Buzzed by a Crop Duster

The kids and I woke up this morning to a plane buzzing the house. I had seen crop dusters a lot in my life, but this was a first for the kids. They thought it was pretty darn cool. It had the same kind of sound that you hear in the movies about WWII films, with bombs dropping everywhere. I couldn't help but think of how people felt hearing that sound. I knew this plane wasn't dropping bombs, but spraying the fields. It was still kind of an eerie feeling. The plane would get so close the house, spray the fields and then pull up sharp to miss the power lines. Our neighbor has an exchange student from Germany and Sonja thought it was so awesome. She is the one in my photos.

Memorial Weekend

Our annual trip to Dry Creek was canceled due to the rainy weather making the back road a muddy mess. We were going to make this trip with the Van Schulthies family also. Turns out, this large family of ours can't adjust to change very easily. We ended up not going to Dry Creek, but couldn't agree on what to do as a group, so we all did our own thing.

On Saturday afternoon, some of us went down to the church and played volleyball .

This is us MacGyver-ing the net as the pole was broken. We put the stack of chairs on the pole post to the pole standing up. Worked alright and we played ball!

Sunday evening there was a mad game of Settlers going on.

Monday, the weather was decent. So last minute we all headed up to the lake for some fishing. It was packed up there, so Weston took us across the lake to a cove and we just made camp on the side. The water level is so high, it is crazy right now. We all had a good time though. The kids caught a lot of perch and squealed with delight.

Evie, Sheree and Briggs

Logan and Tommy were the only brave ones to get in the water (well with a wet suit). This is Logan taking off from our little cove.

Heading home after a long day. Most everyone had a good time. A few headed back to mom and dad's back yard for a fire pit, hot dog roast and smores.

I just love eating the perfect s'more: marshmellow is toasted and light brown, stringy, sticky and finger-licking good. I usually only eat one. But if it is done well, then it is heaven!

Happy Memorial Day. Thank you to all those who have fought for our freedoms and continue to today. I think of you often when we have a nice day like this. Freedom. It is a beautiful thing.

Family Game Night May

Another fun night of Family Game Night. Bad weather forced us to change our original plans of outdoor games at mom and dad's, back to Susan's for Plan B: Bunco tournament. It was fun. It was actually my first time playing Bunco. I even got my first Bunco. Maria was our winner. She is really good at games. But most importantly, we all had fun. Valeda was the awesome face painter, which the kids LOVED. Thanks so much Valeda! There was something for everyone this night.

Our huge family playing Bunco required some creative thinking on the space. We had two card tables in one room and the dinning room table in the other room going. Quite the crowd. I LOVE our family.

Another cute thing is how many people are playing with their babies on their lap. Multi-tasking to a new level!

There was even some Minute To Win It games for those who had missed out last month.

Come again family, we had lots of fun. Family Game Night: Last Friday of each month!

Crayton's Birthday Party(s)

My little buddy Crayton turned five, big enough to go to school now. This party was a Despicable Me birthday party (ideas found at Plucky Momo). It was fabulous. I really love that show anyway. There are so many funny one liners, like my favorite, "that....was....AWESOME!!!!!!!!"

We first had ice cream cake on sunday with the family and then had a friend party today. He had a lot of fun.

his cake says "assemble the minions"

It was so easy to make these minion bowling pins and the kids loved it. Crayton had to inform me that some of the minions only had one eye and insisted that a few of them only had one eye. They played Minion Bowling over and over. It was defiantly a hit.

We also played a game to hit the ufo, like the little girl does at the carnival. Super easy and entertaining.

Kept it simple: juice, ice cream and minion cupcakes.

Again, Crayton picking his favorite: one eyed minion

They looked so easy on the internet. A little more tricky than I had thought.

Some cute decorations, Gru and Vector and the stolen moon, squid launchers and of course, lots of candy, can't go wrong with candy and kids.

Who doesn't love a cute minion? Especially when you can eat it!! Happy Birthday Crayton.

Nature Center

After the 10K, we went and hung out with Brandon and Ashley. We took the kids to the MK Nature Center. It was International Migratory Bird Day. They had tons of fun activities for the kids to do including: owl pellet investigations, bird face painting, made binoculars and much more!

super cool face painting, livy got a bluejay, howie a bald eagle, and haley a spotted owl

owl eyes

livy and haley enjoyed their binoculars. they were having so much fun with them.

i lOVE it!

aquarium they liked looking at

tommy loved this birds of prey short lecture

playing in the sand at the park next door