Emily's birthday

Here are some pictures to fill you in on Emily's fun birthday week. Her birthday started out with a sprinkled donut and balloons (a daddy tradition), then a few gifts.

Then it was off to Mall of America. The girls had never ridden any rides at Nickelodeon Universe, and it worked out great since not only was it "Toddler Tuesday" (which means toddlers get unlimited rides for 3 hours for $10), but on your birthday you get unlimited rides free all day. So Bri was cheap and Emily was free, plus parents got to ride free on most of them as well if they needed a chaperone.

There are also several restaurants where kids eat free on Tuesdays, and Emily chose Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. The food was great and it was a lot of fun.

Then it was back to the rides. Here was one of her favorites. Then again, I think she loved them all.

They let Jer and Emily ride the log ride six times in a row since no one was waiting. She's braver than I am!

She was really spoiled this year by her grandparents. New dance outfits and golf game,

Snow White costume,

and a new bike.

She reluctantly came inside from riding her bike to have cake and ice cream.

I hope our little lady had a good birthday #4. I think she did.

Happy Birthday Emily!

4 years ago today this little girl entered our lives. After a 20-hour labor, Emily Susanne arrived at 1:11am weighing 7 lbs 10 oz.
This little cutie has brought a smile to our face ever since her arrival four years ago. We love you Emily and we hope you have a wonderful birthday today!

Love,
Daddy, Mommy, and Bri

Our weekend: The Masters and the Master Bedroom

It was a great weekend around here. First of all, the Masters was on which always makes for a great week. Even better, our favorite golfer Phil Mickelson won (and had some amazing shots as well), so that makes for a happy husband. And a happy husband means a happy wife.

Second of all, my incredibly sweet husband surprised me with a new bedroom set. We've been married nearly 10 years and that's something we've never had. (We obviously had a mattress/frame, but then just a hodge-podge of old dressers.) So that made for a happy wife as well. Thank you honey!
Third of all, the weather was gorgeous yesterday so we got out a bit. As much as we could since we were glued to the TV watching golf. I told the girls that after golf was over we could take a picnic dinner to the park. They were ecstatic and Emily rushed upstairs to get things ready. We heard the door to the garage open (meaning she was getting the cooler) but then it was quiet for a few minutes. When I went upstairs this is what I found:

3 banana sandwiches. Bless her heart. No, we have never made banana sandwiches; it was totally her idea. Jer and I thought it was hilarious and so sweet. Emily ate all of hers, and Bri ate about half (which is normal). After the park we made our first annual trip to Big Dipper, my favorite ice cream shop. Every year they have gotten more and more business, which is great, since we weren't sure when they opened if they would survive! But word of mouth gets around; it's the best ice cream in town.

This morning the girls and I went to County Market (a grocery store) to use some great coupons from the paper. Every time we go there the girls bug me to ride the little carousel ride out front. I always put them off, telling them it's too cold, we don't have enough money, etc, and that when it gets to be "summertime" we will ride it. Well, when I mentioned that we were going to County Market this morning, that's the first thing they asked. So today was their lucky day. You can't find many rides around for 50 cents!

On another note, 4 years ago right now I was bent over the piano bench with crazy contractions. We had already been sent home from the hospital once that morning; they said, "Oh, you will be so much more comfortable at home." Good one!

More to come on Emily's birthday tomorrow!

Easter recap

You will probably all be sick of Easter pictures after this post, but I just had to put a few more on. The girls woke up Easter morning at their usual time (about 7:00) with Emily coming into our room. Bri woke up shortly after and they made their way to the dining room table where the Easter bunny had eaten the carrots, drank the milk, left a note (a note from Santa was a big hit over Christmas, and Emily wondered if the Easter bunny would be leaving one as well), as well as plenty of Easter goodies (all compliments of the grandparents.)

What better thing than a chocolate marshmallow egg at 7:00am? We were lucky to have my sister Jessie and her friend Jill over to share Saturday night and also most of Easter with us.

After a nice breakfast, we dyed Easter eggs. I used to love dying eggs when I was little, and we always tried to talk mom into giving us each tons of eggs to dye (maybe 2 dozen for each of us?)

Then it was time for an Easter egg hunt in the back yard.

After nap time, it was time to get dressed for church. Our church is adding another campus in Blaine, a neighboring suburb, so in preparation for that one opening, we are meeting Sunday nights to start preparing so that when the building is complete, a core group is ready to go! We are excited. Jeremy ushered again this weekend and luckily there were no geysers in the women's restroom.

We had a pretty low-key Easter this year but had fun as a family, even though mom was a bum and didn't even cook a nice Easter dinner. Oh well, no one really cared! What we did care about was remembering the true meaning of Easter. I've had a lot of pictures about Easter eggs and talked a lot about the Easter bunny, but at the forefront is our amazing Savior who loved us enough to die for us. And that power that raised him from the dead on Easter morning is the same power that you can have in your life today, bringing you peace, joy, and eternal security that you will someday be in heaven. Emily and Bri talk a lot about heaven and I tell them that if you love Jesus you will go to heaven someday. Do you love Jesus? Have you thanked him for the sacrifice he made for you?

Here is a final happy Easter from the girls:

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from the girls! We've had a busy but fun-filled day getting ready for Easter!

This morning the girls got their Easter dresses on and we visited some good friends (and Jeremy's boss) Bernie and Heidi. They so graciously invited us to their family's annual egg hunt, which was amazing. They probably had over 500 plastic eggs filled with candy and other things, and there were only about 10 kids there, mostly teenagers (ours were the youngest by far.) The girls had a blast. Here is part of the group which included Jeremy's boss's four kids Afton, Tori, Kelsi, and Connor, Tori's boyfriend and another friend of Tori's.

Emily finding one of MANY eggs. She is doing great with her glasses, by the way.

Bri had a blast as well.

They filled their baskets so many times they had to keep dumping them in other bags.

Emptying all the goodies out of the eggs:

Every so often someone would open an egg that had a little piece of paper inside that said "Peep Shop." They would then go over to this shelf that contained all sorts of Peeps and other toys and get to pick something out. Grandma Susanne would have loved it. :)

The girls had a great time, and came home with way too much candy! This afternoon I helped in Emily's "Kid-O-Deo" room at church, then my sister Jessie and her friend Jill came over for the night. The girls and I made "resurrection tombs" (basically crescent rolls wrapped around a marshmallow, then when you bake them the marshmallow disintegrates and it's like an empty tomb inside.)

Emily was in bed tonight when all of a sudden she remembered she was planning to leave carrots and milk out for the Easter Bunny. So we got that all set up, and then she crashed after such a busy day. Tomorrow is Easter baskets, cinnamon rolls and egg casserole for breakfast, dying eggs, nap, and then to church (4:00 service). Jeremy is ushering and I hope the women's bathroom doesn't spring a leak like last week that left him soaked from head to toe!