I turned 40!

My 40th birthday weekend was full of surprises starting with my lovely school picture :) displayed around my door and on all the bulletin boards down my hallway on Friday, my birthday.  There were balloons in my room and my favorite Heath bars from the best coworkers!  I love those ladies!  My students were also quite generous with gifts!  They were so excited to give everything they bought/made for me.  So cute! Matt had the day off so he got to come for lunch with me and the kiddos and brought a bouquet of flowers.

Every time we have a birthday in the family, the birthday person gets to pick a restaurant to go to.  I picked Colombo's.  They have yummy pizza and we hadn't been there in a long time.

Then on Saturday, I was under the impression that Matt and I were going on a date for my birthday.  He didn't tell me where we were going, just that the kiddos were going to grandma and grandpa's for the night.  When we got to the South Bend Casino's Kankakee Grill, the hostesses were having trouble finding our reservation for 2.  That's because all these people were there to surprise me:

We had a nice dinner together and then walked around the casino a bit.  A few of us played some slot machines.  Matt put a $5 in one machine and I ended up winning....

Then on Sunday, I celebrated at mom and dad's.  I certainly felt loved and everyone made turning 4-0 a little easier! ;)

Easter Celebrations

Easter is always such an emotional time for me, to think about how much God loves us all to send his Son to die for us is simply mind boggling!  

Our church always has a Love Feast/Foot washing service on the Thursday before Easter.  This year we decided to go and take the kids to experience it for the first time.  It was simply amazing.  The kids did a great job and several adults commented that they were so happy to see our whole family participate.  We will definitely do it again!

Easter Sunday started early (Em was up at 3:30 and having trouble going back to sleep because of all her excitement!!).  We did get up though and go to the 7:00 sunrise service.  Landon was a little grouchy at first, but after breakfast he perked right up.  He still was not thrilled with taking all of these pictures, though.  After breakfast at church, the youth hosted an Easter egg hunt for the kids.  They divide the kids up by age groups and hide eggs for them to find in the different classrooms.  Our kids were so excited by all the candy!

 After church, we came home and opened Easter baskets.  They got a lot of outside toys like bubbles, chalk, jump rope, and bug collecting kit.  We're also trying to grow some daisies and tomatoes in small pots.

Landon trying out his new jump rope.

For lunch, we went over to mom and dad's.  It was absolutely delicious as always!  I just hope someday I can cook as well!  God sent us a gorgeous Easter day so the kids actually got to hunt eggs outside without coats.

2nd cousins in their Easter fineness!

We always order 2 tulips to decorate the church on Easter in memory/honor of our grandparents.  This year, we picked up 6 (Frye's and Hahn's) and have had a wonderful smelling kitchen all week!

The weekend after Easter, we celebrated with the Hahns.  We had yummy kabobs and the kids had a blast hunting more eggs and opening their Easter baskets.

Had to add in a picture of Emerson's style (fancy bow and dress up earrings)

I can roll over!

But I DON'T like it! :) Landon learned how to roll over this morning. We knew that he was getting close, but didn't realize that he could do it until about 5:30 this morning when he woke up crying. Matt went to check on him and found him on his tummy! :) No one has actually witnessed him roll over, but mom found him that way after one of his naps today too. So as soon as I get a picture, I'll post it!

We also got our new car last night. It's pretty "sporty" looking according to Matt, even though it's our family car, and we have yet to try and fit 2 car seats in the back, but hopefully we'll be able to make it work! :) We like it pretty well for buying it at an auction without ever seeing it or driving it. I'll post pictures once I take some!!

I also have to post about how wonderfully thoughtful my husband is. He came home with these today: What for you may ask? No reason! :) He saw them and said he knew I liked flowers and didn't know that there would be tulips out already. What a sweetheart. Matt is always so thoughtful and considerate. He has been such a great support to me and is a terrific dad. I love to watch him with Landon!

Below are some pictures I had to share:

Looking cute in the crib!

Me and little baby girl. Can you tell I'm 21 weeks pregnant?? :)
Daddy loving Landon

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all are having a wonderful day and remembering all those who love you and those that you love. I received a wonderful surprise from my husband today at work!
And I hope you all got your gift from God this morning. Did you see the amazing sunrise? Blue, pink, orange, purple. Absolutely gorgeous!
I love you all. Thanks for stopping by to read my blog!