Is Spring Here?!?

Today, it certainly felt like spring has sprung!  It was so beautiful (a little windy, but I'll take it)!  Today, also happened to be opening day of the zoo.  We met Heather and Braden there for a great morning!

Braden and Ethan petting the bunny.  The very fluffy, hard to find it's eyes, bunny.

 Last year, we pretty much avoided the petting zoo since Nora was so little.  I had a feeling she would love it now, so we ventured in...
Heather had a couple of quarters, so the boys got some goat food.  The goats kind of attack when the food comes out.  There was one who kept trying to eat Ethan's shirt.

He was a good little goat feeder.  I figured he would just drop it when they came close.

The goats, wanting more!

I was right.  Nora loved the petting zoo.  She is so interested in animals.

She had no problems walking up to these guys and smacking them on the backside!

Wanting a goat kiss, but might have gotten a little nip.

We made the usual loop around the zoo and ended with train and carousel rides!

Braden and Ethan...such big boys!

Nora was pretty snuggly with her daddy on this ride.  

We all got to ride!

We had a nice lunch and nap/rest/trip to Rural King and then played outside for the rest of the afternoon/evening.
Ethan got a kite for his birthday last year and we never opened it.  Today might not have been the best day, the wind was crazy, but it was fun!

Ethan and Daddy working hard
Side note: The house in the background is for sale.  Come be our neighbors :)!

I love what this picture captures!  Nora, walking her dog (she always wants to hold the leash) and excitement over the kite :)!

Getting ready to slide, feet first on her belly!

Photo Friday...Week 29

It's still Friday :)!

This photo is from our family vacation to Michigan City, IN last summer.  We had sooooo much fun.  I love that place!  So many great memories.  

Holding your child on your lap

Easter 2013

We have had a wonderful Easter weekend.  We started the weekend off by attending a very powerful Good Friday service at church.  This morning, before church, the kids found their Easter baskets and enjoyed seeing what they held. 

Nora quickly figured out she wanted the eggs opened

Ethan already knew :)

Excited girl!

Ethan got Peter Pan

We went to church to celebrate the Risen Lord and it was, again, a very powerful service.  We brought in a poet to help with worship, David Bowden.  He was very good, speaking the truth in a new, interesting way.  Here are a few photos of us in our Easter best.

Look close...it's a family picture :).  It was very difficult to get the kids to cooperate at the same time.  This is about the best I could get.

Our Family...I love the smiles in this one!

There's just something really  sweet about this one

After lunch, we had a little egg hunt downstairs.  It's a good thing there they were the only hunters...Ethan was not fast.

Checking out their loot!
I think Nora had a skittle in her mouth here and Ethan was too busy to look up.

We hope you all had a great Easter as well, remembering the true meaning.  "Oh death, where is your sting? Oh hell, where is your victory? Oh church, come stand in the light.  Our God is not dead, He's alive, He's alive!"

Photo Friday...Week 28

This is a typical, no school day, morning at our house.  Ethan gets to watch a Disney show or two and this one is definitely a favorite!

Watching a fav TV show together

Jake and the Neverland Pirates!

More Snow Fun

Sorry to bombard you with snow pictures, it's just what we've been up to for the last couple days!  Monday night, we were supposed to have small group at our house, but upon some discussion, we decided to turn it into a snow play and sledding evening.  I think it is safe to say that everyone had a great time!

The Small Group Sledding Kids (we were missing some)

Ethan head-first down the hill

He's a snowball making machine!

Brian and Case working on some snowboarding

Having a blast

A (somewhat) group shot at the top of the hill!

I stayed inside most of the time with Nora, but Tuesday morning decided to get us all dressed and take a pass or two down the hill.  It really was a lot of fun.  They packed that snow down and made a pretty fast hill.

Nora decided she didn't need to wait on the sled and started down on her belly.

More snowballs.  There's one in flight in the bottom, right picture,

Nora kept yelling "weeeee" as we went down the hill.

This is the best I could get of us sledding.

Cute little marshmallow girl walking in the snow!

Journey Home in the Blizzard!

After our wonderful weekend in St. Louis/Edwardsville, we had quite the trek back home.  Again, when planning this weekend, we did not expect a blizzard to cover the area and have to drive in it.  We went to church with Abby and Alex Sunday morning and there was not much, weather-wise, going on...until we got out.  There were already a couple inches on the ground.  We ate a quick lunch and got on the road.  A drive that should have taken less that 2 hours, took 4 hours.  We counted the number of cars off the road (praying we wouldn't be one of them) and came up with 32 cars.  It was slow and scary at times, but Jared did a great job bringing us safely home, to our very own winter wonderland!  I think when it was all said and done, we ended up with about 13 inches of snow!

Some pictures of our travel...

This was as we were leaving Edwardsville

Once we got on Interstate 72 at Springfield, it got a lot worse!  We wondered if a snowplow had even been on this road yet!

Out our deck when we got home!

As you probably already know, Ethan loves the snow.  He didn't care that it was March 24 and supposed to be spring!  He and Jared went out pretty much right after we got the car unloaded.

They made a little sledding hill in the front yard.

Working on the hill

Our house (and Ethan) in all it's snow glory!

Nora ventured out too :)

Weekend at Abby's!

We had been planning to go to St. Louis this past weekend for over 2 months, so we were really excited when the time came.  We stayed at my sister, Abby and Alex's new house and had a great time.  My cousins, Libby & Josh live in St.L and Micah & Kacey stayed with them, so we all got together.  When we planned this weekend (2 months ago), we were expecting to do some outdoor stuff...that didn't happen.  We did, however, spend 6 hours at the Magic House and the kids had a blast.  The parents (and aunt & uncle) were exhausted! 

Just hanging out at Abby and Alex's house...

Some routine sword fighting

Nora loves Max

Crazy kids :)

Here are some from our time at the Magic House.

Abby and Nora- Making some music

And sliding!

Ethan and Scout working hard

They made it to the top!!  Scout, Finley, Ethan

Some shots of Nora playing.  Since she can walk now, she had a much better time this trip!

And some of Ethan playing.  He liked the construction stuff the best.

Thanks to Libby & Josh and Abby & Alex for hosting us this weekend.  We had a great time and will be returning...when it's warm and we can go to the zoo!!

Photo Friday...Week 27

Warning: Parental boasting included in this post :).  Last week, we met with Ethan's Pre-K teacher for our parent/teacher conference.  She tested every student last month and Ethan is doing so well!  She told us that he scored the highest in his class and was higher than the class averages for the 4 year old class.  We are so proud of him and his interest in learning everything!  There was one area she said he could use some work and that was using scissors.  So, we got the scissors out and he started cutting.

Helping your child with homework

Perfect triangle!