Scissor Happy

Last week when Kellyn brought her school supplies back home, Breckyn found her scissors and decided to use them to give herself a little "trim." After having all-one-length hair just past her shoulders, she ended up with choppy bangs and lots of layers. She was pretty proud of herself until she saw the look on my face. Then she was really upset and crying after looking in the mirror because she thought she looked like a boy! Fortunately she left enough length that I was able to clean it up into a fairly cute little bob with short pixie bangs - and she loves it. Here's the before and after:

before (crying!)
after (grinning!)

looks pretty cute with a little barrette!

Visit to T-Town

We spent last weekend in Tulsa at Mitch and Christal's house. It was a nice, relaxing weekend of playing Guitar Hero, Wii, and Settlers of Catan. We also spent time shopping, fishing, watching Triston's soccer game, eating (lots), napping, playing at the park, watching movies, going to church, and just hanging out. Mitzi had a great time playing with their dog Yoda. I didn't get many pictures, but here are a few highlights:

our 4 little Guitar Heroes

Kellyn on bass drum, Preston on percussion, Triston on guitar (with a broken hand!), and Breckyn on mic (probably woulda been better if she could read the lyrics!)

Mitzi and Yoda in one of their many play-duels

Paul and Mitch installed a new dishwasher for a very happy Christal!eating the traditional road-trip mini-donuts

Field Day

The kids had Field Day on May 15th. We were praying for good weather, and we got it! Daddy was even able to take time off to be there! Preston and Kellyn had a great time doing the activities with their partners Cooper and Lauren. Not surprisingly, their favorite activities were squirting each other with water bottles and the Snack Station where they had some yummy popsicles!

with their Field Day partners, Cooper and Lauren
the sack race

popsicle time!

Breckyn hangs out with Daddy

boys in the water zone

girls in the water zone

Breckyn and Mommy

Lauren holds the target for Kellyn (good thing it was a foam dart!)

the frisbee toss

Pet Day at Kindergarten

Kellyn's class got to bring their pets to school on May 14th to meet the class. Kellyn was pretty proud when she showed off Mitzi to her friends! Most of the other kids had dogs, though her friend Isabel had a pet gecko - which I couldn't get a picture of with all the kids huddled around it!

meeting her friend Lauren's Yorkie Halle and her mom introduce their dog "Princess" to the class trying to get Mitzi to cooperate

Kellyn and her favorite animal in the whole world!

Kellyn's Spring Program

On May 7th, the Kindergarten and 1st Grade of Wheatland Elementary presented "Gettin' Down With Mama Goose." Kellyn was so excited to perform, especially since she got to play the xylophone! The program was really cute, especially "We Will, We Willie Winkie" set to the "We Will Rock You" tune.

third row from top, second from right third row from top, fourth from left

playing the xylophone the whole group (well, most of them - I don't have a panoramic camera!)

Paul's Bike Trip on the Katy Trail

Paul, along with his brother David and good friend Mitch, rode their bicycles along 160 miles of the Katy Trail in Missouri during the last weekend in April. They left at 4am on Friday the 24th and drove to Sedalia to start. They ended up in Washington on the afternoon of Sunday the 26th, where they hopped the Amtrak to get back to the cars. They had to drive back home in the rain and didn't get here til 2am Monday morning, but they had a blast! They all enjoyed checking out the sights along the trail, roughing-it in tents, getting good exercise and bad sunburns, and eating fatty foods at lots of little hole-in-the-wall places along the trail. Highlights included getting barely any sleep the first night while they listened to a bunch of guys drinking and blaring their music nearby, and getting lots of verbal and "fingeral" insults from drivers while they were crossing a narrow bridge into Washington. Paul definitely had a great time and is already making plans to do it again! Here are some pictorial highlights:

Getting started in Sedalia (Mitch, Paul, and David)
an old bridge along the Trail (Paul)

the fancy rock-faced side of an old tunnel under the railroad tracks

the other, more humble side (David & Mitch)

an old shelter someone built into the rocks bluffs (Paul)

the biggest Burr Oak tree in MO, with a couple of dwarfs under it (David & Mitch)

another big rock with the years and heights of the MO River flooding carved into it (Paul) their campsite the 2nd night (Mitch)

the big bridge into Washington as viewed from the train station

Easter Day

Shelly came down from Lawrence to visit us on Easter weekend, which was a nice treat! On Sunday morning, the kids were up early to see what the Easter Bunny had left them. After a great service at church, we stopped by Gram and Grandad's to visit awhile before heading down to my Aunt and Uncle's in Argonia. Unfortunately, it rained the entire day so the family volleyball game was out, but the kids still had a blast playing with their cousins and breaking an Easter Egg pinata. We adults visited and played cards, and of course, we all stuffed ourselves silly with ham and blarney stones!

Decorating Easter Eggs