5K

Ella and I did our first 5K walk ever for the Girl Scouts last weekend.  I think I might be dome recovering now?  Ella has so much fun because the route included stops at 2 playgrounds, a children's garden and a restroom break at McDonalds with a play place! 

Easter 2014

 

 

We had a very fun and relaxing Easter!  The kids slept in Sunday morning and I took them to church.  I had no idea that kids older than 1st grade got to sit with their parents!  CJ did very well, but next year I will remember his Bible and some paper/pens.  Daddy colored eggs with the kids.

My parents, sister and niece came over for an early dinner.

Grandma Jill makes the best Easter Dessert tray spread...ever!

The Cousins playing basketball while their Easter eggs were hidden!

Finding their Easter eggs...

The kids played Minecraft together while the adults played a few rounds of Catch Phrase.

 

I didn't get a picture of the kids opening their baskets since it was early in the morning!  I made up their baskets the night before and put them in my closet on these shelves so Brian could put them out when he got home that night.  We also got the kids a new DVD with Bible stories on it including the Easter Story!

 

Easter Play

 

For the last 2 months our family has lived at church practicing for the Easter Play!  The kids were in half of the scenes and sang 3 different songs.  Erik is on the right of Jesus in the red robe and white belt.  Ella has the ponytail and the green belt on the left.  CJ is directly to the left of Ella in the white robe and red belt.

Brian was also in the play, playing the part of Simon the disciple.  He is 2nd to the right with the dark brown head piece.

It was a fun cast and a great experience.  It did take A LOT of time and energy from our family though.  I am proud of the kids' reputation at the church of being polite and well behaved!

The Bowlsby cuteness.  I was slightly bummed I was asked to be in the play, but someone had to take the pictures, right?

Our fans! 

AWANAS Grand Prix

The kids were all excited to race their pinewood derby cars at church in the AWANAS Grand Prix.  CJ's friend made a Steve Minecraft car that matched his Creeper car!

Ella's car won her hear of 4 cars!

Camden's car won his heat of 4 cars!

Erik won 1st Place in the poster contest!   I was already really proud of his poster because he colored it for 2 days! When he wanted to give up, I told him to finish it in crayon which covers the paper faster.  His poster in the top one with the car going around the corner.  Ella won 3rd place in the poster contest with her AWANAS ROCK flag!  I knew the judge would like the AWANAS colors on the paper!

Erik also won 2nd Place for traditional car design AND 3rd Place for Speed!

Camden tried really hard all evening and gave his best.  At the end of the night, Erik and CJ's cars had to race each other for 3rd place speed!  Erik's won and CJ took the loss with all the maturity an 8 year could, we were so proud of CJ!  All 3 kids got a blue ribbon for participation and Good Attitudes!

Sunny Afternoon

This was my view from the porch, my 3 kids reading in the front lawn with me!

And a little snoozing...

and some more reading!

The kids stayed outside after I went in to start dinner.  Gotta to love books!

 

Misc Life

CJ had a hard day at school last week!

I just realized that Erik is big enough to help pull the trash cans now!

Erik earned a huge reward sticker for turning in his reading homework all week!

Erik & Ella going to Crazy Hat Night at AWANAS, do you see Brian and My reflections too?

 

The Sleepover

We had our Cousin over for a sleepover last weekend!  The kids played a lot of games like Twister,

and Uno Spin, my sister took this picture and I love Ella's expression and Erik's face peeking through his card holder!

The bigger kids played Minecraft...a lot.

 

The bigger kids also got to camp out in the family room with a movie because Daddy was off at a hockey game until later that night.

Sunday morning we headed off to our favorite Doughnut place for breakfast and then it was off to church!  CJ loved showing off his Cousin to his Sunday School friends!

 

2014 AWANA Games

The kids got to compete in this year's AWANA games!  This was our first time and it was so much fun!  We added some team players from another church to reach our required 11 players, but this was our 8 kids from our church.

They played many games and the kids took turns going out to play.  This game they were trying to make the balloon hit the ground on the opposing teams' floor (like volleyball).  CJ is the tall blonde.

Same game again, but Ella's turn!  Ella is the middle of the picture with her arm up.

Erik is in the blue shorts.

They also played pass the balloon down the team and the last person sits on it to pop it!

Notice we put the big guy on the end of our line!

Our church team earned first place and won the 2014 plaque to hang in our church!  The kids each received a patch for the games and a red 1st place ribbon.  (Yes, red...and the blue ribbons were for 2nd place!)