Celebrating 10 Amazing Years

Yesterday Charlie and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Thanks to some great friends we enjoyed a night out - just the two of us! We headed to Sioux City to go rock climbing and out to dinner.

Starting simple on the practice walls

moving up ~ 3o foot wall


Charlie getting ready

We did this twice each before moving on to the 62 foot wall.

Lori climbing up the big wall

Charlie climbing the big wall

Enjoying the ride down after reaching the top

We had tons of fun and it was great exercise. After rock climbing we enjoyed dinner at the Olive Garden and a little shopping. It was a great night, but not half as good as the past ten years. God has truly blessed us with an amazing friendship, deep love for each other and four incredible kids! We are looking forward to seeing what God has for us in the next ten years.

Kindergatern Graduation

This week we celebrated Brandon's graduation from Kindergarten. He did an awesome job saying his line, singing and following directions. He has really enjoyed Kindergarten and has learned so much this year. Unfortunately due to our crazy winter and so many snow days he does not finish school until this Friday.

Brandon ~ the graduate!

Brandon with his teacher ~ Mrs. De Jong

getting his diploma

Walking in!

Singing at the program.

Brandon's Class

Reading Counts Reward

Taylor's school has a reading program called "Reading Counts". The kids receive points for reading books and depending on how difficult the book is the more points it is worth. The teachers set goals for each quarter and Taylor has always exceeded those. This quarter she wanted to shoot for the top prize of 150 points, and as an extra incentive Charlie said she could get her ears pierced if she reached her goal. With 3 weeks left in the quarter she hit 150 points so I took her to get her ears pierced last week and by the way she will finish the quarter with 170 + points! Way to go Taylor - we are so proud of you!

Taylor with her friend Brelle after picking out her studs.

She picked little diamonds!

Just before they said, "three".

Right after! No tears, but not ready to smile yet!

Tulip Festival 2010

Customize a scrapbooking design

Cute as a Button

Emily is growing so fast. It is hard to believe she will turn 2 this summer. She is really starting to talk and is all girl! She loves dolls and babies. Here are some new photos . . .

Spring Soccer & Rainbow Club

Taylor and Brandon started playing soccer again this spring and they love it. It is only once a week but, they both have good friends on their teams so they are getting exercise, learning some new skills and having a great time!

Brandon's Team he is in the middle (red shirt and camo shorts)

Taylor's Team she is in the back (green shirt)

Just as soccer began Rainbow Club ended. Rainbow Club is our Wednesday night kids church. The church does an amazing job so the kids look forward to going each week. This year Taylor and Brandon got 3rd place for memorizing Bible verses as you can image Charlie and I were very proud of them. The posters they made about themselves at Rainbow Club.