random catch up

This weekend was a hot one! High 90's...full sunshine...

so we spent most of the weekend doing this:

We got the water table at Costco. I had been eyeing it for a few weeks and we pulled the trigger last week :) I decided to forgo the stress of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum playing in the pool everyday....they rough-house alot and one of them is bound to drown.  Seriously.

So for everyday use, we have the water table and the sprinkler. Pool will be occasionally when I can sit in there with them. :)

The kids love it and Adelyn is always asking to "play with the cool water table".

After being outside in the heat most of the day yesterday....we had frozen yogurt for dinner. It was delicious. I don't feel bad about it at all :)

Adelyn has learned how to call people from my phone. She always calls Grandma Diane and will not give me the phone. I have to wrestle it from her and then she flips out and gets so mad.  I can't help but laugh because she takes these phone conversations SUPER seriously. (she is actually talking to my mom in this picture....I had to get a photo of it)

When we are inside, Addy and Mason LOVE to play in her room. They jump on the bed. They take out the books....they LOVE it.

Mason is a total daddy's boy. He woke up from his nap while Nick was mowing and immediately booked it to the door begging to go outside....being the awesome dad he is...Nick finished up like this :)

I got 2 rose bushes for Mother's Day last year. They are starting to bloom....Adelyn is obsessed with the current (and first) rose...it's so pretty. She is itching to pick it. :)

My sweet girl. She does the weird "cheese" grin alot, so it's fun when I can get a "natural" smirk ;)

Life is never dull.

Today Adelyn and I visited preschools and I think we have our winner! CVC Preschool was amazing and Adelyn jumped right in playing with the kids. The teachers were great and so nice. I had to drag her out of there!

I'm so excited for her to start in the fall!

It's 3 days a week for 7 (!!) hours.

Wowsers....WHAT will Mason and I do with ourselves?? :)

Thinking about it gives me a pit in my stomach...I'm excited, but sad because she's my baby girl!

I can't believe she'll be in school....

oh my...

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solo trip to iowa

a million years ago
  in a dream I had
what feels like forever ago
The last weekend-ish of March, Nick sent me home to Iowa for a few {child free!} days. :) I LOVE my kids, but sometimes you need a break. If you're a mama, you know. :)
I spent 3 full blissful days with dear dear friends and family :)
Friday, I got to see Bekah and the girls, Amber and Miles, and Ashley, Katie and their kiddos. It was wonderful (forgot my camera, so no pictures...boo)!!
Saturday, Mom and I spent the entire day at the East Village downtown and then over to Valley Junction. Then I saw my dad for a bit before heading for margaritas at On the Border with Mom :)

Top left to right: cool spice shop in the village. My favorite sculpure, Nomade, at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park. One of the old chandeliers from the old Younkers Tea Room (such a cool place!)

Left to right: mom and I in the Nomade :) and at On the Border {margaritas!}

Sunday I slept in :), went for a {child free} run, then over to see my dad, stepmom, and 2 younger brothers (Josh is still in Hawaii). We ate yummy food and just hung out. It was wonderful :)

Russell Brand Caleb teaching Jake to make guac. Dad, Pam, and me.

That evening, my sister-in-love ;) Yvonne and her hubs, D'Angelo, came over with the boys (Ahman and my nephew, Noah) for some Casey's taco pizza. If you've had it...you will understand how amazing it was :) My stepdad was back from the cabin and my stepbrother, Jesup, is in DSM, so I got to see him too. I cannot tell you how refreshing and great it was to see everyone!

Mom, Rob, and Noah.  Yvonne, Noah and me.

