Busy May!

Alex started playing tball games a week before Memorial Day.  He was so excited to get a hat and shirt that match!  If you've never been to a tball game, they're a little slow but very entertaining!  Each child gets 5 pitches from a coach, but then off a tee if they can't hit the pitches.  Alex got to play pitcher and center field and did a good job fielding the ball.  He had to hit off the tee his first time at bat, but hit a pitch the second time.  Even though he didn't understand the game, he had a blast. 

After the tball game we headed up to Warsaw to the Jackson's.  Stuart and Barbara came from Germany for a visit, so that brought Phil and Chelsey too!   It was so nice to meet Barbara in person and she will be a wonderful addition to the family. 

Barbara and Stuart

Alex graduated preschool in May too!  We all went for his little ceremony and watched the kids sing songs for us.  Alex was so proud of his blue elephant that he made for the Noah's ark wall decoration that I had to take a picture.  :)  

Memorial Day weekend brought us up to Nappanee.  The kids were excited that cousin Casen would be there too.  We took the kids fishing to a neighbor's pond.  Even though it was cold and raining, they had a blast!   The pond was stocked with fish, so they just had to toss the line in and pull one out.  Thanks Jeff and Doris for taking us fishing!

Alex and Adam went to a friend's birthday party.  They had sooo much fun!  Alex loves his stuffed octopus and he had me take a picture.  Of course when the other two saw what we were doing they wanted in the picture too. :)

Spring is here!

Well we certainly had enough rain this spring to last a while.  This April was the wettest in 120 years for our area!  Thankfully, no water in our basement and the yard has dried out very well.   Now if we could just keep up with the fast growing grass.... :)

I dont really have many pictures, but the kids are enjoying the days outside now.  They ride bikes, play in the sand, and watch the 4 kittens play.  The boys like to play batman alot inside the house.  Andy is usually one of the villains (Joker), Adam is Batman, Alex is Robin, and Erin is of course Cat Women.  I'm thinking this could be a good theme for Halloween costumes this year! 

Signed Alex up for Kindergarten next year.  He's very excited!  He can't wait to meet new friends, ride the bus, and use his "new" Spiderman lunch box.   He only has a couple more weeks of preschool and he's learned so much.  I can't wait to see how he does next year!  The really funny thing is how much Adam has picked up.  That boy loves to practice his letters and numbers.  I haven't worked with him writing anything, but he's seen and heard Alex do so much that he can recognize letters/numbers as well (if not better!) than Alex.  One day he even wrote Alex's name on the concrete with chalk.  Can't write his yet, but he's seen Alex written so often I guess that one stuck!  I figure next year when Alex is at school, I can work with Adam on his writing skills during nap time.  :) 

Erin didnt get her first tooth until she was 15mo old, and now they are making up for lost time.  Poor girl is pretty cranky these days.  I think I see another set of molars trying to break through.  Erin gibber gabbers a lot these days.  She loves to talk on her pretend phone.  She also likes necklaces.  Hmm.  Guess I dont have a picture of her with one on, but she sure loves wearing them!

Well, we've had lots of showings on our house, but no offers yet.  I haven't started packing yet either.  It's not very motivating when you know packing will make a mess and you haven't sold your house yet either!  But I guess I'll have to have start one of these days.

Trip to Peoria and then Snow!

So I'm not sure what's up with Blogger lately.  It is not putting my pictures in the order I download them and I apologize for the randomness of these pictures! 

Anyway, we went to Peoria to meet the kids' first cousin, Casen, a week or two ago.  (I meant to download pics earlier, but my camera cord went MIA.  I will probably find it when we pack. :)
We had a good visit and Casen seemed to like the extra commotion of all the visitors.  While we were there, we visited the new Caterpillar Visitor Center.  The kids all had a blast.  They make you sit through a video at the beginning, but it's in the bed of a quarry truck!  After the video you can wander around the rest of the building and look at various machines, computers to design your own machine, simulators to try operating a few different machines, and the boys favorite--sit in the driver's seat of the big machines!  There was a backhoe loader, a grader, a roller, an excavator, a wheel loader, and a bulldozer.  All of them had nice wide stairs to climb up into the cab and you could sit and push buttons to your hearts content!  The kids could have spent all day there, if we'd let them!  Needless to say we will be making a return trip there in the future.

After our visit with Pete and Kelli, we made it home in time before the snow hit.  We had 5.5 in of snow overnight.  It was perfect snow for sledding and making snowmen!  During nap time I took the boys out and we built a snowman and shoveled the driveway.   Then Andy got home early and he took the boys out again.  Of course he had to outdo my snowman with one of his own.  :)    That night poor Adam could barely keep his head up to eat dinner!  The boys were exhausted with all the playing in snow, but it was lots of fun.

Casen

Alex and Jeremy attempting to drive a bulldozer.

Erin's enjoying her chocolate cookie so much she's lounging!