Other stuff that I haven't blogged about yet.

In no particular order here....
Sam had his cross country dessert social and awards ceremony.  His coach said some really nice things to him and he got a pop tart trophy (Sam LOVES pop tarts)!  I hope it motivated him to run again next fall.
The freshman boys.

Sam and his coaches.

Katie and I found ourselves alone one beautiful Saturday afternoon so we loaded up Carly in the truck, stopped at Edaleen for a sandwich and had a picnic lunch at the park.

The bathroom in the shop is pretty much done.  John put up some metal on the wall and I think it turned out really cool.

You all know how much John loves projects at the Hiemstra Hide-a-way but I suggested requested insisted demanded pleaded asked nicely that he not start anything new until he cleaned up some former projects a little bit. And being the nice guy we all know him to be, he did.  He got rid of a big, ugly pile of dirt and weeds in the backyard and planted a bunch of grass. Not sure why I don't have a picture of this.  Him and Sam also took an afternoon and split a bunch of wood from some trees he had taken down.

Katie and I have had a couple good fires going already this spring.  She's turning out to be quite an excellent fire starter (gets that from her mom)!

Sam's school soccer career started great! The first three games they let no goals in (this is especially important since Sam plays defense) and mom got to watch the games IN THE SUNSHINE!

The rains did eventually come but his biggest fan (that's me by the way) was still there.  I love this picture.  The boys always come over and applaud for the parents after a game.  On this particular day they were all wet and muddy so they grabbed hands and did a big dive at the end.

Katie joined an after school art club.  She's been having a great time!  One of her projects was this paper mache Carly.  It turned out so cute! 

Dordt has started live-streaming most of their concerts.  I love it!  We were able to watch Holly in her choir concert.  It took us a little while to find her (we were actually watching the wrong blond for a while).  Those bangs throw us off!

I've been walking most days (even the rainy ones) to Berthusen Park.  I love having it so close to us, even when it's drizzling you stay dry under all the trees.

And this just made me giggle.

My flower beds are calling!

It's one of those days that wasn't suppose to be nice but it is and so I really want to get outside and enjoy it before the rain starts again but I told myself I had to get this blog of mine all caught up so this one is going to be short and sweet.
I went on a long bike with my coffee ladies.

It was super fun but my butt hurt for days after.

Over the kid's Spring Break, we spent a day on Mt. Baker.

John and Sam skied.

Katie snowboarded.

I sat in the lodge with a hot chocolate and this kitty.

I made this gallery wall for my bathroom.  Holly commented it was a very odd assortment of photos. I told her that one person's odd is another's person's fun.

Since Sam will soon be driving the GEO, John has been sprucing our old car up a little bit.  He replaced all the broken knobs so you can actually control the heat/cooling now!  He also scheduled an appointment for a new radio install.  I'm fairly sure the radio is worth more than the car.

Told you it was going to be short.
And here's a little sweet.  I ordered pictures for Katie's penny book and other day and this was one of them.

Oh my.  Some days I really miss that little peanut.

It's been awhile.

Long time, no blog.  The last time I blogged was the beginning of March and now the end of April is rapidly approaching!
Right now Katie and I are working on her 5th grade penny book.  The kids need to make a scrapbook (that includes a penny from each year of their life, hence the name penny book) about major events in their life, what they liked to do or play, and how God blessed them or worked in their family.  Lucky for Katie I started blogging when she was about four months old so she has lots of material to work with.  It's been super fun looking back on old blog posts and it's such a good way to keep track of life.  So...back to blogging.
Not sure I'm going to remember everything that happened the last six weeks but we'll hit the highlights.
Dad Hiemstra's funeral was on March 1.

It was a wonderful time with family celebrating Dad's life.  We shared lots of special memories and it was so much fun watching all the cousins reconnect.
Rachel and Holly played "Amazing Grace" at the funeral.  It was beautiful.  Here they are practicing the night before.

 Sam (and the rest of the first-born sons from each family) was a pallbearer.

Mom with her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids.

 Just the grandkids (minus two).

Mom with her grandkids and greats.

It meant to much to John and I that Doyle and Susie made it to the funeral.

Special family time before we headed home.

Dad's chair.

The kids and I flew home early Sunday morning but John stayed until Friday to spend time with his mom.

Her newest great grandbaby.

Out to lunch with the Wisconsin sisters.

I was home one day by myself and then my mom flew in from Arizona.  She had bought a ticket months before to come and get herself some grandkid time.
Trust me when I tell you that she was able to spend time spoiling Sam and Katie even though the only pictures I have of her is when she is hard at work on one of my projects!
We decided to strip the wallpaper off my bathroom walls and give the room a little facelift.

We also attempted a new dish - German rollade. 

The rats came home with Katie for another weekend.  Much to Katie's disappointed, Gramma wouldn't hold them.  Katie made them an obstacle course.

And played Bananagrams with a rat on her head.o

Unfortunately the morning that my mom flew back to Arizona was the day that Holly got here.  Over Dordt's spring break she was on an orchestra tour and one of the stops was Lynden!  It was a quick visit but it was fun to get to love on her for a couple of hours, watch her orchestra concert, and then take her (and a couple of her friends) back to our place to spend the night.

 Love this college girl of mine!