Chloe's First Holy Communion

April 19, 2015

The 2nd Graders in the Hays community made their First Holy Communion!

 

 

Chloe wore the veil that Robynn and I wore when we were each in 2nd grade.

Service at St. Joseph's Church

Chloe and her godparents -- Aunt Robie and Uncle Dust

Robynn and I love this girl :-)

Chloe and Fr. Fred

We joined forces with the Wentling family to celebrate Chloe and Tessa's special day together.

The reception was absolutely fantastic at the Country Club.

 

Trey kept the kids entertained at the kids table. 

Photo bomber!

So many grandparents and great-grandparents in attendance!

 

Four generations

 

A kindergarten teacher at HFE made the cake for Chloe and Tessa.

She did an amazing job! 

It was such a happy day celebrating with this little lady!

 

Aaaaaand we got to do it all over again on Tuesday, April 21st at HFE's school celebration! 

 

 Chloe's 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Beck

 

Happy Celebrating, sweet girls! 

It's such a joy watching you two growing up and being such great friends.   

Spring has sprung...

Every year I put a flower arrangement on our front porch wall.  There has been a nest for the past 3 years at least and I leave it there every year.  Last year we had baby birds and this year proved they didn't waste any time!  We had eggs in the first 2 weeks it was up!

 

Isaac was the photographer while we got some garden work done. 

 

While the boys were turkey hunting us four girls went flower shopping. 

Someone has to be the brightest flower in the pot! 

 

About 2 weeks later -- baby birds!

All five!

Happy Easter!!

Look at these Happy BOYS!

 

Easter in WaKeeney 

Really Caroline?!?

 

Easter with Chloe's 2nd grade class at HFE 

 

We also snuck in our 3rd annual Glow in the Dark Easter Egg Hunt with Wentling.

Look at those eggs!  I think 3rd year was the charm as we perfected our methods and everything went very smoothly.  It's fun to have the kids get excited about this each year. 

End of March Adventures

While digging through Robyn and I's First Communion dresses at Mom's house, Chloe wanted to look at my wedding dress.  I got it out and made her try it on!  Kind of fun :-)

(the veil on the right is from First Communion, not my wedding)

 

 

There was no pinching this little lady Amelia on St. Patrick's Day!

 

Chloe was reunited with her summer boyfriend for 3 days at the end of spring break.  We took a mini vacation to Hutchinson and she got to ride three days in a row, work on her patterns, and ride in the first show of the season at Lyons.  Goble sure is good to her! 

While in Hutch we visited the Cosmosphere.  A lot of it was too advanced for the kids to understand but it was still a lot of fun for everyone.  Dr. Goddard's Lab was a hit!

 

Chloe earned four 4th place finishes in several events.  This time last year she hardly knew any patterns and was being led through each event.  This year she is breezing through them and gradually trusting Goble more and more each time.   

 

Amelia (shown) and Caroline had dental checkups.  These went much better than the first and instead of just letting the hygienist clean their teeth they actually let Dr. Lowe check them too! 

 

 

At the end of March Chloe got to give her 4-H demonstration speech at Regionals in Hill City.  We are so proud of her for this accomplishment.  She won Ellis County with her Pistachio Shell Flower craft and gave the speech again at regionals earning herself a blue ribbon.  She was by far the youngest presenter in the field of 8-13 year olds and the judge was impressed with her abilities at her age.  We knew her ability to talk would do her good someday!  Ha! 

Diving Into March

Sweet Caroline snuggles... not very often I get a snuggle nap anymore.

 

We had an EPIC Nerf gun shooting practice and battle in the basement.  After target practice it was survival of the fittest!  Nobody was safe! 

 

Speaking of shooting practice, Chloe and Isaac participated in the 4-H Ellis County shooting competition.  They both did very well for their first years!

 

Spring Break Kick-off!

The Austin family headed West and stayed with us for a few days at the beginning of spring break.  We are always so very excited to have company and the kids love having out of town friends visit.   

 

We thought this was a good weekend to have them experience the farm for the first time.  We joked all weekend (at Brian's expense) because he made a big deal about "Luke and his first trip to the farm.". It was EVERYONE'S first trip to the farm, haha!  We had an absolutely perfect day for exploring, grilling, 4-wheeling, and hunting for sharks teeth. 

 

Brian found a cell signal! 

Is it any surprise that after Emma took the picture at the top of the ledge that Amelia shimmied on up there herself?!?  The picture on the right is of Amelia being told to "SIT STILL!" until Royce could get up there to rescue her.  She didn't see the problem with the situation. 

Dan got a new Ranger that I assume will head to his new cabin but for now he told Royce it needed a few miles put on it.  Since we had a larger group it was the perfect excuse to do just that. 

I've now dubbed it with the name "Ranger Dan."

 

Did I mention what a beautiful day we had?!? 

All good things must come to an end.  The Austins headed out after brunch on Sunday.  Here is the crew, oldest to youngest except for A&C are switched.  It's such a joy to watch these kids continue the friendship that we as parents have together.