Livin' it up in Chicago

There are lots of fun Chicago things I just have to do while we live here. I've checked two big ones off the list this month. 1. Bulls Game

2. The Oprah show! I got last minute tickets with two other girls and went this week. The show was a bit depressing (Tony Alamo) but the experience was awesome. The combination of coordinated bright outfits and a pregnant friend got us to the front of the line and 3rd row seats! It was awesome! We were 10 feet away from Oprah and she and I totally made eye contact once! She was very personable and funny and just chatted with the audience after the show. I'm so glad we went and I'd love to try again next season---her LAST season. Go Oprah!

April showers bring really pretty flowers

Mommy moment

Dillon's primary (church) teacher has given him a couple books on CD with Bible stories and he's really been enjoying them. In addition to the stories, there are some fun little children's Christian songs and a couple computer activities as well. Today I walked into the kitchen and saw him moving to the beat and enjoying one of these songs. As it ended he said, "Mom, Jesus died for ME! And he died for you too, Wesley!" turning to his brother. I immediately felt the tears in my eyes and was so grateful that my little boy is learning about our Savior Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made for all of us. Tonight the missionaries joined us for dinner and when Dillon piped in and asked what a testimony is I told him he had already borne his today when he told me what he had learned about Jesus Christ and His atonement. What a wonderful reminder of our Savior, especially at this Easter time of year. Thanks for your testimony Dillon. I love you.

St. Patty's and Easter

A quick recap of the two most recent holidays: Dillon has been reading Dr. Seuss lately, so we decided to use St. Patrick's Day as an excuse to try out green eggs & ham. It was a blast!

I mixed some shredded cheese in with the eggs so they were super yummy. Dillon thought it was so fun. I think we've established a new tradition. We also had the traditional corned beef brisket a few days earlier with dinner guests. I like the idea of doing the more formal dinner on the closest Sunday and then on the actual holiday we celebrate with green eggs & ham.

We had several mini-celebrations to make Easter fun this year. The first was with our church playgroup. A nice little egg hunt on a beautiful day.

Wesley cleaned house, collecting more eggs than any other participant!

And of course, they shoved the sugar in as quickly as possible.

In between General Conference (church broadcast) sessions, we colored eggs--always a favorite for Aaron.

Wesley got really frustrated since he wanted to do it all on his own, but he needed some adult supervision to prevent a huge mess.

We ended up with some fun eggs, including one with each of our names.

Easter morning, the Easter Bunny left a trail from the bedrooms down to the little baskets of treats. Wesley went crazy collecting as many jelly beans as possible and shoving them into his mouth. Way too much sugar!

The Bunny brought a few little coloring books, T-ball set, bubble bath, and sunglasses for Wes--that we've already lost! Oh, and Aaron got a new swim suit for our HAWAII trip!

We had cousins and friends over for a nice Easter dinner. I made my first ham--although that is not saying much since you just have to stick it in the oven for a couple hours. But we did have some great food and fun.

We threw together a little egg hunt in our messy basement and the kids loved it--one more chance to collect lots of sugar!