Ahman and Noah :)

Yvonne and D'Angelo (2 of my favorite persons ever)

Jake, Russell Brand Caleb, Mom and me

The long weekend FLEW by...and honestly feels like a dream!
I miss you all so much!! :)
xoxo

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easter festivites

In a time where Easter has become all about bunnies, baskets, eggs...and yes, candy....Nick and I want to make sure we are teaching our children what it's really all about. Jesus Christ. His sacrifice--dying on the cross. The awesome miracle of his resurrection. The fact he did it willingly...for you and for me....so that we can have the opportunity--in our sinfulness--to live forever with him.
How cool.
We didn't do easter baskets growing up. We did the occasional easter egg hunt...but we never felt deprived :) Nick had them and said it was fun waking up to a fun-filled basket :) I totally get that!
Friday before easter, I was reading one of the too many blogs I follow, and she was talking about a tradition they started last year where they tie in Jesus' story with the easter baskets. SO COOL.
I decided it was perfect...so that's what we did. Saturday night, we went through the Resurrection Eggs with Adelyn {hopefully next year, she'll pay more attention to the story...this year she just wanted to open all the eggs!}

Then we wrote down sins on rocks and put them in her and Mason's easter baskets. We covered them with a red towel to represent Jesus' blood, his dying on the cross for our sins and explained we had to wait until morning to see what would happen.

The next morning, she took off the towel, and we had put  "Jesus" basket between theirs and it had all of their "sins" in it and we talked {briefly} about the last Resurrection Egg.

They had a few toys in their baskets (no candy....she got PLENTY at the church candy grab easter egg hunt on Saturday morning!
Anyway...it was fun and I think it's a tradition we will keep up. Thank you for the idea, Christy! :)
We went for lunch on Sunday to Steve and Cindy's. It was a blast. My kids ADORE them. I forgot my camera. Boo.
Thank you, for having us over! We love you guys! :)
Okay, so the church egg hunt was Saturday morning.
It's huge.

her face says it all :)

Hundreds of people...but the kids had so much fun! Our neighbor brought her younger 3...so we had fun with them.

Top: Zander, Trinity, Adelyn and Uriah

 We sang songs and did door prizes first in the auditorium, then they split up the age groups.

singing "Father Abraham"

 Nick took Mason, Alex took her youngest and her 5 year old.  I took Trinity and Adelyn with me. They were hilarious. Lazer focus. They subconsciously were working together. They would block off a section and just clear it. I was cracking up!

Waiting for the "GO!"

LAZER FOCUS. Seriously.

Adelyn with Trinity and her friend, Haley....

displaying their spoils ;)

We had a fun Easter and are so thankful for the friendships we have been blessed with!

Happy Easter!

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happy easter!

We hope you had a wonderful day remembering and celebrating Jesus' willing sacrifice and his resurrection, so that we can LIVE!

thank you, Lord :)

Happy Easter!

With love,

Nick, Abby, Adelyn, and {one very tired} Mason

xoxo

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chicken and kale casserole

I made this chicken and kale casserole the other night for dinner. SO good.

Click here for the recipe.

I added spinach with the kale and was super yummy. I also did half ricotta and half cottage cheese because I didn't have enough ricotta.

The lemon in it is amazing :)

We had it with some homemade bread.

SO good :)

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mountain view

One thing I really like about where we live, is that the mountains are about 20 minutes away. Unfortunately, since the air quality out here is so terrible most of the year, you can only see them maybe a little more than a month or so out of the year! Last week, after some awesome rain, the air was clear enough to see them (although, it was still a hazy view...), and I had to take some pictures to prove how close they are! :)

from the edge a field near our house

I have never been able to get over all of the random shopping carts EVERYWHERE.

The homeless use them for their belongings...and alot of people take the bus, so they use the carts to take their stuff to the bus stops and then leave them. I've seen other people use them as strollers.

It drives me nuts seeing them all over...

view from the far west end of our street.

Apparently they are going to start building a house on this empty lot soon...

in front of our house in the street :)

Yay for garbage day :)

The white posts sticking out of the ground are at more empty lots where they are starting to mark for houses.

from our backyard.

Yay for naked vines on the neighbor's gazebo and spindly trees that need some leaves! ;)

So there you go. Proof that we have mountains nearby! :)

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