Cruisin'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well we made it back safely.  We are currently sitting in the Mpls. airport at 10:00pm on Friday waiting for the rest of our luggage to come in.  

We had a wonderful time on the cruise.  I'll give you just a few pictures for now and will put more on here when we get home.  The weather was beautiful (a little windy), but sunny and warm nonetheless.  We missed out on the most fun day because it was too windy and the little boats that take the passengers ashore couldn't get out to the cruise ship.  That was a bummer. We still got plenty of sun on the decks along with the other 2,000 people that were on-board :) It made for some interesting people watching!! 

You may be wondering if we went to the conference.  Yes, we did.  The worship times with Tommy Walker and Ross Parsley were amazing!!  We feel completely blessed to have been given this opportunity.  We loved every minute of it, but are very much missing the kids and can't wait to see them in the morning.  It sounds like they had a great time with Grandma and Katie :)

This picture was taken on the formal night.  Andy looked very handsome.  And yes, that is his tux from college :)  It still fits :)  

The sunsets were beautiful!
We spent a half day at the beach in Key West, FL.  We tried to do some snorkeling on our own, but it was very windy and the water was very cloudy.  I was just so pleased to be sitting on a white sandy beach!!
The ship was bigger than we ever could have imagined!!  It is amazing that something so big floats on the water!!  It was beautiful on the inside.  We were pampered in every way and felt very blessed!!  

Pretty toes!!!!!

Last Thursday Kaelynn and I painted our toes in honor of the warm weather we were having. She picked out a very beautiful shade of red. As we were waiting for them to dry she kept saying, "Your toes are so pretty mommy" and "Oooh look at my pretty toes". A few days later we were sitting on the couch playing around and I kissed her toes. She sat up, looked at me very seriously and said, " Don't kiss my toes mommy. They're too pretty!!!!"

Upon leaving Chuck E Cheese on Friday, Andy took the opportunity to express to the kids how blessed we were to be able to do fun things like going to Chuck E Cheese and how there are many kids in the world who are not able to do such fun things. Connor that night prayed, "And Lord please help all the kids who can't go to Chuck E Cheese be able to go." It is neat to see their hearts growing to include many people and not just themselves.

Carson is such an affectionate little boy! Not a day goes by that I don't hear, "Mama, I love you." It is often said numerous times in the day and a lot of times said just at the right time. Sometimes I think he knows me better than I know myself. I think he is God's messenger to remind me of how blessed I am to be at home with them.

By the way, Andy passed his ministry license exam last Tuesday with flying colors. We are so proud of him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Childhood games and other fun stuff..........

I think all of the germs have finally made an exit from our house. This week we were visited by the stomach flu germs. Everyone but Andy had it. Thankfully it was a pretty short lived flu. It still gave me plenty of opportunities to practice my carpet cleaning skills. Before the flu hit so hard we were able to get outside and enjoy some wonderful weather. The boys had a blast learning how to play hop-scotch. They caught on very quickly and played over and over. Here are some action shots:

Our beautiful weather was short lived and we have been dealing with lots of rain and cold temperatures for the past couple of days. Andy was going to take the boys on an overnight fishing trip to a friend's farm ponds in southern Iowa. They have been known to catch lots and lots of fish in a short amount of time. However, they got 4 inches of rain yesterday and more was forcasted for today and tomorrow morning. So, in order to avoid too much disappointment, we had a day of fun at Chuck E. Cheese in Des Moines. They had a great deal and we were able to get 140 tokens for a small price. Each game and ride only costs 1 token!!!! We thought they each would cost 2-3. Needless to say, the boys got their fill of arcade games and rides. It was a lot of fun for mommy and daddy too :)


This was a simulated roller coaster ride. Carson and Connor loved it!!! Kaelynn wasn't so sure and ended up jumping off 5 seconds into the ride. Hopefully we can teach her not to do that on a real roller coaster!

They loved Skee-ball and it was a good way to get rid of the tokens quickly :) Connor had quite the left hook (he's left-handed) and he hit the 10.000 point target twice! Neither Andy or I got it even once.

