Memorial Day 2013

 My brother, Joe, recently moved and now lives just minutes from the sand dunes and beaches of Lake Michigan.  We packed up the family and headed up to see him for Memorial Day!  My parents recently bought this camper and it was our first outing with it. 

 Our first activity was to take this half mile sand dune trail.  It was really pretty.

 Do you see Lake Michigan in the distance?

 The kids beat everyone down the hill and headed into the cold, cold lake.

 Cute Couple

 Cute Grandpa

 Cute Dad

 Cute Girl

 Cute Boys

 Cute Family

 Joey was the official kayak ride giver.  I think my boys were a little nervous, but they didn't want Joey to notice!

All of the "big boys" went out fishing on our last night.  Together, they caught this king salmon! We have a huge filet in our freezer, waiting for a special occasion to eat it.

Hair Journal -- May 2013

Random Shots from the Past Few Weeks

 This is what happens when you teach a kindergartener to read and write.  I found this piece of paper sitting on my dining room table one day.  At least he realized it was mean and decided to cross it out.  Geesh!

 My mom made Jaylee and I matching aprons.  We love being twinners!

 She must be the happiest looking sick kid I've ever seen.

 The boys know how to look sick.  They got the flu on the same day.  It was a sad sight to see them both laying in bed at 10 in the morning.

 We now have a desk for the kids.  I am pretty excited and ready to start collecting school work for them to do this summer.

 Brady's pre-school class had a dad's day.  They went to the Purdue fire station.

Sunglass Kids

T-ball Summer 2013

 Team Deerfoot Trails

Riley is the head coach again this year, and his company was able to sponsor the team.

 Riley's mom captioned this photo best when she said, "Riley, living his dream."

They are so cute.

 Easton is up at bat.

 Brady has a great baseball swing.

 Brady is on first base.

This is such a cute picture of Brady in the dugout.  He is so excited to be on the team this year.

The Signs of Spring

 I get excited every year when I see my daylilies coming up.  This is my first sign of spring!

 I took advantage of our first sunny day by relaxing in my favorite chair.

 The kids have a lot of work to do to get all of Silver's winter hair off.

 Brady has already been "creeking" this year!

 Jaylee and Mom

I am not sure if this is the last sign of spring or the first sign of summer, but my garden is in and ready to grow!

Chickens!!!

 I have been trying to talk my mom into getting chickens on her property.  I thought they would be fun to watch and we could get farm fresh eggs.  I guess she thought it was a good idea, because she got them!  They were such cute chicks and Easton even took them to school for show-and-tell.

 I promised her that Riley would build a coop for her.  He has never built or seen a chicken coop before!  We showed him pictures of what we wanted, then he made a few drawings and got to work!

 It was fun to see it start taking shape.

 The kids, grandma, and I painted it.

 Riley even got a roofing lesson from my dad.

 Those chickens have the best roof of any chicken your going to meet!

 It turned out fantastic!  I was really proud of him!

 The chickens weren't sure what to do when they first went in, but they quickly got used to it.

They even like to spend their evenings hanging out on the perch that Riley built for them.

Purdue "The Challenge" 5K

 My mom and I did this 5K together.  I have been working out a lot lately.  My hard work is paying off.  I have lost weight and had a PR in this race.  My time was 25:59 and I placed 231 out of 1603 people.

Later that day, Riley and I took the kids to a spring football scrimmage game to watch Purdue play.  Easton was really excited to meet Purdue Pete.  Brady did not want to get close enough to have his picture taken.