Tumbling

The tumblers

Olivia's last tumbling class of the spring session was a recital for all the girls to show their new found tumbling skills to their parents. The girls made a line at the end of a long line of mats and their instructor would say a skill and then each girl would do that skill to the other end of the mat where they were greeted with applause. I really appreciated the chance to have undivided time to watch what Olivia has been doing. I am normally either so busy chasing Soren around trying to keep him off the tumbling floor, or since the weather has been nice, I have just taken him on walks around town. It was fun to see Olivia's progress since the beginning of class, her coordination has really improved. Way to go Olivia!

The steam roller move

The Big Finish, the bridge!

The instructor gave each girl a flower and cookie, Soren was glad she had an extra cookie for him. He loved clapping for her the entire time, and the cookie was definitely a great bonus!

Big Boy Bed

Soren enjoyed his week of vacation away from his crib, in fact, he did so well sleeping in a big bed on our Milwaukee trip that we decided to put the crib away when we got home and set up his twin bed. We put the box spring and mattress directly on the floor and put up a child rail. He has done fabulous! He stays in it really well, thus far. In the morning he gets up and goes to his door and knocks while yelling, "Mommy, I up, Mommy, I up." I hope he continues to stay in his room, I am afraid that one of these days he will open the door and go into Olivia's room to tell her good morning, and then I would have two kids up at the crack of dawn. But, praise the Lord, so good thus far.

Traveling Business Man + Family = One fun...and a little less productive week!

"Bye Daddy." These words have become too common and difficult at our house as we go through this transition with Erik working in Wisconsin while we are still living in Iowa. One night Erik and I were looking at the calendar and discussing how we can help break up the final stretch to summer...I know let's go with you for a week! With about six weeks left, Erik saw that in his calendar he had a slower week in mid April since that was when some schools would be on spring break. This week's schedule included spending some time in the Milwaukee area and then going to a Spanish conference at a huge hotel that had an indoor water park, we knew that this would be a perfect week for us to tag along with Erik. The first day the kids and I just hung out at the hotel. We went swimming in the pool, but the water was a bit cool and the kids wouldn't stay in. Luckily I had packed some puzzles and coloring books, so we went back to the room and kept busy doing various activities. Then the snow flurries kept our picnic indoors, but the kids didn't mind because we had a picnic on the bed which they thought was the best...eating in bed?!? Sounded good to them! In the afternoon after Erik was finished with some appointments we went to the arboretum and then up to see Erik's storage unit and drove around looking at various towns and communities.

Our "picnic"

Ohhh...smells beautiful

I wouldn't do that Soren

Hey, is this light like a telescope?

The next day Erik was able to drop us off at the children's museum for a few hours. The kids really enjoyed all the interactive displays...while, I guess with the exception of one. Smoky the bear was going to do a little performance on the stage and talk to us about preventing forest fires. A lady was introducing him and Olivia did NOT like the idea of a bear coming on stage. I told her it was just someone in a costume, but she wasn't buying it. Her screams forced us to leave the performance, but little did we know that as we waited near the elevator that the doors would open and out would come Smoky the Bear. This time both kids were startled by this rather large costume and now I had two screaming clinging kids...a little reminiscent of Santa at Christmas. I was eventually able to settle them down and enjoy the rest of the museum. I do have to say that Olivia looked over her shoulder about 100 times and kept asking me where Smoky the Bear was.

The way Olivia is holding the phone tells us she has no idea how to use this phone...

Playing mechanic was a favorite. They changed tires, put coolant in, and even used tools!

