March 2017

In March, Jackson had a field trip, Lily and I went to a concert, and the kiddos got to spend a long weekend with Grandma & Grandpa B. so Mom & Dad could go to NYC! What a fun month!

Field trip to Kaleidoscope

Lily's 4th grade was challenged by their Media teacher to make arcade games completely out of cardboard. They spent over a month designing and constructing their game. Lily and her friend Hadley were the perfect team- Hadley the architect and Lily the designer :). They even included prizes for their skee-ball-type game, so it goes without saying that it was a hit!
Their demonstration occurred while Dad and I were in NYC so Grandma & Grandpa B. went over to check it out! So glad they did. It made her day :)

Mother/Daughter night at the school- painting canvases for spring!

Lily wanted to show me her soup can design in the hallway- Unicorn Soup!

While Dad and I were in NYC, the kids had loads of fun at Grandma and Grandpa's

Jackson's kinder class on St. Patrick's Day- he's the far left 

We had an adventure with some friends one night to Donutology in KC. You can create your own personalized mini donuts and watch while they make them to your specifications. So fun!

Lily and I went to the Kari Jobe concert with some friends from church. Such a great night of worship with my girl.

celebrating Grandma's birthday!

I couldn't resist this one :). Jackson had bumped his nose...apparently so badly that he thought it might bleed. He went to the bathroom and came out with this blue bandaid completely covering his nostrils. He was serious as a heart attack...sat down and continued on with his Uno game. I could not contain myself. He is just a hoot!

February 2017

February was a month in full swing of sports practices & games, and of course, Valentine's Day. I have my issues with this Hallmark holiday and I just have to say that during our one snow day in January, the kiddos decided to make their own Valentine's boxes!! Yay! That was one huge check off the list for February and one less thing to stress about. Yay kiddos!!

Enjoy our month in pictures:

A night out to our favorite Square Pizza and a historic Polly's Pop to wash it down :)

Lily with her "God's Girl" buddies at Georgia's 9th baking birthday party. So much fun!

We had a rare "spring like" day in February so the kids and I headed over to Aunt Sarah.'s neighborhood and rode the 4-mile Lakewood loop. And yes...that's 4 MILES with the kiddos on their own bikes! They did great!

4th grade Pastries with Parents

Jackson played hooky from school and went fishing with Dad. Looks like he had a great day!

My Valentines ready for school

Dad took us all out to our favorite Mexican restaurant for Valentine's Day

We started a new family Bible study with a book going through all of God's Names. Our first lesson was to look up the meaning of our own name. Just loved how the kids put this together.

This boy is just so funny. He loves dressing up for church...so much so that this was his attire for SATURDAY! He refused to change so we just rolled with it. Apparently, he was all business that day :)

January 2017

In January, Lily had a busy month of sewing and school activities! And we began the volleyball and basketball seasons.
Enjoy some highlights of this month:

Lily got a new sewing machine for her birthday from Grandma L. and had been anxious to try it out! We went to the fabric store and picked out a pattern for a cross-body purse for her iPod :).
She did a great job cutting out the fabric and sewing all the pieces together!
Lucky for her, she has two grandmas who are excellent seamstresses. Always a call away for advice!

Our token snow day for January resulted in some child labor to help shovel the driveway :). They did a great job!

Lily's school has a Father/Daughter dance every year and this has become a very special occasion for Lily. We had fun picking out her dress and accessories, which she kept a surprise until the big "reveal" night.

Lily participated in the National Geographic "Geo Bee" this year. This was her school's first year participating and she did great competing against other 4th grade peers. This was an elective activity in which the students had to give up recess time every week to practice. We were so proud of her effort as this was a challenging competition!

Lily began season 2 of volleyball. She's mastered her underhand serving technique and was frequently diving for balls using those kneepads!

Jackson began his first season of basketball. He loved it! He's all about running and constant action, so this was a great sport for him. He was challenged in learning the dribbling technique (although at this age, they are pretty loose on enforcing it) but he is already excited to play again next winter.

New Year's with the Fiala's 2017

We love our tradition of having the Fiala fam out to visit on our "home" year for Christmas. We always have a great time and enjoy our adventures.
We have discovered that the Fiala/Bolinger cousins enjoy ice skating, so we made a trip to the ice rink again this year. We also tried something new by going to Science City for their special Noon Year's Eve day for the kids. It was a lot of fun...even with all the crowds. Excited to check it out again when it's not so busy next time.

Packed in the Pilot headed to Science City! Jackson loves Aunt Sarah's "marshmallow coat" :)

Ready for "Noon Year's Eve" at Science City

Dissecting owl pellets- ick!

making marker wands

making necklaces with their own DNA inside!

lots of Uno tournaments went on

in the glow room at Science City

"Happy New Year" toast with the traditional Martinelli's!

Christmas 2016

This Christmas, we celebrated with the Bolinger side. Always a lot of fun and we are so blessed to have a professional photographer in the family to take amazing pictures of the kiddos and family together. Thank you, Aunt Sarah!

Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa's

Grandma got all the cousins cozy pajamas. They couldn't wait to get in them!

Grandma with all her grandkids!

Daddy was not feeling well so after dinner he fell asleep on the couch. Sick or not, we couldn't miss this photo op :)

Lily (with Grandma B.'s help :) made Jackson this adorable baseball blanket! He loved it!

Aunt Sarah got Lily a new sleeping bag and the kids couldn't resist having a camp out

Christmas morning