Great Wolf Lodge 09

Wednesday of last week we left for Great Wolf Lodge. This was our 8th Spring Break spent at a water park in the Dells. I look forward to these trips so much! It's a great Spring get a way! I love time spent in the car with my best friend talking and dreaming! Eric is such a wonderful husband! And I love all the fun we have as a family once we get there.

Wooo Hooo Where Here!!!

A view of the water park from the hotel

This year we surprised the girls with a "special" room. It had a cabin for them within the room.

View of the cabin from outside of it


This area is Karis' favorite. She played so hard and long here that her little legs were wobbly after a few hours and she didn't want to take a break:)!

On our last day there (Friday) we always swim in the morning and early afternoon then get showered and dressed. Then we head over to Wiley Woods...there indoor fun center.

When we left we headed to Eric's home town to visit with family. Our girls have SO much fun with their cousins and Grandparents! It's a joy to watch. And we have a great time visiting with our family too. It's a great way to end our trip. We has such a wonderful Spring Break. We're thankful for all of God's blessing on it!


Tonight we arrived home and found snow on the ground? Looks like Spring has come in like a Lion. Let's hope it goes out like a lamb!:)

"P" Day........

Remember last Tuesday when I started our Family Nights? Well this week since we were home all day for Spring Break, I decided to make it more of a Family Day. And our theme was All Things P:).

It started with Pancakes, Pineapples, and Pink milk for breakfast....

Then while still in PJ's the girls Painted some bird houses on a Princess table cloth.....

Aren't they cute:)!

Kendra Painted a little train:)...but she doesn't like messy hands so it didn't last very long.

Then for lunch we had Pepperoni Pizza, Pringles, Pink milk again and Pudding for desert.

The rest of the day was spent getting ready for our trip:) (more to come on that:).

Eric and I also had Physicals for my license renewal for my day care:):). And Corinn had Piano practice:).

Overall "P" day was very Pleasant:)!

Spring Break 09.....

This week is our Spring Break and not only do our girls have off school, but both Eric and I have off work:). I've been planning for this week for over a month now. It's exciting that it's finally here!!!!

Our first Adventure was Monday. When the girls woke up I gave them these t-shirts my Aunt Shari made for them (Thanks Aunt Shari and Aunt Paula too for all your work!!!) I had seen this idea on a few other blogs and always thought it was sooo cute. I looked into ordering them and realized that was out of our budget, so I asked my Aunt if she could make them on her sewing machine. Didn't she do a great job:):):)! They say our last name on the back too.:)

This ones to keep it real:)!

We also had Coach Dad

and Coach Mom shirts too.

Then we headed off to the Shedd Aquarium in the city.
Each girl got a bag of fishy goodies for the car ride.....

Ohhh, yum!

See the fishy. (Somehow I didn't get a pic of the Peanut Butter?)

On our way there we did our Love in Action.

Here we are outside before we went in.

I love visiting places like this with my girls. I get to see the fish for the first time all over through there eyes.:) And I love to see my Eric enjoy showing them new things too. He's a wonderful Daddy!!!!

They ask that you don't use a flash around the fish so that is why some of the pics are blurry.

Hands on fun! The best!

How thankful I am for a God who is SO amazingly creative to give us so many different and unique fish. His Glory was so evident in all we seen.

We had a wonderful time. And this was only the beginning of our week......

Love in Action...

Today we did our love in action for March. I got the idea several years ago from an article I read in a magazine where a family made care packages for homeless people . Some how it stuck in my memory and when I began to plan this week (our Spring Break) and I knew we were heading to Down Town Chicago today, I thought this would work well. Here's what we did....

I bought 5 reusable Target grocery bags and the girls helped me fill them with...

• crackers
• peanut butter
• cough drops
• tums
• lip gloss
• tissue
• fruit cup
• granola bars
• PB crackers
• lunch in a cup (chef boy r de)
• plastic utensils
• ESV New Testament
  

( I also had water bottles, but I forgot to include them...oopps)


Well not all my girls helped fill the bags, Kendra made sure the crackers were yummy:).


On the way to our destination this morning we went to lower Wacker Drive knowing that many homeless people live there. And sure enough we easily found 5 homeless people to hand these bags to. Eric pulled our van over while I ran out and gave them the bag.

It was really touching to me! To think about living day in and day out like they do. Cold, dirty, hungry, hopeless. It really broke my heart today. How I pray that each and every one of the men and woman we handed these bags to feel a sense of love and hope in Christ tonight. That each of them overcome homelessness. That they get on their feet, get a job, and find a place to live. But even more importantly that they come to know Christ as their Savior!

