Mother's Day 2015

We were in the Cities over Mother's Day weekend for a couple of reasons. Tim and I spoke at his parent's church giving a ministry update and we also had a memorial service for Tim's grandma. Tim's dad had the idea to get both our families together for a Mother's Day dinner. I don't have a picture of the whole crew but both parents, Shan and her girls as well as Mike, Shereah and Ezra all joined us for dinner at the Lake Elmo Inn. It was crazy and wonderful:)

Some pictures from after dinner! Mike and Sherah had to get Ez home for bed so we didn't get a picture of all the cousins together.

 And here are some pictures of things the boys made me in school! 

"I love you to pieces!"  

 "I've made some May flowers

with my fingers and thumb.

So you'll have these memories

for all the years to come!" 

"A dozen roses for mom! Love, Cooper"

May Happenings

 An emergency grocery shopping trip with 3 boys. Carter got put in "shopping cart time-out" for running off. He is clearly not a happy camper:)

 The boys have been begging for a huge Ninjago Lego set. They decided to pool their money but were still $50+ short. We wanted to teach them about saving and money and waiting and working so we made a money chart and are trying to give them opportunities to make money. It is slow coming but they are ambitious! Carter has been helping with laundry and we've given them some yard work chores that are above their normal "room and board" chores.

May Daze Conference 

 Every May we head to a regional staff conference. There is some childcare for the kids and every year it gets more and more fun to do as the kids get older. They look forward to seeing their friends and lots of time in the pool! But they really struggle to NAP!

 This year they each got a chance to sleep in the closet! Who knew that would be the prime spot! And as you can see, Tim did okay during nap time:) 

 Awana ceremony night! Both boys did great and love it.

 We are currently in the middle of a huge basement bathroom project which means we only have one bathroom. So when the upstairs bathroom shower needed repair, we had to resort to kitchen sink baths one night! They clearly loved it! 

Group trip to the dentist. Thankfully only Crosby needed me to be with him because our new dentist has so many hygienists that they can do all three at once. 

Memorial Day Weekend at the Carroll Cabin

I can't ever remember nicer weather on Memorial Day! The sun was out and the boys even got in the lake! Papa, Nana, Shan and the girls all joined us at the cabin for a great, relaxing and fun weekend.

Chilling! We got up a night before every body else and had a little family time.

 The boys spent the day playing soccer and...

 ...working on Ninja moves. Our lives are never dull! 

 More Ninja training. We've been watching American Ninja Warrior with the boys so they are very inspired!

 Well I guess the older two are inspired. Crosby would rather do his own thing:) 

 Tim made up a game where the boys run down the bench and jump off while he tried to get them with a ball. Look at Carter launching into the air! Nobody got hurt:) 

 The cousins finally arrived! Cooper and Sawyer continue to bond. She has all three boys wrapped around her finger and can even get them to play princess! 

 Carter is so sweet with Devin!

 Carter playing ball with dad. This brought back so many memories of me as a kid playing catch with Papa!

 Shan brought up their jumpy house! Always a hit!  

 We skipped rocks, went to Sugar Lake to play in the sand and swim, went on a boat ride and did some fishing. The kids keep us going!

 Campfire dinner which ended in...

 ...s'mores!!!!!! 

What a great weekend! 

Memorial Service for Great Grandma Bev

Gigi's funeral was in New York and because we weren't able to get there, we had a little service with Tim's family in Stillwater. With 4 young grand-kids we needed to be efficient but it was very sweet. Mike read from 2 Timothy and Mimi shared the eulogy that she shared in New York. There were tears shed as we remembered and celebrated Gigi's life.

 Mimi bought balloons that we released. The boys thought this was pretty awesome. 

 The Spark brothers both needed a little help getting their shirts tucked in:) 

 Ezra gets lots of loving from his big cousins! 

 We love and miss you Gigi.

Rachel and Drew's Wedding

Two former Cru students got married this May. Our boys were SO EXCITED as Rachel has babysat for them many times and they adore her. Crosby was a little sad though as he made it very clear that he wanted to marry Rachel:)

 We haven't been to very many weddings with all three boys. They were a little ansy but did pretty well! 

All dressed up! 

 When we exited the sanctuary the boys cut to the front of the receiving line to hug Rachel:) 

 I love when the boys wear ties! They didn't fight me much on it either.

 There were a bunch of disposable cameras at the wedding for guests to take pictures. Rachel and Drew, I can't WAIT for you to develop the cameras that our boys had!! Hahahaha! They had so much fun taking a million pictures!

 Lots of love for Kimmie!

 And of course some pics with the beautiful bride! Cooper was running around with a buddy and missed out. What a fun night to celebrate with the Jaegers!!