Looking for Wormy

Our backyard neighbors have a little boy who just turned 4, so he's about a year older than Myah and Maysen. In the recent weeks, M&M have had the opportunity to play with Will in the backyards while the parents converse. Last summer, Will's parents started a new garden between their yard and ours. It's kind of a community garden, but right now it's just a mud hole. Of course, the kids love to play in it (pull weeds, dig holes) and when the girls wear their rain boots, I can't really complain.....needless to say, we are taking baths a little more frequently these days.
So anyway, Will has learned all about worms and how they help clean the soil, and make the soil soft and good for planting in. It's also often mentioned that worms help create compost (like many of us really know what that means). Will and Myah and Maysen's latest adventures involve "looking for wormy."
I am so proud of my girls for digging in the dirt and picking up those slimy critters. All of you who know me, know that I'm not really a "get your hands dirty" kind of girl. Sure, I'll play outside with my children, take them to the park, play in the sand box....but dirt, like real dirt, is just not my thing. It takes everything I have to plant 4 planters of flowers each spring, and I do that wearing gardening gloves! I don't care for camping, fishing, gardening, etc because it's dirty and I certainly don't care for worms. However, my girls would never guess it! I gush over every slimy, brown worm they pull out of the ground and name. I tell them "great job" and take their pictures holding the crawly little critters. Today Myah found a centipede, and that was a sight to behold. She giggled and awed over how quickly it crawled compared to the slow movement of the worms. It was an educational experience, and nothing like the natural observation of nature to teach her.
I remember the day I went to pick the girls up at Nancy's (our in home caregiver last year) and Maysen was standing at the edge of the sandbox with this expression on her face that read "why would anyone want to go in there and get all dirty?" That certainly was not the case today.

Happy Worm Hunting! (or just wait for it to rain and go look at your driveway)

Anna's Wedding

This weekend, we married off another Grotewold granddaughter, Anna. For those of you who have never been to a Grotewold wedding, you don't know what you're missing. It's truly magical and the most meaningful of weddings I've ever experienced. Maybe I'm a bit bias, but it really is. My husband's friend Mike asked me at our wedding if it's like a Wedding in a Box, and all you have to do is choose a groom. Well, it sort of is! My Uncle Scott is the minister, all of the girl cousins sing the same song (This Day by Point of Grace), Uncle Brad and/or cousin Abby sing solos and various cousins (brothers in law, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles) serve as bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girls, ushers, hosts and guest book attendants. Viola! You have a Grotewold wedding.
This wedding was extra special because my two princesses got to be the flower girls. As the mother of two three-year olds, I was a little nervous. You see, there is a reason that I didn't have flower girls and ring bearers at my own wedding....I didn't want them to ruin it! Likewise, I didn't want my own children to ruin someone else's wedding. Brandon and I looked at eachother as the processional was starting and gave each other "the look." Making plans as to how we would each sweep in and gather one of our darling daughters and carry them kicking and screaming out of the sanctuary. God blessed this wedding (and my stress level)! The girls were absolutely perfect. They walked down the aisle like they had done it a hundred times. They stood in the exactly right place and moved only when I had finished my solo on "This Day." They simply walked to me and stood right at my legs like the little angels that they are. They sat with us until the blessing at the end, when they returned to the front of the church and walked out to the recession of "Joyful Joyful." I couldn't be more proud! Here are some pictures of our awesome Grotewold wedding of a weekend!
M&M standing by Rachel at the rehearsal
Practicing their entrance.
Dressed like angels. They were beautiful!

