Easter 2013

Christ is risen! 

He is risen indeed!

Landon was so excited for Easter Sunday this year since, in his words, "Jesus riseded from the dead and that's why I call March thirty-oneth Good Sunday!"

We had a great time on Saturday with the Hahns, hunting eggs outside and opening Easter baskets!  On Sunday, our Sunday school class was in charge of the Sunrise Service so we were all at the church at 6:30 am!  Then, we had breakfast, an egg hunt, and came home to open our Easter baskets.  We had lunch with the Bergers and another egg hunt!  Now the kids certainly could've had 10 more egg hunts and it still wouldn't have been enough.  They LOVED finding those eggs (and the treasures inside were great too!)

Egg Decorating

We had Good Friday off this year, which was REALLY nice considering that Spring Break started the next week!  So we decided to dye eggs.  Emerson was very excited, since she loves all things crafty.  Landon got a little bored waiting for the color to take (we played Just Dance in the mean time!).

He was determined to put EVERY sticker on his eggs!

The kids had a great time using stickers, shrink wraps, and glitter to decorate!  Such a fun Easter tradition!

SNOW DAY!

Normally, I'm not overly excited about snow days because that means we have to make them up later in the school year.  But, for some reason, I was SUPER excited when I got my text that school was cancelled today.  We had quite a bit of snow and everyone was excited to go out and play!
We even got to go out a little earlier than expected because I neglected to tell my mom that school was cancelled and she got stuck coming up our driveway.  The kids were happy to help shovel the snow around the car.



Em was determined to build a snowgirl...no matter how difficult the snow was to pack!



The kids FINALLY got to use the snowman kit they got for Christmas...in March!

 And then a few hours after coming in from the snow, they were ready to go swimming again!

Time to Swim!

This past Sunday our Sunday School class went to Open Swim at the high school.  The kids were over the moon excited for a whole week before!  They were both very determined to be brave and swim without help from us.  I think everyone had a great time (adults included!) 



Tyler took this picture and it's really good especially considering he was shivering quite a bit when he took it!

 The Fervida's, Schmucker's, and Frye's then all joined us at Pizza Hut for a quick supper.  What a great way to spend a winter afternoon!

(Photos courtesy of Jess Frye! :))

Recommended for families with preschoolers...

Nothing makes a kid happier (or sadder) than a new balloon.  All Emerson wanted for Valentine's Day was a helium balloon.  Which was all well and good until the next day when it popped and the tears rolled down her face.  But don't worry, she now has 2 "pictures" of Rapunzel on her wall!

 Also a good recommendation for any family with kids is a sleepover.  Look how happy these kids are!  Now granted, we did not let them actually sleep like this, but it was pretty funny that they thought they could!

This has also been a big hit at our house.  We got the kids a new Bible for Christmas.  It has very short stories, lots of pictures, and questions for them to think about with each story.  It has very kid friendly language and even some "obscure" stories that I didn't remember.  We've read through the whole book once already.  If only I was as dedicated to finishing my Bible and rereading it like the kids (especially Emerson).

Linus Blankets

The Frye family has been doing some wonderful service projects the last few months and for January, we were invited to help.  Jess had the idea to make blankets for Project Linus .  It's a really neat program that gives blankets to kids in need.  The kids were really excited to help other boys and girls without blankets and although they were too little to cut through 2 layers of fleece or tie knots, they had fun trying to help!

Landon loved checking out the numbers on the yardstick.

Em had fun making blankets for her Barbies out of the leftover fleece.

Snow Fun, Wedding Celebration, and 2013

We had an impromptu snow day the day after Christmas.  The kids were really excited to go sledding and throw snowballs at their aunt and uncle! :)  We tried to build a snowman, but the snow wasn't the packing kind.  And, of course, you can't forget about the yummy hot chocolate and marshmallows to warm up inside.