Singing with Chuck E. Cheese

Color our world

Today I had a few moments when I really wished someone would have warned me about my insane idea before I actually went through with it. We were experiencing the hum-drums of a Sunday afternoon. It was too cold to go outside and the kids were starting to get bored with their toys. Andy was at a coffee shop studying for his ministry credentialing defense which is on Tuesday. I decided that it would be a fun idea to do some spring painting with the kids. I got out the washable paints, bowls of water, paint brushes, and paper to allow them to express themselves in a creative way. A warning to future moms: a 1 mom:3 preschoolers ratio when paint is involved is a very bad idea!!! Things started out well with some very beautiful paintings being produced. Then things quickly went south. The hand-eye coordination of a 2-year old is not quite as developed as probably needs to be in this situation and two of the paint jars flew off the table and onto the chair, pant leg, floor, and wall of our adorable little Kaelynn. As I was trying to get that cleaned up, she continued to splatter herself with the pink and blue paint as evidenced in the picture below. I decided to let her continue as there was no point to cleaning her up just so she could get messy again.
When she was done, I gave her a bath. Washable paints are really a wonderful invention and are quite easy to clean off skin, we'll see about the clothes. After getting her cleaned up, I walked into the kitchen only to discover that Connor had done the exact same thing Kaelynn did with the same colors. He was trying to clean it up with a rag, but he didn't wring his rag out before using it so it was sopping wet. He managed to smear it all over instead of actually wiping it up. I did finally get the mess cleaned up and was able to enjoy the beautiful pictures they painted. Even though I seriously considered a trip to the mental hospital :)

One little Picasso!
The masterpieces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some fun pictures I took this afternoon:

Kaelynn's singing and the boys and mom playing a game

Hi all,

Thought you might enjoy seeing what our Friday morning looks like. The boys are really into games these days, and Kaelynn still loves to sing on cue! Blessings...

Andy and family

Water, Water Everywhere

Our first encounter with water this weekend didn't prove to be very fruitful. Andy took the boys fishing on Saturday afternoon. It was a beautiful day, but very windy. They tried to fish on a lake near Des Moines, but were almost blown off the water. They then went to a different lake and found a spot that wasn't so windy, but the fish weren't hungry. Bummer!! Carson is determined to catch a muskie. Maybe when we are in Minnesota he can fulfill that dream. Our second encounter with water this weekend was very frustrating. Sunday morning started out early! I say that with a bit of sarcasm as our Sundays always start early with the alarm going off at about 4:30 am so Andy can get to church to prepare for the morning ahead. Anyway, this morning Kaelynn was the alarm clock at 4:20am. She woke up with a fever. Andy stayed with her as long as possible to make sure she was okay. We are a bit cautious when she gets a fever because of the fever-induced seizure she had this summer. She seems to be cutting her 2 year molars as she has been complaining about her mouth hurting. She is still running a fever, but is sleeping and will hopefully wake up feeling better. Andy figured he would just get ready after he got Kaelynn to sleep. When he stepped into the kitchen to have breakfast, he quickly noticed that his socks were soaking wet. Upon turning on the light, he discovered why. Our kitchen floor was covered in water!!! He came in to get me to help him clean it up. We soon realized that our ice maker in the refrigerator had somehow malfunctioned. He went downstairs to shut off the valve to it and discovered the soaked carpet and water running down the walls. Two laundry loads of towels and an hour later it seemed that the mess in the kitchen was pretty well cleaned up. We're still working on the basement. We have fans running to try to dry out the carpet. We are definetly thankful for God's watchful eye as it could have been way worse than it was. This is one time when we are thankful that our basement isn't finished and that the carpet we have down there is easy to take care of. I am hoping that the rest of the week is not quite as eventful as the start has been.

Update

So, I can't officially say the germs are gone because my nose is starting to run again!! Andy and I are still coughing and Kaelynn is the only one who has not gotten sick. I thought she was going to but it never happened thankfully. So, we are not germ free yet. The other news in our family is that Kaelynn has decided to put herself on a new 1 nap a week schedule. I have tried putting her down more than that, but she sits in there and entertains herself through singing or conversations with her dolls until I finally come to get her. Her newest phrase regarding naptime is "No, I never take a nap. Never, Never!" The days get to be pretty long, with 3 at home all day long and no break- especially when it isn't warm enough to go outside. I think I have played Candy Land 20+ times in the last week. That is no exaggeration :) We are looking forward to another quiet weekend. If it warms up Andy might take the boys on a fishing adventure. We'll see!