Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday

Palm Sunday

All dressed up for Palm Sunday church:

We planted that apple tree this year so I'm hoping pictures by it will become a yearly tradition.

Bottle calves!

It is bottle calf season.  All three of these are bull calves.  They were born on the farms of friends who knew we had willing hands to feed a bottle calf.  Eden has Noah on the left.  Emmet has Jasper in the middle.  Eliza has Boaz on the right.  Look for these bottle calves at the county fair!

Washington Archery

The boys wrapped up their regular archery season on Saturday with a shoot in Washington. 

Daddy and his girls

 The boys have had a great year so far and have both qualified to shoot at the state tournament. 

Emmet is shooting at the 10 meter line.

 Ephraim at the 10 meter line.

Ephraim's target with several 9s and 10s. 

Emmet's tournament started off a bit rough.  His target was old --causing his arrows to hit it and then sag to the ground while staying in the target.  While sagging, the other youth at the same target would shoot and arrow and literally shot two of Emmet's arrows off.  The tournament was stopped for a good 8 minutes because of this while we got some new arrows and examined the target.  Needless to say, it threw Emmet for a loop but he did well regaining his composure and shooting the rest of the tournament.

At the end of this shoot, they did a fun parent shoot.  One parent per youth could shoot one arrow and if they got a bulls-eye, they would earn back the $5 archer admission fee.  I was just hoping to hit the target and not embarrass my child.  Seth would shoot Ephraim's bow and I would shoot Emmet's bow.  We lined up, got our one arrow, took aim (and I really was trying) and I shot a bulls-eye.  Out of 40 parents in this line-up, I was the only bulls-eye. 

Me with my bulls-eye shot. 

The boys also enjoy shooting 3D.  They rotate through the animals and get points based on where they hit the target. 

Washington was a fun tournament and we're looking forward to State!

Pork Congress

We enjoyed an afternoon at the Iowa Pork Congress. 

I even made the kiddos sit through two seminar sessions that had some valuable information. 

Ready to go home and chore with their buckets!

Snowchicken

Snowmen are over-rated.  It was time for a snowchicken in the yard, thanks to Eliza's handiwork!

Meet Winter--our new house cat

Now that we're homeowners, I brought up the notion of getting a house cat.  I grew up with a house cat and wanted to get one for my family now.  We filled out the application for adoption with our local animal shelter.  Once approved, we looked at the adoptable cats online.  We wanted one that was older than one year (they're the cheaper ones and a bit more mature).  The shelter was closed on Monday so we went there on Tuesday, shortly after they opened.  We spent about 45 minutes in the cat room.  Oh, it was a tough choice, but the children knew that Mother makes the decision.  We had it narrowed down to three and then two (when one cat climbed the screen door, that took him off the short list).  There was one loveable, silver cat that seemed like a good choice for our family.  We signed the final paperwork, loaded her up in a cat carrier and brought her home. 

Her given name was Olympia.  We debated about several names but in the end, chose the one that Seth suggested, Winter.

She's busy getting settled in her new home.  She's litter trained, too.   Everyone loves giving her cuddles and playing with her. 

Welcome to your new home, Winter.