Easter Egg Hunt

We had a great time this past Sunday - Easter Sunday. We met at Becki's parents for an egg hunt and dinner. It was nice to have most of the family together (we were missing Becki's brother and his family). We were blessed to have a family from our small group join us, also! There were over 400 eggs to be found...and they were all found within 10 minutes (and that is with a delayed start for the older kids!!).

Of course, we are so thankful for the ultimate reason we celebrate Easter - for the death and resurrection of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. The Ultimate sacrifice made so we can have the Ultimate gift - Eternal Life in Heaven with Him. Thank you, Jesus!!

The kids are ready to go!Uncle Willy not allowing use of his yard!

Uncle Steve with Alex (aka Boots, as he calls her). Possibly formulating a plan

Deb with Casey & Emma

The older kids - patiently waiting
Will - using his shirt to hold the eggs!

Casey & Uncle Steve

Emma & Katie

Here are the kids showing off their egg creations (hard boiled eggs & crayons).

Kayla & Winnie (and some of the kid crew - with Taralee watching them), all watching the new Veggie Tale's Easter movie.

Alex's Birthday Present

For Alex's birthday, she chose to have her ear's pierced (the choice was given to her to begin with). Matt & I took her out last weekend and here are her before and after pics. She did a wonderful, brave job of sitting still - she was so excited! She has been taking care of her ears every day all by herself too!

Surprise trip to Chicago

We told the older girls a few months ago that we wouldn't be having a birthday party for them this year (other than the traditional family party). We told them that there would be a surprise for them sometime soon but didn't give them any more hints.

Last Friday, Matt & I (Matt took a 1/2 day off of work and the twins were spending the weekend with Grammy & Grandad) picked up the girls at school and headed out on our surprise weekend. We had already packed everything for them! They were totally surprised! We drove to Bolingbrook to eat at one of our favorite restaurants - Cheddars. We used to have a Cheddars here, but it closed a few years back. We then headed north to our hotel for the night. We went swimming and then headed to bed. The girls still didn't have a clue what to expect the next day!

We woke up bright & early the next day and headed out. We grabbed breakfast (yummy Cinnabon!) then headed to IKEA. This stop was for Becki (Matt admits that he enjoys it too)...but we heard "wow, I love this place...it is really neat" from the girls quite often!

After IKEA, we headed downtown towards Michigan Avenue. We found a parking garage and started heading towards our shopping destination. We walked for quite a while. The whole time, Katie is noticing all of the American Girl bags & dolls going by her! We could see her little wheels turning! We stopped in front of the American Girl store and asked if they wanted to go in. Katie was beside herself with pure joy & excitement! Alex was a bit more reserved. She isn't really into the dolls, but loves animals.

After shopping and looking around for a while, we told the girls they could pick out a few things. Alex picked out a dog and some dog accessories. Katie picked out an outfit for her doll (she currently has a Target brand 18 inch doll), glasses & hairbrush for her doll and 4 books. They were so proud to be included with the people already carrying American Girl bags!

We headed out to the Disney store to find a toy for Maddie & Will. After shopping there, we started to head to Navy Pier. It was a long walk, but the girls were troopers! We got to Navy Pier and enjoyed the botanical area...

Then headed out to ride the ferris wheel. Unfortunately, it was very overcast! We couldn't see the water at all!

We got back towards the van and decided to try to eat at Rain Forest Cafe. It was 4:30 and there was already a 2 1/2 hour wait! We left the city and started to head home...stopping outside of Aurora to eat.

It was a wonderful weekend - we were as excited about the surprises as the girls! Visiting the American Girl store was an fun experience and I know that the girls LOVED it - we'll have to return someday to let Maddie look! Definitely a good trip!

Missouri Vacation - Trip Home

Thursday morning, we packed up and headed north - towards our next destination - Hannibal. For those of you not from around the midwest, Hannibal is the home of Mark Twain. It is a quaint river town, right on the Mississippi River. Before we got to Hannibal, we stopped to find a few boxes along the way. We stopped in Kingdom City, MO at Nostalgiaville. This place sells everything collectable! It is a fun place to visit and wish you had enough money to purchase things for everyone who collects! We were able to find a letterbox hidden in the store. The kids each picked out some fun candy and then we hit the road again. We stopped to hike for a bit at Mark Twain Lake. We found "Mark Twain Lake" by MO UR4Me. While there, we played "dead squirrel" (another photo scavenger hunt pic). Our family LOVES the books by Mo Willems, including "Scaredy Squirrel". Instead of playing "statues", we play "dead squirrel(s)". Once in Hannibal, we drove around Riverview Park, but decided to forego the boxes hidden there. We wanted to spend a little time downtown, showing the kids all of the Mark Twain stuff. We weren't disappointed - the kids loved it! Here they are, imitating the statue of Tom & Huck. A flowering tree outside of the Mark Twain Museum. Practicing white washing the fence...Found a paddlewheel boat for our photo scavenger hunt...We drove to Quincy to our hotel for the night. We swam for a while and then headed to bed. Will & Becki woke up around 6 and went down to get breakfast...they were SHOCKED to see snow (we had been spoiled with sunny days in the 70s/80s!)!! Snow both on the ground and still falling! We decided to head back to Hannibal, despite the cold weather and snow. We wanted to go through the Mark Twain cave. It was a fun tour and the cave is a beautiful cave (that's a huge compliment coming from me!). The kids are still talking about the cave & tour. After the cave tour, we stopped at Lover's Leap (super cold & windy!!), then grabbed lunch and started home. We were all ready to be home and sleep in our own beds! It was a wonderful trip. We saw many beautiful places, found 48 boxes and made great memories with the kids.

Missouri Vacation - More Lake of the Ozarks

Wednesday morning was, again, a lazy morning. We took our time getting ready in the morning. The kids got to watch cable cartoons - a highlight for them since we don't have cable! We had promised the kids that we would find a souvenir shop in town and let them each pick out something. Also, we wanted to get back to Ha Ha Tonka State Park to do some hiking. We had another beautiful day - all week long actually!

Here we are at the souvenir shop - one of our photo scavenger hunt pics - "pic of everyone wearing a silly hat".

Notice Alex's pink ribbon - it was her 7th birthday!! She was pretty excited to be celebrating it while on vacation.Ha Ha Tonka State Park - the start of our hike. Notice across the lake, you can see the castle ruins. This particular trail that we hiked was called "Devil's Kitchen". WOW, was it ever amazing to walk! There were huge sinkholes, a natural bridge and beautiful cliffs! Do you see all of the stairs? Those are the ones from the photos up above!! Over 300 stairs going down (and then back up again!).We grabbed some dinner and then headed back to the resort to swim for a bit. We then ended our night by celebrating Alex's birthday with cupcakes & singing.