Easter 2013

We had our biggest snow in March, of course. It's still melting away, but it's almost gone. JD made Michael an awesome snow fort to crawl through, which both did several times!

 We made it to the zoo on Friday since it was finally warm enough to spend some time outside with the animals.

 We celebrated Easter by decorating eggs for the first time. Unfortunately, Pico found them while we were gone and rolled them off the table, so they cracked. Oh well, it was fun anyway!

 We had an Easter egg hunt at the park with friends. Michael had to remember his egg-hunting skills from last year, but once he got started, he was great at finding and collecting them.

 

 After church on Easter morning, Michael found that the Easter bunny had left a basket for him on the train table. It made him so happy!

JD cooked a delicious Easter dinner of ribs and sweet-potato casserole. Michael got great gifts from both sets of grandparents for Easter; he got some new tennis shoes that he calls his "really fast shoes." It's been great getting Michael outside a bit this week, but I'm still ready for warmer temps. I'm also ready for the semester to end; only four more weeks!

Spring Break and Such

Spring Break already feels long ago, but our lives have been so busy, that's it's taken me this long to update the blog. Last week (after another stomach virus), we traveled to Michigan over Spring Break. On the way, we stopped at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium for some fish time. Michael was excited!

 There's a white beluga whale in the background.

 Penguins!

 Lunch time in front of the Chicago skyline.

 Lookin' at the rays.

We had a great time, but it doesn't rival the Georgia Aquarium! We're spoiled. We continued traveling North and visited with the Batsons for a night before we left Michael there and headed about 45 minutes up the coast to South Haven. JD and I rented a small house there for the weekend where we ate out, shopped, watched a ton of movies, and slept....a lot. It was very relaxing--something we must do more often. When we got back home, JD headed out of town again for two nights, but we are finally all back together, enjoying one sunny day before we get hit with more snow tomorrow. Come on, Spring, we are getting impatient!!!

Growing Up

We accomplished our big goal of last weekend: to transition into a big boy bed. I was prepared for the worst: sleepless nights, fussing, compomised sleep schedules. But, Michael suprised me, and life was easy for once. He took to his new bed right away and has not had any trouble sleeping it in this week. He will occassionally get out of bed, but we put a baby gate on his door so that he can't go down the stairs in the middle of the night. Now on to potty training!

 We got dumped on by a ton of snow again this week; it's probably the most snow we've had all winter. JD and Michael had a lot of fun making a snowman, and when they came back in, Michael had great hat hair.

 On Tuesday morning, Michael and I took a ride over to Miller Park where there's a train on display. It was quite beautiful in the falling snow.

 On another ride around town, I snapped this shot of a barn and silo at a nearby farm. Snowy Illinois.

 Michael got to visit with Isaac and Randi Monday, then Isaac and Randi came over to our house for Bible study. The boys enjoyed each other that day.

It's Spring Break! I'm so excited for the break that I feel like an undergraduate all over again. I can't wait to spend this time with my family, and JD and I are really looking forward to a little get away ourselves. Happy Spring!