Beautiful day with nothing on the calendar...definitely a great day to get out! We drove down to Biggsville, IL to find a new letterbox and to give some boxing "goods" to a fellow letterboxer.
Luckily, the kids were good...even though we threatened to leave them!
We continued down to Burlington for lunch and then drove along the river for a while to check on the flooding. Unfortunately, the flooding was pretty bad down south as well.
There's supposed to be a road here...
Our next stop was Argyle Lake State Park near Macomb.
Will grabbed the camera and snapped a few shots of these turtles as they were out enjoying the warm sun. He looked over and saw the Canadian Goose on the other side of the lake - "hey, I think that goose is dead!". We watched the goose for a few seconds and then saw her a move a bit. Matt suggested she was sitting on her nest. Will snapped a picture of her as well - as she watched him!
We hiked for a while and then hit the road to head back home. The hiking was pretty hard for Maddie, but she did a great job. A couple sets of wooden steps (straight up the hill) and root filled trails - makes it hard to walk with crutches!
Matt served on Security for the Easter services and took some pictures during the service. Pretty cool that we used confetti guns to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus!
We relaxed at home for a few hours (listened to an amazing 9th inning Cubs win!) and then headed out to my parent's house for Easter dinner and fun!
We started with the annual hunt. My mom added a twist this year - the kids could only use tongs to pick up their eggs. No hands!
I was designated as Maddie's helper (hold her bag). She started with her crutches...and quickly tossed them off to the side. She crawled and hopped the rest of the way around the yard.
The kids took a break from the egg hunt (outside was done...upstairs needed to be hunted still) for a lesson on the Tabernacle. Grammy even got out the ol' Flannel Graph Board!!
Dad read a passage from the Bible and a bit more was discussed about the Tabernacle. I love that my parents instill such powerful truths in the lives of our children.
We finished the egg hunt (upstairs addition), ate a great dinner, played Easter bingo and ran some races with windup toys (bunnies & chicks).
The kids - enjoying their bounty. Lots of candy, even more money!
What a wonderful weekend - a time of togetherness with family and extended family. Great food and beautiful weather. But the most wonderful part of the weekend - Celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ!
So, I thought we hadn't done much over the last few weeks...until I went back and looked at the calendar and pictures on the camera! I guess we've been keeping pretty busy!
The end of February included a surprise trip to Iowa City to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes (University of Iowa) basketball game. I figured it was time to introduce the kids to this type of fun stuff!
We caught the free shuttle from Hancher Auditorium and got dropped off at Carver Hawkeye Arena a few minutes later.
Oh, I was in heaven! It's been a few years since I've been to Carver Hawkeye and I was in love all over again!
The game was a nail-biter! While it was close throughout the game, we were down by a few points with less than a minute left. Thanks to a few 3 point baskets made by the Hawks, the game ended as a tie and we went in to overtime. We ended up winning the game! It was spectacular!
The Moline Club hosts a jazz night every year for all Moline schools jazz bands. Will & Alex both participated in this event. Will is sitting on the end of the 2nd row.
Will & Maddie participated in IGSMA (IL Grade School Music Assoc) Contest in March. They performed for Choir (select & 7th grade) and Band (Concert & Jazz). Unfortunately, Maddie came down with a very bad cough which lead to asthma issues, just a few days before Contest. She was dressed and ready to participate. Sadly, during warmups, she couldn't get through the songs without coughing. She decided it would be best to sit out.
No recording was allowed during the performances, but I did grab a few pictures. Will is the 3rd trombone player.
In early March, we were also privileged to be a part of the open house for the Bartlett Performing Arts Center at Moline High School. Kaitee was asked to write a poem and perform it during the open house. They had many bands/choirs/theater performances going on throughout the building that evening. It was a wonderful celebration of the talents that Moline students/facility have!
Maddie went to her first "formal". That being said, this dance is as formal as it gets at the middle school level! She had track practice and culinary club until 5:20...came home and changed/did her hair and was out the door at 550! It was a bit stressful, but we all survived! She looked beautiful and had a great time!
We celebrated Alex's birthday a day early as we would be traveling on her actual birthday. She opened her presents - not at all surprised by the first 2 gifts (she sent me the Amazon links, with specific colors and sizes, lol!). The 3rd gift left her speechless - a smartphone!
A week later (after our Spring Break trip), we got together with family to celebrate Alex, Casey, Rose & Willy - all March birthdays!
Maddie started track. We quickly realized that something was wrong with her foot/ankle after a week of practice. We visited the doctor and found out she had an Achilles's strain. They went ahead and took an x-ray to see if anything was broken. Unfortunately, they found a lesion on her bone. They automatically cast the foot in this case. No weight on the foot and in a cast for 6 weeks. Yep - no more track. Volleyball was done too (she missed a few practices and the last tournament). I think she liked the idea of crutches (and attention) at first. It quickly turned into disappointment when she realized how much she was going to miss due to the cast.
Select Choir was asked to sing at the Quad City Storm Hockey game in early April. They did a great job, singing the National Anthem acapella! (they were standing in the upper level seats, see the 2nd picture below)
Finally - Spring has sprung! Actually, this particular day seemed more like summer than spring! The kids enjoyed playing outside (Kaitee enjoyed reading all afternoon, taking a break long enough to play a tournament of corn hole with the rest of us!).
We ended our day with a wonderful dinner - prepared in full by Will! He marinaded & grilled the pork chops, made the biscuits, set the table & did the clean up afterwards! He is in the process of earning his Family Man badge with Trail Life! Wonderful job, Will!
So, yeah, I guess we've been keeping ourselves busy. Now to focus on the last few weeks of school and get geared up for summer vacation!
