Easter Sunday

Easter weekend was spent attacking Uncle Judd. They WERE really happy to see him:)

Dying eggs is a tradition. We saw an increase in patience this year…their willingness to leave their egg in the dye longer to get that bright color!




Easter Bunny excitement!

He came in the basement door and left a trail! Whoa…

This is the closest thing we’ve ever gotten to a real, formal, posed, Easter Sunday picture. Snif- that must mean they’re growing up!


Dinner was at Sponheim’s and kite flying is a tradition. It was a perfect day! Just not quite enough wind for kite flying…we got them up though.

The kids made Denny get out a baby pig-as always! Jaeley kissed it on the snout and made me hold it…gross.

Brevin was a bit more timid.

Za Ga Zig Shiners Circus

Well kids, now you can say you you’ve been to a circus! This is a story of how it went. Brevin brought a free ticket to the circus home from school. I went out and purchased two adult tickets and a child ticket for Jaeley for a cost of $30. We get to the circus and Jaeley immediately complains of the smell. Brevin and Jaeley want to go down the inflatable slide, jump in the bounce house, or ride the elephants, all at an extra cost. We say that they have to choose one thing. They choose the bounce house. We go to our seats and sit down, when Jaeley asks if it’s time to go home yet.  Brevin is hungry so Adam heads to the concession stand and is gone for 30 minutes because of the huge line. When he arrives with pop and popcorn, crying ensues because what the kids really wanted was cotton candy. The circus starts and B and J are unimpressed with the acrobats, jugglers, and unicycles. Soon they spot the cotton candy lady and raise their hands for an extended period of time to make sure she sees them. We spend $8 on spun sugar.  The ringmaster does a running commercial for the the cheaply made, light-up toys the peddlers are selling. More crying ensues when we, the mean parents, will not buy a toy that will break by the end of the night. Jaeley develops a tummy ache after eating a whole bag of cotton candy and drinking a Pepsi. Brevin points out all the other kids that are getting a toy. Adam and I point to the tight rope walkers and oooh and ahhh trying in vain to catch their interest. The lights come on for intermission, and we quickly exit the building; telling the children the circus experience has ended. They buy it, and promptly fall asleep in the van on the way home.

Me: “Look! Look at the man on the unicycle catching rings on his head! Isn’t that cool, kids!? Can you believe it!?”

Jaeley: “Is it over yet?”

  

Thank goodness the cotton candy lady found us. Whew.

While diving head first into her cotton candy and becoming covered in stickiness, the man sitting in front of us turned around and said, “Wow, that girl really likes her cotton candy.” Um, yah.

What Adam is thinking: “Shanlyn, I can’t believe you actually went out and bought tickets and drug me to this thing and now you are telling me to smile for a picture.”

Night out!

Woooo hoooo! Parents’ night out!!! Had an awesome dinner out at Taki with Nailors and Pals’, where the Pals announced that they are expecting in September!   Congratulations Pals and Amanda:)

One of many highlights of the night included Kate coming to the realization while at Wellman’s that “Tonight I’m Lovin’ You” has a “club” version not appropriate for radio:)

St. Patty’s Day parade

At the very last minute we decided to take advantage of the awesome weather and head downtown for our very first St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Ton of people- and lots of them who seemed to have been out for some green eggs and ham since the early morning, if you know what I mean.

Playing around while waiting for the parade to start. We ate Subway while we waited.

Loud motorcycles!  Jaeley with her friend for the hour.

Look at all my beads!

Science Center

We we heard that Grandma Ellen was coming for the afternoon-we realized it was the perfect opportunity to visit the Science Center for the very first time. Turned out to be a good thing  to have two adults since B and J wanted to run in opposite directions.

Jaeley’s two favorites were the magnetic fishing…

And sorting the food into bins at the “grocery store”

Brev was first in line to pet a snake at the reptile presentation

Here he is making giant bubbles. His fave was building his own car to race down a ramp with other kids. Very fun!

Brevin is a wrestler!?

Brevin’s wrestling career got off to a good start today with the Adel Youth tournament. Luckily, our daycare provider AND neighbor came through with a singlet for Brev so he was looking very professional. The other night at practice he asked if I had “some of those short-sleeved overalls” he could wear:)
Nana and Papa were there for the big event; and we were ready to enlist Papa’s help for mat-side coaching, but it turned out that he didn’t even need it! We definitely focused on having fun but he did have some success- pinned his first two guys and lost the last match 15-7. So proud of HOW he won and lost:) Should mention that he weighed in at a lean 46.1 lbs.
This is a video of his first match-notice that he placed his band just below his knee:)

Worked up an appetite and needed a hotdog with “just mustard.”

Not a good pic, but that’s you in the #2 spot.

Brevin’s Tender Heart

Brevin cried himself to sleep tonight- heartbroken over a boy in a UNICEF commercial. This afternoon we were watching TV and they had a commercial on about a boy who didn’t have any clean drinking water and his parents had both died. 

He came to the top of the stairs after I put him to bed with big, heaving sobs- saying that he just wanted to be there with the boy and give him a big glass of clean water. I walked him back to bed and he continued to sob for 15 minutes about him not having a mommy to take care of him and wondering how to help him. We told him that part of the money we put in the offering plate goes to help him, we told him that good organizations like UNICEF help, that God is watching over them and we can pray for them. It came back to, “I need to be there with him….when can we go and help him?”  Hope a mission trip can happen for him sooner than later.