Easter Fun!

Easter is a wonderful time of year!  God gave us His greatest gift by sending Jesus to die for our sins.  I don't think I ever really understood how HUGE a sacrifice that was until I had my own kiddos.  It's a gift I can never repay (and thankfully we don't have to!).

We started off the Easter season by decorating eggs.  Em picked out a tie-die kit (next year I think we'll just go with the basic! :)).  But both kids had a lot of fun watching their boring white eggs change colors.

Landon was more concerned with having stop light colored eggs than tie-die ones!

We had dinner with the Hahns and Great Papa and Shirley on Saturday night.  We went on an egg hunt, opened Easter baskets, and decorated cupcakes.

Decorating Easter cupcakes at Gma and Papa H.'s house.



All the kids in their finest on Easter morning at church!





Yes, the kids were excited about their Easter baskets, even though it does not look like it! :)

 After church, we went to the Bergers for lunch where the kids enjoyed another egg hunt (they couldn't get enough this yr), and opened baskets.  I also realized that I did not take a picture of any of their 3 egg hunts (both grandparents and the church), but they got enough goodies to last a long time.  Poor Em doesn't look all that excited in any of the church pictures.  She had a fever and we later found out it was because of an ear infection in her right ear. :(  But she was quite a trooper all busy day on Easter.

Bouncing Around

Well, our Spring Break this year did not go as planned. We spent most of it trying to get over a virus and sinus infection/allergies. But finally on Thursday we were all feeling well enough to get out of the house and we visited Concord Bounce. It was our first experience at this place. We went awhile back in Lafayette, and although this one is much smaller, I think the kids still had a ball!

The Easter Bunny even made an appearnce to say,"Hi" to all of the kids.  Emmy was quite intrigued and wanted to follow Mr. Easter Bunny all over the Bounce House.  But when it came down to it, she did NOT want to shake hands or give high fives.  That is, until he left and THEN she started crying and saying, "Mommy, I didn't even give the Eafer bunny a five!"  I assured her that Easter Bunnies also like waves and smiles (which she did do)!

After naps that day, Landon asked if we were going back to the Bounce House, so I think it was a success!  And we are finally all mostly better (minus Emerson who got an ear infection on Easter   :( ).

Swingset Surprise

Last year at the end of the season, we bought a swingset and with all of the nice weather, we thought it was about time to put it together.  Matt, Papa B., Papa H., and John all volunteered their time to try and figure out how all of these pieces...

...turned into this!

The guys also had some help from two kids who insisted on dressing themselves (notice the hat and the winter boots with the shorts :))!

The kids were totally surprised!  While the guys were working during the week, we told them Daddy was building something in the garage.  Then on Saturday (the rainy day when the guys put it all together), Mema and I took the kids shopping.  When we came home, the swingset was almost done.

Now every day they want to go out and play...no matter what the weather or how sick they are!

Thanks to everyone who helped out.  The kids LOVE it!!

Surprise!

The big moment!

Steven had the idea months ago to surprise Kristina for her 30th birthday!  He secretly got her to Indiana (on a weekend even) and to mom and dad's church where many friends were waiting to surprise her for her birthday.  Everyone was waiting in the basement to surprise Kristina who was "getting an organ book for mom" to bring home after their "dinner at Notre Dame."  She was completely surprised and even got teary-eyed as she realized all of the friends that came to wish her a Happy Birthday!  Steven also had a video from all of the guests that couldn't make it to IN for the party.

Landon, Emmy, and Gunnar were hiding under the table in anticipation.

Kristina with her yummy ice cream cake!

Black frosting = NOT A GOOD IDEA! :)
Thankfully it came off before church the next morning!

Then after the yummy meal of Nelson's chicken and many other delicious items provided by mom and dad :), we had a NW Class Picture session.

Class of '97:
Amos, Dan, John, Mikel, Jessica, me, Matt (and Kristina)

Class of '00:
Becky, Andy, Jessica, Kevin, Lindsey, Tony, Suzy (holding Oliver), Erin and Kristina

Class of '99 (even though 1 wasn't from NW):
David and Brent (and Kristina)

People who married in to the NW family:
Emily, Brent, Steven, Jess (and Kristina)

The only adults I missed (I think) were mom and dad, who were working tirelessly in the kitchen!

Happy Birthday to the best little sis in the world!  Kristina, you've always been my biggest supporter and friend.  Even when you moved to NC, we've stayed close (Hey, you're the only person I talk to on the phone for more than 10 min. :)).  I am SOOO excited at the chance for you and Steven to move closer to us so we can hang out even more.  I love you!  Happy 30th Birthday!

She Did It!

