Even More Birthday Fun

This past Sunday, the 24th, we celebrated Elias' birthday with our friends the Punts and Gaulkes. 

Elias requested a football party.  We served concession-type foods: brats, corn dogs, popcorn, soft pretzels, and chips.  The kids had fun playing some football related games and also just hanging out together.  There were a few crashes in the driveway, which I suppose is to be expected when there's 8 kids trying to ride bikes and scooters at the same time!

More Birthday Fun

On the 16th we headed to the small town of Brooklyn, about an hour away.  We met up with Greg's family at a great little restaurant, The Classic Deli and Ice Cream Shoppe, for a combined birthday celebration for Elias and Tony.  

Elias' Non-Stop 5th Birthday

Elias turned 5 years old on May 15th.  We started celebrating the day before and still haven't stopped.  Honestly.  We still have one more celebration to go, over two weeks later.  It's like the birthday that never ends!

Greg had work meetings during the day and evening of the 15th, so we went out for dinner the night before.  The custard was well enjoyed.

We had pancakes and sausage for breakfast on the 15th and then Elias opened his gifts before Greg headed to work and Malik went to school.  

The boys' good friends, Henry and Owen came over after school for cupcakes and play time.  It was a successful day!

Tulip Time - Take 2

Poffertjes!!

Getting ready to watch the night parade on Friday evening-

 Everyone loves free glow sticks!

Malik marched with his class on Saturday afternoon.  He's made great friends this year at school.  There are really some nice kids in his class.  Goofy, but nice-

Dutch children everywhere!  If you look closely, you can see Malik near the end of the line in the middle-

Tulip Time - Take 1

We survived our 10th (!) Tulip Time last weekend.  The weather was beautiful and although there weren't very many tulips left, there was still an amazing amount of people in town.

Poor Elias was sick Saturday - Thursday of that week.  By Wednesday evening, he was feeling well enough to ride along in the stroller for a bit so we headed down for the Kids and 5k races.

Malik and Elias with their good friends Henry and Owen-

Malik and his good buddy, Maddox, from school-

Malik running (green shirt - left hand side) - 

Malik and Mason hanging out.  Mason even ran the 5k race with his dad and grandpa!  We stayed to cheer them on-

Elias had had enough by the end of the 5k race!

Elias woke up feeling great on Thursday morning and wanted a 'homemade stroopwafel'-

Both Malik and Elias were scheduled to ride on the wooden shoe maker float in the Thursday afternoon parade.  Even though Elias was feeling better, we thought it best for him to sit this one out-

 Malik and his friend Samuel-

Muffins for Moms

Malik's class held a "Muffins for Moms" celebration yesterday.  The students took turns doing different readings and singing songs related to mothers.  It was super cute and they did a great job.  It was apparent that they worked hard to prepare for their performances.  

Greg and two other dads were also there to help serve lemonade and muffins after the performance was complete.  It's always fun to be in his classroom and to visit with the other parents.  He really has some great kids in his class and we're really thankful for the good friends he's made this year.

Happy Birthday, Phyllis!

Grandma Phyllis turned 70 years young on April 13.  We were able to spend a weekend with her and Grandpa Jerry in Cedar Rapids celebrating this milestone.  

Phyllis enjoys bowling, so that was our first stop.  Grandma, Grandpa, Malik, and Elias used the bumpers.  Greg and some friends of Phyllis' that also joined us, played on the regular lane.  Since I was only 1 1/2 weeks out from my knee surgery, I just observed.

 Unbelievably, Greg had his best game of his life.  He bowled a 213!

Later that evening, Tony and Erica joined us at the house for pizza and dessert.  Erica brought a fabulous cheesecake.  It was a great meal-

We all joined efforts to buy her a GPS navigation system for her car for the extensive traveling they enjoy. 

We attended church together on Sunday and then went out for Chinese.  It was a great weekend.  Happy Birthday, Grandma Phyllis!