pool fun with Addy

Kari got some great pictures of the kids when we went over to their house for dinner and play.  The kids had a blast and it's so fun watching them play together.  Jackson can't wait for their baby boy to be born so he's not so outnumbered!

Spring Swing & Fling

Our church finally got a new playground...it was MUCH needed and now that we have kiddos that can play on it, we are very excited.  We had a big celebration and ribbon cutting ceremony.  The turnout was amazing and it was such a good time!

listening to everyone give their little speeches

ribbon cutting

African dancing

dancers from the local school

Sophie and friends

Sophie and her bff

enjoying the swings!

end of the year preschool program

It's hard to believe that Sophie has already finished her first year of preschool.  We weren't sure how she would do being almost the youngest in the class, but she had a great year and learned a lot.  We loved her teachers and are excited that she gets to be in the same class next year (because of her birthday).  It'll be hard for her to not have Ava in her class anymore, but she is excited that Ava's sister, Lauren, will be a Bear with her next year!  She was still a little sick and had missed the last 2 days of preschool before this but we didn't want her to miss out.  But, she was in no mood to socialize afterwards so not too many pictures!

Chicago weekend

This winter we found CHEAP flights to Chicago so we picked a weekend and went.  I was a little nervous because all of the stuff we had to bring...car seats, stroller, luggage...but it worked out fine. It's funny the things that we'll spend extra money on now that we have 2 kids.  It was worth every penny that we paid for the taxi from Midway to the hotel.  We have also found that it is worth the extra money to get a suite at a hotel or nighttime just doesn't work and we end up going to bed with the kids or sitting in the hall playing cribbage :)  Anyway, we had a great time just being together and having nothing else to worry about except for what we were going to do that day and where we were going to eat!  We spent the weekend just across the border in Indiana with family.  It was fun to see everyone and watch the kids play together.  We ended up with 2 sick kids and our first trip to Urgent Care but we still had a great time.  The kids did great on the plane as well...which was so much better than the drive!

Navy Pier

swimming at the hotel

fun in Indiana

teaching Taylor & Troy how to "twirl, twirl, dip"

back in Chicago

they loved the el

enjoying our tour of North Park (we didn't realize she was sick until she did this ALL afternoon!)

meeting new African friends

After picking up Jake at the airport we went to meet some guys that were in town from Rwanda that work with Opa.  He was actually in Africa while they were here.  I love that our kids are meeting people all over the world and Sophie frequently asks to go to Africa.  Vincent and Willie were incredibly friendly and nice.  Sophie especially latched on to Vincent!

Mike, Jackson & Willie

Vincent and Sophie

Sophie & VIncent doing "thumbs up"

all of us (minus Jan who was taking the picture)

that was one very, very happy little girl...she did NOT want to leave!

picking up Uncle Jake

Sophie LOVES going to the airport so we went with Oma to pick up uncle Jake who is home for the summer from college.  She even made her own sign!

pit stop...somewhere in Iowa

the kids were getting cranky so we took an extended pit stop and went and played in this field for awhile.  Mike entertained while I snapped pictures!

before leaving KC

Before we drove back home, we headed over to Becca and Brian's house for brunch with family and friends.  It was fun to get to say goodbye to everyone...and Sophie even talked them into opening a couple of gifts!

she's very happy with her new uncle

trying to get a picture of my grandpa with a few of his great-grandkids!

helping Becca & Brian open one of their gifts

a fun surprise gift they loved! (it spells their last name)

too cute!