This is the mama checking in.  Just wanted to share a few photos of the recent fun up here...

 Sweet Hannah has been taking wonderful care of her baby brother.  She is so capable and careful.  It is such a joy to watch her grow up with a heart for caring for the little ones.  I tell her that she has more experience with babies and toddlers than I did when she was born.  We're learning together.

I snapped this photo last week when the sun popped out for a few minutes.  Luke grabbed his guitar and decided to practice on the deck while Lars ran circles around him on a tricycle.

 My parents spent a few days with us last week.  Baby Hans found a cozy place on grandpa to snooze.

Yes, he's really eight years old already.  We made him a key lime pie and spent the day playing legos.  We love you, Lukeman!

making dessert

Last night Della and I made dessert for our family.  We made Pavlova - it is like a big divinity cookie.  We served it with whipped cream and berries.  Yum!

 Della always wants to wear the chef hat when she cooks.

 We had to mix the ingredients for 15 minutes.

Della quote

"I wish that all the ticks would get eaten by beaws (bears)"
I agree.

Baby Lars

Lars was pretending to be a baby. I know he looks ridiculous. He doesn't fit in the car seat anymore. Rachel was the Mommy.

pierced ears

Today I got my ears pierced!

Fun at Gooseberry falls

This is Megan reporting on our latest adventure at Gooseberry falls.

We went on Tuesday afternoon. Tuesdays are always fun because it is my Dad's day off! This Tuesday we decided to go to Gooseberry falls.

 Rachel is walking to the picnic spot. 

 Della is happy to be at Gooseberry falls!

 This is the view from the picnic table. I think it is beautiful!

 Here we are having our picnic... sandwiches, apples, grapes, crackers, lemonade and snicker bars.

 The falls are really flowing!

 I think this is the most beautiful picture I took.

AWANA Grand Prix

Hi! my name is Luke.

I am going to tell you about the AWANA Grand Prix.

On Wednesday night, we went to the AWANA Grand Prix. Below, the picture shows my car,

about to race.  My car is the white one with flames on it.

Hannah got 3rd place for the design of her car.

That is Megan's car.

                and there is my car.

The Bettendorfs are ready for spring!

Hi! This is Hannah, and today we had a wonderful time playing outside in the beautiful sunshine. We are ready for spring, and the trees are too! Dad and I put in a few "spiles" and one of the trees was dripping so quickly thad when Dad checked it two hours later, there was a gallon to a gallon and a half of sap! Here are some pictures of us playing outside.

 Megan is rollerblading! Fun!

 Mom and Hans enjoying the sun.

 Della riding a "plasma car".

Magnatiles

This is Megan reporting on the latest magnatile structures.

Mom is resting, (with Rachel and Hans) Dad is putting more spiles in the tree to get more sap, (with Hannah and Lars) That leaves Della Luke and me, so we decided to build with magnatiles.   

This one looks quite large, do you see anything unusual? Okay. Maybe not, but since Luke and I built it we can tell... Della is in it!!!

 Now you can plainly see that Della is in the tower... I had a lot of fun building her in!

 She was getting hot, so we decided to wreck it... one piece at a time.  Della did not really agree, so once we had the roof of it off she pushed some over. She was getting a little impatient.

 Next we made a boat as you can see I am the "captain" of the boat.

QUILTING

Hi! This is Hannah, and I am the oldest kid in our family. My Grandma is here today, and I am learning how to quilt. Here are the steps:

1. Chose your fabric and design
2. Cut out and sew the squares
3. Sew the squares together
4. Make the "sandwich" of fabric, batting and the back
5. Baste the layers of the "sandwich" together
6. Then you do the actual QUILTING!
7. Take out the basting
8. After all of that you put on the binding

Here is a picture of our log cabin quilt.

We have just finished basting the "sandwich" together. This is a diagram of how we did the basting.

Today we are going to start the quilting!