30

Ty turned 30 a few weeks back - and I just wanted to take a minute to do a quick b-day post. We celebrated by making him his favorite dinner the Sunday before his birthday and then going out to eat and opening presents on Monday. Since Jax and Maggie's birthdays are not far behind Ty's they sang to all of them at the restaurant - which the kids loved. Not really huge celebration's for a 30th birthday, but to be honest he kind of prefers it that way.

So if you'll excuse me I would like to share a few thoughts on the 30 yr.old. -

What can I say about Tyler? He is truly one of the nicest people I know. I love being around him - he makes me laugh all the time and never takes life to seriously. When trials come our way he moves forward with an immense amount of faith and optimism. He definitely knows how to work though, he handles his job, a full time MBA program, his church calling - and still makes time for the important things like coaching soccer and volunteering at a local elementary school. He's a very spiritual and humble person - he truly wants to do what's right and I look up to him in so many ways. He's such a fun, patient and devoted father and husband.

We all love you so much honey - happy 30th.

a few of my favorite pics of the man -

so proud of my students..

i have a tons of pictures from art classes at the elementary school - and i will hopefully be posting them on the art blog shortly. at the moment i'm posting a couple of pictures here just for fun -

these are the group projects from the 2/3rd grade class and the 4/5th grade class.

i was thrilled with the results - the kids did a GREAT job! :)

our inspiration....Van Gogh's starry night

i cut up a copy of the painting and each student was responsible for taking one piece and recreating their piece on a larger piece of card stock.

then we put all of their paintings together and.....
this is what they came up with :)

before we started we discussed the way van gogh moves his paint on the canvas/paper - i was especially tickled with the movement they were able to capture in their version.

and on to 4/5th grade

our inspiration - Georges Seurat

the 4/5th grade version (in oil pastel)

Hooray! Good Work Kids!

many Easter photos

Here are some pictures of our Easter celebrations this year.

Lia always tells me that Easter is her favorite holiday - it's a good one, so more power to her.

Ty labeling eggs for hiding

the kids dyeing some real eggs
good work lia

more dyeing..

apparently these children have not heard of sitting in your chair

maggie got a bit cross by the end of the evening...

Saturday morning we had some friends over for brunch and an egg hunt -

Maggie with her bucket

Maggie and her friend Audrey -

I love that they both totally have the morning hair thing going on :)

we had to hunt for eggs inside due to rain, but the kids didn't seem to mind

cute nathan...thomas in one hand, eggs in the other

excited tyler

i did actually make eggs and fruit...and other somewhat healthy food -

but Easter is all about the treats right???

cupcakes....not as cute as usual, but i was low on time...

Sunday we started out with some Empty Tomb Rolls (Jenn's idea) - to remind us of what we are really celebrating. If you are interested in making these they are super simple - just pop a big marshmallow and a little cinnamon and sugar in side your roll dough and bake. When they are done there's a nice empty center! :) Great breakfast for Easter Sunday

and the kids checked out their baskets/Easter clothes..

and found a few more hiding eggs

...may i just say that few do morning hair quite like my Maggie :)

thanks for the swimsuit g&g

and again with the hair...

Sunday between sessions of Conference I attempted to get a decent picture of the kids in their Easter clothes, but it was not happening - jax especially was in a bit of a mood. These are the best we could come up with ! :)

We had lunch at our friends house on Sunday and they planned a great treasure hunt for the kids along with an awesome meal!

It was a fun weekend - we hope you all had a great Easter celebrations this year too.

kids with kites

ty buys the kids a kite (you know the $1 kind) as soon as it starts to warm up in the spring.

then we wait for a windy day to take them down to the school and let them fly!

here we are welcoming spring to wisconsin :)

nothing makes maggie happier than a sundress - no leggings, shirt or shoes = happy girl

29

i turned 29 at the end of march - last year of my 20's....how about that?

tyler was out of town over my actual b-day, so the sunday before he left he made me dinner and trifle (one of my favorite desserts) & i opened presents.

thanks honey for a great sunday evening.

it was an insanely busy week while he was gone - so thank you to all of you who helped me handle it all - pam, andrea, joanna...etc. you are all such great friends i don't know what i would do without you.

thanks to everyone who remembered my birthday as well...

lia - being excited about trifle eating...she's a big fan

these came to my doorstep (from my mom and dad) on my b-day

so nice of them to show me some love from far away :)

look how pretty they are

around the house

here are some around the house shots -

mostly for grandma, because she enjoys the everyday pictures:)

here we have the kiddos eating pizza and watching a movie one friday night

i'm thinking i'm going to be sad when they are too old to want pigtails in their hair..

poor jaxon is being forced to watch the hannah montana movie...outvoted by the girls :(
my girl...looking so old lately
and so full of it
silly jaxon
sporting a new ninja turtles collar cover
messy Maggie after a chocolate Popsicle
cheese
oh...and we can't forget this fun friend that runs around our house :) pretty kitty

i should apologize in advance for posting video of my cat...who does that?

we had the train tracks out the other day and he was making us laugh - what can i say?