Lauren's 11th birthday!!

To say that Lauren turning 11 was a shock would be an understatement... but it's much like her whole 5th grade year was... they have grown up SO MUCH... I say, 'they' meaning her and all of her friends. We've seen them at every concert, where it just stares you in the face... they were just Kindergartner's not too long ago... something that LeaAnn will be next year... and blink, and she'll be in 5th grade too... and now she's going into SIXTH grade??? 

Kathy Kehrli said that to me last year, "these are blinking years"... I still don't understand how time can move so slow and fast... all at the same time.  But it does... so hopefully, her 11th was one to remember... we had a lot of fun, and per usual, it was jam-packed !! Here's the re-cap :)

We'll start with what the to-be 11-yr-old put on her birthday list :) (to her dismay, no phone was received ;)

Her actual birthday was on a Saturday this year, and for some reason that I'm not remembering... we decided to wait until the following weekend to have her friend birthday party... but whatever the reason, it worked out great! :)
She and Lindsay both had soccer games in Independence!

LeaAnn and I had made cupcakes and brownies for the team... she was too embarrassed to tell them why... but I'm glad we did it anyway ;)

And then after the game... Lauren & I headed to Cedar Falls to pick out her birthday present... a new bike! We stopped at Chick-fil-A first for lunch! My beautiful 11-yr-old!! Seriously, someone pinch me!

Didn't take too long... we had an awesome lady help us, and I'm so excited for her!! It was so fun to pick out :)

We drove home, dropped off the new bike, and headed back into Winthrop to see the prom parade!

With Becca Walthart... she looked beautiful!! Well they all did :) So fun to see them all dolled up.

She was so sweet and wanted a picture with me!

Markia's senior (!!) year!!

And Jaci's too!
Seems impossible... we'll go back to that, just 'blink' - I remember Jaci coming over with Elyse to babysit and Lindsay was 4-months old!
So that would have made Jaci 9 or 10... the same age that Lindsay is now in this picture...
{big sighs and a few tears from Mom as a write this}

Back to the present.. we went home, and headed to Grammy and Papa's for a birthday dinner that night... complete with balloons :D

and games... love Lydia's facial expressions in these pics ;)

and wrestling... and giggling...

Singing happy birthday to our oldest baby girl! <3

And awesome food, including a to-die-for strawberry/rhubarb pie!!! :D  A very special day for a very special girl... we love you Lauren Dorothy!

April 2016 - part 1 - 4H animal projects begin

Lauren's birthday month arrived! :D  

Here they are dancing in the kitchen on Friday, April 1st... Lauren & LeaAnn

Lauren by herself... practicing their dance recital dances!

Another volleyball day -  Saturday, April 2nd... this was their last game of the season.. it was really fun to watch them play!

Also on this Saturday (along with Volleyball ;) Chris picked up the 4H pigs! Only 3 this year, but they came from Kirkwood and look like really nice ones!

And then on Sunday, April 3rd, we had our "Buffalo Bells 4H Presentation Day" and Lauren gave her presentation on how to pitch a softball. They all did a really nice job... no one necessarily 'wants' to give a presentation... but they ALL did and did a wonderful job!

On Wednesday, April 6th - LeaAnn and I got to spend the day together.. she might have had an ear infection? But we went to McDonald's and she got these adorable pink glasses... cutest thing I've ever seen come out of there! ;)

And on Friday, April 8th... we Chris, finally committed on the date he would go down and pick up the baby goats!  And of course it was a fridged weekend (got down in the teens at night I think)... we kept waiting for the weather to cooperate... and it never did. I believe we might have been better off getting them in March?? But here we are... we've learned a lot, it's just, as always... taking that first step :)  Because as you can see, the girls were ecstatic.
LeaAnn helping to mix the milk...

The end of the story goes like this... We had never bottle fed or raised goats, which is what Chris had feared all along... you don't know 'how' to do something, you don't really feel comfortable with it at the beginning... so we learned a lot, bought 5 baby goats and ended up with 3 :) a little heart-ache, and good life-lessons learned.

What we have ended up with are hilarious and (I think ;) cute goats!! They really are funny to watch, and they play with the girls... they run after them... truly like pets. So I'm glad we gave it a try... and hopefully, we will continue on in the future!

Saturday, April 9th... I cleaned :) I don't like that I feel a sense of 'relief' when clutter doesn't consume me, but I do... and truly, the girls love it too... they flock to it! They were so sweet just sitting and coloring... should have video'd them.

And on Sunday, April 10th.. the girls were outside playing catch with the softball, a beautiful day, and Lydia got clocked in the eye/nose :) So after the swelling did not go down on Monday morning, we took a trip to the Manchester hospital to get an x-ray...

Lydia did amazing of course, such a trooper... and thankfully, nothing was wrong! And the swelling did go down within the next day.

Friday, April 15th... still trying to "hang-on" to some kind of exercise routine... though most days it feels like a losing battle ;)  but how can I resist this cute work-out buddy ;)

And on Saturday, April 16th - our 4H club went to Skyzone to jump for our annual field-trip! The girls had so much fun... it was a fun to treat them for all of their hard-work through-out the year!

SO thankful for my older girls who stick it out and are a great role model for the younger ones... there WILL be a lot more older ones eventually ;) that's the goal anyhow. And I think that means I'm signing myself up for a few more years - ha!

Lauren jumping

LeaAnn jumping

AND... Buttercup had her baby!! Tuesday, April 19th, a baby girl!! To all of our surprise...(most of all to dad ;) the girls came running in before school and after they had fed the baby goats, "Mom! Dad! Buttercup had her calf!" They were just tickled pink... I'm hoping that this heifer, Daisy, becomes one of our fair projects for next year!

King-Dad does not agree of course ;)

But you know... he didn't want these creatures either - ahaha! :)  This is before school. The girls did an amazing job at taking care of them, even at 6:45am in the morning!

Cutie-pie... Wednesday, 4/22/16 LeaAnn & Beardey

Love, love, love!

March 2016 ~ Easter in Ohio part 3 ~ Easter Sunday

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Easter morning! Opening up baskets...

And finding out that we are going to Disney, September 11-16th!! :D Their reactions made me laugh out loud when I watched this again ;)

And these picture... gah!! 

Reminds me of WHY I never liked Easter pictures!! 

They're adorable, I think they look beautiful, of course!! 

It's a beautiful sunny day, everyone is dressed in brightly colored dresses and everyone is as pale as winter snow <3 it's a beautiful combo... ;)

Better... better lighting :)

Not so much for me, but we tried, thanks Mom!!

In Jacksonburg

Couldn't see the difference in any of them, but I knew you would Mimi ;)

And we headed to Aunt Jayne's & Uncle Jim's for brunch and another egg hunt! Aunt Julie makes up some pretty valuable eggs!! I think one of the girls walked away with $25?!?  They had fun :)

Super teeny-tiny toad... forgot about him!

And on Monday, we made the drive home... in great time again. Here are my AMAZING travelers... total rock-stars...

And a super happy "king dad" when he got home.  Happy Easter girls!! :D