On Sunday, December 30th (besides being my mom's birthday and Landon's adoption day) we got to experience a beautiful wedding between Jenn and Jared in Convington, KY.  Nate, John, Jessica, Matt and I drove together.  We stopped for lunch at Panera Bread and arrived at our hotel around 2:30.  The boys found a smoky bar to watch the Bear's game and since I still wasn't feeling the best, I stayed at the hotel and took a nap (I think Jessica got a nap in too!).  It was a great night to be able to dress up, have some yummy food and wine, and watch 2 people in love join together.

My camera was in manual focus instead of automatic, so all of my pictures turned out blurry.  This one is from Jess!

The next day, we drove back to Indiana, went to pick up the kiddos at Gma and Papa H.'s house, and drove right to the Frye's for our annual New Year's Eve party.  We were pretty tired after a long weekend, but we still had a great time!

The kids put on a play written by Grace.  They were pretty excited, even though I'm still not sure what the play was about! ;)

Then we had our Euchre tournament.

Jess, Steven, and Kristina were the top 3 finishers for the tournament.

We also played Buzz Word and Pictionary.  Kristina was pretty much master of the games!  We had a great time ringing in 2013 with some great friends!

Berger/Clark Family Christmas

This year, we spent Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day with the Bergers and Clarks.  We were supposed to spend Christmas Day with the Vantines, but everyone on that side ended up sick, so we changed plans and went over to visit with Mom's side.

On Thursday of Christmas week, we had planned to have the Bergers/Clarks over for dinner and gifts.  I ended up with a sore throat and cough and didn't feel the greatest.  So Matt cooked rabbit stew and Kristina came early to make the white chicken chili.  I didn't take many pictures because I spent most of the night on the couch! :(

After the kids were in bed, Dad and Steven went home and the rest of us played Imaginiff.  It was a pretty fun game, even though Matt (the only guy) dominated! :)

Kristina and Steven have been able to spend the whole 2 weeks of vacation up in Northern Indiana.  We have really enjoyed having them around!

Our Family Christmas

We had such a joyous Christmas with our family this year.  We've been so blessed to have children 8 months apart and Christmas has been such a fun time for all of us.  With a 3 and 4 year old, the magic of the season was so apparent in everything from Santa, to Tricky the elf, to buying presents, to making cookies.  Everything was fun and wonderful!

all dressed up on Christmas Sunday

picture for our Christmas card 2012

The kids got the cookies and milk ready for Santa and the carrots ready for the reindeer.

On Christmas Day, Emerson was the first one up.  She came in our room to check the stockings at 7 a.m. by turning on our bedroom lights full blast.  Then she ran out to the tree to see if Santa brought her a "dolly house."  She was quite disappointed when she didn't see one under the tree, but thankfully Santa brought a note saying a big gift was downstairs!

Landon got a new scooter, which was "Just what I wanted," (even though he never mentioned it!).

The kids wanted to open the gifts they got for each other.  Landon got Emmy a Belle Princess Doll (which unfortunately lost her arm later that day) and Emmy got Landon (and Daddy) Star Wars Blaster guns with darts.
Matt got a new version of Settlers of Catan and some warm outdoor clothes.  I got some new clothes and jewelry.
It was so nice to be able to relax with the family and enjoy each other's company.

Christmas with the Hahns

This year, we had a brunch with Todd, Cathy, and Nate on Christmas Eve.  The kids got to go over in their pjs and it was a nice relaxed time.  Cathy made a yummy brunch of mush, cinnamon rolls, smoky links, and fruit.  And then the kids got to play Santa.  It's pretty nice that they can recognize our names and I really focused (especially with Emerson) on the act of giving gifts to others and not just getting all their own gifts first! :) 

They had a ball ripping into the gifts and were really excited to see what was inside each one!

 They even had fun helping everyone else open their gifts.

Emmy was so excited with her new Barbies and princesses.  Landon loved playing with his Transformer cars.  And I was super excited about all the clothes that they needed!!

Todd was sick on Christmas Sunday so the grands just got a picture with Gma.

We are so thankful to have Grandparents close by and an uncle who can come home to celebrate our greatest gift, Jesus!!