Lazy Saturday Mornings

This is what Saturday Morning Cartoons looks like these days.  Laptop.  Netflix.  No commercials.  Constant brain mush.  Look at those zombie eyes...

More Mowing

This never gets old.  Will I still take these videos of Micah mowing the lawn when he's fourteen?  Will Jeff ever hand off this therapeutic chore?

Wren Noelle Dobroth has arrived!

On April 25 we got a text that my cousin Zach, and his wife, Carmen, were blessed to welcome little Wren into the world!  We were so thankful that all went well and I sent them these pink tulips from my garden (via a text).  Wish Boise were a few steps closer!

Soccer weekends

In case you wondered what we did with our Saturdays during this phase in our family's lives...here come the soccer pics!

Turned out that this was the last year that Grace's first soccer team--coached by the Swenlands--remained in tact.  After this season, the SYSA league changed the birthdate cutoffs to straight years, and so the team split up, with some trying out for an advanced league.  But the spring was filled with fun memories with the Blue Dolphins.  Grace had a great time.

And Josh had a great time being with Kai on the Maroon Monsters team.  It was so fun to spend this time with the Van Sickles!

April Birthdays--Mom and Ben!

So, the G'ma Joan / Uncle Ben birthday pie story:  Let me start by asking you to look closely at these FIVE pies.  Three are real, two are imposters.  The two imposters were purchased as a last minute, "Oh, crud! I can't let Mom make her own birthday dessert," thought.  So after soccer games, we left for the farm, and walked into the farm kitchen to the smell of Mom's HOMEMADE PIE.  I'm pretty sure there's no better smell.  So I laughed and revealed my measly addition to the birthday celebration, and we all HAD PIE.  For days.

 These two have always shared a birthday week...18th and 22nd...and usually go to buy each other shoes.  I guess that's what mothers and sons buy together.

Slick sent some yard sale treasures--lamp parts--home with me.  Dad was quite excited.  Second pic shows the part all cleaned up!

 And of course, Micah was in heaven with Gator rides...

 ...combine-in-the-shed exploration...

 ...more Gator rides...

 ...and Uncle Ben's tractors and drills!

I don't remember how I got him away from these implements, but I remember I had to work hard to do it...his attention span for machinery far exceeds mine.

And this was the weekend that Sarah had her baby shower!  She's having a little girl, and has already named her, but has only revealed the first letter:  C.  We are all secretly making guesses.  Mom was sick with a 24 hr bug on this day, so the Lochheads and Kelly and Millie represented the Mosers on this occasion, and Grace got to play with Henry and Rori and Mills.

The sweet mama-to-be!

This Laugh

Jeff and I are getting to the point where we're asking: "Have we recorded Micah's little voice enough?"  He's starting to get bigger and we think we'll remember his little voice forever...  Jeff captured the belly laugh at 2 1/2.

Spring has Sprung!

Sleepy groundhogs being silly while making fuse bead treasures

Only at my house will i turn around and find a nibbled carrot in the middle of the kitchen floor...?

 

Daffodils were gorgeous this year and Micah helped me deliver some to Granny. 

(he doesn't like the loud garage door, so he set them down to muffle his ears)

 
I got crafty with one of the scrounged old cupboard doors that Dad found for me.  I loved my front porch this year!  The fuchsias, hostas, and ferns absolutely loved our shady porch, and I loved all of the green and (eventual) pink.

The girl liked having another spot for some quiet.  Sometimes hard to come by in our house.

And Josh started riding his bike to kindergarten!  This was new and exciting--he only crashed into Lucas down the street once to learn to give people space.

 

I was a little obsessed with watching the hostas erupt from the ground this year...

Picnics with mom...

And Grace wanted to walk home all by herself after school!  I was a little nervous at first, but once I realized, a) there's a fabulous crossing guard, b) she WANTED to walk, and c) I didn't have to rush to get Micah down for naps anymore, it was an easy decision.  Love this girl!

Turning the sprinklers on for the season included RUNNING THROUGH THEM in "oh, so hot" weather the kids insisted we were having...

And the neighbors started peeking out of their houses!  These two crazies hopped the fence one night for play time.

Edible.

The cupcake, too!

Date Night

Uninterrupted conversation.  No sharing of our food (unless we want to).  No wet wipes after dinner.  We know how to have a good time!

April Birthdays

So happy to celebrate these two crazies in the month of April.  GG and Uncle DragonSlayer made wishes and didn't get any crumbs on the floor as they ate their cupcakes.  We were sad to not have Pappy with us on his birthday this year...he was in the hospital with very low energy, and they were going to check out his heart to see if there was anything they could do to help him out.  We missed out on the Drew/Harvey pic that always happens on their joint birthday celebration.

Do you want to go see the Van Sickles tonight?

The Godmother of Fizzie's

 Yes, they made a sign for her table!  Now newcomers will leave her table alone...

Life Emerging