Music lessons

The big girls have been teaching Everly one of their song and dance numbers for their upcoming Spring Concert. She's pretty delighted to be learning from them. (Ignore the poor film quality!)

Cafe Grant

 This kid has been SO into cooking of all kinds lately. He works hard at his play kitchen and then insists on his sisters sitting down to eat his creations. He loves the meat thermometer as well as anything else that beeps. He helped me make corn casserole in Grandma's kitchen for Easter and was pretty delighted that his Easter basket had a toy microwave in it. Sometimes he even shares that with Everly.

Texas Spring Break

We had an absolutely fantastic trip to see our Texas friends over spring break. I was initially skeptical about how everyone would do with the 18 hours of driving (each way!) but other than a few tough moments, things went evena better than planned.  We saw no fewer than 5 McDonalds Playplaces and one Chik-Fil-A playspace. We made a quick stop at the Arch in St. Louis and then had fun exploring the Science Center in town there. Our first overnight was in Springfield at such a lovely hotel that we ended up changing our plans to stay there again on the way home. The kids also loved the nearby playground where we ate Indian takeout and Grant joined some teenagers in a pick-up basketball game. On the way home we mixed it up by stopping to swim at the YMCA before our final picnic in the hotel.

But of course, the real highlight of the trips were visiting our dear Texas friends. We stopped for lunch near Dallas to see our friends, the Bitunjacs at their new home. We miss having them here in Wisconsin, but are happy for their new adventure there.

I don't have nearly enough pictures from the rest of the week, but it was such precious time with not just one but two sets of our girls' godparents. With the Kurths we soaked up sun on the porch while kids jumped on the trampoline. We devoured Rudy's BBQ as well as plenty of their yummy homecooked meals. Not only did we get to watch a play that the kids wrote and then performed for us, but we also saw Kaeta's opening night in her production of Peter Pan. She did great!  There were lots of other wonderful moments of conversation, runs, puppy/kitty cuddling, laughing, and piano performances as well. Such memories!

Our next venture was to the small town of Lexington where our dear friends the Meyers now live. By our count, it is the ninth state we have enjoyed with them! The night we arrived was picture-perfect with fajitias on the grill and baseball in the yard. It was such a blessing to see both of the parishes where Jonathan is now a pastor and even to attend a Lenten service led by him. We walked all over their sweet town with them (past the rodeo!), laughed at three (!) two year old's antics, played games, and drank many gallons of mint iced tea. Carrigan is still talking about the yummy food there (especially the breakfasts) and their parsonage hosted all of us perfectly. Again--such memories!

Thanks again Texas for being such great hosts.  See y'all again soon!

"The Best Thing in the World"

That's what Carrigan called it when Everly greeted her with an excited "Hi" and hug this morning when she came into the family room this morning. Buddy boy quickly joined her for a spot on Carrigan's lap. They love her so.

Cake Decorating

Brinnly and Carrigan took a Cake Decorating class this weekend through our 4H Club.  Their creations were impressive and they are quite proud. We shared Brinnly's cake with friends this weekend and we've got something big to celebrate later this week that Carrigan is saving hers for. So proud of these girls for trying out a new activity!