And now he's 4...

Tomorrow at 7:19pm, my sweet little boy turns 4 years old. Cooper D, you are my favorite little boy in all the world. I remember holding you one night when you were a newborn and telling your daddy, "This little boy is so incredibly sweet." He nodded in agreement, as any parent would. But I'm not sure he understood what I was saying. You, my dear boy, have a special tenderness about you. It's sometimes hard for others to see it under the wrestling, the tackling and general rambunctiousness that is also you. But I get to see it every day when it's just the two of us doing life together while Daddy is at work and Sister is at school. I'm going to cherish every minute that you still allow me to see it. Someday you will care what the other kids think and you won't be so quick to hold my hand while walking together in the grocery store or give me kisses in the middle of Target for no reason. You are as tenderhearted as you are tough and as sweet as you are rough.

Happy 4th birthday my boy. I am thankful for you. You are extraordinary.

This Girl

Thanks to the Louisville trip late last week, we had an extra long spring week. It was wonderful having this past week off from commuting and finally catch up on my life after being on the go since January 19th.

Although all of that catch up led to a stressful week for me, it was still nice having this girl home with me for a week. She took on two crafty projects and here is one of them. While we were in Kentucky, her friend Kendall showed her how to sew. She came home wanting to sew blankets for her two newest cousins. She picked out fabric for 2 sided blankets and away we went. Since her stitching isn't straight or even, I thought I'd let her sew the fabric inside out (like sewing a pillow). That would allow me to flip the fabric right side out and iron all the seams straight and hide the stitching inside. I was so proud of her. She did it all herself and she great!

"We need a hooker..."

Dave and Cooper were driving in the truck past a massive wind farm, which the kids always find intriguing. Honestly, so do I!

Cooper, looking up at the big wind turbines said, "Dad, do you know what we need? We need a hooker!"

"Uhm, we need what?" Dave chokes out.

"We need a hooker."

"A hooker?"

"Yes, a hooker."

"What do you mean a hooker?"

"You know, a hook thing so we can hook the turning things and take a ride."

Well, that's a relief.

Lou-Ville

What a great weekend on Louisville, KY cheering on the ISU Men's Basketball team in the NCAA tournament. It was awesome that we were able to get tickets, arrange our schedules and throw 2 willing kids in the car for the 10 hour drive. Thursday night's game didn't start until 9:30, which is 2.5 hours past Layla and Cooper's bedtime. It didn't phase them. They knew, even at the age of 6 and 3, that this was a big deal. The yelled their little hearts out and loved it. Dave and I loved that the Cyclones won and played again on Saturday. Playing the number 1 seeded Kentucky in the second round was so exciting! They ended our dream of making it to Atlanta, but seeing our guys play against a powerhouse like Kentucky was thrilling!

We had to take in some of the sights in Louisville, which included the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. We also went to the racetrack early one morning and watch the horses practice/train. It was beautiful...the track, the facilities, the horses and the sound of them running was amazing. NOTHING like Iowa horse racing at Prairie Meadows! :)

A huge highlight of our trip was that we got to see our dear friends and past neighbors who moved to Lexington a year and a half ago. Our families got to reconnect and we were able to take them to the game with us on Saturday. Yes, they're from Kentucky and wore their blue to the game. We had a great time! I've never yelled so much at a game in all my life!

We have had a great 8 weeks of travel and adventures, but I'm so happy to be home for awhile and for the kids to be on spring break this week. I desperately need to catch up!

Costa Rica

A few weeks before the Hawaii trip, Dave and I were able to sneak off to Costa Rica without the kids. This is the second time we've been to Costa Rica. The first time was 9 years ago and we were on the Carribean side of the country. It was beautiful and adventerous and we looked forward to going back someday. This time, we were on the Pacific side and, again, we took full advantage of the adventure the country has to offer.

My favorite activities were zip lining through the jungle and white water rafting. We also spent time in the mountains where we went horseback riding, rode down a 400m jungle slide and relaxed in hot spring spas. The water slide was crazy. I'm glad I did it, but I don't need to do it again...and this is coming from a girl who loved sky diving. The slide was strange, a little painful (it's made of concrete!) and entirely out of control. There are many videos on YouTube of people riding this slide if you want proof to my claims!

Hawaii

We love Maui. There is something about it that ministers straight to our hearts and souls. Since we've been married, we've traveled to well over a dozen islands/tropical locations. They are all wonderful. But Maui, for us, is the best. We relax. We sleep well. We nap. We eat too much. We lay on the beach under a shade tree...we are revived!

One of my favorite things about traveling with our kids is seeing how they change. When they get to experience environments out of their norm, they grow. They see outside themselves and it stretches their minds.

The highlight of the trip for me was whale watching. When we've traveled to Maui in the past, it has always been during the whale migration. We've watched them from the shore, but have never gone out on a boat...until this trip. The whales were so close to the boat that we could hear them "talking" to each other. We saw heat runs, we saw babies and, the highlight for Coop, dolphins swam around our boat. I don't have any National Geographic worthy pictures, but I'm including one that will show just how close the whales were. At one point, 2 swam under the boat. Amazing!

Layla learned to dive, boogy board and has perfected her back float. Cooper, who loved to be pummelled by waves up to the shore, didn't want to swim or jump into the pool by himslef. Until the second to last day. Then, he decided he wanted to do running cannon balls into the pool with no one catching him (and where he couldn't stand on his own), he wanted to swim from me to Dave and he even started diving from a squat position. It was great!

We are all hoping to go back again...someday!

"This is the best day EVER!"

Cooper and Layla both exclaimed this as they headed out on Saturday morning to play in the falling snow, which is only the second we've had this winter. Yes, the crazy warm temps have been wonderful, BUT there is nothing like a beautiful snowfall in the country. And Saturday was our day! It snowed big, beautiful, quiet flakes all day long. We didn't have to be anywhere, so we didn't go anywhere. We watched great basketball games on TV all day, Dave and the kids played in the snow and I got to be in my kitchen cooking all kinds of things. It was the best day EVER! And yes, I took every picture from inside the house!