March 2019

Ice Fishing
Dorian LOVES every opportunity he has to go ice fishing!

 Nathan decided to give driving out on the lake a try!  Yikes!  Glad they stayed safe!

Dorian found that he had everything that he wanted for his first season of ice fishing, except a sonar.  With the money he had left, he decided to purchase one!

Painting Project
We decided it was time to give Levi's room a few updates!  Thanks to Grandpa for his work with painting!  Levi loves the brighter color!  He also loves the large, soft beanbag chair!

Levi is a fan of penguins, the Seahawks, stuffed animals, comfy blankets, books, and his new ukulele which we plan to hang in his room, too. 

 It's fun to see his cool collection of shells displayed!

Cousins
One Saturday when Dorian and Dad were ice fishing, we ended up spending most of the day with Heidi, Aniah, Eden and Adria! 

Programs
I love watching the boys when they have programs!  What a blessing they are.

Wildlife
One of the things Nathan enjoys about having the cabin is being able to hear and see so much wildlife!

March 15 & 16
The boys had off from school on Friday, the 15th and Nathan was able to take Dorian and Mason to the cabin to go ice fishing!  They met Ben and Alex Saarloos, as well as Grandpa, there to fish with them!

 Later that day and the following day, Dorian tried out ice fishing on Little Spirit Lake!

Grandpa came back on Saturday to ice fish with Dorian while Nathan took Mason to the Bridges Bay water park to swim for part of the day.

Based on the weather forecast, Dorian knew this would be the last week to go ice fishing for the season, so he had to soak it all in!

Meanwhile, I spent half of a day with Levi before he left to spend a couple of nights with his friend, Mikaiah.  Levi had so much fun at the St. Patrick's Day parade and getting spoiled by Mikaiah's aunt!

I used my day and a half while the boys were gone to get caught up on the boy's scrapbooks!  It's always fun to reminisce!  And it was equally exciting to be caught up again! 

School
Dorian's class got to spend an hour at the Dordt game room and he came home pretty excited to tell me that he was the air hockey champion!

Mason got to celebrate his 100th day of school so he was really excited about that!

 The school opened up a new store to generate income and I've enjoyed being a volunteer there!

Kindergarten
Mason and Adria, along with the other Kindergartners, had off from school on Thursday and Friday.  They played so well together and also helped me do my errands.  We were excited to find out that the baby chicks were at Bomgaars! 

Friday was Mom's birthday so she came along with us to do errands in Sioux Falls!  Mason and Adria enjoyed eating the snacks at Costco, and riding the Ferris wheel at Scheels!

Happy Birthday
Mason is 6 years old!!!  He continues to love puppies and he found out that March 23 was National Puppy Day!  So it was perfect to have a Puppy Party to celebrate!

Mason has learned how to read this year and I love it when I get to listen to him read!  He had a stack of jokes in his card from Grandpa and Grandma Tintle to share with us!

 Levi gave Mason his golf shirt to wear since it had the #6 on it!  That was sweet of him.

We gave him a subscription to a Kiwi Co box. His first box contained a 'make-it-yourself' arcade claw.

 Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Tintle for sending a Spooner Board!

 Dorian and Levi picked out a Nerf gun to give to Mason!

 Cupcakes and ice cream for dessert!

Sunday
On Sunday, Aunt Kerry, Ashley, Emma, Claire, Aunt Heidi, Aniah, Eden, Adria, Great Grandma, Grandpa and Grandma Bolkema came for a party!

 It's also Grandma and Aunt Heidi's birthday in March!

 Claire made macaroons for Grandma!

 It turned out to be a beautiful Spring day and we all enjoyed the sunshine!

Mason's been having fun with his new games and toys!

Pinewood Derby
Dorian and Levi were excited about making a pinewood derby car for Cadets this year.  They enlisted Grandpa and Nathan's help and did a lot of research! Their cars looked fabulous and raced really well!  Levi wanted to go for speed so he tried to make the fastest car that he could and it paid off!  He won first place and came home with a trophy!

Dorian went for design and made his car into a fish!  It looked so cool and it turned out to be fast as well!  He ended up being 5th overall!

 So proud of both of them!

February 2019

February was full of cold weather, late starts and snow days!  I'm thankful for the memories we made last month, but I'm also thankful we are now in the month of March!

Nathan and Dorian went out to the cabin together to go ice fishing.  While they didn't yet catch any fish, they are learning a lot about this new sport together!

I spent my Saturday with Levi and Mason.  We enjoyed an afternoon in Sioux Falls together riding the Ferris Wheel at Scheels, having supper with Kerry and Claire, and stopping at their house to see Bridget and Macey!

I was proud of Levi for volunteering to speak in chapel!  How brave of him!

While Nathan was on a work trip, a box of roses was delivered to our door from him as an early Valentine's Day gift!  That was a sweet surprise!

Levi enjoyed a Saturday of learning at Stem Fest!  He also enjoyed eating lunch at the Dordt Commons!

Valentine's Day treats at school are so much fun for the boys!

We took advantage of the boys not having school from the 14th to the 18th and spent a couple of nights at the cabin together.  It was super windy and cold on the first day we were there so we decided to go to The LEGO Movie 2. After the boys were settled for the night, Nathan and I left to have a Valentine's supper at Minervas!

We spent a day ice fishing as a family.  After I took Levi and Mason back to the cabin, Dorian caught his first fish while ice fishing!!!  Nathan caught one too!  So exciting!

What a beautiful sunrise!

We also spent one day skiing at Mount Kato in Minnesota!  It was our first time there as a family!  Dorian, Levi and Mason all started by taking lessons.  Mason really progressed a lot from last year to this year.  I'm so thankful for a safe and enjoyable day together!

This is what it looked like in our kitchen on a snow day when I told the boys they had some work to get done!  One of them melted to the floor and the others followed suit.  Crazy kids!

Despite the work, the boys still had plenty of time to play on the huge pile of snow in our front yard!

Almost like being buried in the sand on the beach, right?!??

I took the boys ice skating on a Friday night while Nathan was traveling.  Mason skated on his own this year!  But he also used the carts when he wanted to go faster!

Jaden also came along with us!

What a fun surprise to see a beautiful red cardinal outside on the playset!

I was happy to see Levi and Mason reading their new Clubhouse magazines and Dorian making pizza dough on this particular snow day!

Nathan and Levi enjoyed a night of Cadets together at the Dordt game room!

The weeks go by so quickly that it's fun to take time to reflect on the past month!