Kindergarten Graduation & All-School Program

Congratulations to Ryan on his graduation from kindergarten!

Here are a few photos & videos from the ceremony & the all-school program.
The kids & teachers do a tremendous amount of work & memorization to prepare for this program, and it was beautiful evening of praise to our Savior!

These 2 are cousins, classmates, and best buds! 

Kindergarten Diplomas
(Didn't realize I cut off the part where they received their Bibles... oops! ;)

Grades K-2

Grades 3&4

Grades 5&6

Grades K-6 Conclusion

Postlude & Recessional

Miss Mary

It’s hard to believe, but our “baby” girl is already 2 years old!

Here are a few of the sweet & silly smiles captured in celebration of her 2nd birthday…

(Thanks to Everlasting Memories by Kayla for these photos!)

Special School Days

Our kids have had some extra special days at school lately!
To finish off their spring reading program, they had fairy tale character dress-up day…

Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, Robin Hood, & Baby Bear all ready for school

Levi, Luke, & Collin… the 3 Robin Hoods! : )

Tyler & Ryan as Prince Charming and Baby Bear! : )

Kara, Kate, Mrs. VE(Grandma), & Moriah
as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, the miller’s daughter (from Rumpelstiltskin), & Rapunzel

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We also had Visitor’s Day at school recently.
I did not get pictures of all of the kids that day, but here are a couple from the Kindergarten class…

Ryan giving a presentation about his Australian Shepherd.
You can see they had created really neat habitats for their animals!

Ryan reading to us his report about sea turtles

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And last, but not least…
Evan won our school’s National Geographic Bee and then took a test to see if he would qualify to participate in the Iowa State Geography Bee. He had one of the top 100 test scores in the state of Iowa, so he and Mom took a fun little road trip to the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. He did well, answering 5 out of 8 questions correctly in the preliminary rounds, and Mom had a great time watching the Bee. Way to go, Evan! : )

Snow Daze

What do you do when you have yet another snow day? (On April 18!)
Figure out how to make things out of balloons!

Looks like Luke caught a fish!

Kara with a few of her favorite creations... a swan, flower, and parrot on a swing!

Evan made Mary a whole family of turtles!
Here she is, giving them all a bath! :)

A few weeks ago we spent our snow day making SLIME!

It was ooey, gooey, stretchy stuff!

What fun!

And no snow day is complete without a snowman... or two! :)

We are happy to report there are NO SNOWFLAKES in the 10-day forecast! Hooray!

Mass Choir Concert

This past Thursday evening we were privileged to attend a concert performed by all 6 PR high schools - from Randolph, Redlands, Loveland, Heritage (IL/IN), Trinity (Hull), & Covenant (Grand Rapids.) It was beautiful! What a blessing to hear them all praise the Lord together!

In case you missed it, the entire concert can be viewed at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nDKK_WtZp4

(If you'd like to see the program, text/email me and I will send you a copy.)

If you don't have time to watch the whole thing, Trinity's part of the concert begins here:

https://youtu.be/4nDKK_WtZp4?t=26m49s

(Jenna is in the back row, second from the left.)

The mass choir portion of the concert begins here:

https://youtu.be/4nDKK_WtZp4?t=54m28s
(Jenna is in the back row, nine from the right, in front of the white sound shell.)

Happy Birthday to Mary!

Look who just turned 2!

Here she is after the first glimpse of her birthday cake, a kitty just like her favorite cat, “Grandpa’s Peach.”  She was pretty excited!

And then she was quite sad because she wanted to eat it right then and there. ; )

Happy Birthday, Mary!
Can’t believe you’re 2 years old already!

Smiley girls in matching dresses. : )

Hugs for her new stuffed kitty

Spring Break 2018

It was Spring Break here last week,
and we had lots of fun relaxing and spending time together!

We stayed at the Ramada for a couple of nights…

Here are the munchkins, all ready to go swimming!

Ryan showing me his backstroke

Mary & Jenna

Mary throwing dive sticks for Kara

The hot tubs in the pool area were broken while we were there,
so the kids made good use of the jacuzzi tub in our room! :)

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We also had a great time at Air Madness trampoline park!

  

  

Kara & Dad playing “King of the Beam”

Luke & Evan’s turn

Ryan had to give it a shot too

Ryan getting ready to jump into the foam pit

Kara riding the bull

Ryan’s turn

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We tried out an Escape Room for the first time ever and it was quite an adventure!
We figured out all the puns in Rapunzel’s Cottage with time to spare. :)

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We found Olaf at the County Fair

Ryan’s favorite ride… it was so fun to watch him enjoy it! :)

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Although it was spring break, we got enough snow one night for Mary & Jenna to build a big snowman. Less than a week later, he’s completely melted! (Much to Mary’s dismay! ;)

And last but not least, date night for Mom & Dad!
Whew, what a week! So thankful for the time we could spend together and lots of great memories made! :)