I also pray that each of my girls will grow a tender heart for the homeless. That they would not only love in word and talk, but in deed and truth.... (1 John 3:18)

Allowance....

Last year we began to have the older girls use their allowance by choosing an activity to bring a friend along on. We decided to have them use it this way instead of them buying more toys (which we DO NOT need) and it has also taught them the blessing of generosity.

Tonight Corinn, Kiera, 2 friends, little Karis (who is now earning some allowance), and myself all made a trip to the Rain Forest Cafe. It was a lot of fun. 5 giggly girls and me:). The girls paid for their meal and their friends meal and also a souvenir for each of them.

We got to eat among some monkey's, birds, and plants all the while it rained next to us. After it all they got to make a wish in the alligator pond.

Last fall they took their cousins to Build a Bear.:).....

How I love hanging out with my little ones and their friends!!!!!

Light to our Path.....

As I have been eluding to in a few of my previous posts....God is once again guiding Eric and my heart in a different direction. After attending our current church for a year and a half, we feel that God wants us to go back to the previous one we had been at for 8 years.

This has not been an easy decision for us. We have talked, prayed, sought Godly council, talked, prayed, sought more council, and talked some more. And what it comes down to ultimately is we just fit better at our old church and feel the Lord could use us there to bring Him the most glory.

We are thankful for the time spent at this church. We have grown in many ways and experienced ministry through different perspectives. We have met some wonderful people that we hope to continue to be friends with. It was time well spent that we will never regret. Everyone was very gracious to us as we have left.

Eric has applied to their (our old church's) school that trains and equips men to become pastors and plant churches. He is in the final stage of interviews. Nothing is guaranteed to us. Many men have applied for one position. Please pray for patience for us and that we would trust God through it all. It is very exciting and faith building all at once.

This coming Sunday will be our first week back to our old church. We are looking forward to it.

Our First Family NIght......

I love to be creative and have fun with my family, so when I found this blog and read some of their family nights it inspired me to do the same.

Yesterday being St. Patrick's Day we just went along with that theme. Eric was home in the afternoon so when the older girls got home from school he made all of us Shamrock Shakes ( 2 cups each milk and lime sherbet and 2 bananas blended). It was yummy..

Then Eric took all four girls to the park. And I was actually home alone!!! It never happens, but both my day care families didn't need me yesterday, so I had the day off work.:) I made my first ever traditional St. Patty's meal, Corn Beef, Cabbage, Red Potatoes and Irish Soda Bread. I also decorated our table a bit....

(notice the after park hair:)

In keeping it real, Kendra got so mad at me for not giving her potatoes to her quick enough that she cried so hard she threw everything up...yep right in the middle of dinner:). But thankfully we were all able to move on....

After dinner the girls decorated a rainbow cake with skittles and marshmallows.

Then we had a treasure hunt...

Notice Kendra's movie on....Baby Einsteins are the only thing that calms her down at times:)

Their treasure was a fun pen, candy and $1 to buy ice cream at school today.

And during the day I was able to get sooo much done since I had the day off. I cleaned the whole house (which rarely happens these days:) And I was able to tackle Karis and Kendra's closet. This is where all our girl clothes go until they are needed.

It had gotten a bit out of control with hand me downs (Thanks Aunt Paula:):):) that I hadn't sorted and put away.

Oh how I love clean closets:).

I'm hoping that slowly I can Spring clean this house. But more importantly, I am also hoping to have a theme family night once a week....which seems more important than a perfectly clean house right now:) It's so neat to see how excited all the girls get to have them and they really take very little extra effort.

Sunday....

If it's Sunday, we have nothing to do, and if it's nice outside, you'll probably find us at the Forest Preserve.

On our way out....

Sunshine, fresh air, God's glory all around, gravel underfoot, and my family along..... what a taste of heaven.

Our Kiera the daring one:)

Sweet Karis

Rinie Roo our cautious one.

Kiera Lynn

Rinie Roo

Kendra Ruth....don't you just love those tights:)!!!

Fun Daddy being followed

Sweet Friends

Big Steps

And that smile!!!
(look at her little hand holding her Daddy's:)

I hope you've had a chance to breath in some fresh Spring air! I hope to be doing lots of it myself this week.

An Update....

Just checking in here:). We are still in the process of making decisions about our future. We still feel peace (not that it isn't a battle at times). It's exciting stuff....this future business:). How fun it is to dream a bit! Please keep praying for us. That we'd not be anxious, that we'd be patient, that we'd hear God!

I'm excited to see exactly where He leads us!