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. :)

Misc.

It seems we've been keeping busy the last couple weeks but I haven't taken many pictures. Doctor visits, dentist visits, cleaning up muddy kids and floors, church groups.... the list goes on but nothing really worth taking a picture. Although the muddy kids have been pretty impressive. I'll try to get a few shots of them in the weeks ahead. :)

We had a nice Valentines Day the kids made Mark cards with their hand prints or foot prints and I made him a huge heart shaped triple peanut cookie. He got me 5 roses 3 like the one above to represent my 3 boys and 2 yellow ones for my girls, very sweet!

Allison got this little shirt as a gift, I think hot pink is a good color for her. :) 

I LOVE contests and Monsanto had one this fall where farmers could register to win $2500 for their favorite  non-profit . I ended up winning and gave the money to our school!

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Exercise has been another big activity at our house. I bought a exercise video from our chiropractor and it's been a hit. It's more strength training so Mark has enjoyed that with the kids, they even got a pull up bar. I on the other hand don't enjoy this at all and wait until nobody is around to see how bad I am! :)

Baptism

Last Sunday we had baptism for Allison, along with her cousin Natalie.

 I had a baptism dress bought for Allison before she was born because it was very cheap. But she grew so fast that it didn't fit well and I ended up buying he another one. I hope she'll be able to wear this one again for Easter!

Allison didn't even wake up when Pastor Visser sprinkled her head with water.

All TEN of our kids did very well, we were all thankful that no one misbehaved! :) 

Sometimes it's easy to skip pictures like this one with just Mark, me and Allison because we've been there, done that. But, I do try hard to take pictures of everyone so one day they will have something fun to look back at.  

My sister-in-law Becky took this one for us.

Anton turns 2

Last week we celebrated Anton's 2nd birthday. No huge party or frills but I did take him to Hy-Vee to pick out his own cake which he enjoyed. Maybe next year I'll have more time to use my cake decorating skills and bake him one. :) 

Anton proud of his Thomas the Train cake.

 Trying to blow out the candles, he needed a little help from his siblings or got a little help from them whether  he wanted it or not. :) 

Grandpa reading Tractor House with the boys for entertainment. In case you're wondering, Elijah was excited to get a new helmet that day. :) 

A picture my sister-in-law Becky took of Anton for his 2 year pictures.

The Last Month

I'm adding a few pictures of the kids from the last few weeks. We've kept busy but my picture taking is pretty random.

 This is Allison at one month yesterday all ready for church in a super cute outfit my friend made for her. Complete with shoes and a bow!

Grandpa came over this weekend to install my dishwasher. I can't believe how quiet it is, why did I wait so long to replace the old one! 

This is what happens when you have older sisters. :)

Elijah and Anton reading Allison a book. What nice big brothers they are!

Allison sound asleep.

Only 10 days old in this picture, they grow so fast!

Angry Birds

I remember when I was in grade school I didn't get to bring treats to school for my birthday because it was during the summer. As a kid I felt like I missed out a little, but as a parent of two kids with summer birthdays I thought great, less work! However, last week was Amelia's half birthday and she came home very excited to be able to bring snacks for her class. Our school celebrates the kids with summer birthdays at their half birthday so everyone can bring a snack in if they choose to!   

Amelia choose to bring in Angry Birds cupcakes. These are characters from a little game they like to play. I found the idea for them on Pinterest, my favorite site to find fun things to make or do!

 I gathered the supplies and baked the cupcakes while Amelia decorated them with little faces. She LOVED it! 

 The kids later decided to color Angry Birds together.

They stacked my laundry, which is never ending! It reminded me of one of the little towers they try to knock over in the Angry Birds game. :)