Applesauce

 Mom and Dad brought 12 gallons of apples to our house this weekend, so we could make some applesauce.  The boys were excited all week about it.  It turned out to be a really fun, family time together.  The boys were great at helping and we all talked and laughed the whole time plus we got some yummy applesauce at the end!

Step one was cleaning the apples.  We gave the boys that job.  They liked throwing the apples into the water in a special way so they would splash each other.

Next we had to core all the apples and cut off the bad spots.  Isaac and Mom made a great team.  Isaac would core the apples and Mom trim them up.

Isaac wanted to be a part of every step.  Here he is on the hardest part, straining the applesauce from the peelings.

Ethan and Owen supported Mom and Dad at the cutting station.

Isaac and I working together.  Isaac is putting the finished applesauce into pots.

Here we are with our finished product, 18 pots of applesauce. Yay!

Monopoly

The boys' new favorite game is Monopoly.  The weekend we took this picture, we played a game that lasted an entire week!  I was the first to have my empire fall, and Scott was the second.  Then Ethan and Isaac had two snow days, which they spent most of playing Monopoly.  In the end, I had to convince them to call it and count their assets.  Isaac won, but only by $8,000.  Who knew I had such little tycoons?

Cody Calypso

Cody Elementary has a school dance in January called the Cody Calypso.  It is a fun family night at school, and there is always a theme for dressing up.  This year was neon.  We had so much fun decorating the boys some shirts with duck tape.  I thought for sure Isaac would win the costume contest, but Scottie (Isaac's best buddy) took the title again for the 3rd year in a row.

Traci was visiting to watch some basketball games on Saturday, so she came to the Calypso with us.  We had fun watching the boys run around with their friends.  Ethan danced with Makena, and Isaac ran around with a big group of 3rd graders.  Owen danced with Traci, Scott and I.

My Birthday Pic

Scott and the boys surprised me with an ice cream cake for my birthday!  They know what I like.  We also had some yummy sub sandwiches.  My present was a new charm for my bracelet, which was a cupcake.  Again, they know what I like.  I love them so much!

Mulch

We placed 6cy of mulch yesterday morning.  It was a big job, but also fun to be outside on such a nice day, and it always feels good to get a hard job done.  

This is our mulch pile.  I took this picture when the boys were helping, which lasted about an hour.  We had fun having wheelbarrow races and seeing who could load their wheelbarrow the fastest.  We had unloaded about half of the pile by the time I took this picture.  Our neighbors across the street were also placing mulch.  We challenged each other to see who could get done the fastest.  They won (and placed 8cy), but not by much and we had a visitor that distracted us.  After the boys were done helping they spent their time running Tonka trucks down the hill and attempting to ride their bikes over the pile, which ended in injury.  

Our yard looks so pretty now.  This is my favorite tree in the yard.  

This was the first Saturday Scott has not had to work in months.  It was an awesome day!  To cap it off we sat around our firepit.  The boys sat with us and we had some fun conversations.  I love it when I can get them talking.

This berm is a lot of work to maintain, but it is so beautiful.  

Basketball

Isaac and Ethan both love basketball. They both played on teams this winter. We spent most of our Saturdays in January and February watching basketball between Ethan, Isaac and the Cyclones. Owen wants to know when his basketball starts. He has a few years yet, thank goodness! The boys were blessed with lots of loving spectators. It was a really fun season!

Here is a good action shot of Ethan. That boy has some hustle! He is very timid at first, but all he needs is to do one good thing to get his confidence. After that he is all over the court. He did not do much the first couple games. Then in the third game he got the ball and made a basket. After that he was stealing the ball from people dribbling and he even stole a pass. He was dribbling awesome and shot a few more baskets. Everyone was saying, "Where did that kid come from?"

Here is Ethan catching a rebound.

Here is Ethan with his ribbon. He was so excited about the ribbon!
Here is Isaac getting some advice from Coach Scott. Scott coached Isaacs team this year. It was so cool! Scott is really great with the kids and focused on helping them learn. I think Isaac thought it was really cool to have his dad be the coach, too.
Isaac is shooting a free throw. He is a really solid player. He made at least 2 points in every game and got a few rebounds. Scott and Coach Shawn were really working with him on rebounds since he is so tall. In one game he got three rebounds in a row and kept trying for a basket. It took three rebounds, but he got the job done! I got so excited after Isaacs first basket ever that the other parents teased me for the rest of the season every time he made a shot. We would do the wave and all kinds of stuff. It was fun. Isaac always had great hustle and great screening.
Here are the boys in a huddle with the coaches It was fun to watch the coaches too. In Iowa there is a law that coaches must stay sitting, which is hard at times. Coach Shawn always got real excited while Scott stayed calmer. The last game was very exciting, and the we're times when Shawn and Scott were on the floor on their knees. Also, Isaac did awesome and practice. He listens very well to the coaches, tries hard and has good hustle.

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Making Icecream

Owen had a playdate at Chic-fil-a and he had so much fun with his friends playing on the slide. The restaurant will let the kids trade their meal toy in for an ice cream cone. Owen did not want to trade until he found out you could make the cone yourself! He is such an outgoing brave little guy!