May

May Day once again snuck up on me, as it does every year!  Rewind a few months:  I had purchased three coupons at Scratch for one dozen cupcakes for $11 each.  My plan was to use them for my birthday treats at school, until I read the fine print- May use only one at a time.  I also was unaware at the time of purchase that they expire at the end of April!  I guess it was a little too good to be true!  Fast forward:  Here it is the end of April, May Day is knocking at my door and I have one coupon left at Scratch.  Sounds like a perfect idea for me!

Monday after school I ran and picked up my last dozen of cupcakes.  I brought them home and the first words out of McKenna’s mouth were, “Mom, can I have a cupcake?!”  She wasn’t going to let the brown rectangle box go unnoticed!!

Tuesday afterschool we delivered our May Day baskets.  We didn’t have very good luck of having anyone home when we stopped until we got to the Galles’!  It was super cute to watch the excitement on both girls’ faces!  Alaina invited us in to help her eat her cupcake.  Kenna couldn’t have been more thrilled!  (Trying to explain at each stop that the cupcake wasn’t for her was getting tougher and tougher!)

Not only did we have bad luck catching anyone at home, but we weren’t able to catch anyone that delivered to us!  This meant we had NO CLUE who Kenna’s May Day baskets were from!  Our neighbor’s brother-in-law was super thoughtful and dropped a May Day basket off for McKenna while he dropped off some to his nieces and nephews.  Kenna and Darrell “Daewl” have a special bond.  He always treats her like family and it is so sweet!

The purple lips were part of her basket from “Daewl”!

It had been awhile since we’d seen our grandparents so they decided to make a trip up to Cedar Falls to see us! Cousin Cody tagged along, as he had just graduated from college and finally had some free time.  It had been 9 months since we’d seen him, so we were so happy he was able to make the trip!

Matt and Danielle had planned a party at their place Saturday night for Cinco De Mayo.  They worked really hard on finishing their new deck, patio, and fire pit so that it would be ready for the party!

The grandpas and grandmas kept the girls overnight which allowed some special time with them while the moms and dads had a good ol’ time!  We didn’t get the camera out until majority of the party decided to go downtown, so we missed pretty much everyone.  Matt and I chose to go home and while we looked like the losers Saturday night, we were the ones feeling great on Sunday!

My mom introduced Kenna to Candyland during her sleepover.  When we came to pick her up Sunday this is what we saw.  Grandpa Pete being a trooper, taking the time to play the ENTIRE game with her! 

Kenna had to take it with her when we left.  She talked daddy into playing when we got home!

My cousin Andrew graduated from Ankeny High School this year.  Matt, McKenna, and I rode along with my parents to his party.  We were able to see a lot of the Goetz side, many of whom we don’t get to see very often.  Kenna especially enjoyed playing in their amazingly beautiful backyard.  She did not want to go home!

Mother’s Day was a pretty low key day this year.  After church we had brunch at Village Inn and then headed home to work outside (my request!).  We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out.  It felt good to have a day with not a lot planned!

Daddy helped Kenna make some cards for mommy.  Homemade gifts are my favorite!  He also took her to the store to pick out some gifts.  They came home with mini pink roses, candy, and two sweet cards!  Daddy even surprised mommy with a few gifts from him!

After Kenna woke up from her nap we went to my parent’s for supper.  We also invited the Lindgren clan.  We spent the evening out on their patio, as the weather was beautiful!

With Ella’s 6th birthday coming up, I decided to take some pictures of her for fun!  Afterschool one night we went out to my parent’s.  Miss Ella was beyond ecstatic to pose for me.  Six year olds are much easier than two year olds! 

I would pick the location and then I let Ella choose her pose. :)  She picked one of grandma’s flowers for one of her poses.  Many times I had to hold back the giggles as she worked the camera!  We seriously had a lot of fun!

And we can’t forget Cheeto face/duck feet!  This is the girl that does NOT enjoy taking pictures.  You can pretty much guarantee a minor meltdown anytime I try to make her pose for pictures.  Not today!  She wasn’t liking that mommy was focusing just on Ella and not her.  She started copying all of Ella’s poses.  It was seriously so funny.  This time I did laugh out loud!

Grandpa and Kenna found this Robin’s nest in a bush while they were walking around.  Unfortunately that weekend Nahla (the Garvin’s dog) was over and somehow found it.  She drug it out of the nest and ate the eggs.  :( Seriously dog?!

We watched a caterpillar go through metamorphosis!  We waited many days for it to change from caterpillar to chrysalis, and then into a Painted Lady butterfly.  A couple days after it emerged we released it into nature.  If you look closely at the bottom right picture you can see it flying right in between their heads. 

