Intro to Mario...

Nick introduced the boys to Mario Kart today... duh... they love it! 

Visit...

This weekend we got to go to Ankeny to stay with Cari, Curt, Marley, and Piper!  We were all very excited about spending time with the new baby!  Conner, Marley, and Ben got to do some sledding with the Dads and Gramps while the ladies got to cuddle with Piper!

 

Ben, Marley, Piper, and Conner...

The boys were very excited to have their own turns holding the baby.  Conner was first and then Ben got to hold her!

My turn again... We had such a great visit!
 

Quiet...

A rare quiet moment... I had to capture it so I can remember that they do exist every once in a while...

Piper Marie...

Introducing Piper Marie Long...  I cannot wait to meet her...  the 4th in a line of exceptional nieces that we are blessed to have!

Ben was a little concerned because "The doctor had to stretch Cari's mouth so much to get Piper out!"  He has definitely been curious about how that all works!

Basketball Pictures!

I know I am extremely biased, but these are the cutest two basketball players I have ever seen!  Basketball is already half over and I think the boys are enjoying it a lot!



Valentines...

Happy Valentines Day!  Ben and Conner had a great party at preschool and came home with all kinds of cute little valentines!

 

 

A Show...

Today, for some reason, Ben insisted on putting on a puppet show.  Not sure why he had this idea today, but sometimes Ben gets an idea and you just have to go with it...  He went to the bathroom closet and got out some towels for curtains.  He then figured out that he could use our scrapbooks to hold the towels up on the breakfast bar.  So Ben put on a little puppet show.  He even set up the microphone so Conner could announce him.  Now that was pretty funny!  Conner kept saying, "And now I present Ben Daniel!"  Conner tried to join the show at the end, but Ben's heart was much more into it than Conner's! 

 

 

"35"

Yep... this is the year that I turn the dreaded 35...  guess what... it's not so bad...  It definitely snuck up on me, though...

 

Thank you to my guys for making my birthday extra special.  And thank you to Daddy for picking out such thoughtful gifts!  I love you all so much!

 

Birthday in Bettendorf!

We got to go to Bettendorf this weekend to spend my birthday with Nana and Gramps.  One of my favorite parts was when it was time to blow out the candles and they turned out to be a little "tricky..."  The boys didn't know what was going on when the candles kept lighting up again by themselves!  I think Ben said at one point, "What is happening?!"  It was pretty funny...

 

The boys enjoyed Gramps' golf game...

After a wonderful birthday celebration, the boys got to have their valentines from Nana and Gramps. 

We had a great weekend celebrating!  Thank you Nana and Gramps for making my birthday a special day!

"Class"

On Feb. 7 at approximately 5:30 I entered the Novak school multi purpose room to register my boys for kindergarten this fall...  I may have missed some valuable information in the meeting that followed because all I could focus on was what it said on the screen in the front of the room... "Class of 2026"  Weird.... how can they be part of a "class" already? 

Practice...

We have been busy practicing our basketball skills!

 

Keeper...

I definitely have a keeper!  Thanks for all your help these last couple of  weeks, Nick!  I would not have made it through without you!  Thank you for the flowers and the books, and for trying to manage the monsters when I haven't been able to!   Love you...  Oh and thanks for the flowers! 

Basketball!

It finally came... the first Saturday of basketball!  The boys were so beyond excited!  After some instructions, the teams ran some drills and practiced passing and dribbling.  Every once in a while I saw Ben or Conner grab one of the adults and point up at the basketball hoop obviously asking if it was time to shoot hoops yet!  They both did so great!  It so nice to see them following directions and trying so hard!   

 

It was definitely hard to take pictures with all the kids running around but I got a few... here, Ben perfects his bounce pass!

 

Here, Conner is waiting in line to practice dribbling down the court...

Here we are after practice!!!  It was a very fun morning and it was even better because Dad got to be there too!  I had so much fun watching our little guys!

Ready...

I signed Ben and Conner up for basketball so they have been anxiously waiting for it to start.  Before we could go to our first practice though, we needed to get some new basketball shoes.  So the boys got to pick out their own new shoes last night and, of course, insisted on wearing them around the house today!  They are ready!