Celebrating Easter in Owatonna

We started our Easter celebration on Saturday in Owatonna. We drove down in the morning and met my parents and the Bormann's at the park to feed the ducks. Unfortunately the ducks weren't very hungry--so we quickly moved on to playing at the park, which was fine with everyone! :)

After our time at Morehouse park we went home to eat lunch and then we had an easter egg hunt! The kids had an absolute blast finding the easter eggs! My mom had filled them all up with candy and my sister and I "hid" them while the kids were playing inside. There were tons of eggs and all the kids got some! Jack wasn't as interested in looking for eggs, but he was as happy as could be doing his own thing. The girls got into it and of course, Bishop had to "win"! ;)

After the Easter egg hunt the kids played for a little bit and then we went to Wilson school to play at that park. The kids had so much fun together--and it turned out to be a beautiful day! The sun was shining and it warmed up! There was one accident of the day--poor Jack tripped and fell right into a step....with his mouth. He was bleeding quite a bit and it looked pretty bad. After some comfort and love he quickly fell asleep in his mama's arms and took a good little nap!

After our time at Wilson park we went back to my parents. The kids loved the easter egg hunt so much that they asked me to hide the empty eggs. They loved running around finding the eggs (inside and outside)!

We had dinner and started watching the Final Four basketball games. The Bormann's left at halftime of the WI/Kentucky game and we stayed and spent the night and joined my parents at church in the morning.

It was such a fun day with everyone! I love our time spent together as a family. It's so fun to see the kids have so much fun together and Jack's keeping up now too!

Nora and Nana feeding the ducks!

Jack playing at the park!

Bishop on the run to find the eggs!

Nora and Nana finding the eggs together!

EGGS!

Papa and Madelyn checking out her easter egg basket!

Cousins!!

Sorting through all their candy!

Sisters! :)

Look at that full basket!

Nora and her special Auntie!

Walking to Wilson School!

Bishop loves the monkey bars!

These two girls love each other so much!

The injured little guy--he is a TOUGH guy!!!!

Good Friday!

On Friday we went to the Children's Service at Church for Good Friday at 11am. We picked the kids up from school-went to church and brought them back to school. Nora was particularly interested in the service "What is that girl doing up there?" (the pastor) "Where did the girl go?" "We have this song at home!!" (in reference to recognizing Jesus Loves Me--and she sang along too! :) She is very curious about Jesus and wanted to know if he was at church and where he was. The service was great--lots of music and the pastor told a story throughout the service, which was relevant for the kids.

That night we went to the Joneses for a BBQ. The McGovern's were in town and just about everyone made it. At one point there were 29 kids and 19 adults there!! It was a fun fun night for the kids!

Defending the play castle!

Bishop was excited to see Henry--and Henry is such a good friend to Bishop! :)

Ben and Bishop

Bishop had such a great time chasing the older boys around and Nora was as happy as could be to play with whoever she wanted! It was such a great night--and we're so thankful the Joneses opened up their house for all of us!!

Sayings from Nora

Just a couple sayings from Nora from this morning:

"Dad, do you have to go to your medium" when referring to the work MEETING Luke had.

and

"Mom, can I sit and watch you paint your face?" she asked this after I got out of the shower and I was going to put my makeup on!

I want to bottle up all these cute sayings and remember them forever! :)

April Fools!

Yesterday was April Fools Day and the kids were encouraged to dress "silly"! Bishop wanted to wear his spiderman mask and Nora really wanted to have a mask to wear too.....so Luke made her into Little Red Riding hood (or Little Red Ribing Hood as Nora calls her). She was so excited!! However, when she got to school and realized the other kids weren't all dressed up she took it off.

Spiderman and Little Red Ribing hood!

Bishop came home last night talking about April Fools pranks/jokes--we might have to pull a few next year....or watch out that pranks will be pulled on us! :)

Easter Eggs and Nana and Papa are back!

Saturday's adventure continued in the afternoon with Easter Egg coloring! The kids had a blast--and loved having their own eggs to color!

We ran out of eggs so I had to make some more--so we continued coloring eggs on Sunday.

My parents took a vacation to AZ and got back this past weekend. The kids hadn't seen them in a long time and they were VERY excited to see them on Sunday! Thanks for coming over, Nana and Papa!

Watching for Nana and Papa with her Giggly Baby!

Happy to be with Nana!

SMILES!!

HAPPY HAPPY!

Swimming with friends

Last night after swimming lessons Bishop swam with his friends, Colin and Asa! They had so much fun jumping in the pool together! These 3 will be going to kindergarten together---and I'm thinking they'll have a lot of fun together! 

Saturday Adventure

Saturday started out sunny and cool. We didn't have any plans for the day so we started out on a walk, which turned into a fun "adventure".

We walked to the lake and hiked down to the water and threw rocks at the ice. From there we walked to the bread shop for a treat and then we made our way to the library. We checked out some books and then headed back home. On our way home we stopped at the park to play and read the new books! By the time we got home it was time for lunch!

Lake Harriet

Enjoying an Easter Cookie at the Bread Shop!

Reading at the library

We had to stop to read books on the way home

Reading books at the park!

On Friday night Claire came to babysit the kids while Luke and I went out to celebrate Nina's birthday. It was the first time Claire had babysat the kids and the kids were so excited for her to come! All went well and bedtime went better than it does for us! :) We're excited to have Claire come babysit again sometime (she lives just down the block from us)!

Nora and Claire

It was a fun Saturday in the neighborhood! Of course we're all excited for warmer weather so we can go on more adventures!