Enjoying Spring

 

 Kelly and I decided to enjoy the spring weather and take the kids to the duck pond. Riley insisted that we bring Elsa with. She can't walk very far, so she spends most of the time in the wagon.

 Riley absolutely loves Elsa. I wish the feeling was mutual. Elsa just kind of puts up with Riley.

 The kids always get ahold of my phone and take pictures. I decided to include a couple that they took. Some of them are pretty interesting!

I wish it would stay spring forever! I could easily skip over summer. I'm not a hot-weather type person.

Cheer Camp

The school put on a cheer camp for 5-6 year olds. The high-school cheerleaders put it on. It was only $40 and lasted six weeks, so it was a perfect for Mia.

 This photo is pretty blurry. I took all of these with my iphone, so they aren't the best quality.

 They taught the girls different cheers to do. Here is Mia going up in the air. She had so much fun doing the cheer camp and had a smile on her face when she was done.

 I will definitely put her in this next year, along with Riley. I should have just snuck Riley right in there because she was pretty jealous!

Easter with the Krauses

We spent Easter with my parents and my sister, Sarah, this year. It's a lot of fun getting all of the little ones together. They have so much fun together. From left to right: Janai holding Abe, Jude, Mia, Riley, Noah, and Ethan.

We went to church that morning and came home to see what the Easter bunny left. The kids couldn't wait.

They all had their plastic bags for the Easter eggs.

That sneaky Easter bunny hid their baskets in the back yard.

The kids snatched the Easter eggs up. Each one had a little bit of candy in them.

The Easter bunny brought silly string. They had a huge silly string battle. Even the dogs were sprayed. Every single person had it in their hair and all over their clothes.

They each received a small amount of candy as well. It was the perfect amount. I stole a couple of the Reese's Easter eggs from the kids.

I'd say Billy had the worst of the silly string. The girls were relentless! It was a fun weekend.

Basketball

 Ethan started a basketball camp a couple of weeks ago. We'd like to try and get the kids into a variety of sports so we can see what they like to do. Ethan liked basketball for the most part. Though, he screwed off a lot of the time and seemed to be one step behind everyone else. His good friend, Sam, was in the camp with him, so that definitely did not help! Those two goofed off constantly.

 They learned how to dribble and learned to improve their hand-eye coordination. The high school boy's basketball team helped with the camp.

 The coach had an extremely loud voice. When he spoke, those boys paid attention.

 They also taught the boys how to shoot baskets. I was impressed with how well Ethan did. He made most of his baskets.

 The camp is $40 and will last about six weeks. I thought that was the perfect amount of time for a 6 year old.

 The girls also played a little. We arrived early so they could each grab a basketball and they had fun dribbling around the court.

 Mia tried and tried to make a basket. I give her an A for effort. Basketball may not be in her future. :)

I don't know if Ethan liked basketball enough to put him in it next year. We'll try out a few more sports and figure out what to put them in. I don't want to constantly run my kids all over town to different events. Does that sound bad?

I'd be fine if they picked 1-2 things to focus on. I'm not one of those parents who want my kids in every single thing possible. I don't think it's fair to the child either. They need time to be a kid!

Ball Time

The kids start softball/t-ball in a month, so we went and bought them a bat and some gloves.

It was fun watching them hit the ball. Ethan is definitely the most aggressive. I'd say Mia is the most timid.

They had fun hitting the ball, but there were quite a bit of tears. They didn't get the concept of taking turns and getting out. In fact, all three were crying by the end.

We need to get them out there at least a few more times before practice starts!

Another Birthday Party for Riley

We celebrated Riley's birthday with my side of the family the day after my dad's party. (Again, Mia asked why Riley was getting another party.) It was convenient that all of my siblings were there. We were able to use one of the conference rooms at the hotel, which was very nice.

The kids all helped put the candles on, if you can't tell

Riley doesn't like being the center of attention. She gets pretty shy if everyone is looking at her. I was the same way (still kind of am) when I was little.

Her favorite part--opening up presents. She received a baby doll, a dress, a pair of shoes, some leggings, and a purse. Thanks everyone!

The two babies of the family. Margaret is on the left and Abe is on the right. Too cute. Margaret is one of the easiest babies I've ever seen. Abe, not so much. :)

We got one last swim in before we left for the day. It was a fun weekend but the adults were pretty tired when Sunday came to an end!