I'm a soccer mom!

For the last three weeks of April, Isaiah played soccer of Tuesday and Thursday evenings as a part of the rec center's 4 & 5 year old intro to soccer lessons.  He was on the "super" green team, and loved every minute of it!  In preparation for the lessons, Mark had been practicing with Isaiah in our basement with our soccer goal - and it paid off, he had some real soccer skills!  Although I am biased, I was definitely impressed by how well he did!  

The first day of lessons was absolutely beautiful - 75 and sunny.  Unfortunately each lesson the weather got worse and worse, colder and colder, but it didn't bother Isaiah.  He was a great sport!  

Levi was also a great sport - watching all the big kids playing soccer while he had to sit on the sidelines and watch.  Thankfully Grandpa Mark and Grandma Cindy and Grandma Karen all came to watch some days and also kept him entertained!  And on the last day cousins Dakota and Khia came to play too -- Dakota and Levi had a wrestling match while the kids played soccer -- Levi really held his own (but I think Kota was being a little easy on him!:)

Can't wait for next soccer season!!

Kids' Kingdom with daddy

One of the nicer days in April (before it was below freezing and snowing) Mark took the boys on a road trip to the huge park in Waverly called Kids' Kingdom while I was working.

From what each of them told me, it sounds like they had a blast!

 We had been to this park just one other time when Levi was a tiny baby and Mark was still in the Army - they hosted a family picnic here.  So of course the boys didn't remember it at all.

 There are so many places to explore and discover at this park.

I've trained him well, haven't I?  He took the camera and took LOTS of pictures -- he even set it up on timer!

I'm sure Levi said at least one time while they were hiding here, "You can't find me daddy."

What a fun outing for daddy and his boys!!  Seeing the pictures makes me wish I was there -- BUT I know how important it is for the boys to have daddy time.  I'm so glad he's a dad that takes the time to do the fun stuff!  Thank goodness the weather's warm again -- we may just have to take another road trip!

goodbye training wheels!

On April 7 Isaiah decided that he was ready to take the training wheels off of his bike! He'd mentioned it several times this winter that he was going to be big enough to take them off his bike.  We decided to give it a go when one of his training wheels got loose on a ride on the trails.  

 We figured riding on the grass might be a good way to start so he wouldn't get scraped up.

 After just little help from daddy -

 he did it!!!

 he rode all around the yard by himself!

 he was a little nervous, and the grass made it tough to steer, so he did need a little help stopping.

 He was so proud -- and both Mark and I were so proud too.

After a long ride, he says, "I'm ready to put my training wheels back on now."  :)

And so we did -- and they've been on ever since.  He LOVES to ride his bike.  He spends HOURS in the driveway riding around.  We've already made it a daily habit for both boys to ride their bikes up a few blocks and back while I walk as fast as I can to keep up.  It's such good exercise for him - and when he's ready again, we'll take the training wheels off.  Congratulations Isaiah!!  You are getting so big!!

Love Cedar Valley.

Our small group worked together on the bus stop outreach for Love Cedar Valley again this year! 

 For those of you who don't know, Love Cedar Valley is a day that lots and lots of area churches work together to serve  the Cedar Valley - to show them the love of God in unexpected ways.  Some of these acts of love included - handing out free snacks, bottles of water, lunches, painting for those who needed help, yard-work, planting flowers, offering prayer, cleaning up trash, visiting elderly and giving them balloons, window washing and so much more!  It is an amazing way for God's love to explode in a few short hours in our community!  

We worked together the night before to prepare 300 lunches to give away to anyone who wanted one at the bus stop downtown Waterloo.  We were able to give ALL of the lunches away in less than the hour and a half alloted time!  People loved the free lunches!  It was also very rewarding for us and the kids to give.

The KWWL news reporters were also out to capture the experience - Mark, Isaiah and Brian from our group made it on the news -- for some reason I was compelled to show you and took pictures of our TV.  haha.

This is such a great day for everyone involved!  I can't wait to do it again next year, are we at the bus stop again guys?? :)

Winners!!

It's official - Mark ended the contest with the most votes (over 400 over 2nd place!) and WON!!  We are so thrilled and know we couldn't have done it with YOU!!  Thank you everyone for your support - watch for great things to come for Adrenaline X Mobile Laser Tag!!  

If you ever want to check out what's going on with laser tag or see our pictures, check out (and maybe like??) the facebook page!  Click HERE to find it.