Daddy Daughter 2015

Joel and Katherine went to the 2015 Daddy Daughter dance this past February.  Katherine kept Joel on his feel the entire time.  She raced to the dance floor as soon as they got there and didn't want to leave until the party got shut down. 

This year she was one of the winners who got to ride in the Hummer limo.  Joel had to convince her to go because...she didn't want to leave the dance floor.  She did go and enjoyed it, but as soon as it was over ran, literally ran, back to the dance floor!

Puddle Lover

Katherine loves, loves, loves to jump in puddles.  It is one of her greatest joys in life at the moment.  I love that we were given a pair of hand-me-down rain boots back when Emily was little.  I packed them away when she outgrew them knowing then that Miss Kat was on the way.  When I pulled them back out of the "shoes to grow into" box this past fall I had no idea how much joy they would bring to her 5 year old soul.

We have had SO MUCH rain this spring.  Seriously...more than I ever remember getting in years past.  This has only provided more opportunities for awesome puddle jumping.  It makes my soul happy watching her enjoy this simple thing so much. 

She's a jewel and I'm so thankful for getting to take a walk with her this morning to hunt for puddles.  It is not lost on me that this is one of the last times she and I will take these walks, just the 2 of us.  She'll be joining her brother and sister at school next year and these sweet days will be behind me.  My heart is full today having been able to share these moments with her.  I hope you enjoy the pictures I snapped to capture it.

Robots

I let the kids draw on our french doors with dry erase markers.  They come off easy and it's like a built in white board for them.  Recently Jonathan took to drawing robots.  I was particularly fond of them and thought they were very creative so I thought I'd share.

Tea Party

Nana won certificates and treated the girls to a tea party complete with cupcakes and dress-up fun.  The girls liked getting all dolled up and even got their make up done.  Joel and Jonathan went to a local coffee shop for some treats of their own while the girls were busy.  It was a nice treat on a cold winter Saturday.  Thanks again, Nana!

Awesome Day at the Zoo

We went to the zoo this past Saturday for 4 hours.  We didn't intend to stay so long, but we were having such a great time we ended up closing down the zoo for the day.  There were hardly any people there and the animals were out and active as a whole as we haven't experienced before.  In Joel's own words it was possibly the best trip to the zoo we've ever had as a family.

We got to look eye-to-eye with an orangutang with only a panel of glass between us.  He mimicked some of our expressions and stuck his lip out at us playfully.  The lion was out and prowling.  We got to see him roar too.  It's always so impressive the massive volume that comes out with such seeming ease.  We fed parakeets by hand and saw kangaroos napping in the sun right under us.  We sat and watched the otters swimming around like corkscrews in the water.  Something that I never tire of watching (I'd seriously love to be able to swim like an otter - it just looks like a blast!)  We also saw an 8 week old calf being bottle fed and then Joel, Jonathan & I got to let it use our fingers as a pacifier (the girls didn't want to experience baby cow slobber on their hands).  We finished the day going through the amphibian house and seeing many cool things up close including a light blue caterpillar - never seen that before!

We literally saw the entire zoo and had a blast doing so.  It was a great afternoon and we all agreed it was a special gift.     

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day.  Joel took them all so unfortunately he's not in any of them.

Exciting Morning

We had an exciting morning last spring.  We were cleaning up our backyard one Saturday morning and unearthed an active gas pipe!  Joel could detect the faint smell of a gas leak so we headed inside quickly and called the local gas company.  They sent out the fire department to check out the extent of the leak.  So we had firemen in full gear in our backyard!  They determined it was an active small leak and let the gas company know so they could come out an cap the line (which they did a few days later).  Our exciting morning also made for a great photo opp for Jonathan with the firefighters in front of their truck.

Soccer 2014

Jonathan played soccer again this fall.  Joel co-coached his team.  We tried a different venue this time and liked it a lot better.  Practice and games are all on the same day each week and it's right up the road from our house.  Jonathan had a monster season scoring 14 goals for his team (more than any other player).  He's going to play again in the spring, and Joel will coach again as well.  It should be another good season!

Here's how Joel described Jonathan's season in a Facebook post: "So proud of Jonathan this season. He was my top player again. He scored 14 goals, 2 assists and had 10 saves this season. He did it all with grace and humility. We are both already looking forward to next season in March!"