Mother's Day, Tulip Time and Other News!

MOTHER'S DAY! 

The Tuesday before Mother's Day I was invited to Case's preschool for "Muffins for Mom's". I absolutely love this day! It is so fun to see how excited the kids are to have their mom's come in with them and have the chance to showcase all the projects they have been working so hard creating for us! Case was so proud to show off everything he made me! 

The teachers always interview the kids about their mom's and this is always my favorite mother's day gift. I always chuckle at what the kids think about me! Apparently Case thinks I go to the store a lot! 

My sweet Claire Bear brought this home from school. I love the fact she thinks I am pretty as a princess and both kids think I am special because they love me!

Mother's Day was spent with family celebrating MANY things! Obviously Mother's Day, but also Jeremy's birthday, my sister's birthday, Jill's birthday, my mom's birthday and my sister graduating with her Master's degree from Drake University! My sister and Jill hosted a party to commemorate all these special events. My parents were able to bring my Grandma down, making the day extra special. I love these two ladies to pieces! I am so blessed to have had these two as role models to help me be a better mother. I can't even imagine how my grandma raised 6 kids on the farm without many of the modern day conveniences we have today. 

4 generations! Ida Spieker Mehlmann (97) Phyllis Mehlmann Berry (66) Dana Berry Freeman (40) Claire Freeman (6) 

So thankful for these 3 who call me mom! 

TULIP TIME!

Friday May 8th was my mom's birthday and I happened to have the day off that day! We made a last minute decision to go to Pella to the Tulip Festival. Neither of us had ever been (crazy I know living in Iowa all our lives!) We made it a girls day out and let Claire play hooky from school. We spent to day walking around town admiring the tulips, watched the parade, eating WAY TOO MANY good bad things for you, learned how to make wooden shoes, took in the craft fair and learned a ton about dutch heritage! Every local was dressed in traditional dutch garb and was so knowledgeable in their heritage and so very nice to share their town with use! 

 IN OTHER NEWS! 

Case had his first dentist appointment a couple of months ago and low and behold unproudly sports the Freeman kiddos first cavity! I guess this is what happens to the third child! I felt horrible! He was all smiles in the beginning knowing if he held still he would be rewarded with a toy at the end!

The smile quickly turned into a look of panic when it turned out to be more than just "polishing his teeth" 

In other news, he is super excited that the hand me down wrestling shoes now fit which means he is allowed to go to practice with the boys! How stinking cute is that? His stance is better than most 9 year olds I have seen! 

In other news, we are super pumped for some warmer weather finally! Bike riding, park visits and picnics!

Warmer weather also means our favorite ice cream shoppe is open for the season! YIPPEE! 

Speaking of treats! Our favorite cake lady, Echo, opened a storefront in Waukee a couple of weeks ago! Claire and I went to the open house and got to meet Ariel and Tinkerbell and better yet eat lots of samples! 

In other news, Carter ran 100 miles this year and participated in the Grand Blue Mile run at the Drake relays! So proud of him! 

While Carter was running 100 miles, Claire read 100 books and filled up her school chart! So proud of her! 

In other news, the boss man turned 42 this year! The kids and I forced him to eat a piece of cake..he was so excited! NOT! 

And last but not least, all these activities have worn this guy out! After spending the day at the ball park and running non stop, this ottoman looked to be pretty comfortable! I had told him to go get his pajamas on and when I went to check on him a few minutes later this is what I found! He had gotten undressed but didn't quite make it to the pajamas! How sweet is this? So proud of him for never complaining about being towed a million directions every day! 

Birthday girl takes a big trip!

Look who's 40!!! WOW! I am going with the theme that 40 is the new 20! March 24, 2015 came and went and I feel no different! Whew! I think this day was more difficult for my mom who kept saying, " I can't believe I have a 40 year old daughter!" 

I had a super fun day spoiled by my co-workers, dinner at Red Lobster with my mom and sister and a big surprise from Jeremy! A little get away trip to Vegas! What a lucky girl I am! 

Jeremy went all out with the upgraded room at Caesers' Palace. It was fun staying there as the decorations and statues reminded us of our trip to Italy a few years ago!

We were both thrilled to see Elton John was performing at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace and knew we had to take this probably once in a lifetime chance to see him. He didn't disappoint! What an amazing musician! 

 The second night we were there, we were getting ready to go to the show Absinthe and ran into this guy walking out of Louis Vuitton!  Jeremy was on cloud 9 the rest of the trip. Mike Tyson is definitely someone Jeremy has always wanted to meet! He has several autographed posters/pictures of him in our wrestling room, has read his autobiography and other books about him and his life. Tyson was very nice and had a very firm handshake with those big hands of his! He thanked Jeremy for being a fan of his! I was super nervous taking the picture as I knew I only had one chance to get it right! 

 The last time we were in Vegas was for our wedding in 2002. The town has changed a lot since then, but one thing was the same, the Garden Wedding Chapel we were married in at the Flamingo Hotel. We had fun reenacting our wedding day and locating the spots we had our pictures taken. It looks exactly the same! 

 One of the must see sights in Vegas is the lighted fountain show at night at the Bellagio. We were there 3 nights never saw the same show. It's so magical!

The rest of the trip we spent walking up and down the strip, laying by the pool and stuffing ourselves with good food and drinks. It was so nice to get away for a long weekend. We hadn't been anywhere together, alone since before Case was born! Yikes! So good to reconnect with each other! Thanks to our family for helping with the kids so we could go! 

Catching up (story of my life!)

SPRING BREAK 2015!

So this year's big adventure was the Adventureland Resort water park! My kids still don't expect big trips (maybe because we've never been on one) so as long as we can milk staying close to home for school breaks we will! The great thing about the water park at Adventureland was there was nobody there during the middle of the week! The kids had the whole place to themselves! Score! 

EASTER

I like tradition and we've sorta set into an Easter tradition around here! Dye eggs, hunt eggs, church, buffet dinner at Prairie Meadows with the family. Repeat next year! 

The kids found this really cool decorating kit! Crazy faces and spiky hair eggs! It made it a little challenging to peel all these to make egg salad! I think they turned out great! 

 All ready for Church!