Happy Easter!

Another Easter come and gone.  It was a beautiful weekend and we had some nice time together as a family.  On Good Friday, we did some egg dying. I decided to change things up this year and try some volcano eggs.  Teresa kept telling people that we would be exploding our eggs!!  Not really!

 We coated the eggs with dye and then added vinegar to watch the eggs fizz and the colors paint the eggs.  It was really fun to do 2 colors together.

 On Easter morning we did the egg hunt.  Troy hid some eggs outside as it was nice enough this year. 

 He also hid the baskets outside and they had to unscramble letters to find a clue of where to find the baskets.

After church we got a picture of all of us all dressed up.  We were looking pretty good!

 After lunch, we went to Swiss Valley and went on a short hike.  We stopped at the creek and let the kids play in the cool water.  They saw two water snakes and a crawdad!

Our Easter ended with a nice dinner.  I went all out with the fancy silverware and place-mats and a table decoration!  I don't think the kids loved the meal overall, but the rolls were a hit.  They were shaped like bunnies with their ears and a little tail showing.  We dubbed them bunny butts and that at least was a hit with the kids.  Oh the things that make memories!!

Spring Getaway

It had been awhile since we made a visit to Aunt Mary.  Troy was gone for the weekend in early April, so the kids and I made a getaway.  I arranged to be away from church on Sunday and we had a great weekend!

 We went to one of our favorite indoor playgrounds.  The kids climbed, jumped, swung, and tried out a new video game.

 After that it was a new lunch spot...Jason's Deli.  It was a hit!  It might have been the free ice cream after Pb and j.  Teresa especially wants to go there again.

Then it was on to an engineering fair at the UW.  I managed to get us there with only one wrong turn!  Timothy loved the experiments and stations.  The got to try some neat activities and they each game home with some 3d printer items.

Finally we hit a new outdoor playground.  It was a castle park, so different than most playgrounds.

Added to this were some baseball watching with Aunt Mary...Cubs vs. the Brewers.  Pizza and movie night.  Games of monopoly.  Helping clean up sticks and rake leaves. And Church and Sunday school.

We had a great time and are thankful we can make such visits!

Catching up a bit

The months of January and February went by in a blur.  Just as my dad's passing changed things quickly, well Troy's mom had a similar journey.  She was in the hospital after Christmas and soon was deciding a path of hospice.  A month and a half later we said good bye to another loved one.

Although Troy was gone much of January and February, he was home for one week and we got in some good old fashioned winter fun--Sledding!

 Judy died on February 9th and the funeral was February 14th.  Due to the crazy weather, the kids and I flew up to ND for the funeral.  They did not even miss school because two days were canceled and two were conference days.  They enjoyed some traditions like cookies on the porch which is usually a summer thing, but you do what you gotta do!

The funeral was a nice celebration and remembrance of Judy.

We were glad to be there to support Troy and the the kids enjoyed what was likely there last visit to Grandma's house.

It has been a rough 6 month for our family, but yet with our faith and the love and support from one another we carry on.

Spring break

For spring break this year we went to visit family as we often do.  Troy was able to join us this year due to his sabbatical.  

Our first stop was at Susie's.  Teresa really wanted to watch Mary Poppins with Susie since they both love the movie.  We had a fun night and spent the morning at her house too, enjoying a little of time outside at the pond in her backyard and on the snow mountain out front.

Then it was onto my mom's and a week of activity, family and fun.  On Monday we went to Como Zoo.  We had not been there in quite awhile to actually see the animals.  Most recently  the kids have been enjoying Como Town the little amusement park and skipping the zoo part.  So it was fun to actually see the animals.  They had a lot of fun.  We stopped at a near by playground to play!

Another day we went swimming with several of the cousins.  it was busy at the pool but we managed to have fun.  And the water was warm!  That same day we had a little baseball party and watched the Twins home opener.  Troy had us all make predictions on all the opening day games.  We had a baseball themed dinner and popcorn in cute Twins bags.

We also got a little culture with a visit to the art museum.  The kids sort of did a scavenger hunt.  We tired out pretty quick, but it was a good time.

On our last afternoon together, all the cousins except Henrik got to go to the ropes park.  It was a beautiful day and the park was not too busy.

And there was time for little things like playing Mary Poppins songs with Grandma and making a pile of cousins on the floor.

We are thankful for the chance to see family!

Birthday

It has been a slow year for blogging.  In part because Troy has more pictures on his phone and it is harder to get the pictures from our camera to the computer.  So what I am saying is that when blogging takes more effort, I get lazy!!  But there are some things that should be shared.

Now that we are a many weeks past, a couple pictures of my birthday.  It was a big one, but it was celebrated in a simple way.  I did not want a party or a surprise party.  I took the day off from work and spent the day doing things I enjoyed.  The plan was to go out for dinner, which we did.  I enjoyed the deep dish pizza.  Teresa was initially displeased with waiting for her food and Timothy changed his mind about his food once it arrived.  Typical dinner out!

I made a cookie dough ice cream cake which was yummy.  Troy pledged to take me out for dinner and music when we were in the cities.  And he had people text me birthday greetings.  Overall it was a nice day.  I enjoyed celebrating more with family the next week in the cities. 

Dinner out!

Celebrating at Susie's

Opening gifts at my mom's

A night out together.

Dirt and worms cake to celebrate lots of birthdays!