A Beautiful Easter

 

Our Easter weekend started off with coloring eggs. We may be one of the only families who can't even let the dye dry before cracking into the eggs.

Bennett got pretty into it this year and enjoyed "carefully" throwing the eggs into the cup of dye followed by giggles from the splashing.

 

 

Saturday afternoon we enjoyed a carnival and egg hunt at church. Marie enjoyed the arm/face paint and games while Bennett enjoyed the cookie decorating.  

Both liked the egg hunt but Bennett was getting pretty tired. He loves wearing his hat and as soon as he's tired he pulls the bill down over his eyes. Here he is giving up after 1 egg...getting way too tired to hunt for 1 silly chocolate egg.

Afterwards the kids played outside while Andy started a new project in the backyard along our retaining wall.  Marie loves to help him with projects and her job was to take all the worms they found to our garden. She took it seriously and came in exhausted and needing a juice box. 

 

On Easter morning the kids woke up to find their basket of goodies overflowing on the table. 

They were probably the most excited for the set of outdoor tools - rake, shovel, and hoe.  I know, crazy right? These kids LOVE to help with chores and jobs outside.  They always fight over the broom and one small shovel we have so we knew these were a must for the Easter basket this year.

Marie was also in love with her new shoes while Benny was pretty excited over the bubbles...although it's hard to tell when you see his picture above...some "bunny" thinks it's way too early to be excited about bubbles I guess.

Gus received a basket as well which was full of bones and brand new tennis balls which are now covered in slobber and mud after a long day of fetch.

 

We were excited to have Grammy and Papa joined us for Easter Sunday.  

Here we are all dressed up for church!

 The weather report mentioned it was going to be a warm but rainy day - thankfully we enjoyed a beautiful warm and sunny day for our Easter activities!

 The kids enjoyed chalk, bikes, bubbles, and swinging outside all day with Grammy & Papa.

 

 

 

 Our backyard was the perfect place for one last egg hunt.

Bennett and Marie found those eggs pretty quickly even though some were quite tricky.

 The kids ate way too much candy and enjoyed every minute of it.

 

 After Dad went to work the kids decided they needed to dig and do "work" with the rakes, shovels, and hoes in the back yard. They truly enjoyed just chatting away and digging in the dirt.  I was told to "just play with Gus" because they had so much work to do.  They were busy for over 30 minutes!  

By the time they had finished they were a sweaty mess full of dirt. 

It was a simply wonderful way to end our Easter holiday weekend!

the count down begins

So life once again has thrown a little curve ball at us but this time we are ready for it.  Andy has started his night float rotation and we are on that brutal day 1 where it seems like it's going to last and last and last. However, it does give us a chance to enjoy a few moments in life that are usually missed.  

Andy is home by about 6 a.m. every day so he gets to make his famous oatmeal for the kids which they love way more than my oatmeal. Sitting around the table is one of my favorite things to do as a family so being able to do it 2 times in one day is like hitting the jackpot.  I love the silly things that come out of Marie's mouth and I'm always amused by Bennett's imitation of whatever his big sister just said. After we eat breakfast, the rush is on to get dressed and out the door on time. As Andy is nearly falling asleep while cleaning up the dishes he helps me get the kids ready-one of my favorite things about this crazy rotation. 

As soon as the car clears the driveway, Andy crawls into bed and falls fast asleep.

This is definitely an odd concept for Marie to understand. The first night float rotation he ever did was last fall.  Marie actually tried to act sick one day because she wanted to stay home with Dad. 

At the end of the day, Gus gets to run and play fetch until Andy

picks the kids up from school. It's always exciting for the kids to have Dad pick them up instead of the usual boring Mom.

They rush home and get as much play time in as possible while getting supper on the table. 

As soon as I walk in the door from work once again we sit down together at the table.

We talk about our day, say silly things, and soak up every last minute until 6:00.

Then Daddy's off once again.

This night float thing isn't our favorite, but it does give us an opportunity to remember how much we like to spend time together at home as a family.

And we only have 14 days left to go.

another weekend of many seasons

Once again we had some gorgeous 70-80 degree weather followed by a snowstorm...this is not a cycle we want to continue!

However, we did REALLY enjoy the warm part of the weekend.

Marie was dealing with a fever the entire week along with strep throat, ear infections, and a virus that just wouldn't leave. Poor girl was exhausted but she was well enough to go to the circus at the end of the week with her class. I was able to go along with her so we secretly bought some cotton candy on the way out.

 Saturday morning after Andy got home from work, we got busy working on our t-ball skills.  These kids took this very seriously and enjoyed every minute of it!

 For some reason our kids are both more comfortable batting left handed - in fact they are quite good at it! Marie is interested in taking t-ball lessons this summer, too.

 We also spent time working on the yard, cleaning out the cars, and playing in the sand box.

 With the snowstorm today came a lot of movies, laundry, naps, & hide and seek. 

It was a great way to end a not so great week - hoping and praying for healthy kids this week!

Snow, Swimming, and Spring

This weekend was jam packed with so many fun adventures.  When we told Marie about our plans for the weekend she described it as a "party weekend" and she was exactly right!

It started on Friday with an unexpected spring snowfall which finally gave us the right kind of snow for our first real snowman this year.  The kids had a blast playing in the yard and enjoying what is hopefully our final snow for this season. It is spring after all, right?

After playing in our yard we decided to take Gus on a little hike for some fetch. While Gus was chasing the tennis ball Marie was busy rolling down the hill over and over again.

Saturday morning we woke up on time and took off for Storm Lake. Papa and Grammy met us at the King's Pointe indoor waterpark for a day of swimming. What a great time!  The kids didn't stop moving until their tummies were grumbling. After a quick lunch they were back in the water for more. Marie loved the big slides and Bennett loved the splashing area and slides, too. Needless to say both kids were exhausted and they enjoyed a good nap in the car on the way back to Sioux City. 

But they couldn't rest for long...Saturday evening we hosted a residency get-together at our house to watch the Final Four games as well as welcome a new resident and her family to the program.  The kids played with all the other kids all night long.  It was definitely a full Saturday for us all!

Sunday was a day of rest...church, naps for all of us, and a trip to one of our favorite places. 

Gus was in need of a good run and the kids were ready to play at the playground. Sunday was gorgeous weather and we couldn't resist getting outside to enjoy the spring day.