their autographs.

Anyone could try their hand at pull-ups. Mark did 20 if I remember correctly.

Elijah did 21 pull-ups with a little help from a friend.

They also had a football toss, you against a player. Ethan had to wait in line a LONG time for this one. :)