Deer 1 Us 0

This is a pretty self explanatory post.  We hit a deer.  We were going fast.  The deer was not going fast enough.  Thud.

It is never fun when something like this happens.  Our little family was driving back from a wonderful weekend at the farm on Sunday night and had a little bump in the road (literally).  Ryan was driving and we were plugging along on I 90 just outside of Mitchell when the deer ran right in front of us.  It happened so fast Ryan hardly had time to break.  Landon slept through the entire incident and Kadence learned a new word.  A word I hope she forgot right away (well at least after the four times in a row she said it).  We were thankfully able to drive back to Sioux Falls that night.  We took a different HWY the rest of the way so that we could take it a little slower and face less traffic.  While passing through one of the small towns, we saw fire trucks with their sirens on rushing towards interstate.  Sure makes you wonder if there was a reason that deer jumped out in front of our path that night.  Perhaps instead of being mad we should be thankful that the angel deer could have potentially kept us safe.  Being the positive person I am, I just was so relieved that we all were fine.  Things are easy to fix.  God is Good.

SWEET CAR RYAN!  The collision center gave us a free loaner car.  It just so happens to be Ryan's dream car...haha!  I'll have you know he wasn't happy about my photography today.  I am glad he humors me anyway.  Maybe the minivan wasn't so bad hun.  :)

Take me out to the ball game...

It is that time of year again...Baseball season!  As most of you know, I enjoy watching baseball almost as much as my husband.  The Minnesota Twins are of course our favorite team to watch.  We have made it to at least one game a season at the dome since we have been together.  We are hoping that we will find a way to make it to a game this summer at the new stadium.  Until then, we will watch every game broadcasted on Fox (since we don't have cable), watch games when we visit those fortunate enough to have cable, and stay updated via the internet.  Sometimes we watch the webcasts which do not show the actual game but show what is happening just to see how the game is going!

In light of baseball season I thought I should post some pictures of my little all stars.

Landon loves playing with his baseball set.  Ryan is coaching him already, I have been known to say a few times, "he is only 3."

Kadence likes playing baseball, too.  She usually only swings a couple times and then decides it is more fun to run around the yard.  Love them!

Easter 2010.

Ryan worked this Easter weekend, so we spent the weekend at home.  Holly and Jack came from Fargo to spend the weekend with us.  We started out the weekend coloring eggs when they arrived Friday evening.  We didn't do a ton of eggs, but the kids enjoyed it!

I tried to get a picture of all 3, I wish my kids would humor me!

Me and my angel girl.

This was the first year the Easter bunny visited our home!  The kids thought this was such a neat idea and helped each other find their buckets.

Landon did cry momentarily when they found Kadence's bucket first and there wasn't one for him, but once we explained to him that his was probably in a different hiding spot, he was eager to find his bucket.

Here is Landon with his goods.

Kadence looking through her bucket.

The Easter bunny brought Jack a basket to our house, too...amazing!

Here's the kiddos in their church outfits.  They were not very cooperative.  Still cute though.

Trying to get a picture of my princess in her pretty dress.  I waited too long.

Hey big brother...check out my eggs!!!!!!   We did an egg hunt outside which the kids thought was a BLAST!  We actually hid the eggs a second time because they liked finding them so much!

The best part was that they did not realize for a very long time that the eggs had candy in them.  I certainly was not going to clue them in!

What a great Easter holiday we had!  The company was great and the kids had a blast.  Church was packed but a wonderful uplifting service.  God is great.  I think that the kids may like the Easter bunny and holiday more than Santa Claus...no lie!

We all (minus Ryan) also had the chance to go to Falls Park on Saturday afternoon.

Jack posing on some rocks.  The scary part about this trip was my little 3 1/2 year old boy who followed his cousin EVERYWHERE.  He is fearless.  We had to have an eye on him every second!

This puddle and pile of sand occupied my little princess for several minutes.  I think she successfully through the entire dirt pile into the puddle!  I don't really think she is the most girly girl...love her!

Another great weekend come and gone.  Loving the warmer weather.

Awaiting the Easter Bunny...

Strangely, this has been the view outside of our window the past couple of weeks.  The Easter Bunny has been resting under a shrub and watching the kids.  The kids frequently check out the window for the bunny as he comes and goes.

Well, we know he knows where they live, let's hope he hasn't seen any naughty behavior so he brings their baskets in a couple days :)

running.

It has been so nice here this past week, Ryan and I have been taking full advantage and running outside. After a very long winter of running inside on the treadmill, going for a run has a whole new meaning!!  We like to run together but when it is just the two of us here the only way it is possible is to lug the whole fam along!  We have a bike trailer that we can use as a double jogger as well.  It works, but the kids are getting pretty heavy so it's a lot more work!  We don't usually go any further than a 5k with the kids.  They usually don't do well much longer than that sitting that close together anyhow.  Earlier this week, we took the kids and they were both asleep within 5-10 minutes.  This was a first and definitely the most peaceful run with the kids we have ever had.  Kadence woke up when we returned home, but my little boy was so tuckered out it took some major work to get him to wake up!  Apparently they don't think running is exciting as their mom does!

Sleeping on the floor.

Kadence has entered a new phase of not wanting to sleep in her bed.  For the past week, at nap and night Kadence has been moving to sleep on the floor by her door.  I know she is fine, but still move her back to her bed before I go to sleep.  One night I was putting her to bed and she said, "NO, I want to sleep on floor."  So I just said ok.  Sure enough when we checked on her later, she was fast asleep on the floor.  Little turkey.

An early spring Zoo trip.

As most of you know, the zoo here in town is one of my favorite places to take the kids.  We have a family membership so broken down, each visit costs next to nothing.  It was pretty nice Saturday morning, so Ryan and I took the kids for our first trip this spring.  Not all of the animals were out yet, but the kids had a riot nonetheless.  Turns out we weren't the only ones with the idea, the zoo was pretty busy!

Landon checking out some animals.  They both like to climb on the fences and peer in.  He got a little too close to one of the Rhino's and it turned around rubbed it's butt on a post and sprayed urine!  There is  a sign posted to beware as Rhino's will do this as a way of marking their territory, but we had never actually seen it done!  Thankfully we weren't close enough, but we grabbed Landon and backed up quickly just in case!

Of course it wouldn't be a trip to the zoo without a stop at the petting zoo.  The kids were feeding the goats here.

We spotted this peacock spreading out its tail.  Of all the times we have been to the zoo this was the first time we saw that!  The kids thought it was pretty neat.  It was beautiful-and neat to see him strutting his stuff around!  I don't know what it is about looking at the animals, but it never seems to get old...not for me either!