Well, I think Emerson's figured it out!  After months of asking, then letting her be, then asking, etc, Emmy decided that she wants to use the big potty!  She's filled up a chart, earned her first prize (a strawberry shortcake doll), and is almost through another chart already.  She is so big!  She will also go by herself most of the time (seems like she wants to do everything "by herfelf" these days!).  We are so proud of our little girl....who I guess isn't so little anymore!



Em with her completed potty chart and new baby.



So Proud of My Hubby

Last night, we attended a dinner in honor of two special teachers.  Matt and his buddy, Jamie Smith, were nominated for the Conservation Educators of the Year.  One of the parents of a Boundary Waters student nominated the two for their dedication to putting this trip together every year for the 7th and 8th grade students.  They do a lot of work each year getting ready for this trip.  So it was neat that someone noticed and recognized them both.  (Plus we also got to learn more than I ever wanted to know about the soil in the Netherlands...thanks to the very lengthy presenter! :))  So congrats to Matt!  You rock!

Matt and his Major Award

A Few Winter Pictures

I realized that I've taken a few pictures and not shared them yet, so this is what I've been missing over the last month.  Emerson is very particular about her clothes and hair now.  She loves to mostly wear pink (not sure how we got the owl shirt on her in the pictures below! :)) and she has specific ideas about her hair most days.  On the Sunday of the Super Bowl, she wanted pigtails and she wanted her picture taken.  It was pretty cute because she kept calling it a "Pooper Bowl Pahty."  Her 's' never comes out as an 's' sound.  It's either 'p' or 'f'' (which Matt finds funny when she wants a sucker :)).

Ready for the party at the Davis'



Me: "Let's get ready to go."  Em: "I'm ready."
 In Landon's coat and "smiling" for the picture!  What a stinker!

The kids love to eat at the bar area.  So most Sundays when we don't have a lot of time for breakfast, Daddy has them sit at the bar to eat and they love it!

 Here's our Valentine's creations.  Instead of picking gifts, we decided to cook for V Day.  The kids picked everything out from the cake mix, frosting, sprinkles, and even the Valentine plates.  We had a blast!  And yes part of the cake is unfrosted for Matt! :)

We've been enjoying our winter.  It's been nice that it's been sunny and not too cold.  I'm just glad we didn't buy new boots and snowpants for the kids this winter because we've only used them a few times!!

February Meals

I liked my freezer meals for Jan. so much that I decided to try and continue it for Feb.  I realize that it's almost the middle of Feb. and I just put the meals together today, but we had 2 meals left from Jan. and Matt and I have been sick this week (better now thankfully! :)).

So here's my ideas for this month:
Lemony Flank Steak
Chuckwagon Casserole
Pizza Pasta Casserole
Honey Teriyaki Pork Chops
French Toast Casserole
Grilled Honey Lime Chicken
Fast Friendly Family Stew
Tangy Pineapple Chicken (repeat from Jan.)
The above recipes come from Freezer Friendz.  We had a lot of success with their recipes last month.  The only ones we didn't care for were Um Um Skillet and Angel Chicken.

Then I also decided to use some recipes we already like and freeze those.  So these 4 are ones we've had, just not frozen before.
Chicken Marinara
Sweet N' Sour Chicken
4-H Fair Pork Chops
Meatloaf
This helps so much during the week.  It took almost 3 hours to put together these meals, but each night it's preheat the oven (crockpot or grill) and dinner is done!

Landon Cracks Me Up!

Landon today while making "cupcakes" (my old hair curlers) was talking about whose birthday it was.  Here's our conversation! :)
Landon:  I'm making cupcakes for someone who loves us.
Me:  Oh yeah?  Is it... (naming all our family members)?
L:  Nope.  It's someone who my Sunday School teachers say.
Me:  Oh is it Jesus' birthday?
L:  Yeah and someone whose name starts with a G.
Me:  God?
L:  Yeah and his friend who starts with an S.
Me: ??  I'm not sure.
L:  Mommy, it's Santa's birthday and everyone will be 50!
I'm loving this age with the kiddos.  They are both so fun to listen to when they pretend!

4 Recipes= 4 Successes

After the first week of freezer cooking, I will say, "I love it!"  It's so nice to have supper ready and I feel like I can spend more time with the family because all I have to do for dinner is pick out a vegetable.  Everything else is done.  We've had 4 recipes so far and we've liked it all!
We've tried:
Pepsi Pot Roast
Tasty Pork Tenderloin
Thai Beef with Noodles
Tangy Pineapple Chicken
Here is the link for the recipes I'm using this month on my SkyDrive (which if you don't have one, you should.  It's a really useful way to store things online and it lets you use microsoft applications w/o having them on your computer!  It's free if you have a hotmail account.)

SkyDrive

I got all of the recipes from Freezer Friendz.

Have I convinced anyone yet to try this? :)  Also, I'd love some ideas for next month...meals that can be easily prepared and frozen (no cooking ahead of time preferred! :))