As much as the fam is together, we have so little pictures we take with all 5 of us together.  Here we are at my Aunt's on Easter Sunday, loving that we were able to sit outside and play  for a couple hours before the rain came again.

Ellie was so darn cute as she scrambled from one place to the next just looking for the eggs that were visible, not wanting to stop long enough to really search  :)

Em and cousin, Kayla, both in casts :(

The kiddos- they have so much fun together!

I love this picture of mom and dad

What an awesome Easter we had!  There were so many times where I felt Sandy's presence during this Holy Week.  With Good Friday and mourning the death of Jesus, yet rejoicing in His Resurrection, I have the same feelings for Sandy as she is looking down on her granddaughters celebrating in their Easter memories. 

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Happy Easter!

Are you serious?! That is all the pictures I took on Easter morning?  Pretty embarrassing.  This year we had to do things a little differently.  Rob has gone through the lengthy but well-worth it process of becoming a Catholic.  It is a 9 month class, and he was blessed enough to have a mentor come to our house on Saturdays, since Rob travels during the week and couldn't make the meetings.  Joe was definitely sent from above- we learned an amazing amount of the church's history as well as insights from Joe that are better than any book I could read.  He would stay about 3 hours each week, and the girls adored him as much as we did.  Holy week was an amazing experience for Rob, as he went to Good Friday and witnessed a sad, yet eye-opening Mass, had his first Reconciliation, and received his First Communion.  The Easter Vigil, which is when he was recognized, was from 9-midnight.  My dad, Rob's dad, Erika, Emily, and I experienced the beautiful night as well.  It was just too late for Ellie- there was a celebration afterward and the girls didn't get to sleep until at least 2 in the morning.  Ellie stayed at Aunt Katie's and the Easter Bunny was nice enough to come to her house for Ellie.  Lucky Ellie got to have two egg hunts, because the girls waited for her to have theirs.  I color-coded their eggs this year, and the bunny hid them accordingly- they had a blast!  just wish i had the pics to show it :)  Happy Easter!

Good Friday

Our Good Friday Tradition has been to dye eggs with all my sisters- it's a big to-do and a huge mess, but the kids love it!  This year, my sister, Laura, that usually hosts all the fun, went to New York to visit her in-laws- so Aunt Katie's it was! 

Alex's face was priceless as he pulled the egg from the coloring

Erika took the longest and never died out- she loved it!

Ellie was so patient, which was wonderful to witness because those moments are so far and few between :)

Emily loved writing sweet messages on all of her eggs

Landon wanted his fist in all of the cups and thought all the eggs were balls

Ellie was in absolute Heaven, as she got her first cuddles from Landon

Landon is definitely well-loved- we can't get enough of him!

Landon figured out how to open his eggs, but got so mad when he couldn't put them back together...

1st Egg Hunt

The older the girls get, the faster they are!  You would think by Erika and Emily's age, they would slow down, but that is not the case!  Our neighbor has an annual egg hunt, and we were so excited to make it to our first one in the seven years we've lived there!  They usually have it in the backyard to make it a bit trickier, but with all of the rain, it was a washout. It was going to be canceled, but with all the eggs already stuffed, and cupcakes made, they just had a free-for-all in the front yard.  The kids were not disappointed at all!  They just ran faster and went through more buckets!  They were giddy as they opened the eggs and found all kinds of surprises- even silly bands!  We are so blessed to have such awesome neighbors!

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Today was the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War, so we thought it would be perfect to visit the Freedom Center in Cincinnati.  Of course, so did 300 other students from Columbus :)  We still had an amazing time- it was educational, enlightening and inspiring.  
There was so much to see and absorb, we easily spent 3 1/2 hours there, and could've stayed longer, but head to head home to get Ellie. 
We can't wait to bring Ellie and Rob back to learn even more!

We each used individual ipods, which the kids were very excited about,and programmed the number at each station we visited.  This quilt was a beautiful story told of slavery through pictures.

 There were poems, letters, and quotes displayed all throughout the museum- we were touched by so many. 

 This was a Slave Pen, a 177 year-old building discovered on a farm in Kentucky and donated to the Freedom Center.  It honors the memory of all those who were enslaved. 

 The girls were experiencing what it was like for this slave, Henry "Box" Freedom, that traveled in this box in order for him to experience freedom.  We were excited because we had actually read the book about him!

 This was the kids favorite parts. It was a safe house where they listened to their ipods and they had to choose a hiding spot and then it would walk you through the pros and cons of each place, then tell you if you made it or if they were able to hunt you down.

 I wish this turned out better, it was a poem that was displayed on the cellar steps that talked about how scared, dark and wet it was, and how they prayed the were with a slave conductor, and not a slave catcher. 

This was a movie- pretty scary and very realistic, which made you feel as if you were really there!  You developed such an apathy of what the slaves went through to risk the life of freedom.  We will not take our lives for granted for a long time!  It was a very humbling, revealing, shocking, inspiring and emotional experience.  You can get an app if you visit www.freedomcenter.org.

Can't give it up...

Just when I think I am going to let go of another thing I selfishly love,  I realize how much I love documenting what's going on in my life, and don't want to give it up just yet.  It only takes a few minutes each day, I can do this, and I want to!  This summer, though, I want to look into blurb, which will not only blog, but turn it into a book for me when it is "full."  When life slows down a bit, I will look into that.  I am the old-fashioned kind of person that still loves the idea of holding a book in my hands, whether it is a scrapbook or a book I'm reading for enjoyment.  Now that we have our ipad, you would think I would go digital and read my magazines and books on that.  My dear friend, Nicki, just told me she read  a book on her phone.  Guess I need to get with the program...  Anyhow, here's what's gone on with our life for the past month or so. 

Emily working on a drawing in our co-op

Mrs. Morales teaching our kiddos how to become an artist...

Drawing a still-life using light and shadow- it's harder than it looks!

Erika and her model brain

Making a neuron chain

Erika and her doodles on the driveway, one in each box- cheers up these gray days!

Erika took this of our hydrangea just getting ready to pop up...

The girls' creations...

Robby and I were able to go to the Bahamas for 3 days as a Rewards Trip for his work- The most amazing place!  I am so in love with that man.  :)

The girls made cake pops- Erika's newest obsession- she follows the Bakerella blog...  need I say more?  Erika writes occassionally on her own blog, check her out- I follow her, just click on her link off to the side of my blog

Our favorite place to take a break- Manna Cupcake, down by the train in Lebanon.  YUM, mini cupcakes.

                                                              Sadie checking things out...

Our favorite place, Montgomery Inn- we took the girls to the Boat House and had an awesome view by the window... perfect way to start out our spring break!

                               Ellie's lost both her top front teeth and I could just eat her up!  Too cute!