Christ, the Lord, is risen today!

It's Easter!!!  One of my most favorite holidays.  What a better way to welcome Spring than to celebrate our risen Lord.  After many weeks of reflection and sacrifice during Lent, it's such a joy to spend Easter Sunday with our family in celebration of the greatest gift of all...the gift of eternal life through Jesus!

This year, we celebrated with my family, at my parents' home.  All of us kids were able to make it, and it was a fantastic day.  The weather was absolutely beautiful!  The little ones made crafts, baked with Grandma Debbie, hunted Easter eggs, played wiffle ball (ok, a few of the adults joined in too), ate LOTS of candy, played games, and I'm sure crashed from their sugar high on the way home!  The adults enjoyed great food, excellent conversation, and fun with the kids...it was a perfect day for everyone.  Here are a few pictures from the day!

 Tiffy and Ben putting the "eggs" in the "baskets"

 Taylor was a good sport and let me take her picture (a big deal for tween)!

 How many kids can we fit on the Barbie Jeep?  It ran out of "gas", so good thing Tiffany can push the whole crew!

 Peek-a-boo

 My brother, Matt's, children...4 sweet kiddos!

 These two have been buddies since day 1...who cares that there's 10 years between them, they sure don't!

 Easter eggs???  We don't need Easter eggs...just a ball!

 Sweet Adeline

 

 Uncle Jason was the look out, helping spot the eggs!

The kiddos and their loot.  They made out like bandits!

It's soccer time!

This year, Ben was finally old enough to join the soccer club at our school, which is a big deal!  He was super excited, and even MORE excited when he found out that he was on the same team as his friend, Blake...how could it get any better???!!!  Well, wait for it...his mom is the coach!

Ben and Blake getting their game faces on!

Now, let me assure you that I did not ask to be his coach.  The league was in desperate need for volunteers, so I thought it would be something that Callie (Blake's mom) and I would just be great for it.  I'm sure Callie was super happy that I volunteered us for this, ha ha!

Their first game was last Saturday, and the team did great.  The weather was wonderful (thank goodness) and we had all 8 of our team members there.  They were having fun, and they even scored 6 goals!  I think this will be a fun season for Ben and his teammates...and for the coaches too, of course!

I just love his face in this one...pure excitement!

I'm not sure I'm ready for this...

It has been a day of mixed emotions today...Ben officially registered for preschool.

While I know that he is more than ready to be in preschool, this mommy is not ready to see him start school.  As an educator, I am the first to say that education is the best investment we can make in our children.  But, as a parent, I know that school brings an end to those care-free days of childhood.

Both of our boys are so blessed to have a "second mom" in their babysitter, Linda.  She loves them like a mother, kisses their boo-boos, praises their achievements, prays with them, reads to them, hugs them and kisses them, and most of all, lets them be kids each and every day.  And, I know that when Ben steps onto that school bus in August, a part of that sweet childhood will go away.

Don't get me wrong, Ben is more than ready.  He's ready for story time, circle time, centers and art.  He's ready for music, gym class, lunch lines and recess.  He's ready, and I know that...I'm just not sure I'm ready.  But, as with anything else, the train's a comin', so I better get on board!

There is a silver lining to this story though, which is that my students work with the preschool each day.  So, I'll get to see that sweet boy every afternoon and I know that the teachers he'll have are the best of the best.  They will love on him, hug him, and hopefully instill a passion for school that will continue long after the days of preschool have ended.

Spring Break!

We just returned from our Spring Break trip to Galena, IL.  We had a great time, but Andy and I both agreed that it's more work to "relax" than it is to go to work, ha ha!

While Galena doesn't have warm, sandy beaches, it is a wonderful place to just decompress and enjoy family time.  They have a huge playground that both boys absolutely loved and they had a pool that we made sure to visit EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  There was also shopping (to make mommy happy)!

 

 Kyran LOVED trying to go up the slides!  

 This picture doesn't really show it, but Kyran was about to fall asleep in the swing.  At one point, he had his whole head down in his lap, all hunched over.  I think he could have stayed in the swing all day!

We took a day trip to Dubuque, Iowa to visit the Mississippi Museum and Aquarium. They had a huge turtle exhibit, which just mesmerized Kyran, and they had giant catfish that Ben was wishing he could catch!

 The museum had an awesome play area where Ben was able to learn all about rivers.  One perk of everyone else in the nation heading south for spring break meant that we had the entire museum almost to ourselves!

Ben was practicing being a "rooster" which was the name of the water cowboys that rolled the logs down the Mississippi

While we were in Dubuque, we headed out to Lock #11 to see if any barges were going through the locks that day.  Unfortunately, there weren't any coming during the time we were there.  We didn't think we could wait much longer because the boys were getting antsy...one day we'll go back and Andy and I can watch longer and hopefully see one go through.

All in all, it was a great vacation.  Andy and I decided that while a spring break of sleeping in and relaxing would be nice, it's the crazy spring breaks with our kiddos that make memories.  I'll definitely take that over sleeping in!

Here's a glimpse of one of those "memories" we were making, ha ha! 

What a difference a year makes!

Kyran was playing in the living room the other day and found his Tonka truck (from the looks of my living room, it's amazing one could find anything)!  This picture reminded me of a similar one I look about a year ago...my how things have changed!