May 13th - AWANA Awards Night

Emma and Erin in their Cubbies Vests before the ceremony.

Ms. Renie is in charge of the Puggles (2 year olds) and I was her "administrative assistant". I did all of her computer work and helped her organize her weekly program. She is a sweet woman with a Godly heart for ministry. Thank you for the beautiful flowers Ms. Renie

The girls received their end of the year awards. Erin will con tine in Cubbies while Emma will move up to Sparks! It's happening already...time is flying by!

May 10th - Happy 4th Birthday Erin!!!

It was finally Erin's birthday! I like to take pictures of the children when they wake up on their birthday. Erin is a very sweet and kindhearted child. She wakes up right away every morning and always has a smile on her face.

"Good morning birthday girl!"

This was an extra special morning because not only was it Erin's birthday, but Emma just had her first visit from the Tooth Fairy! My best friend, Sherri, made Emma a Tooth Fairy pouch (sorry I forgot to take a picture of it!) so the first thing Emma did was check her pouch in the morning. I love that smile! Then it was off to show Oma her earnings for her tooth.

I just love the magical excitement of it all!

Sadly, it was also the day that mom, Jessica and Daniel were driving back to St. Charles. The boys decided to clean up a bit (with baby wipes) before saying goodbye.

The cleaning gene runs deep in the family! :-)

Josh working on Lego's with the children. Emma was following the picture EXACTLY to make a little Lego building.

Where's Eric?

Oh! There he is.

Erin wanted to make a pink cake with strawberries for her birthday, so we did.

Yet another one of Josh's face expressions on Eric!

Yummy cake for a goofy girl!

Happy Birthday my sweet little Erin!

May 9th - The beginning of the birthday celebrations

May 9th began the week long birthday celebrations. Erin's birthday is May 10th and we had a rare treat of having family in town, but since Mom, Jessica, and Daniel were leaving the morning of the 10th we decided to celebrate a day early.

It started off with Josh making waffles. He really does make the BEST waffles and we like ours with peanut butter and syrup. It definitely sticks to your stomach and fills you up for hours. Here are the kids anxiously awaiting this tasty breakfast treat!

After breakfast we "herded" into the living room so that Erin and Eric could open their presents.
Eric does love his "puppies"!

And he loves sitting by his Auntie Jess (with a puppy too).

Eric and Daniel on the couch while Erin opened her presents.

Erin received some wonderful gifts.
Below: a Barbie Jeep and a Wedding Barbie (which came with the "Flintstones-sized" ring).

Notice Barbie in the background...she's already in her Jeep.

Eric got some manly dress up clothes...possibly due to a former post of him wearing a pink dress?! He already knew how to use a sword due to the y-chromosome and also to attack daddy!

Eric didn't want to put his outfit on so we did what any parent would do....

We put it on his sibling!

And THEN he wanted to wear it!

Eric also got some Lego's, but it might be the other male who wants to play!

We did the present opening in the morning because we were going to the circus later that day. On the way to Topeka, Emma's first tooth fell out! It was fun that we had a van FULL of people to be excited for her. Here is her new smile!

May 8th - At Josh's Company Area

While Mom, Jess and Daniel were in town they were able to visit Josh at work. On this particular morning he was handing out awards to some of his soldiers. It was a nice thing to witness and it was a beautiful day.

Eric had to kneel down just like his Auntie Jess!

Jessica and Mom

I love these two pictures of mother and son

Josh checking his notes before the ceremony

Part of his company on the left and soldiers getting awards on the right.

Through a wonderful grant and a lot of work by some K-State students, each soldier's child received a Hero Pack. They are a thank you to the child for being a Hero for sacrificing time with their soldier parent(s). We passed out a backpack to every soldier there and for each of their children. Then Josh posed in front of the company logo with Daniel and Eric.

A rare family photo. Thanks Oma!

May 7th Playing with Oma, Aunt Jessica and Daniel in the backyard

Mom, Jessica and Daniel made the drive from St. Charles, IL to Manhattan, KS and arrived late in the evening on May 6th. It was Daniel's first time to Kansas and Jessica's second (she drove down with mom the day Emma was born and they had to drive back that night!) so we were thrilled to have them at our house. We are so grateful to have a full finished basement with plenty of space to have guests! It was fun watching the cousin's interact and have a great time in the backyard.

Daniel and Eric had fun playing with the cold hose water. They were like two peas in a pod. Click on the fourth picture to get an enlargement of a great action shot.

I love this one of them hugging!

The girls just watched the boys play waiting for the warm water to be added to the pool.

Is Erin is teaching Daniel how to throw hand signs? :-)

Aunt Jessica got down and had fun with the kids.

I love my high speed camera!!!

Oma and Daniel holding the rope for Erin.

The boys!

Ready? Set?

Go!

Jump!

Oma kissing Eric

Until this day, I did not know that Eric even knew about standing up to...well....

Apparently, he was pretty proud of himself and decided to water the grass and then the puddle. It was just too cute and too funny not to grab a few shots.