Easter 2017

Easter was a little different for our family this year. Instead of aligning with Spring Break, it was lumped into a long weekend. We started the celebrating with Joel's Easter brunch at school. It was so hard to believe this was the last preschool party we'd have. How quickly the years have flown!

On Good Friday, the kids and I had the opportunity to take part in the Cross Walk through our town. Local churches join together and stop at various points to sing, hear a message, and pray. It was such an awesome experience for all of us!

The next day, we headed down to Carmi to spend the rest of the weekend with family. After a pretty uneventful drive down, we unloaded and headed out to cousin Laura's farm. She was kind enough to let all of the kids drive in a tractor with one of her helpers, Lynn. The kids all had a blast and are eager to go back and do it again! Back at Grandpa and Grandma's house, we dyed eggs, opened up gifts, and ate lots of treats. On Easter morning, we went to church with Great Uncle Randy, Great Aunt Sharon, Laura, and Meredith. It was a nice service and the kids enjoyed their time as visitors in the children's church. After church, we headed to Randy and Sharon's beautiful new home. We had a great meal and spent lots of time catching up. The kids did an Easter egg hunt that was a sweet reminder of egg hunts from the old days with Tyler's Grandpa, Grandma, and cousins. On Monday, we loaded up all of our stuff (which consisted of about 50% candy and other goodies acquired on the trip) and headed home.  

Feed My Starving Children

What do you do when you have a random Tuesday off (just two days into the return from Spring Break)? Volunteer! Grandma Leslie had the great idea to head up to Aurora to participate in the Feed My Starving Children program. We took along some friends and even Nana Pam was able to join us. The kids had a blast working during our two hour shift. We packed a ton of boxes and they even had a chance to try the food that is prepared for kids around the world. Caleb actually liked the food (which resembles an oatmeal sort of slop...yuck)! We were so thankful to have this experience and definitely hope to do it again.

Florida 2017

Another Spring Break has come and gone....and we had an incredible time on our yearly trip to Ft. Walton Beach! The weather was SO much better than it was last year and we made the most of the sun, sand, and fun. The kids all played hard and the adults all did some much needed relaxing. We're so thankful for Grandpa and Grandma taking us on this trip each year and hope we can keep up this tradition for many years to come!

The drive is always the WORST part, but the kids really do a great job. Between movies and tablets, they are pretty content for the whole 15 hours!

We spent a lot of time at the beach. The kids were happy playing in the water, digging in the sand, and burning off all of their built up Winter energy! Caleb seemed to love boogie boarding the most (until he got stung by a jelly fish). Leah was happiest in the water and also loved boogie boarding. Joel was most content on the beach...especially when he could fly his beloved kite! 

These kids love to make friends wherever they go! Several times a day, we'd find them out in the courtyard playing baseball with tons of other kids staying at our complex. They became really good buddies with two kids from Alabama and spent a lot of time playing with them. 

 

 The pool was also a favorite hangout. Joel turned into quite the fish and is already swimming without any floaties....how is this already happening?!?

 It's never easy to say good-bye to one of our favorite vacation spots. Thankfully, we get to take home lots of treasured memories :)