2014 Easter in Washington DC / Virginia...

My mom sent me an email reminding me that I haven't posted about our Easter yet- sorry about that :)

Last Friday we drove to see our friends in Virginia.  We were so excited to see them again!   For dinner we all went to Cafe Rio- I was loving every bite.

They also gave us a "welcome basket" with this guy in it: 

On Saturday we headed into D.C. to see Andrew and go visit a few museums. 

The weather was perfect!

We first went to the Newseum-  it was really amazing and would have been even more enjoyable without children...
Here's James telling us about the weather & we all go to take pictures of ourselves: 

The boys doing ninja moves:

We ate lunch at the "Shake Shack"  and made a quick trip into the portrait museum.

Then Alexis, a bunch of little kids, and I headed back to her home for some outside playtime, dinner at Chick-Fill A and Easter grocery shopping.

The men and a few other children stayed to see more museums and go to the movies.

Easter Sunday~

We woke up to lots of Easter baskets and happy kids :)  

We ate breakfast:

 

and then got all dressed up in Easter outfits:

 

We went to church with our friends and the kids even went up to sing with the Primary.  

After church we ate a quick lunch because everyone was excited to go on an egg hunt.  

We played games,

 make a cake, 

and made a super delicious dinner:

Then we stayed up talking- it's so fun to be with friends again.

Monday morning we left early to drive home.  We picked up Susie- Q and when we got home we had Easter Packages waiting for us:
Thank you Grandma Miller and Grandma Damstedt!!!

Maple Harvest Festival 2014 + The Pledge + Buddies...

Last week we drove a bit south to attend a Maple Harvest Festival: 

 We got to touch snakes &

 Get our face painted.

 Eat Maple "Jack Wax" 

 James is hammering the spigot into the tree.

 We got to taste the Maple Syrup before it got boiled down. 

For the last 4 years Bruce and his buddy have a tradition of going to dinner together in March.  Here's this year's picture:

Last week Kate got to say the pledge for the school: 

 She also went rock climbing with her Girl Scout group:

 Today Jane participated in the Western New York Region Science Fair.  Their project was about how the light of the moon affects the light of the stars.  We're proud of you Jane!

Art Show & St. Patrick's Day..

This year Jane had one of her art pieces in the district show. 

We love our Jane! 

Last night all the kids set traps to catch that sneaky leprechaun.   He left us all these:

For breakfast we had:

 

We had cute hair: 

For dinner we ate broccoli soup, Irish Soda Bread, Green Jello, and salad.  Yum! 

We went to the art show after dinner and also played for a bit in the museum: 

 Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy 11th Birthday Jane!!

We love you beautiful girl.  How did 11 years go by so quick? 

Just Born:

 

One:

 

Two:

 

Three:

 

Four:

 

Five:

 

Six:

 

Seven:

 

Eight:

 

Nine:

 

Ten:

 

Eleven:

 

Valentine's Day 2014

The day started with a "Love"ly breakfast and little gifts from "cupid."  My kids are LOVED!

 

 Bruce is felling happy with his Legos..

 We made cookies for Kate's class:

 Hair!

 Jane and her friend took first place in the cupcake competition!

 Kate at school- it was also a 100 day celebration!

 We took lunch to James's teachers, went to Bruce's party, watched James sing:

For dinner I made steak, potatoes, green beans, bread, and Caesar salad.  We went to Coldstone for dessert :)  We also got packages from Grandma Damstedt, Grandma Miller, and Aunt Joanna! 

We are feeling very loved!