Luke's first sleepover

Luke had his first sleep over last week. Although he is a little younger than Ella was when I let her have her first sleepover, he was very ready! I love the sweet family he stayed with so I felt ok about letting him go. We had to take some pics to document it just because he was so excited. We took this pic after he packed up and was getting in the car for me to drive him over. Of course Big Sister was right there to give him advice and little sister was there to cause chaos! Love this kid!

Beach Playdates are the Best!

We have really enjoyed having the beach so close. AB and I love going there with our mom friends. Here are a few pics of our latest playdates.
Kite flying with Milo and Wendy Sue:

And Graham and Karissa:

Conquering Fears

Ella has always been afraid of heights. So, when her girl scout troop decided to do a ropes course I was a little nervous for her. I explained to her what it was going to be like and told her she didn't have to do it. She insisted she would be ok. And she was! She did all of that ropes course like a champ! She did the big rope jump at the end without any hesitation and did the big zip line! I was so proud of her!

A Pile of Kids

These kids are so silly! AB loves being right in the middle of the silliness!

Best Buddies

These two have a special connection. I love it! Here they are playing one afternoon and the MidTowne Terrace park near our house.

THE FLU NIGHTMARE!!!

I have never had the flu.  Now, I have been sick and had my fair share of the stomach virus but nothing compared to this. All of us received our flu shots but apparently it didn't help at all! Ella started feeling bad first and then I started getting symptoms the Friday my sister left. We had headaches and some tightness in our chests. I figured we were both just tired from so much running the week before. I wish! By Easter Sunday Ella and I were both wiped out. She was running a high fever and I could tell I was heading that direction. The kids started their spring break the week after Easter which was bitter sweet. I was glad that they didn't have to miss school being sick but super bummed that we were sick for spring break. We had big plans!
Sunday night, I blew up the big air mattress and put it in the living room. I wanted to be near the kids in case they needed me. I knew Ella was sick and was waiting for the rest to get it too. I laid on the couch which is were I pretty much stayed for two weeks. Monday morning, AB started throwing up. Luckily she was the only one that threw up during this time. That little baby was sick! This was the only picture I had the energy to take but it clearly shows how we were all feeling!

Luke soon came down with it too. We all ran high fevers for about 4 days. We were so weak. Ella started to regain a little energy which was great because I needed all the help I could get. I can't tell you what a sad sight it was in our house that week. Sweet friends brought us food and medicine. Poor Lyle did the best he could to help but he was busy and we wanted him to stay away as much as possible so he didn't get it....he did get it but not as bad as the rest of us. I felt terrible that the kids had such a crummy spring break. Luke even had to miss a couple days of the school the following week because he was still sick. It was really rough. We didn't fully recover for about three weeks. I never ever want to go through that again!

Happy Easter!

Can't believe we just celebrated Easter! Geez, time flies (how many times have I said that:) My sister and her girls just left us two days before Easter so it was nice to have Easter to look forward to....little did we know the flu epidemic from hell was about to hit us!
To start off the Easter celebrating we had to dye eggs of course! It was AB's first year to help and boy did she Help! She was all into it big time! We tried a couple new techniques this year, one being a marker one which work pretty well. And we started our name egg traditions were we draw names and then secretly write something funny for them on an egg where they will read it the next day. I love these happy kids!

We set out all the baskets and Ella made her place mats as always. The next morning we woke up to this....

The Easter Bunny hid eggs all over the back yard but I told Ella and Luke they couldn't hunt them until AB woke up. Now, this girl loves to sleep and if she doesn't have to get up she will sleep to 8:30 or 9 which just about killed the big kids. However, when she did wake up she was most concerned with the Rolos!

 We then got dressed for church. By this time, Ella and I were started to feel terrible and I knew something was coming.....I just didn't know how bad:)
I think these kids are the best! Happy Easter guys!