The End of Kindergarten

I cannot believe Allee is old enough to be done with kindergarten! She has grown and learned so much this year.
Her teacher: Mrs. Johnson
Her favorite food at lunch: Chicken Patty
Her favorite books: Junie B. Jones
Her favorite friend: Olivia Goth
Her favorite subject: Art
Allee is such a little smartie and we have loved watching her learn and grow this past school year. Bring on 1st Grade!

A Little Rain?!

On May 12th we went to a Springfield Cardinal's game with Derek's leadership team at Schreiber. All you can eat hot dogs, nachos, cookies, soda, and chips. We all love it!
We made it to the bottom of the 3rd inning when a huge storm hit. Lightening was flashing right above us, and the thunder literally shook us. That's the thing with thunderstorms here, they are loud, and super powerful!! The rain was falling in sheets. Luckily we were on the very top of the ball park and covered. We all huddled together for over an hour hoping the rain would at least slow enough to walk the 1 block to the car, but no luck. Finally Derek braved the storm with his boss Jeff and came and picked the kids and I up.

A shorter than expected game, but still pretty cool!

5K with my Allee

After doing the temple run, Allee and I decided we could totally do a 5K together.
On May 7th we donned our matching t-shirts, put our hair up in twiner ponytails, and set out.
We rode the bus to the Katy Trail where the Girls on the Run race was to be held, and Allee was pretty nervous as I was pinning her number on.
We met up with other mom/daughter teams in our neighborhood. Tara and Mikiah and Beth and Jadyn. The girls jumped around and talked about how fast they were going to run.
Once the race started she shot off like a bullet, I couldn't keep up with her! Luckily that lasted about 2 minutes and then our pace evened out. After some much needed water at the half way point (the morning started off cool and then it turned humid), we developed a system to our running/walking. We would run for two telephone poles and then walk for two. We did this up until the 1/4 mile mark and then we jogged the rest of the way. Allee would say, "I don't think I can do it." I kept encouraging her and once she heard and saw the crowd of people cheering her on she no longer had any doubts. Allee and I completed our 5K in 44 minutes.
It was so fun to have Derek and Pierce at the finish line cheering for us and taking our picture. I was SO proud of Allee, words can't express. She accomplished something amazing, something many people never do, and it touched my heart that we could share this experience.Afterwards when we were talking about the race she would just talk about how "awesome" it was at the end, and how fun it was to cross the finish line with all those people cheering for her.

Allee you are AWESOME and I am so proud of you!

Temple Run

Now that the Kansas City temple is nearly completed on the outside they held a 5K walk/run on Saturday the 23. We thought it would be a great way to get active with the kids and go see the new temple.

Derek and Allee ran together about half way when Allee found her friend MaKenna. Derek ended up running the second half by himself with a time of 36 minutes, not too shabby considering he was running with Allee.

Pierce and I were the walkers. I pushed him in the stroller most of it, but made him get out and walk the last 1/8 mile and cross the finish line himself. He loved it. Missionaries were on either side of the finish line telling him he was the winner, and he completely believed them. I kept saying just a little further and he would reply, "No Mom, I already winned." Pierce and I clocked in at 58 minutes.

It was so awesome to do this together as a family. It was completely inspiring to see the temple and watch the workers. We are so excited to have a temple only a 1 1/2 hours away. Here's to many more temple runs!

Derek's Birthday

The day after Easter my sweet husband turned a big 33! We had our friends over for Derek's dinner of choice, sweet pork burritos, at some BTS cake, and enjoyed visiting. A pretty low key day, but this man of mine is loved so much.

Just of a few of the things that I love about him:
1. His fervor for his teams. That would be Celtics, Bears, and Braves. He gets all nervous with sweaty palms when they are in the playoffs. He never misses a game, and there isn't a stat he doesn't know!
2. The way he loves his kids. He will wrestle around on the floor with them for hours and they are completely enamored with him. NOBODY is better than Dad, just ask.
3. The wonderful husband he is. He always puts his family #1.
4. The 14 year old trapped in a 33 year old body. I love his goofy grin, zest for life, and overall silliness.

Happy Birthday Derek!!

Easter

Getting all dressed up in our Easter best!

I am so proud of these two. They can be such stinkers at times and at others the best of friends. But it is impossible to resist them when they are all dressed up and for a few moments on their best behavior! They make my world go round.

The Easter Bunny treated us well this year!

Allee got chocolate milk, M&M's, flip flops, and an easy bake brownie mix.
Pierce got Pixo's, flip flops, sixlets, and a chocolate milk.

Coloring eggs. I think the kids could do this for hours! I just don't know what to do with all the eggs they want to color. Our limit this year was 18 eggs.

How can you not love those faces?