Catch up posting begins

It is kind of sad that I haven't posted anything in a while, so I decided that I am going to catch up on my posts as best as I can-sorry I let it go so long.

Happy 30th Birthday Michael!!!! We spent the day celebrating Easter at my Grandma's house with lots of family. Our activities included kite flying, Easter egg hunting, eating lots of great food and singing happy birthday to Michael. Sadly this was the last holiday that we will be celebrating with my Grandma at her house, because she passed away a few weeks later at the age of 90. For those of you who didn't know, she was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this year, and we are very thankful that we were able to spend this last holiday with her. We miss her very much; each holiday will certainly be different with out her to share it with.

Mike and Ben are ready to hunt eggs!

Great Grandma with her 9 great-grandchildren.
There are two more soon to be born that are not in the picture :)

Grandma with her 13 grandchildren.

The three one year old cousins: Clay, Ben and Lucas.

Happy birthday to you, Michael!

Milwaukee Trip

Here is a slide show of our trip to Milwaukee. We had fun going to 2 Cubs games, tailgating, and staying with Ben's aunts and uncles.

Big Haircut

We gave Ben a haircut this afternoon. It had started to get pretty shaggy, so we figured it was time. He has usually worked himself up so much during his haircuts that we wanted to try something a little different. We put him in his high chair and let him watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on my phone. This worked fairly well. He still cried, but not nearly as much.

Before

After

My Grandpa Al used to call this look a "Baldy Sour". We think Ben likes it, and hopefully that will be the last haircut for a couple months.

Jeopardy

We record and watch Jeopardy every day.

Ben enjoys watching it too, and has come up

with this dance during Final Jeopardy :0)

Backyard Picnic

With a hint of warm weather today, we decided to have a picnic at lunch. Ben loves to eat and loves to be outside, so we knew he would have a good time.

Fun times at home

This Winter has been a busy one for our family. We have had lots of fun visiting our family and friends around the midwest, but have also been having a good time at home. Here are a few pictures of days in Champaign :0)

Minnesota

Last weekend we went to Minnesota to visit our friends Luke and Cortney and their daughter Laney. Ben and Laney played very well together, with Ben usually moving too fast for Laney to catch up. It seemed that Ben's walking coaxed Laney in walking, as she took her first steps while we were there.

Our friend Katie and her friend Tom came over Friday night and they were entertained by the kids.

On Saturday, the weather turned warm (40 degrees), so we walked around a lake close to their house.

This is an armchair carved in snow out on the lake.

This is a sofa on the lake.

These people, who we assumed carved the furniture, are playing croquet on the frozen lake.

Here, Ben and Laney are ready to get out of the car.

Ben got Laney a Valentine's Day present, which was a matching shirt.