The Best of... Spring 2015 edition

I am so behind with this blog... Tiegan maybe has MORE pictures of her than the others since I am constantly taking pics of her with my phone, but I never get my big camera out and I have yet to blog about her monthly updates or milestones (I'm sorry T, Mommy loves you sooo much though!).  So here is the most random assortment of pictures from our lovely spring...!

Many Monday evenings whichever of us who got to take Lainey to dance, would grab a quick dinner with her afterwards and before bible study.  This particular night was IHOP (kids eat free on Mondays!).  This girl inherited her mother's love of going out to eat.  She'll typically say and repeat something like, "This is so fun!" the whole time you're out to eat.  The one on one time is so sweet too.

Tiegan has and continues to love the water and her bath time.  She requires more frequent baths with all of that hair too!

Easter was so fun this year.  We hit a few different egg hunts, decorated eggs and did Resurrection eggs with the kids too.

Easter Sunday

With the nicer weather, we are loving getting outside and enjoying many parks.  There is a baseball complex near our house that is jam packed on many week nights and weekends but during the weekdays it's totally dead so we take advantage of the playground in the middle of all of the fields.

I love this baby and I wish I could hold her and snuggle her all day long.  She is not a high maintinence baby who NEEDS held very often but I sure do love to steal my snuggles whenever I can.

My dark eyed girls!  They are still absolutely smitten with each other.  Their love is so mutual and so lovely to watch grow.

One night as I was feeding Tiegan before bed, Lainey waltzed in with her sound machine (we rely heavily on those things around here) and said that she didn't need hers anymore and Tiegan could have it.  It was the most precious thing - she was so genuine and sweet about it.  She is such a fabulous big sister.

We registered Lainey for a spring soccer league through the city of Des Moines Parks and Rec largely because it was held right down the street from our house and Jed said he would coach.

I don't think soccer is in her future but she sure looked cute and I think she still had fun.  I couldn't believe even at this age, the difference in athletic abilities and intensity between boys and girls!

The cutest greeters at church!

We hit one of our favorite spring spots at the peak of lilac blooming season and it was so glorious!  The kids frolicked around the most giant lilac bushes and T and I followed and sniffed the blooms!

I love my little crew!

Lainey invited her friend Mia to "bring a friend week" at ballet.  It's funny to watch 3 year olds be friends.  These girls are 4 weeks apart and have been friends since birth!

We enjoyed a homeschool field trip with many other church friends a few weeks ago to a farm!  The weather was awesome and the kids loved it!

Tiegan...not so impressed.

Wyatt loved it most of all I'd say.

Sometimes I have just my littles at home and I love watching Wyatt really own his big brother role during those times.  Lainey, as the oldest, typically just runs the show when she's around but Wy is such a different kid when she's gone.  He LOVES his baby Tiegan and really truly is gentle and sweet to her.

I love baking (and much prefer it to cooking) and while it's typically easier, faster and less messy to just do it myself, I want to include the kids and let that be something they remember about their mom.  They are great at dumping in ingredients, getting started stirring things and helping me set the timer.  Oh and especially at licking the beater/spoons and watching things bake in the oven!

Spring was so wonderful and we are excited as summer is just getting started!

Walk in Water Works

It's been awhile...  

I'll do a springtime highlight update to catch this ol' blog up but thought I'd skip ahead to the here and the now.

Watching the news last night, my trusty weatherman showed some sweet drone footage of Water Works park right now and I told Jed we needed to get there ASAP.  So much green, so many beautiful flowering trees!  So that's what we did tonight and Jed thought to grab the real camera, which I haven't picked up in months.  Literally.

I'm so glad he did!

Wyatt is very into David and Goliath right now and I think that's what he was doing here, ha.  We read it every single day in his toddler Bible and everything he plays and pretends is "the mean giant."  Except he says that he's a nice giant :)  My cousin and Grandma Charlotte mentioned an old Sunday School song called "Only a boy named David" and we found a real cheesy version on You Tube that we've enjoyed countless times in the last few days too.

I think I will treasure this picture until the end of all time.

She's definitely a silly one.

Tiegan is usually so full of smiles but she was pretty serious tonight.

It was a fun family night just to go wander around and enjoy the scenery!

Racing shoes

Jed is training for the half marathon, Dam to Dam, coming up at the end of May and has been logging lots of running time.  Some of his co-workers are also training and decided to run a 5K in Johnston at ChildServe a few weeks before their big race.  Our good friend Tim joined in too so it was another Johnson and Laehn family excursion.

Lainey and Penelope got to ride along for the 5K!

While the moms and the boys ate pancakes.  Sounds about right.

Jed pushed the girls for the first half and Tim took over for the second half.  Jed's competitive side came out in full force at the very end of the race as he kicked it into high gear to pass his co-workers.

Jed's co-worker Matt and Tim with the jogging stroller were close behind!

Pancakes for everyone!

Then it was time for the kids races!  The girls got to decorate their own race labels!

Here's their warm up before the big race.

At the starting line!

Lainey's competitive streak also came out as she totally left her best friend in the dust.  Sorry, P.  And I'm also sorry for my annoying voice and laugh.  It was just about the funniest thing ever.  Half of the kids had no idea what was going on.

So proud of their hard earned medals!

It was a really fun family morning and good to be supporting a great cause that helps the special needs population of the community so well!

Tulip Time 2014

Mid April I asked Jed if he would, once again, take the first Friday in May off so we could take a family day trip to Pella for Tulip Time!  Last year, we got snow in central Iowa during Tulip Time so we didn't make it.  The forecast for the festivities this year was a little iffy but ended up being great.

First thing we did was pick up a couple plates of poffertjes.  Mmmmm.

Then we met up with some of my family and found a fabulous spot to enjoy the afternoon parade!

Mom packed tons o' snacks to keep everyone happy all day long.

Here's Lainey waving to my Aunt Barb, cousin Lauren and cousin's wife Jenny during the baby parade.

After the parade, we had some time to kill before we met up with friends from our Bible study who would join us later on.  We walked around town a bit and then headed over to Central's campus.  I've mentioned a few times recently some things about "friends from college..."  For example she knows that HER friends' Trigg's and Izzy's mommies are my "friends from college."  She has even been pretending and talking about going to college.  This is hilarious because she has no concept of what that means, but anyway...

We walked around campus a little and snapped this photo.

Once our friends' arrived we pretty much just paraded the kids around and made them sit for pictures in a million different places.

The TULIPS!  That is after all, what it's all about.  There were many beautiful blooms to enjoy though I bet there are tons more THIS weekend after a few warm days this week.

Our most important goal of the day was to recreate this photo that we took 2 years ago.

Looking at this picture, I just CANNOT believe how quickly 2 years passes.  I remember that day 2 years ago like it was yesterday.  I love sharing life with our community group and raising our kids together.

The boys first Klompen pic!

These two thoroughly enjoyed Tulip Time!

Proud to say that my kids lasted a whopping 8.5 hours at Tulip Time and we stayed through almost the entire evening parade too.  I thought ahead and packed their PJs and changed them when we got to the car.  Wyatt fell asleep on the walk back to the car and slept through his entire outfit and diaper change and Lainey was definitely asleep before we left town.

Love Pella, Love Tulip Time, Love family days!