The boys were playing with string one day and I had a flash back of the string games I used to play as a kid. I realized that I had never showed the boys how to play these games. It was challenging to remember how to do this, because it has been so many years since I have played. We had fun and a good laugh! Bringing back the fun of the old school games kids used to play before computers, XBOX360, etc.

OMELET

Martin loves to cook and bake so I got this cook book for him at the library and he picked out a recipe for "fluffy omelets". So we made them for breakfast. It called for 6 eggs. Separate the yolks from the whites. Take the egg whites and blend on high speed till firm peaks form. So at this point the small amount of egg whites are now about 6 cups!!! We add a little milk and the yolks, put in pan....wait a bit of time add bacon and cheese to make it yummy..and this is what we ended up with. We were laughting SO hard, because this is the BIGGEST omelet we have ever seen. I am so glad I grabbed the largest pan I had, because it would have overflowed in any of my other pans. This is definately not the prettiest thing ever, but it tasted really good. We invited Grandma over for an impromtu breakfast, because dad was at work and there was no way we could eat all if it ourselves. Fun times of learning, experimenting, laughing, and eating.

FUNDRAISING

My mom and Tom helped Darin and I with a garage sale at the end of April to help raise funds for our Mission Trip to India. It was a fun couple of days. I enjoyed talking to people about why we were doing the sale and sharing about the extreme needs in India. We made $315.00 and we didn't even have any large items.

MOWING

Since the boys are getting bigger I decided I needed to recruit some help in mowing this 1/2 acre! So I gave a lesson is mowing to the boys and they did a really good job. They took turns mowing 2 long strips then trading off to the other one to do 2 strips. It was great because they learned something new, worked as a team, and gave me some much needed help. Yes, Uncle Dan they were taught how to make straight lines :-)

AWANA GRAND PRIX RACE

The boys had their Awana Grand Prix Race again this year. This is the event they wait all year for. Much thought goes into how to make the car a cool design and how to make it fast. They give 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trophies in each grade for design and speed. Luke won 1st place this year for design!!! He was SOOOO excited. It was a fun day and more memories were made.

Here a couple of shots Darin took of Martin and Luke's cars racing down the track and Martin with his Awana car.

A GIVING HEART!!

I wanted to share a precious moment that happened a couple weeks ago. As many of you know Darin and I are going on a mission trip to India this summer. We have been praying as a family for our mission team and for our fundraising efforts. We had one of our many deadlines for funds due at our April 1st meeting and were still short some funds. Luke asked me if we had any checks come in the mail or if we were going to make our deadline. I said we will have to wait and see what comes in the mail today. He said okay. Then after dinner before we left for our missions meeting he asked if anything came in the mail and I said no. He smiled and ran upstairs. Next thing I know he says to me "Mom, I know this isn't very much money, but it is all I have and I want you and dad to have it for your mission trip" He handed me $7.00 and said he wished he had more money to give me, but hopes this helps. How precious is that?? We believe Luke has the gift of giving. He is such a cheerful giver and gives so freely of whatever he has whether it is his time or money. We are very proud of Luke and his giving heart at such a young age.

SPRING BREAK IN WASHINGTON!!!

We spent the week at Martin and Luke's Grandma and Grandpa Walling's house in Washington. It was a great week. The day we arrived it was beautiful sunshine. These are pictures of a little area Great Grandma Haley picked out to have a little hide away in. Luke dug a bunch of dirt and filled in the big hole that was where he is standing. My mom and Luke worked hard trimming back bushes and making everything just perfect. Martin and I played soccer. We had a great trip. It was nice to relax and not have a list a mile long of things that I had to get done.

Please note:

April took all the spring break photos. Darin was not able to make this trip so I did my best to caputure the fun and use some of the photos tips I have observed from Darin over the years :-)

PUZZLE DAY!

We had a lazy day of puzzles and games. The weather was rainy, hailing, with sun breaks now and then so we decided to stay inside. I love how Luke is one with the puzzle. Luke and I love puzzles so it was fun to have Grandma Lu and Great Grandma Haley there to join in the fun. This was a 1,000 piece puzzle so we didn't finish it this trip....it waiting for us until the next trip.

ARCADE DAY!

Spring Break wouldn't be complete without a trip to the arcade. The boys had a blast!!! The motorcyle is what Luke chose as his prize for the day.

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!

I love the picture with the flowers. We had picked these when we first got here and 2 days later it is snowing. Crazy!! Martin doesn't enjoy getting cold so he stayed in by the fire in his swim trunks. The necklace he is wearing is his prize from the arcade. I think the contrast of these pictures is too funny!

The boys were SO excited to see snow when they woke up in the morning!! It had hailed the day before on and off, but no snow. Luke wanted to build a snowman so badly so Grandma went out and helped him. They had a blast! I was happy Grandma went outside to help since I get hives when I get too cold and I didn't think to pack snow clothes for Spring Break...silly me!

THURSDAY FUN!

We visited the Ilwaco Heritage Museum on Thursday. It was great, because it was FREE day at the museum!! The boy's favorite part was the train area...pretty cool. The museum has a lot of history and is very well put together. We are happy we visited.

BEACH DAY!!

Who would have thought we would be out in just a sweatshirt playing on the beach when we had tons of snow the day before. It was the wildest weather I have seen in awhile. Made for a fun vacation. We went to Cape Disappointment to have a picnic and play on the beach. They have done a lot of improvements to this park....it is really beautiful! This was a great place to visit on the last day of our trip.

We had SO much fun building on the beach. Here is an overall shot of the wall we built to block the wind and the house Martin built for himself with some help from mom and grandma Lu. Luke was more into this gigantic pile of knotted rope that his grandma found. He spent probably an hour untangeling it all. He is holding the result of all his hard work. The rope stretched the length of the sand you see in the background of the photo! Luke is one determined boy.

MARCH CONDO TRIP

No trip is complete to the beach without a game of golf with Grandma and Grandpa Pfeiffer. Thanks for the laughs and memories.

We went to the beach for a visit and Darin helped dad install the shower doors. There have been many hours of father and son working together on several projects over the years. Thanks dad for all the work you did on Esterville!!