10 Years Ago...

Kyle and I said "I do"

I married my best friend

And we set off on this journey of life together.
It's been a fun ride Kyle! I love you!

The Joy That Easter IS!

I love Easter. Dressing up. Singing loud. Candy. Family. Watching the kids' excitement. Resurrection eggs. Focusing on Jesus' resurrection. Brunch at Grandma and Grandpa's House. Spring. Hope.

Chloe looks for eggs with her name at the annual hunt at Great Grandma's.

The annual Easter Picture.

I love how he held onto his basket in the strong wind!!!

Caleb struggled a little with finding his name.
There are too many names that start with "C"!!

Racing towards more eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Showing off their Easter goodies!

Cameron didn't know quite what to do with his Easter goodies...

Opening the treats.

Caleb is looking handsome in his tie!

A 60th Wedding Anniversary Party!

These pictures were so FUN to look at!

Kyle wore my dad's leisure suit from 1975 to host the Not So Newleywed Game. He did awesome! Grandma and Grandpa didn't win but I think they had fun?!?

I tried to capture a picture of them cutting their cake like their wedding picture.

The cake and the mints.

A red themed candy bar was SO APPROPRIATE for my Grandpa!

The original wedding cake topper!

Their gang.

Happy Anniversary Grandma & Grandpa! We love you!!!

Tulip Time 2012

Chloe rode on a float for the first time with her friend Anna.

A group of "Dutch" kids...what could be cuter?

Cameron likes playing with his Daddy's hair...well, more like pulling it!

Had a really hard time getting a good picture in front of the stems so we made the best of it!

Before she ripped the tights:)

There is just something about a 3 year old in a hat...

Just hanging out with Grandpa!

Eating cotton candy and watching the parade with friends; we had some happy kids!

Staying Busy Around The House (random pictures!)

We did a fun treat/craft last week for preschool coop. Chloe and Caleb had a lot of fun helping. They measured out the ingredients for the treat bags and painted the butterflies.

They both wanted to sit on the same chair of course.

Proud of their finished butterfly treats.

The colorful treats.

Today we ate banana bread. This is Caleb's reaction to my instruction to "Eat the banana bread over your plate." Cute.

This new toy of Cameron's kept all three of the kids entertained for an entire morning!

9 Years

 Last week we celebrated our 9 year anniversary with a trip to Chicago. Here are a few things that prove that we've been married 9 years and have 3 young children...

  

Kyle with Michael Jordan's statue

 A two day trip to Chicago was so relaxing!! No children! No meals to cook! Perhaps more relaxing than our 2 week honeymoon in Hawaii...

Me and Scottie Pippen's statue

 We bought each other the same card for our anniversary. Weird. They say you start to look alike the longer you are married but did they ever mention buying the exact same card for each other? It wasn't even an actual anniversary card!!

The big floating bull

 The Bulls game was awesome. I was homesick for my little Cameron as there was a baby in the row ahead of us. Yep, we'd been gone for approximately 8 hours.

Tulips in Chicago!

 We took a picture together...just the two of us...this is rare...

We have a minivan. This is what the back looked like on the way home. We were like kids that never get out. We had purchases from Menards, IKEA, Walmart, The Loft, Eddie Bauer...you get the picture....we don't get out much.

And the biggest proof that we've been married for 9 years and have 3 small children? My parents (the babysitters) have never been so happy to have us back home:)

Fighting

Don't the children look so innocent in this Easter picture? Well, they fight like CRAZY. This has been a rough week for fighting. I have gotten really mad and tried multiple tactics to stop the fighting to no avail. So I decided to find some humor in it and make a list of some of the ridiculous things that Chloe and Caleb fight about:
1. Who gets to shut the garage door.
2. Who gets the banana with a sticker on it (yes, the Dole sticker...not Dora or anything fun).
3. Who gets to ride the John Deere Tricycle.
4. Who gets to put away the John Deere Tricycle.
5. Who gets the bigger half (of anything).
6. Whose mouth is bigger.
7. Who gets to sit on Mommy's lap.
8. Whether they play farm or school.
9. Who gets the green breakfast bowl.

Ridiculous. Now I feel better.

The Beach

We spent time at our beach a few days ago. What a gorgeous day!

Isn't this hilarious?!? Chloe is mad that the water won't stay in her trench to make a moat around her castle.

Here she tries more water in her moat. Notice the large dead carp behind her...gross.

Caleb loved getting dirty. He could have spent all day at the water's edge!

Top Ten Things We Learned Going Fishing

10. Fishing is not exactly relaxing with young children. Sharp hooks and water...need I say more?!?

9. Chloe IS my daughter (oh wait...we already knew that:) Note the posture with her first fish!

8. Little boys love to be with their Daddy.

7. My Dad is squeamish with worms! Who knew?!?

6. Experimenting with my new camera is REALLY fun!

5. As long as he is fishing Caleb doesn't care that the pole is pink and purple.

4.Knowing where there are plenty of blue gills makes for a VERY successful fishing trip with kids

3. These sunglasses are really cool

2. A beautiful day even seems to calm sibling rivalry

1. A few moments of doing something you love can be incredibly refreshing (and make one pretty cool picture!).