Thursday, February 21, 2019

April 2018

April started out with Easter.  Jim had to work Easter morning, but we didn't make the kids wait to hunt for eggs until he came home (like we made them wait to open Christmas presents until he came home from work a few months earlier).
They were waiting at the top of the steps before they could come down to get their Easter baskets.





We went to Jim's brother's house for brunch.  The older cousins made an Easter egg hunt for our kiddos.

We went to my parents' house for dinner.  Maggie and Meara wore their matching Nana-made dresses.

The day after Easter was our anniversary.  We had a babysitter so we could go to our fostering class (that might be a whole other post some day), so we were able to grab a drink and play a game of pool afterward to celebrate 13 years of wedded bliss.  :)
This munchkin accompanied me to the polls and we played at the playground afterward.
My world traveling godson stopped by for a visit one afternoon.  He helped Maggie make a basket!

Jim and I were able to enjoy a night out with some live music.
Jack had a few friends over to belatedly celebrate his birthday with a sleepover.
Jim and Maggie went to their first Daddy-Daughter Dance.  Maggie absolutely LOVED everything about it.  She cannot wait to do it again!

I was able to meet up with Patrick's reach class at their field trip to the zoo.  Patrick and this bear made a connection.
A butterfly landed on Maggie's skirt.
The zoo employee removed it for us.

Patrick played catcher in a baseball game.
Date night!
Our strawberry-loving four year old:
Jim had a day off and it coincided with one of the days Maggie was not in school, so we went out to lunch.  Jim taught her to arm wrestle.
We took Maggie to the playground by our old house where we went countless times with her older brothers.
Patrick, Charlie, and I went to Mom Prom.  It was the first, and possibly only, Mom Prom at their school.  Jack was on a camping trip and didn't get to join us.


Such handsome guys!

They chose Steak n' Shake for our pre-dance dinner.

The dance was fun!
Charlie's favorite part was all the sweets!  Here he is eating two suckers at once.
Jim's high school celebrated their 200th anniversary and we were there to celebrate with them.


The kids got to play knockout in the gym.
Patrick was competing with boys twice his size (he's pictured in the royal blue hoodie).
Jim's band was the main entertainment for the evening!
On one of the days Maggie doesn't go to school we went swimming inside with Nana and Rory.
Jim has been a den leader for Patrick's Cub Scout den. 
Spring Festival is one of our children's most favorite days of the year.






Jim and his band (one of them anyway) wowed the crowd with their tunes.

Monday, January 28, 2019

March 2018

Here are the rest of the pictures from March 2018 (not including the Arizona and Florida pictures already posted). The first picture is from meeting the kids at a basketball game when we returned from our trip to Arizona.  We missed this crew!
Maggie celebrated St. Patrick's Day in this darling dress that Nana made.  It pairs well with the pink cowgirl boots from Aunt Helen in Texas!
Maggie also wore this shamrock dress that was mine when I was her age!
Jim, Maggie, and I made a day trip to Ste. Genevieve with his parents one day when Maggie was off school.

We explored the town and had lunch before we had to get back to get the boys from school.
Jim and his band provided musical entertainment at our parish fish fry.
This girl loves to dance to Daddy's music!
These girls ruled the dance floor!
Afterwards, the wives of the band got together.
The next day, Jim's mom joined us on a trip to Iowa to visit Jim's Uncle Mike.  Cards were played.
Scrabble was played.
The traditional family photo overlooking the Mississippi.

Jim's mom with her brother.
We have a tradition that we get donuts on the morning of your birthday.  And half birthday.  And other times when donuts sound good.  This was taken on the morning of Jack's birthday.
We celebrated his birthday with a cookie cake.


Later, we had the family over to celebrate.
We painted Easter eggs on Good Friday.
We made a quick 2-day trip to central Illinois to visit college friends and their families before Easter.
It was really muddy and the kids had a blast getting messy. 
Lots of games of spoons were played.



Thursday, January 24, 2019

Destin - Spring Break 2018

We were privileged with the opportunity to go to Destin for Spring Break 2019 with my parents and my brother and his family.  Unfortunately Jim had to work and couldn't join us.  We stayed in an awesome house with a heated pool, just across the street from the beach.  Everyone had a blast!
It was not very warm, but we still spent a lot of time on the beautiful beach.



Some crazy kids even got in the water!

Maggie didn't let the lack of a swimsuit stop her from getting in the ocean.
Spending time with cousins was one of the best parts!


We were so sad Jim couldn't be with us. 


Thanks Mom and Dad for an awesome trip!