Aubrey - dance pics

Aubrey had her dance pictures last week.  For her recital they have two costumes this time.  One dance will be tap and the second will be ballet.  Here is a sneak peek at what is to come :)

Last day of school!

Today is Nile's last day of 2nd grade and Hayden's last day of 4th grade.  When they come home this afternoon I will have a 5th grader, 3rd grader, and Kindergartener!  WOW it is going so fast!

last day of school 5/2915

 

first day of school 8/20/14

New (to us) vehicle

A month ago we borrowed my parents van to take the kids plus our niece up to an Iowa softball game and do a little shopping.  I have been against buying a minivan since I was a kid and my parents always bought them.  Well after taking 4 kids to Iowa City and shopping at Costco with plenty of room to spare I was sold.  I started looking online and Jeremy and I talked about it.  We knew we wanted to have a DVD player like my parents and a few other options were necessary.  Between the options we wanted, money we wanted to spend, and the color requirements (has to look good with the personalized Iowa plates!) the search narrowed quickly.  We thought we found one in Osky but it turned out that it did not have the DVD player.  We continued looking through cars.com and found one in Des Moines at Car City.  We had a few errands to run in Des Moines on Monday so we stopped by and looked at it.  The dealership was closed which was fine, the kids loved it, crazy kids!  I had transferred some money from a separate saving account we have and was waiting for that to come through and we also wanted to trade in our PT Cruiser.  I talked to someone at the dealership on the phone Tuesday and he said we could post date the check and work out a deal with our trade in. 
Tuesday after all my daycare kiddos were picked up we dropped our kids off at my parents and headed to Des Moines for a test drive.  We were able to get a good price for our trade in and get the asking price of the van down a little to a price we were all happy with.  We bought a 2011 gray Town & Country Touring L.  I was super excited/nervous to write a check and not go through financing and monthly payments.  It is a big deal to me that we were able to pay cash for our new van and still continue to not have any car payments.  Now we need to get busy saving up again to get our savings account back where we like to keep it.  Between that and trying to pay extra on our mortgage we are putting my new babysitting income to good use!

Tulip Time 2015

Well the weather forecast wasn't very promising but it turned out great for Tulip Time 2015!  We attended all the parades and enjoyed some yummy food and shopping in the Dutch Market.  The boys both marched with their classes and Nile's class was picked to ride the Sinterklaas float one afternoon and Hayden rode the Cadet float one night. 

Baseball!

It has been a little while since my last post!  Baseball is in full swing at our house and today is the boys' last day of school.  Between our kids and their activities I have also been babysitting full time since March so things are much busier than they were earlier this year.  But it is a good kind of busy!

Jeremy is helping with both of the boys' teams again this year.  Both boys are playing well and enjoying the game.  They have both learned from the joys of victory and the "agony" of defeat.  Nile's team was undefeated until this past Wednesday so that was a tough loss for him. 

We are down to a few more weeks of games and then the tournament for Hayden.  We also have Aubrey's final dance recital for this year next weekend.  Then we will be moving on to basketball camps, dance camp, and VBS!

Game time!

A little batting practice with our new hit stick

my first baseman!

Hayden and Aubrey fell asleep on the way to Nile's game in Osky!

Hayden

I have sat through some COLD games this season!

Nile

all these baseball games wear a girl out!

Aubrey is 5!!

On Sunday afternoon we celebrated Aubrey's birthday with a party!  She picked Frozen for the theme and was really hoping for an Elsa dress as a gift.  She opened her gifts downstairs in the family room and then the rest of us spent some time unpack-aging them!  We grilled brats for supper, her request, and then enjoyed some yummy cake from Costco. 
Today, Tuesday April 14, is Aubrey's actual birthday.  I made pofferjies for breakfast and we have been enjoying the day.  She is going out for lunch with Grandpa, Grammie, & Great-Grandma, I wont be able to go since we have daycare kids today, and then we will go out for supper tonight as a family. 
It is truly amazing to me how fast these past 5 years have gone.  Aubrey brings sass and sparkle to our lives!  I love my boys very much but I also really like have a little girl too.  I thank God for giving Jeremy and I these children. 
Happy birthday Aubrey Jane!  We love you so much!!

Updates

Well it would appear that I have been neglecting my blog lately.  My last post was in January and it is now nearing April!  Winter has turned into spring and in a few weeks my baby will turn 5!

A few weeks ago the boys had their Cadet car races at our church and the big Cadetorama.  This was Nile's first year as a Cadet and he was very excited to be involved.  Especially with the cars.  My dad and the boys worked on their cars before he left to go south for a few months.  We have all been patiently waiting to see how they would fair against the competition.  My dad makes the cars for show and not necessarily for speed.  At our church the boys both brought home 1st place for show and were thrilled.  At the Cadetorama Nile got 1st for his age and Hayden got 2nd.  The top of their bookshelf is getting pretty full of trophies at this point.  The Cadet year is all wrapped up now and we are looking forward to having Wednesday nights free, especially with baseball practice for both of them on Mondays and Thursdays!

the boys with their cars at church

Aubrey continues to grow up despite my urges not too.  A couple weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon she came out of her room to tell me her tooth was super loose.  She went back to play and then came out a few minutes later with the tooth in hand!  This was a little hard for me since she is our baby and is already starting to lose her baby teeth!  The tooth fairy made a visit and Aubrey was thrilled.  On a side note the tooth fairy has been at our house a lot lately.  Hayden is loosing his molars frequently - which is good so his mouth will hopefully be ready to start the braces process this fall.

Aubrey and her tooth!

Earlier this months I also finally made the decision to donate my hair.  I had been growing it our for no particular reason for the last few years and decided it was time to let it go.  I cut off 8" and mailed it off to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.  It has been an adjustment but I am getting used to it.  Right now I plan to grow it out again - less money spent at the salon!

Before

After

Aside for cutting off my hair I have also started doing more in home daycare.  I have 4 families now.  One is just one day a week, another is 2 days and the other 2 will be full time shortly.  This has been and adjustment, mostly for Aubrey, but we are pushing through.  With school done for me now and Aubrey heading off to Kindergarten this fall this was an opportunity that came to us at the right time.  I have had several people ask me what I was going to do now that I had graduated but I really didn't know what I was going to do.  I wasn't super excited about looking for something in the workforce but I would like to be able to contribute more to our family income.  The addition of more kiddos to our home during the day is helping with this.  Aubrey and I continue to work on home school preschool and attend Coffee Break on Wednesday mornings.  When this is done in mid April we will be babysitting everyday!