Ethan turns 10

Ethan turned 10 years old this month! Wow how time flies and how quickly kids grow up! In this post I'll tell you about a couple fun groups you can start when you hit the 4th grade. They are Cadets (similar to boy scouts) and 4-H. I'm there's more but those are the two Ethan is involved in.

This is Ethan on his birthday, playing lego's with his brothers and sisters.

Grandma VDB brought him over a birthday cake and a gift. This ramp has been so fun for all the kids! They had been launching small toys off it, until I had them relocate it to the shop. Now they are busy riding bikes over it.

This year Ethan will do poultry and lambs for his big projects at the fair. These cute little chicks hatched last week and we got them when they were just a day old.

I think Ethan will have some good help doing chores. :) 

After settling the chicks in their new home we headed out to the wood shed to get a pin ready for the lambs.

Ethan had fun working on his first cadet car. He chose to make blue truck.

These are the cars for the 4th graders at our church.

Group picture of his cadet club.

The sheep are here! This little ewe is the sweetest little gal you'll ever find. She is so tame... and naughty! :) She just jumped right out of the back of the truck and Mark caught her in mid-air. 

Rocky is the white one and Lucy the black. Although I'm not sure Ethan has approved "Lucy" as her name yet. 

Yesterday Ethan, Amelia and I went to the Cadet-O-Rama. The kids had a fun time looking at each others cars and racing again. I must say there are some very impressive cars out there!  Those pictured above are of the area 4th graders. 

These are the sculpture projects Ethan's class displaced. They all got blue ribbons for their work!

Winter Fun

I love the snow, but I'm to the point were I'm ready for warm weather and gardening! We did enjoy the snow while it lasted and here a few of the pictures I took. 

Allison will ride a 4-wheeler in any weather. She's way heartier than I am! Elijah taking full advantage of sledding all by himself and not having to take turns. 

Aunt Ang was here for a while and enjoyed pulling two kids! Yes, that is a guy holding a gun on the road. Crazy coyote hunters! Thankfully he left shortly after he saw a bunch of little kids running around.  

It's been years since we had a sledding party, so we were due! 

Watching all the big kids and loving the outdoors!

Ethan flying over the ramp at the bottom of the hill.

Wipe out!!!

Six Girls + One Tube = Popped Tube by Bottom of Hill

This guy never takes a break! 

Projects & Kids

I have a goal to get caught up on all my pictures so I'm posting shortly after things happen rather than a big long group of random pictures way later. For now we'll just have to go with another bunch of random stuff from last month. :)

We will most likely plant a small 1 1/2 acre field to areonia berries in the next few months. This field has been setting for several years so it's full of grass and weeds. Mark tried to burn it off, but it was to wet so we'll have to try again. I'll give more details on the berries as the project progresses.  (photo by Amelia)

I asked Amelia to take pictures of the fire while I stayed in the house with Allison. I got maybe two fire pictures and roughly 100 random ones like this picture of rocks. :) 

Allison is my little helper, she loves to be sitting in this spot whenever I'm baking or making a meal.

So sleepy, but she still has to help make cookies.

Allison and her cabbage patch doll sporting the "antenna hair". :)

Last winter we had a couple funerals and this winter the same. The first was for Mark's uncle and a week later my Grandma. She was my last Grandparent. I'll always remember decorating cookies with her, making little crafts at Christmas, stealing homemade cookies and bars from her freezer while her and Grandpa napped. When I was newly married and working at Vermeer I would go visit them everyday over my lunch hour, she always had a hot lunch ready for me when I got there. Both Uncle Dan and Grandma will be missed but we can rejoice because one day we'll all be together in heaven! What a blessing it is to know and love the Lord!

If you ask your husband how much it will cost to pave your driveway, he'll get you more rock in a hurry. :)

I love little garden experiments and so do the kids. Here Anton and I are are planting celery which has been growing roots in a glass of water for the past few weeks. 

The celery in it's new home.

So many babies to feed!

A friend and I took a beginners photography class in Des Moines last week. I'm so glad I did! I learned a lot and would love to take another class in the future! 

Anton turns 3

 Anton turned three years old on the February 11th. To make his day special I got him a little frog cupcake from the bakery for coffee time. He loved it, although I think he only ate the frosting. :) Right now Anton loves puzzles and racing his trucks through the house with Elijah. They're such maniacs! He really doesn't like the cold outdoors right now, and prefers to stay inside playing. His favorite cartoons are anything Tom and Jerry. 

Such a happy, sweet boy! 

I love Amazon! I ordered a couple puzzles and a little game for him. He was so excited to see the UPS guy come with is gift! He is BIG into puzzles right now. If you're looking for a fun gift for a 2.5-3 year old I would recommend the little wooden Melissa and Doug puzzles. They come in a 4 pack and each puzzle is 12 pieces. PERFECT for little ones to do by themselves!

Anton and his cake. He is a hot, sweaty mess from running around with a toy dump truck! We ended up having cake at the comfort house in Pella. My Grandma had a stroke and wasn't expected to live much longer. So most of my family was their with her. They had a nice area in the basement that the kids could play in and we could eat and visit. It was nice to be with everyone even though Grandma's situation was sad. 

Catching Up

Mark and I attended the Farm Bureau Young Farmer Conference in Des Moines again this year. We love going to this! So much good information to bring home and so many wonder people to visit with! This year we were asked to speak a little about the Achievement Award. Which meant getting out of our comfort zone and speaking on stage in front of nearly 400 people! 

My cute little niece Kaelyn, came to play. It's so fun to watch Allison and her together, someday I hope they'll be great friends!

Elijah's up early and ready to go hunting! 

  Allison lovin the great outdoors, snowy weather and all!

She also loves Amelia's American Girl Dolls. It's so cute  to watch her haul them around the house. They're as big as she is!

Ladies, if you visit our house please keep your purse near you at all times. We have a candy thief in the house. 

  

Dishes and laundry are never ending at our house. So are puddles of water, wet piles of clothes and lots of fun. :)