Jelly Bean Distribution Center Tour

Our third day in Milwaukee was the one the kids had looked forward to the most. Erik had to be at a presentation by 7 am, but the zoo didn't open until 9, so we decided to book a taxi. The kids loved being buckled up in the big seat belts in the back of the most expensive taxi ride I have ever taken. When the ladies at the front desk heard we were taking a taxi to the zoo they felt sorry that we had to pay, what ended up being $35, to take a taxi that they gave us some complementary tickets to the zoo. Wow! That was such a great gift! We were at the zoo for about five hours, which was a bit longer than we originally planned, but Erik got delayed by a curriculum director. He felt so bad, but I told him there are much worse places than a zoo to be "stuck" with two kids. We ended up hanging out in the monkey and ape house because it was inside (the weather was a bit rainy and cold) and the kids loved watching them. Soren liked the gorillas. One of the gorillas came and pounded his fist on the glass. Soren had the most worried face and I thought that we were headed for another loud cry, but there were some high school boys on a field trip that just laughed and so he quickly turned that frown upside down and laughed too. Although it was one of those fake nervous laughs, still better than a scream though!

Taxi Ride with 2 excited kids

Lunch time at the zoo

Is that Smoky?

That afternoon we headed up to Menomonee Falls for the Spanish conference. It was an amazing hotel. Olivia LOVED that we had a staircase IN our room. She really wanted to sleep upstairs all by herself, although that changed a bit when the lights went out. :-) The video below shows just how excited she was! We hung out in the pool quite a bit. The kids started off being really hesitant, but soon they were going down the small slides all by themselves. Soren was evening going down and putting his whole head under each time. We were amazed at the improvement they made just over the course of the three days we were there. This really showed us how we need to commit to regular swimming so that they can become more comfortable in the water.
In front of Lake Michigan

We went to the park for our picnic

We had to check out by 11, but Erik wasn't done until 3 so we took in another small children's museum in Menomonee Falls...here they are dressing up, they loved the dramatic play center!

He Is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

We had a fabulous Easter weekend. Friday we went up to my parents' house in SG and spent the evening with them and were hoping that our kids would cooperate for the late evening Good Friday service, but crankiness set in and bedtime became a necessity, especially knowing that this weekend was just beginning. Saturday morning we enjoyed a delicious brunch with my parents before driving northbound to Minneapolis to be with Erik's Papa and the rest of his father's extended family. The kids were very excited to wake up to a jellybean trail that lead them around the living room and then it made a dead end near two baskets. They eventually found their Easter baskets filled with spring goodness and yummy treats. We then went to Papa's church for a wonderful uplifting church service. I was surprised, but oh so thankful that Soren fell asleep in my arms during the sermon. The little cat nap served him well as he was able to get through the afternoon a little bit easier. Olivia, Soren, and second cousin Tyler enjoyed a Easter egg hunt in front of Papa's apartment. We had so much delicious food. We combined several tables together to make one looooooooooong table that extended the entire dining and living areas of his apartment. We enjoyed sitting together and shared memories and stories at which will most likely be the last Easter dinner hosted at Papa's apartment. We enjoyed our family, but we enjoyed the Good News even more!

Soren's Shoe Fettish

Soren has discovered the world of shoes! He loves to put on Olivia's shoes and dance around. He is very proud that he can put these shoes on all by himself.

Palm Sunday

Wow, what a Palm Sunday this one was...as we walked into church the snow began to fall, and fall it would for the next 12 hours. My Sunday school class was a bit smaller due to the weather, but those that came were so excited to walk up and down the aisles waving their branches proudly while shouting Hosanna! We go to a larger church, so there was about 200 kids ages 3-12 waving those palm branches, very cool demonstration of praise and worship. Among all these big kids there was also one little-almost-2-year old. Soren really wanted to go and kept saying "Me too, me too!" He did a great job and followed Olivia up and down the aisle with no problems. Since he was so much younger and shorter than everyone else, he drew a lot of attention and smiles from the congregation.

On our way home from church, the wind started to pick up and visibility dropped greatly. Olivia declared it pajama day and changed into her pjs for the rest of the day, and so you can probably guess what Soren wanted to put on too, yep, his pjs. So, we dyed Easter eggs in their pajamas. It was an unusual April snow storm that brought about 5 inches of snow, as well as a day for some great family snuggle time. Hopefully that was the last snow of the season!

Town Easter Egg Hunt

The kids enjoyed the all town Easter egg hunt at the park this weekend.

Being silly while waiting for it to start