Parker & Mommy's Day Out

Last Saturday Parker and I went on a little date! He had been wanting to see the Hannah Montana movie since it came out so I asked him to go Saturday! :) We invited our friends Nicole, Lily and Cooper to come along too! We stocked up on popcorn, candy and slushies and then went in to see the show! It was actually really a GREAT movie! :) Parker is my sensitive boy... and he has a crush on Hannah/Miley so this was especially exciting for him!

I love these little outings! It is nice to go out with just one child at a time and be able to give them all of your attention for a change! :) - - when we got home, this was Owen's response, "Mommy, when I get big like-E (this is how he says like) Parker, and me 5, you take-E me to see Hannah?" Of course I said yes... but little does he know that Hannah won't be at the movie theater when he is 5 I am guessing! :) hehehe! I love him! :)

The next date will have to be with Owen! :) - - wonder if there are any good movies coming out?

Costume Party

Last Thursday the Waukee Library had a "Costume Party" for story time! After I took the 2 older boys to preschool Avery, Owen, Braxton and I got ready to head over to the library! After careful consideration as to which costume they should wear... Braxton and Owen were ready to go costume in hand! Avery brought Dora from home so she just needed help getting dressed! They all looked so cute and Braxton even made the paper!!! Visit my daycare blog for more pictures of the kids and to see the newspaper article about it: http://happy-days-daycare.blogspot.com/2009/05/library-costume-party.html and for the newspaper article check out http://happy-days-daycare.blogspot.com/2009/05/there-is-star-among-us.html! It was lots of fun... they got to listen to stories, color, use stamps, sing songs and have cupcakes and lemonade - who could ask for anything more!?!?! :)

Surprise Visitors and Photographer Owen

On Monday we had some visitors... our cousins Candi, Reese and Piper stopped by (Hallie was at school)! They had just gotten back from Disney Land so we hadn't seen them in awhile, so it was nice to get to visit and catch up! :) The kids had fun playing ... at least until it was bedtime! :) Owen has been pretty infatuated with Piper and wanted to hold her as usual! I took a couple of pictures of them and then Owen had a little too much fun with the camera... another photographer in the family??? hehehe! He cracks me up! Here are a few pictures from our visit!

Owen & Piper

Avery, Owen and Piper

Here's Owen's photography....

Part of Candi & Piper :)

Candi & Piper again! :)

Piper sitting up like a BIG GIRL! :)

We didn't get any of Reese??? Owen must have only been interested in Piper this day! :) THANKS for stopping by to visit... it was good seeing everyone. We will have to make some trips to the park, zoo or something fun this summer so the kids can play together!!!!

Bowling Anyone???

This last week was RAINY and COLD! Grrrrr... where are our sunny days??? I am beginning to think spring is all about rain! :) Actually I shouldn't complain, because the rain has given us the opportunity to try out some other FUN activities... like BOWLING!! :) We signed up for the summer KIDS BOWL FREE program and then Nick and I got passes for us for super cheap so we thought we would try it out this week! We went Tuesday and Wednesday and the kids had the time of their lives!!! :) I am SOOOO glad we went! We took Avery with us on Tuesday for daycare and then on Wednesday Corbin and Braxton got to come! - - I am starting a daycare blog.... http://happy-days-daycare.blogspot.com/ and I will post our activities and outing on there so this blog can be dedicated to family. If anyone is interested in checking out what we are up to, please feel free to visit us! I have just got a site, so posts will soon follow!

Here is a sneak peak of Tuesday... (more photos will be on the daycare blog)

Owen... he was being so silly and having a BLAST!!! (sorry for the blurry picture - but it was too cute not to add)

Parker being a little cutie and posing!! :)

Wednesday...

This was Parker's silly day... :) (again... more photos will be on the daycare blog)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the Mommy's out there! :) I had a GREAT Mother's Day (except when I had to carry all my groceries in by myself - hehehe)! Kim and I decided to have a Mother's Day brunch for our Moms and Kim was so kind to have it at her house!!!! - - THANKS KIM!!! :) We each were responsible for making different dishes so there was TONS of food for everyone! To celebrate the day... Don & Jane, my Mom, Dan & Kim and the girls, Matt and Nick & I and the boys were all there! It was fun celebrating together! We took lots of pictures and got gifts and gave gifts! :) It was so nice! - - I am so THANKFUL to be able to spend this time together with our families!

