April 2022

April is Reeve and I's birthday month and overall it was a fun-filled month!  We enjoyed time with friends, family, and went to lots of kid activities.  I know God does not want us to be over busy, but one thought I often have is that I would rather them be involved, interacting with others than being home and tempted to often be on a screen.  It is definitely a challenge of this era of parenting!  Another thought I often have is that I sure hope they are learning what it takes to work with others and also are sharing God's love at the same time.    

Enjoyed another fun night out with our dear friends the Halpines and MOnsons.  We enjoyed pizza at a small town bar and then Mike, our DD, got us to another small town bar pictured above.  

The next day Reeve finished off her last volleyball tournament of the year at home.  They ended up pulling out first place.  It sure was fun to watch them:). Looking forward to seeing how they continue to learn the game and progress.

Reeve is the back to back champ of our March Madness bracket challenge.  She earned dinner at Wasabi!

Mike completed a loose version of 75 Hard :). That is what he called it!  Proud of him for his hard work and dedication.

April 9th was my 37th birthday and we had a simple, yet great day!  We began the day by volunteering for Race for Grace in Grand Island.  Then we had a happy hour beverage with my family.  It was much busier out than we thought it would be, but come to find out it was prom for two of the high schools in town.

Fun with my students!  I have said this a lot, but I really do love my job:). One perk for me is that my students choose to be in the pathway I teach, so they want to be there for the most part.  Pictured above is them teaching direct instruction lessons.  In a nutshell that means they model a task for them, then they do it together with guidance, and to finish the student should be able to do the task on their own.  Below is our trip that we finally got to take to Wayne State College.  We have tried the last several years, but due to Covid we could not go:.  We had a blast and it was so great to hear more about the college that our students receive dual credit through!

MIke's dad brought a box of his old things and we found this picture in the box.  It looks SO MUCH like Joden!!  He was a few years older in this picture, but it was a holy cow moment.

Joden played middle school soccer this year and it was often pretty chilly.  The first game Reeve and I watched from the car and for some of the games I sat outside for, I had to dress like I was going skiing. When Joden played Heartland soccer I always said fall soccer typically was much better weather!

Joden had a pretty good year!  Soccer is combined 7th and 8th grade so I was not expecting him to make A team.  At first he was just on B team, but by the end he got to play half of the A games, as well as the whole B game.  Due to hard work and grades he was able to move up.  Proud of him for that!

Reeve and I got tickets to the Husker volleyball spring game here in GI and we got an autograph from every Husker player.  It was a super fun night and we really enjoyed getting to say hi to all the players;). They were very friendly!

Baseball began this month.  Joden is on a newly formed team called the Patriots.  They are a group of kids who all played city league last year.  The goal is for them to play this year and next together before several of them can try out for legion.  So far they have not won a game, but hopefully they will continue to grow as the season goes on.

These are the parts of adulting that I don't find enjoyable.  Our dishwasher has never been amazing and it is annoyingly loud.  I decided I better clean it out and boy was it nasty!  

We hosted Easter with whoever was up for getting together!  It ended up being the Ankenys and my parents.  We had a low key, yet very enjoyable day:)

For the last five years we have ended April with dance recital and Reeve's birthday!  Due to her birthday being during the week, we went to Kearney about a week early to stay in a hotel in Kearney that is new and has a water park on the inside.  The girls were great and we had a wonderful time:).  I also made sour dough cinnamon rolls for the first time and they were yummy!  

The day of her actual birthday she enjoyed a huge breakfast, fun at school, and dinner at Wasabi.

To round out the month Reeve had her dance recital!  It was long, but they did do a really great: job). Proud of the hard work they do all year to perform at the end of the year!  Next year she is going to try out team dance.  It will just be one year due to middle school sports starting in 7th grade.