The Stories of Our Life: Incredible Fun

We have had an extremely busy four days filled with lots of fun!

Day 1 ~ Friday: Logan and Cale had their Valentine's Day parties at school. Deb came and stayed with Luke and Elyse while I went to the parties. I have to be careful not to tell them too far in advance that they get to spend time with Deb or I am faced with constant questions about when and how soon Deb will be arriving. Obviously, they love to be with Deb. Logan and Cale's parties overlapped by about 30 minutes so I spent 30 minutes with each of them. It was fun to see the two different age groups in action at their parties. Cale's group partied with reckless abandon! They just had a blast playing their games, crafting, delivering their valentines, and eating ice cream sundaes. Logan's group of 2nd graders were a bit more reserved. They all had a lot of fun, but I can see the beginnings of the 'cool' factor taking it's toll. :-(

Cale doing the crab walk while trying to keep a paper heart on his tummy

Logan enjoying his raspberry fizzy. He and Jordyn, the girl next to him, have been in the same class together since kindergarten.

Day 1 ended with SE Elementary Spirit night at the Ankeny High School basketball game. Logan and Cale were both chosen to shoot free throws at half time of the game along with lots of other kids from their school. They both thought it was pretty cool to be down on the big court shooting hoops.

Day 2 ~ Saturday: We had a pretty lazy Saturday planned as it was the first in awhile that we didn't have a wrestling meet to attend. Cory and Cale went on a date to the Science Center in the afternoon while I took the other three sledding at a nearby hill.
Cale lost his fourth tooth leaving him without both front teeth on the top. This is the second of four that Logan has had a hand in helping him lose.
We ended the night cuddled up in the family room for family movie night watching Ice Age 3.

Cale's new smile

Day 3 ~ Sunday: Church on Sunday morning was amazing! The Little Cherubs Choir that includes Luke, Elyse, and Cale sang at the service at our church's new Christian Life Center. They all look so adorable up there singing. The praise band that plays there is my favorite and the message was great. Rog and Linda came down to listen to the kids sing and have Sunday dinner with us. Of course, that means Linda also brings the food...talk about hitting the jackpot on mother-in-laws!

We rushed off after dinner to Ames to catch the ISU wrestling match... apparently, we thought we'd go into withdrawals if we spent a weekend with no wrestling to watch. I dropped Cory, Logan, and Cale off at Hilton and then took Luke and Elyse over to Doug and Lisa's. Thank goodness for relatives that are willing to watch your busy three year olds on only an hour warning! It would not have been fun to have them at the wrestling meet. When I met up with the boys at the meet, I discovered that they'd run into some friends of ours from Ankeny so we were sitting with them in their season ticket seats. Logan really enjoyed having his best buddy Sam to watch the meet with. ISU wrestled great and we had a great time. I realized mid-match that I am really beginning to love this sport!

We ended the evening at church again meeting with our couples small group for some lively conversation and yummy snacks.

Day 4 ~ Monday: No school in Ankeny today because of President's Day. I love the days when Logan and Cale are home from school. We goofed around most of the morning not really doing a whole lot. The kids get marbles in a jar for various things - putting their shoes in the bucket without a reminder, doing something nice for a sibling, doing a chore without being asked, etc. Once the jar is full they get some type of reward. It's a big jar so it takes them quite a while to fill it - usually close to 9 months. This time around we decided to take a trip to Incredible Pizza for their reward. So, it was off to Incredible Pizza this afternoon for food and fun. Incredible Pizza is new to the Des Moines area in the last year or so and it was our first trip there. Basically, it's a huge video arcade and a pizza buffet. They also have bowling, mini golf, go-karts, and bumper cars. The kids had an absolute blast! There was hardly anyone there which made it even better. From a mom's perspective, it's WAY better than Chuck E. Cheese.