Sorry there are no pictures of Nina & Papa Hamann... we DO LOVE THEM too!! :) - They prefer to not have their pictures posted on the blog. We still take lots of pictures... we just don't put them on the blog! :) - - Kim we didn't get one of you and the girls... and would LOVE to have one that Dan took! - PLEASE! :) THANKS! :)

Fun with NEIGHBORS...

We had GREAT weather on Saturday... we had origanally planned to go to Pella to the tulip festival but I woke up feeling crudy! So instead we just hung out around the house and even though I wasn't feeling the best, the kids had a great time outside playing with some of our neighbors! Nick mowed and I layed on the porch step! hehe! I had a sore throat and cough! I sound bad still but I do feel better! :) Here are a few pictures from the day!

Hallie's School Carnival

Last Thursday was Hallie's carnival for her school and Candi had invited us to attend! :) We had a great time... they had fun little games for the kids! There was a "book"walk (a.k.a. cake walk - :)), a "snack" walk, face painting, ring toss, blow-up slide and bounce house, etc! The kids were in heaven! - hehehe! They even served us supper - grilled cheese, chips, veggies and dessert! - All for $10 for the entire family! What a bargain! I was busy running around with the boys so didn't get too many pictures (the girls were scrumptious in their matching dresses!), but here are a few! - - I am sure Candi will be posting more when she gets back from DISNEY! :)

On our way home we saw a DOE and FAWN right beside the road... here is the fawn! They were so pretty! :)

Photographer Parker......

When I found these pictures on my camera it cracked me up! No wonder they were all being so quiet when I was starting lunch! hehehe! :) - - and to think, I thought they were being good and picking up! hehehe! :) The joke was on me... little did I know we had a photographer in the family!

Apparently they thought it was funny too! hehehe! :)

This Little Piggy...

... went to the market! - This little piggy stayed home! - This little piggy had roast beef! - This little piggy had none! - and this little piggy cried WEE WEE WEE all the way home! I heard those sweet words quietly uttered in the stairway the other day during NAP TIME! - - yes he was SUPPOSED to be sleeping... but how could anyone be mad when you see this instead...

Socks scrunched up beside him even... It melted my heart........ :) He is getting too big too fast and I love these little moments! :)

May Day

This year for May Day we decided to do 2 baskets... a "candy" one and a "crafty" one! I searched online and found this fun craft for the kids to make... and also learned that the original meaning of May Day was for people to either make a "flower craft basket" or plant real flowers and hang them on friends and neighbors doors and ring the doorbell and run - - signifying the beginning of spring! So... we decided we needed to PLANT! :) We took tin cans (from canned veggies) and Nick drilled holes in the side so we could attach ribbon and then filled them with potting soil and seeds! Afterwards we went through magazines and picked out pictures of things the kids liked and glued them to the cans. After we were done they got to take them home and watch them GROW!! :) For our candy ones... we popped popcorn and added m&m's to it and placed it in a cup for each kid! :) - - the kids all had a great time!! Our flowers are starting to grow too! :) - - HAPPY MAY DAY everyone!

Fun with Food...

Who knew snacktime could be so much FUN??? Last week during snack the kids were being silly and "poking" their grapes with their pretzels! It was fun to see how their little minds work - - boys will be boys!!! Here are some silly pictures... enjoy!

Taking Advantage of the Weather!

This past weekend and this week has been a RAINY mess! Finally after storms and tons of rain we got a nice day on Tuesday... so of course we had to get out and take advantage of it! We picked up Parker from school and invited Cooper and Nicole to join us at the park for some fun! It was in the 60's and SUNNY! :) It was beautiful out! We didn't stay too long since it was already almost lunch time... but while we were there Avery ran into a friend from preschool and we also got to meet a gorgeous GREAT DANE (a.k.a. Scooby dog)! The kids had a blast as usual and then we headed home to have lunch and take a nap! It was a great break from all the rain! Here are a few pictures from the day.