Soccer is Back!!!

After taking a year off, Kate was SO excited for her first soccer game on Saturday!! As you know, she's been practicing in the backyard all fall/winter so she was ready and excited to see her friends!

Her coach + biggest fan, waited on the sidelines for her - watching every move!

Springtime in KC!

 

The girls are ecstatic to be climbing the trees in Apple Valley with the neighbors girls again!

We are continuing our tradition of staying up late on Sunday nights to watch American Idol together . . . sometimes they take selfies when I run to the restroom. I find them the next day and they make me laugh!

Springtime walks with Bear - in shorts!

I see sprouts shooting up in my garden!

The Scooter Squad of Apple Valley is back in action with the warmer weather!

Headquarters in our side yard . . .

Molly, Sadie, Adrienne, Kate  - 4 of the 6 "Scooter Squad" members

On her scooter, with her boots on - of course

Never thought I would own a dog - let alone, be wearing a "Dog Mom" shirt

courtesy of my sister - and I love it!

Bear puts his paws on you like this when he doesn't want you to leave his side.

He is VERY patient with the girls dressing him up these days . . . 

First Day of Spring!!!

 Saturday was the first day of Spring and after this past year, I feel more hopeful with this Spring Solstic than ever before! We are almost out of this world-wide pandemic as much of the population has received the vaccination in record time and Easter is coming soon and HOPE is on the horizon! God is good. We have survived, we have learned a lot, and in some ways we have thrived over the past year. Now, we can slowly come out of our homes and be a bit choosier with who/what we want to spend our time doing. The PAUSE button was a nice time to reflect on what is most important and I think we have all learned some lessons. After all, every hardship carries with it lessons - if we are still enough to listen. 

I was waiting at my favorite nursery when the doors opened Saturday morning. SO excited to buy some pansies and Spring seeds to plant!

Do you see the "KC"? The smell of the nursery always reminds me of my summers working for the McPherson Park Department in the flower and mowing crews . . . love.

Kate wanted to plant her own pot . . . 

Quite proud of her raspberry shrub from Grandpa Pat and the flowers, rocks she planted around it. 

I planted my Spring veggie garden - lots of fresh spinach coming soon!

My first time trying green onions! We buy them so often at the store, so I'm excited to grow our own!

Kate's Garden - aerial view

Spring Break - KC Adventuring!

 We decided to stay in KC this year for Spring Break for several reasons! We planned lots of fun stuff we haven't been able to do for awhile and were so excited to have some quality time together with a slower pace! The girls were off of school for 10 days total and Mike was off of work for 5 of those days - 

Molly and Kate turned their upstairs loft playroom into SISTER SLEEPOVER HEADQUARTERS for the week and slept in there together every single night over the break.

 

I was happy to have them along with me to walk Bear several of the days . . .

Kate used it as an opportunity to save ALL THE WORMS she founds in the street after the rain. She brought them all home to our yard, "to keep an eye on them."

We had another fun Family Game Night on Saturday night with take-out and then fun snacks and drinks - we each picked a game and had an all night competition which included charades and more . . . Molly was the big winner this night!

We watched our friend Ruby while her parents worked on Tuesday and you betcha I was singing "Ruby Tuesday" by the Rolling Stones just about the entire day. 

In the afternoon we decided to try out the new Creative Culture place not far from our house to do some crafting and also get some milkshakes we have heard so much about!

They were EPIC to say the least - do you see the donut on Kate's!?!?

Molly made a darling keychain - 

And Kate painted a new water cup . . .

When Dad was off work one day, we all 4 went to Urban Air Adventure Park to do some Warrior Courses together and rock climbing, jumping! It was a great work-out for all of us.

Little monkey!

The "Jump, Duck, Dodge" game landed me on my booty more than once . . .

Fearless

We got to see our first rainbow of the season and it was beautiful!

We played piano in our pajamas . . .

We hung out with Bear in HIS bed . . .

We explored at the brand new Childrens' Museum in town!

It was amazing!

It was a wonderful week of time together - far from the rush of the school days. 

It got me so excited for summer and the girls home every day again!