Kenna was invited to her third birthday party of the year!  Our neighbor girl, Harlow, turned three on May 18th, celebrating at KT Inflatables on the 19th.  Kenna had been asking for weeks when it was time for “Karlow’s” birthday.  We kept telling her that the bouncy houses weren’t blown up yet.  I wish I had her reaction on video when we told her the morning of that it was party day!

Kristen, Harlow’s mom, makes the most incredible cupcakes!  Looking at this picture makes my mouth water!

May 18th is also Ella’s birthday!  She also celebrated her 6th  birthday on the 19th!  I can’t believe this girl is six already!  She has been such a blessing to our family and we love her so much!

My grandparents, being the amazing people that they are, drove back to Cedar Falls two weekends later for Ella’s party.  It means so much to us that they take the time to make it to all of our girl’s big events.  It’s something they always did for us, but we never expected them to do it for our girls as well!

This time cousin Chelsy tagged along!  She had recently finished her first year of college and now had time to party instead of study!

Grandma Tappy helped us plant flowers in our new pots while daddy and Grandpa Dan worked on adding bricks to the landscape in the front of our house.

Kenna’s favorite part was sitting in the back of Grandpa Tim’s truck!

Taking a donut and milk break from her hard work!

We celebrated the birth of Landon Steen with a baby shower hosted by Emily and Taylor.  Landon is such a little man already.  We are excited to add another boy to the mix of mainly girls!

The Brendens invited us to Beaver for our first swim of the season Memorial Day weekend!  I had been working on conferences at school when Matt called to say they were going swimming.  I told him I’d be home in five minutes because I was in major need of a break!  Sitting by the pool with a Bullfrog in hand was just what this girl needed!

McKenna was a completely different kid in the pool compared to last year.  She needed no help going down the slide and she was even brave enough to jump into Matt in the deepest end of the pool!  What a change from last year!!

With the beginning of summer near we decided to get the turtle sandbox out!  This is the first time we’ve put sand in it.  It’s been a hit with the neighbor kids too!

On yet another break from conference writing I went outside to find my two loves sunbathing!  Matt reading his ESPN magazine and Kenna reading her Karen Katz books.  I of course ran back into the house quick to grab my camera!

This is the first year EVER that we got out of school in MAY!!!  We had one snow day that was made up during the year.  This allowed us to stay on schedule and get out on May 30th!  (Teachers had meetings on the 31st and then half day on the 1st.)

This year one of my teammates retired.  It was very bittersweet.  We all were so happy for Mrs. Husmann and the new chapter in her life, but at the same time we are really going to miss her!

Shannon once again planned a special memory for our kids and hers.  She had ice cream sundaes waiting for everyone when they got home from school!

Miss Ella had PERFECT attendance this year which is a huge accomplishment! 

Kenna and our beloved daycare provider Shannon!  We are so blessed and grateful that McKenna is in great hands each and everyday.  It makes going to work so much easier for both of us!

McKenna is definitely her mother’s daughter when it comes to her love for The Lion King!  When I was in upper elementary the movie first came out.  I was that geek who purchased all the little figurines, clothing, as well as earrings.  Yes, I had Simba earrings in 6th grade.  That is embarrassing! 

I first introduced McKenna to the Lion King during a shopping trip at Wal-Mart.  Ella, Kenna, and I had just left the toy section when I spotted the Lion King display in the middle of the aisle.  Of course I had to stop to check it out!  To my surprise, all the stuffed animals were on clearance!  I’d seen the display before, but couldn’t justify $20 for the large and $10 a piece for the small.  Now the large were $10 and the small were $3.  A steal, right?! :)

Ella immediately started asking if she could have the large Nala.  I’m not sure how she does it, but she’s always talking me into buying her things!  We compromised when I told her it could be an early birthday present.  She was thrilled.  Kenna on the other hand was not.  I was going to let her get one of the small ones but she was not having it.  Okay, why not have two large Nalas and one small for Lily?!  The girls didn’t even notice me throw in Simba, another Nala, Pumbaa, and Timon because they were too busy all ready playing with their new stuffed animal!  It’s a good thing the only large stuffed animal left was Nala.  Who knows what our cart would have looked like then!

I’m one of those people that has to have them all.  When Clifford and friends were at Kohls, I bought all four of them!  When Wal-Mart had a display of M&M pillows, I bought all four colors!  No wonder my husband dislikes when I go shopping! :) 

McKenna has played with these stuffed animals almost on a daily basis.  There are many nights when she requests that they go to bed with her!  I’m confident in saying that I got my monies worth!

We are all looking forward to a fun summer filled with many memory making days!