The week in review

Well, Easter has been here and is history already for 2009. Time flies so fast! Yikes, I can hardly keep up. This week seems extra busy for our family. We really enjoyed the 2 days that the kids were off school last week {well, except for the fact that Kirbs was pretty sick for a decent portion of it}. Lots of fun {and not-quite-as-fun-as-we'd-hoped} family time. Here goes a quick re-cap on the past week {mostly in picture form}:

THURSDAY:

Thursday we ventured downtown Minneapolis to take in the Macy's flower show. We thought the kids would be really excited. We've been before and they loved it. Maybe they were expecting something more exciting, but there were lots of grumbles and complaints when we got there . . . except Rebekah, she loved it! We didn't get any nice shots at the flower show, this is the best I could do:

I don't know what to say to try and explain how my 3rd & 4th children think those are appropriate ways to "pose" for a picture:

And, again . . . Joe, over here please!

After checking out all the flowers we took a little walk through the skyways and saw the new Twins stadium construction site. We also had some yummy treats. Unfortunately we met with some absurd amount of traffic on the way home {the Twins game had just gotten done} and it took us 1 hour and 20 {very unpleasant!} minutes to get home! Kind of a bummer of a way to end an outing we had intended to be fun!

Kirb had a {pretty big} role in the Maunday Thursday service at church Thursday night, so we dropped him off at church a little after 5 {the service was at 7} and grabbed a bite to eat with my parents and then headed over to wish "Grandma" Alice a VERY happy birthday. She claims to have liked our singing . . . although at 93 her hearing might not be quite 100%! We loved seeing her!

Happy Birthday Alice, we love you!

FRIDAY:

Good Friday we have a tradition of attending the children's Good Friday service at Roseville Lutheran Church {just down the block from us}. It is a WONDERFUL service, geared for kids and always ends with a project/craft for you to take home to be reminded of Christ's sacrifice for us. This is what we made this year, they turned out great! {Rebekah and Lydia both made one. Joe & Anna stayed home with Kirbs, who was sick . . . Jacob wasn't too excited about making a craft and thought he could benefit from the meaning just as well by looking at his sister's project.}

After the service was done and we'd had a little lunch we ventured off to the zoo in hopes of seeing some super cute little animals at the farm . . . you know, they have "Farm Babies" each spring. Well, I guess the combination of relatively nice weather and lots of people having the day off gave everyone and their neighbor that same idea. It looked more like the state fair than the zoo. Honestly, I hardly saw an animal. You couldn't get close enough. I did, however, see lots of interesting people {and quite a few friends! . . . what did I tell ya? Just like the fair!} It was fun anyhow! We were extra thankful for our zoo membership since the line at the entrance, I heard, took an hour! Thank goodness for the "Members" line . . . only about 10 minutes, I think. That along with the fact that one trip to the zoo for our brood would cost $65 and the annual membership {13 months actually, since I always renew before our old membership expires and then they give you an extra month!} is only $85. That's pretty much a no-brainer. Even if you aren't really a math person!

SATURDAY:

Saturday morning found us in a time warp. I felt like it was 1985! We met some good friends {who we haven't seen in a very long time and don't get to see nearly often enough} at the roller rink. Honestly, it's like stepping foot back in the 80's . . . or as my "more mature" friends thought, the 70's . . . I guess that just goes to prove my point, that roller rinks really are a time warp. I said to Phil "this looks exactly like the roller rink I went to most every Saturday morning in 1986", to which he replied, "I was gonna say 1979, but whatever!". Our friends, the Behrens, had been there {I'm not sure why!} and BOTH of their boys had won the Limbo contest entitling them each to a all-expense paid roller skating party for 20! So Palm Sunday weekend they invited a bunch of friends from school to go skating with them and last weekend they invited some family friends. What fun! The kids all had a blast and even though none of them had ever been on roller skates before they did quite well . . . apart from some sore tailbones and bruised knees!

Rebekah the roller skating girl!

Lydia . . . who made it through the Limbo contest, round 1 {not surprising really if you've ever seen how "bendy" that kid is!} but alas, no party for 20 in our future!

Mom and Joe on the rink:

Nathan and Joe takin' a break . . . check out those skates: now that's what we call vintage!

The whole gang {minus Jill who is taking the picture}. Notice, again, how cooperative Joe is!

SUNDAY:
Easter morning. The 4 big kids all ready for church:

"Christ the Lord is ris'n today. A-a-a-a-a-le-lu-u-ia!"
They look a tad grumpy to be singing about something so wonderful! Oh well, what can you do?
I wish the mother of that kid in the front would have had the sense to not let him wear a Twins hat and suck, it would seem, on BOTH of his thumbs . . . honestly! Some people!

This just strikes me as classic first Easter. Whattaya think?

Ready to hunt for eggs in the yard:

Checking out their loot:

Lots of sibling love while hunting eggs at GG's house {GG is Great Grandma . . . my grandma . . . my mom's mom}. We had a great Easter dinner at GG and Lavonne's {GG's sister} who live nearby.

Our brood:

Haddon's super cute little choppers
What a beautiful handsome little guy:

We hope you had a wonderful Easter!
He is risen!
He is risen, indeed!

MONDAY:

Oh, and then on Monday morning I took Anna to the doctor because she'd been getting up 5 or 6 times a night just miserable for what seemed like forever {in actuality, I think it was 4 nights} and was not at all herself during the day either. Last week Wednesday was her last day on antibiotics for her ear infection. I noticed her acting like she felt crummy on Thursday. This didn't click with me for nearly 4 days . . . I blame the lack of sleep! But, you guessed it . . . her ears are still infected, so we are giving antibiotic #2 a try to see if that can take care of it. I think maybe this girl has some teeny little tubes in her future. We'll see!