Posing with Rachel while we were waiting for the guests to be seated.
A family photo op.
I love my sissy!
Maysen thought dinner was like a big tea party!
"This tastes like a leaf!" ~Myah
Going in for the frosting! That'a girl!
Maysen sitting with the beautiful bride.
Let the party begin! The girls had talked about dancing at Anna's wedding in their pretty white dresses and sparkly shoes for a couple of weeks. Sadly, they didn't know it was a one time event. Sunday morning, Myah asks Nana if we get to go to Anna's wedding again that day. :(
They kicked off their shoes and danced the whole first set while the band played.
Dancing with the MOB (Mother of the Bride)
Great Grandpa getting on the dance floor....these two girls make everyone want to dance!
A great time was had by all! This is a picture of Myah's dress on my way to the dry cleaners. That's black frosting you see here. There was also a bit of ketchup and some juice that dripped from a strawberry on it. We lived it up and have great memories of another fabulous Grotewold wedding!

VEISHEA

This weekend, the girls and I attended our first ever VEISHEA parade. We've lived in Ames for 5 years now and haven't taken in any of the VEISHEA attractions. Uncle C was in town and joined us:

Some of our favorite parts of the parade include:
The Drum Corp
The Cheerleaders
Smyles the dog (Ames Public Library Mascot)
Scooby Doo Float
And our favorite....the candy! Tootsie Rolls seemed to be the abundant candy given out this year, which is a favorite at our house!

This isn't from Saturday, but it's proof that we had a fun-filled weekend! Myah and Maysen sound asleep on the way home from Pizza Ranch after church on Sunday. We have a busy week ahead of us! Happy Monday.

Bookmobile Mondays

I've been meaning to make this post for quite some time now, but I needed to get a picture of the girls by "our" bookmobile. Every Monday after I pick the girls up from school, we head on over to the bookmobile. You see, it's on Mondays that the bookmobile is parked at an elementary school near our home. Each day during the week, it makes it's way to various parts of the city, but on Mondays, it's "our" stop. Sometimes I have "mommy books" reserved to be picked up, but every time, Myah and Maysen each get to choose a book and/or a movie for the week. They love getting to go to the bookmobile, and I love taking them :)

This week's picks:
Books:
Pony Brushes His Teeth (by Michael Dahl)
How to Train with a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals (by Michael Phelps)

Movies:
Angelina Ballerina: The Magic of Dance
The Backyardigans: Join the Adventures Club

Easter Festivities

Myah and Maysen had been talking about the Easter Bunny coming to their house for a few weeks before Easter, and even this morning, the day after, Myah greeted me in the morning with a "Happy Easter, Mommy!" It was and is a Happy Easter because HE lives!

On Friday after school, M&M and I made some frosting so they could frost a few sugar cookies that our friend, Jess, made for us. They did a great job, and it wasn't near as messy as I was anticipating. Better yet, they loved every minute of it and were so proud of their creations. As not to disappoint anyone, daddy had two cookies for dessert that night....each one frosted by one of his princesses!


From one mess to another, we continued with our "baking" by making Easter Nests!

You can make them too....
1 Jar of Marshmallow Creme
1/3 cup Peanut Butter
2 tbps butter
Mix these three ingredients well (I warm it up a bit in the microwave first). Then mix in Chow Mein Noodles and scoop into muffin tins to set. Add M&Ms to look like bird eggs. The cutest ones are the Speck-tacular Peanut Butter M&Ms, but HyVee was out so I had to settle for Peanut ones this time. As you can see in the picture, I made two different sizes by also using a mini muffin tin. Both sizes are great, but the small ones are perfect for kids!

Saturday night, we joined my sister, Kelsey (AKA Aunt Kiki) and her husband Eric, at their church, The Lutheran Church of Hope, in West Des Moines. The whole family was there. Nana, Papa and Uncle Cole ("C"). It was a wonderful service. I was most touched with the skit of 25 people who shared their testimony with us. They had listed a word of phrase of who they were, or what defined them before they knew Christ, and on the other side of the card was a word or phrase that defined them after they knew Christ. I'm still searching for my perfect before and after words, but when I'm ready, I will share them with you! Here are the girls all dressed up in their dresses.


Sunday was relaxing and sugar filled as M&M collected their treasures left for them by the Easter Bunny.